Part 1
Kaga Michio
Current levels & equipment:
Explorer Lv.26
Hero Lv.23
Mage Lv.25
Monk Lv.25
Equipment:
Wand
Leather Armor
Leather Jacket
Leather Gloves
Leather Shoes
The next day, the two of us went on a shopping trip to the various clothing
stores in Quratar. Our objective for today? To get ourselves some new sets of
clothes of course, because even though I have my trusty jersey and Roxanne
has her maid outfit that she took with her from the Slave Merchant's shop,
but there is no way in hell that those clothes are going to be enough for us to
wear all the time. What's more, because of all that gardening work we did
yesterday, our clothes gotten more than a little dirty and needed to be washed,
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and for that we need the new one that we could wear as replacements when
they will be getting dry in the sun. I should have though about it before we
began working yesterday, but it is too late to be having regrets now that the
deed has been done.
「Before we buy anything, let's have a look around first. We may be looking
for spare clothes only, but that does not mean that we should do a hasty
purchase. If you see anything that you like, be sure to let me know, okay?」
「Yes master. Thank you for your kindness, but I think you should focus on
finding a suitable set of clothes for yourself first and foremost.」
「Sure thing. Now, when it comes to the amount of clothes, how much should
we buy? Is two sets for me and two sets for you going to be enough?」
Apparently Roxanne is somewhat reserved when it comes to buying new
clothes for herself, which makes me think that I will have to choose
something for her in the end and be insistent and firm about my choice,
because otherwise she might just not accept it. Such a humble attitude is
much different from the typical one displayed by the girls from Japan, and
even though it can be somewhat difficult to deal with her humbleness at
times, it's a welcomed change of pace.
「If that is what you will deem as an appropriate amount, master, then I think
it is going to be fine. But…」
「Hmm? Yes? What is it, Roxanne?」
「Oh, nothing really that important. It's just that… this store is selling brandnew clothing, right?」
「Well, yeah? Or at least they all look like that to me.」
「In that case, is it really okay for you to buy such expensive clothes for me?」
「And why would there be anything wrong with that?」
When I was browsing through the various clothes that the store had on
display, Roxanne started saying some weird things. Could it be that…?
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「Let me guess, is there a rule stating that slaves cannot wear nice clothes?」
「It's not as much a rule as common sense that masters wear the nice clothes
while their slaves have to make due with the poor-quality ones or the ones
from second-hand stores.」
So that's how it is when it comes to the clothes worn by slaves and their
masters, huh? I am not from this world, so I can't really say that I understand
why it has to be that way, but maybe that's really how it is supposed to be,
because now that I think about it, many of the people whom I saw when we
were living in Veil wore clothes that looked like they came from the secondhand shop. Now, as a person who lived in the modern-day Japan and was
born in a middle-class family, I never really needed to wear second-hand
goods myself and I do not like the idea all that much, but I can see how
wearing good quality clothing might be a problem for the people living in the
world that is as technologically advanced as the earth during the medieval
times. If I were to hazard a wild guess, then the average life cycle of a set of
clothing in this world must be something that goes more or less like that: rich
people and aristocrats buy themselves new clothes, wear them for a few
times, and sell them second-hand stores once the get bored of them. At that
point they are sold to the common citizenry and the cycle continues to repeat
itself as they wear the bought clothes down even further until they are sold
yet again, and then, right at the very bottom of this messed up chain are the
slaves, who are supposed to be wearing nothing but tattered rags to really
drive the point of them being inferior to their masters across.
This is something that only an absolute scum would do out of nothing but the
sheer pettiness, but unfortunately those are the rules that this world is playing
by. Well too bd for you, world, because if those are your rules, then I am not
going to be abiding them!
「It's going to be fine, Roxanne. Trust me. Now go and choose whatever you
like.」
「Of course, master. Thank you.」
With that out of the way, we proceeded to properly explore the clothing store.
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That's right. Since I am not a proper resident of this world but someone who
came here from modern-day Japan, I don't have to follow the rules
established by this world if I do not find them to my liking. Therefore, I will
be doing whatever I feel is right, especially if it means ignoring some unjust,
douchebaggy rules made by a bunch of snobs!
We looked around the store, but from what I can see, even though there are a
lot of shelves filled with clothes from top to bottom, the clothes themselves
did not have that much variety to them. Most of the bottom shelves were
occupied by the tunics, shirts and robes of various colors, and the bottom
ones were lined up with pants and trousers. And by the way, because some of
you might not know it: tunic is the type of upper body clothing that you put
on over your head, and the shirts are as shirts normally do: worn by
unbuttoning them from the front and sliding your hands through the sleeves
until they emerge from the other side.
