Speaking of which, todayâs breakfast is also meat-related. Miso grilled Orc rice bowl with pork soup. Everyone ate their meat and carb-based breakfast heartily. Except for me. I had a bowl of pork soup with a couple of rice balls.
The Holy Stamp [5] was put away carefully into my [Item Box] since itâs very important for the Avering dungeon challenge. [1] Still, thinking about having to face Undead made me feel uneasyâŠ
âHey Fer, I heard some things from the gods yesterday about Averingâs dungeon.â
âNu, is that so? Well?â
âItâs like thisâŠâ
I told them everything I heard from the two gods. Including the part where there were 3 whole floors with Undead Monsters only.
âNuu, there are UndeadâŠâ
âGeh! I hate Undead. They just wonât die!â
Fer and Dora-chan were scowling. Sui was just bouncing side to side curiously.
Err, Dora-chan, Undead donât die because⊠they are already deadâŠ
âThe problem with Undead is that most attacks donât work on them. Iâm still fine with Zombies and Skeletons, theyâll collapse if their heads are smashed in. The biggest annoyance had to be Wraiths since physical attacks donât work at all. Holy Magic could destroy these annoyances easily, but itâs rare to come across people with such power. Even I donât have Holy Magic. If I see an Undead, I just ignore them since I canât smash them down.â
âRight? Right? No matter how many times you attack them, they just get back up again. Bunch of gross, disgusting weirdos-â
Well, it looks like both Fer and Dora-chan arenât good against Undead in general. [5]
Zombies and Skeletons can still be handled even though aiming for the head is tricky, but Wraiths? Those are basically ghosts, right?
Since most people donât have Holy Magic, itâs logical to just⊠avoid getting into a fight with them.
Itâs a dungeon crawling with disgusting, un-killable Undead, but apparently, the treasures within are good stuff. This is why people still challenge them. The last time someone cleared it was 200 years ago, and I know that Fer intends to do the same.
Or does he?
âHey, are you sure you want to clear the dungeon?â
âOf course,â
âIt would be awesome sauce!â
âLetâs go all the way to the bottom~â
Haa⊠as expected but, âDo you have any way of dealing with the Undead?â
âNo, we can just ignore them and run through. If a lot of them block our way, just destroy them with high-level magic.â
âSounds good to me!â
âSui is not sure, but Sui will pew pew them lots and lots. Thatâs fine, right?â
Basically, weâre going to charge in without a plan.
Suiâs Acid Bullets and her accuracy could melt the heads of Skeletons and Zombies but, what about Wraiths?
Also, âFer, Dora-chan. The Avering dungeon is all walled in and narrow. If you release a high powered Fire Magic, weâll turn into black charcoals.â
âMu, itâs all fine as long as I protect us with my barrier.â
Fer made a good argument. However, [5] since part of the reason for challenging a dungeon is to collect Loot and Drops, itâs better to try out the Holy Stamp first. The way those two Gods explained it, it seemed simple enough to use. Just stamp a mark on a chosen weapon and go to town. [5]
I took out the Holy Stamp from my [Item Box] and showed it to my familiars, âI received this from the God of War and God of Blacksmith. They told me that any weapon stamped by this will be imbued with Holy Power. Theoretically, it could easily eliminate the Undead.â [5]
âThat sounds good, but weâll have to depend on you to take the Undead down.â [5] Can you? Was implied in Ferâs raised brows.
âThatâs right, only humans use weapons after all.â
âThe thing is, from the way the Gods explained it. I think the stamp could be used on anything. Weapons, tools and⊠other thingsâŠâ
Fuhahaha, a crazy idea hit me.
âFamiliars!â
âHmm?â
âYeah?â
âAruji?â
âThatâs right, you are my weapons, arenât you?â I am laughing like a villain now.
