[Player Name: Kaga Michio]
[Current Character Levels & Equipment] :
[Jobs] :
Explorer Lv.36
Hero Lv.34
Mage Lv.36
Monk Lv.35
Sex Maniac Lv.19
[Equipment] :
Wand
Leather Helmet
Leather Armor
Leather Gloves
Leather shoes
I woke up late at night.
It is not even morning yet. Moreover, my senses were telling me that it has not been
all that long since I actually fell asleep after having so much amber-colored fun with
Roxanne and Sherry wearing their Amber Necklaces, so I will just go to the toilet real
quick and then go back to sleep as soon as possible in order not to disturb Roxanne
and Sherry. After all, I do not want them to be sleep deprived because of something as
simple as me going to the toilet in the middle of the night.
I have to admit that I might have overdo it last night. I mean, Roxanne, Sherry and I are
always hustlin' and bustlin' in the sheets as if there was supposed to be no tomorrow,
but what we did yesterday, or I guess I should say a few hours ago in order to be
accurate, was especially intense, even for my Sex Maniac-enhanced standards.
I moved my lower body so much that even now I was still sweating like a pig, and
because I moved around and "exercised" so much I had to drink a lot more water than
usual in order to keep myself properly hydrated, which in turn caused excess water
that my body did not need to keep functioning the way that it was supposed to
accumulate itself in my bladder, which began to feel as if it was about to explode.
And all of that because of the impact that the sight of Roxanne and Sherry wearing
Amber Necklaces had on me. I did not know that amber could be so powerful and
terrifying at the same time. Maybe I should watch myself from now on in order to not
get consumed by my carnal instincts and urges whenever Roxanne and Sherry are
going to be wearing the necklaces? Or perhaps it would be better to have them only
wear them at home so that they would not end up provoking any other guys just in
case amber worked at other me the same way it worked on me?
"Mmmnnnn… master?"
Oh, it would seem that Roxanne also woke up because I woke up. How cute of her.
Unnecessary, but still cute.
"I am just going to go to the toilet for a bit, so feel free to go back to sleep and do not
mind me."
"No, it is not a problem at all. But if you want to go to the toilet, then you are going to
need a candlestick. Here you go."
Even though Roxanne looks as if she was still sleepy, she prepared a candle and a
candlestick for me to use. I gratefully took them from her and ignited the candle with
with magic.
On a side note: magic of this world is really amazing and immensely useful for the
battle purposes, but when it comes to such simple day-to day things like lightning a
candle, it was surprisingly difficult to utilize properly without accidentally causing a
large scale fire, because as far as I know there exist no spell that would allow me to
create only a little bit of fire ideal for the purpose of lighting up a candle, so I had no
choice but to create a "Fire Wall"in an empty space next to the bed and light the candle
off of that.
Needless to say, the amount of fire created by a "Fire Wall" Spell is way too excess for
my needs, and throughout the entire process I was praying for the fire to remain
relatively calm so that the occasional spark that was flying out of it and into the air did
not end up hitting the bed, bedsheets or anything else that would start burning
brightly in an instant.
It took me a good while due to my cautiousness, but when I finally managed to tight
the candle, it was high time for me to head downstairs to the toilet. But you know
what?
As I was making my way there, I definitely could not help it but to notice how creepy
my own shadow was in the dim swaying light the illuminated the floor, walls and the
ceiling of the corridor and the stars, and the more I looked at it, the better I understood
why in the old days, before they invented electricity and the lightbulbs people would
believe in the existence of ghosts.
If I did not know any better, I would probably believe that the shadow on the walls
was not my own, but that it was actually a demon lurking in the darkness, waiting to
drag me down into the dark abyss together with him...
Yeah, right. It is a good thing that no such thing as ghosts exists and they will not come
to hunt my sorry ass. However, the further I went, the more I could feel this feeling of
uneasiness and dread washing over me, almost to the point of making me feel sick.
Come on, Michio, do not be a scaredy cat now. You have nothing to be afraid of, so just
go to the toilet, do the deed and come back upstairs to where Roxanne and Sherry are
waiting for you in your warm bed.
I reached the kitchen, where the surroundings that were dimly lit by the swaying light
of the flickering candle only increased my feelings of uneasiness and despair, and
somehow, my shadow became even more disturbing, even though there was no reason
for it to be like that. I mean come on, this is my own shadow, so why am I having shivers
and goosebumps as if it really was some kind of monster that seemed to be stalking
me...
No, wait a second.
This... this is really not my shadow.
Something is here. Something is moving around in the kitchen, on the border of the
candle's light and the darkness that the rest of the house is bathed in right now. There
is something there together with me right now! Something pitch black, which
prevented me from seeing exactly what it was. I knew that this is probably going to be
a bad idea, but I could not have taken my eyes off it, and so I have chosen to stare at
the thing. I stared at it.
This whole situation felt so surreal to me that I could not believe that it was happening.
There is a strange black creature in my house wandering around my kitchen in the
dead of the night. Some kinda strange being that moved around so fast that it almost
looked as if it was flying instead of moving along the ground.
I thought that there was no way for the creatures such as ghosts, demons and devils
to exist, but I have forgotten that this was the assumption that I made based on the
fact that these things did not exist in the modern-day Japan of my old world, but this
world is not modern-day Japan.
This is a fantasy world based on medieval Europe, and what is a world in a fantasy
setting without ghosts and demons in it? Not a very interesting world to many people,
I am willing to bet. And because of that, this demonic monster that plunges the hearts
of all people into the depths of horror is now here with me, and I do not know what I
should be doing with it!
What should I do? Should I stay? Should I run? Maybe I should run. But what if it sees
me and starts chasing after me? Am I going to have enough time to take out Durandal
and engage it in combat? But what if this thing is going to have the properties of a
ghost, which is going to render it invulnerable to physical attacks? Should I just fight
it with magic then?
But if I fight it with magic, there is a very likely possibility that the house is going to
get caught in the crossfire and will get badly damaged!
If only such nightmarish creatures did not exist! But unfortunately for me, they exist.
They are one hundred percent real, and I am looking at one of them right now. The
deadliest of creatures that man could ever think of. A messenger from hell. Black
lightning.
As I was sitting around like an idiot doing nothing to deal with the danger that has
invaded the safety of my home, the black thing moved. Just from it skittering about the
kitchen I was convinced that it has to be quite fast, but what I saw just now absolutely
blew my goddamn mind.
.
The damn thing was moving at least three times as fast as a normal human! And in an
instant, it disappeared from my sight even though I was trying to not let it out of my
sight for an instant.
However, there is no doubt that it existed. Whatever that thing was, it was definitely
here before my eyes. I am certain of it. It was here, in this home, in this kitchen. But
now it has run away... No, it did not run. I think it was more of a strategic retreat, a
withdrawal to change its position and possibly attack from yet another angle.
I thought that the monsters were showing up mostly in the Labyrinths and
wildernesses so that I would only have to worry about human enemies like Thieves
and Bandits outside of them, but apparently I was mistaken in thinking that.
I thought that human beings infesting the earth and this different world were like
cancer cells in the healthy tissue of the world, but they were definitely not. Now I know
that there are forces far more powerful and evil inhabiting the mortal plain, both in
my old world and in this new one. The enemies of mankind, the strongest, the worst,
most foul and deadly creatures that are more like sentient lethal weapons rather than
anything else.
This different world was not a safe haven for humankind. Eventually, humanity will
lose the survival race and will either be eradicated or forcibly driven out of the lands
that we thought were our home, only to find out in the absolutely worst way possible
that nothing in this world is truly ours, and we are only borrowing it because we are
allowed to do so.
Because in this world, there are the absolute beings who stand at the top of all living
things in the food chain.
"U… ugh… Uwaaaaa…!"
Unable to bear it any longer, I hurried back to my bedroom. I ran away from the kitchen
and buried myself in the sheets of the bed while my entire body continued to shiver
and tremble, so in order to stop it from doing so, I hugged Roxanne as hard as I could
without actually hurting her.
My God, I am so relieved that she is here with me and that I can do this to her to calm
myself down. If she was not here for me like that, then I do not know what I would
have done, but I definitely know that it wouldn't have been anything good, because the
fear would have caused me to revert back to my old self from before I started this new
life in a different world.
But now that Roxanne is here, I know that everything is going to be all right. As long
as I have her bombshell body right next to mine, there is nothing in the world for me
to be afraid of.
"Uhm... what is wrong, master? Did something happen to you?"
