Translator: Cryus
Our combat potential should have increased.
It should have.
There"s another problem now.
The pa.s.sageways are too cramped to fight in.
Jericho is right in the middle.
Volff, Mii-chan, and I are fighting in the front line on both sides of the golem.
Jean and Toggle are providing air support and keeping up the pressure on the monsters.
That"s basically what we"ve been doing until now.
Now we have U-chan and Calico.
That"s a lot.
I"m glad I don"t have to worry about the performance of Jean and Toggle regardless of location.
But in battle, wolves and tigers take up some s.p.a.ce.
They sometimes get in the way when we fight monsters.
Well, I guess everything will be solved if I move to the rear.
But I"m not going to do that.
If there"s no s.p.a.ce, I"ll just have to make some.
6 mushrooms appeared, so we surrounded them by blocking off the path behind them.
That"s how I made s.p.a.ce.
If only by force.
Besides…
With each of their monster summons, Adele and Irina can already make a party of 6.
How long do I have to keep looking after them?
It may be a good idea to go back to the Adventurer"s Guild to confirm the quest again.
We"re in a hall now.
It"s the first room we were in. I can see the blue ghost on top of the entrance.
And there"s more mushrooms.
They"re not Rush Fungi, but there"s still 6 of them, so it"s a lot.
But in a wide s.p.a.ce like this, we won"t get in the way of each other even if we fought 10 of them.
We managed to get rid of them with no problem at all despite taking some damage.
Having a wolf and tiger really helps.
I didn"t get the chance to do much at all.
All I did was deal with their attacks.
There"s the exit.
I disband the『Union』and try letting Adele and Irina out.
There"s no problem at all.
I follow them out of the dungeon.
After confirming the fact that they can"t enter the dungeon by themselves, we head towards Legias.
Jericho has been really useful in battle, but he"s not really geared towards fighting in the forest.
No, he"s completely incompatible here.
He"s so slow that I decided to recall him.
I summon Obsidian in his place.
We continue marching through the forest at night.
There were a few Evil Ants that ambushed us, but we quickly annihilated them.
We didn"t give them the chance to call their friends.
At times, Obsidian seems concerned about something.
It"s something on the treetop.
It"s not the first time it"s happened, right?
I"ll have him and Jean take a look.
It"s a monster.
It looks like a Wild Pheasant (F).
I leave the Flashlight spell on Adele and cast Night Vision on myself.
The tree is coniferous and not straight, so it"s not that difficult to climb it.
I"m trying to keep the noise to a minimum while climbing the tree.
There"s a nest.
And there"s a Wild Pheasant (F) sitting on it.
It still hasn"t noticed me, and it still has the Pa.s.sive status.
Is this how it behaves at night?
Well, maybe it"s because it"s a monster that makes its nest on treetops.
I don"t know if it"s the same in real life.
But no matter what, it"s still an enemy target.
I take out my rod and aim at it with care.
I strike at the monster with full force.
It"s falling from the tree.
I"m watching from the treetop as Obsidian and Jean are attacking it.
They slaughtered it with ease.
That"s how it is when we ambush monsters.
As expected, there are eggs in the nest.
2 of them, to be exact.
But the branches are thin, and I can"t reach it from where I am.
I"ll retreat for now.
「Irina, there"s a Wild Pheasant"s nest on top. I"d like you to use Toggle to take it.」
「Do you want the eggs?」
「Yeah. There are 2 of them.」
「I think I can do it.」
「Thanks.」
Toggle is holding the eggs in its mouth.
They"re just slightly bigger than normal chicken eggs.
【Material】Pheasant Egg Raw Material Grade C Rarity 2 Weight 0+
The egg of a Wild Pheasant. Can be consumed like a normal egg.
Eating it raw is not recommended.
So we can eat it after all.
I get the feeling that there"s a lot of edible stuff in this game.
I collect the other egg and hurry onward.
It"s just a little more until we reach Legias.
About half of the stalls have closed shop.
The same goes with Mio"s stall as well as the stall at Fiona"s place.
I was going to ask their opinions about the items we obtained today, but I"ll do it tomorrow.
