Chapter 6: Request from the Guildmaster of Nijhoff
Chapter 6: Request from the Guildmaster of Nijhoff
We had arrived in the western forest in order to fulfill our request to exterminate the evil plants.
According to Jöran, this forest will have a huge outbreak of evil plants every decade or so for some unexplained reason. And apparently, the outbreak this year was especially large, right? If there’s really that many it might be best to split into two groups and exterminate them faster.
“Fel, where are all the evolved ones gathered?”
“They are pretty spread out, but they are more common deeper into the forest.”
Deep in the forest, huh? If that’s the case...... “It seems like there’s a lot of them this time around, so let’s split into two groups. Can I get Fel and Dora-chan to take care of the deeper parts?”
“Understood.”
《Got it!》
If the deeper sections had more evolved forms, then it would be best to have Fel and Dora-chan take care of those.
“Sui, you’re with me.”
《Whaaat, but Sui wants to go pew-pew-pew and beat up lots too—!》
Sui had a powerful skill in the form of Acid Bullet, but compared to Fel and Dora-chan, its stats were the lowest. I decided to have it stick with me and take care of the shallower parts of the forest. Even though Sui was the weakest compared to Fel and Dora-chan, it was still clearly stronger than me. I was planning to have Sui work as my bodyguard.
“You can go pew-pew all you like. It would just make me happy if you stayed with me. I’m the weakest one here, so Sui needs to protect me. I’m counting on you.”
《Got it! Sui will protect master!》
This time, I had something I wanted to try, so I planned to fight. I have Perfect Defense, so I don’t think I’ll die, but it’s not like I’m used to combat, either. I’ll feel much better with Sui here.
“Fel, I’ll give you the magic bag.” I hung the magic bag around Fel’s neck.
According to the guildmaster, Jöran, evil plants start to wither immediately after dying. C-ranked evil plants don’t leave anything behind, but the evolved giant evil plants are B-ranked, so there were cases where they leave behind magic stones. “Fel, Dora-chan, it looks like there are a lot of the evolved giant evil plants, so if they drop magic stones, pick them up and put them inside.” Jöran did say they would pay for the magic stones.
“I understand. Let us go, Dora.”
《Yeah!》
Fel and Dora-chan proceeded further into the forest. On the other hand, I......
“Heheheh, it’ll be great if this works...” I took out an anti-evil plant weapon from inside my Item Box; that weapon was ‘herbicide.’
My Online Supermarket had a gardening supplies section, and I looked for it because it seemed like it’d be there. And when I checked this morning, it really was in stock. And on top of that, they even had several kinds of both the concentrated solution type and the spray type. I chose a spray type from among those. It seemed to be light and easy to use, and it was described as “kind to the environment” since it used compounds derived from food. Also, it said that it only affects what is sprayed, allowing one to only get rid of weeds they aim for, so it seemed perfect for the evil plants this time. I tried appraising it, and this is what came out.
【Herbicide】
A spray type herbicide from another world. Kind to the environment.
What I wanted to test was whether or not this ‘herbicide’ would work. It’s a plant-type monster, so it seemed like it would. If it does, it’ll become a powerful weapon for whenever a plant type monster shows up.
“Good — Sui, let’s go.”
《Yeah!》
Sui and I headed into the forest.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
《Master — a weird one came—!》
It was an evil plant, just as Jöran described: basically, a bug-eating Venus flytrap that looked like a clamshell with serrated edges. Only it was almost two meters tall, and had vines or something growing out of its stalk that moved freely, and its roots wriggled around endlessly, allowing it to move freely even though it was a plant-based monster.
“Sui, that’s an evil plant. We’re going to defeat it.”
《Got it. Then Sui will do it—.》
*Pew* *Pew**Pew* ——— Sui’s Acid Bullets hit right on the mark, and the evil plant withered away.
“Good job, Sui.”
《Eheheh~... Ahh, there! Master, there are lots of those wriggly things like before coming~!》
Following in the direction Sui’s tentacles pointed, I noticed ten or so evil plants approaching us. Oh my, that is a lot of them. Looks like it wasn’t joking when it said there were a lot of them.
“Ahh, there’s a lot of them, aren’t there? Sui, let’s go.”
《Yeah! Sui will go pew-pew lots and beat those weird wriggly grass things!》 Sui, in high spirits, started shooting Acid Bullets at the evil plants.
Great, I need to get in there too, with my anti-evil plant weapon, some Japanese-made ‘herbicide!’ Take this!
*Sshhhhh* *Shhhhh* *Shhhhh*——— I sprayed the herbicide towards the evil plant’s vines, which had been reaching out to ensnare me.
The ‘herbicide’s’ effect was immediate and dramatic. The vines that were hit with the spray immediately started to wilt, and that spread all the way through to the stalk; eventually, the entire plant withered away. It might have just been the effect of the food-based compounds from my world working their magic, but this world also probably didn’t have anything like herbicide, so I’m not sure what was responsible for how well this worked; at any rate it was really effective.
“Yeah! It worked!!”
《Master, that’s awesome! Sui won’t lose either! Sui will beat a lot of them!》
*Pew* *Pew* *Pew*
*Shhh* *Shhh* *Shhhhhhh*
Sui and I kept defeating the evil plants that gathered to try and eat us in endless droves...
“Wheww~, it’s finally over.” As soon as I thought that......
《Master — there’s more—. This time there’s a huge one!》
This time, there weren’t just evil plants, there was even a giant evil plant.
“S-So big......” Every single part of the plant was about two times bigger than on a regular evil plant; it was about four meters tall. However, the herbicides worked on the evil plants, so it should also work on this giant evil plant. And towards the giant evil plant’s fat, wriggling vines, extending forth to ensnare me...
“Take this!!”
*Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shhhhh*——— I sprayed a large amount of herbicide towards it.
*Thud* *Thud* *Thud*
The giant evil plant looked like it was in pain as it slammed the ground with its fat roots.
