Playing as a Tank

Despite continuously reviewing memories from my first playthrough and checking future plans, there was one thing I had been overlooking for some time.

That is, I had never experienced Asha’s sense of responsibility as a guardian even once in my first playthrough.

In fact, it was natural when you think about it, since in the first playthrough I wasn’t a small child like now but a proper adult.

No matter how kind-hearted Asha was, it would have been too much for her to volunteer as a guardian for a fully grown adult.

Of course, her sincere concern and help for me were the same in both the first playthrough and now, but in the first playthrough, her role was more that of a helper than a guardian.

But now that she was caring for me almost at the level of a birth parent.

Now that she had become famous throughout the Lunatic Guild headquarters as not just a guardian but an overprotective one.

“B-Big Sister, you’ll really get sick if you keep this up.”
“Wow, even getting concern from our Lua. Big sister hasn’t lived in vain.”
“…………”

It wasn’t all that strange that even after returning from a full day’s work, she would stay up all night reviewing documents related to my private tutor.

How many days had it been now since she started looking for a hunter she could trust with me, drinking strong espresso like water?

For some reason, she exhibited a level of meticulousness one step above even the fastidious Tana in this regard, so she still hadn’t properly narrowed down the candidates for a private tutor.

Rumors spread throughout the guild headquarters that even during her regular work as guild master, she would look over documents containing the personal information of various hunters whenever she got a moment.

I didn’t feel comfortable either, thinking I had unnecessarily burdened someone who was already busy.

Even if she was a person standing at the top of the most skilled hunters, if she kept overexerting herself like this, she would surely collapse someday.

“Big Sister knows her body best~. So, Lua, you should go to bed now. If you stay up this late, you won’t grow taller.”

Seeing that she had started uttering one of the famous death flag lines, it seemed she wasn’t far from her limit.

In the end, I decided to take action first from my side.

The characteristic of such people is that they don’t even realize they’re pushing themselves too hard unless someone around them puts on the brakes.

I deliberately woke up early in the morning and searched through the documents that Asha hadn’t yet looked through, without her knowing as she slept soundly.

What I was looking for was a document containing information about the most reckless person among the hunters I knew in .

So, just as my eyes, which had endured unexpected overwork, were about to become completely dry.

“…Found it.”

I finally found a sheet of paper containing information about a hunter with a military background who, unlike other hunters, was not processed as retired but as dishonorably discharged. I rolled it up and picked it up.

Right after that, I left a note at Asha’s bedside saying I would be out for a while, and tiptoed out of the house.

As expected, I sent a message to Tana’s personal device, which had been online since this early dawn, asking if she could spare some time.

Not long after, thud.

“What’s the matter?”

I faced a person who looked exactly the same as usual except for slightly longer dark circles under the eyes, along with a card that gently fell in front of me.

“Um, Big Sister Tana. Can you possibly—”

After hesitantly holding out the document I was holding, I carefully asked if she could take me to a place I really wanted to go.

“Is it related to the hunter in this document?”
“…Yes.”

There’s no point in trying to deceive Tana anyway.

It would be better to honestly lay everything out and persuade her.

I proceeded to explain that Asha was still overexerting herself because of matters related to my private tutor even when she came home, and that I wanted to decide on my private tutor as soon as possible to stop Asha from pushing herself too hard.

“What about this person appeals to you that makes you want to visit them?”
“Just, I have a good feeling about them.”
“A gut feeling, is it…”

After that, I watched with bated breath as Tana stopped speaking for a moment and thoroughly examined the document I had handed over.

It was only about thirty seconds, a short time after all, but for some reason, the density of time felt particularly high compared to usual.

“…Now that I look at it, I also have some business near where Ms. Lua wants to go. Would it be okay if I handle my business first and then move on?”

In other words, she was saying she would take me there, so.

Since she seemed willing to grant my request more readily than I expected, I was momentarily dazed before hurriedly nodding.

