Ugh this chapter was such a pain to translate. I had to order a pizza just to get through it. It wasn"t even that difficult or longer of a chapter, just extremely uneventful, probably could have summarized it in like three paragraphs. Next chapter in 3-5 hours, hopefully for sure this time.
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 22
Yesterday we returned from the dungeon. Since we teleported into a pa.s.sage with a lot of ogres in it yesterday we ended up having to explore until quite late. But, thanks to that were able to set a new record of 34 ogres in one day so while everyone tired myself included we were feeling quite good. Although, after we returned to the surface I ate some food and then went right to sleep. Furthermore, the goblins that appear here and there are just a waste of time so we just ignore their corpses without gathering their magic stones.
In any case I guess the fatigue has built up I ended up oversleeping a bit this morning. When I finished my preparations to go running and appeared in front of "Boil Manor" and the sky was already turning red (since there"s still the outer crater the sun isn"t visible yet), and only the two slaves and Basutoral were waiting. Basutoral seemed to be more exhausted than anyone else but it seems he woke up through sheer guts.
Soon after everyone appeared so after we went running, I called out Zenom and Giberuti and we all went to a restaurant called "Mensato" for breakfast. They have some delicious diced olives that are pickled in olive oil and salt. If you add a small amount of mayonnaise with that to some bread with vegetables and ham on it and it somehow becomes an extravagant sandwich.
These diced olives pickled in oil aren"t sold anywhere. Giberuti has been giving it best to reproduce them but it seems that due to problems with the amount of salt and time pickled he still hasn"t succeeded. Giberuti trying to ask the owner of a restaurant the recipe is something commonly seen for the {Slaughterers} but since it"s how they make their living they aren"t willing to teach it so simply. After all it"s this stores specialty. I guess that means if you want to eat it then you have to come to the restaurant.
After eating breakfast and relaxing for a bit we went to sell all of the magic stones we earned in the dungeon this time. Since we didn"t make it back until late last night we ended up eating and falling asleep without selling them. When we sold 62 ogre and 21 sand shark magic stones it exceeded 52,000,000 Z (52 gold coins) by just a bit.
All of the members other than Basutoral get 1 gold coin and 4 silver coins, I give Basutoral half that amount 2 gold Shu and 2 silver coins. Since it"s only been a bit over a month since he joined the {Slaughterers} and in just entering the dungeon a mere three times he"s made a bit over 1.5 gold coins in compensation Basutoral was greatly pleased.
Since he seems to have been the guitar and vocalist in an indies band in his previous life, the way he"s diligent betrayed my expectations based on that sort of image in a good way. Since we"ve still only been together for about a month I can"t lightly come to a conclusion but at the very least as far as I know he"s using all of his spare time to practice writing and with the spear independently. It seems the details themselves were taught by Gwine but while it"s just the basics he"s repeating the same forms without getting bored. I think it was during a day off just before the day of judgement, I tried asking him.
"Hey~ Basutoral. You might be bored from just continuing the same forms but when you"re thrusting you shouldn"t just look at the end of the spear. Even if it"s vaguely you should look at the entirety of your a.s.sumed enemy. Wouldn"t it suck if they threw the weapon in their hands at you in desperation?"
He was a bit surprised when I suddenly called out to him during training but he quickly turned around to me and after standing his wooden training spear on the ground with his right hand Basutoral said this.
"Ah, Al-san. I see now, looking at the entirety of the opponent is it...However, I"m not bored of it. It"s the same as the {guitar}. In the past, I think it was when I was still a middle school student, I went to a guitar cla.s.s in the music cla.s.s. The teacher of that cla.s.s was good at teaching but their reputation wasn"t very good. Why do you think it was?"
"No, I have no idea~"
"Normally they teach you how to play one or two simple songs after teaching you the most fundamental basics but that teacher was the type that taught the basics thoroughly. The average six string guitar, if you include the difficult ones has 187 types of chords but among those 84 types are said to be the fundamental ones. The teacher wouldn"t let us play any songs until we could remember all of those 84 fundamental types. That sort of thing is boring or isn"t that unreasonable? That"s why that teacher wasn"t very popular. Since there was a different guitar teacher in that cla.s.s, once one student switched to that teacher and in no time at all almost everyone switched over there."
"Hn, well I"m sure that"s true. I can somehow understand their feelings."
"Yeah, that"s right. And, I hesitated on what I should but in the end I went to the cla.s.s intending to change teachers. I went to the cla.s.s just a bit early intending to tell the office worker that I intended to change cla.s.ses but it was at that time, it was by chance but I could hear a tremendously skilled guitar. And, I ended up saying to the office worker. I want to learn from the person playing that guitar."