Roxanne gently puts her hand on my back and asks me, just like a mother would her
child after it came up crying to her in the middle of the night because it had a
nightmare.
"I saw it. It was there. In the kitchen!"
"It?"
"Glowing, black formless thing that was running around from one corner of the
kitchen to the next!"
Oh, that was probably..."
Do not do it. Do not say that name, Roxanne. For all that is holy, unholy and anything
else in between, do not finish your sentence that you are about to finish!
Before Roxanne could speak the forbidden name, I covered her mouth with my hand.
If that really is what I think it was, then is it not going to be summoned in here at the
mere mentioning of its name out loud? Even so, is this thing's name known in this
world as well? Because if so, then I have to say that I definitely would have been glad
if that thing stayed in the folklore and urban legends of my old world without coming
to any other worlds where it would scare more people into giving them heart attacks.
But if that thing is in this world, then could it be possible for some viruses or bacteria
from earth to also be here in order to simulate the earthly diseases? No, as much as
this is a very curious topic, that is not something that I should be worrying myself with
right about now.
"A-Anyway, let us just go back to sleep, okay? We would not want to be sleep deprived
in the morning, right?"
Taking my own words to heart, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep, but I just could
not do it, because I still felt like that thing was out there somewhere. It is definitely
still here. Maybe it is even in the bedroom, or on the bed?
Gyaaaaaah! No, stop imagining that! Do not think about it and just go to sleep you
idiot!
...Ugh!!!! I cannot do it! No matter how hard I try, I just cannot sleep! I am just too
curious about this thing! I feel like it is somewhere close! Okay buddy, if that is how
you are going to play, then I will play along and beat you up at your own goddamn
game, by showing you the ultimate proof of us humans being here and living right
here, in this very moment! I will show it to you, and Roxanne is going to help me up
with it!
There, do you see it? That intense physical activity of mine?! If you do, then choke on
it, shove it up your ethereal ass and die!
"Good morning, master."
In the morning, I was woken up by Roxanne, as per usual. After our little late-night
activity, I seemed to have fallen asleep due to the comfortable sexual fatigue. And after
a sweet and intense activity, I have been woken up by a sweet and gentle kiss. I was
about to think that this is such a wonderful way to start my morning after what
happened during the night, but then I noticed that there was something weird about
our surroundings, which caused me to become quite shocked.
That thing. It is that thing again! It is here!
"Good morning Roxanne. Good morning, Sherry."
"Good morning, master. Did… did something happen, by any chance? Because you are
looking quite upset."
My suspicious behavior was noticed by Sherry.
"No, nothing much happened. It is just that I saw it last night."
"And by "it", do you perhaps mean a black thing that seemed to be scurrying around
frantically?"
"Yes, that is right! That was exactly it!"
As expected of an intellectual type like Sherry! She knew that the name of that thing
should not be spoken out loud. I am so proud of her and her intelligence.
"So it finally came out, huh? I was wondering if this would happen sooner or later after
you rented the house, but it would seem that the time has come now, and the battle is
about to begin."
"A battle? Are we really going to fight that thing? And how?"
And more importantly: can we really fight it?
"Purchase the leaves of Shiyurab in the Guild, and then finely chop them. Once that
step is done, you have to boil it down until it becomes a sticky paste out of which you
are going to be making dumplings, and they are going to be your weapon with which
you are going to fight that thing."
Ohhhh. So we are essentially going to be making something like the oxalic acid
dumplings? So there seems to be pesticides in this world as well.
"And if we do that, then we are going to be safe, right?"
"You are going to have a weapon for fighting it, but it is not going to be a perfect one,
not by a long shot. The leaves of Shiyurab are basically tasteless and odorless, so in
order to enhance them properly you are going to have to add flour, sugar, various
vegetables, soup broth and other things to make it as appealing as possible, because
otherwise it might not be lured into eating it. That being said, the enemy is not that
stupid, and once it remembers the taste and the smell of the dumplings it will stop
eating them, which is why we have to change the recipe all the time in order to fight it
off little by little. This battle is going to be a long one, possibly lasting forever in the
worst case scenario."
.
"So what you are saying is essentially that we should prepare ourselves for a difficult
battle?"
"Not only difficult, but also the one where we cannot expect a complete victory like we
always did up until this point, but hopefully the result is going to be that we will be
seeing that thing much less often, and that alone should give us some relief."
If there is a way to decrease the rate at which that this is going to be showing in our
house, then we have to take it. It does not matter that I will only be buying myself a
momentarily peace of mind, that is going to be more than enough for me. Of course, it
would be a great thing if we managed to make that thing disappear completely, but if
it is not possible to achieve then I have no choice but to settle for the next best thing
that we can get.
"Seems reliable enough, considering that we do not have any other options on our
plates. You said that we are going to need the leaves of Shiyurab? I obtaining them
going to be difficult?"
"If we are talking about obtaining them ourselves, then yes, it is going to be rather
difficult, because the enemies that drop those leaves only start appearing around the
fiftieth floor of the Labyrinths, so if you do not have access to this floor yet, then your
only option is to buy them from the Adventurer's Guild."
In other words, that item can be harvested from the Labyrinth as a Drop Item from a
monster, but at our current progress rate it is going to be pretty much impossible for
us to obtain it, and that is why the only option left to us is to go and buy the leaves that
we are going to need from the Adventurer's Guild.
Right now, we have barely managed to get to the tenth floor of the Labyrinths, which
means that we are only at one fifth of the floors required in order to obtain that item,
but before we will be able to get it by normal means it might be way too late for us, so
I think that even if these leaves are going to be a little bit on the pricier side, it is still
going to be better for us to get them this way, because at the current point there is no
way that we could brave forty more floors of the Labyrinth in short enough time, not
when the Labyrinth grows more and more expansive with each floor that we are
advancing on and the monsters getting not only progressively stronger as their level
increases, but also growing in numbers, meaning that without a bigger Party we would
quickly get overrun and annihilated by them. After all, the Labyrinths are not passive
buildings, but living creatures that actively seek out new and improved ways to kill the
Adventurers that are delving deep into its hallways in order to continue growing and
expanding even more, so if we go to the higher floors while being outnumbered and
outpowered by the Labyrinth's monsters, the only thing that is going to be waiting for
us is going to be certain death.
However, the one thing that we absolutely cannot allow ourselves to do is to just sit
around and do nothing, simply tolerating that this thing is just keep going to show up
at our house like it owns the goddamn place. Now that I have seen it, there is no way
that I am going to allow it to keep appearing at our house and disturb its peaceful
atmosphere, so we have to create the weapon that is going to allow us to fight it at all
costs, and if we have to expend money I order to do it, then I say that in this particular
case this is going to be well worth it, all the more so if it is going to mean that we will
not have to risk our lives on an endeavor that may or may not end up in our favor.
"Okay, Sherry. I will leave this matter to you."
"Understood! I will make sure to do my best."
Sherry seems to be pretty motivated to do this. As for me, I am perfectly okay with
leaving this matter to her for the time being, because I am going to be very busy from
the early morning, since I am going to have a lot of things to do on my plate.
First, we went to the Labyrinth and stayed there exploring and slaying monsters until
around sunrise while scoring one easy victory after another, and then it was the time
to go to Palmasque in order to sell the amber that we have obtained from the cat-eared
merchant in Bode, so I also had Roxanne and Sherry wear their Amber Necklaces to
ensure that they are going to look their absolute best to make sure that this trip is
going to be as successful as can possibly be.
"All right girls, I am counting on you."
I gave a silver coin to each of them to pay for the City Entrance Tax, and on top of that
Sherry was given sixty silver coins and rough amber gemstones. Also, this time I have
refrained from giving Sherry any gold coins.
"Umm… are you not going with us again, master?"
"Yes, I will have you two go by yourselves once more."
"But we have Amber Necklaces with us this time, and they are worth a small fortune."
Certainly, right now these two combined have more than one hundred thousand Nars
worth of money on them, and since amber can be sold for a very high price in
Palmasque, there is always a risk of misappropriation.
However, they will not be able to do it when they are in custody of such expensive
accessory as Amber Necklace, plus, if they are not going to have any gold coins on
them, then the risk of them being targeted because of the amount of money that they
have on them should be considerably lessened.
"It is going to be alright. I trust you two."
"Thank you very much, master."
With all of the preparations ready, I warped us to the Labyrinth of Zabir and then to
Palmasque from there, where I sent them out to make another round of the purchases.