“Woah!” Jumping sideways at the last minute, I dodged it. “Damn! Hurry up and die already!!”
*Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shh* *Shhhhh*
I also applied a large amount to its roots. After that, it started to wither faster than when I targeted the stalk. So the roots are its weak point, huh? I turned around to try and tell Sui that, but......
Yeah, looks like Sui’s Acid Bullet doesn’t care about that. Whether it was the stalk or the roots, all of it melted away.
Good, then I’ll just concentrate on my end. It’s a good thing I was careful and bought a lot of herbicide.
Taking out another spray can of herbicide, I proceeded to fight, dual-wielding cans.
*Shwiiiiing* This is the way of dual-wielding herbicide. “Yahhahhh! I’m invincible with herbicide!!”
I, with a huge confidence boost due to how effective the herbicide was, charged into the horde of evil plants.
*Shh* *Shh* *Shhhh*——— I sprayed down evil plants left and right.
Three hours later...
“Ahh~, so tired.” I sat down so hard it was almost like I was falling to the ground.
《Master — are you okay—?》
“Yeah, I’m fine, just a little tired. Still, it’s amazing that you’re still fine after beating so many, Sui.” Even though Sui should have fought and defeated even more evil plants than I did, Sui still seemed to be full of energy as it continued to bounce around everywhere.
《Eheheh~, Sui is still full of energy. Sui can still beat more and moooore of those weird wriggly grass things.》
Sui and I kept beating one evil plant after the other as they assaulted us. Evil plants did tend to gather together, but there really was no end to them. Most likely, I alone probably took care of over a hundred of them. And among those, there were even ten giant evil plants. Even though I just sprayed them with herbicide, I was understandably still tired. When I ran out of the herbicide that I had prepared halfway through, as one would expect, I started to panic. I somehow managed to get over the issue by hurrying to buy more, though. Still, though............
Looking around, the ground was laden with withered husks of evil plants. Looking at the sheer number of corpses, it seemed like Sui beat about double what I had to deal with. I looked over at Sui, who was still bouncing around. It doesn’t look like it at all, but Sui really does have a lot of fighting power...
《Hm? Whaat? Master—?》
“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking that Sui is amazing for beating so many.”
《Eheheh~, Sui is amazing?》
“Yeah, Sui is amazing.”
《Heheh, Sui is so happy...》 Sui happily started to bounce around me.
“Ah, right, Sui. Can you go find the magic stones and bring them over?” The giant evil plants are B-ranked, so there should be some with magic stones in them. Jöran did say that the guild would buy what magic stones I got...
《Magic stones? Do you mean those smooth rocks?》
“Right, those smooth rocks that come out when you beat monsters.” Evil plants wither away when they die, so any magic stones should just be lying on the ground where they perished.
《Got it—.》
“I’m counting on you.” I had Sui gather up the magic stones while I took a breather, of course — I was tired after today’s events. “I’ve been basically leaving fighting entirely up to everyone else, after all.”
When fighting monsters, you can’t lose focus for even a moment. Not only that, but today there were a lot of them, and Fel, my guardian god, wasn’t around, either. That really does make a difference to my mental state.
Vahagn did say, ‘It’s your life on the line if your skills are dull when the chips are down,’ and he really was right. Maybe I’ll try to participate in battles when I can from now on, if even only a little. Of course, I’ll only be ‘participating,’ though. If I’m going to be getting in the way, I’ll just stay quiet on the sidelines.
《Master — Sui picked them all up!》
“Ohh, thanks.” I took the sixteen magic stones that Sui handed me. If there were still sixteen when we weren’t guaranteed to get one, that meant that there must have been quite the number of giant evil plants around. They really did just pop up in huge numbers, like weeds.
While all that was going on, Fel and Dora-chan came back.
“How was it?”
“Mm, there were a lot of them.”
《Yeah. They weren’t strong at all, but their numbers... Also, evil plants gather towards anything that moves. They kept coming and coming... it was almost oppressive how many of them there were. Of course, we took care of all of them though!》
It looks like there were a lot of them on Fel and Dora-chan’s side, too.
“Dora and I eliminated all of them, so there is no need to worry.”
“So there are none left?”
“Indeed.”
Just what I’d expect. According to Jöran, given the numbers, it was impossible to expect a complete extermination... There were still evil plants around even in normal times, so it would have been fine as long as we whittled down their abnormally large numbers.
“Sui and I beat everything that was around here; are there any left?”
“Wait a second...... no, it does not seem like it. Hm, there are no evil plants in this forest anymore.”
“I see, that’s good. Then that means we’re finished with the request.” I felt a little relieved that it was over safely.
《Whaaat? It’s already over? Sui wanted to go pew-pew and beat more—!》 Ahh, looks like Sui’s still full of energy...
“Ahh, Sui, there’s still one more monster elimination request to do, so you can go pew-pew then.”
《Got it — Sui will do Sui’s best—.》
Cyclops, I’m sorry but please be the target of Sui’s Acid Bullets.
“Ah, Fel, Dora-chan, did you pick up the magic stones?”
“Yes.”
《Of course.》
Taking the magic bag off of Fel’s neck and checking inside, I found fifty magic stones...... Just how many of them did Fel and Dora-chan beat?
“Now then, we finished the request, so let’s get out of this forest and eat.”
“Indeed, I am hungry.”
《Food! Food~.》
《Sui’s stomach is empty—!》
Storing the magic stones and magic bag into my Item Box, I left the forest along with everyone.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After having some food, we were all lazily taking a break. By the way, our meal was some of the stuff I’d made when we left Dolan. I used most of it during our travels, but there was just a bit left of each dish, so I just brought them all out. So we had stuff like karaage, Hamburg steaks, and gyoza. It was a meal full of variety. All three of them were happy with all the variety they had to choose from. It was all leftovers from the stuff I’d made and stored for later, though... Among those, I had some ground meat and tofu along with some rice. The flavor was soaked through, so it was good.
Ah, right. As a reward for everyone working hard, let’s have some dessert. I want to eat something sweet too since I’m so tired, after all. Everyone did well this time, so let’s splurge.
