Chapter Two: Life with Bear Bear

“Right, let’s get going,” I announced, traipsing through town with my tamed monsters in tow, willfully ignoring the withering looks they were still casting towards me. Where to, though? I had been so eager to escape the awkwardness that I had completely forgotten to pick a destination.

“When in doubt, start with the forums.”

I opened Amimin’s basic forums, which could be accessed from within the game. To my surprise, there was an entry for Honey Bears. It so happened that even Amimin, one of the top Tamers in LJO, had only discovered this monster the day before yesterday. It seemed that she had successfully hatched a Honey Bear egg before I did and had since uploaded its info to her page. The entry also mentioned Beekeeping, which apparently required an item called a Beehive for activation. However, the only way you could obtain said item was by crafting it with Woodworking skills or buying it from one of the towns in Zone Three.

“If I remember correctly, Sakura has Woodworking skills...”

“...?”

“Do you know how to make a beehive, Sakura?” I asked.

“...”

Judging from the way she was shaking her head, I was guessing that was a no. Going to Zone Three this instant wasn’t an option either. I would have to buy a beehive from the Farming Guild or a player-run stall, or have someone with Woodworking skills build one for me.

In case you were curious, by the way, here was a breakdown of Bear Bear’s skills:

Cuteness: Has a slight probability of preventing opponents from taking action.

Gluttony: Is able to recover HP slightly by eating. Needs to eat twice a day.

Smelling: Has a good sense of smell. Grants bonuses to actions related to scent.

Cultivation: Is able to grow plants other than trees.

Claw Attack: Is capable of attacking with claws.

Climb: Good at climbing trees and scaling cliffs.

Poison Resistance: Increases resistance to poison.

Sweet Scent: Is able to emit a pleasant smell that attracts other creatures.

Beekeeping: Is capable of making honey by using special equipment.

It appeared that Bear Bear had inherited Cultivation, Poison Resistance, and Beekeeping from their Honey Bee parent, and Smelling, Claw Attack, and Climb from their Little Bear parent. Honey Bears apparently couldn’t inherit Honey Bees’ stingers, though. There really was no point in Bear Bear having a stinger, but it was still kind of cute to imagine Bear Bear shaking their butt with one.

Since Sweet Scent would be able to augment their Beekeeping skill, I had high hopes for Bear Bear. I had to make sure I didn’t forget to feed them, though—thanks to their Gluttony feature they would require twice the food. They would likely be a boon to my farming as well, with their Cultivation skill aiding in growing flowers for honey production.

“Speaking of, forget the beehive—we’ve gotta get you equipped!” I exclaimed, giving Bear Bear a once-over.

“Growl?”

At the moment, Bear Bear was stark naked. While small animals like Rick might not require much, a creature of Bear Bear’s size could probably be clothed in the same manner as a human.

“Let’s go to Lewin’s,” I suggested, hoping he might have some ready-made stuff that fit Bear Bear. The five of us headed to Lewin’s Arms and Armor Shop.

“Hi,” I greeted the blacksmith.

“Hey. I see you’re really making a name for yourself, Silver-Haired!” he replied cheerfully.

“Huh?! Not you too!” I groaned.

“Ha ha, just kiddin’, Yuto. So, what’ll it be today? Weapons? Armor?”

“Armor. Do you have anything that might fit my buddy here?”

“Hmm. Never seen this creature before.”

I was none too surprised at the reaction. Honey Bears had only been discovered recently and were pretty much considered a new species, still relatively unknown among non-Tamers.

“Any requests?”

“Hmm...” I pondered. Not particularly. It wasn’t as if I had enough money to be choosy, so it was more a matter of picking something I didn’t hate from the items within my budget.

No, hang on a sec. There was one thing that I absolutely refused to compromise on.

“Just no red, please.”

“Ya don’t want red? Ya got a problem with that color?”

“I do. Think about it: a red shirt on a yellow bear? That’s... W-Well, there’s gonna be all sorts of problems. Anyway, I’m fine with anything as long as it’s not red.”

“Gotcha.”

After mulling over my words, Lewin displayed a set of three items before me.

“How ’bout these? They go with the color of your robe.”

The set consisted of the following items: a dark, cobalt-blue jacket, a red-and-green tartan-check shirt, and a dark-gray ascot. Since the shirt and tie would be considered accessories, they would be fine for even Bear Bear to wear.

“Bit of a bad history to this set, but its stats are pretty decent. I’ll give ya a discount to make up for it, so how ’bout it?”

“What do you mean by ‘bad history’?”

“Some schoolkid asked me to make this for ’em, but they had to cancel their order after stuff happened.”

“What sort of stuff?”

“...Well, first, they got fooled into spendin’ a heckload of money on a certain crafty female player. Then, they fell for the false rumors she spread about a certain Tamer and ended up joinin’ in a mob that pursued him, which ultimately got ’em banned from the game. Talk about a shit show.”

Ahem. That sounded awfully familiar...

“Th-That’s terrible,” I stuttered.

“Ha ha, I’m not tryna take a dig at ya or anything,” Lewin chuckled. “After all, you were a victim in all that too.”

“So that did get the rest of them banned...”

I had no idea the fallout from that fiasco had spread that far! However, there truly was no malice in Lewin’s expression; he seemed to be telling the truth about considering me to be a victim as well. Still, that didn’t make me feel any less guilty. Ultimately, Mirei and the players who she deceived had only themselves to blame, I had still played a small part in the hullabaloo... I hadn’t even stopped to consider that my actions could cause that sort of inconvenience to unrelated parties.

“...I’ll buy the whole lot.”

“Whoa, hold up. I haven’t even told ya anything about its abilities or price yet.”

“I know, but...”

“Like I said, it’s not your fault. There’s no need for ya to feel guilty, got it?” Lewin sighed exasperatedly before proceeding to the explanation.

Name: Dog Jacket+

Rarity: 2 / Quality: 7★ / Durability: 150

Effect: Defense +16, (Strength +1).

Requirement: Strength 6 or higher.

Weight: 3

Name: Dog Shirt+

Rarity: 2 / Quality: 7★ / Durability: 150

Effect: Defense +7, (Strength +1).

Requirement: Strength 4 or higher.

Weight: 1

Name: Dog Ascot Tie+

Rarity: 2 / Quality: 7★ / Durability: 150

Effect: Defense +4, (Strength +1).

Requirement: Strength 4 or higher.

Weight: 1

“Nice. I dig them.”

Regardless of how they had come to be, they would genuinely make excellent armor. After all, their stats were much higher than the robe I was wearing.

“This is incredible,” I gushed.

“Thanks. They’re my pride and joy.” Lewin grinned happily.

“What’s this (Strength +1), though? Do you gain more strength just by wearing it?”

“That’s a set bonus. Since I made these as part of a series, you get a bonus effect when you wear all three items at the same time. That’s a total of Strength +3.”

“Strength +3? That’s a pretty big deal.”

That was an extremely useful bonus effect for a vanguard to have.

“Initially, I would’ve sold this set for 27,000 G, but ya can have it for 13,000.”

“Seriously? That’s less than half price.”

Regardless of its backstory, wasn’t that too big of a discount?

“Better than lettin’ it collect dust. Besides, it’s not like I’m losin’ money either.”

“Given these stats, I’m pretty sure more than a few people would be interested in buying it.”

“Perhaps, if you just look at the stats. This wouldn’t be a bad outfit choice for the Martial Arts Tournament either.”

“Martial Arts Tournament...? Oh, yeah. It’s right around the corner, isn’t it?”

“Doesn’t sound like you’re interested.”

“Not really, since I’m not taking part in it.”

The Martial Arts Tournament was an upcoming LJO event. While the details had yet to be made public, it was currently something of an open secret, as a number of NPCs, especially fighter-type characters like adventurers and sentinels, had been talking about a martial arts event recently. According to the rumors, the tournament was scheduled to be held on the 15th, and would be open to both players and NPCs. This was the general consensus about the rumors online, which I agreed with.

Apparently, many players were reconfiguring their skill setup and arranging new weapons for the event. As the game lacked a PvP system, this was pretty much the only time players would get to fight each other. Understandably, fighter-types were revved up for the occasion, though interest dipped among players like me who didn’t specialize in fighting. As one of the bottommost players, the chances of me winning were highly unlikely—the most I was planning on doing was watching a video recording of the final match.

“I suppose that none of my crafter friends have been very enthusiastic about the event. I’ve been pretty busy, though, since lots of people have been wantin’ to buy new armor for it. I got ten people waitin’ for custom-made orders at the moment.”

“All the more reason why this set should sell, right?”

“The size is the problem. Not many people want to buy kid-size stuff.”

Although the size of armor could be adjusted automatically, there were limits to how much an item could shrink or expand. Each character had different sizing options available to them from a wide range of sizes, including children’s sizes, S, M, L, XL, beast-size, and so on. In my case, I was able to wear S- and M-size clothing. Out of all the available sizes, kid-size items were among the least demanded, probably because they only fit really young players or small monsters.

“I see. Well, that’s good news for me, though... You’re sure about this?”

“I want you to have it.”

“Okay, I’ll buy it then!”

All this for less than half the price? I’d be mad to pass up an opportunity like this. After paying Lewin, I immediately equipped Bear Bear with their new gear.

“Let’s see, I think I can access them from my status window...”

After pressing a few buttons, I was able to equip Bear Bear automatically. Thank goodness for that; I would have been at a loss if I’d had to tie an ascot myself.

“Looking sharp, Bear Bear,” I said in praise.

“Growl.”

Overall, Bear Bear gave the impression of a British gentleman. What’s that now? A real gentleman wouldn’t be butt naked from the waist below? You’d just have to ignore that, since Bear Bear was apparently incapable of wearing pants.

“They’re great, both in terms of ability and appearance. Better than my gear, in fact.”

“Growl.”

