After a late breakfast, I relaxed with a little drink.
[6] We will have to travel non-stop in a bit, so it’s good to have a little last-minute relaxation before setting out.
Everyone had sparkling cider while I had a can of cold café au lait.
[6] It’s just milk coffee, but calling it café au lait gives it a bit more class. The level of enjoyment is different too.
Speaking of which, today’s breakfast is also meat-related. Miso grilled Orc rice bowl with pork soup. Everyone ate their meat and carb-based breakfast heartily. Except for me. I had a bowl of pork soup with a couple of rice balls.
The Holy Stamp [5] was put away carefully into my [Item Box] since it’s very important for the Avering dungeon challenge. [1] Still, thinking about having to face Undead made me feel uneasy…
“Hey Fer, I heard some things from the gods yesterday about Avering’s dungeon.”
“Nu, is that so? Well?”
“It’s like this…”
I told them everything I heard from the two gods. Including the part where there were 3 whole floors with Undead Monsters only.
“Nuu, there are Undead…”
“Geh! I hate Undead. They just won’t die!”
Fer and Dora-chan were scowling. Sui was just bouncing side to side curiously.
Err, Dora-chan, Undead don’t die because… they are already dead…
“The problem with Undead is that most attacks don’t work on them. I’m still fine with Zombies and Skeletons, they’ll collapse if their heads are smashed in. The biggest annoyance had to be Wraiths since physical attacks don’t work at all. Holy Magic could destroy these annoyances easily, but it’s rare to come across people with such power. Even I don’t have Holy Magic. If I see an Undead, I just ignore them since I can’t smash them down.”
“Right? Right? No matter how many times you attack them, they just get back up again. Bunch of gross, disgusting weirdos-”
Well, it looks like both Fer and Dora-chan aren’t good against Undead in general. [5]
Zombies and Skeletons can still be handled even though aiming for the head is tricky, but Wraiths? Those are basically ghosts, right?
Since most people don’t have Holy Magic, it’s logical to just… avoid getting into a fight with them.
It’s a dungeon crawling with disgusting, un-killable Undead, but apparently, the treasures within are good stuff. This is why people still challenge them. The last time someone cleared it was 200 years ago, and I know that Fer intends to do the same.
Or does he?
“Hey, are you sure you want to clear the dungeon?”
“Of course,”
“It would be awesome sauce!”
“Let’s go all the way to the bottom~”
Haa… as expected but, “Do you have any way of dealing with the Undead?”
“No, we can just ignore them and run through. If a lot of them block our way, just destroy them with high-level magic.”
“Sounds good to me!”
“Sui is not sure, but Sui will pew pew them lots and lots. That’s fine, right?”
Basically, we’re going to charge in without a plan.
Sui’s Acid Bullets and her accuracy could melt the heads of Skeletons and Zombies but, what about Wraiths?
Also, “Fer, Dora-chan. The Avering dungeon is all walled in and narrow. If you release a high powered Fire Magic, we’ll turn into black charcoals.”
“Mu, it’s all fine as long as I protect us with my barrier.”
Fer made a good argument. However, [5] since part of the reason for challenging a dungeon is to collect Loot and Drops, it’s better to try out the Holy Stamp first. The way those two Gods explained it, it seemed simple enough to use. Just stamp a mark on a chosen weapon and go to town. [5]
I took out the Holy Stamp from my [Item Box] and showed it to my familiars, “I received this from the God of War and God of Blacksmith. They told me that any weapon stamped by this will be imbued with Holy Power. Theoretically, it could easily eliminate the Undead.” [5]
“That sounds good, but we’ll have to depend on you to take the Undead down.” [5] Can you? Was implied in Fer’s raised brows.
“That’s right, only humans use weapons after all.”
“The thing is, from the way the Gods explained it. I think the stamp could be used on anything. Weapons, tools and… other things…”
Fuhahaha, a crazy idea hit me.
“Familiars!”
“Hmm?”
“Yeah?”
“Aruji?”
“That’s right, you are my weapons, aren’t you?” I am laughing like a villain now.
“….Mu, I see. You plan to use this stamp on us. That way, when we attack those Undead, they will dissipate?”
“Exactly!” [5]
“Oooh! Nice, nice! I like this idea!”
Well, in the end, it’s still just an idea. We can’t test it out since there’s no handy Undead here for us to try it on. It would be great if it works out the way I imagined it. [5]
“There’s no way to try it until we’re facing an actual Undead. However, since the stamp is made by the Gods, surely it could work? If it works, think of all the treasures in the lower levels! If everyone has been avoiding the lower grounds due to the Undead, all those Treasure Chests are just waiting for someone to open them!”
