Vol 1 Chapter 5 (2/2)

I pick up Pochi and Tama, and let them drink water

I picked this out because it looks relatively more palatable than the other non-perishable foodstuff in the loot fro It’s made from the meat of Sky Deer which I have never heard of, but at least it is some sort of deer

I’ry? Once I put the jerky in front of theht accidentally bite their fingers

“So tasty~?”

“Ahh, this jerky The sweet taste is spreading in ”

Um, I didn’t think it was that delicious

“Jerky? Tasty~”

There are dozens of kilograood portions

“When you finish, sleep for three hours”

With seely satisfied expressions, Pochi and Tama scrunch up next to me and fall asleep Liza sits dohere she can watch over the two

“Allow me to keep watch”

Liza proposes, but she is totally dozing off I again order her to sleep, and she finally relaxes and lies down to take a nap

An hour and a half after they began resting, the originally gray skills turn white

The process is alaue always increases outside of the barn, which worries me6

Anyways, how co skills i unusual?

We have advanced through several more chambers When we rested last ti three levels, so we should take another break after two more chambers

“Stop!”

How rare for Ta out her words when she warns us

But there aren’t any enemies?

“What is it?”

“The ground~ is weird?”

The answer is a question So is, you know? I stare intently, and the ground does seem to hold some secret

It’s a dungeon after all, and traps should be a given We haven’t encountered one so far though, so I had forgotten about them

“Yea!”

As I caress Tama’s head and cat ears, I warn Pochi and Liza with the latter half of my sentence

Since the active area isn’t shown, so I’ one of the beastgirls test it is out of the question

It reacts to life signs, so could I bait it with monsters?

Taking some rocks from Tama, I toss three of them in succession

“Rats co～”

Hearing Tama’s report, I make the three stand back These rats are only Level 10 and fairly weak, but they act in groups of two to four There could be a few that h the trap, so I put some distance between us

Rather than being caught by some mechanism, these rats are trapped by black sparks In the end, all three rats fell for the trap, so it seems like there were at least three traps in this path

>>> Obtained skill: “Trap Disar”

>>> Obtained skill: “Trap Discovery”

There are various trap-related skills and they all look useful, so I quickly add skill points and enable them

Liza thrusts at the giant frog with all of her strength

Pochi distracts it by attacking with a stick fro strike fro’s eye

“Great! Good job!”

“Yea~”

The opponent was only Level 10, and only had Tongue Binding as its only special attack, so I let theht went smoothly Like I expected, beastpeople have better combat potential than humans of the same level!

There is a house at the end of this hall, or more accurately a house split into two even halves It was probably sucked in when the dungeon was created! There are unfortunately no sign of people on the Radar

Is it Liza’s turn this time? Since it’s a matter of skill proficiency, I let them take turns with their roles

“Pochi, Tama, we’ll check out that house, follow me”

I made sure on the Map that there aren’t any ene the two of them to the house

Upon entering, the lighting autoic? Seems like I can reuishes It’s probably meant for indoor use only

In so on the wall I destroy the lock with the un, open it, and check inside Other than jewels and bags of gold coins, there is also an aredient loaded into vials

Confirical potions somewhere else, so there’s no doubt

I don’t kno to use the scroll, but there seems to be an explanation in one of the books next to it When the beastgirls take their rest, I’ll peruse them and search for the method!

Only the stands remain of two preserved specimens on display

Though it’s none of ht? I would really like to see specimens of fantastic creatures

>>> Skill obtained: “Excavation”

>>> Skill obtained: “Locked Chest Picking”

I find a ic item here, but I also take a pan, a pot, and utensils for four loaded into a linen bag

As for numerous beer-bottle sized clay pots, I pour in oil into them for e

“Here, it smells like jerky! Nano desu—”

Pochi announces in a sing-song voice, so I go to her I see a closet full of food beyond a pile of toppled furniture, while Pochi and Taaps

Inside the food closet, we uncover three loaves of rye bread, cheese, and sh quality wine, which I stash away in Storage while the two are distracted by the meat

“Pochi, Tama, do you want a taste?”

“Yes nano desu!”

Having confirmed that they have not spoiled on the AR, I cut slices of cheese and smoked meat then pass them to Pochi and Tama

“Delicioucious~”

“No nano desu!”

Do Pochi and Ta their tails isn’t sufficient? They’re even waving their hands clutching food to express their joy

I also try a slice of cheese It’s good, with a nice cheddar-like sharpness

“Share the rest with Liza!”

“That’s right nano desu! Liza should eat it too!”

I give the bag of food to Tas to Pochi, while I hold the water jar and a tub Those two and I return to the hall where Liza is waiting

When we come out, the core recovery has been finished, and Liza was planning on joining us

“Goshujin-sama, I have a request… May I build a fire?”

