Yeah, I"m just going to stop with ETAs for the most part. Expect 1+ chapter everyday sometime around the night EST. So many food terms.Year 7446, Month 7, Day 1
Lured by the scent of their allies corpses being cooked around 30 Red Battle Crabs in total appeared. After using various spells to overcome the three wave attacks we all let out sighs in front of the mountain of stupidly huge crabs piled on top of each other.
"We can"t bring them all back with us right.."
Ralpha said as if she was disappointed from the bottom of her heart.
Honestly speaking, I feel completely the same. It"s my first time eating a crab so huge that even one claw or leg was beyond what just one person could handle. It"s not so often that you can enjoy the luxury of eating your stomach full of genuine crab meat.
Incidentally, the spell that was the most efficient at clearing through them was {Acid Cloud} but since the meat corrodes along with the sh.e.l.l our long awaited pray ends up becoming inedible so we rejected using it. The other Cloud type spells weren"t very effective and in the end didn"t even work for slowing them down.
And then, even freezing them wasn"t very effective. It"s big that we can stop their movements but even if they"re completely frozen they stay alive for a considerably long time afterwards. Aren"t they not even barely breathing? Since it seemed like it would just take time we gave up on it. Even when we just froze their legs they started cutting off their legs partway through. Thinking it was fine I tried approaching one and was surprised when it suddenly cut it"s own legs and started moving. It"s dangerous right.
The spell that showed it"s power among those was {Web}. After being caught up in a highly adhesive string when their movements dull Gwine and Basutoral would stab with their spears destroying their brains. In my past life, I made good use of my experience fishing for black porgy using small sh.o.r.e crabs like tank crabs or aburakani. The position of their brains was almost the same. The sole problem that could be called a problem is that the same as Cloud types the only ones who can currently use it are Miduchi and I but eventually Toris should be able to use it.
The Red Battle Crabs we defeated using {Web} weren"t cooked or had their sh.e.l.ls cracked or damages, so other than the hole in between their eyes where the spear stabs in they"re clean. If we carefully disa.s.semble them then we should be able to get about three buckets worth of kani miso and everything in the world is great. If we cut off the claws or legs from the body and tie them all together then one person should be able to carry about one crabs worth of them. The body is too big so there"s no way to bring it along just like that. We decided to boil the kani miso before carefully taking out the contents and filling it into the sh.e.l.l of a claw that we took the insides out of before bringing it back with us. If we put some salt on it later and heat it up then we can deliciously eat it. It might be good to boil it a bit and reduce the water content by half before putting it into a bottle as well. If we leave it be for a few days then it"ll be ready to eat. It"s kani miso shiokara. I want some squid to go with it.
Toris who was blinded by the kani miso forcefully took everyone"s flasks and packed those full of kani miso as well. I just wanted that while rolling the magic stones from the crabs in my hands while combining them into just one. After all, the value isn"t anything great.
"Since there were crabs there might be a prawn!"
..So that"s what it was. No, prawns are a favorite food of mine as well. If there was something like a meter cla.s.s prawn then I might quite literally jump up in delight. However, hearing that it"s even more of a reason not to go. Prawn hunting (temporary name) is something we should do after we can properly rest our bodies on the 8th floor. Rather~ there"s no guarantee that there"s prawns right. Also, there"s a considerable number of crabs that can live in places with almost no water but I"ve never heard of prawn like that.
Even if there was then I"m sure it"d be a monster so I feel like they"d have huge claws again. If it comes to that then it"s already no longer a prawn. It"s a Crayfish-Lobster right. In terms of prawns I"m in the faction that believes tiger prawns are the greatest. Tiger prawns are delicious no matter how you eat them whether it be boiling, baking, frying, steaming, or in sashimi. There"s not many variations on how you can eat prawns other than tiger prawns. Even when it comes to Ise-ebi if you heat them up they"re a great delicacy but in sashimi they just have a consistency when being chewed and the flavor isn"t all that great. In reverse the botan prawns and budou prawns are extremely delicious as sashimi but other than that they"re not the greatest, and it"s just about those three in all.
