Chapter 28: Off to Treasure Mountain

Chapter 28:
Off to Treasure Mountain

 

AFTER THAT NIGHT, I worked my butt off every day to earn LP. Eating weird food was part of it, but Emma, Luna, Lola, Alice, Maria, and Ms. Elena all did their individual part to assist. Somehow, I made it to over 10,000 LP!

Thankfully, even after I picked up Courage, I still had a good 9,000 left. All that was left was to figure out where to Bestow that Dragon Killer skill. We only had five days left until the end of the exam, so we needed to make our move soon. If we couldn’t get that dragon fang, we’d have to really get cracking on collecting other materials.

We had a day off the following day, so it was time to go dragon hunting. Emma, Luna, and I went to the guild early in the morning to pick up the request from Lola. All the past month, Emma and Luna had been hard at work gathering information while I collected LP. In the end, they found out some key details.

“I spoke to some adventurers who encountered the dragon on the mountain and successfully escaped. But before it did, they noticed it seemed vulnerable to lightning elemental attacks. And they said it must really hate humans or something, because it tried to kill them the moment it laid eyes on them!”

“I heard from one of my patients that the dragon is an earth-type. It has small wings and is relatively heavy for its size, so it rarely flies.”

So, it was weak against lightning, hated humans, and mostly moved around on foot. That was all highly valuable strategic info. The first element to address was the lightning weakness. My only attack in that category was Lightning Strike. Honestly, it didn’t feel potent enough to depend on. I was thinking about picking a more powerful spell when Emma changed my mind.

“Hey, could we maybe catch it in a trap?”

“Now there’s an idea.”

Right! We didn’t just have to attack it. For example, I could Bestow a skill like Electrify on a trap. Although, my master did tell me that Bestowing an electrical charge on most materials destroyed them rather quickly. I’d have to be careful in my choice there.

“If we run, it’ll come after us…” I said, thinking aloud.

“It’s pretty small for a dragon. Maybe we could use a pitfall?” said Emma.

“That is certainly an option,” said Luna.

“You even have an Excavate skill, don’t you, Noir?”

“Yup, leave the digging to me.”

Everyone contributed ideas as we hammered out the details. Three heads really were better than one. We came up with some pretty ingenious plans, if I do say so myself, and soon we were settled on our tactical approach. All that was left was to figure out where to Bestow Dragon Killer.

“I could use it on a weapon, but regular old swords and daggers seem like the wrong choice against a dragon.”

“Hm, I’m really not sure, to be honest…”

“When it comes to close-quarters combat, I believe most people would use long swords, spears, mallets or hatchets, barring some other more appropriate abilities.”

I wasn’t especially good with a sword, so I ultimately settled on a spear. We headed to a weapons shop to pick one up, and I bought one that seemed decent, so far as I could tell. My only hesitation was over whether to go with the C or B-Grade version of Dragon Killer.

“Should we have me attack with the spear while you two pelt it with magic and firearms?” I asked. “Or should we all have spears with Dragon Killer?”

If we went with the former option, I’d have one spear with the B-Grade variant for 5,000 LP, and with the latter I’d make us three copies of the C-Grade variant for a total of 6,000. There was also the additional cost for Bestowing the skills, and I needed to save some LP for setting up traps, as well as for any emergency situations I hadn’t anticipated.

“We’re going to attack it once we get it trapped in a pit, so spears are perfect,” said Emma. “Personally, I’d pick all three of us attacking it with spears.”

“Yes,” Luna agreed. “We should pin it down as a group.”

That settled it. We bought three long-handled spears and I gave each one C-Grade Dragon Killer. The amount of LP it cost to Bestow the skill on each spear varied depending on the specific weapon, so it ended up costing me over 7,500 to Get Creative and Bestow the skill on all three.

With that, most of our preparations were complete.

“Let’s all work together tomorrow.”

“We’ll all have to do our best. By the way, are we using Tigerson to travel?”