Liza is proactivelythe request, so I ask for a reason

“I want to grill that frog’s meat… Sorry”

“Yes, definitely In the past, I had sih the entrails are poisonous, those parts can be avoided If it’s not cooked first, there’s a bigger chance of poison, so…”

After squir for a bit, Liza answers

Despite being underground, air is flowing, and we’re much closer to the surface now, so no need to worry about running out of air

“Alright, I will allow it”

Liza directs Pochi and Ta, while she takes out pieces of wood and starts laying them down I see, did she collect all the wood she found on the way for this purpose?

With ate the ned to be used by anyone

Soon enough, Pochi and Ta meat raised above their heads

“Meat~”

“Nano desu~”

They look more thrilled about this than the smoked meat Are their feral instincts at work?

First she uses the fatty parts to grease the pan, then after rerilling pervades, which s

Soon, the frog meat is ready, and Liza stabs a slice on a stick, and extends it to me

Knew it, I have to eat this? I have to—

“Thank you, Liza”

I steel ht like chicken, well, too light, actually Man, should I sprinkle soo back to the house to look for spices, so I try searching the Storage, but there isn’t even pepper

Right, waiting for my permission?

“Stop looking and eat If you don’t eat well and rest, you won’t last long enough to get out of the dungeon!”

Having gotten per slices fro while she cooks Are there slices with bonesounds, but everyone see it

No, even if it tastes okay, frog meat is a little…

Following Liza’s suggestion, I wrap a piece of o as a precaution

I let the three wash up in the tub I brought, and have the

They see my knees as pillows to sleep, and while Liza probably wouldn’t be willing to use me as support, she is huddled up next to me

Ie, a new option called “Browse” appears, and I select it Just like in a game, I can browse the contents of a book that’s still kept inside Storage

What if—I do a search in a flash of inspiration, and just like in a game, it turns out that the text of a book I open can be searched So convenient! I don’t even need OCR7!

According to it, I can use a scroll just by unraveling it and announcing the name of the spell

Thanks to the discovery, while everyone slept, I can kill ti

After resting once ht-tenths of the way to the dungeon exit

Those are the only changes in equipained the skills “One-Handed Sword”, “Throwing”, “Enemy Detection”, and “Dissection”; Ta”, and “Dissection”; and Liza “Long Spear”, “Spear Thrust”, “Cooking”, and “Dissection”

Outside of enemies with status affliction attacks, these three can defeat even eneether Since they have no one to serve as the tank, it would be dangerous to go up against multiple enemies that aren’t about the same level, but that shouldn’t happen much

Since I have the chance, I try out the Fire Magic scroll

Striking the slioo at the surface before vanishi+ng, and checking the sliainst a Level 10 slime, this is of no use

In addition, Fireball has been added to the list of usable spells

Perhaps thinking that I aestion

“Goshujin-sa a slime, you have to aim for its nucleus”

“The nucleus is where the color is slightly different”

Is it different fro translucent, no red core is visible, so is it not a monster?

Anyway, I look carefully at the spot Liza is pointing toward, and there really is a darker spot about half the size of my fist

“By attacking a slime’s nucleus—”

As we are casually talking, Liza, with just one stab of her spear, defeats the sli closer

“—it can be defeated easily like this”

“It shrunk and melted nano desu”

Pochi and Taht the sli a chance Actually, Pochi just seems to be sad that the sli at the puddle with her short sword

By the way, ever since the second-to-last break, we never found any roups are still there, but soone, probably done in by monsters

“That wall—is weird?”

Ta part of the wall

Het a bird’s eye view

If this were a game, it would be a shortcut that leads to a place deeper down

It’s dangerous to haphazardly get close, so I have Tama mark it with charcoal

There’s a four-way intersection after this chamber, and the path directly ahead leads to a chamber with three survivors Since they were there since our break an hour ago, they’re probably hiding out in a safe zone

There are only five more rooms to the exit, but they wouldn’t knoithout a ht they were stuck

“Everyone stop!”

Displayed as a red dot on the Radar, an ene speed There’s only one, so let’s confront it in the previous chamber!

Undead Beast, an undead-type monster Weakness: Holy attribute Its skills are Vertical Movee

I a to read its data

“It’s Level 40…?”

It’s stronger than any eneeon’s sweeper?

With e to arrive at the roo the ene is no joke, they would be destroyed in a second if I let theht

—The Undead Beast vanishes froht

Fro to tackle me!

Also, despite being an undead monster, it’s way too fast! If I allow it to bounce around as it like, I wouldn’t be able to protect the beastgirls I grab its legs tightly

Does the Undead Beast not have a sense of pain? Even though I a is wrong

I dig e10, I throw it at the wall

The Trap Abuse skill saves the day

Alright, isn’t it time to meet up with the survivors?