“Umu, that sounds interesting, I guess.”
“Being able to take down Undead one after another eh… sounds awesome!”
“Sui will take down lots and lots!” [5]
Everyone seemed really motivated. I’m even gladder for the stamp now. If we go with Fer’s plan of just racing through the dungeons, it would be a shameful waste of Treasure Chests and dungeon Drops. Not to mention my missing out on a valuable opportunity to increase my experience points. [5]
Still, “We can’t go to the dungeon right away. We have to visit the Adventurer’s Guild first, pick up a map of the dungeon, find out about the types of monsters there and stuff. Also, if we eat up most of our food, I’d have to make more. Besides, I want to fight too, so we’ll have to make a stop at a weapon’s store first.”
“Nu, I want to go in as soon as possible.”
“I’ll do my best to quickly complete my errands.”
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~
After lunch, we made a stop at the Adventurer’s Guild. [1] Since we’ll be leaving this place early tomorrow, I wanted to say goodbye to everyone.
When I got to the window counter, Marks-san came to see me immediately, “Sorry for not attending to you last time. If you hadn’t come to the Guild, I was thinking of dropping by at your place.”
That’s right, he was not at the Guild the last time I came by to pick up the meat. [8]
“Alright, hand over your A Rank card now. Take this S Rank card instead.”
[8] I… had completely forgotten about this.
In a daze, I exchanged my A Rank card the S Rank card. Both cards were similar in many sense. They were a very shiny gold colour. The big difference is the very big ‘S’ printed on the new card.
“Now that you’re an S Rank Adventurer, continue to work hard for the Adventurer’s Guild!” Marks-san seems to be in very high spirits as he thumped my back painfully. Finally, he stopped thumping me and said, “So, do you need something from us?”
“Ah, not really. We’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning. I just came here to say goodbye.”
“Oh? Leaving already? You can stay a bit longer. In fact, stay as long as you like next time. It’s always good to have high ranking Adventurers in town.” Then, he leaned in and said in a low voice, “I took care of the Red Dragon issue.”
[6] I froze, then nodded, “Thank you,” I said in a low voice. Then, added, “I’ll definitely try and come by again soon.”
Personally, I’d love to stay another week or two. However, after getting the Holy Stamp, even I, a pacifist former white-collar worker, became a little excited about going into a dungeon.
Moreover, I get the feeling that if I try to stay longer, I’d be dragged to Avering by the back of my shirt…
“Fer and the rest are really excited about going to the dungeon. That’s why I can’t stay here anymore…” I had successfully extended our stay for 3 days, but I really don’t think I should push my luck anymore.
“Ah, yes. About your trip to Avering. I’ve already contacted the Guild Master there, so make sure to stop by Avering’s Adventurer’s Guild, alright?” [5]
“Speaking of which,” he continued, “I heard that the final boss in Avering’s dungeon is a Hydra. Hahaha, but I guess that monster should be no match for you guys. The last time the dungeon’s been cleared is 200 years ago, so good luck!”
“Hooh? A Hydra? Sounds interesting,”
Fer is, of course, very excited.
“A Hydra? I’ve heard of them but never seen one yet. Let’s have fun, ya’ll!”
“Hydra sounds strong ~ But Sui will do her best to defeat it ~”
Well, it’s good that everyone seems to be on the same page. [2] As for the Hydra… from what I can remember, that’s a snake-like monster with 9 heads, right? Apparently one of them is immortal and the other heads would keep growing back unless the immortal one is destroyed.
Unless we’re lucky and manage to cut off that immortal head right away, we might have a long battle in front of us. [2] Anyway, let’s not think about it for the moment. After all, there’s no guarantee that we’ll reach the bottom level…
“Well, I don’t know if we’ll get to meet the Hydra, but we’ll certainly do our best. Marks-san, thank you for your care during my stay.”
“No problem, come back anytime. Stay healthy!”
We said our goodbyes and parted ways.
Tomorrow, we’ll be leaving Verulean first thing in the morning! [5] [9]
[Gumihou: Aww, we’ll be leaving seafood place soon]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Fixed some inconsistencies. Also, there seems to be some misunderstanding re time and dates, will fix it later when putting up the chapters in kitchennovel.com
[9] Structural Change: Change dialogue to sentence.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!