Translated by airsblue (shy of posting)
Edited by mranon
Whole Fish
We are halfway through 14th floor of Haruba’s labyrinth.
When the battles are short, hunting is smooth. The longer the battles get, the more strenuous the hunting becomes.
The monsters here are not as easy for a battle to be over in a flash, but they are not so strong either to get us fired up.
This is rather a concern.
Because the battles here are longer, I may get exposed to consecutive attacks and may get myself into precarious position if I lose my focus.
However, even though I am aware of it, I keep losing my focus.
“Miria!”
“Yes, desu.”
I regain my focus with Roxanne’s shout.
She was reprimanding Miria.
Miria was going solo again. Although she sticks to the formation, there are times when she goes ahead on her own.
I empathize with her for I tend to lose my focus too.
My thoughts on 14th floor: it’s boring and slow.
Finally, only one monster is left. Roxanne is yet to receive an attack.
Her performance is incredible as ever.
In the end, instead of breaking through 14th floor of Haruba’s labyrinth, we decide to check on the progress of the exploration of Bode’s labyrinth.
“How far has the exploration progressed?”
“Just reached 12th floor.”
We drop by Bode’s labyrinth in the afternoon, and ask the explorer at the entrance.
“Which monster appears on 12th floor?”
“Mabream.”
“Mabream, desu!?”
For some reason, Miria repeats after the explorer.
Her serious eyes seek me all of a sudden.
Her serious eyes turn sparkling.
Looks like she wants to bring something up.
I wonder what.
“Mabream is a fish-type monster. It drops white fish.”
Sherry tells me the reason.
Fish huh?
Miria is still staring at me.
Rather than sparkling, her eyes are burning with appet.i.te.
“T-Then can you take me to 12th floor?”
I can not help it.
I take out the emblem of the Harz duchy from my backpack.
Upon seeing the emblem, the explorer joins our party.
“Okay, please follow me.”
Following the explorer, we enter Bode’s labyrinth.
We are in a small room with an ordinary door.
It is the same room you can find on any floor of a labyrinth.
The explorer leaves us here and heads back immediately.
“Mabream is a monster that specializes in long-range water magic attacks. It is resistant to water magic. Earth magic is its weakness.”
“Earth Magic huh? Can I ask of you for a small group since it is our first time fighting against this monster?”
After Sherry briefs, I ask of roxanne to guide us.
Mabream is a fish-type monster. It looks like a fish that has two long legs growing down its body.
Actually, looking only at its head, it looks more like a fish than a fish-type monster.
Nope, I am not sure anymore if it is its head or its body.
To top it off, there are two long and skinny legs stretching out. It is truly disgusting.
Whatever. If they say it’s fish-type, then it must be fish-type.
Even though it looks like a badly designed Martian.
I shoot a [Sand Ball].
After 4 shots, it collapses.
Mabream turns into smoke and disperses.
What remained was a white fish.
“Yes, desu!”
Miria jumps at it and brings it over excitedly.
Her eyes seek me again.
What does she want to say? I can guess what she wants.
“This is our dinner for tonight, I guess.”
“Okay, desu!”
Miria bows her head.
We already have one, and I will be unnecessarily torturing her if I leave it for tomorrow.
But it looks like it would have been fine even if I had delayed it by a day.
We hunt near the entrance of the floor for a while.
Since the exploration of Bode’s 12th floor has only just started,
It is best to not go further inside just yet.
I need the exploration of the floor to progress further in order to avoid the trap room with large number of monsters.
I can’t guarantee our safety if we set foot in that trap room.
I cast [Meteor Crash].
The red-hot meteorites crash onto the monsters.
One shot?
Just one [Meteor Crash] seems to be enough for Mabream.
Mabreams seem to be weak against fire magic as well.
How do I know which monsters can be dispatched in one shot and which monsters can’t be?
I am getting confused even more.
“Since [Meteor Crash] seems to be effective, I think we can proceed further inside.”
“I guess.”
“I don’t think there will be any problem.”
“Instead of searching for monsters, how about we explore this floor?”
I instruct Roxanne to stop searching for monsters.
I felt bored while we were on Haruba’s 14th floor.
But here, I might be able to set off some fireworks.
[Metoer Crash] is an area of effect magic attack.