What caught my attention at one point was the disproportion in the types of
clothing that women could wear on their lower bodies. This store had a lot of
long hemmed skirts of the type that was so long that the hem reached all the
way to the ground, covering the legs completely, but there was not that much
female-styled pants. Maybe it was because the women who wore pants were
mostly Adventurers and Explorers who were going into the Labyrinth, while
skirts were generally worn by the women in the towns and villages? And
even then, wouldn't it actually be more convenient for them to be wearing
men's pants because of the relative freedom of movement those pants would
provide?
Roxanne was looking through all the clothes with keen eyes, and not just the
ones she intended to try on, but also at the ones she thought would look good
on me. Occasionally, she would even take some of them, press them against
my body and mumble things like「How about this?」 or 「Hmm, maybe this
color would be good?」and 「Hmm, this stitch here is a little…」
「Uhm, Roxanne?」
「No, on the other hand, maybe something a bit lighter would be better….」
「H-Hello…?」
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I tried to speak up to give her my own opinion about some of the clothes, but
each and every time my attempts were swiftly being shot down by her not
even paying attention to me, that's how deep in a shopping trance she
currently was. To add insult to injury, she was speaking with technical,
fashion-related jargon that I did not understand very well, so I had no choice
but to just suck it up and let her do her thing, because she looked like she was
genuinely having fun choosing all those clothes, and I in turn had fun
watching her having fun, so it's a win-win situation where everyone is happy
no matter the outcome.
When we finally finished buying all of the clothes and left the clothing store,
half a day was already over. How do I know that? Because the house that we
are renting is on the east side of the city, so when we were leaving it in the
morning the sun was rising in front of it, but now that we were heading back,
it was already behind it. We really spend so much time doing nothing but
shopping for clothes, huh? I mean, I was mentally prepared that it would take
a long time, but to think that it actually took one half of an entire day…
Part 2
「Thank you, very much, master.」
「Thank you too, for choosing my clothes for me.」
Well, as long as I get to see Roxanne's smiling face, then I guess it was all
worth it, especially since we didn't have to pay as much as I thought we
would, since we bought all the clothes we needed for only 1500 Nars.
「Ah!」
All of a sudden, Roxanne gasped as if she just noticed something that
immediately caught her attention.
「Master, since we bought so many new clothes, then would it be all right for
us to buy a larger tub so we could wash them all at once?」
She said, pointing her finger towards the store that apparently sold all kinds
of wooden products. *Sigh* it would seem that any time the amount of one
thing in your possession increases, the amount of all the things related to it
increases as well, and I cannot say for sure if this is a good thing or not. But
since Roxanne said that she would need a larger tub to make doing laundry
easier, then I guess there is no reason for me to decline her wishes.
「Sure, why not.」
I replied while wondering how much money I would have to pay for a bigger
washing tub. Since it's made out of wood, then surely it cannot be all that
expensive, now can it?
When we entered the store, we saw various wooden tubs of different sizes
lined up right next to the store's entrance, but it looks like that's not the only
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thing that can be bought here, as was evident by the number of wooden cups
placed here and there. We didn't buy any when we were shopping for the
wok back at the hardware store a few days ago, so maybe it will be better to
buy them here right now?
「We're sorry for the intrusion! Is the shopkeeper around?」
「I am. Welcome, how may I help you?」
An old man who looked like a craftsman came out from the back of the shop.
His Job was a villager. From what I could see with a short glance behind him,
the part of the shop in the back where he emerged from looked like a
workshop space where craftsmen processed wood. I guess that means that
this guy is also a craftsman and probably made all of the things that are on
display himself.
Instead of approaching the shopkeeper and asking him if he has what we need
Roxanne did the same thing she did back at the clothing store and started
checking all of the tubs while not paying any attention to her surroundings.
Yup, even the awkward atmosphere of having to just stand back and watch
her was exactly the same, so the shopkeeper and I just kinda stood there like
little puppies that waited for their master to return from a trip to the store, and
it was admittedly making me a bit uncomfortable, to the point where I tried to
actively search with my eyes for something, anything to talk about with the
guy. Fortunately, I think I found just the thing to do the job nicely.
「Is that the biggest size of the wooden basins you have in store?」
I asked, pointing at the largest basin in the shop which looked like it had
more than one meter in diameter.
「Yes, that is the biggest one I have in store right now, but I can make an even
bigger one if its going to be a special order.」
Makes sense if he has a workshop space at the back of this place. And if
that's the case, then maybe, just maybe…
「So theoretically, if I were to make an order, you would have taken it?」
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「As long as you have enough coin to pay for it? I don't see why not.」
Okay, getting more promising by the minute…
「You had such requests being made before?」
「Not that often, but they do happen from time to time whenever people wish
to have something where they could wash a large amount of clothes together
in one go.」
「So it can be done. Good to know.」
You might be wondering what am I thinking about if I am asking him such
things, to which I reply: I'm thinking about ordering him to make a bathtub
for us. Since I already went through the trouble of renting an entire house, I
want it to have a proper bathroom.
