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Chapter 128: Further Down
「Ah 」
The stick broke.
「Hey, don’t make a face like that as if it’s doomsday just because your stick broke. 」
「But I liked it
 」
Dean looked appalled, but you know, I did my best to put the force straight down so it won’t break.
「It’s actually amazing that it didn’t break until now, or should I say I’m impressed with that pointless capability of yours
 」
Dinosso said it’s pointless, he said it’s pointless, ugh.
「Use your sword. Your sword, got it? 」
Retze told me, so I’m going to throw this stick

「Maybe we can use it as firewood? 」
「Just let go of that stick for goodness sake. And help out with the disassembly, will you. 」
「I believe you did go overboard. 」
I peered at the stick, but Retze just replied to me rudely, and even Butler told me off.
Butler was smiling in front of a mountain pile of larvae and earthworms. When I looked around, the children, Retze and even Ash were doing the disassembly.
「Uwah, sorry! 」
Yeah, I did go overboard.
「Oh dear me, I’m so sorry, fufufu. 」
「Sorry. 」
「It’s not out of malice! 」
「Oh, well
 Sorry. 」
The culprits were these five people, including me. Shiva, Dean, Chris and Dinosso apologized, and they also helped out.
It had turned into a competition halfway through, and this was the result. I didn’t know the dear children were the ones dismantling the corpses
 I should’ve helped them midway.
Retze was staring at us as if he’s looking at a group of five worthless adults while we did the job in all seriousness.
The minerals mainly harvested are copper, iron, and iron sulfide. Next are gold and silver. Other than that, it’s also possible to get a little bit of sulfur and chromium.
Sulfur is pretty famous since it’s a raw material used to make black gunpowder. Do they have gunpowder in this world? If I’m not mistaken, if you mix a certain percentage of sulfur to gum, its elasticity will increase and if you add more, the hardness also increases, I think? I don’t think I’ve seen either product in the market before.
【Appraisal】 says sulfur is part of the bleaching agent used for dried persimmons and dried figs. It also appears as sulfur dioxide in wines’ antioxidants.
Chromium is used in chrome plating and stainless steel, I think?
We found minerals that transformed into magic ores along with the normal ones inside these grubs. We sorted them roughly as we hurriedly dismantled these guys. They’re not that big of a monster, so even if there were a lot of them, we could only get so much.
Fortunately, it was mostly iron. If we combine the magic ores and iron together, there’s enough to make normal swords for everyone. Oh, but it won’t be enough if we consider Dinosso and Dean’s huge swords.
「Fuu, finally done. Let’s rest. 」
「I heard these larvae can have a peculiar tastiness if you grill them. 」
Stop it. Delicate city kids can’t handle bug delicacies, you know. Oh, I just noticed that they’re starting to associate breaktime with either meals or snacks.
「Yeah, you can’t eat rhinoceros beetles’ larvae, but stag beetles are fine. 」
Hey, Retze. Stop going with Dean’s flow, will you.
「Wait, so does that mean you have eaten that before!? 」
「I heard you can eat it. I’m making it a point to try eating non-poisonous monsters even once when I get the chance. 」
Retze answered nonchalantly.
I don’t think I need to learn about that, folks. Oh, maybe it’s stock knowledge for when food runs out for some reason, I guess. But what if it’s just plain interesting, huh?
「So, how about we go down two layers at once, hunt some giant rats while looking for the yrads? 」
Dinosso.
The conversation was over while I was brooding about the misgivings that sprouted within me. And so, we ended our breaktime and went down the shaft.
「Eh? Why are these piled up here? 」
「Maybe because they’re too heavy so they’re left behind? Folks came to hunt for magic ores if they went all the way down here, right? 」
We found a small pile of iron, copper and a little bit of others near the wall beside where we landed. Like what Retze said, the other hunters probably sorted their spoils and took what they needed when they returned to the surface. It would be too hard to climb up the shaft if the load was too heavy.
「Alright, let’s bring them. 」
「Let’s do that on our way back. 」
Butler stopped me in a flash.
「Kyah! 」
Tina let out a tiny scream.
「So big! 」
「So huge! 」
The twins also shouted in shock.
The rats who appeared here can’t compare to the ones we defeated in the beginning. Like a small car — that’s how huge they were.
「The rats here are bigger than bears, huh
 」
「Idiot! They don’t usually get this big here! 」
「It’s a Tri-Horn, Twilight!
Jean! 」
I was impressed, but Dinosso and Chris were flustered. By the way, Chris has been doing his best to call me by my name ever since I asked him to.
Dean and Ash — ah, actually everyone aside from the kids and me — were already in battle mode. Shiva slowly backed away with the kids behind her. Everyone’s too fast!
「I heard about this before, but really, more strong monsters are popping out, huh. 」
Dinosso’s blade was engulfed in flames.
He took a step, then he dodged the tail and claws of the rat with so small a movement that it looked like the Giant Rat made a mistake in gauging its attack. With a single slash that wasn’t even that powerful, the Giant Rat’s head flew off to the ground.
In just an instant, the Giant Rat had been slayed amidst the high tension.
「As expected of Wolf King-dono. 」
Ash praised Dinosso as she put her sword away.
「Of course. Can’t lose to youngsters, right? 」
Dinosso laughed with a clap and a wink.
He was his usual easy-going, buffoon self without an ounce of tension in his body.