Random Summoning

「Is there anyone you want to see-pen?」

It hadn’t even been a week since Sheryl washed up on Kalmira Island, and the Santa hat Peckle had already said its usual line.

There wasn’t anyone in particular I wanted to meet at the moment.

I could call Tsumugi, but I’m not really in need of reinforcements.

In terms of gathering information, Alto might be the safe choice.

As for Yamikage, well, carelessly summoning her could lead to a big incident, so I’ll leave her for later.

By the way, after the third time, I found out in the window that Peckle displayed, if someone is registered as a friend, I can select them without having to copy and paste from the friend list.

So I can decide who to choose from the friend list.

For now, I’ll ask Shouko and Sheryl their opinion before deciding.

I was about to start walking towards them.

Right behind me…

「「「「「Pen!!!!」」」」」

「Woah!」

The Peckle Exploration Team suddenly jumped out from behind me.

I happened to be standing right in front of the small hole that is the Peckle Dungeon.

Geez…

「Got it-pen. I hope you can meet them soon-pen.」

「…Huh?」

The Santa Hat Peckle suddenly said the completion line as if to leave.

The name input screen had disappeared, as if I had already decided who to summon…

「Wait, wait!」

「I hope you can meet them soon-pen.」

「Don’t just repeat yourself!」

「Peckle is not a monster-pen.」

「Why are you saying that line here?」

Ignoring my stunned reaction, the Santa Peckle nonchalantly returned to its work.

Wh-who did I summon?

Since they’re from the friend list, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but I’ll pray it’s not Yamikage.

「Oh well, whatever!」

That carefree attitude turned out to be a mistake.

The next morning, without any particular sense of crisis, I headed to the beach with Shouko and Sheryl.

As usual, the person was lying face-down vertically.

Taking screenshots has become my lifestyle at this point.

I’ll take pictures no matter who it is, even if it’s someone who I can’t just apologize and be forgiven.

「Kizuna-san…」

「…」

「I understand. I do understand…」

This is a kind of escapism.

As I approached and took a screenshot, I avoided the outstretched hand coming my way.

「Hm… where is this? Aren’t you Kizuna-kun, why are you doing a dogeza?」

That’s right, I was doing a dogeza in front of this person.

One of the few people other than my companions that I had registered as a friend a long time ago.

Unfortunately, it was this person I had summoned yesterday.

Yes, the crafter working on weapons at the frontline… Romina.

「But you… no, I heard you all had gone missing.」

「I’m truly sorry! I didn’t mean any harm! It’s all this guy fault!」

「Peckle is not a monster-pen.」

Why that response?

Romina, like Sheryl, is a Jewel person with a red jewel on her chest.

Like Alto, she is a non-combat crafter player who made my Cerberus Slaughter and Cetus Longsword, among other things.

「Hmm… I’ll accept your apology, but could you explain the situation? We’ll talk after that.」

I gave her a rough explanation of the circumstances so far and what happened yesterday.

Basically, about the Limited Dimension Wave and pioneering Kalmira Island.

「Fuhahah! I’ve thought for a while now that you’re an amusing one. So you accidentally summoned me, is that it? Kuhuhuh… truly amusing.」

「Um…」

「Well then, let me explain my side too. To be honest, I’ve heard bits and pieces of the stories from Yamikage-kun.」

「What do you mean?」

According to Romina, Yamikage had apparently been acting together with Sheryl.

When Sheryl disappeared, Yamikage started saying it must be the work of ghosts or something.

For some reason, Alto pushed Yamikage onto his business partner Romina, and the good-natured Romina had been taking care of Yamikage.

It was just then that Romina accidentally washed up on Kalmira Island.

「I’m really sorry!」

「Hmm. It wasn’t intentional, was it? Then I won’t blame you.」

「No, but we can’t leave this island.」

「No problem. To be honest, I was getting bored of making weapons anyway. Being called a popular blacksmith sounds nice, but all I do is use the blacksmithing skill all day long. And lately, there have been more and more people mistaking me for an NPC or something. A few times when they said things like, Huh? The business skill isn’t activating, I almost felt like punching them. So I was thinking of taking a break. Living with Yamikage was an extension of that. So this works out perfectly. This island has those… Peckles, right? I’ll use some of their facilities.」

「I-I see, I can give you special treatment.」

「Then I’ll look around for anything interesting. And feel free to address me as you did before.」

And so, Romina joined the pioneering of Kalmira Island…

How should I put it… As expected of someone who was a crafter at the frontline.

The first thing Romina took an interest in was the workshop facility.

Originally a facility for Peckles to make tools, humans could use it too if they wanted.

Since I said I’d give her special treatment, I prioritized leveling up the workshop, and Romina started making tools from the items available on Kalmira Island.

When she ran out of items, she started gathering and mining too, seeming to enjoy herself.

「The Pioneer’s Seven Tools alone must be inconvenient, right? I’ve decided to take up tool crafting as well.」

And so, as she acquired various skills… before I knew it, the workshop had become a general store of sorts.

She even made me a fishing rod.

Her response to my apprehension was this.

「This island is the best. I feel like I’m playing a different game altogether. The materials are quite good too. I’m thinking of taking up armor crafting next, but what kind of equipment would you like, Kizuna-kun?」

Well… yeah, I guess so.

At first, I was apprehensive due to the guilt of summoning an unrelated person, but thanks to Romina personality, our relationship quickly became amicable.

I suppose it helped that my own playstyle, focused on life skills like fishing, was somewhat similar to hers.

She even showed interest in Sheryl’s thoughts on ships and commented on Shouko’s weapons. In a good way, Romina has a leader-like quality.

「Kizuna-kun. I’ve been wondering, what if we had Peckles from the exploration team bring non-combatants along?」

「Ah… so the loot changes and such?」

「Just thinking about the possibilities.」

「Let’s experiment!」

「Indeed. Since I’m not familiar with individual Peckles, I’ll leave it to you, Kizuna-kun.」

It was good that she was so eager to understand Kalmira Island’s systems.

In a sense, I could say that I summoned someone far better than the other three.

Well… it’s fine as long as she enjoys herself, but if she had gotten into a fight, it would have been a problem.

From now on, I’ll have to be very careful.

Anyway, I’ve gained another reliable companion.

…I’ll turn a deaf ear to the fact that I took away a reliable blacksmith from the frontline.