“How ’bout this for ya, Yuto?” Lewin suggested, pulling out another dog shirt. “You can wear it under your robe since it’s an undershirt.” Unlike the one Bear Bear was wearing, however, this one didn’t have a plus sign in its name, which probably meant it hadn’t been modified. As it happened, its dull gray fabric hadn’t been dyed, and its stats were pretty low too. On the plus side, it was dirt cheap—only 800 G.

“I’ve already spent a lot of money, so what’s another 800...? Okay, I’ll take that too.”

Name: Dog Shirt

Rarity: 2 / Quality: 4★ / Durability: 150

Effect: Defense +5

Requirement: Strength 2 or higher.

Weight: 1

“Thanks a bunch.”

“By the way, I’m also looking for a beehive. Do you happen to know where I can get one?” I asked Lewin.

“A beehive, eh? That’s outside my area of expertise... Why dontcha ask at the guild first?” he replied.

“Guess that would be smart. Thanks for everything.”

“See ya around.”

“Growl growl.”

“You too, Bear!”

I had a feeling that Lewin was actually really fond of animals, judging from the way he looked at me and Bear Bear. As a fellow animal enthusiast, I could feel it in my gut. Bidding farewell to Lewin, suspected animal lover, our group headed to the Farming Guild.

Unfortunately, I had no luck obtaining a beehive there either. It wasn’t that I lacked the necessary funds—my guild rank simply wasn’t high enough yet to buy one. I needed to raise my rank two more levels, which wasn’t something I could do immediately. It looked like my only option was to find a player who was selling beehives.

“If I remember correctly, Sawyer’s shop is somewhere nearby.”

Sawyer was a young-looking elf Alchemist who I’d befriended a while ago. Even if he didn’t possess Woodworking skills, he might be able to introduce me to someone who did. I headed to the square where his stall had been last time, and sure enough, there he was.

“How’s it going, Sawyer?” I greeted him.

“Hi, Yuto. Not too bad, I guess,” he replied. As always, I was stricken by how youthful he looked. In terms of appearance, I was no slouch myself, but I was no match for him. How was he so charming? Did it have something to do with his personality?

“I’m actually looking for something, and was wondering if you knew anything about it.”

“What is it?”

“A beehive. Do you know where I can get one? It’s for my bud here. They have Beekeeping skills.”

“Growl!” Bear Bear greeted him, paw raised.

“Is that a new monster? What a cutie!”

Sawyer had a look of pure contentment on his face as he patted Bear Bear on the head. Seeing a handsome young lad snuggling an animated plushie sure made a pretty picture. However, he soon turned to me apologetically.

“Sorry. While I do have Woodworking skills, I can’t build a beehive yet.”

Not to worry. I had expected that much.

“In that case, do you have any Carpenter or Woodcutter friends?” I asked, changing tactics.

“I’m actually curious too. I’ll ask around. Give me a second.”

To my surprise, Sawyer accepted my request right away. I felt a pang of guilt, as though I were taking advantage of him.

“Hello? It’s me... I was wondering... Yeah. Uh-huh...”

Sawyer spoke with someone over the phone. He seemed to have called one of his friends.

“She said she’ll come right away.”

“Really? You sure?”

“Mhm. She’s also interested in beehives.”

Sawyer’s friend appeared to be a female player. We chatted and petted Bear Bear while waiting for his woodworking friend. After a while, I noticed a woman heading straight towards us. She was a human girl, with her hair in a green ponytail and a childlike smile on her face, dressed in casual attire with minimal equipment. Were all crafter-types this lightly equipped? Not that I was one to talk.

“Hey, Sawyer! Is that the guy looking for a beehive?”

“Yup. Yuto, meet Ashihana. She’s a Woodcutter.”

“Hi, I’m Ashihana! Pleased to meet you!”

“Hi. I’m Yuto, a Tamer.”

Despite greeting me, Ashihana’s gaze was focused entirely on Bear Bear, her eyes never once wandering from them the whole time we exchanged words.

“Growl?”

“...!”

The moment Bear Bear tilted their head, Ashihana’s body twitched as though she had been struck by lightning. Then, she squealed.

“Eek! This bear’s adorable!”

It looked like Bear Bear had stolen Ashihana’s heart. She stared at the snuggly creature, palms pressed against her cheeks.

“What’s their name?” she asked.

“It’s Bear Bear,” I answered.

“What a lovely name! Nice to meet you, Bear Bear!”

“Growl.”

“Gosh, you’re like a stuffed toy!”

Although Ashihana was trying her best to hug Bear Bear, the harassment block prevented her from doing so since we weren’t friends. An invisible wall stood between the two, denying her access.

“Stupid wall!”

“Now, now, Ashihana.” Sawyer tried to calm her down to no avail.

“Grr! Dang it!”

After figuring out that her attempts to touch Bear Bear were futile, Ashihana stomped her foot on the ground in frustration.

“Grr! Hey, Yuto!”

“What’s up?”

“Let’s exchange friend codes. You don’t mind, do you?”

This woman wanted to be friends with me, a total stranger, just so she could hug Bear Bear. Oh well, I guessed I didn’t mind. Although she was a bit of a weirdo, she didn’t seem like a bad person, and besides, I didn’t have many friends yet.

“Okay.”

“Thanks! Here’s my code!” she said, shooting it over at lightning speed.

“Gotcha,” I said, checking the code.

“Hurry up, will you?!”

“Jeez, be patient. There, all done. Happy now?”

“Eeek! You’re sooo fluffy, Bear Bear!”

“Growl!”

The moment I accepted Ashihana’s friend request, she threw herself at Bear Bear and began patting them all over, squeezing them like a stuffed toy. I could see Bear Bear blinking in astonishment at the sudden ambush.

And what was I supposed to do with my extended right hand?

“...”

“S-Sorry, Yuto. She’s not a bad person, and her skills are top notch, but... Well, she’s just very true to her feelings...and lacks self-restraint.”

“No need to apologize. You did nothing wrong.”

Besides, did he just say her skills were top notch?

“Is she a famous player?”

“Yes. Not as famous as you, though.”

“Say what?”

“Hm? I said, she’s not as famous as... Oh, my bad. Ignore what I said.”

Sawyer seemed to get the hint, as he quickly changed the subject and began telling me about Ashihana instead. At any rate, the only reason I was well known was because of that incident and my notorious title; Ashihana, on the other hand, appeared to be a famous player, even among other woodworkers. Apparently frontliners were always flocking to her with requests for custom-made weapons.

I had no idea she was such an outstanding player. Seriously, though—me, a more famous player than Ashihana? Preposterous. Sawyer had to be mistaken, right?

“Bear Beeeear!”

“G-Growl!”

Five minutes later...

“Satisfied?” I sighed.

“Yup!” Ashihana nodded vigorously in reply, her face aglow.

“Growl!”

Surprisingly, even Bear Bear seemed happy. They seemed to enjoy all the physical attention.

“Can we get down to business now?”

“You want a beehive, right? Sure thing. I’ll make one for you.”

Whoa, what?! I hadn’t expected her to agree to it so easily.

“You know how to make one?”

“I’ve yet to make one, but I know I can. I’m pretty sure I saw the instructions for it among the recipes I learned recently.”

Things were going way smoother than I expected.

“I’ll make the bestest beehive you’ve ever seen, Bear Bear!”

Aha. That explained her determination. I was still left with one problem, though.

“How much will it cost?”

At the moment, I only had about 6,000 G. I hated to think how much it’d cost to order a custom-made product from a top player...

“You on a budget or something?”

“Kinda. Just made a pretty hefty purchase. If you can wait a couple of days, I can get you about 20,000 G.”

“I see... I’ll be honest with you, you’re going to need more than that.”

Figured as much. She was a top Woodcutter, after all.

“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, so can’t you make a cheaper one?”

As long as Bear Bear could use their Beekeeping skills, that was good enough for me. However, Ashihana seemed incensed at the suggestion.

“No way! I take pride in my work. I refuse to settle for less!”

Seeing her play with Bear Bear, I had assumed her little more than a hyper, bear-loving girl, but surprisingly enough, she appeared to have high craftsmanship standards as well. It seemed like I would have to give up on requesting help from her this time. As though reading my mind, Ashihana quickly interrupted me before I could speak again.

“Hold up! Not so fast! I will make Bear Bear’s beehive!”

“But I told you, I don’t have enough money.”

“I know, but...!” Ashihana clung to Bear Bear and shook her head emphatically. I was at a loss. I wondered what I was supposed to do here, when...

“How about you obtain the necessary materials yourself, then? You can get a discount if you bring your own ingredients,” Sawyer suggested.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Ashihana, you were saying you wanted to look for wood near the Town of Beginnings, right?”

“Yup, since my Logging skill’s over level 30 now!” she replied. “Considering how many discoveries have been made in the Town of Beginnings lately, I figured I might be able to find something new too!”

Level 30? Top crafters sure were amazing.

“I was thinking of gathering new materials myself. Care to join us, Yuto?”

“Thanks for the invite, but I’m not much of a fighter,” I refused. “My monsters aren’t that strong yet either.”

“Then we’re in the same boat,” said Sawyer.

“You’ll be fine as long as you’ve got me!” Ashihana crowed. “I’ll take care of the enemies around the Town of Beginnings with one fell swoop of my ax!”

Joining them didn’t seem like a bad idea if fighting wasn’t going to be an issue. To be honest, I could see no disadvantages to going on an item-gathering tour with an experienced player.

“You sure you don’t mind, though, Ashihana? I feel like we’ll be getting more out of it than you.”

“Heh heh heh. I get to go gathering with Bear Bear...”

If anything, it seemed to be a befitting arrangement for Ashihana. Wipe your drool though, girl!

“What if we can’t find any good materials?”

“You can pay in installments, then! I’ll lower the price as much as possible for my dear Bear Bear—let’s say about 35,000 G.”