Because this place is the furthest to the east among all the towns and cities that I have
visited so far, the sun has already risen completely here.
"Well then, we are heading off."
"Yeah, have a safe trip, and I will be looking forward to the results."
Now that Roxanne and Sherry were off to do business, I means that I have some time
to kill before they are going to be back, but what exactly should I do? Maybe I should
go to the Labyrinth of Zabir and hunt some monsters there? Or is this going to be a
bad idea? Nah, as long as I will keep that trip on the shorter side, it should probably
be fine. And just like that, I moved to the Labyrinth of Zabir where I hunted some
monsters for a while and then warped back to Palmasque to come pick the girls back
up. It was a fifty-fifty chance that they were still away doing business, but luckily for
me, they were already back with another two mirrors by the time I have emerged from
the portal on the wall of Palmasque's Adventurer's Guild, so we immediately returned
home and then went to the of Quratar so that I could recover my lost MP.
We have already obtained four mirrors, so that means that we have to go to Palmasque
like that at least four more times.
"We have sold all amber gemstones at forty silver coins apiece."
Sherry reported to me after I finished recovering all of my MP and we took a break.
"Oooh, that is great to hear. I knew that I could count on you two."
It means that they have managed to sell the amber at five times the cost of a singe
stone. It is definitely more than I have initially expected. It is more than the total
amount I paid to the amber merchant, so it means that the cost of the Amber Necklaces
has already been recovered. It is good to hear that Sherry and Roxanne made such a
good business, but now that I learned that it left me feeling more than a little
unsatisfied. After all, if I were to go do business buying mirrors and selling raw amber,
we would have been able to buy the mirrors for thirty percent less and sell amber for
thirty percent more.
.
But because I am too afraid of my Intelligence Card getting inspected and the Knights
at the checkpoint finding out that I am not an Adventurer but just a lowly Explorer, we
are now missing out on so much money, so maybe I should actually go with them the
next time we will come to Palmasque to buy mirrors…
No Michio, just because you are missing out on money, it does not justify you getting
unnecessarily greedy. And besides, there is no telling if my thirty percent discount
would work during the buying of the mirrors and selling of the raw amber anyway.
"However, the merchant at the place where we were selling the raw amber said that
such a price would be only a one-time thing due to Miss Roxanne's necklace, so I am
afraid that if we come to sell the amber to the same merchant next time, the money
that we are going to get will not be as good as the ones that we negotiated today."
"Is that so?"
So Roxanne was dealing directly with the owner of one of the workshops, huh? Well, I
did instruct them to go directly to the workshops to make sure that they will be able
to buy a simple plain mirror, so it should be obvious that in that case they are going to
be dealing with the owners of such establishments themselves. But in that case, the
owners should possess the Job of a Merchant, which mean that my thirty percent
discount Bonus Skill should still be effective.
But what was that thing about Roxanne's necklace?
"… He should just go and perish on the spot. I am sure that nobody would miss him if
he did that."
Sherry spit out the words that definitely sounded like a curse.
I… I see. I think I get it. Was the owner a man? Yeah, if Sherry reacts in such a way, then
the owner definitely must have been a man. If the owner was a woman, she would not
have used such strong words. Judging from Sherry's reaction, the guy must have been
ogling Roxanne's necklace… But wait, if he was looking at the necklace, then that
definitely means that he was also staring at her...
Damn him! How dare he laid his filthy eyes on my Roxanne? The audacity of this prick!
"Yeah, if it was like that, then the guy should definitely perish."
"Thinking about it now, I should have just sold that necklace to his wife for twenty five
gold coins. That would have been a nice punishment for him."
So the owner of the workshop had a wife? And despite that, he was still looking at my
dear Roxanne with such filthy eyes?!
Such transgression is worthy of the worst kind of punishment indeed!
Oh well, I am sure that the merchant's wife would be easily able to put two and two
together and is going to find out about her husband's indecent intentions as soon as
she notices that he bought amber from Roxanne at such unusually high price.
"Way to go Sherry, you did good once again."
"Thank you for your kind words, master, but I was only doing exactly what you wanted
me to do. Also, we managed to buy the mirrors at a discounted price of twenty silver
coins per mirror, and because of that, we have decided to pay for the next two mirrors
in advance already. Considering the amount paid in advance and the amount already
bought, we will receive a total of fourteen mirrors. After deducting this amount, the
rest is the remaining ten mirrors including the amount to have the stand attached to
the biggest one. So as you can see, the numbers have increased a little."
Since I handed over three gold coins. Or sixty silver coins, as a prepayment, so twenty
silver coins should be an equivalent of fifteen Palmasque Mirrors, but the two I have
already purchased are calculated as thirty silver coins, and the remaining two hundred
and forty silver coins are the equivalent of twelve mirrors. In other words, did they
buy it by calculating the price as twenty silver coins? And although they paid all sixty
silver coins, they still had enough left to pay for two mirrors in advance. In other
words…
The price dropped too much, but I think that it is because they also negotiated various
other things including that, so it was still a great achievement.
"You do not have to worry yourselves with the extra numbers. Even so, that is quite a
drop from the regular price. I wonder if that workshop is going to be all right?"
"It's better if the workshop of such an owner does not make any kind of profit. His wife
did not know much about sales either, so she could not lower it anymore. This was the
lowest and best price we could get."
"I-I see."
It would seem that he was forced to give it up. Well, it was already two thirds anyway,
so it is not like he had any other choice to make. Anyway, this just proves that Sherry
is an especially ruthless and merciless negotiator.
"He was not lowering the price, of course, so we talked to his wife about it instead,
causing the great evil to perish."
So, the owner first incurred loss when he bought amber and was then exposed to his
wife for his scheming as well. Talk about a one-two punch straight to the gut without
holding anything back. But even if they had not exposed him, his wife would have
definitely found out that he bought amber from Roxanne at such a high price, so he
would have gotten his rightful comeuppance anyway.
Oh man, Sherry really is unbelievably ruthless and unforgiving. I would not have
expected that from her just from her appearance alone. I guess that really proves that
you cannot judge a book by its cover.
"The world is a beautiful place, so evil absolutely cannot be allowed to flourish in it. It
needs to be weeded out at all costs before it can contaminate the world with its filth."
"Yes. Also, we have received four gold coins in total. Here you go, master."
"Alright."
Twenty amber gemstones for four gold coins in total. It might have been better, but
overall that is not a bad catch by a long shot.
Sherry nodded reassuringly, opened her Item Box and took the gold coins out. I
opened my Item Box as well, receiving the gold coins from her and putting them away
safely in my own Item Box. As for gold coins, we have a total of twenty-one of them
now, and if we ever needed more money, then in addition to selling the Palmasque
Mirrors to Gozer, we can also sell the Amber Necklaces to that workshop owner's wife.
Overall, I have to say that we are managing to accumulate quite a nice sum of money
again, and once the business with selling the Palmasque Mirrors to Gozer is going to
be concluded, I am definitely going to have enough money on me to go to the Imperial
City and visit the slave merchant to whom Alan-san has written me a letter of
introduction. Also, on a side note: usually, we are making the money for our living
mainly by selling the Drop Items that we obtain from killing monsters in the
Labyrinths to the Adventurer's Guild, but if you think about it carefully, is doing that
really all that profitable? And looking at how much Sherry and Roxanne managed to
earn in a single day, maybe I should consider seriously switching my main way of
getting money from dungeon crawling to trading?
However, I absolutely cannot forget that the only reason why I was able to go to
Palmasque in the first place was because I was going to the Labyrinths and earned so
many levels fighting the monsters there, which in turn allowed me to increase my
overall MP pool to such a degree that traveling from Quratar to Palmasque, even if
needed to be done with a few stops in between. And if I had not started my journey at
Vale's Labyrinth back there, I probably would not have been able warp to Palmasque
in the first place. That, and I also needed the money so that I could buy mirrors and
amber. If I did not earn all the money that I did in the Labyrinth first, then it would not
have been possible for me to buy them at all.
I then recovered my MP in the Labyrinth, and from there, I warped back to the
Adventurer's Guild. On the way home we stopped to pick up ingredients for breakfast.
.
Leaving the matter of preparing breakfast entirely to Roxanne and Sherry, I warped to
Bode together with the mirror.
"I would like to request an audience with Lord Gozer."
"Of course. Please, come with me."