"Ah, I"ve read the ending. That extremely skilled person was the unpopular teacher right?"
"That"s right. After that I, gave it my best practicing and listening to what the teacher said. Originally I didn"t have much talent at all but even then the reason I was able to reach the level where I could put out CDs with the band was thanks to that teacher. The only one who was scouted by pros in the band was just me as well. Well, in that regards I turned the offer down because I liked the other band members though. That"s why I don"t cut corners in practicing the basics."
"Hmn, I see."
"Yeah, that"s why until I get a pa.s.sing grade from Gwine-san I intend to just keep practicing the movement and form from thrusting then switching to defense. According to Gwine-san if you can just do this perfectly then it"s possible to continue taking on one monster without dying.."
Hearing this story I changed my opinion of Basutoral just a bit. Rather than trying to attack the opponent just focusing on defense to earn time. You can just leave attacking to someone else until you get used to it. Those who can accept this from the start, or rather, can actually manage it won"t die so easily. If you can manage not to die then you"ll gradually gain more combat experience. It"s not just the number, you"ll gain real experience. Even in my case, even though I was higher level than the average squire when I first faced off against a Horned Bear I got nervous.
In any case, it"s certain that for Basutoral to go on living and get his hands on money the fastest route is for him to be with us. I"ll show you what it"s like earning several 1,000,000 Z in a matter of months. During the afternoon training I"ll teach you until you can"t stand.
.................
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 23
{Sun Ray} hasn"t particularly made any actions since then, after that the only recent thing that I"ve been interested in is about Faruergaz and the others. It seems that since last week around the start of the year near they"ve finally started challenging the dungeon again. They listened to my warnings and bought various things. Some combat slaves were included in that as well. Two huge Laios who are larger than Zulu. Just from what I heard it seems the price was blown up to 9,000,000 Z each at Ronslail"s store.
I don"t know how much those two have in a.s.sets but including the equipment for those slaves it should have exceeded 20,000,000 Z. If I were to match it to my situation when I bought Zulu then it would mean they have total a.s.sets equaling around 40,000,000 Z. As expected of a wealthy Count. Well that elf madam still has a good eye for slaves so her business is still proper.
If that madam charged them 9,000,000 Z then there"s no mistake to think the values were at least around 7,000,000 or 8,000,000 Z. Recently it seems she"s dealt in an even larger number of combat slaves so I"m sure her eye for selecting them has gotten even more polished, and I think she can be trusted at least that much.
Today, when I was eating lunch with Miduchi when Faruergaz and Hirosukol appeared with two huge men following them I was a bit surprised. I heard at that time though. It seems they"re properly hiring a guide and entering the dungeon with a total of 7 of them and exploring from morning to night, they were pleased they even managed to earn a whole 1,300,000 Z. Although, that 1,300,000 Z was something they obtained after defeating a Black Gargantuan Leech that was on the verge of death in a monster room and got from the corpses of adventurers who had died previously but it"s still splendid.
Though I say that, 100,000 on the guide cost, and then 1/7 of that 1,300,000 being split up evenly between them evenly so 190,000, for a total of 290,000 Z must have been paid to the guide. If they split up the remaining amount between the four of them excluding the slaves then it"s 250,000 per person. Yeah, that"s plenty. It"s quite something. However, in the case that they didn"t find any items, the guide would have cost around 140,000 - 150,000, and the remaining four would have had to split up about 40,000. Even with that they should last a week without luxury. It should be plenty.
It seems the only ones injured were one of the slaves and either Ruttsu or k.u.miru for a total of two of them. It seems that their injuries weren"t anything serious so in another 3-4 days if they determine there"s no problem they intend to enter the dungeon again. Also, it seems they"ve heard rumors of us {Slaughterers} from all over the place, so while they were showing admiration for our results and strength they also heard various things about our behavior from restaurants and bars so they were also looking down on us over that.
It was about fights that we"ve gotten into in the past and all of the ones started from our end were by Ralpha but if I were to try and explain that it would just sound like an excuse or pushing all of the blame on a woman and I"m sure they would say something like that so I just covered it up with a bitter smile. Although, it"s not like Ralpha has intentionally picked a fight on her own even once. Usually they"re talking bad that she can hear and she throws some tableware or something at that level. Everything after that is blown up by the opponent.
