Summon Gargoyle

"Hey, Kehma. We've already dug out five floors for the dungeon, are we still going?"

"I'm planning to make it about ten floors this time. Nice and deep."

"So that's 50,000 DP just for that, how extravagant."

Due to the flooding gimmick, deeper is better. Even the vertical length of each floor is quite long.

We used 200,000 DP on gacha, and 50,000 DP on floors. The remaining 250,000 DP will be for setting up rooms, traps, and monsters on each floor. Oh, can't forget about the offensive forces either.

So let's allocate 150,000 DP for floor development, 50,000 DP for offensive preparation, and save 50,000 DP for the day of the battle.

… Oh right. The Dummy Core that [Father] prepared was properly deducted from the limit. I'll count that under floor development.

Now then, leaving the dungeon to Rokuko and Niku, I temporarily returned to [Cave of Desires].

Then I immediately used the scrolls Rokuko got from the gacha—[Summon Gargoyle] and [Grow Weed], along with the extra [Ice Bolt] and [Healing]—to learn them.

I decided to give [Healing] and [Ice Bolt] scrolls to the four watching over the inn so they could learn them too. Rokuko's incredible luck gave us extras after all.

I recorded the incantations for [Summon Gargoyle] and [Grow Weed] with a golem and handed them to Nerune. She might be able to use them in the future.

… Now that I can use [Summon Gargoyle], I'll still have Nerune continue researching gargoyles. Though lately it feels like she's been doing nothing but making magic tools… Should we call them degraded gargoyles to distinguish them from real ones? I feel like we could just go back to calling them magic golems at this point.

Well, let's try some incantation modification.

Here are the basic incantations for each:

• "Open the gate. Summon the stone monster that wields magic, and bind it to my service—[Summon Gargoyle]."

• "Oh seed, sprout. Grow—[Grow Weed]."

• "Oh icy projectile, pierce my enemy—[Ice Bolt]."

• "Oh light, heal this one's wounds—[Healing]."

So naturally, what I'm investigating this time is [Summon Gargoyle]. It's the most interesting one.

The part about "stone monster that wields magic" is probably the key that designates a gargoyle. So if I change that part, could I summon other monsters?

Let me try it out right away.

Since I'm in my room at the Village Chief's mansion, let's keep it reasonable.

"Open the gate. Summon the iron monster that wields magic, and bind it to my service—[Summon Gargoyle]!"

Vwoom—a purple magic circle expanded in front of me.

……

But nothing came out, and the magic circle just disappeared.

Hm? What's going on? I thought it would summon an Iron Gargoyle… Let me try something else.

"Open the gate. Summon a goblin, and bind it to my service—[Summon Gargoyle]."

A purple magic circle appeared, and a single goblin slipped out of it.

"Gobu."

… Success. I successfully summoned a goblin.

Summoning a goblin with [Summon Gargoyle] makes no sense whatsoever.

"… Can I command you?"

When I asked the goblin, it nodded. Looks like I can command it.

Let's try the next one.

Actually, could it be that Translation Function-san automatically substitutes the appropriate words if I just say the monster's name directly?

"Open the gate. Summon a gargoyle, and bind it to my service—[Summon Gargoyle]."

The third purple magic circle appeared. What will happen this time?

… Thud. A gargoyle dropped out of the magic circle and landed on the floor.

I successfully summoned a gargoyle… I can feel something like a path connecting our mana. It feels thicker than the goblin's—is that because it takes more mana to maintain?

Anyway, it seems like I can command it too.

"I just got my hands on an incredible spell."

This means I can summon any monster I know the name of for free, right?

Let me try summoning something that isn't a monster.

"… Open the gate. Summon Ichika, and bind her to my service—[Summon Gargoyle]."

A purple magic circle expanded before me—and at the same time, I collapsed and lost consciousness.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

When I woke up, Ichika was giving me a lap pillow. The goblin and gargoyle were gone.

Her chest was in the way so I couldn't see her face, but these thighs were definitely Ichika's.

"… Huh?"

"Oh. Ya woke up, Goshujin-sama. What kinda weird thing did ya do this time?"

"Hey, why do you assume it was something weird…—agh, ow ow ow, my head hurts?!"

It was a sharp pain like when you eat too much shaved ice, that keen ache in the temples. Except about three times more intense, a really bad kind of pain. What the heck is this…

Ichika gently patted my head… Ah, it's subsiding.

"Goshujin-sama, weren't ya practicin' magic in yer room? That's obviously the cause."

"… Y-Yeah… So this is mana exhaustion?"

"Mana exhaustion, huh. I've heard about people faintin' from overusin' magic skills, but I haven't heard much about the headache part… Also, a purple magic circle appeared under my feet just now."

"Oh, I was just trying to summon you with [Summon Gargoyle]…"

"Goshujin-sama?! I'm not a gargoyle! No wonder ya fainted."

"It worked when I tried it with a goblin earlier though."

"Even though it's [Summon Gargoyle]?!"

… Was trying to summon a human the problem? Maybe it didn't work because there's no magic stone? Like how dividing by zero in a program causes an error — something like that. Or maybe it was because I specified an individual.

Either way, it was probably a good thing that the magic skill got interrupted when I fainted. If I'd had my blackout resistance turned on, my head might have gone pop. Terrifying.

This headache is too dangerous to verify anything more. I almost want to seal away [Summon Gargoyle] entirely.

I should have at least experimented more gradually.

"Huh? By the way, why are you here, Ichika? The summon should have failed."

"I just came through the door like normal. Um, some info about Goshujin-sama came through the magic circle? But then the magic circle disappeared halfway through, so I felt like somethin' bad might've happened and came to check. Ya didn't answer when I knocked, so I thought ya might be sleepin', but ya were supposed to be doin' magic experiments, right? And when I looked in the room, Goshujin-sama was collapsed on the floor by himself."

It seems the goblin and gargoyle returned the moment I fainted.

Good thing they didn't just lose the binding and attack me while I was unconscious.

"What do you mean by 'info about me'?"

"Ah. It was like, a feelin' of whether or not to resist this person? I could kinda tell it was Goshujin-sama's doing, so I was gonna not resist…"

Come to think of it, the spell failed to summon anything when I tried to summon an Iron Gargoyle. Maybe that was because it resisted?

… Hmm, nothing but more mysteries.

Well, my headache had subsided, but I decided to enjoy Ichika's lap pillow for a while longer.