When I talked to the same Knight as yesterday, I was told to follow after him to the
back of the castle through the labyrinth of corridors along a familiar way. I am being
led to the Duke's office, even though I explicitly told the Knight at the reception that I
wanted to have an audience with Gozer. The Knight that was leading me stood in front
of the door and then knocked on them a few times, until the voice called out to us from
the other side.
"Come in."
That was Gozer's voice. There is no mistaking it. Instead of the Duke, he was the one
who replied to the Knight's knocking on the door.
"Pardon the intrusion, my Lord, but there is a guest who wishes to speak to with you."
The Knight said as he entered the room, and I followed closely after him.
"Ahhh, Mr. Michio."
Inside of the office, both the Duke and Gozer were sitting at their respective desks
doing something that looked like an awful lot of paperwork. It would seem that I am
disturbing them when I really should not yet again.
"Forgive me for intruding upon you when you are in the middle of work, but I have
come to deliver the Palmasque Mirror once again."
"Ooooh! Is that it?"
As soon as the Knight who guided me to the Duke's office leaves the room, the Duke
looked over the mirror that I have brought in with me.
"That is right."
I placed the mirror on the desk.
"Hmm..."
"Certainly, that is a mirror without any decorations."
"Yes, and even though this office is dimly lit, the quality of the image that it reflects is
still good."
After commenting on that, the Duke took a bell in his hand and rung it. And then, just
as soon as it was yesterday, a person appeared out of the hallway outside of the office,
even though there was no one there when the Knight was leading me here. But in that
case, where were they hiding if it was impossible for me to detect their presence at
all? If it is someone who is serving as the Duke's escort, then is it a part of their job
that they must not allow anyone, not even the Duke himself, to realize that they are
here?
"Your orders, my lord?"
"Call Cassia here."
"As you wish, my lord."
As soon as the servant received the order from the Duke, they left his office
immediately.
"Since I am not at all knowledgeable about mirrors or any other such items, I am going
to have my wife Cassia look at it for me. I have already talked to her about it before, so
she should come and join us soon."
The Duke explained to me, most likely because he saw all of the question marks
floating above my head when the name "Cassia" was mentioned. It would seem that
women of this world are more knowledgeable and interested in such things than men,
in which case it would mean that this trend is not much different from how thing were
in Japan... and thinking about it, I guess that the same principle applies to me as well,
because technically speaking, I was not the one who obtained the mirrors that we are
now giving to Gozer and the Duke. The ones who obtained them, and at such favorable
prices as well, were Roxanne and Sherry, and therefore they should be the ones who
should take the full credit for it.
"Just as you requested, the mirrors will come in various sizes."
"They are? Great, this is exactly what I wanted."
"However, their exact number is going to increase a little."
I explained to Gozer while we were waiting for the Duke's wife to arrive. His initial
order was about ten undecorated Palmasque Mirrors, but now, that order of about ten
mirrors has grown up to about thirteen mirrors.
"As long as we will be able to get our hands on them, the exact number does not really
matter. Even if it turns out they are not going to be up to standard, there will always
be other uses for them."
I see. Gozer's goal here was to give the mirror to the third imperial prince as a Gift
Item on the occasion of his wedding, but if it turns out that they will not be deemed
something that can be used as a gift for such an important person, then Gozer will be
back to square one here: with nothing to give as a gift and with thirteen mirrors that
he will have to find a use for, but the Duke said that it is going to be okay either way,
so if that is what he claims, then it really has to be like that.
"Also, it turns out that amber can indeed be sold in Palmasque for a profit, so allow me
to extend my deepest gratitude for writing me that letter of introduction."
I thanked the Duke for giving me the possibility of doing business by selling amber.
However, just to be on the safe side I decided to omit how much money I was able to
make by selling the raw amber that I managed to obtain from the cat-eared merchant
in Bode. For the time being, I went to Palmasque this morning before coming to Bode
to be able to report if anything would have happened. Selling local goods to Duke and
Gozer might not be such a bad idea after all, and I was definitely glad that I came to
make my report this early.
"I have arrived, my lord. Did you call for me?"
"Yes, you may enter."
A female voice called out to the Duke from beyond the door. That must be the Duke's
wife. The door opened, and a beautiful woman wearing a dress appeared. Or you know
what? I take back what I said. Just calling her beautiful is like doing her a huge
disservice. She is actually extraordinarily beautiful. But… there are actually three of
them? Does… Does that mean that the Duke of Hartz actually has three wives?! No,
wait, the one who is his wife must be the young woman in the middle, and the other
two must be… Her attendants, I presume?
She is especially beautiful. She is by far the most beautiful woman that I have seen
since coming to this world. All three of the women who came are pretty in their own
right, but as I said, the one in the middle is in a class of her own, and the other two
cannot even measure up to her. Her beauty was so radiant that it was almost making
an illusion as if there were rays of sunshine shining down on her with every step that
she took. She had bright golden hair, skin as white as freshly fallen snow large eyes the
are pale blue in color and cherry-colored lips. If I were to liken her to something, it
would have to be nothing less but the biggest, most beautiful rose in the entire
bouquet. Yes, compared to all the other beautiful elven women that I have seen up to
date, she is like a whole level… No, two levels higher. Just one glance at her would be
enough for everyone to realize that she is a cut above the common rabble, someone
who should not be approached unless you are of the same social position and stature
as her. Since the one in the middle is the Duke's wife, the Duchess of Hartz, then the
other two have to be her maids.
"Allow me to introduce you. This is Cassia, my wife. Cassia, this is Michio, one of the
Adventurers who helped us with the distribution of the relief supplies after the
floods."
The Duke introduced me to the beauty in the middle. So, my hunch was right after all?
That person really is…?
"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Cassia."
The Duke's wife, Cassia, stated her name and gave me a curtsy. That kind of greeting
would have been elegant no matter who performed it, but when she does it, it looks
that much more dignified. And, although it pains me greatly to say this, unlike
Roxanne, there seems to be both perfection and beauty in every move that she makes,
and every step that she takes.
.
If I were to liken her to something, then it would most likely have to be a combination
of a sculpture of a Greek Goddess, while Roxanne is "just" a bisque doll. So, the pretty
boy who became the Duke of Hartz got himself a beautiful wife to match him, huh? If
I were to be in his shoes, would I be able to do the same thing? Is that the benefit of
being someone who holds a position of power in his hands? Is that really how it is:
that political power and influence can give you not only money and status, but also all
the beautiful women that you could have ever dream of as well?
I hate him for being a pretty boy so much. I hate him, and I am jealous of him. And so
incredibly envious that I might start melting any minute now. This is all the fault of
this world and its social hierarchy system that is rotten to the core! It is exactly that
which causes the difference in social standing to create rifts between people, and
those rifts only serve to deepen the inequality between those at the top of the social
hierarchy and those who are below them, especially the bottom feeders who are
getting shat on by everyone who is above them. This is a straight-up example of
crippling inequality, and yet nobody seems to care and try to do anything about it! Is
this really how it should be? Should such an exploitation really be allowed?! Are we
really going to allow these social atrocities to continue while closing our eyes, ears
and hearts to it, pretending that everything is fine and dandy while we go on about
our daily lives as per the fucking usual?! Are we going to allow such blatant injustice
to go unpunished and continue to spread its absurdity?! No! What we need to do is to
have a revolution! We should make the ruling class tremble and cower in fear of us!
The proletariat has nothing to lose, and the world to win! Members of the working
class, UNITE!!! (From [The Communist Manifesto].)
From today onwards, let us all live as the red warriors! Let us live and dedicate our
lives to the glorious cause of fighting against those who would dare to oppress and
exploit us! Let us deliver the noble scum to justice, and usher in the new era of freedom
and equality for all! And next, we have to dethrone the emperor and give the power to
rule back where it rightfully belongs: in the hands of the people!
"Nice to meet you. My name is Kaga Michio."
However, in front of Cassia, I bow respectfully. After all, you have to act respectfully in
front of a lady.
"The Duke has told me that you are quite an excellent Adventurer, Lord Michio."
Cassia said to me. Oh wow, did the Duke really say something like that to her about
me? I mean, I do feel kinda flattered, but I really would have liked him not to spread
his own misunderstandings to other people who might take him too seriously, thus
spreading the misunderstandings even further. Nevertheless, it makes me happy to
see that the Duke is such a good person who praises those who deserve praise, like
me for everything that I have done for him, so maybe we are not going to be in need of
a revolution after all?
"No, no, no. Whatever your husband told you about me, I assure you that I am nowhere
near as amazing as the Duke was probably making me out to be."