I opened Fumiya’s menu in my Online Supermarket.
It’s gotta be this for Fel. I picked out Fel’s favorite, the strawberry shortcake; this time I got a large-sized whole cake. Fel will probably be happy with this size.
And of course, it’s gotta be pudding for Dora-chan. I picked out a pudding assortment meant as a gift. It had custard pudding, caramel pudding, and mango pudding in sets of four each, for a total of twelve. Dora-chan should be satisfied with this since he likes pudding so much.
Thinking of Sui, it really likes chocolatey things, right? So what I chose was a chocolate cake. It also seemed like Sui liked strawberries, so I got one that had strawberries on top. I made it the same size as Fel’s, a whole large sized cake. Sui should be happy with this, too.
What should I get...... I skimmed through the lineup of cakes.
Oh, that looks refreshing. Good, let’s go with this one. I chose a seasonally limited shiratama cream anmitsu jelly.
After checking out the cart, the usual cardboard box appeared. Take the cakes out... good.
“Hey everyone, come over!”
All three of them gathered around in response to me calling out to them.
“Everyone did their best today, so here.” I served everyone their reward.
“Mm, this is big. Can I really eat this?” Fel tried to act like it was nothing, but his tail was wagging furiously.
《Ohh! This is pudding? There’s so many!》 Dora-chan flew in circles joyously.
《Waahh! What a big cake!》 Sui frolicked around, bouncing all over the place at high speeds.
“Today, everyone did their best and exterminated an amazing amount of evil plants. So this is a special reward. You can eat it.”
As soon as I said that, Fel and Sui bit into their cakes. Ahh, Fel’s mouth is all sticky with cream. Sui also happily engulfed the chocolate cake.
“Ah, Dora-chan, which one do you want? There’s three flavors. This one’s a custard pudding, this one’s caramel pudding, and this one’s mango pudding.”
《Yeah, all of them.》
“You’re going to eat all three kinds?”
《Of course I will.》
Fine, fine. I opened all three types of pudding, plated them, and served them to Dora-chan.
《So good! It’s all delicious, but this orange one is the best!!》
Seems like he prefers the mango pudding, huh? It was decided for me to hold on to the rest of the puddings, and serve them after dinner.
Nice, nice. Everyone’s eating happily. Now then, let’s try this shiratama cream anmitsu I got.
“It’s been a while, but this is really delicious.” It wasn’t too sweet, so I could just keep plowing through it. Colorful fruits and white cream, and also chewy shiratama dango and sweet agar jelly, along with a combo of red bean paste, black sugar, and honey... I wonder why this is so amazingly good.
“Whoohh, that was delicious.”
Fel and Dora-chan must have been satisfied, as they were both licking around their mouths. Sui also seemed satisfied, and was already sleeping soundly in the usual bag.
“Well then, let’s go back to town.”
“Indeed.”
《Yeah.》
We, who had finished exterminating the evil plants, went back to town just like that.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After returning to Nijhoff, we headed for the Adventurer’s guild. When I showed the receptionist my guild card, I was led straight to the guildmaster’s room.
“Ohh, that was fast.” The one who said that was the guildmaster of this town, who looked like a mountain hermit, Jöran.
“Yes, everyone did their best.”
“For us, something like evil plants are not much of an enemy,” said Fel.
“Fuhahahaha! Is that so? True, it might not be a big deal when you set a Fenrir, a pixie dragon, and a special slime to the task, eh?”
Jöran, that must mean that you’ve been hearing a lot of stuff from the other guildmasters, if you know that Dora-chan is a pixie dragon and that Sui is a special slime, right?
Ah, well I did participate in that battle, you know, a little. At least in name.
“Still though, there really were a surprising amount, even though we already knew about the sudden large growth of them.”
“It seems this time there really were a lot of them... Thanks to that, it’s been hard going trying to exterminate them all. So you all’ve really saved us by taking this request.”
You’d need to gather quite a whole lot of adventurers if you planned to exterminate that many, after all. Well, since it was us, we managed to do something about it though.
“Ahh, right. We also have quite a few magic stones, although they’re all small. Is it all right to bring them out here?”
“Ohh, I see I see. Come on, show them to me.”
I dumped the giant evil plant’s magic stones onto the table. Sui and I managed to get sixteen from what we defeated, and Fel and Dora-chan managed to get forty-eight when I counted them. It was a total of sixty-four stones. Giant evil plants were only B-ranked monsters, so their magic stones were extremely small. This is just judging from the stones I’ve seen so far, but compared to stones like what I got from the dungeon, it didn’t seem like their quality was very high.
“They’re small, but it’s great to have this many. Hm, how about 4 gold for each one of them?”
So he’ll buy them for 4 gold each, huh? I’d expected they’d be cheaper. Of course it was all fine with me. “Yes, that’ll be fine.”
“‘Kay then, I’ll pay that along with the reward for exterminating the evil plants, so wait a second, won’t you, sonny?”
With those words, Jöran left the room, and came back after a little while. “Sorry for keeping you waiting. The reward for exterminating the evil plants this time is 430 gold. And the price for their magic stones will be 256 gold in total. All in all, that’s 686 gold. According to Ugohl in Dolan, paying you in large gold coins is fine with you, is that right?”
Nice job, Ugohl. Regular gold coins are too bulky and unwieldy, so this is better for me. “Yes, large gold coins will be fine.”
“‘Kay then, that’s 68 large gold coins and 6 gold coins. Please confirm it.”
1, 2, 3...... Yep, that’s 68 large gold coins and 6 gold coins. “Yes, the amount is correct.”
“Indeed. Sorry, but I’m counting on you for the case with the cyclops whenever it’s convenient for you lot.”
“Sure.”
There was also a request to kill a cyclops, right? But even we wouldn’t be able to get on that right away. Let’s see, it would be best to take tomorrow to rest, and then go the day after at the earliest, I think?