“That much?!”

“I can guarantee the quality, though! You should be able to use it for a lifetime, so consider it a bargain in the long run!”

That was far more expensive than any equipment I owned. However, she was probably right about the quality, given her credentials.

“...Fine. Offer accepted.”

“That’s settled then.”

“When shall we leave? Now?”

Ashihana seemed to be the type that acted as soon as she put her mind to something. Sawyer and I, on the other hand, had preparations to take care of.

“Now is too soon... How about in three hours?”

“Works for me. What about our party, though? I have four tamed monsters, so I’m already a five-member party. Depending on the skills you guys have, I’ll switch out which monsters will accompany me.”

Sawyer was most likely a rear guard, but how about Ashihana? Since she mentioned having an ax, she could be a frontliner, which meant I’d likely have to leave Olto behind. However, Ashihana shook her head.

“We can form a team.”

“A team?”

What was that again? I was pretty sure I’d heard that term somewhere...

“Right, you wouldn’t know since you’re a solo player.”

Teams referred to joint parties formed by two separate parties. How was that any different from raids? I asked Sawyer, who explained the difference in the following terms: unlike raid parties, which could be formed of roughly a hundred members and enabled players to receive item drops individually, item drops for teams were distributed per party. One of the biggest disadvantages of teams was that they made the game’s difficulty scale, increasing boss HP as well as raising the encounter rate, while decreasing monster drop rates greatly. Just because there were two parties didn’t mean the drop rate doubled.

“We can form a team consisting of you and your monsters, and me and Ashihana.”

“What happens to XP in that case?”

“When we form a team, our XP gets divided in half first and allocated to each party. After that, it gets redistributed among party members, depending on how many there are.”

For example, if we defeated a monster with 100 XP, my party and Sawyer’s party would get fifty points each. After that, each member in my party would receive ten points each since there were five of us, while Sawyer and Ashihana would receive twenty-five each since they were a two-person party. At first glance, it looked like Sawyer’s team had the upper hand, but in reality, I was actually getting fifty points in total while they only got twenty-five each, since my monsters’ XP pretty much counted towards my XP as well.

“Hmm, isn’t this kinda unfair to you guys?”

It wasn’t as if they hadn’t already worked this out themselves, though, so I supposed it was all right as long as they hadn’t any complaints. At the very least, I was determined to do my bit in battles and gathering. If it turned out that my party was benefiting too unevenly, I could always share some item drops with them later or something.

“Okay, let’s go as a team, then.”

“Yay!”

“Shall we meet here in three hours?”

“Sure thing.”

Awesome. I was about to head on an expedition with an experienced player.

“Looking forward to it.”

“Growl!”

Our team had gathered in front of the Western Gate three hours later on the dot.

“Yoo-hoo.”

“Looks like everyone’s here.”

Both of them were dressed differently from when we last saw one another. When I asked why, they replied that they had separate outfits for crafting and fighting. Apparently, the gear they wore when they crafted items improved their Dexterity. So this was what it was like to be a dedicated crafter. I had to admit, I was impressed. They were the polar opposite of me, a half-assing bastard who couldn’t even tell if he was a Tamer or Farmer.

Ashihana was still dressed in dull colors, although this outfit seemed much more stylish: a long brown tunic adorned with red and white Nordic patterns. To finish off the look, she had a brown leather belt around her waist and a large backpack on her back. While she gave the impression of a glamorous hiker, her outfit seemed to have a much higher defense than my robe.

Compared to Ashihana’s gear, Sawyer’s clothes were a bit plain. He was dressed in a dark-green robe that one might imagine an elf wearing. It wasn’t entirely boring, however; the yellow embroidery on his sleeves and collar gave it a bit of flair.

“Your monsters are all so cute. You’ve got great taste, Yuto!” Ashihana cooed, gazing at my monsters with adoration.

“It wasn’t like I did that on purpose.”

I did get her point, though, now that she mentioned it. I couldn’t have asked for a cuter group of companions than two children and two animals. So what if they weren’t very intimidating? They were adorable, and that was what mattered.

“Hey! Aren’t you going to introduce them to me?” Ashihana whined impatiently.

“All right, all right. This is Olto. He’s a Gnome.”

“Mm!”

“This here is Sakura, a Tree Nymph.”

“...♪”

“This is Rick the Gray Squirrel.”

“Chirp chirp!”

“And as you already know, this is Bear Bear, a Honey Bear.”

“Growl!”

Each time I introduced their names, my tamed monsters raised their hands as if to grab Ashihana’s attention. Ashihana squealed with delight and hugged each one of them in turn, breathing heavily and looking them over from head to toe. It was a bit scary—cringey, if I was being honest.

“They’re all...so cute...” she panted. “I can almost feel a nosebleed coming on.”

“Please, Ashihana! Control yourself! You could get reported for harassment!” Sawyer fretted, trying to tear Ashihana away from Bear Bear, who was held firmly in her grip.

“I’m changing jobs. I want to become a Tamer,” she sobbed.

“Come on, don’t make rash decisions.”

“Exactly. Lots of people will be sad if you quit being a Woodcutter, Ashihana.”

“B-But!”

“Why not settle for learning the skill Tame?”

“Ugh... Fine. Hey, Yuto,” she said.

“What’s up?”

“Have you set up camp in the Town of Beginnings?”

“I guess so. For now, anyway.”

“Got it.”

Got what? I wondered, confused.

“She might just choose to settle down in this town,” Sawyer muttered under his breath, though I wasn’t quite sure that I heard him right.

Despite having a somewhat difficult time putting up with Ashihana’s free-spirited ways prior to departure, things were relatively smooth sailing once we set off. Venturing into the Western Forest, my group foraged for nuts and plants while Ashihana and Sawyer gathered wood. Unfortunately, Ashihana seemed to have no luck finding the rare wood she was after, looking crestfallen each time she felled a tree. I, meanwhile, was on the hunt for new weeds, but could only find ones that were already rampant in town and served no real purpose.

When it came to battles, Ashihana was a pro. It didn’t matter how many enemies there were—true to her word, she defeated them all within seconds. It wasn’t for nothing that she was a well-known player. I did notice while she was fighting that the visual effects when monsters died changed depending on what weapons you used or what sort of damage you dealt. For example, when you killed a monster in one blow with an ax, they literally were sliced in half. Thanks to her battle skills, we were able to obtain monster drops with ease, though I felt a bit guilty being so reliant on Ashihana. In order to assuage some of my guilt and keep her entertained, I had offered up Bear Bear as a sacrifice. Sorry, buddy.

“Bear Bear.”

“Growl.”

“Beeear Beeear.”

“Grooowl growl.”

Ashihana carried Bear Bear everywhere we went. Bear Bear didn’t seem to mind, though, so I decided to let them be for a while longer.

In order to test Bear Bear’s capabilities, I asked Ashihana to hold back on killing one of the monsters. The results weren’t bad at all. During battle, sharp claws sprouted from Bear Bear’s cute teddy-bear paws, dealing a decent amount of damage to their opponent. While Bear Bear wasn’t a fast runner, they had a hoplite’s strength—the frontline attacker we had all been waiting for. Battles were about to get ten times more exciting.

“Way to go, Bear Bear!”

“Growl.”

Leaving the fighting to Bear Bear and Ashihana, the rest of us concentrated our efforts on gathering materials. Presently, we arrived at the river in the Western Forest, in search of more items.

“I’m counting on you, Rick, Olto, and Sakura,” I said to my monsters.

“Chirp chirp!”

“Mm-mm!”

“...!”

My companions replied in unison before scattering off in different directions.

“Growl.”

Bear Bear was walking behind me, apparently acting as a bodyguard of some sort, which was highly reassuring. Since I didn’t have to constantly be on my guard like before, I was able to gather items with surprising efficiency. While I had yet to discover any new finds, there was no such thing as too much mulch or water pumice. After searching along the riverbank for some time, Ashihana suddenly came to a halt.

“Something wrong?”

“I’m less than twenty percent full. Not looking good.”

In LJO, players received a notification once their HP or hunger status dipped below a certain number. Ashihana had apparently received one.

“I’d like to take a break too. I’m running a bit low on MP.”

“There aren’t any safety zones nearby though, are there?”

Safety zones referred to areas within the playing field that were safe from monsters. They came in various shapes and forms, such as a mountain cabin or sacred tree stump. Safety zones allowed you to rest or log out of the game safely and increased the amount of HP or MP you automatically recovered while there. On the other hand, if you logged out of the game in a non-safety zone, your avatar remained in that spot and was open to attack, meaning unless you were incredibly fortunate, you’d respawn the next time you logged back in.

If it was just a matter of eating, we could munch on food rations while walking around, but we couldn’t simply sit down and rest anywhere we wanted. However, Ashihana cackled fearlessly, seemingly unfazed.

“Mwa ha ha. Never fear—we have this!”

“What’s that? A straw mat?”

The item Ashihana was flourishing before us looked like an ordinary straw mat; the only noticeable difference was that its edges were decorated with a pretty fabric.

“Not just any old straw mat! It’s my pride and joy, created by using Woodworking, Handiwork, and Sacred Magic!” she proclaimed proudly.

Name: Protective Straw Mat

Rarity: 4 / Quality: 6★

Effect: Creates a safety zone for 30 minutes. (Uses remaining: 2/3)

As impressed as I was that she was already able to create items with a rarity of 4, I was equally amazed by this straw mat’s effects. It basically allowed you to rest and log out of the game anywhere you pleased. Ignoring my look of surprise, Ashihana spread out the mat on a grassy patch beside the riverbank.

“Come on, time for a short break.”

“Thanks. Won’t it be a tight squeeze, though? I doubt it’ll fit a party of six.”

The only reason our situation worked out was because my monsters were relatively small. Rick wouldn’t take up any space as long as he was on my shoulder, and Ashihana had Bear Bear on her lap. It looked like we would all be able to fit after all. If not, I could always carry Olto.

