“Uhmm, is this really ok?”
Kokoru, who was following behind me, asks worriedly.
I managed to ask the reluctant Kokoru to party with me.
Now, we were leaving the save point and looking for a monster.
“I’ve said it before, but you won’t be able to get the kill bonus if you’re in a party with me. The skill activates whenever a monster is killed…”
I looked back to answer Kokoru.
“I don’t mind the experience points. I just want to test something out, so can you come along with me for now?”
“Of course, you can back out if you really don’t want to.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to…”
“Good then. My level’s a lot lower than yours, but I’ll take the place of vanguard,”
“… Ok. I’ll take care of the rear. Do you need any support from buffs? I have an MP to spare.”
“No need. The middle levels are still low for it. I can do fine without it.”
Ah~ It’s nice to have a party after all…
There’s a difference in having a sense of security whether there’s a companion you can rely on or not.
The times I fell into going solo every time I was kicked out of a party weighed on my mind.
At that moment, I hear Kokoru raise her voice behind me.
I then focus my attention to the enemy that has appeared ahead.
It was a yellow, round, amorphous body. In other words, a Paralysis Slime that spits out a debilitating poison.
I take a huge step forward and then stop.
The slime pounced forward as I predicted, so I swung my sword to match it.
The sword effortlessly slashes through the nucleus, its weak point.
The slime’s HP is reduced to zero in one slash, and its body disperses along with it.
-Kokoru shouted from behind me.
The slime is often thought of as a small-fry, but there’s a secret trick to hitting its weak point. I use the method of making it do a huge forward leap a lot. That way, it makes the slime unable to dodge and makes its body stretch longer, which in turn, lessens the protection on its nucleus. It’s one of the methods I devised to allow my party to get stronger.
But that doesn’t matter right now.
I dumbfoundedly look at the items and coins the slime left behind after it disappeared.
“Slimes drop quite a lot of money, don’t you think so too? Ah. It’s a Paralyze Slime Core! How lucky.”
“… No. It’s not for sure yet.”
Kokoru followed behind me, confused, as I walked forward shaking my head.
Even that can drop once in a while.
The next thing we encountered was a Yellow Goblin.
It was alone, so I slid down to cover the distance and stab its neck before it could raise its shield.
“Oh, It’s a Yellow Goblin Antidote. So it dropped such a thing. It seems to have the same effects as a Paralysis Curing Potion, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. How rare.”
“… N-no. Not yet. One more time…”
“Sir Alvin? What’s wrong?”
The next thing we encountered was an Elec-Spider. It would be troublesome if we allowed it to scatter its numbing webs, so I take it down quickly. The small spider-shaped monster had dropped more items than the previous ones.
“Ehh!? There’s a Lightning Orb!? So it even drops from Elec-Spiders huh~,”
—Kokoru said in surprise.
“How lucky! Could it be you have high luck when it comes to drops?”
“… W-was my drop luck that good?”
“I didn’t know… I’ve rarely been blessed with an item drop so…”
I unconsciously drew closer to Kokoru.
“Can you party with me!?”
“A-aren’t we already one right now…?”
“Oh yeah. Then… please! Always be together with me from now on!”
“I don’t have the confidence to keep on living without you.”
“W-W-W-What are you talking about Sir Alvin!?”
Kokoru steps back and dodges eye contact.
“W-we just got to know each other yet….”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re the one that allowed all of this to happen after all.”*
(TN- Heavily localized. A certain way to say confess something, something pun.)
“Yes. I can say that with certainty. You and I are a perfect match. This meeting must have been the work of fate.”
“Y-you’re going to go that far as to say that!?”
As for Kokoru, however, she fidgets around and doesn’t seem to like the idea.
“B-but… I don’t know you well enough, Sir Alvin…”
That’s right, I forgot to say something important.
“I actually have a Minus Skill too.”
“Yeah. It’s called “Drop Rate Reduction: Special Class”. Unlike yours, it’s not that rare of a skill.”
“Eeh, it is rare! It’s true that “Drop Rate Reduction” type skills are a common Minus Skill, but it’s limited to “Small” or “Medium” class. I’ve never heard of “Special”! How did you become an adventurer!?”
“Well, that’s a story to tell…”
I tell the story of my hardships till now.
Even though I just got recently kicked out of a party. Kokoru listened on with a seemingly pained, sympathetic expression.
“And that’s it. I’m diving alone in a dungeon like this for the same reason as you.”
“I get it now. So Sir Alvin too… Hehe. It looks like we’ve both had a hard time.”
“Heh, can’t argue with that.”
“Even if you have such a skill, didn’t the items drop normally?”
“Yeah. That’s right. If I’m alone, often, they wouldn’t drop items let alone coins. When the items dropped earlier… It was all thanks to you, Ms. Kokoru.”
“Your skill, ´The Usurper of Severed Heads´, considers any monster killed by a party member to be accredited to you. Isn’t that so?”
“So that means, with all the kill bonuses being attributed to you… The other party member’s skills such as “Exp Increase” and “Drop Rate Increase”, skills that have an effect once the monster is killed, will no longer be activated.”
“Yes… hmm? Then that means…”
“Yeah. It seems to be so.”
“It will no longer be activated… that is to say, my skill “Drop Rate Reduction: Special Class” too.
As long as I’m in a party with you, then I… can be a normal Swordsman, regardless of my Minus Skill.”