“We will be going to fight the cyclops tomorrow,” Fel said, suddenly.
“Wai- Fel, what are you saying? Tomorrow?” Personally I’d rather spend tomorrow resting, though...
“Indeed. The evil plants only had numbers going for them, and they were completely tasteless as far as enemies go.”
Tasteless, you say......
《I agree. It’s true that the evil plants yesterday didn’t offer any sort of challenge.》
Et tu, Dora-chan?!
《We’re fighting? Sui will go pew-pew and beat them!》 Sui, who had at some point crawled out of the bag, seemed motivated.
Hahhh~, looks like everyone’s just full of energy.
“Looks like everyone’s ready and raring to go for some reason, so we’ll go fight the cyclops tomorrow.”
“Hohh, that’s great for us, but are you sure you’re okay going back-to-back like that, sonny?”
“Yes, it seems like everyone else is fine, after all.” They all just have way too much energy. Well, unlike the evil plants today, it doesn’t look like the fight with the cyclops will have any room for me to participate, anyway. I’ll just leave it to everyone else.
“I see, then I’m counting on you all.”
“Right.”
And so, it was set that we would be going to fight the cyclops tomorrow. Hahhh, they’ve all got way too much energy on their hands. Let’s just hurry up and go home, eat, and take our time soaking in the bath to try and shed this tiredness.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
I couldn’t really be bothered with dinner so I just made yakiniku bowls, which would be fast and easy. Everyone loved this one, anyway.
In exchange, I used earth dragon meat for the first time in a while. Just as I remembered, earth dragon meat was really delicious. Everyone happily chowed down.
After dinner, Dora-chan, Sui, and I went to take a bath. I bought a hot springs bath additive and used it. It was the milky white clouded hot spring type; it basically had no fragrance at all, but somehow, it seemed nicer to my skin.
“Whooeeee~...” My muscles that had gone all stiff slowly unwound. “The bath sure feels nice.”
《Yeah, it’s the best~.》
《The bath feels nice~.》
Dora-chan and Sui were once again floating around in the milky white waters.
Yeah, baths are great...
We slowly and leisurely enjoyed our bath to the fullest.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After getting out of the bath, I was taking a small break on the sofa in the simply huge living room. I chugged down a sports drink in order to rehydrate. Dora-chan and Sui had fruit milk.
《This tastes really good drinking it after a bath.》
《It’s cold and sweet and delicious~.》
It seemed like both Dora-chan and Sui liked the fruit milk, as they were also chugging it down.
“Mn, that is unfair.” Fel came into the living room. Apparently he got impatient and came down since we wouldn’t go up.
“Do you want some, Fel?”
“Indeed.”
I poured some fruit milk into a deep dish.
《Hey, I still have pudding left over, right?》 said Dora-chan.
He’s talking about that assorted pack of puddings I got for him after lunch as a reward, right? “Yeah, you do.”
《Then give me three of them.》
After I plated one of each of the flavors and served them up, Dora-chan dug in, making it look really delicious.
《I’m so jealous...》 Sui muttered, seemingly envious of Dora-chan.
《Tch! Fine then, already. Hey, give some to Sui and Fel too.》
Wow, I never expected that to happen. Looks like Dora-chan’s sharing his favorite pudding. Not only that, he was sharing with Fel too, not just Sui who looked like it wanted some. “Are you sure?”
《Yeah. Well, Sui and Fel are friends, after all. You’re also my friend even if you’re also my master, so I don’t mind sharing some with you too, you know?》
Heheh, Dora-chan seems all spiky, but he’s really a nice guy, isn’t he? “No, I’m fine. I’m happy you feel that way, though. Thanks.”
Dora-chan must have gotten bashful over what I said, as his tail started to fidget back and forth. I took another set of three each for Fel and Sui, plated them, and handed them out.
“Here, Dora-chan said it was okay to share. Make sure you thank him.”
《Yaayyy!! Dora-chan, thanks!》
“Indeed. Thank you for this, Dora.”
Both Fel and Sui thanked Dora-chan and started on their puddings.
《Dora-chan, the pudding’s delicious.》
“Indeed. This one is also pretty good.”
《Heheheh, right? It suited my tastes, after all. Of course it’s good.》
It’s nice that my familiars are so close. Watching everyone is giving me the fuzzies.
“Oh yeah, the cyclops we’re going to beat tomorrow is a one-eyed giant, right? What kind of monster is it?”
“A cyclops is huge, but it is also slow.” When I asked about cyclopes, Fel answered.
“Fel, have you fought a cyclops before?”
“Yes. Several times. Of course, I won every time.”
He said, as if it was a matter of course.
《I’ve won against them, too,》 said Dora-chan. Apparently Dora-chan’s also fought cyclopes before. 《You know, cyclops are strong and tough ’cause they’re so huge, but just like Fel said, they’re all really slow. So if you attack first and land a really good blow they’ll all go down in one hit.》 Attack first and land a really good blow, huh? You say that like it’s easy, Dora-chan, but normally one wouldn’t be able to do that, I think.
“Indeed, it is as Dora says. Those things are slow, so it is probably best to just attack it first and defeat it before it manages a counterattack.”
So in other words, exactly the same as we always do? Just attack first and attack a lot, right? Yep, looks like I won’t be doing anything tomorrow.
《Sui will also go pew-pew!》
“Yeah, yeah. So tomorrow when we find the one-eyed giant everyone will attack it at once. Is that right, Fel?” That’s what he means by attack first and attack a lot, right?
“Indeed. As soon as we find it, we will defeat it.”
《Yeah.》
《Sui will work hard!》
Everyone’s raring to go, I see. Looks like the cyclops is gonna go down fast tomorrow. I’m starting to feel just a little sorry for the cyclops that’s gonna take all this violence, since he’s gonna go down without even being able to fight back. I whispered a short prayer for a cyclops I haven’t even seen yet.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
We had come to the excavation site in order to defeat the cyclops. The site must have previously been a mountain, as the site looked like it had been shaved away into steps.