“Well, the whole point of this mat was so that I could nap anywhere I wanted. That’s why it’s only big enough for me to lie on.”

“I see.”

Made for napping, eh? It did seem like the perfect size for her to sleep on.

“If you made it double this size, though, I bet everyone would want one.”

“No thanks. If I do, I’ll end up having to make the same item over and over again and won’t have time for anything else. I’ve already sold the recipe to the Quick-Eared Cats, so I’m sure people will start mass-producing them eventually.”

“You’re not very ambitious, are you? Or is it just that you’re true to your desires?”

“Who cares? Hurry up and let’s take a break. This thing’s only effective for thirty minutes.”

“What happens once the thirty minutes are up?”

“You automatically expend one use and it gets extended for another thirty minutes. I can only use it two more times, though, so let’s not waste them.”

Thus, it was decided that the six of us would sit in a circle on the mat and replenish our energy stores. I was surprised to find that despite being crafter-types, Ashihana and Sawyer were both eating food rations. Unlike me, they didn’t seem to care much about the type of food they ate. I could never, I thought to myself while munching on a cookie and bringing some water in a pot to a boil. I, for one, was going to make herbal tea and enjoy a pleasant tea time. To set the mood, I had already purchased a cheap teapot. It didn’t improve the taste or anything, but regardless, I transferred the freshly brewed tea from the stove to the teapot and poured myself a cup of tea. I also gave Olto some juice, Rick some blue acorns, and Bear Bear a Honey Cookie.

“Mm-mm!”

“Chirp!”

“Growl!”

“...♪”

Although Sakura wasn’t capable of eating, she seemed to enjoy watching her siblings delight in their food. What an excellent big sister she was, I thought, deciding to dig into my meal as well.

“Mm, tasty.”

Drinking herbal tea in the great outdoors had its own perks. While the tea did nothing to recover my hunger status, the cookie did, and I was perfectly satisfied with my afternoon tea in the forest. As I was sipping my herbal tea, I realized that Ashihana and Sawyer had their eyes fixated on me for some reason. Do they want some? I wondered.

“H-Hey. Did you make those yourself?” Ashihana asked.

“These? Yeah, they’re all homemade,” I replied.

“Wow! Juice and cookies?”

“Never seen herbal tea either.”

The two of them gazed in wonder at the food I had fed my tamed monsters. I hadn’t thought they would be so clueless, but perhaps this was the reality for players who didn’t possess Cooking skills. Even though you could buy food in town, you didn’t actually need more than food rations unless you intended on having nice lunches in-game. Taking pity on them for not knowing some of life’s finer pleasures, I decided to offer them some herbal tea.

“Want some?”

“Yay! Yes, please!”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Besides, I’d like to know what you think.”

First, I poured them both some herbal tea. I had anticipated this sort of thing happening, which is why I had extra teacups lying around. ...Okay, I lied. The only reason I had extra was because I’d bought two sets of four.

“Mmm. Smells lovely.”

“Yum! This is probably the first time I’ve had anything other than water or potions to drink in this game.”

“Have some cookies too.”

“If I may. I’ll take this one here.”

“Whoa! Is this cookie for real?! It’s super tasty!”

“It really is. It’s fantastic.”

Awesome. I was glad to hear that both my recipes were a hit.

“Wow. I’ve seriously been missing out! I’m definitely going to start looking for real cuisine from now on. I’d thought that eating was just for satisfying my hunger, but no more!”

“Same. There are all sorts of food stalls in town—I’m willing to shell out a bit extra if it means having a decent meal.”

My two companions gobbled up the food I gave them, raving. Dang, I hadn’t expected such positively glowing reviews.

“Hey, are these for sale?” Ashihana asked.

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“I want to know if you sell these cookies and herbal tea anywhere. Or, like, at your own stall, perhaps?”

“Sorry, no, I don’t mass-produce these or anything.”

“I see. That’s a shame...”

I couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy at their looks of genuine disappointment. That meant they really did like my food.

“I can give you two some herbal tea leaves instead.”

To tell the truth, I had gotten carried away and made a ridiculous amount of tea blends. Since the blends were made from weeds, it was unlikely that they would fetch a decent price, and so I had just been stashing away all of my concoctions in my inventory. I could always make more if I wanted to, so I didn’t mind sharing some with them. They seemed to really enjoy it, after all.

“Really?! I’d love that!” Ashihana squealed with delight.

“Aren’t they valuable, though?” Sawyer asked hesitantly.

“Not at all. Thanks to you guys, I haven’t had to do much work today. Consider it a token of gratitude.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Thanks!”

After a pleasant afternoon tea break, we resumed our search for materials.

“Found something. It’s a green peach tree.”

“It doesn’t seem to have any fruit.”

We had crossed the river and made our way deeper into the forest, arriving thirty minutes later at the hill where the green peach tree grew.

“Shame. Would’ve loved to make some peach juice!”

“Since we’ve come all the way here, we might as well get some wood.”

Ashihana and Sawyer both took out their axes and swung at the green peach tree trunk. It was an odd sight to me, with my lack of Logging skills; despite all the chipping away they were doing, the tree appeared unscathed. Regardless, that was apparently how this stuff worked. When a player possessed Logging, a target-shaped cursor would appear on the trunk of a tree they could fell, and once they swung their ax at the node, the wood would automatically be added to their inventory. Once a player had successfully gathered the maximum amount of wood, the Logging node would become invisible to them for a certain amount of time. I supposed that made sense, as there wouldn’t be enough wood left over for other people if players went about cutting down trees for real.

“Didn’t know you could get wood from green peach trees too.”

“Their wood is too pliable to be used for armor, but it’s okay for making staffs or wands. Can’t say its stats are that good, although there aren’t that many green peach trees to begin with. The wood sells at a decent price on the market. Why don’t you get some too, Yuto?”

“I’d like to, but no one in my party has Logging skills.”

“It’s a useful skill to have, you know.”

“I bet, considering you have Woodworking skills.”

“Don’t any of your monsters have Woodworking? If they do, it’d be useful for leveling up their skills.”

“Hmm, you have a point.”

Sawyer’s words had given me something to consider. It was true that Sakura possessed Woodworking, and it would be great if she could craft various things with the wood I gave her. She’d probably gain a lot of XP from it to boot...

“Hmm. I was planning on learning another type of magic and allocating the rest to my stats, but... Logging, eh?”

“Well? What do you say, huh?” Ashihana badgered me. She seemed awfully happy for some reason.

While I had already previously made up my mind to acquire Logging, I was a little annoyed that I now felt coerced into it.

“I don’t mind learning it, but I don’t have an ax,” I retorted in a feeble attempt at resistance. However, the reply came swiftly.

“Here, take this,” Sawyer replied, handing me a small ax, which, according to my Appraisal skill, was a Logging ax.

“You’re well prepared, aren’t you?”

“Consider it a gift.”

“Nuh-uh, I’ll pay for it.”

“Don’t worry about it. Its durability has already gone down half, and besides, it’s a beginner’s item. It only cost me 400 G.”

Still, I felt bad accepting an item entirely free of charge, seeing as my party was already benefiting a great deal from this material-gathering tour. The least I could do was pay— No, wait a second. I did have something Sawyer might like. Since it was roughly the same in terms of value, we could make it a trade.

“In that case, I’ll give you this.”

“Is this...a bookmark?!”

Right you are, Sawyer. The item I had presented him with was the bookmark I’d bought at the florist. I figured he’d be interested in it, given his quest to make grimoires, and I was right—in fact, he was more than a little intrigued, eyes glued to the item, practically spellbound.

“A pressed-flower bookmark... Wow!”

“Glad you like it.”

“Thank you. The fact that bookmarks exist must mean there are books too, right?! It might be a key that’ll lead me to grimoires.”

Surely, it wasn’t that amazing... I felt a twinge of concern at how big of a deal he was making out of such a cheap item.

“Where’d you get it?” Sawyer asked.

“I got it from a florist.”

“A florist? I don’t recall seeing one.”

“Want me to take you there sometime?”

“Really? That’d be great!”

Could Sawyer enter the shop, though? I wondered. It’d be a bit of a drag if the only players who could gain access were those who possessed Plant Knowledge. Perhaps we could try visiting the shop as a party, on the off chance that having one party member who fulfilled the requirements would qualify the rest. If that didn’t work, we could always rethink our strategy.

“Right, Logging it is.”

I immediately used up some of my bonus points to acquire Logging so that I could obtain wood while we were here. However...

“Huh?”

The Logging cursor didn’t appear on the green peach tree. What was going on?

“You got the skill, right? Here, let’s change the party lineups.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your Logging skill needs to be at a relatively high level for green peaches,” Ashihana explained. “Um, mind adding me to your party?”

I did as Ashihana said and added her; instantly, a gathering node appeared on the trunk before me. The node was indicated by an ax icon displayed in the middle of a target-shaped orange marker. Now that Ashihana was in my party, I could see the cursor as well. It appeared that different trees required different skill levels for gathering wood, and green peach trees required a high-level Logging skill, i.e., Ashihana’s level. This meant that I wouldn’t be able to fell green peach trees on my own, but no matter. I wouldn’t even have made it this far without help in the first place!

“All right, let’s give this a shot.”

I swung the ax I got from Sawyer at the cursor in front of me. The next instant, the green peach tree was engulfed in light, and the Logging node vanished. Although there wasn’t even a scratch on the trunk to indicate that I had done anything, I had apparently succeeded at gathering wood. The whole process was a bit of a letdown. Upon checking my inventory, however, I discovered a new item labeled “Wood (Green Peach Tree).” It only had a one-star rating, probably due to the fact that my Logging skill was so low, but it seemed good enough for testing out Sakura’s Woodworking skills.