「Is tomorrow okay with both of you?」
「Yes.」
「Yup!」
「Then we"ll have breakfast at Mio"s tomorrow. After that, we"ll solve the puzzle in the forest dungeon.」
「「Okay.」」
「I have work to do, so I"ll leave the forum post to you. But don"t leave too much of a spoiler.」
「Alright! We"ll leave it to Irina!」
「C"mon! I don"t mind writing it, but let"s do it together.」
Yup.
It"s the usual banter.
Leaving them to provide the information…
I"m starting to get busy thinking about what"s going to happen tomorrow.
I know roughly how to solve the puzzle.
I also remember the route, so I just have to inspect the place.
What I"m worried about is the amount of time we"ll take.
If we"re going to get rid of the monsters, we"ll be spending that much more time in the dungeon.
There"s a hall in the middle where monsters won"t sp.a.w.n, so it helps since we can rest there.
After seeing Adele and Irina off into the inn, I head towards Master"s house.
I encountered some ants on the way, but thanks to Obsidian and Jean ambushing them and Volff finishing them off, it was pretty quick.
I didn"t do anything at all.
Well, I"m the slowest when it comes to approaching the ants.
It"s a good thing as a Summoner, but I"m still sad that I didn"t get to do anything.
I just feel left out.
I head downstairs right after reaching Master"s house.
I"m going for the potion bottles.
I think I had 23 potions this morning, but now I only have 2 remaining.
We"re going to fight prolonged battles in the forest dungeon.
Things will become tough for us if I don"t make more potions.
I"m reusing all the empty bottles.
There should be a few more in the bas.e.m.e.nt.
It feels like it"s been a long time since I"ve been to the workshop.
It"s surprisingly clean. It must be because of the Metalskin.
There are a few empty bottles here.
There are 8 rows of 10 bottles.
I won"t be using all of them for sure.
I"ll use 10.
No, I"ll make that 15.
Now I"m starting to make potions.
I"m going to make 34 in total.
I don"t have much MP, so I"m going to make them all by hand.
I"ll make as many Grade C potions as possible.
I"ll conjure some water using Liquid: Water, and use 5 Healgra.s.s to make 10 potions.
Maybe it"s because I haven"t been making potions for a while. Among the Grade C potions, there"s a Grade C-.
It"s a little difficult to make it consistent.
I"m trying it again.
This time, all of the potions are Grade C.
《【Precise Manipulation】Level Up!》
Oh, it was just about time it leveled up.
I"m repeating the process again.
This time, there are 2 Grade C+ potions out of the 10 potions I made.
It"s not going quite as I expected.
I"m using more empty bottles to repeat it again.
There"s 1 Grace C+ potion.
d.a.m.n.
I made too many. I planned to make 34, but ended up making 40.
And 4 of the potions aren"t Grade C.
It"s a little more than I"m carrying around usually, but I barely manage to put them all into my rucksack.
I"ll have Adele and Irina hold on to some of the potions later.
I"m putting the Healgra.s.s and Paingra.s.s we collected today into the jute bags.
Now, I"m organizing my items.
I have too many logs.
If not for the《Item Boxes》, I wouldn"t be able to carry all of this.
I think I"ll discuss what to do with these items with Fiona tomorrow morning.
Just in case, I"ll send her a message with a screenshot of the logs and mushrooms.
I really don"t know what to do with them.
I get the feeling it"s going to take a lot of effort to manage them if I want to grow them.
After organizing everything, I head up to the bedroom and recall my monster summons.
I tuck myself in bed and logout.
There"s a lot to do tomorrow.
That"s where the fun begins.
It"s morning when I login.
We were delayed yesterday, so I"m rushing it a little today.
I hurry up and equip myself before summoning Volff.
We"re going to the forest dungeon today.
I should wait until we reach the dungeon before summoning Jean and Jericho.
《Your friend has sent you a message.》
It"s from Fiona.
She sent it a while after I logged out yesterday.
『I plan to leave after breakfast. Rick and Yuka will be here when I"m gone.』
That reminds me, Fiona and the others are moving to Remut.
I"d like to talk to them as soon as possible.