This world does not seem to be familiar with the concept of taking regular
bath, since it is considered to be a luxury that only the rich folks can afford,
and the rest of the populace has to resort to only wiping themselves with
damp towels, and I don't think I have to tell you that doing something like
that does next to nothing for you when you just want to relax after a
particularly tiring day at work or a hard run through the Labyrinth. Now that I
know water magic I could always try creating hot water with it, but other
people who are not as lucky as I or those capable of using magic are, and
have to resort to either wiping themselves, or ignore their personal hygene
altogether, and since unconventional methods of washing yourself will
definitely pump up the costs of it more and more, I can totally see people
going for the second option. However, right now I find myself in a position
where such dilemmas do not concern me anymore.
Right now, I have both the means and the money needed for me to afford
building a bath and upkeeping it. Also, if I decide to take a bath, Roxanne
will definitely come in with me, and because she would enter the bath, then I
would want to enter it with her as well. And while in the bath together, we
will wash each other's bodies up until they will be sparkly clean, and then..
and then…!!!
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A bath… yes, a bath is an absolute necessity for us! Because baths are the
best, and as such, I absolutely, definitely have to get my hands on it! Even if
making it proves to be challenging, this is a matter of utmost importance
where no cost will be too great! But the question that I have right now is:
how the hell are bathtubs even made? Back in Japan it was a matter that I
never even thought about, because to be frank, there was never a need for me
to do so, and I have also not seen any bathtubs or anything that would even
resemble them in any of the Quratar's stores that we have come across…
hmm, maybe I could hire a contractor for all the interior-related work and the
process of installation since the landlady said that we can make alterations to
the house if we want to… but then again, attracting too much attention to
myself is the last thing that I want to do…
Bringing water from well and river and boiling it would be a considerable
cost. In case that we would want to bathe every day of every other day, that
would put quite a bit of strain on me MP-wise. Also, in my case, even if I can
prepare water and boil it by using magic, but I cannot reveal it reveal it so
casually. When it comes to heating, we wouldn't need any additional boilers
or other gizmos like that because it has already been verified that water can
be heated with an ordinary Fireball. He might be surprised if we tell him that
we won't need a boiler, but then again, that's not really his business and I
don't have to tell him every little detail, right? On that note, I don't think I
would be able to put a bathtub together myself, so like it or not, I have to rely
on this craftsman to do it. Thsnkfully, it looks like he will make it for us
without anytrouble
「I have a positive track record, so I think I should be able to handle any
request you might have for me without any issues.」
「Is that so?」
He seems to be awfully certain of his skills as a craftsman. I wonder how
many people have ordered something from him and exactly how many of
them feel satisfied with the quality of the finished product?
「How big is the thing you want to order going to be?」
「Hmm, let's see… ideally, I want something that would be as wide as an
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average person's height. Is that possible?」
The one that came to my mind when I imagined it was similar to the ones that
sometimes appeared in the paintings of Katsushika Hokusai, not that this guy
would know who I was talking about even if I mentioned his name.
Part 3
「Should be easy enough to do. What about the depth? Is normal-sized enough
or should that also be custom-tailored?」
「I think something about as deep as this one should be enough.」
I said, pointing towards the biggest and deepest basin that was in the store.
Since it's going to be for the purpose of bathing, I should pick something that
would allow us to sink into it just enough to have a nice, long, relaxing soak,
but not something that would seem too extravagant or downright weird. I am
already making quite a number of specific demands for this order, so it would
not surprised me if the shopkeeper was already suspicious of my intentions
behind making something like that, so I have to make sure to keep those
suspicions of his to a bare minimum by sticking to the standards of something
that he already has here in store as much as possible. Judging by my rough
estimates, the actual depth of the deepest basin in this shop should be around
50 centimeters or something a little bit beneath that if we assume that the
bottom of the basin has to be thicker than the rest of it, but I think that it
should be enough to fulfill its ultimate purpose, which is to have a bath, but
more importantly, to enter it together with Roxanne and have enough space
left in it so that we could get a little frisky whenever the mood strikes us.
「Hmm, in that case, how about 2000 Nars for it?」
The wood craftsman though about it for a while and finally gave me the
price. I have to say, that's way cheaper than I originally expected. I thought
that for such a specific custom order I would have to pay at least twice as
much as the price he offered, so that is a pleasant surprise.
「I'll take it, please.」
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「Because it's a build-to-order, it will take around five days to make. Once it
will be finished, I will send a messenger who will let you now about it.」
「All right, got it.」
It's great that we will be notified when it is finished instead of having to
come here again of our own accord, even though it's probably going to mean
that we will have to pay some additional costs for the transportation of the
finished tub.