ââŠ.Mu, I see. You plan to use this stamp on us. That way, when we attack those Undead, they will dissipate?â
âExactly!â [5]
âOooh! Nice, nice! I like this idea!â
Well, in the end, itâs still just an idea. We canât test it out since thereâs no handy Undead here for us to try it on. It would be great if it works out the way I imagined it. [5]
âThereâs no way to try it until weâre facing an actual Undead. However, since the stamp is made by the Gods, surely it could work? If it works, think of all the treasures in the lower levels! If everyone has been avoiding the lower grounds due to the Undead, all those Treasure Chests are just waiting for someone to open them!â
âUmu, that sounds interesting, I guess.â
âBeing able to take down Undead one after another eh⊠sounds awesome!â
âSui will take down lots and lots!â [5]
Everyone seemed really motivated. Iâm even gladder for the stamp now. If we go with Ferâs plan of just racing through the dungeons, it would be a shameful waste of Treasure Chests and dungeon Drops. Not to mention my missing out on a valuable opportunity to increase my experience points. [5]
Still, âWe canât go to the dungeon right away. We have to visit the Adventurerâs Guild first, pick up a map of the dungeon, find out about the types of monsters there and stuff. Also, if we eat up most of our food, Iâd have to make more. Besides, I want to fight too, so weâll have to make a stop at a weaponâs store first.â
âNu, I want to go in as soon as possible.â
âIâll do my best to quickly complete my errands.â
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~
After lunch, we made a stop at the Adventurerâs Guild. [1] Since weâll be leaving this place early tomorrow, I wanted to say goodbye to everyone.
When I got to the window counter, Marks-san came to see me immediately, âSorry for not attending to you last time. If you hadnât come to the Guild, I was thinking of dropping by at your place.â
Thatâs right, he was not at the Guild the last time I came by to pick up the meat. [8]
âAlright, hand over your A Rank card now. Take this S Rank card instead.â
[8] I⊠had completely forgotten about this.
In a daze, I exchanged my A Rank card the S Rank card. Both cards were similar in many sense. They were a very shiny gold colour. The big difference is the very big âSâ printed on the new card.
âNow that youâre an S Rank Adventurer, continue to work hard for the Adventurerâs Guild!â Marks-san seems to be in very high spirits as he thumped my back painfully. Finally, he stopped thumping me and said, âSo, do you need something from us?â
âAh, not really. Weâll be leaving early tomorrow morning. I just came here to say goodbye.â
âOh? Leaving already? You can stay a bit longer. In fact, stay as long as you like next time. Itâs always good to have high ranking Adventurers in town.â Then, he leaned in and said in a low voice, âI took care of the Red Dragon issue.â
[6] I froze, then nodded, âThank you,â I said in a low voice. Then, added, âIâll definitely try and come by again soon.â
Personally, Iâd love to stay another week or two. However, after getting the Holy Stamp, even I, a pacifist former white-collar worker, became a little excited about going into a dungeon.
Moreover, I get the feeling that if I try to stay longer, Iâd be dragged to Avering by the back of my shirtâŠ
âFer and the rest are really excited about going to the dungeon. Thatâs why I canât stay here anymoreâŠâ I had successfully extended our stay for 3 days, but I really donât think I should push my luck anymore.
âAh, yes. About your trip to Avering. Iâve already contacted the Guild Master there, so make sure to stop by Averingâs Adventurerâs Guild, alright?â [5]
âSpeaking of which,â he continued, âI heard that the final boss in Averingâs dungeon is a Hydra. Hahaha, but I guess that monster should be no match for you guys. The last time the dungeonâs been cleared is 200 years ago, so good luck!â
âHooh? A Hydra? Sounds interesting,â
Fer is, of course, very excited.
âA Hydra? Iâve heard of them but never seen one yet. Letâs have fun, yaâll!â
âHydra sounds strong ~ But Sui will do her best to defeat it ~â
Well, itâs good that everyone seems to be on the same page. [2] As for the Hydra⊠from what I can remember, thatâs a snake-like monster with 9 heads, right? Apparently one of them is immortal and the other heads would keep growing back unless the immortal one is destroyed.
Unless weâre lucky and manage to cut off that immortal head right away, we might have a long battle in front of us. [2] Anyway, letâs not think about it for the moment. After all, thereâs no guarantee that weâll reach the bottom levelâŠ
âWell, I donât know if weâll get to meet the Hydra, but weâll certainly do our best. Marks-san, thank you for your care during my stay.â
âNo problem, come back anytime. Stay healthy!â
We said our goodbyes and parted ways.
Tomorrow, weâll be leaving Verulean first thing in the morning! [5] [9]
[Gumihou: Aww, weâll be leaving seafood place soon]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Fixed some inconsistencies. Also, there seems to be some misunderstanding re time and dates, will fix it later when putting up the chapters in kitchennovel.com
[9] Structural Change: Change dialogue to sentence.