I exit the forest and go on the highway.
There are already a few parties moving around.
People are going back and forth between Legias and Remut without a care.
I"ve arrived at the village. I quickly head to the usual spot.
There"s a stall.
But there"s only one of them.
It"s half of the usual.
Yuka looks like she"s cooking something.
Mio is setting up something at the back.
Something feels different.
There"s a carriage behind the stall.
「Good morning, Keith.」
「Yo!」
「Good morning to both of you.」
Fiona and Rick show themselves from behind the carriage.
「Good morning.」
「Oh, you"ve made it just in time.」
「Looks like I did.」
After exchanging nods with Rick, we hurry up and sit at the table at the back of the stall.
I"ll start the discussion right away.
「It"s just as I said in the message.」
「I heard that you had quite a large amount. Do you have all of it right now?」
「No, Adele and Irina are holding on to some of it.」
「I"ll take out everything I have as a sample.」
「No problems there.」
I"m taking out the mushrooms and the logs one by one from the《Item Box》.
Fiona and Rick are using【Appraise】on the items.
「Rick, you"re also curious about what the developers were planning, right?」
「I think their message to the players is pretty obvious.」
「What about the circulation of the mushrooms so far?」
「I think they"ve been going around. But few people have it, and dried goods such as these are expensive. They"re also used for medicine.」
「What about as food?」
「We can"t transport them unless they"re dried goods. It"s rare to transport them raw.」
「But its Rarity is pretty low.」
「That"s true, despite the lack of distribution.」
Both Fiona and Rick are thinking the same thing.
Growing mushrooms on logs.
If they"re not widely distributed, then it"ll be good business.
「I"ve sent a notice to the Farmers in my guild. There"s been a few replies.」
「Already? That"s fast.」
「Apparently we won"t be able to grow them on the fields. We need a secure location in the forest.」
「We"ll need a Lumberjack. There"s not many of them around, right?」
「We have someone who knows one. It"s the Blacksmith Tsutsumi from our guild. He"s received some orders from a Lumberjack in Remut.」
「Can you contact him?」
「I"m waiting for a response from Tsutsumi.」
「Rick, can I trust this to you? I"m on a schedule to return to Remut.」
「No problem.」
Meanwhile, Adele and Irina have arrived.
「「Good morning!」」
「Yo! Breakfast will be ready soon!」
「Good morning, Adele and Irina.」
They"ve both become buddies with Mio and Yuka because of food.
Or maybe they"ve become their pets.
「Fiona, do you mind if we take out everything we have?」
「Alright.」
「There may be a lot.」
I"m piling up all of our mushrooms and logs.
「That really is a lot.」
「It"s a little more than I expected.」
「My【Appraise】has leveled up already.」
「Sorry for giving you so much work this early in the morning.」
「Don"t worry about it. It"s our job as Merchants.」
Meanwhile, Adele and Irina have been talking to Yuka, who"s holding a mushroom in her hand.
「A hot pot!」
「Sure thing.」
「What about the broth?」
「Mushroom broth is fine.」
「Well, I still have some Striped Wild Rabbit Meat we can use.」
Mio has joined the conversation while cooking.
She"s frying the meat on an iron plate. I can hear the sizzling sound. She"s not going to burn the food, is she?
And they"re making a hot pot.
I guess they did sell earthenware resembling cooking pots in Remut.
Wait, that"s not the point.
You guys are too tempted by the food.
Rick is helping us with all of the calculations.
He"s also carefully taking the Pheasant Eggs.
The total is 80 silver coins.
I get the feeling that it"s nowhere close to the total amount, but the Rarity of all the materials is pretty low.
That"s probably the reason.
The problem is the mushrooms.
Wouldn"t it be bad if they ate it all?
「Rick, let"s discuss about the logs again when Reina arrives.」
「Right. It"s likely that the logs will be useful to Woodworkers.」
「What are you guys going to do today, Keith?」
「We"re going to solve the puzzle in the forest dungeon. I think we"ll head further west after that.」
「It looks like you"re making a lot of progress, but are you guys doing okay in fights?」
「Yeah, we"re managing.」
「That"s good then. It looks like you"ve been writing a lot of posts on the forum too, so that helps us a lot.」
「Well, it wasn"t me, but we"ll continue to help.」
Mio is starting to fry the shiitake mushrooms on the iron plate.