「We will be looking forward to hearing from you in a few days then.」
By the way, even though this world is operating in a medieval setting, there
seems to be a proper way of addressing the residences of the citizens in the
big cities. The address of our rented house is the 6th District, 7th chome, 123rd
residence
「Roxanne, you found anything interesting?」
「Yes, I think this is going to be good.」
When I was having my conversation with the shopkeeper about the custommade bath, in the meantime Roxanne found a tub that she deemed to be
appropriate for the job of doing our laundry in it. Having a brief glance at it I
concluded that her keen eyes allowed her to truly make the best selection
possible. She handed the tub to me and I in turn showed it to the shopkeeper.
「Okay, got it. For now, can we take this?」
「Yes, of course. Thank you for your patronage.」
「We will be taking it as it is, there's no need for transportation.」
「As you wish. That will be 50 Nars.」
Since the Job of this guy is a Villager, my 30% discount did not work on him.
We just paid the full price and left the store.
「If I may ask, master, what do we need such a large washbasin for if we
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already bought this one?」
「It's for something that you definitely can look forward to. Trust me, you're
going to love it.」
Now that all of our shopping was finally done, we returned home with the
washbasin in hand, and once we arrived back at our place, we changed into
our new sets of clothing we bought today.
「We should wash our clothes early in the day so that they could dry as soon
as possible, but are we going to be entering the Labyrinth today?」
「Hmm… that's right. All that shopping took us way more time than I
anticipated… you know what? Let's take a break from going there today.」
We have already went to the Labyrinth before breakfast today, so I think we
can have the rest of the day off for a change. We've been making steady runs
through both Veil's and Quratar's Labyrinths for the past few days, so taking
it easy for one day should not hurt us nor our purses.
「Understood. In that case I will start washing our clothes, and once that's
done I will continue with the cleaning.」
「Of course, feel free to do that, but first… how are you feeling with the new
clothes? Do you find them all right?」
「Yes, they feel really nice, thank you very much, master.」
「Well isn't that nice? If that's how it is then maybe we should check how it
feels to take these clothes off? After all, we wouldn't want them feeling all
uncomfortable or taking too long to get out of them now, do we?」
「Oh… Y-Yes, of course… right away.」
We are entering the Labyrinths practically every day, so having a day off like
that feels like a much-needed change of pace, and it feels good to have one of
these every once in a while. Yeah, once in a while such breaks feel super
nice. Once in a while.
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Later, when we were finished with checking the clothes' comfortability when
being taken off, I used my Water magic to get us enough water for washing
our dirty clothes, making dinner and bathing. As a result of all that watermaking, even though I said that we should have today free from going to the
Labyrinth, we still had to go there for a quick MP recovering trip. It's great
that currently my level is high enough so that I can get us all the water we
need, but I should raise it even more to avoid needing to go the Labyrinth
every time I'm filling a bathtub altogether. I know that if it's just for the
purpose of recovering my MP then all we need is to go to the lower floors
and slay some low-level monsters, but no matter how fast I can go about it, it
still consumes precious time that could be spend on doing literally anything
else.
「Now then. I will take care of the main dish for dinner. The menu for today
will be white stew.」
「White stew… is it?」
「Have you ever eaten it before?」
「No, I can't say that I have. This is the first time I have heard such a name
before.」
Roxanne seems to have never eaten White Stew before. Either that, or the
equivalent of White Stew does not exist in this world. Maybe I should have
called it a white soup instead and see if that changes anything? Nah.
「Well, if you have never tried White Stew before, then please look forward to
it.」
With the ingredients available in this world I should be able to make White
Stew without any particular problems.
First, put the meat, wine and water into a large pot and boil for 30 minutes to
extract all the juices from the meat, making them mix with wine and water.
You can also add milk to make it thicker if you prefer your stew to be that
way. By the way, in this world things like milk and wine that are available in
stores are held in jars, so after they are used we will have additional
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containers to hold other things in it. It's a complete deposit system, kinda like
PET bottles or paper bags that you hold bread in so that it won't go stale as
fast.
Next, you add in the vegetables, the same ones that Roxanne used while she
was making her Pot-au-feu and simmer them all over low flame. I thrown
some green onions in there to mask the smell of the meat. Although I read
somewhere once that green onions are poisonous to dogs, Roxanne claims
that there is no vegetable that she can't eat. I guess that means that even
though she has dog features, that particular quirk is not among the ones she
inherited from them. Besides, if those are the vegetables that Roxanne used
herself, then there shouldn't be no problems.
While all of the ingredients are boiling, be sure to add wheat flour and some
butter to the wok and fry it.
Part 4
Next, pour the milk into the batter and boil over a low flame and keep mixing
it all up until it reaches the consistency of the white roux.
On a side note, you should be able to make clam chowder and cream
croquettes that way as well. If only we had a functioning oven here, then
maybe I could also make gratin.