“About that…he wanted to be my family’s chauffeur, I’m afraid.”

“Then I’ll have a carriage ready to go first thing in the morning,” said Luna. “There are some particularly good drivers among my fellow healers.”

“Thanks.”

It sounded like we could leave our transportation to the clerics. I parted ways with my party members and ended up wandering the market. I was mostly looking for fruits and meats and the like when I just happened to overhear some men talking nearby.

“It’s some crazy stuff, man. I know it’s weird, but I think it awakened something inside me. Maybe I’m a closet masochist.”

The rambling man was talking about how he got surprisingly turned on when his girlfriend stepped on him and showered him with abuse. Huh. I couldn’t quite stop thinking about it…especially as, with only 1,500 LP left before the hunt, I was a little uneasy.

When I sat down on my bed that night, I had an idea. Before I even knew what had come over me, I found myself knocking on Alice’s door.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Do you have a minute?”

“Of course.”

I went in and carefully closed the door behind me. She looked at me quizzically and I had to steel myself before I asked her something completely preposterous. “Would you…step on me?”

“You want me to step on you…?”

“Yes. It’s not some weird fetish, I swear. I need it to get stronger.”

I wouldn’t have been surprised if she called me gross and sick in the head, but Alice just smiled. “Very well. I, Alice, am always ready to assist you.”

I lay down on the floor of her room. Alice was in her pajamas and I stared up at her long legs.

“Where do you want me to step on you?”

“Maybe start around my stomach?”

“Here I go.” She pressed her toes into my stomach. I had a feeling she was being far too gentle—no new LP to speak of—so I asked her not to hold back.

“Try my chest next.”

Oof. The pressure she put on my chest made it hard to breathe. Alice let up when she noticed.

“No, no, Alice, imagine I’m someone you despise.”

“O-okay.”

I was starting to breathe heavily, but when I checked, I still hadn’t gotten any LP. Dammit! I guess she was being too gentle.

“Do my face next!”

Alice squished my cheek with her foot. Now that hurt. But that was probably what I needed for it to work.

“Abuse me.”

“Brother dearest, I can’t do that.”

“You can, Alice. I know you can.”

“Have you no shame, making your little sister do something like this?”

“Gah!”

“You couldn’t ask anyone else, could you? This is our little secret. I can’t believe you’re enjoying your little sister stepping all over you…”

“Guh!”

She moved her heel to my forehead! “Any last words?”

“Why do your feet smell so wonderful, Alice? I don’t understand it.”

“That’s because I take good care of them every day!”

“How magnificent!”

I was sure it wouldn’t have worked if her feet hadn’t smelled so good. I was abundantly grateful for Alice’s careful attention to detail. In the end, I got what I needed: my LP was easily over 2,000 after that. Although, I wasn’t sure whether that was cause for celebration or despair…

 

***

 

The next morning, my party set out via carriage, though first I earned some additional LP by greeting my party members with hugs. By afternoon, we arrived at the foot of Treasure Mountain. We asked our driver to wait for us as we approached the soldiers guarding the entrance to the mountain paths. There were only two, but several others seemed to be resting in a nearby cabin.

“Who are you?” they asked.

“We want to enter the mountain.”

We presented our guild identification to prove we were qualified adventurers. They burst out laughing when we told them that we were there to hunt dragons.

“You might be in Odin, but you’re just Grade C, aren’t you? How old are you anyway? Very funny.”

“I think we have a pretty good shot at it.”

Something in our faces told the soldiers we were serious, and they changed their tune.

“Well, let me explain then. Even if you call for help, we may be unable to respond. Our first priority is to keep watch here. Also, you are not allowed to take anything you find on the mountain with you. The only exception is any raw materials you obtain from slaying monsters. Lastly, you may only remain in this area until sunset.”

“We understand.”

“Good luck then.”

We nodded and set off up the mountain.