It smells nice.
Looking closely at the mushroom, there"s water oozing out from inside the umbrella.
She"s adding salt and pepper to the mushrooms.
Grr.
I want to try it now.
「Alright. Are we done?」
Mio is the first to try her own cooking.
She"s putting all of the shiitake mushrooms on the iron plate and frying them all at once.
「Mio! Don"t use all of them! Weren"t you listening?!」
「Relax, there"s still some left. Also, Keith and the others are going to bring more mushrooms anyway…」
「You"re coming with me to Remut, right? Leave the cooking to Yuka now.」
「Grr.」
Oh?
Mio is also going to Remut. I wonder if she obtained another t.i.tle.
That"s a good thing.
「Here you go, Keith. Eat up.」
Yuka is handing me, Fiona, and Rick some hamburgers.
Well, the meat patties are just sliced raw meat, so they"re not really hamburgers.
It"s actually horse meat.
【Food】Spiced Horse Meat Sandwich Satiety +30% Grade C Rarity 2 Weight 0+
Sliced horse meat sprinkled with fish sauce, vinegar, and herbs, then sandwiched in buns.
Extremely satisfying.
Mmm…
It"s frustratingly good.
Horse meat is best served as sashimi.
I won"t let anyone tell me otherwise.
It looks like they"re serving the pseudo yakisoba too.
They"ve been sitting right next to the iron plate for a while.
I stop talking for awhile and focus on eating.
Adele and Irina started eating later than I did, but they"ve already finished before me.
They"re staring at the shiitake mushrooms.
They"re too obvious.
Mio is showing off the fried mushrooms as if taunting a pet with food.
「Alright, let"s head out.」
「「Okay.」」
I managed to hurry them up.
Before we left, I bought some portable food from the stall, since it caught my attention.
【Food】Portable Food (Modified) Satiety +35% Grade C+ Rarity 2 Weight 1
Dry food that is light but somewhat filling.
Contains dried meat and pork, so it"s slightly more satisfying.
Convenient to carry around. Warning: Effect is reduced by half if you don"t take it with water.
※Can be used repeatedly. But be careful not to overeat!
Rick told me that it was a joint innovation made by Mio and Yuka.
It looks like players with production jobs can make anything they want.
It helps adventurers like me.
「Alright everyone, we"re off.」
「「We"ll be back soon!」」
We"re leaving Legias, both literally and figuratively more light-footed than before.
Adele has summoned Mii-chan, while Irina has summoned Calico. Now we"re ready to head into the forest.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv6
Job Summoner Lv5
Bonus Points Remaining 22
Skill Sets
Staff Lv4 Punch Lv3 Kick Lv3 Joint Lock Lv3 Throw Lv3
Evade Lv3 Block Lv2 Summon Magic Lv6
Light Magic Lv3 Wind Magic Lv3 Earth Magic Lv3 Water Magic Lv3
Fire Magic Lv2 Dark Magic Lv1
Alchemy Lv3 Pharmacy Lv3 Gla.s.smaking Lv3
Cooperation Lv5 Appraise Lv5 Identify Lv5 Cold Resistance Lv2 Grab Lv4
Horsemanship Lv4 Precise Manipulation Lv4（↑1）Jump Lv1 Heat Resistance Lv3
Equipment Kaya Wood Rod Wild Rabbit Breastplate+ Series Snow Ape Armguard
Wild Horse Boots+ Snow Ape Leather Cap Rucksack
Item Box ×2
Items Survival Knife
t.i.tles Old Summoner"s Temporary Pupil, Livestock Protector, Man of the Middle Path
Monster Summons
Volff Wolf Lv4
Zangetsu Horse Lv3 Resting
Helix Hawk Lv3 Resting
Obsidian Owl Lv3 Resting
Jean Bat Lv2 Resting
Jericho Wood Golem Lv1 Resting
Companions
Adele & Mii-chan
Irina & Calico