As soon as I was done gathering, Ashihana left my party so as not to siphon any of our XP, should we end up having to fight monsters all of a sudden. She really was a considerate person.

“Woot, let’s keep the momentum going!”

I surveyed the area in search of other trees I could gather wood from and found one tree with an indicator. As far as appearances went, it resembled the various miscellaneous trees in the forest, but because I’d obtained Logging, I could now distinguish the trees that I was able to fell.

“Looks like this one’s a sawtooth oak.”

I decided to gather wood from it. I repeated the same steps I had performed on the green peach tree; the sawtooth oak glowed, and I was left with “Wood (Miscellaneous, Sawtooth Oak).” Miscellaneous, huh? Did that mean this was in the same category as weeds? Oh well, I supposed it was good enough for grinding fodder, plus it wouldn’t deal much of a blow even if I did mess up. As I was checking my inventory, Ashihana yelled in amazement, looking thunderstruck.

“Hey! What did you just do?”

“I just felled a tree, that’s all.”

“B-But how?”

“What do you mean, how? I just swung my ax at the Logging point like you normally do.”

If anything, she should know better than I did.

“That’s not what I meant. I’m asking how you felled a tree with no Logging node!”

“No Logging node?”

“Exactly. Besides, it clearly looks like a random tree... Hup!” Ashihana heaved, swinging her ax at the sawtooth oak.

“Thought so. I can’t gather anything from it.”

“But look,” I said, showing her the wood I just gathered.

“‘Wood (Miscellaneous, Sawtooth Oak)’? It may be low quality, but I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Ashihana was supposed to be one of the top Woodcutters in this game. Could she seriously not have seen this wood before? Considering her Logging skills were far higher than mine, there could only be one logical explanation.

“Hey, Ashihana. Do you know a skill called Plant Knowledge?” I asked.

My guess was that like weeds, you couldn’t tell apart the miscellaneous brush in the forest unless you possessed Plant Knowledge. Ashihana, Sawyer, and I were a team, not a party, which meant we were unable to share our gathering skills with one another. Even just now, when I gathered wood from the green peach tree, Ashihana and I had needed to form a party first in order for me to be able to do so. Additionally, since she had left my party immediately once I’d completed my task, she probably hadn’t noticed that I had spotted a new Logging node thanks to my Plant Knowledge skill.

“Plant Knowledge? Never heard of it,” she replied.

“Me neither,” Sawyer chimed in.

“Do you have that skill, Yuto?”

“I sure do.”

As soon as I’d explained the skill’s effects, the two of them eagerly began peppering me with questions.

“Yuto! Have you really filled out the Miscellaneous section in your encyclopedia?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Who knew weeds each had their own names?! Does the same go for trees?”

“Yep. Not all trees have Logging nodes, but that tree over there’s a sawtooth oak, and that one over there’s a mizunara.”

This was just a guess, but I had a feeling that not all trees could be felled due to their quality or whatnot. Even in real life, not every tree in a copse was suitable for lumber, as some were crooked or hollow inside. Plus, if you could gather wood from every single tree in the forest, that would give woodworkers an unfair advantage in the game.

“From my experience with weeds, though, I doubt you can make anything worthwhile with kindling. That herbal tea you drank was made from weeds, but it didn’t do anything to satisfy your hunger, did it?”

“No biggie. I’m just thrilled to find something new. Besides, I’d rather have wood that smells nice or looks pretty instead if I were to build furniture for my home.”

Good point. Those details were probably more important for ordinary furniture. In order for Ashihana and Sawyer to understand the effects of Plant Knowledge, I had them take turns joining my party. This turned out to be a success, and the two of them eagerly assessed the weeds on the ground. Immediately after, they came to me with a request, looking the most serious I had ever seen them.

“Yuto. I’m willing to pay however much you want, so could you, um...tell us how to obtain Plant Knowledge?”

“I’d like to know too. Of course, I won’t press any further if you want to keep it a secret, though.”

“If you’re willing to tell us, I’ll make the beehive for free, plus whatever else I can do!”

“Same here. I can only pay about 20,000 G, but I’ll do anything—just say the word!”

No freaking way. As thrilled as I was at the prospect of getting a beehive for free, was this information really that valuable? I felt like they were offering me far more than was necessary for this tidbit, and anyway, I had no intention of keeping the details all to myself. If anything, I was surprised that they didn’t know about this skill yet: I had thought it was common knowledge.

“I don’t mind sharing, but it might be a bit difficult to acquire.”

I then proceeded to explain the sequence of events that had led to me obtaining the skill. From what I surmised, unlocking the Plant Knowledge skill required you to grow and harvest weeds voluntarily, although in my case, Olto had planted those herbs for me as a means of filling up the empty slots on our farm.

“Sounds kind of time consuming,” Sawyer murmured.

“But it’s doable! I’m buying some land the minute we get back to town!” Ashihana said, determined.

“For sure.”

The two of them seemed totally set on buying farms now. I decided to ask them something that had been bugging me for a while.

“I was wondering...is it impossible to gather wood without a Logging node?”

In the case of weeds, you could still propagate or modify them once they had been picked, regardless of the lack of gathering nodes. In a similar vein, wouldn’t it be possible to do the same with kindling trees?

After explaining my train of thought to them, Ashihana seemed to ponder the possibility. Sawyer, on the other hand, seemed skeptical.

“Actually, there was a player who tested your theory. It’d be easy to make large-scale items if you could use wood from all the trees in the forest, so they went ahead and tried cutting down various trees. Unfortunately, the only thing they ended up with was trash.”

Ashihana, however, seemed highly motivated, as though someone had lit a fire under her. Facing the sawtooth oak I had just gathered wood from, she began swinging her ax at it with all her might, the dull thwack-thwacking of the blade against wood echoing throughout the forest. While joining the same party would enable her to obtain brush wood today, we obviously couldn’t stick together forever. She probably wanted to test if it was possible to obtain kindling wood without Plant Knowledge.

What surprised me was that unlike trees with Logging nodes, the surface of the trunk was actually marred. I supposed that was because the tree was considered an object. Even more surprising was the fact that after a short, several-minute break, the tree’s appearance was restored to normal. It looked like objects had the ability to automatically repair damage. Thanks to that, Ashihana had to start all over again; after thirty minutes or so, however, she succeeded at cutting down the tree, and the sawtooth oak collapsed with a thud.

“How’d it go?”

“I did it! I got wood, and apparently I unlocked a new skill!”

After perusing her list of obtainable skills, Ashihana announced that Plant Knowledge had become available to her. This was completely unexpected. It seemed like simply felling trees wasn’t enough—you had to find a tree that you could gather wood from and cut it down yourself. At this rate, it might be possible to obtain Plant Knowledge by experimenting with other plant-related skills.

“All right! Plant Knowledge, here I come!”

“Not so fast!” Sawyer interrupted.

“What is it, Sawyer? I’m trying to have a moment here.”

“We’re in the same party, remember? If you acquire Plant Knowledge now, I’ll be able to see the Logging node as well. Can you wait until I cut down a tree myself?”

“Okey-dokey.”

And so, after waiting for the felled sawtooth oak to regenerate, Sawyer took his turn hacking away at it. Unfortunately, due to his Strength and Logging levels being lower than Ashihana’s, the process took him considerably longer. Meanwhile, we spent a reasonably productive time defeating monsters that approached us and observing Ashihana teach Sakura an impromptu Woodworking class. I even managed to level up once.

Olto also gathered some ores for me. Since I didn’t possess Digging, I had been utterly oblivious to the fact that there were several mining spots along the riverbank, and Olto managed to obtain some low-quality bronze ores from the strip mine located there. There was also a mining spot halfway up the cliff where the green peach tree grew—the very same cliff from which I had once plunged to my death. Normally, this mining spot could only be accessed via climbing or by dangling a rope from above, but Olto was able to reach it easily by creating footholds with his Earth Magic. Even Ashihana was taken by surprise. Aside from bronze ores, we were also successful at obtaining a rare type of ore called a water ore, which was probably due to Olto’s Luck. There had been rumors that you could get water ores from this spot, but the chance was so low that many considered the tales to be false.

After one hour of continuous hard work, Sawyer finally succeeded at gathering wood from the sawtooth oak tree.

“I did it! I did it, guys! I got the skill!”

Good for you, Sawyer. I applauded him silently as he pranced about in delight, a sight befitting his boyish elven appearance. No! I willed him to stop. I’m not interested in young boys! Quit acting cute!

“What’s wrong?” he asked curiously.

“Uh, nothing,” I replied, hurriedly changing the subject. “Is Plant Knowledge not a widely known skill?”

“Not at all. I’d never heard of it until you told us. Let’s see... According to the data the devs collected, only three players had obtained that skill as of the 9th.”

Only three? That was a lot fewer than I’d thought. Why didn’t the others post about this in the forums, though? Not that I was one to talk, but still.

“I wonder. Maybe like you, they didn’t think it was that important. After all, even if they happened to fulfill some kind of requirement and obtained the skill by accident, the only thing it does is teach you the names of weeds.”

“This skill would probably be meaningless to them unless they possessed Woodworking or Farming. Either that, or they’ve decided to keep it a secret.”

That seemed plausible. Even though I didn’t really care for that kind of stuff, I wouldn’t be surprised if some players decided to keep valuable information to themselves.

“What are you going to do, Yuto?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Do you want to keep it a secret? Or do you want to post about it?”

“Wait, why are you asking me? Do whatever feels right to you.”

“Listen, you’re the reason we were able to acquire Plant Knowledge in the first place! It wouldn’t be right to ignore your wishes and do whatever we want!”

Was that how things worked? I thought it was only fair that information spread once you let go of it.

“I don’t mind either way. What do you two wanna do?”

“Us? Hmm... Shall we keep it to ourselves for now?”

“Yeah, probably. That might be better since it was Yuto who found this info.”