While I was acting humble towards Cassia and the Duke, I used "Identify" on Cassia to
see her exact Stats.
Cassia, Female, 29 years old
Job: Mage Lv41
Equipment: Sacrificial Misanga
She is only twenty nine years old? Oh my God so she is basically still so young that she
can basically be called a sweet, glossy fruit dripping with water that is about to ripen
into its most delicious state! And moreover if I did not have "Identify" on me, and
checked to see that she almost approaching her thirties, then I would have definitely
said that she could not have been more than twenty years of age, and that would check
itself out with the general saying that when it comes to elves, you cannot really
determine their true age by something so simple as looking at them with your naked
eye alone. But you know what? It does not matter if Cassia is twenty or thirty years
old, because in my book she is only one thing: a beautiful woman. I feel like I want to
just stare at her and feast my eyes upon her beauty, but I know that I have to keep
myself in check, because if I do that for too long, it will be entirely possible that the
Duke might start suspecting something. And on top of being exceptionally beautiful,
Cassia is also a high-levelled Mage, which adds a whole another level of amazingness
to her! And by the way, when I checked him with "Identify" earlier, I saw that Gozer
was definitely not a Mage himself, so if Cassia has that Job, and at such a high level at
that, then could this perhaps mean that…?
"And this here is…?"
"This is one of the Palmasque Mirrors that Michio bought for us."
"Oh, is that so? Allow me to see it then."
Cassia said while approaching the desk upon which the mirror that I brought in with
me has been laid out. Her appearance when she was walking was so elegant and
beautiful that I just could not stop myself from admiring her every motion. Is this how
all of the women from the aristocratic class are, or is being so elegant while doing
something so mundane a quality that was unique to her only, because I never saw
anyone else walk so elegantly like that before. As I was already saying, she looked
absolutely beautiful.
Then she leaned down and looked at the mirror, examining it very closely.
Such a wonderful profile. And her eyelashes are so long and beautiful as well.
"Well? How is it?"
"Yes, this is a beautiful mirror, beyond a shadow of a doubt."
After looking at the mirror for a good while, Cassia replied to my inquiry.
She did not say that what was beautiful was her own face in the mirror, nor the
reflection that the mirror was showing. She said that about the mirror itself as a whole,
which means that she must have been wondering whether it was a genuine article or
just a really well-done forgery. But now that she has a closer look at it, there was no
longer any doubt in her mind that what she had in front of her was a Genuine
Palmasque Mirror.
Does that mean that a revolution is still necessary after all?
Well, it is not like I can do anything about it now. I am pretty sure that there are
numerous fake items called Palmasque Mirror available for purchase on the black
market, and if these forgeries are popular enough to be able to be sold in substantial
number for a much lower price than that of the original Palmasque Mirror, then I
cannot blame the members of the aristocracy for running thorough checks to see if
the potential seller is not trying to scam them from their money by selling them a fake
mirror advertised as a genuine article. But since Cassia was able to tell that this mirror
is a real deal after only a short glance at it, then does that mean that she already has
experience in appraising mirrors, or perhaps it is that she also possesses the "Identify"
Skill? Well, it would probably be best not to think about it too much, so let me just
think positively and revel in the thought that the Palmasque Mirror that I bought got
Cassia's endorsement.
"Now then, what about the price?"
Now that it has been confirmed that the mirror that I delivered was a genuine article
and not a fake, Gozer talked to me about the price that they would have to pay for it.
The matter of price, huh? Well, certainly, Gozer himself said that a single Palmasque
Mirror should be between ten thousand Nars and twenty thousand Nars, and even
though Sherry and Roxanne managed to get a discount for themselves, the craftsmen
at the workshop originally wanted to ask for the price of thirty five silver coins. Now,
if we were to buy this mirror at one of the Imperial City luxury goods shops, that price
was essentially going to get tripled, ending up at around fifteen thousand and five
hundred Nars.
.
So, should this be the price that I should give to them? Is that going to be enough to
guarantee me a good profit out of this sale?
If only the Knights were willing to do so, they could have always gone and buy the
Palmasque Mirrors on their own, using their own hands instead of going for the
middleman Adventurers like myself. Even if going alone is out of the question, they
could have always formed a full Party of six people and take turns in order to reach
Palmasque if they were using "Field Walker", and if everything else have failed, they
could have always opted for staying in Palmasque overnight. Now, assuming that the
cost of one Adventurer staying in Palmasque would be thousand Nars per day and that
it would take around two days for each of the Party members to buy the Palmasque
Mirror and bring it back home with them, then the total cost of such an operation
would be two thousand Nars per Party Member, so by adding the price of the mirror
itself, that means that you could get one mirror for a total of five thousand five
hundred Nars total.
Looking at it like that it might seem like it is hell of a lot expensive because of all of the
accommodation costs, but if it means that they would be able to make a full back and
forth trip within a single day, then it would actually be cheaper, considering that they
cannot allow themselves to spend too much money on such an excursion without
ramping the costs up too high to the point where the entire trip would not be worth it
due to too much money being spend to get the mirror, which might be deemed as not
worthy of its price.
"Then, how about one gold coin per mirror?"
Moreover, I cannot allow myself to be too greedy in front of Cassia. I have to admit, it
was a pretty smart and tactical move on Gozer's part to start talking about businessrelated things only after Cassia came here. Does he know that I will have to stay my
tongue and my demands in regards to money in order not to be seen in an overly bad
light in her eyes?
"I think it might be a little too cheap. You would have gotten a better price even if you
went with it to the Imperial City. But it also costs money to have my men go to the
Imperial City to buy them there."
"If you had a full Party of Adventurers go directly to Palmasque, you might be able to
get them at half the price."
"But hiring people just for something like that might be too bothersome and wasteful
money-wise. After all, Palmasque Mirrors are not something that we need for our own
everyday usage. But since I decided to buy them on the spot like that, it should be a
given that they would end up being a little expensive."
So that is how it is, huh? Instead of looking at this whole endeavor as an individual,
Gozer is looking at if from the perspective of his standpoint as the leader of the Knight
Order of Hartz Duchy. He can't hire just anyone off the street to do it as he has his
reputation to consider; he would be unable to dismiss them at will or without cause.
As the leader of the Knight Order, if he hires someone to do a job for him, he has no
choice but to keep them employed throughout the whole thing even if there is not that
much work to do to begin with. From that perspective, I can definitely see where his
opinion is coming from. Hiring an Adventurer to run errands for you might seem like
a good idea at the beginning, but in the long run it might just not be worth it.
Of course, the most obvious solution to that problem would be to purchase the
product yourself, even if you had to sacrifice your time that could have been saved by
outsourcing, but when doing things yourself, you will at least know that the job has
been done and that no one is trying to scam you.
However, it is a little different in my case, since I had been recruited to obtain the
mirrors by Gozer himself, precisely because I had a certain cachet: I would be traveling
to Palmasque anyway, and did not ask to be compensated for the travel expenses.
"It should be fine, what with the increased number of mirrors and all."
"You really are fine with that? Very well then, I understand, and thank you for your
understanding."
"As expected of Mr. Michio. He truly is an excellent Adventurer."
The Duke praised me again, but I do not know if I should be happy with his praises or
not.
"I am also grateful to you, Lord Michio. This is a high quality product, and we are lucky
to be able to get them at such an affordable price."
I do not care about the praises from the Duke at all, but Cassia can praise me however
much she wants, and I will accept her praises any day of the week, even though in
reality she should be directing her thanks not towards me, but towards Sherry, since
she was the one who was the architect of the prices for the mirrors being so low, but
since neither of the people here actually met Roxanne and Sherry in person, I will
allow them to think that it is me who they should be thanking, and thanks to this, I will
be able to say to the girls that I managed to sell the mirror to the Duke for a pretty
good price myself.
I received the gold coin from Gozer and left the Duke's office and the castle while
feeling overjoyed that a beauty such as Cassia praised me and felt thankful toward me.
Now, I could have gone straight home, but instead I decided to go and pay a visit to the
cat-eared amber merchant next to Bode's Adventurer's Guild.
"My oh my! Welcome, Mr. Customer!"
A cat-eared merchant welcomed me after I went through the shop's door. I was more
than a little disappointed that it was him and not the cat-eared female clerk who was
here last time, but she was nowhere to be seen, which was quite a shame, because now
that I did not have Roxanne or Sherry with me today, I thought that maybe I could get
the chance to play with her cat-ears for a bit, but unfortunately it does not look like
that is going to be the case.