If I were to use it inside a small room with a lot of monsters, it would be ma.s.sacre.
If they can be killed in one shot, it doesn’t matter how many monsters there are.
I want to light things up to let out all the frustration I built up on 14th floor.
While heading deep inside 12th floor, I cast [Meteor Crash].
We are searching for the room packed with monsters, taking out the monsters all the while.
I’m not using [Sand Storm] too much. I’m relying on Durandal to recover my MP.
There’s no knowing what may happen inside the labyrinth.
Also, it’s possible that they won’t be dead in one [Meteor Crash] next time.
I should save some MP for contingencies.
As always, when you try to find something, it is always difficult to find it.
But I carry on searching.
And I have finally found it.
The door opens. When I enter the small room, fish-type monsters were there in the middle.
It’s a big catch.
It’s a great catch.
It’s fis.h.i.+ng time.
Unfortunately, there are no seagulls here to set the mood.
As planned, I try to wipe them out in one shot.
I invoke [Meteor Crash].
Suddenly, it feels as if all my MP has vanished.
It feels as if something has left my body.
It feels as if I’m getting engulfed in darkness.
D-d.a.m.n it!
How can I be this stupid?
How can I be this foolish?
I had no idea I was this incompetent.
I had no idea my abilities were this lacking.
The consumption of MP of an area of effect magic attack increases with the number of monsters.
If it’s not the case, then this is hara.s.sment.
May be because I used a bonus spell?
This world is against me.
I’m down.
I’m depressed.
I’m Hayas.h.i.+ Shrio.
When a person doesn’t know how to write the kanji for depression, he ends up writing the kanji for Hayas.h.i.+ s.h.i.+ro.
Hayas.h.i.+ (林)
s.h.i.+ (四)
Rō (郎)
Looks like
Depression (欝)
Doesn’t it?
“As expected of Master.”
“All those monsters were wiped out in one shot.”
“Amazing, desu.”
The monsters seem to be dead, but I can’t hear them clearly.
The stress I released earlier is back again.
I intended to release my stress but ended depressed instead.
I open my Item Box.
I swallow a handful of strengthening pills.
Having recovered my MP, I get back on my feet.
So there is such a drawback of using area of effect magic attack.
Because I have been fighting against four or five monsters, I didn’t notice it.
One more monster wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.
But the room was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with monsters.
A lot of dropped items are lying scattered around the room.
Needle Woods, native to Bode’s 11th floor, were mixed in as well.
They dropped branches and leaves.
There are a lot of white fish.
Miria excitedly brings something over to me.
“It is whole fish.”
“Whole fish?”
“A rare item dropped by Mabream.”
Sherry tells me.
So it’s a rare drop.
Miria pa.s.ses the whole fish to me.
It’s whole indeed, complete with head and tail.
Even Appraisal says ‘whole fish’.
“Then this, too, will be for tonight’s dinner.”
“Eat, desu!”
“It’s a rare drop and will sell for a high price. Are you sure about this?”
“Whole fish is rare. It is usually eaten on special occasions.”
Roxanne and Sherry urge me to reconsider.
In this world, it seems to be eaten on special days.
Even though a lot of white fish were dropped by the monsters, there was only one whole fish.
It does seem to be quite rare.
“Oh well, it is too much for one person anyway.”
The whole fish is bigger than even my hands. Twenty? Thirty? No, about forty centimeters.
Even a piece of it will be more than enough for a person.
However, If it is Miria, I’m sure she can eat it all by herself.
“A small piece is fine. Miria, too, says that she is fine with a small piece.”
“The head of the family eats the first piece of whole fish. The rest is distributed among the family members.”
So it is not one for everyone kind of fish huh?
Although we got only one whole fish, I decide to stop exploration of Bode’s 12th floor.
I still have no idea how to keep stress from building up, but we resume the exploration of Haruba’s 14th floor nevertheless.
We return home in the evening.
“Master, there is a message from Luke, the broker. There seemed to be a successful bid for Bat Monster Card.”
When we arrived at home, there was a note left by Luke, the broker.
The process of upgrading equipment seems to be going smoothly.
“It increases rate of evasion if fused with an armor. If fused simultaneously with Kobold Monster Card, the effect gets doubled.”
Sherry starts explaining the moment I look at her.
