DanKatsu Volume 2, Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Princess Lana’s Deadly Strike, Zephyrus Takes Massive Damage!

It’s been one month since I reincarnated into the game I had played to death, "Encouragement For Job Hunting In Dungeons"—aka <DanKatsu>.

Having enrolled at the Dungeon Academy, I brought the entire guild I’d formed, <Eden>, to the measurement room in the nobles’ dorms, right in front of the <Dragon Statue>.

That’s because among the members of <Eden>, Ester was the only one who hadn’t acquired her Job yet.

"Ester, congratulations on officially advancing to 【Princess Knight】."

"Thank you very much, Sir Zephyrus."

It was the day after our guild <Eden> had safely been established.

Before me, Ester smiled radiantly, clad in a dress armor of white and azure—its contrast reminiscent of a snow country.

By the way, Zephyrus is my name. Back in my gamer days, that was just my player handle, but ever since I came to this world, everyone had been calling me that, so I just stuck with it.

Ester had actually awakened to the 【Royal Guard Knight】 Job back during the entrance ceremony, but she refused to take it, insisting she couldn’t choose a Job until her mistress, Princess Lana, had obtained hers.

That decision worked out well for her—because now she was able to get the Job she truly admired: 【Princess Knight】.

And right now, she was practically radiating joy from every pore of her body.

When someone’s that happy, it really feels like all the effort to help was worth it.

"Ester, congratulations!"

"Thank you, Lady Lana."

"Congratulations on your awakening, Knight Ester."

"Congratulations!"

"Thank you as well, Lady Sierra, Miss Hanna."

Ester bowed politely each time she was congratulated.

By the way, she added "Miss" only for Hanna because Hanna herself requested it.

At first, Ester had called her "Lady Hanna," since Hanna’s level was higher, which threw Hanna completely off balance.

Hanna—almost in tears—insisted she wanted to be addressed without honorifics, but in the end they settled on "Miss."

Though it was awkward at first, thanks to the conversations they’d had during the celebration party, Hanna was able to warm up a little to the rest of the girls.

Well… I’d like to think I helped smooth things over too. (Though maybe I just shoved her straight into the valley of trials…)

She did glare at me resentfully, but when I asked her, "Could you have opened up on your own?", she shook her head furiously. So, no problem.

"Alright, let’s head back to the guild room. We’ll grind levels with the Slime Pop Marathon. Once you reach Lv. 6, you can clear the <Beginner Dungeon>."

"Understood."

Honestly, I wanted to head into a dungeon right away. But with Princess Lana, Ester, and Sierra still stuck at Lv. 0, they weren’t even allowed to set foot inside.

Normally, to reach the Lv. 5 required to challenge the <Beginner Dungeon>, you’d do combat training little by little. That usually takes over a week.

But with the guild’s excitement at an all-time high, who’d want to waste time on boring combat drills? Nope—we’re going Slime Pop Marathon leveling!

Luckily, Hanna, who was borderline addicted to slime grinding, agreed with a smile when I asked her to handle it for the guild. So Hanna would be in charge of running the Slime Pop Marathon.

While each member leveled up against slimes one by one, the rest would stay with me for lectures.

Because if we’re aiming to become the strongest guild, I’ll need to start teaching them my strongest training methods.

"Speaking of which, how do you know so much about 【Saint】, 【Princess Knight】, and even 【Shield Princess】, Zephyrus? Where did you even get these detailed breakdowns? Whose research is this?"

Back in the guild room, the princess immediately waved around the notes I’d given her, filled with my detailed analyses of each Job and my personal training theories.

Her eyes narrowed, suspicious.

"That’s obviously the result of my own investigation and research!"

…Well, in Japan, but still.

It’s not a lie! Fuhahaha!

The princess gave me a long, piercing stare, then sighed and motioned for me to go on.

Looks like she decided to listen after all. Without words, she was basically ordering me to explain.

Good grief, such a selfish princess.

"Anyway, about the 【Saint】 Job you acquired, Princess—"

"Wait, stop calling me Princess. Why am I the only one you don’t address by name?"

I was about to continue, but she cut me off.

This girl…

"You may address me as Lady Lana. Consider it an honor."

"Anyway, the 【Saint】 job you obtained has the role of—"

"Don’t ignore me! I’m a Princess! You can’t just ignore a Princess!"

"Shut it already! I can’t continue like this!"

…Is this girl really a 【Saint】?

She doesn’t match the image I had of one at all.

Though I was the one who got her into this mess.

While I was seriously debating what to do, Sierra, who was waiting for her turn nearby, stepped in to help.

"Then, how about you, Princess Lana, try calling Zephyrus by his name first? As far as I know, you’ve never actually addressed him by name either. Wouldn’t that make it even?"