Put the resulting white roux and vegetables in a pan and boil all of the
ingredients together. Finally, I tasted it and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
It's a success, as far as I am concerned.
Roxanne also ate it with a huge smile of delight on her face.
「Mashter, thish ish sho yummy!」
Maybe I should tell her that she should not be saying things like that while
she's having her mouth full of white, sticky substances?
Now that we had to wait for the bathtub to be finished before any work in the
house could be advanced further, we both decided that the best course of
action will be to advance through the Labyrinths as much as possible.
The tactic we have adopted for our explorations was to go to to the Labyrinth
at least two times a day: in the early morning before having breakfast and in
the afternoon so that we could jump straight to having dinner when we get
back, and to have a modest time of rest before each run. That was the
minimum we agreed on doing, but whenever we could, we tried to go explore
them at least several times a day. While going through our Labyrinthforaging days like that, we quickly managed to reach the Boss Room in the
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Veil's Labyrinth's third floor. When we reached the waiting room outside of
the boss's chamber I took a moment to do a Character Reset and equip
Durandal, and once that was done, we entered the Boss Room proper without
hesitation. Since we have already fought the Kobold Kampfer in the
Quratar's Labyrinth where it was actually the Floor Boss of the first floor, we
didn't have to be our guard too much. We simply have to employ our usual
strategy: we will surround it from both sides where Roxanne will occupy it in
the front and I will go to its back where I will wait for the right moment to
slash the bastard down with a swing of my sword. Now, I don't want to say
that I am getting used to fighting the floor Bosses or overly confident with
fighting them, who are essentially just a bigger, more menacing variants of
the regular enemies, but… but I guess I am getting used to fighting them after
beating so many of them.
When the Kobold Kampfer appeared from a cloud of green smoke in the
center of the room, Roxanne took her designated position in front of it and
brandished her Scimitar, which she then used to slash at it and draw its
attention to herself, while I assumed my combat-ready stance at its back,
waiting for the right moment to attack to present itself. Since I have my OP
abilities and an even more OP weapon, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I am
our Party's main damage dealer, and as a damage dealer, I should be pouring
all of my efforts into attacking and killing enemies with one blow rather than
focusing on avoiding their attacks or defending against them. Dodging and
defending is Roxanne's role, because as worried about Roxanne's safety as I
may be, those concerns are always proven to be unnecessary. No matter if
this is a normal enemy or a Boss, as long as Roxanne has her superior
reflexes, there is no way for any attack to reach her.
The attacks of the Kobold Kampfer are all slow and clumsy, and he is
staggering under Roxanne's attacks. To be honest, I am starting to feel a little
sorry for that monster.
When the Kobold Kampfer was defeated and disappeared in a cloud of green
smoke after leaving behind its drop items, we moved onto the fourth floor,
where I decided to keep Durandal with me for a while longer until we happen
across the first encounter with the monsters native to this floor and see how
tough they will be to beat.
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The first monster that we encountered not long after arriving here was a Mino
Lv4. So, this is the type of monster native to the fourth floor of Veil's
Labyrinth, huh? It looks like a brown buffalo, or perhaps a bull, but it has a
torso that looks like its strangely too short in comparison to its massive front
and hind legs, giving it a bit of a comical looks. Could it be that whoever was
responsible for creating the monsters for this game made a fatal design error
with it and didn't bother to correct it? Normally cows and bulls I am familiar
with look docile, or even kinda cute, but with the two sharp horns growing
out of its head, I can safely say that there is nothing even remotely cute about
this monster here.
It looks our way with eyes filled with ferocious killing intent, and then breaks
into a run with its head brought down and the sharp horns pointing directly at
us. If those things hit us, I bet it won't end on just light wound. It's going to
hurt like hell….
… If it manages to hit us at all, that is. I mean seriously, if all it is doing is
charging at its prey straight ahead, then even someone as evasion-impaired
like me will be able to dodge such a simple-minded attack like that of a
common boar. Then again, it's just an oversized, muscular cow, so I don't
know what else I have expected.
Mino charges towards Roxanne and thrusts its horns towards her, but she
simply twisted her body lightly and dodged it effortlessly, and I swung my
weapon at it after dodge-rolling to the side. As a result, Mino collapsed to the
ground before it got the chance to aim its horns at us again. So it looks like
with Durandal, even the monsters on the Labyrinth's fourth floor can still be
defeated in one blow.