I probably should’ve worded it differently, as they clearly sounded hesitant. While the decision had been made passively, our consensus was that we would refrain from posting in the forums for now.

“Okay, we’ll keep it our secret for the time being, then.”

Seeing that Sawyer and Ashihana regarded it as a valuable piece of information, I decided not to post about it yet. However, I did tell them they were free to share it with whomever they wished, as they couldn’t very well keep this info from their friends or party members.

After that, the three of us got carried away, gathering wood from the brush. For me, this helped to level up my Logging skill and acquire woodworking materials for Sakura, while Ashihana and Sawyer were simply glad to obtain new types of wood. We walked around the forest, cutting down every tree in sight, grinning from ear to ear. The three of us must have felled nearly fifty trees altogether.

“Shall we return to town after one last tree?” Sawyer suggested.

“Sounds good,” Ashihana agreed. “I’d like to see what I can make with this wood.”

“How about that one, then?” I pointed to another sawtooth oak, which we fortunately passed by on the way back to town. I thwacked my ax into the oak with the ease of a skilled worksman, already used to the process after countless fellings.

However, we soon discovered that something was amiss. We would’ve been fools not to notice, as the tree trunk began glowing with a white-hot intensity, as though it were trying to blind us on purpose.

“What’s going on?”

“M-My eyes!”

“I-It’s too bright!”

All of us shielded our eyes instinctively, unable to withstand the glare. If only this game would ease up on the lighting effects!

“Mm-mm!”

“Growl?”

“...!”

Olto had covered his eyes with his hands. Sakura had her eyes shut tight too, standing behind Bear Bear and covering their eyes with her hands, protecting them from the glaring light.

“Ch-Chirp!” Rick squeaked.

Poor Rick. He had been foraging away from the group and had just returned when the light happened to hit him directly, forcing him to shield his eyes and flail about on the ground. Why did this scene seem so familiar? Oh, right. The same thing had happened when I spat weed water all over his face. To think he’d end up in this unfortunate situation two days in a row... He didn’t secretly have a skill called Misfortune or some trait that gave him a tendency to get his eyes injured, did he? Even if he did, though, there was nothing I could do about it.

“Chiiirp!”

“...!”

Seeing Sakura rush to his aid, I decided to leave things to her. He’d only been temporarily blinded by a bright light; surely, it wouldn’t take that long to recover.

“What’s that weird thing, though...?” I muttered. I was more concerned with the transparent enclosure that had suddenly surrounded us. While I was certain it had something to do with the light, I wasn’t quite sure what. Ashihana and Sawyer, on the other hand, seemed to know what it was.

“Yikes! That’s a boss wall!”

“Y-You’re right! That must mean this is a boss area, then.”

The two of them sounded aghast, glancing around their surroundings.

“H-Hey. Do you guys know what that thing is?”

“Huh? You mean you don’t?”

Apparently, this enclosure was pretty much common knowledge. After a brief explanation from Ashihana, I soon realized why she’d been so shocked by my ignorance. That wall was commonly referred to as a “boss wall,” which separated players from the regular playing field whenever they encountered a field boss. Anyone who had fought a field boss at least once had seen this wall before, and unless you were cooped up in the Town of Beginnings all the time like me, most players would have fought a field boss on the way to Zone Two. According to Ashihana, it was extremely rare to find someone who had yet to see a boss wall at this stage in the game.

“Unless you got off to a late start for whatever reason or have been playing like a complete psychopath...”

“Psychopath...?”

I would love to play normally like everyone else if I could!

“Oh! Um, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you’re a psychopath, okay?” Ashihana quickly attempted to console me, regret plastered all over her face. Save it, Ashihana. The fact that she was that desperate meant that was how she truly felt about me, right?

“I just think you’re a little odd—or rather, unpredictable, I guess...?”

“Ha ha,” I chuckled dryly.

“That’s enough, Ashihana! You’re not helping at all! You’re just making things worse!”

It’s okay, Sawyer. I knew I was a weirdo anyway. Heh heh...

“Mm-mm!”

“Growl!”

Olto and Bear Bear’s nervous yelps brought me back to reality. That’s right, we had bigger fish to fry.

“What’s up?”

“Mm-mm!”

“Growl growl!”

They seemed to be freaking out. Now that I thought about it, we were in a boss area.

“If this really is a boss area, that means...”

“Meep!”

“I-I knew it!”

What was I saying? Of course, there’d be a boss!

The ground shuddered, and an enormous earthworm cried pitifully and burst out from below. Even though we couldn’t see it in its entirety, it was still well over five meters long. For some reason, its head was sporting a miniature tree of unknown origins, roughly thirty centimeters in height, earning the creature the aptly chosen moniker “Shrub Worm.”

“Meep!”

Despite it being a worm, the creature had a rather cartoonish appearance, and wasn’t as gross as I’d expected it to be. Its skin wasn’t slick like a regular earthworm’s either, but dry, as though it were made out of cloth. It also had round eyes and a half-moon-shaped mouth on its face that looked like they had been scribbled on with a pencil, lending it an almost cute expression. While it certainly didn’t look threatening, it was still huge, and a boss at that. There was no way it was weak.

“W-We gotta get outta here!” I stammered.

“We can’t! Once you’re in a boss area, you can’t leave!” Ashihana said matter-of-factly.

Typical! Like most other RPGs, it seemed like fleeing from a boss battle wasn’t an option.

“W-We’ve no choice but to fight!” Sawyer stuttered.

“Sawyer, Yuto, you two get back! We don’t know how strong this thing is yet.”

“Got it... I don’t have any data, but given that it’s a boss from around here, you might be able to take it on alone no problem. We’re counting on you, Ashihana.”

“Leave it to me!”

Ashihana and Sawyer were already responding swiftly to the situation. I, on the other hand, was freaking out for a different reason.

“Huh? You mean you’ve never seen that creature before?”

“Nope. I’ve never heard of a boss appearing in such an early area in Zone One!” Sawyer replied.

“Me neither!” Ashihana chimed in.

That meant even they didn’t know this monster’s attack patterns or weaknesses!

“Meep meep meep!” the worm squealed.

“It’s coming!”

“Ugh, damn it! I’m not prepared!”

“Get back, Yuto!”

“You don’t have to tell me!”

If I were to get hit by that monstrosity, I’d be dead in an instant.

“Bear Bear, Sakura, Rick, I’ll leave the attacking to you guys!”

“Growl!”

“...!”

“Chirp!”

I figured things would go more smoothly if I left all the work to them.

“Olto, you’ll have my back, won’t you?”

“Mm!”

My tamed monsters all nodded in unison, understanding their jobs perfectly. Talk about a reliable bunch! I decided to attack the worm with my Aqua Ball, being careful not to attract its attention too much.

“Hiyah! Ax Bomber!”

The first of us to attack was Ashihana, swinging her ax horizontally at the creature and unleashing a massive ax art with a blue visual effect.

“Meep meep!”

“What the—?! This thing’s hard as a rock!”

Ashihana had apparently intended it as a killer move, but it only made a tiny dent in the Shrub Worm’s life meter.

“Meep!” the Shrub Worm squealed pathetically. It’s gonna strike back! I thought, bracing myself. However, the boss ignored Ashihana, and instead, I heard a scream rise from beside me.

“Aaargh!”

My eyes darted in the direction of the sound in time to see a reddish-brown object send Sawyer flying. It was the worm’s tail, which seemed to be connected to its body underground.

“Y-You okay?”

“For now. That hit alone depleted half of my HP, though.”

Sure enough, Sawyer’s HP had plummeted to the yellow zone. Despite not being a fighter-type, he still had to be far more powerful than I was. And yet, one blow had been enough to drive him into a tight spot...

“If I’m not careful, it might be a one-punch knockout for me.”

Should I withdraw a bit farther? I wondered. If I did, though, I wouldn’t be able to patch everyone up... As I was torn between what to do, Sawyer urged me to step back.

“If you die, your monsters will drop out of battle too! We have to avoid that at all costs!”

While that was true, I doubted my companions were actually contributing much to the fight, given how much lower their skill levels were compared to Ashihana. At best, they could only be a minor nuisance to the boss.

“If Bear Bear disappears, Ashihana will lose the will to fight!”

Ah, so that was what this was about. Bear Bear vanishing before her eyes could indeed cause Ashihana to lose motivation. While there was a slight chance that it might spur her on instead, it was almost certain that she’d be caught off guard and become open to attack.

“Yuto, your priority is to avoid that thing!”

“G-Got it!”

After recovering his HP, instead of backing down, Sawyer stepped forward. Wasn’t he getting a bit too close to the creature? Although I’d had him pegged as a rear guard like me, he seemed to be well outside the ideal attack range for his specialty, which turned out to be fire magic. It’d probably be better if he backed up a bit... The next instant, Sawyer launched a magical attack, then immediately threw something at the Shrub Worm.

“Meep meep!”

A small explosion went off by the Shrub Worm’s head; immediately after, the monster lost a few life points. Sawyer appeared to have attacked it with whatever he had thrown. While not as powerful as his fire magic, the attack had been surprisingly effective. In terms of the amount of damage dealt, Sawyer’s fire magic was the most effective, followed by Ashihana’s ax arts, and lastly, the white object that Sawyer had thrown at the boss monster.

“Meep meep!” the worm shrieked as another explosion went off. Upon closer inspection, the thrown item appeared to be a paper talisman. Yep, Sawyer had a Magic Circle skill. Although I didn’t know the specifics, I had heard that it was a type of skill that enabled you to draw magic circles on scraps of paper and turn them into amulets. It was supposed to be a difficult skill to use at the early stages of the game due to its high cost, but that was indeed what Sawyer appeared to be doing. Since magic couldn’t be used consecutively due to the incantation and recovery, these amulets served as intermediary protection. Overall, he must have dealt nearly twice the amount of damage that Ashihana had. This attracted the boss’s attention, and earned him a few tail slaps; each time, he used an amulet to recover.