Now that she mentioned it, I did feel like the princess had only ever called me "you." But was that really the important part right now?

"Hmm. You’re right. But if I’m the one who calls him first, it feels like… I don’t know, like I’ve lost somehow."

For some reason, my "Ultimate Training Theory" lecture had been derailed into a debate about "what names we should call each other."

And now the two of them were acting like that was the real issue at hand.

Wait… am I the weird one here?

As I sat there confused, Sierra quietly leaned closer to me and whispered so the princess wouldn’t hear.

"Just play along. Otherwise, this conversation will never move forward. Despite how she looks, Princess Lana wants you to call her by her name. Try to understand her feelings."

I glanced over at the princess, and sure enough, she was sneaking little glances my way.

Oh, right, the princess was a classic tsundere.

Thinking about it that way, all her behavior up until now felt more like "attention-seeking." What is she, some kind of spoiled cat?

Well, I didn’t want this conversation to stay stuck, so fine—guess I’ll call her by name.

I walked over and stood in front of the princess, facing her directly.

"W-what? You’re… you’re really going to do it? If you do, I’ll… I’ll lose, you know!"

"I’m not ‘doing it.’ But if you want me to call you by name that badly, I’ll do it. So perk up your ears and listen carefully."

Why was she acting like she’d just declared defeat against some wild beast? For the record, I’m supposed to be a hero, not a monster!

Fine then, I’d remind her of that.

I straightened my back, put on my most heroic expression, paused for dramatic effect, and declared loud and clear so she couldn’t possibly miss it:

"Lana."

"Fwah!?"

"Wow, I don’t know about that delivery." 

Just like she wanted, I called her by name—and Lana instantly turned bright red, only for Sierra to shoot me down for some reason.

Why!? That was totally a heroic-sounding voice, wasn’t it!?

"Kkhh… not bad at all… That was stronger than I expected." 

Lana stammered, staggering like she’d just taken a heavy body blow.

Why the hell did she act like she took damage!?

"Th-then… then it’s only fair that I… give something back to you."

What exactly was she planning to give me? A punch?

Despite her earlier "defeat" talk, Lana’s eyes were blazing with determination. She was trembling a little, probably from that earlier "damage."

After sucking in a deep breath, she finally shouted with all her might:

"Z–Zeph… Zephyulus!"

"Guhh!?"

"Ah, you tripped over it."

An immense shockwave of damage slammed into me.

So this is what hit her earlier!? Damn, this was dangerous. Seriously dangerous.

In that instant, the word moe exploded inside my head.

Princess Lana… truly terrifying.

Clutching my chest and trembling, I could hear carefree voices drifting over from the distance:

"I kind of want to join them too.", "Yeah… I’m a little jealous."

I had nearly been rolled over and crushed by Lana’s sheer cuteness, but I managed to hold on.

That was close. Seriously close. Honestly, it might’ve been happier to just give in and die right there.

Still, seeing Lana fluster and fumble over my name was priceless.

If I had some kind of "affection meter," it would’ve blasted right past the max already.

And since she’s an insanely beautiful girl to begin with, the destructive power is just ridiculous.

I mean, who would’ve thought just calling my name—and even stumbling over it—could be that lethal?

<DanKatsu> never had anything like this, so I was totally unprepared.

So this is the power of reality, huh? Terrifying.

Sierra looked like she wanted to say something, but only sighed, smoothing things over instead.

Thanks to her, I calmed down quickly, and we were able to get back to the lecture.

At this point, Sierra was starting to feel like the reliable "secretary" type in my mind.

"Alright, enough sidetracking. Let’s get back to training the 【Saint】. Lana, this time don’t derail the conversation."

"I know, I know. Go on!"

For some reason, Lana looked unusually high-spirited. This time, I wasn’t interrupted, and the lesson finally progressed smoothly.

So all I have to do is keep her happy? …Noted.

"The 【Saint】’s role is basically healer, but to be precise, they’re more like a buffer. They give strong buffs to put allies at an advantage, and then heal anyone who gets hurt. That’s the overall flow. In other words, if you focus too much on healing just because their heals are strong, you’ll waste the 【Saint】’s full potential."

"A buffer, huh? Like the 【Princess】 job?"

"Exactly. Both 【Princess】 and 【Saint】 are jobs exclusive to "Royalty", so they’re pretty similar. But 【Princess】 is buff-specialized, while 【Saint】’s main job is still healing."

"But from what I see, the 【Saint】’s skill list leans heavily toward buffs."

Lana asked as she flipped through my notes.

She wasn’t wrong. 【Saint】 did have a ton of buff spells—about as many as the 【Princess】.

The difference was that 【Saint】 could also use attack, defense, buff, and healing magic, covering a wide variety. Among them, buff spells were indeed plentiful—but thanks to their unique skill, healing magic got boosted to insane levels.

