“You really helped us there, Hikari.”
“True. Its movements got worse all of a sudden when you two joined in.”
Say Sera and Rurika.
“Good grief, you could’ve helped us sooner.”
Argo complains to Guilford while composing his breathing.
He’s half joking, so he’s not really blaming him. If anything, he’s just grumbling.
“No no, I just thought you could finish it quickly.”
Says Guilford while tapping his shoulder, looking like he’s used to dealing with him.
Rick and the others suggest that since attacking from a distance threw off the kijin’s balance, that might have been a close quarters type, that was weak to attacks from a distance.
After all, neither Hikari or Guilford specialize in long-distance attacks.
Argo eventually settles this heated discussion, and we go back to exploring.
We end up hunting four more, bringing us to a total of forty. Ten more to go.
Things are going smoothly thanks to Chris’ Detection Magic, but I feel like it’s going to take some time.
“What’s wrong, Sora? Why the long face?”
“Ah, it’s about where the kijin are.”
I say to Mia while looking at Map.
We’ve gotten pretty far from the staircase while chasing monster reactions. There are some around here, but they’re very heavily skewed.
For example, the closest reaction is about three hours from here, but the real issue is that there are five more. It’s very rare for them to be clumped up like this. It’s my first time seeing it.
I enlarge Map, and see another spot where monsters are gathered.
If we’re going after other reactions, it will take us half a day to get there.
“If we want to avoid risks, we should go to the ones that are far away.”
“But then we might as well head in the direction of the staircase, right?”
I ask, and Argo and Guilford look at each other.
“Are there kijin on the way back?”
“…Two.”
“Then we could take them down and leave. It’s getting bad for you, right Chris?”
“No, I’m fine, Rurika.”
“Hm… It doesn’t look like you’re pushing yourself, but you still look tired”
I don’t see it, but apparently Rurika does.
Ah, Sera’s nodding.
“Then how about we rest early today, and head to the staircase tomorrow?”
I ask, and everyone agrees, so I take food out of the Item Box.
“Are we going to make more after we get back?”
“We still have plenty.”
“But it’s hard to cook in the dungeon, and we never know what might happen.”
I get what Mia is saying, but I have enough food for two months.
It grows to half a year if we include what isn’t cooked, and even longer if we include monsters that haven’t been taken apart yet.
If I see the stock is running low, I can buy more in towns or hunt more monsters in dungeons to replenish.
We also tend to buy food when we walk around towns and find stalls that sell tasty stuff.
After we’re done eating, Chris casts Detection Magic, and tells me the positions of the monsters she detected.
I contrast them with Map, set up traps, and place the boards from last time to make walls.
We’re sleeping in a T-junction, and using the boards to give the illusion that there’s no passage.
Kijin might sense something’s off if they know this area, but adventurers probably won’t. Unless they have a map.
We spend the… Night? Here while taking turns keeping watch, and head to the staircase the next day.
Rick and the others fight the two kijin we find on the way back.
One of them uses Fascinate, but everyone already has an unfascinate eye, so it doesn’t work.
“What about the materials?”
“Hn, you can take them, Sora. You might need them, right?”
“But then…”
“Ah, don’t worry about money. Think of all the food and disposable items you’ve given us. Not to mention that we’re going to make more than enough.”
The rest of Argo’s party nods.
They’re not going to change their answer, so we should talk more after we’re done with the dungeon.
Argo mentioned food and disposable items, but those are cheap compared to their help in beating this dungeon.
After leaving the dungeon, we decide to rest for three days, and take it easy in the inn.
But since we don’t want to stay locked up for that long, we go to town too.
As before, someone from Argo’s party comes along. In the meantime, we hear from people here that Jetblack hasn’t returned yet.
Some people are impressed, but some are worried they were wiped out.
Thanks for the update, & hope everybody has a good week. 😎👍
Thanks for the treat. 🖖