Stealthily peeking into the site... It’s there.
“So that’s a cyclops......” The cyclops, which probably approached four meters in height, was strutting slowly around like it owned the place.
《It’s as big as always, huh?》 said Dora-chan, looking at the cyclops.
“However, it is just big. It is still slow. It is not worthy of being my enemy. Let us hurry and defeat it. Dora, Sui.”
“Ah, wait a second!” I stopped Fel just as he seemed about to run off.
“Mnn, what?” Fel seemed a little dissatisfied at me stopping him right before he was about to dash off all cool.
“It looks like the cyclops’ hide is some sort of material, so can you try to kill it without damaging it as much as possible?” According to what I heard from Jöran, the materials to be gained from a cyclops were its hide, its eye, and a magic stone since it’s A-ranked. Jöran told me that he’d really like to buy its materials, if possible.
“Without damaging it, you say? ......Hmmm.”
“It’s fine if you think it’s too hard.”
“Of course it is not hard. Understood. I will attempt to defeat it without damaging it as much as possible.” I must have hit his pride, since Fel immediately announced that he would attempt to not damage it.
“Dora, Sui, you were listening, right? We will be defeating that cyclops without damaging its hide. We are going!”
《Sure!》
《Yeah!》
When Fel jumped out first, Dora-chan and Sui followed him. I would just be in the way, so of course I sat back and watched.
“Gooaahhhh!!” The cyclops noticed Fel and the others, and raised its leg to try and squish them under its huge, fat foot.
*Blam!* In the span of one breath, or rather, in just a moment, the cyclops’ foot came crashing down.
......Yeah, it really is slow. Fel and Dora-chan said as much, but it turns out they weren’t lying. At that speed, it won’t even scratch any of them.
“Bow!” Fel cried out, and jumped up after an approach. And he used the cyclops’ arm as a stepping stone to climb all the way up to its head.
*SNAP*
Fel, who jumped all the way up, shot electricity from his front paw, and hit the cyclops directly in the cranium. It was like someone took a powerful stun gun right to the head.
“Gooaahhhhh!!” Painfully, the cyclops screamed out and fell to its knees. Then, Dora-chan used its small body and quick movements to close in on the cyclops. He got in close, and......
*BOO-ooomm!*
《Yahhooo! I aimed right for the heart and had it eat some lightning, baby!!》
D-Dora-chan, hitting a properly working heart with electricity will...... What a heartless attack.
“Gh...... Goahh......” The cyclops hunched forward, clutching its heart and at death’s door.
《Sui is next—!》 Along with Sui’s voice came an Acid Bullet shooting out of its outstretched tentacle.
*Pew*
The projectile of acid came shooting out at high speeds, and pierced through the cyclops’ gut.
“Ghh, ah.........”
*Thud*
The hunched over cyclops, having died just like that, fell over sideways. Aannd the cyclops disposal is complete.
“Hm, that was good work.”
《Haha, we did it! It’s no biggie when we’re on the job!》
《Yayy! We did it—!》
Fel, as if to say it was only natural, nodded his head. Dora-chan was flying circles with the smuggest look on his face. Sui was happily bouncing around, fast.
Still, that was really anticlimactic. I expected that, though. It took some shocks straight to its brain and heart, and died to having its gut pierced through, huh...... That was a grand way of dying, but well, when I think of how many of the people who worked here were killed by it, I guess the thing deserved it.
I headed to meet up with everyone. “Wow, nice work everyone, to kill it so quickly.”
“For us, this thing is worthless as an opponent,” said Fel, looking extremely smug.
Treating an A-ranked cyclops as worthless, huh? You know, if any adventurer who put their blood, sweat, and tears into ranking up heard you, they’d cry. Well, if all three of them teamed up, it seems like even a huge flying dragon would go down easily, though. And in reality, Fel already did hunt down an earth dragon. According to Elrand, who loves dragons, huge flying dragons include red dragons, and black dragons. Rumors say that they’re incredibly violent on top of being S-ranked, but with the team combination between these three, it’ll probably be fine. Well, from what I’ve heard there’s not really many of them at all, so we’ll probably never meet one though.
Now then, let’s store this cyclops. Giving the cyclops a once over, I found a slight burn where Fel hit the cyclops’ head with electricity, and one more on the chest where Dora-chan hit it. The part in the gut where Sui hit it with an Acid Bullet also had a hole around 2cm in diameter. That meant that the cyclops’ hide was basically spotless. Wow, they actually listened to what I said.
I shut the cyclops’ corpse into my Item Box.
“What now? This all ended really quick, so we could just head back to town?” It ended quickly, so the sun was still at its highest point.
“No, we eat before we go back.”
《I’m also hungry—.》
《Sui is also hungry—.》
Ahh, is that right? Well, it is about time. Okay then, let’s eat here before going back. Wait, we went through everything I had premade — what should I do?
I checked what was inside my Item Box. There’s only some steamed rice...... And of course meat. Rice rice rice, meat meat meat............ Ah, let’s do that.
What I thought of, when looking through all the meat and rice, was meat wrap rice balls. It was easy and tasty, and perfect for eating outside, in my opinion. In my case, I used yakiniku tare as flavoring when making meat wrap rice balls. It was simple, and most of all, delicious. This time, let’s make three kinds with orc, bloody horn-bull, and wyvern meat. It might also be nice to use several different kinds of yakiniku tare. If that’s the case, I’ll have to buy the tare first.
Open the Online Supermarket... And the first thing I got was the usual long-selling one I always used. This was the only one I wouldn’t compromise on. Since making it sweeter would probably fit meat wrap rice balls better, I chose a sweeter version. And also... Oh, this is good. It was a yakiniku tare from a famous chain of yakiniku places, and it was also on the sweeter side, so it seemed like it would go well with the dish. It would be nice to have about one more...... Oh, let’s go with this one. I chose a sweet yakiniku tare from a maker famous for their soy sauce. I’d tried the medium spicy version of this one, and it was pretty good. Lastly, I got some white sesame to sprinkle on top, and that’s all.