That skill was called 『The Saint’s Everlasting Prayer』. Its effect: <adds 『Regen Lv. ○』 to all healing spells.>

That’s what made 【Saint】 shine as the top healer of them all.

When I explained this, Lana tilted her head in confusion.

"Is it really that strong? From the way it sounds, it doesn’t feel all that amazing."

"No, it’s beyond strong. Listen, 『Regen』 means continuous healing over time. You cast a normal heal, it restores HP immediately—and then keeps restoring more afterward. As the level goes up, both the amount healed and the duration increase. Do you get how busted that is?"

That’s why support jobs skyrocketed on the job tier list, placing 【Saint】 just under 【Hero】 in 2nd place. All thanks to this unique skill. Honestly, you could call it broken.

In battle, allies basically always had regen ticking on them.

As long as they guarded and endured, the passive healing would just patch them up over time, letting the party shrug off crises that would normally be fatal.

The only "downside" was that casting another heal wouldn’t stack 『Regen』—but since 【Saint】 could still use regular 『Regen』 spells, that "downside" didn’t even matter.

That’s why in <DanKatsu>, players would just keep regen active and bash bosses nonstop. I owed many victories to that trick myself.

But despite my passion and heartfelt explanation, Lana just looked… blank.

Head tilted, eyes vacant. Yeah, this might be one of those things you only understand by experiencing it.

"Well, seeing is believing. For now, make sure you take the unique skill and 『Prayer of Healing』. Healing magic itself can stay at Lv.1, but the unique skill must be leveled to 10. That’s absolutely mandatory if you’re going to play 【Saint】."

"F-fine, I got it! So… what else should I pick up?"

"Since a 【Saint】’s done for if they’re targeted, make sure you grab defense and magic defense buffs. After that, just follow the notes for the rest. And if you ever get stuck, come to me anytime."

"…Got it. I’ll be counting on you then, …Zephyrus."

"O-oh. Leave it to me, Lana."

Her way of calling my name still felt awkward.

But that awkwardness was kind of… ticklish.

Once Lana buried herself in my notes again, I turned to Sierra.

"…You know, this is kind of making me jealous."

"What are you on about, Sierra?"

"…Nothing. More importantly, tell me about the 【Shield Princess】. Don’t hold back—I want to know everything you know."

"Sure thing. Though honestly, it’s pretty much all written in the notes already. You’ve read them all, right?"

"Yes. But I still have some questions."

"Bring ’em on."

Unlike Lana, Sierra’s passion for the 【Shield Princess】 was intense. She seemed to have already absorbed almost everything in the notes.

Maybe it was because she grew up in a family that was basically experts in shield-bearing jobs—Sierra had a perfect grasp of what it meant to be a tank. All she really needed now was actual combat experience.

The only parts she didn’t fully get from the notes were the details on a few of the 【Shield Princess】 skills and its Unique Skill.

Totally different from Lana… Sierra’s a model student.

Well, thinking about it, Lana wanted to be a 【Saint】, yet she barely knew anything about the job in the first place.

"About the 【Shield Princess】’s Lv.40 Unique Skill, 『Absolute Charm Shield』—its effect is <For a set time, forcibly redirect all attention (targets) to yourself>… but I want to know what it’s like specifically. Does every monster instantly target me the moment I use it?"

"It switches in an instant. And not in some half-hearted ‘they just turn to look at you’ way, either. Even if an enemy is already mid-attack, the moment you pop the skill, the target flips to you. If you’re not on guard, you’ll eat unexpected damage. Also, it’s technically an offensive skill—it only affects enemies you actually hit. So think of it as single-target. Basically, it’s for bosses."

As I answered, Sierra neatly jotted everything down in her cute, floral-patterned notebook.

So obedient.

Lana, take a damn hint.

Once her pen stopped moving, I continued the explanation.

"Another thing—you need to watch out for when the effect ends and aggro reverts. If you get complacent just because the target is locked on you during the skill, once it wears off, you might not be able to pull the hate back. That’s when accidents happen and your teammates get taken out."

Sierra’s expression turned deadly serious.

For a tank, letting your allies fall is nothing short of humiliating.

If a party that understands hate management still loses aggro because the tank failed to hold it… That’s a mistake you cannot afford.

Her pen moved faster, her note-taking clearly more determined.

Well, that’s why I’m here as the backup tank. I’ll cover for her until she’s used to it. After that, she kept throwing me questions about the 【Shield Princess】, and I answered one by one.

"I think I understand it well now. Thank you. I’ll test the rest in actual battle."

"Good. As long as it helped, that’s enough."

Unlike Lana, Sierra listened earnestly—teaching her was actually rewarding.

Before I knew it, a good chunk of time had flown by.