Soon after, I returned home and changed the note saying I would be out for a while to one saying I went out with Tana.

I then headed to the parking lot with Tana, got into a Lunatic Guild exclusive passenger car, and after driving for quite some time, finally arrived at the place where Tana said she had business.

“H-huh…?”

For some reason, I only then realized that the scenery in front of me was quite familiar.

The name that came from Tana coincidentally was [Asad], the name of the first incident I tried to intervene in and the name of a dungeon.

“Well, please wait a moment. I’ll be back soon.”

Since she disappeared into the Asad Dungeon before I could say anything, I had to obediently wait until Tana returned.

How much time had passed after that?

-Tap.

“…It’s done. Now let’s go see to Ms. Lua’s business.”

Tana approached me as I was watching a line of ants passing by on the ground, after casually shaking off some purplish body fluid-like substance from her fingertips.

Almost simultaneously, as she began walking toward the car parked in the distance, I quickly sped up my steps to get ahead of Tana and.

Carefully asked what she had been doing in the dungeon, just in case.

“Could it be… you fought with lizardmen?”
“I didn’t fight, I cut off the sprouts. Just in case they evolved into dragons, as someone with a good imagination said.”

She’s saying she single-handedly exterminated the lizardman entities. And in just about thirty minutes, a short time.

…Hmm. I should not mess with Tana in the future.

I haven’t really been messing with her from the time I first met her until this moment, but still, I definitely shouldn’t mess with her even more…

The conversation that continued even after getting into the car was a brief chat about the hunters who would manage the Asad Dungeon in the future.

I was slightly relieved internally at the number of personnel, which had increased by a few people as per Asha’s earlier proposal.

It seems that Tana had finally decided to dispatch additional personnel to the Asad Dungeon.

Perhaps the brief extermination she had just conducted by entering the dungeon was an extension of that.

Anyway, since it could be said that I had prevented a tragedy that could have easily occurred for the first time.

I slowly opened my mouth toward the person sitting in the driver’s seat to convey my gratitude for believing my words.

“…I merely chose the safest option with the least risk.”

However, since there was nothing beyond rational logic to be found in the response that came back from Tana, I felt unnecessarily awkward.

It was about an hour later that we arrived at the entrance of a clearly rugged snow-covered mountain where the hunter I had personally selected as my tutor lived.

Together with Tana, I moved toward a cabin located not too far from the entrance of the snow mountain.

So, at the moment after knocking on the cabin door a couple of times.

-Crash.

With a creaking sound, instead of the door opening inward, a very large axe flew from inside the cabin and pierced through the wooden door.

Right after that, Tana, who had quickly picked me up, took several steps back.

“…Tsk.”

Tana’s face, which had been continuously staring at the direction from which the axe had just flown, noticeably crumpled.

The reason was that a savage aura, strong enough for even me to feel, was emanating from the muscular woman who revealed herself from inside the cabin.

“Your hospitality is terrible. Is that how all barbarians are?”
“I was actually treating you as guests. This is disappointing~!”

The gray wolf skin wrapped around her neck area. Clear orange eyes revealing the savagery characteristic of a wild beast.

A short leopard-patterned top revealing thick abs, contrasting with the surrounding landscape where unmelted snow was still sparsely piled.

In addition, other small axes tied around her waist made the already rough presence even rougher.

A tense situation where it wouldn’t be strange if Tana and the hunter lunged at each other at any moment.

But because the purpose of coming here was clearly separate.

“Um…! Excuse me…!!”

I opened my mouth as wide as possible to draw the hunter’s attention toward me.

However, as soon as I made eye contact with those fierce eyes full of killing intent, the provocation that came out almost reflexively stimulated Tana.

“Hmm, I don’t have a habit of eating young ones. If you were going to bring a sacrifice, you should have brought one with more meat on its bones, you miser!!”
“…Shuffle.”

In the end, dozens of playing cards that had risen into the air began to glow all at once, and were aimed at the hunter in front.