Now then, let’s get to making these meat wrap rice balls.
~◇~◇~◇~
First, cut each of the three meats — orc, bloody horn-bull, and wyvern — thinly. One might end up cutting a piece too thick, or run out in the middle, but that only gives the dish charm.
Even as I am, ever since I came to this world and since I’ve been cooking for Fel and the others, I’ve gotten much better with my knife skills. While I was at home, I still cooked, but in the end that was all for myself. Compared to that, I’ve started to also have speed to my knifework.
Once the meat is cut, next is the rice. Grip the rice to make the general shape. Since this is for Fel and the others too, I make them a little bigger than usual.
Once the shape is done, wrap the meat around it. This time, wrap it up completely so that no rice is showing. Leaving rice showing could allow the whole thing to collapse, so it doesn’t matter how many pieces of meat it takes, what’s most important is to make sure it is completely wrapped.
Oil up a heated frying pan, and start cooking the meat wraps starting with the tips on the bottom. Once that part of the meat wrap is properly cooked, start rolling it around to cook the rest of it. Once the whole thing has cooked, coat with the tare, and once the tare is cooked on its finished. Put the finished meat wrap rice balls on a plate, and lastly sprinkle some white sesame on top.
~◇~◇~◇~
“Heeyy, it’s done!” As soon as I called out to them, they were already gathered. “Here you go.” I placed dishes with the meat wrap rice balls in them in front of everyone.
“I smell the usual tare from when you cook meat.” Gh...... As sharp as ever, Fel. W-Well, I personally like the tare flavor, and it’s convenient so I use it a lot. Maaan, I knew that I was using the yakiniku tare too much, but since it pairs well with meat, it always just ends up like this... Anyway, I got some different tare from the one I usually use this time, too, so cut me some slack.
“Let me see...... Mm? This is... so you wrapped meat around that thing you call rice, I see. Ohh, this is fairly easy to eat. And it is also tasty.” With those words, Fel started to eat the meat wrap rice balls two at a time.
《Oh! So it’s wrapped in meat, huh? It’s great since it’s so easy to eat. I like it.》 Dora-chan scarfed them down while saying the same thing. The meat wrap rice balls are served in a very contained package, so it seems it’s popular with both Fel and Dora-chan since it’s so easy to eat.
《It’s the same flavor as always—, it goes great with meat, so Sui likes it—!》
You think so too, Sui? Right? Doesn’t yakiniku tare just go great with meat? Up until now, I’ve been using the same long-selling yakiniku tare due to my own tastes. However, I cook meat a lot now, so if I keep using the same thing, there’ll be some fatigue no matter what, huh? Now, I can choose spicier things, or even stuff that holds down the sweetness fort, there’s lots of different kinds of yakiniku tare so it might be nice to try them. I can get all kinds through my Online Supermarket, so let’s do just that from now on.
“More!” 《More!》 《More!》
They were fast with that today. Might be because it’s so easy to eat.
I cooked up some more meat wrap rice balls for them. This time, I used the tare from that famous chain of yakiniku places.
“Here.”
Everyone started chowing down again.
“Mn, this one tastes slightly different.”
Oh, so Fel noticed. “I used a slightly different tare than usual. How is it?”
“Yes. This one is also not bad.”
《Yeah, this one’s good, too. It’s great, and it’s got sort of a more savory flavor.》
《This one is tasty too—.》
Looks like both Dora-chan and Sui like it too. Let’s see, I should try one as well. Ohh! It’s pretty damn good. It’s got a rich flavor. It said that it had dark roasted sesame seeds in it, so that fragrance must accent it nicely, huh?
After that, Fel and Sui had several more helpings before mealtime was over. I also made some rice balls using the sweeter type of tare from that maker that’s famous for its soy sauce, and it was also delicious. Salty-sweet really is just the best flavor for meat wrap rice balls.
《Heeeyyy, give me pudding—.》 Dora-chan, who finished a little earlier, was the one who said that.
Oh yeah, I promised two desserts a day and he hadn’t eaten one in the morning yet, had he?
“Give me something sweet as well.”
《Sui too—!》
They must have started to want something sweet as well, as both Fel and Sui also asked for dessert. If that’s the case, let’s make it three this time since they’ve beaten the cyclops today and everything.
“Okay then, since everyone beat the cyclops today, you guys can have three just for today.”
When I said that, Dora-chan and Sui cheered loudly. Fel also seemed vaguely happy.
“What do you want?”
“I will have the usual white one.”
《Of course, I’m going with pudding!》
《Sui wants all different ones—!》
Fel wants the usual strawberry shortcake and Dora-chan wants the pudding, and as for Sui, it’s different cakes, huh? I opened the now familiar Fumiya menu in my Online Supermarket. So it’s three strawberry shortcake slices for Fel and pudding for Dora-chan, right? Hm... there’s something called a pudding sundae, I see. Okay, the pudding sundae has strawberry and banana so let’s get that and the usual pudding for Dora-chan. For Sui, I got the seasonal melon shortcake and blueberry tart, and also a chiffon cake with chocolate cream on top.
After plating the cakes, I served them out along with Dora-chan’s pudding sundae, which came in a glass container that was pretty on its own, so I left it as it was.
“Here you go.”
Fel downed an entire cake slice in one gulp and only said one word, “Delicious.” Looks like he really loves that strawberry shortcake.
After Dora-chan finished with his usual pudding, he started on the pudding sundae. He was using his front paws to dexterously hold up the glass container, sticking his snout into the container and using his tongue to lap up the dessert, while saying, 《This is great.》
Sui, who loved sweet things, was also happily enveloping the cakes one at a time. It said that every one was delicious, but Sui, who loved chocolate, also said, “This chocolate cake is fluffy and really really delicious!”
While watching everyone happily down their desserts, I conquered a can of coffee myself. It looked like everyone was just about done now, so it was nearly time to return to town.
“It’s about time to go back.”
“Indeed, you are right.”