By the time I looked up, Ester’s Slime Pop Marathon had already finished, and Lana was groaning, "Eh, it’s already my turn!? But I was still reading—" as she swapped in.

Not finishing her notes was her own fault for dragging the conversation off track. Serves her right.

While Sierra kept studying with her notes in hand, Ester approached and gave a polite bow.

"Sir Zephyrus, I’ve safely reached Lv.6. Thank you very much."

"Don’t mention it. If we wasted time on combat drills right now, it’d kill the motivation. Besides, I’m eager to dive into the dungeon with everyone, too. I’ll support you all-out."

"That’s very reassuring. I’m looking forward to exploring the dungeon with you, Sir Zephyrus."

Her speech was still a little stiff, but for someone born into a knight family whose job was guarding others, that formal tone was practically drilled into her. She told me yesterday that over time it just naturally became her default way of speaking.

Well, there’s no need to force her to change.

Hanna still makes a weird face about it, but… she’ll get used to it.

"Alright then, you’ve saved up 11 SP (Skill Points), right? As for the 【Princess Knight】, I’ll share my personal method—which I think is the absolute best way to raise it."

"Yes! Nothing would please me more. Please, do teach me."

She could stand to loosen up a little, but… well, this teacher-student vibe is fun in its own way.

"Did you read through the notes I gave you yesterday on the 【Princess Knight】?"

"Yes, I did. Honestly, I was shocked to see there are that many possible paths to reach."

At her solemn comment, I nodded deeply.

Knights, in general, have an insanely broad variety of build paths, and there are tons of knight-type jobs.

And the 【Princess Knight】 is both a 【Knight】-type and a 【Knight】-type. Meaning, it can grow in either direction.

You can pick up every skill just a little bit and make it into a jack-of-all-trades that adapts to any situation.

That’s why the 【Princess Knight】 has countless possible endgame builds. Ester was probably overwhelmed by the sheer variety. After all, it has more than triple the number of selectable skills compared to the 【Hero】 job.

"Which path you take first is critical. Do you have any preference?"

Once you start leveling a job, you can’t go back. You’ve gotta set your route at the start.

I hinted that I already had plans prepared for all possible routes.

But Ester slowly shook her head.

"…It may be shameless of me, but like Lady Lana and Lady Sierra, I too wish for you to guide me on the path I should take."

"Couldn't decide because there were too many options?"

"Yes. Truly, I’m sorry. I lack the ability to know what would suit me best."

Ester lowered her eyes, as if ashamed of her own inadequacy.

It’d be easy to laugh and say she was taking it too seriously, but that’s the reality of it.

Well, even in the game, the "Knight" category was limited to only five recruits, making it a rare and precious job. Back then, I had no idea what I was doing, so I just raised them however I felt like—and ended up with a disaster so bad I couldn’t even laugh about it. A bitter memory.

Ester had probably seen others who made that same mistake. That’s why she couldn’t decide lightly.

In that case… maybe I should recommend the one route I believe to be the strongest?

"Sorry, Ester, but I can’t tell you what suits you. All I can do is point out the end goal I recommend. Whether you’re suited to it or not doesn’t matter."

"…That end goal is the summit, then?"

"At least, that’s what I believe. But I’ll warn you now—it’s not knightly at all. If you admire what it means to be a knight, then I’d advise against it. Still, I can guarantee it’ll make you the strongest attacker."

"A guarantee from Sir Zephyrus, is it? That sounds quite formidable."

Ester covered her mouth and let out a soft chuckle.

Then she slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her gaze was sharp, filled with determination.

"Sir Zephyrus, would you grant this Ester that strongest summit?"

"You’re deciding already? You still have some time left, you know."

"No, this is fine. I was originally aiming to become a 【Royal Guard Knight】. And now, not only have you shown me the path to acquire the 【Princess Knight】 job, but also the very summit of that path. To hesitate here would bring shame upon my house."

"That’s a pretty heavy way of putting it…"

I scratched my cheek, a little troubled.

But I also understood—this was a major turning point in her life. I couldn’t just brush it off.

Well, fine.

Ester was serious about this, so I had no reason to dampen her resolve.

Might as well teach her quickly.

I pulled out a notepad, scribbled down just the key points, and handed it to Ester.

"For now, here’s the outline. I’ll give you a proper written explanation later. Don’t give up and keep at it."

"Thank you. I will never forget this kindness for as long as I live."

She bowed deeply, accepting the note with a reverence as though it had been bestowed by a king.

Umu. For a moment there, I actually felt like a king myself. Not bad at all.

"Well, you don’t need to go that far. But at least feel grateful for the next three years, okay?"

After all, the guild would last three years.

And so, I taught Ester my own strongest training method—the 【Princess Knight】 route.

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