"No~pe. We"re going back."
I didn"t say as far as that there"s a high probability there aren"t any prawns. It"s because I"ve already tasted enough of the fact that you never know what will happen in the dungeon that I"m sick of it. I have the responsibility of making some earnings for the {Butchers}, {Exterminators}, and {Slaughterers} in this dungeon without permitting any casualties and paying everyone a reasonable amount in compensation. It"s not a matter of whether I can do it or not. At the very least since I"m having them accompany me on my dream, whether or not they agree with that, at the bare minimum just I have the obligation to think like that I"m sure.
Something like going deep into a new floor before we"ve made proper preparations is absurd. Particularly the 9th floor and beyond which are said to be unexplored territory, leaving it to the momentum and charging ahead is something we must not do. Recently we haven"t seen them at all so they"re easy to forget but including pitfalls we need to properly use spells to investigate the traps that are in the pa.s.sageways.
This time we should just be satisfied with taking a look in the 9th floor.
Year 7446, Month 7, Day 1
We returned to the 8th floor and were barely able to move holding all of the bags we needed, it was that level of overloaded bags. Each of our bags ended up getting in the way of each other so we started teleporting back to the 7th floor in order.
Since we didn"t return last night, it seems Giberuti was worried but when going to a new floor it was common for us to return later than expected and since I hinted that we might be late this time, he waited while preparing some food that can be preserved reasonably well and required slowly cooking over time.
There we returned carrying a large amount of crab legs and claws so it seems he was surprised by that appearance.
We discussed the circ.u.mstances lightly and after saying we"d be returning to make the teleport room on the 8th floor into a base in a few days he requested a large amount of ice. Even if it can"t be helped that the ice will eventually melt, it seems he wanted to freeze store the soup that he went to the trouble of preparing for a bit longer.
Of course, there"s no way to turn that offer down. I made as much ice as Giberuti wanted and additionally shaped it so ti was convenient for him and then we all left the dungeon together. Just tonight we"ll get some good rest in the inn but after preparing the necessary materials we"ll be building the base again starting tomorrow.
Ah, that"s right. For the time being I guess it"s fine not to sell the battle axe. If Kevin and Karimu say they want to use the battle axe and bardiche from the Mino then it might be fine to give or lend it to them for cheap..Maybe? It"s also possible to sell it as a set with the magic stone..Chi..I wonder if it won"t look good if I don"t throw the old man some bait occasionally? Though I say that there"s no need to hurry either. It should be fine to do additionally when I go to make deliveries this month. If I think that the 3,500,000 Z is regrettable that"s true but it might be best to think of it as a necessary expense.
However, we"re selling the crab magic stones. I left just one of them without combining it to keep. Since the Red Battle Crab is the magic stone of a monster I"ve never heard of before, if we use that as evidence of reaching the 9th floor then our reputation will increase again I"m sure. Additionally we can pull apart from {Verdure.Brotherhood} and {Black.Topaz}.
Uhihi~ I can already see old man Viruhaima"s mortified face now. If sis Anderson were to just abandon that old man already and come serve under me then I wouldn"t treat her badly.
"Alright, today let"s go to Murowa and eat ourselves full on crab. Zulu, Angela. For the time being it doesn"t matter where so go and borrow a large two-wheeled wagon by tomorrow with this. It can"t be helped if it"s a bit heavy."
I gave the two slaves money and had them prepare a two-wheeled wagon. During that time we gathered the crab legs and claws together in several pairs each and froze them. Eh? On this occasion we should at least go to Dorureon? That place isn"t bad either but it"s a bit too high cla.s.s so even if we bring in these huge crabs it"ll just be a bother. It doesn"t take much work to peel the sh.e.l.ls either so the more casual Murowa is fine. Zulu"s woman is there as well. In the first place John and Terry are still young so unless it"s a year-end party as expected Dorureon is..Right?