The enemy became a puff od green smoke and disappeared. The item it left
behind is something called Mino's Hide. If it turns out to be sturdy enough,
perhaps it could be a good material for armor-making? Or turning it into
some nice clothing? Anyway…
「So this is the kind of monster we will have to deal with here? Not only does
it have quite the ferocious appearance, but it also seems to be pretty
powerful.」
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「It does look like a powerful opponent indeed… but all you have to do is to
watch its movements closely so that you can safely dodge its attacks.」
She's not wrong, but there are two catches to what she's saying: you actually
have to be nimble enough to dodge and then swiftly counterattack, and have a
keen enough eyesight to actually see the best possible moment for carrying
out a dodge. As much as it pains me to say it, out of the two of us, only
Roxanne is able to carry such manuevers out in a consistent manner. I don't
want to always be burdening her with having to act like a decoy, so I will
have to definitely do something about it in the near future.
Now that the battle with Mino was finished, I unequipped Durandal and
switched back to my magic-using setup. Now that we are on the fourth floor,
it seems highly unlikely that I will be able to defeat monsters other than
Kobolds with one or two shots of my spells. It'll be more realistic to assume
that I will need three or perhaps even four of them to get the job done
properly. The obvious downside to it is that if I can't defeat them in three
shots or less, it means that the probability of them reaching me before I could
dispose of them will be greater, but it's not like I can do anything about it
besides gaining more levels and increasing my stats.
As we moved forward through the fourth floor, we haven't encountered a
group of two or more Minos. The groups of enemies we fought against
always consisted of either one of them, or a mixture of just one Mino along
with a Kobold, a Green Caterpillar or even a Needlewood. As a side note:
Needlewoods; monsters native to Veil Labyrinth's first floor, were growing
more and more scarce now. Perhaps after venturing a few more floors further
we will stop encountering them at all? well, no point thinking about it now.
Scarce or not, they are still enemies that have to be cut down for us to
proceed.
If we only have to deal with one Mino, dealing with it can be left to Roxanne.
Part 5
Since she will be done with it in no time flat, and when it comes to Kobolds,
Green Caterpillars and Needlewoods, they can all be defeated before they
even come within our melee distance thanks to my tried and true method of
shooting a Fireball at them until they die that I have developed over my
countless battles with them thus far. All in all, I think we are actually more
than ready to take on the fourth floor.
When I was thinking about all those things, a group of three Lv.4 Mino's
appeared before us. Geh, I know it's about time a group made only of the
monsters native to this floor appeared, but it doesn't make the prospect of
actually fighting them any more appealing.
By the way, three monsters should the maximum amount that should be
encountered here on the fourth floor, meaning that technically no more
monsters should appear during this particular fight. It is definitely a good
thing that the monster ratio is so small on the lower floor of the Labyrinth's,
otherwise we might have been in serious trouble. For the time being, let us
take care of the guys in front of us.
My opening gift to them was a Fire Storm right to their ugly faces, but since
one shot was not nearly enough to finish them off they simply powered
through the spell and continued their charge towards us. I readied my wand
and fired a second shot of magic at them, and then the third one, but it was
still not enough. Are they able to withstand so many attacks of Fire Storm
because of the speed gained from the momentum of their charge? But in that
case, I think I can use this to my advantage!
Now that all three of them have eaten three shots of Fire Storm it shouldn't
take much more for us to kill them, so while Roxanne focuses the attention of
the two of them on herself, I can take care of the last one on my own. Its
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momentum is strong, but that means that if I just let it come as close to me as
possible before evading and making my own move…
… it won't be able to change its course and respond in time!
(Fire Storm… ughhh!!!)
I definitely felt the sensation of its horns connecting with my hand just now,
but soon after that, the fourth Fire Storm I fired at that Mino consumed it and
it finally fell to the ground, dead.
I actually got hit. Its horn reached me. The thoughts that if I didn't finished it
off just now it could have been pretty bad for me rushed through my head.
Even with all the powers and weapons at my disposal, the fear of getting hit
by the enemies and being harmed is still very much real within me. Right
now, I was once again reminded that fighting monsters is a scary endeavor.
I should have expected as much. After all, these horns have to be as sharp as
the weapons used by Adventurers, so its no surprise that it managed to
penetrate through the parts of my Leather Armor, which might not be the best
kind of protection against bladed weapons or sharp fangs, horns or claws, not
to mention the fact that it does not cover my body in its entirety, leaving
some parts of it exposed and therefore opened up to attacks.
Should I buy better equipment for myself to make sure that such attacks
won't harm me even if they somehow manage to connect with me? Like, for
example, a set of full metal armor?Because I think that one of the guys from
the Party we evesdropped on way back then at the Labyrinth's entrance, the
ones that were discussing whether they should stay on the third floor or move
to the fourth one, had an armor like that. Granted, it will definitely slow down
my movements, but the damage reduction should be much bigger in
comparison to my current Leather Armor.
I know that now is not the time to be thinking about such things, but I just
can't help it, especially since I know that the higher we will climb and the
more floors we are going to explore, the monsters are only going to get
stronger and scarier.