Particularly for the short while after Bel joined us.. things got pretty bad. That continued for about a year until we were able to make it to the 4th floor. After that along with our nickname I guess our abilities were recognized, but the number of people who picked fights with us decreased quite a bit. Recently it"s quite peaceful. Around once in every couple of months some of the newcomers to Baldukk will come to greet us but for the most part no one picks any fights.
.............
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 24
After eating breakfast, I skipped over lunch and continued practicing the spell {Trans.m.u.te.Rock.To.Mud} in the forest of the outer crater until dinner. Since I put in quite a bit of effort I was even able to practice it four times today. When I went to dinner because I had spent too much time concentrating practicing my eyes were collapsing and the capillaries in various places on my body were rupturing so I had to use healing magic to fix it before going but no one ended up being suspicious of it.
During the time I was training with magic, Miduchi was nearby using {Summon.Insect} to summon a bee or using {Inspect.Plague} to summon a swarm of over 1,000 c.o.c.kroaches and screaming it seems but I didn"t notice at all. Even if I"m cursed at as heartless, I don"t care.
In preparation for exploring the dungeon tomorrow, after checking my equipment I went right to sleep.
...............
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 25
Just before daybreak we"re at the entrance plaza about to enter the dungeon. Since the entrance plaza is packed, it was just as we were all about to line up together and head towards the entrance. Some cheers appeared from the building around the entrance of the dungeon. It seems one of the prominent parties returned.
"Hey, is that, Rozewera?"
"Aren"t they completely tattered~"
"Huh? Their number seems to have decreased a bit, one..two..three..Eight people huh? It seems they were done in."
"That guy, when they entered ebfore there was nine of them. I guess another one of them was done in again?"
"That seems to be the case. It"s huge damage. Serves him~ right. He"s just a second-rate adventurer after all."
"Ke..Putting yourself on the shelf and speaking badly over one of the pioneers is unsightly~"
"Ah!? What was that this b.a.s.t.a.r.d, are you picking a fight with me? O?"
"Even in that case, what"s with that number of swords and spears."
"It seems like they hit the jackpot. I guess you could say it"s only as expected from Rozewera."
Amazing~ The number of weapons the slaves are carrying seems like it exceeds 20 peoples worth. The condition doesn"t look all that bad either. Though they don"t look good either. But there"s no mistake it"s a huge profit. If it"s that much then even after losing one slave he should still be in the black.
"Oh! That"s a gold ore! Ama..amazing~!"
"Hmph, if it"s that size then the purity of the gold will be limited."
"Limited you say...Then have you found something of that size before?"
"Never. Never have but I"m always watching from here so I can tell. That"s a limited amount."
"Ha...So you were just one of those amateurs who doesn"t even enter the dungeon. Shut your mouth."
"Fu..If you watch the adventurers who pa.s.s through here every day like I do then it"s perfect for image training."
"Then wouldn"t it be fine for you to go to the dungeon and actually earn something?"
"If you reach my level of veteran watching then crawling around in the dirty dungeon just seems foolish and there"s no need to do it."
"You..Aren"t you embarra.s.sed saying that..."
"Why? I have a proper job as well so it"s fine as long as I can enjoy myself complaining about adventurers."
"I"m at best wandering around the 2nd and 3rd floors, but you"re the worse.."
"What the, I thought I didn"t recognize your face but you were just a trash adventurer who can"t even make it as second-rate huh? Don"t call out to me until you"ve at least made it to Rozewela"s level."
"No, I never called out to you in the first place.."
I don"t know if Rozewela gave the order to one of his slaves but they pulled out the gold ore they seemed to have found in the dungeon and held it up high. Just from identifying it at a glance the value was close to 1,800,000. I"m sure it"ll sell for at least 18,000,000. It"s not just a limited amount but has quite the decent value. I wonder if they fought a room boss in order to get their hands on that and the equipment? If they sacrificed one person in order to get their hands on that much then there"s not much more to say I"m sure.
I turned around and after signaling towards the entrance with my jaw, started walking.
The same as usual Angela and I teamed up and the remaining 9 all advanced together through the 1st floor. Angela and Zulu switched places at the teleport room on the 1st floor and after clearing the 2nd floor they switched places again for the 3rd floor.
..............
Year 7445, Month 1, Day 29
Since yesterday we"ve been fighting against the ogres that wander the 7th floor like crazy. Though I say that, it"s just the same as usual, is what it might sound like but only half of that is true and the other half is different. The ogres that we encounter in the pa.s.sages on the 7th floor are let alone one stage higher, they"re four or five times more powerful than the monsters up until now.