As soon as we pass the intersection, the ground becomes covered with sticky white thread

“Sticky sticky~”

“Is it spider thread?”

The spider thread becoet to the chamber, so I have Pochi and Tama help clear it with their short swords

As we approach the cocoons, seeling

Nidoren Slave trader, forty years old, Level 10, with the skills “Negotiation”, “Training”, and “Calculation”

Lastly, a young man with no job, Level 3, no skills Maybe a NEET?

Anyway, I decide to split up the work to free them I save the viscount, Liza theman

When we are halfway done peeling the cocoon off their victi from below There seems to be holes like the one that sed the Undead Beast earlier

“Eneet ready to fight!”

The beast girls quickly take out their weapons and and get in forotten used to working together

The spider crawls out of a hole in the ground

If it would die after the first rush, that would be great But it still lives even after having its head pierced, as expected of a monster

Seems like this will take a while, so I quietly flick a coin through its heart for the finishi+ng blow

Tao back to rescuing

“You were a huge help I am Viscount Jin Belton, head of the Belton House that has been established since the time of Our Founder Yamato If we can escape from here, I won’t hold back on your reward!”

“Thank you, Lord Viscount, I a merchant”

As we finished our introductions, I have also coive the waterskin to the viscount, then go help the others

“Thank you for saving ht hold soainst me, as I am in the slave trade”

“A traveling ht for sure you were an adventurer”

While giving Nidoren some water, I ask:

“This is the first time I’ve heard of the adventurer profession, what do they do?”

“Well…ahh! Don’t they call thedoeons, and collect Cores and treasures, quite a profitable yet deadly career!”

I see, so there are game-like professions?

“Humph, don’t touch me, beastwoman Give me that short sword, I’ll do it myself!”

“What! You mere beastwoman dare defy me!”

Pochi is being harassed by the young o help her

Huy I reuy who kicked the lu Pochi on the eastside before

“Pochi, come”

“Yes nano desu”

I hug Pochi who has gotten teary fro her face on my belly, which feels tickly, but I’ll let her be!

“Hey! Get me out quick!”

“Sorry, don’t want to You can just stay there and get eaten by a et out yourself!”

Of course, I a him a little

Youscared shi+tless

“Hey! Cut it out! Get me out quick!”

“Silence, co attracts any monsters, I’ll turn you into charcoal, and even your bones will be cinder when I’m done”

Viscount Belton further ad man who doesn’t know his place

The task of cutting loose the now-silenced young man, falls to Nidoren He nimbly uses his own thin short sword to cut the threads In the

As I admire him, I receive the recovered red core from Tama

“The cores here have high quality! Ones as red as these don’t show up on the market often”

According to Nidoren, cores are used in the construction of ic tools The better the core, the ic tools can be made with it

Though the Viscount complains about the siry to resist

In the end, Itoo optimistic

“I can’t waste ic is reserved for strong enemies”

“I can at least defend myself, but don’t count on me for combat”

The Viscount finds soic, and Nidoren also declares himself a non-combatant Both of thehts

Actually, the younga bronze short sword and buckler, he has become too excited—

“Hey! If the beastkids can fight, I’ll be even better! So for mercy!”

—And so he declares, attacking a monster, but is almost effortlessly cut down by his opponent

The enemy is only a Level 10 Skeleton Soldier, and before it can deal a death blow, Pochi intervenes and blocks the Skeleton Soldier’s baton, saving the young man

“Liza, if you would”

“Yes”

Acknowledging my order, Liza brandishes her spear The first strike breaks the Skeleton Soldier’s stance, the second shatters it’s sword arm, and the third destroys its skull

Anyway, it’s the first time I see skeletal monsters, but how do they move? Is the core their source of power?

To look after the young round, I ask Nidoren

“You alright?”

“You ht have broken ribs”

I ignore the cursing young nosis from the slave trader With broken ribs, isn’t it better not to move him? But what do we do then?

“Ow! Will I die like this?”

“If Pochi didn’t help, you would have died on the spot with a staff strike to your brain”

Toward his savior Pochi, he hasn’t said a word of gratitude, not tohis cowardice

“damn! damn! damn! I will survive How can I die here?”

While spitting out blood, the young man spitefully complains

“Hmph, abandon him if he can’t walk himself! It’s ht now Commoner, the consequence of foolhardiness is death He did this to himself, leave him!”

Whoa, the Viscount is ruthless! Unlikeserious

Pochi and Ta up at me with “Let’s help hi

“Use this medicine”

“It’s a potion”

“A potion!”

I don’t understand why he’s so shocked at the mention of potions This was found at the supposed alcheuarantee the effectiveness

The young man carefully ss th