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I tried to recall how I felt when other monsters attacked me and managed to
successfully land a hit on me, and the first one that comes to my mind was
that one Green Caterpillar that body-blowed me. The initial shock of having a
giant bug ram itself into me with the weight of its entire body was quite
shocking and it was somewhat painful, but overall, it was nothing that would
sweep you off your feet in such a way that you would have trouble standing
back up. When it come to the Needlewoods, they are just trees smacking you
with their branches, so that's nothing to write home about. As for the
Kobolds, I… I actually have nothing to say about them, because I have never
been attacked directly by any of them. Okay, the knives they are carrying
around are more than a little unsettling, but the Kobolds themselves are so
weak that one strike of the sword or one spell from the ordinary wand are
enough to kill them. Or maybe I just thought they were scary because that
was the first time when I saw them carrying those weapons and now I gotten
used to seeing them so I do not find it as scary anymore?
In any case, now that I have finished dealing with my enemy, my eyes
wondered towards Roxanne, who was fighting against the two of them at the
same time. It should be more difficult for her, since she has to keep track of
and avoid the attacks of not one, but two Minos at once, however…
Roxanne hits the Mino right in front of her with her Scimitar to stop it from
charging blindly ahead towards me and draw its attention to herself, and then
lightly dodges the charge of the second Mino with her shield. It's amazing
how she in not faltering in the slightest even when she is clearly outnumbered
and at a disadvantage. She dodges the attacks and counterattacks almost
immediately after they miss her, slashing at the Minos's bodies and horns so
hard that sparks are created with every blow. The two Mino's Roxanne's
been fighting with were dead soon after that.
「Did you have any trouble fighting two of them at the same time, Roxanne?
Because as far as I am concerned, fighting three Minos at once might be a
little annoying. How troublesome」
「While it's true that having to face more of those particular monsters at once
might be somewhat problematic, the battle was still shorter than it would
have been without master's magic. Thanks to you, we could finish them off
quickly and avoid any harm that would have been inevitable if the fight
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started to drag on.」
「So I take it you won't have any difficulties taking two of them on should the
need for that arise again?」
「Not at all. Just now, they were only able to make two attacks before the
battle was ended. However, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to evade all
of their attacks if the battle lasts longer than a few minutes at best, so I think
we should avoid encounters like that whenever we can afford it.」
My thoughts exactly. Aside from their charge attack being more than a little
scary due to how sudden it can be, Minos are not that hard to kill if you keep
your wits about you and your head calm at all times, but just like Roxanne
said, we should avoid fighting bigger groups of enemies whenever we can, or
grow strong enough to dispose of them in the blink of an eye. And for that,
we will need more EXP and levels for our Jobs. Or to be more specific, I
need more EXP and Levels for my Jobs because Roxanne is doing just fine as
she is already; I am the one who has to get stronger not to constantly rely on
her doing all of the heavy lifting for me.
That, and having only her fight all of the enemies, like those Minos just now
would be boring and anticlimactic, since this is technically my story.
We then continued to explore the fourth floor of the Veil's Labyrinth. For the
time being we have not encountered a group made out of three Mino's again,
and even if we happened across a group of three monsters, it's usually one
Mino mixed with a Kobold or Green Caterpillar. As long as the group of
three Minos won't show up again, then I think our trek through this floor
might actually be pretty uneventful.
Part 6
If two monsters show up, then they are no problem for us since we can just
take them on in a one-on -one combat, and as long as we (or in this case, I)
won't panic, we can deal with them in a minute or so, but if one of them is a
Mino, then I have to allow Roxanne to take care of it while I go for the other
one. In any other case, they were all steadily defeated.
The next trio of enemies appeared a solid while later. It was a combo of two
Minos and a Kobold. Naturally, the Kobold got obliterated into a puff of
green smoke by a Fire Storm before it could even begin to run towards us.
Now that this loser was out of the picture, all we had to deal with were two
Minos, who promptly began to charge towards us.
The first blow from the Fire Storm reached them, but did not stop them
exactly the same as last time. Roxanne jumped towards the one in front and
stopped it from advancing by slashing her Scimitar at it, but the second one
got past her and continued to approach me with its head lowered and horns in
front. I launched a second and third Fire Storm at it, but again, three shots
were not enough to bring it down. I need one more spell to finish it off for
good.
But before I could fire another spell, Mino, who got in my melee range lifted
its head and attacked me with its horns during the downtime between one
spell and the other where I could do nothing to defend myself. I tried to
hastily twist my body to avoid it, but my left arm got caught up by its horn,
resulting it a much sharper pain than during the previous battle where I was
just barely grazed by it. It was un unpleasant kind of pain, but luckily not
strong enough to make me faint on the spot.
「Uooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!」
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Danger. My life is in danger!
Fire Storm activated, and emitted a series of sparks.
「Buooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!」
The Mino got struck by most of them, which caused it to fall sideways as it
was being burned to cinders. With that final blow, the battle was over.
Dangerous.
Dangerous. That right now was too much of a close call! One wrong move
and I would have probably been done for! How could I allow this monster to
get so close to me so causally?! How could I allow it to happen?!
These guys are extremely dangerous! Even if Roxanne says they are easy to
evade if you pay close attention, it does not change the fact that Minos are
still dangerous as hell! Until now, I have been smacked by Needlewood
branches and both slammed into and spat on by Green Caterpillars so I more
or less know how to deal with them and how much of them I can basically
facetank before getting worried about my HP, but I have yet to be exposed to
a direct hit from a Mino, so its exact power is a complete mystery to me.
However, there is no doubt in my mind that a day when I will get attacked by
a Mino directly will surely come sooner or later. The question is: will I be
able to live through that attack to learn my lesson and draw the appropriate
conclusions?
No, I should not think negatively like that when I am not affected by the loss
of MP. Just stay calm and think, Michio, think! Ever since I came to this
world I have been attacked by a variety of monsters, and each time I was
panicking and thinking that just one of their attacks will be enough to kill me,
only to discover that it was not the case and I was simply paranoid about the
entire thing. If even the attacks from the Floor Bosses were not enough to kill
me in one shot, then there will probably be no problems with me receiving an
attack or two from a Mino, even if it were to be a direct hit from its horns. I
mean sure, they look like they are as sharp as a sword, but would they really
be fatal? Surely they cannot be. If they were, then that would be too much of
a power spike in comparison to how easy the third floor was when it came to
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its monsters and Floor Boss.
Except that little unfortunate incident, the exploration is going relatively
smoothly so far, but that does not mean that we can relax. We have to stay
vigilant at all times, since even with my Chant Omission Skill, my defensive
options while using my magic-focused build are still limited in comparison to
my Durandal-focused build. Swinging a sword is so simple that pretty much
anyone can do it, but with magic, a significantly bigger effort has to be made
in order to use it. Not only does it require the caster to concentrate his
consciousness to properly formulate the spell's name or the chant (not needed
in my case), but there is also a few seconds gap between each consecutively
fired spell that leaves the user potentially vulnerable to enemy attacks. That is
what happened in that battle against the group of those three Minos just now,
and it almost cost me an injury.
I wonder what are the other magic casters and wizards doing in order to
protect themselves in the periods of the brief pauses between spells? They
have to do something to keep themselves from harm's way, but since fighting
the monsters requires their concentration to remain fully geared towards
casting offensive spells, then what could that method of prevention be? Do
they have some kind of special defensive spells in effect? Or maybe their
robes and elements of clothing are enchanted in such a way that they protect
them from hostile attacks?
Well, the most logical choice for them is to stay in the rearguard and shoot
their spells from a safe distance where no enemy will reach them. If only we
had more members in our Party, then I could do the same without having to
constantly pay attention to every enemy and their distance from me and leave
the fighting up close and personal to the avant-garde. If we continue to go on
the way we are now, then the burden placed on Roxanne, our only vanguard
member, will only keep increasing, putting her in more and more needless
danger.
That being said, should we… find more vanguard members as soon as
possible? And then, should we opt for someone whom we could hire for a
relatively cheap price, or maybe go for increasing the number of my slaves
instead? However, if I were to give my honest opinion, then I would like not
to get someone who's easily disposable if I can help it, and switching old
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Party members for the more talented or better equipped ones will be
inevitable even without grinding excessively in the Labyrinths to get money.
The thing is, I have too many secrets that absolutely cannot be allowed to be
made public, so it will be better to collect a certain amount of money first and
then find ourselves some trustworthy, long-term Party members that will stay
with us for a long time instead.
What should we do in the meantime though? Strengthen our existing
equipment? Or perhaps try and get our hands on a new one? I guess that
would not be a bad thing to do, considering the fact that things will only get
tougher from here on out.
With every floor that goes up, the levels of the enemies we are going to
encounter there will go up as well, meaning that they will only get harder to
defeat with a Party that has only two members in it, so increasing the number
of allies among our ranks, and no, I am totally not saying that just so that I
could have an excuse for adding more members into my harem. That
development is still a prospect located somewhere in the future, because for
now, we should focus on what we should do when we will reach the fifth and
the sixth floor here in Veil's Labyrinth, and worry about increasing the
strength of our equipment only when it will be absolutely necessary to do so.
Here on the fourth floor, the number of monsters that appear with each
encounter is still relatively small, and they are all enemies that can be
defeated with relative ease with both magic and Durandal, especially Kobolds
that go down with one hit from literally anything, be it sword or magic. These
guys appear more often than Needlewoods and Green Caterpillars, most
likely because we are only a floor above the one that is their natural habitat
here in Veil's Labyrinth.