She seems to have learned her role well by now.
For dinner, Miria simmers the whole fish with wine and fish sauce.
Salt doesn’t seem to have been added.
The flavor is similar to Mediterranean cuisine, Acqua Pazza. (TN: “Wow! It’s really delicious.”
I first show them how to use chopsticks.
Although there’s fat, the texture is firm.
Yet it melts in the mouth.
Delicious!
As expected of a rare drop.
White fish doesn’t come even close.
After me, Roxanne and Sherry help themselves to the boiled fish prepared by Miria.
“It is delicious.”
They’re delightfully eating the boiled whole fish.
Their smile is delightful indeed.
“Can I have a little more.”
“Yes, desu.”
During the meal, the fish was distributed by Miria.
Was preparing white fish along with whole fish a bad idea? We didn’t get to it because of the whole fish.
It would have been even better had there not been that unpleasant look about Miria’s face while distributing the fish.
It gave the feeling that something was off.
Next Morning. I collect the Bat Monster Card from the merchants guild.
I immediately hand it to Sherry upon returning home.
“Roxanne, take off your shoes and pa.s.s them to me.”
“Wha- okay.”
Roxanne takes off her hard leather shoes.
And puts them on the table.
It will be a good idea to enhance Roxanne’s equipment this time.
Apart from Sacrificial Misanga, there is a need to enhance her equipment more than others’.
In order to compensate for the drop in her level.
Roxanne can dodge most of the attacks and hardly gets. .h.i.t, so it is not necessary to enhance her armor.
Therefore, I need to attach those skills to Roxanne’s equipment that match her fighting style.
This skill increases rate of evasion which is perfect for her.
Sherry and Miria are not receiving attacks that frequently, so it is not needed to increase their evasive ability for the time being.
As for me, when I head out to the front, I equip Durandal, so I can compensate for it with Durandal’s HP Absorption skill.
Roxanne will make full use of this skill.
Since Kobold Monster Card will only double the effect, I don’t see its need at this point.
I am thankful for that.
Another successful bid for Kobold Monster Card will take more time and money.
And it may be a good idea to first try the skill out before using Kobold Monster Card.
“Well then, can you please fuse the card with these shoes?”
“Certainly.”
Sherry picks up the hard leather shoes, with one free skill slot, which we looted from the thieves.
She performs the card fusion casually.
She is completely used to it by now.
“As expected of Sherry.”
“Brilliant as always.”
“I did it!”
“Amazing, desu.”
When I use Appraisal, it was showing as Hard Leather Shoes of Willow.
Is willow used here to draw comparison with the wind?
“I plan on having everyone try it, but Roxanne will have a go first.”
“Okay.”
I pa.s.s the Hard Leather Shoes of Willow to Roxanne.
Once Roxanne had equipped it, we moved to Haruba’s 14th floor.
From what I saw, there was no apparent change after she equipped it.
Well, even before she equipped it, the monsters hardly ever managed to land attacks on her.
If it is just about evading attacks of the monsters, it is the same as before.
I borrow the shoes from Roxanne to try it out myself.
I don’t feel any change in particular.
It’s just that there is no apparent change like when I use bonus points to increase my status or when I change jobs or when I level up.
I even try to suicide attack a monster using Durandal, but I still don’t feel any significant difference.
Well, it did become easier to evade the attacks than before to some extent.
If the difference was considerable, I wouldn’t hate it this much.
If I look at the total number of attacks received, it has probably decreased.
I let Sherry and Miria try it out as well.
Albeit slightly, the number of attacks received has decreased.
Well, they hardly receive attacks to begin with.
Still, Hard Leather Shoes of Willow could prove to be a good equipment for Roxanne.
At some point, it may be a good idea to decrease the attacks received by Sherry and Miria as It will increase the efficiency of hunting. But it is not a matter to consider for now.
“This equipment will be for Roxanne. Are you fine with it?”
“It’s a good idea.”
“Okay, desu.”
I confirm with Sherry and Miria.
“So Roxanne, it’s yours from now on.”
“It is better than Master’s equipment, Master should be the one to use it.”
“I have tried it already. It will be more effective if Roxanne uses it.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Roxanne bows her head.
To make her stronger, the Hard Leather Shoes of Willow were hence pa.s.sed to Roxanne.