《Yeah, let’s go. Once we’re back let’s get in the bath.》
《Bath—!》
Just like that, we, who had finished defeating the cyclops, returned to town.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Hahh, that bath was great.”
《Yeah, baths really are awesome.》
《The bath felt good~.》
After getting out of the bath, Dora-chan, Sui, and I were lazing around on the bed in our bedroom. Fel was already lying down on his futons. After a quick glance this way, Fel raised his head slowly.
“Mn? Sui has evolved, I see.”
“What? Really? Let’s see......” Since Fel said that Sui had evolved, I tried using Appraisal on Sui.
【Name】 Sui
【Age】 3 months
【Race】 Huge Slime
【Level】 1
【HP】 1582
【MP】 1556
【Attack】 1548
【Defense】 1553
【Agility】 1581
【Skills】 Acid Bullet, Potion Creation, Cloning, Water magic, Smithing, Giganticize
【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Water, Rusalka; Blessing of the God of Blacksmithing, Hephaestos
Oh, Fel was right, Sui evolved. It says “Huge Slime” now. Looking closely at Sui’s stats now, Sui had a new skill: “Giganticize,” it said. When I focused on that part, the power of my Appraisal must have activated, as an explanation popped up.
【Giganticize ...... A slime’s unique skill to become gigantic】
Wow, that tells me nothing. I wonder how big it’ll get when it uses Giganticize? I’ll need to test this out somewhere spacious. I’d planned to go to the Adventurer’s guild and report the defeat of the cyclops tomorrow, but after that I was free, so I’ll just have Fel take us out to a wide open place outside of town then to try it out.
“Sui, it looks like you got a new skill when you evolved; do you know what it is?”
《Hmm? Wait a second...... Ah, yeah, Sui knows. It’s like, Sui can become super huge—.》
Super huge, huh? Just how big, though...
“Okay then, tomorrow after we go to the Adventurer’s guild, let’s go see just how big you can get.”
《Yeah!》
Still, a huge slime, huh? Sui keeps on evolving, but just what is the end step for slimes? Fel might know. “Hey, Fel, it looks like Sui evolved into a huge slime, but will it keep evolving further?”
“Most likely. The last form for slimes is an emperor slime. I have also once faced one down, and it was quite strong.”
E-Emperor slime? What a s-strong sounding name.
“It has quite the magic resistance, you see. Half-assed magic attacks will not work at all. Not only that, but as long as part of its body remains it will quickly regenerate. Even I had a hard time with it. Ultimately, I put an end to it with my strongest lightning spell, though.”
It even caused Fel some trouble...... Wow. Well actually, he still beat it in the end, didn’t he? I wonder what kind of spell is Fel’s strongest lightning attack? ......Woah, I’m getting the chills just from imagining it.
“Given that Sui has evolved into a huge slime, most likely its next evolution will be an emperor slime. I have met several huge slimes, only one emperor slime. That is because most slimes get weeded out before then. There really are only an exceedingly rare few that get to evolve that far.”
That’s true. Slimes all start off really weak, after all. However, according to Fel, Sui’s already just one step away from its last evolution, becoming a huge slime, at only three months old. That’s amazing...... Wait, ahh, the otherworld trash. The trash from the stuff I get off of my skill piles up, and I have Sui take care of it at regular intervals, that must be why. It’s also been fighting a lot of monsters, so it all must help Sui level up really fast.
W-W-Well, it’s not bad that Sui’s getting so strong.
“However, if it is already a huge slime, then it might be hard for it to level up from now on.”
“Huh, really?”
“Indeed. I already told you that it becomes harder to level the higher level you are, yes? Just like that, those who have evolved into higher rungs of their own race find it harder to level.”
I see...... In the first place, do we also evolve? Out of all of us, Sui’s the only one who’s evolved so far. “About evolution, do people also do that?”
“No, humans do not evolve. Neither I nor Dora will, either.” According to Fel, whether or not someone evolved or not depended on their race. People, Fenrirs, and dragon types did not evolve apparently. It seemed like the reason for that is that our forms were already something like a final evolution. In the first place, it seemed like almost no high-ranking monsters evolved in the first place.
So, apparently, those that evolve and continue to get stronger are all those who are low-ranking monsters. And Sui, a slime, was originally the lowest rank, a slime. And it keeps evolving, and in the end it seems it will become an emperor slime.
Orcs and such were the same, and apparently their progression was: orc→orc leader→orc general→orc king. Although it seemed the environment also had an effect on how one evolved.
“I see. Ah, about evolution, at around what level does it happen?”
“Level 100, I believe. It is said that evolution happens the moment one reaches level 100.”
I see. If that’s the case, then Fel, who’s lived over 1000 years is in his 900’s, so the max level is probably 999, then.
“Since that’s the case, does that mean that the maximum level for you, Dora-chan, and I is 999?”
“Indeed. That is what is said. However......”
Hm? Fel’s being unusually quiet.
“What?”
“No, it is just something of a legend amongst us Fenrirs, but it is said that there was one that passed level 999, and got over level 1000. It is said that that one lived over 10,000 years and, tired of the world, went searching for unknown worlds by crossing the ocean.”
What? Crossing the ocean...... “Wait a second, crossed the ocean? There’s another continent besides this one?”
“I told you that it was a legend. However, no one has seen that Fenrir.”
“What? There’s no one that’s set off for a new continent or anything?” Like Columbus, you know?
“You will just be sunk by the monsters in the sea, you realize? Do you think there is anyone stupid enough to do that?”
Ah, I see. This world has monsters. So it’s not that easy.
“Well, it seems that you humans have discovered nearby islands and whatnot, though.”
Islands, huh? Well, since there’s monsters around, I guess it’s just too harsh to go into the deep sea. Still though, it wouldn’t be surprising for there to be more continents other than this one in this world. Well, since there’s no way to get there there’s nothing I can do about it, either.
“Level 999 is still far away, but I have also gained a level. That is why I started appraising the others, because I wondered how they were.”