“You can even use it as a recovery item? Cool.”

Though expensive, the talismans appeared to be highly useful. I made a mental note to buy some from Sawyer when I had extra money to spare.

“Can you distract it for a while longer, Sawyer?” Ashihana asked.

“I’ll try.”

“Do your best!”

With Sawyer as a distraction, Ashihana was able to get in a clean hit, even though it was usually the vanguard’s job to distract the enemy while the rear guard attacked.

My tamed monsters were also contributing to the battle, however slight that contribution was. Sakura and Bear Bear were attacking alongside Ashihana, while Rick acted as a decoy and Olto protected me. I was also playing my part by unleashing Aqua Balls, even if the effect was negligible—about one-fifth of the damage Ashihana and Sawyer dealt, I’d say.

So far, we had the upper hand; despite its tough defense, the Shrub Worm’s attacks were extremely simplistic. They only consisted of three patterns: headbutting, spewing pebbles from its mouth, and thrusting its tail from beneath the ground. Not only that, but dodging its attacks was a breeze since they were all sweeping, obvious movements. Aside from Sawyer, who was being doggedly targeted, we hadn’t sustained too much damage.

“Meep meep meep meep!”

However, the moment the Shrub Worm’s HP dropped to twenty percent, it writhed about and stretched towards the sky, unleashing a pathetic bellow.

“Meep meep!”

Its round eyes were now slanting upwards in a furious glare. As if its anger wasn’t obvious enough already, a cross-shaped popping vein had also emerged on its temple.

“Be careful! It might change its attack patterns!”

Ashihana’s warning turned out to be correct. The worm suddenly burrowed completely underground and began attacking us from below. After a slight vibration, a hole would open up by our feet, from which the worm would burst forth and headbutt or whip us with its tail. Once it had finished attacking us, it immediately burrowed back into the hole. Front or back no longer mattered: the entire area had become its target. On top of that, it seemed to be choosing its prey at random. In the beginning, this wasn’t too bad, as we could all attack the creature at once as soon as its head became visible. However, the more holes there were in the ground, the more difficult it was to guess which one it would emerge from, and the battle gradually became more one-sided.

“Hiyah!”

“Meep!”

“Damn it! It escaped again!”

To make things even more difficult, the creature was incredibly swift, ducking back underground at tremendous speed. We were unable to use arts that required a long activation time or spells that required chants against it.

“Missed again.”

“Me too.”

Even if we tried to predict where it’d emerge from next, there were just too many holes to make an accurate guess. In the end, the only effective means of attacking the monster was Ashihana’s ax, as Sawyer had apparently used up all of his paper talismans ages ago.

“Ugh! I can’t bring it down at all!” Ashihana grumbled.

“If anything, we’re being driven into a corner,” Sawyer added.

“What should we do?”

“Since its weakness seems to be fire, it’d be best if I could get in a clean hit...”

“I see.”

Sawyer’s fire magic was far more effective at dealing damage than my water magic. At first, I thought it was simply a matter of him having higher stats, but it also seemed to have something to do with the creature’s weakness. Given that it had a tree sprouting from its head, it was probably a plant monster.

“Meep meep meep!”

“Eek!”

“Ashihana! Ack!”

The Shrub Worm’s tail had sent Ashihana flying. Distracted by the sudden ambush, Sawyer had also received a body slam. Although they both had only fifty percent HP left, we were left with very few means of recovery. We had just used potions, medicine, and medicinal herbs, all of which had cooldowns, and Sawyer was out of recovery amulets. We couldn’t have him wasting his magic on healing us either, since that would probably leave him without enough MP left to attack afterwards.

“Yikes! Wh-What should we do, Sawyer?!”

“Don’t you have anything, Ashihana? Any special moves you’ve been keeping from us?”

“Nope! How about you, Yuto? Don’t you have a secret weapon or something?”

“S-Secret weapon...?!”

Don’t ask me! I’m no use when it comes to fighting!

“How about you, Sawyer?!”

“I-I don’t... Hey!” Sawyer yelled, pulling a black object out of his inventory. “I totally forgot about this!”

The item was none other than a bomb.

“I got this from an Alchemist friend who specializes in bomb-making! It was so long ago, I’d completely forgotten about it!”

“Is that one of Pyro’s creations?” Ashihana asked.

“Yup!”

Sawyer’s friend was apparently known as Pyro. Talk about a threatening nickname! Judging from their reactions, however, this bomb seemed to be the real deal, and a mighty powerful one at that.

“This might just work!”

“Go for it, Sawyer!”

“Will do!”

“That’s the spirit! Blow it to smithereens!”

Ew, no, don’t do that.

“Meep!”

“Mm-mm!” Olto groaned as he flew through the air, struck by a headlong dash from the worm.

“Olto!” I gasped. While the blow hadn’t been enough to kill him, he seemed to be suffering a concussion.

“Bastard! How dare you!” I seethed.

“This is our chance, though!” Sawyer exclaimed, running towards the Shrub Worm, which had shown its face. Before he could throw the bomb at it, however, the creature unleashed a new attack on him, blowing him off his feet.

“Meep!”

“Argh!” Sawyer screamed. The worm had spat some sort of sticky substance all over him.

“You okay, dude?!” I asked, rushing to his side.

“Uh... Ah...”

“He’s paralyzed!”

The mucus attack seemed to have a paralyzing effect, as Sawyer twitched all over, unable to move an inch.

“Looks like we’re outta options... I’m taking this, okay?”

It was all up to me now! Snatching the bomb out of Sawyer’s hand, I stepped forward, aiming to throw the weapon at the Shrub Worm. Or at least, I had planned to...

“Gah!”

Why, why did I have to trip at a time like this?! Even worse, the bomb had slipped through my fingers! This was all the Shrub Worm’s fault for thrashing about and ruining the terrain. There were pot holes and large rocks everywhere. Sure enough, my foot had gotten stuck in one of the holes dug up by the worm’s tail. The bomb flew out of my grasp and arced through the air in a totally unintended direction.

“Crap!”

The bomb missed the Shrub Worm and fell into a hole in the ground by its side.

“Aaaaah!”

All I could do was scream and watch as the disaster unfolded before my eyes. The bomb was swallowed up by the empty hole, then went off with a loud explosion, followed by a fiery-red column of fire.

“Meep meep...!”

“Huh?”

For some reason, the Shrub Worm squealed and slithered out of the hole. Even though I still couldn’t get a full view of it, more than half of its body was now visible—it had to be at least ten meters long. Additionally, it seemed to be heavily wounded.

“G-Got it. The explosion must have reached the worm because the holes were connected.”

You didn’t need to be a genius detective to figure out that all of the holes were probably interconnected underground like a maze. The explosion must have traveled through one of the tunnels and wounded the Shrub Worm.

“Look, over there! That might be its weak spot!” Ashihana pointed out.

“You’re right, it could be!” Sawyer agreed.

Not only had we wounded it and dragged it out into the open, but we’d also discovered a strange glowing spot in the middle of its body. Our eyes were also drawn to its peculiar shape. While the creature was shaped like a regular worm up until that glowing point, from there onwards, its body unraveled into several strands of thread interlaced with one another like a roughly woven bamboo basket. After that, its body resumed an ordinary wormlike appearance again. The “basket” contained some sort of glowing crystal from which yellow light gleamed through the gaps. The crystal remained afloat by some sort of mysterious force, and no matter how hard the worm thrashed about, it stayed firmly in its place in the basket. I was momentarily riveted to the spot by the mesmerizing sight.

“Let’s get ’em!”

At Ashihana’s voice, I snapped back to attention. Like she mentioned, there was a strong possibility that this crystal was the worm’s weak point, considering how it usually kept it hidden underground. Sakura and Bear Bear, who had been standing nearby, pounced on the beast at once.

“Growl growl!”

“...!”

“Meep meep!”

The glowing crystal definitely seemed to be its kryptonite, as even my monsters were able to shave off roughly ten percent of the worm’s HP. If Ashihana had used her arts, she might have been able to end things then and there. However, before Ashihana could attack, the Shrub Worm burrowed deep inside a hole.

“Damn it! It got away! Don’t you have any more bombs, Sawyer?”

“I don’t. Sorry...” Sawyer mumbled apologetically, having recovered from his paralysis.

“In that case, think we can draw it out with fire magic?” Ashihana asked.

“Good idea. I’ll try.”

Having said that, Sawyer fired a shot inside the hole the worm was hiding in. Unfortunately, the worm showed no signs of popping out again. My guess was that the explosion from the bomb earlier had just happened to hit the worm’s weak spot, which was why it had immediately jumped out. Fire magic alone seemed to have no effect on the creature. We were back to square one.

“Guess it’s downhill from here.”

“That’s not good at all.”

We might seriously be done for this time. That had probably been our one-in-a-million chance. It was unfortunate that we hadn’t been able to defeat the boss while the tide was in our favor.

“Think you can go underground, Sawyer?” Ashihana asked.

“You’re asking the impossible!”

She did have a point, though. If we could go inside, we might be able to attack its weak spot directly. However, the hole was way too small for us to enter. Even on the off chance that we did, there was nowhere for us to run. We’d only end up being attacked by the Shrub Worm and respawning.

“No chance of us fitting in there...”

However, right after I’d uttered those words, I noticed Rick speeding past me, making a beeline for the hole in the ground.

“Chirp chirp!”

“Rick! What’re you doing?!”

Despite my protests, Rick showed no signs of slowing down. He then dove out of sight into the Shrub Worm’s underground tunnel.

“RICK!”

Could you blame me for screaming? Rick had just entered the underground maze, home to that colossal worm. If it so much as thrashed about, Rick would get flattened like a pancake and die, not to mention he’d probably end up being swallowed whole if he faced that thing head-on.

“Riiick! Is he gonna be okay?”

