Chapter 81

Chapter 81 – Dungeon of Ripples・Capture 8

「Good morning」

「「Morning~」」

「Now then, what would you like for breakfast?」

「「Furench Toast~」」

「Allen and Elena love the French toast, don’t you~」

「「Un! It’s deーlish~」」

We who have rested at the twentieth floor’s transfer device had a breakfast, made preparations and descended on the twenty-first floor .

The water depth on the twenty-first floor increased more than before . The water reaches up to my knees .

Since that’s the case, it reaches up to Allen’s and Elena’s waists and advancing like this would be impossible .

『Kyan』

Therefore, I summoned Joule .

As he would get wet if I called him normally, I summoned him in a small form so I could hold him, gave him the Mermaid bracelet we found in the treasure chest on the tenth floor1 and made him transform into his large form .

Because the mermaid bracelet has automatic size adjustment effect, there weren’t any problems even after Joule transformed .

《Allen, Elena, come up~》

「「Joule」」

Thus, I had Allen and Elena ride on Joule who became big .

Rather, Joule who became able to use telepathy called the two himself . Allen and Elena playfully clung onto Joule’s back .

I’m sorry to the other contracted beasts, but I’m summoning only Joule this time .

I have only one spare mermaid bracelet in the first place, so I can’t call them .

Well, Bolt who is a bird wouldn’t be able to exhibit his full power in this restricted s.p.a.ce of dungeon and using lightning in the place full of water would be dangerous . As for Vector, I haven’t confirmed the power of his fire magic yet on top of not knowing what he would do, so I judged summoning him as dangerous .

I thought there was no problem in summoning Feat at first as well, but it isn’t certain whether one would still get wet from moving around even while having the【Flight】skill . It would be a bit strange if just Feat was soaked wet……

As I thought, I would like more mermaid bracelets . I wonder if Miko Himesama would lend me some mermaid bracelets if I put up a request with her? They don’t appear on the markets on the surface that much, but mermaids can apparently easily make them……

Let’s ask when we go there to play next time .

「Alright! Then, shall we go?」

「「Un!」」

When I advance on the twenty-first floor accompanied by Joule with Allen and Elena on his back, a smallish dark crocodilian――a Black Alligator has appeared . It’s entirely pitch black, so it doesn’t stand out too much, but a dark jewel is embedded on its forehead .

Also, although I said small, it’s only slightly smaller than me, so it has quite the size . Because there are crocodilians the size of being able to swallow people, I said smallish in comparison to them .

《A prey has appearedー!》

When Joule who discovered the Black Alligator shouted such, he began running still with Allen and Elena on his back .

《Thereー!》

「Gyaahーーー!」

Joule approached the Black Alligator and jumped up, squashing it and sinking it under water .

「「Hiyaー」」

Allen and Elena who were on Joule’s back while he sprinted and jumped up raised their voices cheerfully .

It appears they are having fun .

《Oniichan, I defeated itー》

「Thanks, Joule . Good work」

Joule brought the dropped items of alligator meat and skin to me .

Alligator meat, huh…… it seems it can be normally eaten .

Alligator skin is an attractive material for a wallet, but wallets are not used on Aetheredia that much, so there’s no meaning in making them .

Because there is no paper money and only coins, a drawstring handbags-like pouches are the most popular . The Adventurer’s Guild’s rewards are handed over in pouches as the amounts are large .

《Oniichan, Oniichan! I want to eat this meat~!》

「N? Ah, this meat? Because Joule has defeated it, of course, you can eat it」

《I didn’t mean it like thatー》

Huh? Didn’t he say that he wants to eat the Black Alligator meat which just dropped?

《I’m talking about Oniichan’s dish~ Next time you cook, I would like to eat a dish made from that meatー》

「Allen tooー」

「Elena as wellー」

I thought Joule wants to eat raw meat once in a while because he’s a carnivorous animal, but it appears he wanted to make a request for a meal . Allen and Elena took the opportunity to raise their hands and appeal as well .