Ahh, so that’s how he found out that Sui evolved. Let’s see, how is Fel now?
【Name】 Fel
【Age】 1014
【Race】 Fenrir
【Level】 922
【HP】 10019
【MP】 9652
【Attack】 9308
【Defense】 10020
【Agility】 9841
【Skills】 Wind magic, Fire magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Holy magic, Barrier magic, Rending Claws, Body Reinforcement, Physical attack resistance, Magic attack resistance, MP Efficiency, Appraisal, Battle Boost
【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir; Blessing of the God of War, Vahagn
As amazing a status as always. It’s always been ridiculous, so just going up a little doesn’t really make an impression.
“I had accrued some experience in the dungeon, after all. And after defeating so many evil plants, I probably finally leveled after today’s cyclops. In the end, dungeons really are best for gaining levels. I want to go to another dungeon. There are others in human towns, no? After we get to the sea we will go to a dungeon.”
No, no, don’t just decide on your own like that. I’m already done with dungeons. I won’t be going to one, got it?
“W-Well, we haven’t even gotten to the sea yet, so let’s just concentrate on that for now.”
I’ve got to somehow make that decision on dungeons ambiguous. If I don’t, I really will get forced into finding another dungeon city after we get to Berléand.
“More importantly, if both Fel and Sui have leveled, doesn’t that mean that Dora-chan’s also gained some levels?”
“Indeed. Dora’s level has most likely also raised.”
“Dora-chan...... Wait, he’s asleep? Sui’s gone too.”
While Fel and I were talking, Dora-chan and Sui had both fallen asleep.
“Pft! Wow, that’s some sleeping posture. Do dragons always sleep like this?” Dora-chan was sleeping belly up, exposing it to the world. His breathing was also heavy, sounding like, Ffsssss, ffssssss. Ah, he just scratched at his belly.
“There is no way a dragon would sleep like this. Dora is the only one. Pixie dragons are a rare race, and Dora is most likely considered strange even among them. In the first place, it is unthinkable for a pixie dragon to show itself to a human. At most, those who have seen one have done so only by coincidence. And this one was even the one to approach you. That means that Dora here is most likely considered quite strange amongst pixie dragons.”
Ahaha, Dora-chan’s being treated like a weirdo. Well, that’s been helping me out a lot, though. Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui make for the perfect tag team, they’re invincible. Let’s see, how’s Dora-chan doing?
【Name】 Dora-chan
【Age】 116
【Race】 Pixie Dragon
【Level】 164
【HP】 1120
【MP】 3262
【Attack】 3153
【Defense】 1081
【Agility】 3938
【Skills】 Fire magic, Water magic, Wind magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Healing magic, Bombardment, Battle Boost
【Blessings】 Blessing of the God of War, Vahagn
Oh, it’s gotten a little higher. Must be because he beat such a large number of evil plants. It was kind of amazing how many there were, wasn’t it? Although it wasn’t nearly as many as the others, even I put down a lot of them. Ah, oh yeah, I wonder what my level is now? It probably won’t raise that easily, but given how many there were... Let’s see.
【Name】 Mukohda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)
【Age】 27
【Job】 Victim from Another World
【Level】 30
【HP】 324
【MP】 316
【Attack】 294
【Defense】 291
【Agility】 270
【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Fire magic, Earth magic, Perfect Defense, Double Experience Gain, Familiars (Contracted Magic Beasts): Fenrir, Huge Slime, Pixie Dragon
【Unique Skill】 Online Supermarket
《Tenant》 Fumiya
【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir (small); Blessing of the Goddess of Fire, Agni (small); Blessing of the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle (small)
Ohh! I don’t know why but I gained a whole lot of levels! It must be because of all those evil plants I put down. Wait, hm? I’m not quite sure how, but it looks like at some point I got a new skill. Double Experience Gain?
............Hah?! H-H-Huh? What’s this? Since when did I get that skill?
“H-Hey, Fel, can you try using Appraisal on me?”
“I can...... Okay, it is done.”
“Do you see a skill called ‘Double Experience Gain?’”
“Hm...... Indeed, it is there. Is that a new skill?”
“Yeah. It’s a new skill, but I don’t know when I got it. Why did I suddenly get this skill?”
“Skills themselves increase or are gained in proportion to our experiences. Something probably happened that lead to your gaining that Double Experience Gain skill.”
Really? I don’t think I’ve done anything that would connect to that...... I turned my focus back to the Double Experience Gain entry.
【Double Experience Gain】
Doubles experience earned. This skill makes gaining levels easier.
Yep, right as it says on the tin...... but why do I have it? It makes gaining levels easier............ Ah! Those damn useless gods...... They all know that I’ll unlock my next Tenant at level 40, so it must have been one of them that put it on me. Or, rather than one of them, they might all even be in on it.
“I know what happened. Those gods put it on me. See, didn’t I say that my unique skill to obtain things from the other world leveled up?”
“Yes, you did, as I recall. If I remember correctly, you also mentioned that you would be able to obtain more delicious cakes than before, no?”
“That’s right. So you see, the next time my unique skill levels up is at level 40. The gods know that, and have been telling me to level up, so most likely those gods gave me this ‘Double Experience Gain’ skill. Geez, why won’t they just leave well enough alone?”
“What are you saying?! If that is the gods’ wish, then you should be obeying them!”
What? Why am I the one being yelled at?
“Also, is it such a bad thing to have that skill, that ‘Double Experience Gain’? Rather, having that makes it easier for you to gain levels so you should be rejoicing. A normal person would probably hand over their own soul for something like that. If you managed to get a skill like that you should be thankful.”
Urgh, now that you mention it...... It’s true that if I think about the “Double Experience Gain” skill, it’s not something that’ll cause trouble. In fact, since I’ll be gaining levels twice as fast as a normal person, there’s absolutely no downsides. But still...... I just can’t let go of the fact that they decided to give it to me all on their own. Okay, next time I send them offerings I’ll give them a good talking to!