I knew what he was trying to do. He had overheard what I’d said and decided to attack the Shrub Worm’s weak spot directly. Although I wasn’t entirely sure if he could find his way through that labyrinthian underground tunnel, I had to have faith in him and chant my incantation. Is he really going to be all right, though? I wondered, chanting my spell aloud while waiting for Rick to emerge, heart in my mouth. Despite my worries, Rick seemed to be far more reliable than I thought.

“Meep meep meep!”

“Finally!”

Before long, the Shrub Worm emerged from its hole, writhing in agony. Rick appeared to have succeeded at attacking its weakness. However, after all that thrashing about, what had become of my poor squirrel...?

“Chirp.”

“Whoa! When did you get here?!”

Before I knew it, Rick was at my feet, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a look of satisfaction. While I’d been worried sick about him, he had apparently escaped from an entirely different hole the one he’d entered.

“You’re all right!”

“Chirp!”

“Good, let’s join the others!”

“Chirp!”

I unleashed the spell I’d been holding. In this game, players were unable to move while chanting an incantation. Once the incantation was complete, however, you could hold it for about ten seconds while you widened your range. Aiming carefully, I fired an Aqua Ball at the beast. Rick charged at the creature once more and slammed his body into its weak spot.

“Growl growl!” Bear Bear roared, slashing at the worm’s weak point repeatedly with their claws.

“...!”

Sakura attacked the worm ruthlessly with her whip.

“Take that!”

“Meep meep...”

Ashihana’s ax arts delivered the final blow to the creature, bringing the fierce battle to an end. The Shrub Worm fell to the ground, uttering one last pitiful shriek before vanishing into particles of light.

“We did it!” Ashihana whooped.

“I seriously thought we were done for. We owe it all to you, Yuto.”

“Nah, don’t thank me. Rick did all the hard work.”

“True! Thanks, Rick!”

“Chirp chirp!”

I was just glad we were able to be of some use. After the Shrub Worm vanished, the transparent wall that had been surrounding us melted away. The potholes also vanished along with it, and the ground was smoothed over once more, returning to its pre-boss battle state.

“Looks like we’re back,” Ashihana commented.

“I kept thinking we were gonna die... We’re lucky to be alive.” Sawyer sighed. He was right. Though we had all managed to avoid respawning, it had truly been a close call. I went weak at the knees with relief as that fact truly dawned on me, sitting down.

“Phew,” I sighed.

“Mm-mm!”

“...!”

“Olto, Sakura, you two did great.” I patted them on the head as they rushed to my side, their cute little faces scrunched up in joy.

“Growl!”

“Chirp!”

“Haven’t forgotten you guys either,” I assured Bear Bear and Rick, who had come running up to me, determined not to miss out. Obviously, they had also played a huge part in the fight. While I was rewarding my tamed monsters for their hard work, Ashihana and Sawyer looked at their screens. I assumed from the whoop of joy they both let out that they had finished checking the boss drops they’d acquired.

“I got fangs, hide, wood, and an item box. All with three-star rarities too!” Sawyer exclaimed delightedly.

I understood where the hide and fangs came from, but wood? As I puzzled over this mystery, Sawyer showed me the item in question. It was a small piece of wood about thirty centimeters in length, probably originating from the small tree that had been sprouting from the Shrub Worm’s head. Since it had a rarity of three stars, it was most certainly one of the rarer finds in this area.

“I got wood, mucus, an item box, and this!” Ashihana beamed. Digging through her inventory, she flourished a yellow crystal the size of a basketball that looked exactly like the Shrub Worm’s weak spot. “How about you, Yuto?”

Prompted by my companions, I opened my status window and checked the boss drops I had acquired.

“Let’s see... I got some Shrub Worm mucus, two pieces of Shrub Worm Wood, and a random reward box.”

The crystal Ashihana had obtained was probably the boss’s rare drop. Random reward boxes referred to magical boxes whose contents were unknown until you opened them, which could sometimes be acquired from special boss battles.

“What are you guys doing with your reward boxes?” Sawyer asked us. “I’m opening mine right away.”

“Me too!” Ashihana replied.

“In that case, I think I’ll open mine now as well.”

Sawyer was the first to open his box, which contained a plain brown necklace that looked as though it was made of several clumps of dirt strung together. It appeared to be an accessory that was resistant to earth magic. Sawyer seemed to be moderately satisfied with his reward. Ashihana was the next to open hers; out of her box came a rolled-up piece of parchment.

“Yay! It’s a skill scroll!”

“A rare drop plus a skill scroll? You must be lucky today, Ashihana.”

Scrolls were magical items that contained skills or recipes that could be learned once opened. I recalled Sawyer telling me that he made and sold recipe scrolls, but was still unable to make skill scrolls himself. According to him, however, it was highly unlikely that players would be able to create such advanced items in the first place, which meant that the only places you could obtain skill scrolls at the moment were from boss drops or treasure chests. As Sawyer said, Ashihana was undeniably on a roll.

“Let’s see what’s inside... It’s a Soil Exploration skill!”

“Sounds pretty cool.”

“It does. A brand-new skill—lucky me!”

“It’s your turn next, Yuto.”

At Sawyer’s urging, I opened my random reward box to find...

“Breath of the Earth? What’s that supposed to be?”

Name: Breath of the Earth

Rarity: 1 / Quality: 10★

Effect: Can’t be sold or given away.

It looked like a clump of soil, or rather, a ball of dirt. And yet, it had a ten-star rating, no effects to speak of, and couldn’t be sold or given away. I was baffled.

“Hey, what do you think this is?”

“Hmm...”

“Never seen anything like it.”

Even Ashihana and Sawyer seemed puzzled by the exact nature of this item.

“How about you guys?” I asked Olto and co.

“Mmm?”

My tamed monsters were also at a loss. It was a complete mystery, then...

“Could it be an event item?” I wondered out loud.

“Could be, although it’s hard to say,” Ashihana replied.

“It might be some sort of household object,” Sawyer offered.

“Guess it’s possible.”

Was it only for decorative purposes, then? It seemed a bit too ugly for that, though.

“Oh well, I’ll figure it out in due time. I’ll put it away for now.”

“I’ll let you know if I find anything about it!”

“I’ll do some digging around too.”

“Good enough for me. I’m just glad that we managed to survive—and we got all these items. And besides, we got the wood, which was our original goal anyway,” I replied, genuinely meaning it. If I had entered the boss area on my own, there was no doubt I would’ve had to respawn. All things considered, I was happy with the results.

“Good point. Well, what do you say? Want me to make your beehive with Shrub Worm wood? I bet I could make something pretty decent with it. The mucus might come in handy too.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea.”

As Sakura was still very much a beginner when it came to woodworking, having a top Woodcutter like Ashihana make my beehive seemed like a way better option. In fact, I would say things were actually in my favor, now that I could ask a professional to make me one of my most sought-after items with top-quality materials.

“Now that all that’s over and done with, shall we head back to town as planned?”

“Sure. No point in us staying here much longer.”

“Agreed.”

On our way back to town, we discussed what to do with the information regarding the boss battle. Sawyer and Ashihana’s guess was that the fight could have been triggered by the number of trees we had cut down. After reviewing our logs and counting how many trees we felled, we discovered that the boss had appeared just after we’d cut down the fiftieth tree—that had almost certainly been the trigger for the boss encounter.

“I’m pretty sure we can sell this info to the Quick-Eared Cats,” Ashihana said. However, there was a slight problem. If we were to sell this info, we would also have to sell the detail about cutting kindling, which would ultimately result in us having to give up the Plant Knowledge tidbit that we had promised not to sell.

In the end, we decided not to sell any information just yet, including what we knew about this boss. While I had no qualms about selling off our findings alongside my Plant Knowledge discovery, Ashihana and Sawyer seemed rather hesitant on my behalf. This meant that we wouldn’t earn any money, but that didn’t really bother me, considering how much else we’d gained. There was absolutely no need to sell any information we wanted to keep to ourselves for now. We encountered several monsters on the way back to town, but we managed to muster up enough energy and defeat them all despite our exhaustion.

“Golly, I’m beat.”

“Me too.”

“Me three.”

My tamed monsters had also collapsed on the ground of the town square in a heap, apparently wiped from the flurry of events. Sakura was sitting in a W position with Bear Bear in her lap and Olto leaned against her back, with Rick curled on top of his head.

“Thanks for everything! I had a really great day today!” Ashihana thanked me.

“Likewise,” I replied heartily.

“I’ll make the beehive as soon as I can! I’ll shoot you a DM when it’s done, ’kay?”

“Looking forward to it.”

“Good. Okay, see ya! Bye, Bear Bear!”

“Growl.”

Before parting, I handed Ashihana the wood and other materials I’d obtained today. According to her, the other parts of the worm could also be used for beehive making. I was already looking forward to seeing the finished product. With that, we bid farewell to Ashihana. She kept on glancing back and waving at Bear Bear until she was out of sight. At this rate, I doubted it would be long before she came to visit me—or more precisely, Bear Bear—again.

“Shall we get going too?” I said, turning to Sawyer.

“Absolutely!” he chimed. I had actually promised to take him to the florist after we returned to town, as he seemed pretty enthusiastic to visit the shop I’d bought his bookmark from.

“I can’t wait to see what the place is like.”

“Don’t get your hopes up too much.”

Sawyer was convinced that the bookmark held some sort of key to making grimoires. The florist I was about to take him to, however, mainly dealt with weeds. To be honest, I didn’t think it could possibly live up to his expectations.

“Come on, let’s go!”

“Hey, quit pulling!”

Damn it. If only he were a cute girl, this would be like something out of a bittersweet teenage love story! Too bad I’m straight, though...

“What’s wrong?” Sawyer peered at me curiously.

“Nothing!”

Gah, don’t tilt your head like that! I screamed silently, grappling with my internal conflict.