"I hope that I am not interrupting with anything?"
"No, not at all. Please, right this way!"
"Welcome, Mr. Customer."
When I greeted the cat-eared merchant, he eagerly welcomed me to the back of the
shop, to the same room where I was sitting with Roxanne and Sherry the last time
when I was here, and there, much to my joy, a cat-eared female clerk welcomed me as
well!
So she was here after all, just not in the front of the shop! Of thank the heavens for
that! Looks like I am going to get to enjoy my fair share of of cat-eared goodness after
all! Cassia was definitely a beautiful woman who is in a class of her own when it comes
to looks and the aura that she emanates around her, but this cat-eared girl undeniably
has a unique charm of her own that cannot be denied. There is just something about
cat ears that hits you differently, you know? In a pretty unique way that neither Elven
ears nor anything else can possibly hope to replicate.
As I sat on the sofa, the female cat-eared clerk served me herbal tea, just like she did
the last time when I was here.
"Mr. Customer, I think you will be pleased to know that I have managed to order
another batch of raw amber from the amber processing plant, and that we should be
able to get you another ten pieces of it if you would like them."
Unfortunately, the one with whom I have to do amber-related business is not the cateared female clerk, but the cat-eared merchant.
.
"Yes. If it is not a problem, then I would like you to get all of them for me."
"Thank you very much for your business, but unfortunately I have no way of knowing
when they will next become available."
The cat-eared merchant apologized. It would seem large quantities of amber are hard
to arrange. I wonder why? Maybe it is just his own excuse to gatekeep his business,
because if he sells too much amber to someone at any given time, that would mean a
risk of his accidentally creating a competitor within the amber selling market?
In addition, if you could obtain amber as if it were gravel on the side of the road, it
wouldn't be as expensive as it is. Amber can be sold for a premium price because it is
so rare and hard to come by. If it were any other way, then amber merchants would
just start popping up like hallucinogenic mushrooms after an acid rain, resulting in a
dramatic drop in amber's market value, meaning that it would be worth nothing more
than ordinary pebbles, and that is not a situation that any merchant worth his salt
would desire.
I always thought that the amber merchant would employ Adventurers in order to sell
amber in distant places to make an even bigger profit, but if he is not doing so already
then likely there is not much amber available at the present time. And continuing that
line of thought, if he suddenly started selling amber in places where there is little
available its price would drop, destabilizing the local economy.
"I see. Well, if it is like that, then as unfortunate as it is, I guess there is nothing that we
can do about it, is there?"
"Yes, it is exactly as you say, Mr. Customer. Unfortunately for us, amber is washed
ashore where it can be safely collected only after there is a storm at sea, so more might
become available the next time there has been a storm, and for the sake of my business
I hope that this happens sooner rather than later."
"Yeah, I guess we can only hope for that, huh? By the way, is it available in Talem or
Tamel or whatever the name of that town is?"
"It is Talem. It is a town famous for its woodworks. Many kinds of wood that are
typically used for decorative purposes can be found there, but it is for that reason we
do not cater to that area with our services."
It is the same place where the Duke is planning to get the mirrors decorated. So, it is a
place renowned for its woodworks, huh?
If that place is so renowned, then I bet there are trees such as Japanese Cypress, Teak
or Mahogany growing in that area.
"Could you please have wooden cases for the necklaces prepared from this Talem
place for me?"
Right now, the necklaces that I bought here earlier were being kept in a cloth bag,
while in Japan the necklaces have these special cases in which they can be stored.
Apparently, as I should have expected, there is no such practice in this world, which
means that if I want Roxanne and Sherry's Amber Necklaces to be stored in a way that
is not going to damage them, I need to have them custom made.
"Wooden cases?"
"Yes. Amber Necklaces such as I bought from you are, without a doubt, a very special
kind of a high-class luxury item, so a case made out of wood found only in Talem would
add to its appeal."
"I see. You are certainly correct about that, but why are you asking me about it?"
The amber merchant has become quite restless. It is just as I thought. This guy does
not understand that holding a luxurious item such as an Amber Necklace in a custom
case will increase the sense of luxury surrounding the item, because you are going to
make it seem that it is so valuable that it has to be kept separately from all of the other
items in your possession, but if the word gets out that I am the only one selling
necklaces in special wooden cases, then I will definitely gain quite a reputation to my
name, and that is something that I would like to avoid for now.
"Well, if I will be the only one who sells necklaces in such cases, I will swiftly gain a
reputation and it will be only a matter of time before others start to copy me. And
besides, I am not from this region, but a faraway place, so I would rather have someone
who is a resident of Hartz Duchy deal with the matters in Talem."
"You… you are planning to sell amber necklaces in wooden cases?"
"Yes, because according to the market research that I have conducted, there definitely
are people who would be willing to buy such a product, and it looks like it is going to
have a pretty good chance of being a hit especially in Palmasque. Oh, but if you are
getting worried about it, then be at ease, I can assure you that I am only going to be
selling them around Palmasque, and not anywhere near the vicinity of Bode or Hartz
Duchy."
After all, this guy and the company that he runs are focused on selling amber and
amber-related items exclusively in Hartz Duchy and the Imperial City, and he made it
very clear last time that he does not wish to see his business disturbed, but as long as
I promise to keep my own amber-selling business away from those two regions, he
told me that he will not mind selling me his amber, and that is what I should stick to.
"So, in other words, what you are saying is that you would not mind if my company
started selling Amber Necklaces in wooden cases?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I said. I would not mind that at all."
"Understood. In that case, I will consider ordering these wooden cases for you
immediately. Wooden cases from the Talem wood, was it? I will get to it right away, so
you can definitely expect good news the next time we meet!"
After asking the cat-eared merchant to obtain for me a pair of wooden cases, which he
seemed to be oddly enthusiastic about in the end, I left his store. Now that I requested
him to get these items for me, we will not have to keep Roxanne's and Sherry's Amber
Necklaces in a cloth bag anymore, because if I am to be honest with you, it did not look
good to be keeping such an expensive pair of items in something so poor-looking, and
the poor necklaces must be feeling all depressed about it, so putting them in proper
cases is surely going to make them feel better on the spot.
Just like every man should have his own place to stay, every piece of jewelry should
have its own case from which it could be displayed to others. That is definitely going
to be something that the wife of the craftsmen who Roxanne and Sherry sold raw
amber to will not be able to boast about, because just like this cat-eared merchant
right here, in this world, no one is even thinking about the decorative functions of
things, focusing too much on their practical aspects and applications instead. Well, if
the plan with the wooden cases ends up being a bust, selling the Necklaces back to the
craftsman's wife once they start to get a little bit too worn for my liking will always be
a valid option.
For the remainder of the day I did not go anywhere else in particular, and just stayed
in the Labyrinth exploring and killing monsters for their Drop Items. When it was
evening and time to go home, I went to the Adventurer's Guild and bought the Shyuraf
leaves and a small pot to go with it, and finally went home.
.
I do not feel that pesticides are something that should be prepared in our cooking pot,
but what choice do I have, this is the only option available for me if I want to get rid of
that thing that appeared in our house.
Now, I remember that back when I first acquired the Alchemist's Job it was as a result
of me creating some simple soap by boiling it in a cooking pot, but I wonder if the
process is going to look similar this time around as well? I mean, Sherry said that we
should use the leaves to ultimately create a paste out of them, but who says that we
cannot make a soap that is going to be shaped like a dumpling?
That would have been quite a combination: a dumpling-shaped soap containing
disinfectants and insecticides. But if we actually did that, I have a feeling that there
would be a pretty solid chance that that thing would not touch something like that
with a ten-foot pole, and honestly, I wouldn't blame it. I have never tasted soap in my
life, not even as a kid by accident, but I am fairly certain that the taste would be so
revolting that it would have left me traumatized for the rest of my life and the
aftertaste would have stayed in my mouth for weeks to come, so going through
something similar is a fate that I would not wish upon the worst of my enemies…
Unless they were a bunch of total assholes and douchebags of course, in which case,
serves them right! Anyway, what I am trying to say here is: if it is for the purpose of
bringing peace and harmony back into our house and ridding it of that goddamn thing,
then I will gladly use those leaves to commit the biggest and most foul of crimes
against food, just as long as it is going to be enough to get the job done properly.