We gathered quite a bit of attention seeing the {Slaughterers} leave the dungeon carrying giant crab legs the likes of never seen before. We can"t leave our bags alone until the wagon comes so just Toris, Zenom, and I went to cash in the magic stones. While doing that some time pa.s.sed and by the time we returned Catherine brought along John and Terry to start setting up the Baldoggie cart. Everyone else was helping that out as well but it was obvious their aim wasn"t Baldoggie.
"Hey, we can"t eat the crab here. After Zulu and Angela finish up negotiations and come we"re leaving right away. After returning to the inn and changing there"s also buying materials and such as well so there"s no time to be snacking in between. Leave this place to Cathy. Also Cathy. Tonight as at Murowa. John and Terry you two look forward to it too. You can eat to your heart"s content of something delicious."
Around the time I said that Zulu and Angela returned with a two-wheeled wagon. We split up and started loading the frozen crab on to it before returning to Boil Manor.
After that just as planned we split up and bought a stove, blankets, cooking utensils and had a party at Murowa. I was worried about the fact that we didn"t have any seaweed or bonito flakes but Miduchi brought out some dried shiitake to make the stock and we enjoyed some shabu-shabu as well as some grilled it until everyone ate their fill. Ah, of course we put plenty of kani miso in it to eat with it. It seems Zenom acknowledged it"s affinity with vodka as well. A good~ trend.
Year 7446, Month 7, Day 2
The next day, carrying along a lot of bags we {Slaughterers} stepped foot into the dungeon again. If there"s no problem then tonight the {Butchers} and {Exterminators} were scheduled to return from the dungeon but right now turning the 8th floor into a base and investigating the Minotaur is urgent business. I"ll have them take their three day break starting tomorrow just as planned. On the second day of the break, the night of the day after tomorrow we"ll return so I left a message for them not to worry about us. That day, I intend to report that we cleared the 8th floor and entered the 9th floor.
Now then, on the evening of the day after tomorrow we should defeat the Minotaur again and have finished carrying the bare minimum materials into the teleport room on the 8th floor. Since this time the objective is carrying materials, we left behind Basutoral and his wife along with the message to the other members of the {Slaughterers} and he isn"t accompanying us. That"s why we don"t have to split up the party either. If things go as planned then after that we"ll immediately return once and after reporting things to everyone, depending on the case we"ll prepare for a long-term battle and head back to the 8th floor again. We plan to continue staying in the dungeon at that time until we can get some kind of proof on the cycles of how the Minotaur revives.
"Alright, let"s go, Rorufamu!"
Year 7446, Month 7, Day 3
Just as planned yesterday we cleared through the 3rd floor and on the second day, today we plan to clear through to the 6th floor.
That morning, at 5 am we all finished up breakfast and put on our equipment before teleporting into the 4th floor.
Just past noon we cleared through the 5th floor and arrived at the teleport room on the 5th floor at around 1 pm. We had a simple lunch and decided to take our first long rest break for today. Since we need to take a shower and get rid of the scent here after all.
In a corner of the room, whether it be {Verdure.Brotherhood} or {Black.Topaz} is unknown, but that the camp preparations there showed signs of being used gave us peace of mind. It"s because judging from the state of things it"s obvious that they"re struggling quite a bit with the 6th floor. If they intend on aiming for the 7th floor then I"m sure camping in the teleport room on the 6th floor would be the main after all.
Since there"s a considerable amount of raw vegetables and quickly prepared ingredients left here then that means this 5th floor is still their main camp.
"Those guys, it seems they"re struggling quite a bit."
"Wouldn"t it be fine for another one or two years?"
"I"ll take it off from the right."
.....................
Along the way in the pa.s.sage there were corpses of two {Cave Boars} laying around. The magic stones had already been removed.
"Traces of those guys huh? I wonder if we can have it easy for a short while?"
Zenom said while investigating the wounds on the {Cave Boar}.
"There"s no traces of magic..I can"t tell what it was but as expected of them."
I said while looking at the wounds on the {Cave Boar} as well.
"Well even we can take on the {Cave Boars} without magic as well but.."
Old man Viruhaima"s pointlessly cool sounding voice was echoing around.