If we properly fight them without using paralysis poison then they"re considerably strong and if you just take into consideration their individual combat strength they"re not all that different from the room bosses on the 5th and 6th floors. The only monsters that rival these in strength other than the special ones would be the Frost Lizard on the 5th floor or the group of Quad-Handed Apes on the 6th floor.
Monsters of that strength are coming out in groups of 4-5 at a time occasionally (normally it"s most often 1-3 at a time). We"re gaining way more experience than the occasional fight against bosses on the 5th or 6th floors. Just in case, I have everyone carrying around paralysis poison but I"ve forbidden use of it. No matter how heavy of an injury they sustain I"ll definitely fix it for them so fight head on. This sort of reckless and forceful order wouldn"t work for any other party than the {Slaughterers} who know my mana amount and spells are outrageously high.
Even if they"re seriously injured as long as it"s not considerably heavy if they didn"t know that something like that could be healed completely including the pain, within an hour through the repeated use of high level healing spells then there"s no way they could accept it.
And I guess it"s since they saw the ice from close to my full power once. They might have some sort of sense of relief in knowing that if the situation got truly dangerous I could just freeze everything in a large block of ice in an instant and after that just erase the ice around our allies, so even in the worst case death is unlikely.
In any case, something like wiping out the weak monsters on the 5th and 6th floors that aren"t worth much in hopes of finding a magic tool or weapon that is far more unlikely to appear, everyone has gotten sick of just wandering around that sort of dark dungeon.
Everyone"s opinion was the same that it"s far easier to fight on the vast and bright 7th floor against ogres where they can feel they"re earning more from just magic stones. There"s no particular basis for it but I already declared that our objective is to clear through a group of ogres while using no paralysis poison and with me only finishing off one or two of them.
I said that only after we can manage that will we start exploring the 8th floor and made them accept getting used to combat against ogres on the 7th floor. Since it"s something that is reasonably dangerous, I thought there might be some firm opinions against it but I was relieved that they accepted it surprisingly easy.
"It"s not like it"s completely impossible right now so I"m sure we"ll become able to do it. Just before Toris and I defeated one without the paralysis poison together after all."
I guess it helped in getting everyone to accepted it that Bel calmly said that. She"s probably remember the last time we entered the dungeon and defeated a total of 34 ogres. We encountered a strangely high amount of ogres that day and in just the morning defeated 15 of them. After we ran out of more than half of our paralysis poison, in order to proceed as safely as possible we started returning back down the way we came and then 5 more ogres appeared from a different direction, we ended up being forced to take a detour on our way back.
It"s not like I can use {Detect.Life} all the time so it"s difficult to completely prevent being ambushed. I might not have mentioned it yet but the spell {Detect.Life} only lets you comprehend the situation in the instant you use it so it"s best to use periodically but it"s not as easy to do something that might just end up being a waste of mana.
Even if I was the one using it once every 10 seconds I"d run completely out of mana in 2 hours. In the first place concentrating to use the same spell once every 10 seconds is impossible though. I have plenty of mana but my mentality and guts wouldn"t last so I"d fall over in about 20 minutes I"m sure. Though it"s not problem if it"s just for a short period.
In any case, while advancing down a path that should combine up with the others we encountered quite a few ogres. And then, by the time we finally grouped up, we encountered another group of ogres. That group was 4 ogres. The only remaining paralysis poison was a small amount Angela had. It was an amount that would run out after using it one just one more.
Since it couldn"t be helped I finished off one of them at the start with my magic, then another one while they were on the way to us, so I ended up finishing off a total of two of them. The remaining 9 people took on the remaining two ogres but her shield was blown away by an angry ogre swinging it"s clubs and at the same time Angela"s waist ended up breaking so while healing her I had to be on her side. In order to protect Angela and I there was Zenom and Miduchi, Zulu and Ralpha kept the ogre in check, and Gwine and Basutoral finished it off but the remaining ogres was taken on by just Toris and Bel.
In the end Angela was the only one injured that time but since we had run out of paralysis poison we struggled quite a bit. I think the amount of time spent in combat including the initial surprise attack was only about 2 minutes but for a long period of over 1 minute Toris parried an ogres attacks unharmed with a sword and shield.
Well even if that hadn"t happened there was similar situations which occurred in the past so since it"s not a completely impossible objective everyone nodded to it.
In any case we"re killing ogres like crazy on the 7th floor until we can achieve that objective. I"m sure we"ll get injured like the time when we first entered the dungeon of Baldukk. However, I no longer think it"s necessary to hold back in using my mana at this point so we should be able to manage it sooner or later.
That time will be when we can truly exceed the founding hero George Rombert the First, get our hands on a ma.s.sive fortune, and when I can make my own country.