"Okay master, I am going to start giving you the instructions now, so make sure to
listen and follow them closely. Now that we have the Shyuraf leaves, you have to chop
them into really small pieces, after which you have to simmer them until they become
thick and sticky. When the mixture become sticky enough, you remove the leaves that
did not become part of the paste, and then simmer it some more. After boiling
everything until it becomes completely white, you just have to remove it from the heat
and leave it out to dry."
While Roxanne and I were busy cooking dinner for the three of us, Sherry was taking
care of creating our makeshift insecticide while giving me a step-by-step explanation
of how to do it, "just in case I ever had to prepare it myself", as she had put it.
"And for how long it would be best to do it?"
"Ideally you should leave it to dry for a couple of days. Two or three at best.
Supposedly, the longer you are going to leave it to dry, the stronger the effects of the
final, finished product will be. By the way, master, did you know that the creature that
we are going to be using it against is a lowly and vulgar one, so when it is offered food,
it is simply going to follow its basic instincts and eat everything that has been offered
to it, regardless of what it is and how it might taste?"
"Is that so?"
"Yes. And since the leaves of Shyuraf, much like other naturally poisonous substances,
are tasteless and odorless, the animals and monsters that have eaten the food made
from it are going to have their flesh and blood permeated with the poison's effects,
which is going to work against others of their ilk who will later come to devour the
body of their fallen brethren, because as master is probably aware, in nature, nothing
is allowed to go to waste, not even the corpses of animals big and small that still have
flesh on them that can be eaten by others who are going to use it as their own
sustenance. And that is why we are going to aim for the medicine to be as strong as
possible so that it would cause as much damage as possible not only to the thing but
also to its brethren when it goes back to its home after eating the food offered to it by
us. If we are lucky, the secondary damage of that poisoned thing is going to spread to
any potential others that will come to take its place after its death, meaning that it is
going to be all over for them, and we will be able to celebrate our complete victory
over them without ever having to worry about them coming back to haunt us ever
again."
Amazing. That is a truly amazing, if only just a little bit morbid, plan.
"Cпасибо, Sherry."
"I am sorry master, but what was that? Because I totally did not understand what you
just said."
And there is no way you could have, Sherry, because that was spasiba in the Russian
language from my old world.
"I said spasiba."
I said matter-of-factly.
"Supa...?"
"Spicy… Ba?"
"It means thank you. Changing the subject, what are we gonna do with the finished
mixture when it has dried enough? We will just make balls out of it and leave them
somewhere in the house, hoping that the damn thing is going to eat the bait?"
"Essentially, but before we use it to set our trap, we will apply some finishing touches
to it, mostly by battering the balls of poison in sugar and flour that are going to add
some much-needed allure, because if they stay odorless and tasteless there is a risk
that it might not eat enough of it to get poisoned right away."
"In other words, you are saying that if we prepare it properly, we can expect to see
some effects as soon as tonight, right?"
My chest is getting hot with anticipation, even though I know that it should not be
doing that, because when it comes to stuff like this it is always better to temper our
expectations then to hold them unreasonably high like I am doing right now. But if
everything goes down smoothly, just the way it should, then I am finally going to be
able to sleep with peace of mind without having to keep one eye open all the time and
being constantly on edge.
It was probably because I managed to get an uninterrupted good night's sleep, but
when we went to the Labyrinth the next day our exploration proceeded rather well.
After we went to Palmasque and delivered yet another mirror to the Duke of Hartz in
the morning, we stayed in the Labyrinth for the entire day and arrived at the Boss
Room on the tenth floor of Vale's Labyrinth to challenge its Floor Boss. Since the main
enemies on the tenth floor were NT Ants, it meant that the Floor Boss of this floor was
going to a bigger, meaner version of them, and it really was.
When we walked through the door and the green smoke began to accumulate in the
middle of the room, what emerged out of it after a moment was the figure of the Floor
Boss, but even though it looked more imposing than the regular NT Ants and its
attacks had a much higher chance of getting us poisoned, it was no match for our tried
and true strategy that has been honed throughout all of our previous Floor Boss
battles on lower floors and other Labyrinths: Roxanne simply got in front of it and
focused its attention on herself as she continued to dodge every single attack while
Sherry and I attacked from its rear until it dropped dead and disappeared in an
explosion of green smoke. Overall, it was not that hard of a Floor Boss to deal with.
"All right, what should we do for now? Should we withdraw or proceed onward to the
eleventh floor to get a feel for how it is up there?"
.
"I think we can go there for a bit."
"Yes, I think so too."
It was nearing time for us to finish today's explorations, but first we unanimously
decided to go to the eleventh floor to take a quick sneak peek at what was awaiting us
there.
"What are the monsters native to the Vale Labyrinth's eleventh floor?"
I asked Sherry when we arrived at the eleventh floor from the tenth floor's Boss Room.
"The monsters native to the eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth are Spi Spiders. We have
already faced them in Qutartar's Labyrinth, but this is going to be our first time dealing
with them here in Vale's Labyrinth."
As usual, Sherry was more than eager to share the information that she learned about
the monsters on the eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth.
Monsters that appear from 1st floor to 11th are the same for every Labyrinth no
matter its location, except that their placement is different in each one. That is why it
is exactly like Sherry said: even though we have already fought against Spi Spiders in
the Labyrinth of Quratar, this is actually going to be our first official bout against Spi
Spiders in the Labyrinth of Vale, because the eleventh floor is the first floor in Vale
where they are appearing, whereas in the Labyrinth of Quratar they appeared as early
as the third floor, so they were not that much of a threat there.
And much in the same vein as the Spi Spiders here on the eleventh floor, the enemies
that we have not yet encountered in Quratar's Labyrinth, Green Caterpillars, should
be the enemies that we are going to be encountering next on the eleventh floor of the
Quratar's Labyrinth.
"Spi Spiders are another type of enemy that has poison on their list of Skills, right?"
"Yes, but the chances of actually getting poisoned by Spi Spider's attacks is much lower
compared to the chances of suffering from poisoning when battling against an NT Ant.
We have already fought against them in Quratar's Labyrinth countless times before,
so we should not have any problem at all dealing with them."
"So the chances of getting poisoned do not increase along with the enemy's Level?"
"I have not heard anything about the chances of getting poisoned increasing with the
enemy's level, so no, they do not increase, at least when it comes to normal attacks.
When it comes to Skills, it might be possible to be an increase, but even if it is, then it
is probably going to be a pretty negligible one."
"Is that so?"
Yes, we have already fought against Spi Spiders in Quratar's Labyrinth, so we should
have their patterns of attack well memorized by now. This is the advantage of
exploring more than one Labyrinth at a time, and it is a pretty great one indeed.
I would not go as far as to call it a cheat, but it is definitely a nice quality of life
improvement that allows us to always be ready for whatever might be waiting for us
on the next floor, as long as we are going to know what kind of enemy is going to be
native to that floor and if we fought against them before or not.
And so, we proceeded with the exploration of the eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth,
fighting the monsters along the way. As expected, the patterns of attacks of the Spi
Spiders did not change, but because their Level is considerably higher than that of the
ones on the third floor of Quratar's Labyrinth, they were considerably tougher and
trickier to defeat, partly because unlike NT Ants, Spi Spiders did not seem to have any
kind of elemental weaknesses to them.
On that front, NT Ants, who are weak against Water Magic, are considerably easier to
fight, because at the very least I know that they do possess a weakness that I can
exploit against them.
Spi Spider Lv.11 collapsed in seven magic attacks, so it means that the number of
attacks required to defeat them has increased by one. With Durandal, however, it takes
just two swings of it or one "Rush" attack, same as with the enemies on the tenth floor
of the Labyrinths. NT Ant Lv.11 took four water type magic attacks in order to defeat
it. Having faced so many NT Ants, I have reached the point where I can take them out
without the risk of getting poisoned at all.
This proves that we can fight against the monsters on the eleventh floor of the
Labyrinths without any major issues.
Next morning, we also cleared the tenth floor of Quratar's labyrinth as well. We had
already beaten Pan, the Floor Boss of the floor where the Escape Goats were the major
enemy, more than twice in Vale's Labyrinth, and the knowledge that we gained from
those battles certainly did not go to waste.
"The eleventh floor of Quratar's Labyrinth is considered to be quite a difficult one to
traverse."
After passing through the now empty Boss Room and advancing to the next floor,
Sherry shares the information about the eleventh floor of Quratar's Labyrinth with us.
"Really? Why is that?"
I thought that since the monster native to Quratar Labyrinth's eleventh floor was
supposed to be Green Caterpillars then it was going to be one of the easier floors to
deal with.