「Ah, you meant it like that . Let’s see, I want to do something simple for the lunch, do you mind having it for the dinner? Allen and Elena too, are you fine with that?」

《Alrightー I’m looking forward to it~♪》

「「Un!」」

That being the case, alligator meat was decided for the dinner .

Rather, I have so easily agreed, but how do you prepare alligator meat? Was alligator meat a meat with a plain taste? I feel like I’ve heard that in the Amazon special edition program……

Alright, let’s cook it thinking that it’s chicken meat!

《Then, since that’s decided, we have to get more meat! Allen, Elena, let’s keep goingー!》

「「Meatー!」」

It seems that the hunting soul has been ignited within the children for some reason .

The block of meat we have obtained just now is enough for today’s dinner though~

「…… Ooy . Capturing the dungeon is our main objective, so be moderate with the hunting, okayー」

《Yes~》

「「Yesss」」

《Sniif, sniff . That way? Allen, Elena, let’s goー》

「「Ohh~!」」

「……」

I have cautioned them just in case, but they are completely focused on finding prey .

I feel like they will be able to obtain a tremendous amount of alligator meat with Joule’s sense of smell and Allen’s and Elena’s presence detection…… I walked behind the two children and one animal while worrying about the amount of meat they will obtain .

「「Thereー」」

Allen and Elena immediately discovered the prey .

《Really . It’s red, but it has the same shape so it should be fine . Allen, Elena, let’s go~》

「「Un!」」

It’s different in color from the Black Alligator, a red crocodilian――Red Alligator .

「「《Water Ball》」」

The next moment, Allen, Elena, and Joule fired magic simultaneously .

It appears that Joule’s signal wasn’t to break into a run, but a signal to fire magic . They haven’t made any preparations before though~ They are perfectly in sync .

「Gyaahーーー!」

The Red Alligator fell prey to the magic and ceased to breathe .

Even though this is the second half of an intermediate level dungeon, the children defeat the monsters they encounter too quickly .

《It isn’t meat~》

「「Muu~」」

This time’s drops seem to be a red skin and fangs . Allen, Elena, and Joule were disheartened because there was no meat .

《It can’t be helpedー Umm, next is……》

「「Joule, that wayー」」

《Got itー》

But, they have begun looking for the next prey immediately .

『Nnaa~?』

I became slightly lonely from watching the two children and animal getting along, so I decided to summon Feat . Of course, in the small form .

「I can’t let you fight because you would get wet, but will you accompany me, Feat?」

『Nnaa!』

Patting Feat who snuggled up to me, I chase after Allen, Elena, and Joule who went ahead .

「「Thereー」」

《There it is! Allen, Elena, hang on tightly》

「「Un」」

《Then, here I goー》

Joule instructed Allen and Elena to hold on him properly and began to run .

《Thereー!》

Then, he trampled the Black Alligator while vigorously running .

Looking at it like that, Joule’s and the children’s way of fighting is very similar, isn’t it?

《Yayー We got the meatー》

「「Onii~chan, sparklyー」」

「N? Ah, it is」

The dropped item seems to be a thumbnail-sized Black Onyx . That’s the thing on the Black Alligator’s forehead .

I think it’s a rare drop item with a considerably low rate of obtaining, but…… well, it’s Allen and Elena . It wouldn’t be strange for them to get their hands on rare drop items .

《Alright! Let’s keep goingー》

「「Ohhー」」

Because the hunt kept going on, we were hunting all day long in the end .

In addition to the black and red alligator monsters, there were also blue and brown ones, we obtained a large amount of skin and fangs of each color . We also got a considerable amount of jewels . I wonder where the low drop rate went .

Of course, we have obtained large quant.i.ties of meat, but even though their colors were different, the meat itself is the same . It seems there’s no need to eat and compare .

「Look, it’s doneー」

「「Yay~」」

《Looks deliciousー》

『Nnaa~』

We found a place with no water and I made an alligator meat dish as promised . I made sukiyaki stock2 and tried making it on the sukiyaki 3 style .

「「Delishー」」

《Deliciousー》

《Nnaaー》

It was well-received .

…… It’s unexpected without a stench and very easy to eat~ It looks that I will be able to use it in various dishes .

Footnotes