"The monsters native to eleventh floor of Quratar's labyrinth are Green Caterpillars.
They are considered to be the most difficult and dangerous of all the monsters that
appear on the first eleven floors of the Labyrinths. And as if that was not enough, the
NT Ants from the ninth floor also frequent the eleventh floor."
One of the most difficult and dangerous enemies on the first eleven floors? Are Green
Caterpillars really that dangerous of an enemy? Because to me, that sound like a gross
exaggeration. I mean, Green Caterpillars do not use poison as part of their attacks, so
what could be so dangerous to earn the ones from the eleventh floor of Quratar's
Labyrinth such a sinister reputation? Is it about their threads and the "Thread Spit"
Skill that they are using? Is that it? Because if so, then I could say that I agree with that,
because that Skill of theirs is pretty nasty indeed.
And I do agree that having more NT Ants to deal with means an especially bad time
since the chance of getting myself poisoned while fighting against them is very real.
Poison is bad. I do not like poison, not at all, not even a single bit. If only I could, I
would have removed that status ailment from the game entirely. I still have the trauma
from that one time when I got myself poisoned due to my own lack of awareness of
my surroundings, and I absolutely do not ever want to go through that experience
again.
"Because Green Caterpillars spit their sticky threads."
I see, so it is about the threads after all, huh?
Green Caterpillars have a "Thread Spit" Skill with a short casting time. The threads are
so sticky that once they hit you, you will have your ability to move sealed and you will
be pinned to the floor where the Green Caterpillars will surround you and spit their
digestive fluids on you in order to dissolve you into a puddle of soup that they will
then slurp up.
Just from that description alone, I cannot possibly imagine that this would be a
particularly good way to go. Also, the higher the levels of the monsters in the
Labyrinths, the higher the chance that they are going to be using their Skills more
often, so if the Green Caterpillars Lv.11 are going to be resorting to using their "Thread
Spit" Skill much more frequently than their counterparts from the lower floors, then I
can certainly see how that would be especially troublesome to deal with.
And that is if we are talking about Green Caterpillars on their own, so now imagine, if
you will, the following combo: Green Caterpillars Lv.11 use their "Thread Spit" Skill in
order to slow me down and pin me to the floor, and then NT Ants Lv.11 swoop in to
inflict poison on me. Normally, even though I do not possess Roxanne's godly dodging
abilities, I am pretty confident that I would have been able to either block or jump
away from their poisonous fangs or their "Poison Spit" Skill, but if my movements
were greatly impeded due to the impact of the Green Caterpillar's sticky threads? In
that case I wouldn't be so sure about it.
.
The last time I was hit by the Green Caterpillar's spit attack, I was only able to get
myself free after I burned the threads binding me with fire magic, but before I thought
about using that method, I was trying to free myself with regular means, slashing at
the threads with Durandal, and it ended up going… poorly. If it wasn't for Roxanne's
help, I would have been done for, so as you can see by the picture that I am painting, if
I were to be hit by such a combination the result would be deadly for me, and the same
thing can be said concerning Sherry. The only member of our Party who doesn't need
to worry about the Skills the the enemies are using is Roxanne, because no matter
what happens to her or what kind of Skills are fired against her, she can brush it off
like nothing and either dodge to the sides or backstep.
"So it is about such a thing, huh?"
"The threads of the Green Caterpillars can certainly prove troublesome, but thankfully
they can be avoided fairly easily!"
"Yes, it is certainly possible to avoid getting hit by the Green Caterpillar's sticky
threads, but the fundamental problem with such a maneuver? It can only be done by
a certain member of the Wolfkin tribe who possesses unnaturally high dodging
abilities. Regrettably, something that you can do effortlessly remains impossible for
me and Sherry. Is that not right, Sherry?"
"Ah…!"
When Roxanne turned her back towards us, I gave Sherry a suggestive glance, and
once she saw it, she nodded back at me, expressing that she agrees with what I have
said.
Once the fighting on the eleventh floor started, it was exactly like we expected: it was
not very easy on us. I know that we fought all of the enemies that can be encountered
here before, but it does not change the fact that on the eleventh floor where the
enemies are tougher we have to put some effort into doing it, and whenever there are
Green Caterpillars mixed in with other enemies, we have to do our very best to either
kill all of them before they can activate their Skills or do our very best to dodge them
if they do manage to unleash them.
That being said, we have no other choice but to advance and keep fighting if we wish
to proceed with our exploration. And thus, we move on little by little, fighting against
the groups of enemies from time to time, and although we are encountering Green
Caterpillars unusually often, so far neither Sherry or I were caught in any of their
threads. Escape Goats Lv.11 tend to run away from the battle after being hit with four
magic attacks, so I always made sure to hit them with three magic attacks and then
switch to Durandal in order to deliver the last strike that would defeat them.
Yes, it is slowly but surely, but I can understand why people would say that the
eleventh floor of Quratar's Labyrinth is the most difficult to explore out of all the initial
floors. The combination of various types of enemies plus their high levels makes it so
that progressing through the eleventh floor is maybe not difficult, but most definitely
a much slower endeavor than on the lower floors.
Eventually, we found a group of three Green Caterpillars Lv.11, and that was the first
time where they actually managed to properly use their "Thread Spit" Skill.
"Here they come, master, Sherry!"
Roxanne shouted that loudly, after which she jumped forward to avoid the incoming
threads, which ended up falling and covering the ground where she was standing a
moment before, but now, the white threads hit nothing but empty air.
Threads scattered where Roxanne was supposed to be standing. What the white
thread hit was but empty space. Surprising nobody, Roxanne managed to dodge them
all effortlessly, so to be honest, I do not know why am I still getting worried about her.
I have known Roxanne for some time now, and throughout the entirety of our life
together, there was not a single enemy and not a single attack that she would not be
able to dodge with perfect accuracy.
Thankfully, due to my position in the backline as magic casting support for Roxanne
and Sherry's vanguard, neither of the threads ever came close enough hitting me. Ever
since we first encountered the magic-using Needlewoods that scored a hit on me with
their "Water Balls", I had learned my lesson and made a habit to keep a safe distance
from the main battlefield: far enough not to get myself aggroed by any of the enemy's
long distance Skills, but at the same time close enough to be able to aim my magic
accurately and still act as reliable help for Roxanne and Sherry.
It was a good general strategy, but unfortunately it had one major weakness: if I stayed
too far away from Roxanne and Sherry, there was an increasingly large risk of me
getting attacked from behind by a monster that would have made its way behind me
without my noticing it, just like that one NT Ant that poisoned me had, and also there
was the risk that if I stray too far and did end up getting attacked, Roxanne or Sherry
would not be able to react in time to come to my rescue.
Second barrage of the threads has been shot by the Green Caterpillars, and just like
before, Roxanne was able to gracefully dodge them all.
Their third attempt at using their Skills was interrupted with my help as I switched to
Durandal and proceeded to engage them in melee range. But unfortunately, the fourth
wave of the threads managed to catch Sherry, since she was just a second too late with
her side roll.
In a matter of seconds, Sherry had been encased in sticky white threads, and it was all
because Sherry lost sight of the Green Caterpillar for a moment when the Escape Goat
that I was currently fighting began running away before I could give it the last smack
with Durandal to finish it off. It was a near perfect attack to Sherry's blind spot, so she
had no way of avoiding it. If I was in her place I don't think that I would have been able
to dodge the attack, because all of it happened so fast and in such a hectic manner that
even I had problems following all of it when staying at a distance.
Tens of… no, hundreds of small white threads were now all over her, just like it once
was for me. And now that Sherry's movements were brought to a halt, one of the Green
Caterpillars used that opportunity to ram its body into her. It was unfortunate that she
got herself caught like that, but the saving grace here was that she did not fall victim
to Green Caterpillars concentrated attacks one after the other. Should I start healing
her now? Or maybe cast "Plating" on her and capitalize on my attack magic while it is
still active to finish the enemies off and give her first aid once that was done? I chose
to do the latter.
Because I had already used my Attack Magic six times, I have to wait out the cooldown
until shooting the seventh one. Since the Green Caterpillar could not move right after
it attacked Sherry, the "Fire Storm" that I fired in its direction ended up hitting it
without fail, and because I chose to use the AoE Spell, it caught not only the one Green
Caterpillar that was attacking Sherry, but also the other two and an Escape Goat that
was about to flee inside of the blast, after which they all disappeared, turning into
puffs of green smoke one after another.
"Are you alright, Sherry?"