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Volume 13 Chapter 3 Part 4

As for right now, maybe it’s time for a little break?

「Sherry, let’s do some fusing. 」

「Understood! 」

When I got home from the Merchant’s Guild, I spoke to Sherry. She knew that I had gone to pick up the Caterpillar’s Skill crystals, so she waited obediently at the table. She seemed motivated.

「Well then. 」

「Eh… ? 」

She seemed a little surprised when I took out a Body Clip from the Item Box.

「I’ll leave this to you. 」

「But… but isn’t that the secret treasure of Rutina’s clan? 」

「It’s fine. There’s no problem. 」

The secret treasure thing is just what that old hag said. There was no one to wear it, so she probably called it a secret treasure passed down in the clan for generations to give it to us as a token of her gratitude.

In the end, that’s all there is to it. You could even call it a polite way to get rid of a nuisance. These Body Clips are actually quite a hassle for the person wearing them, because the clips pinch the most sensitive parts of their bodies. It’s a burden, so I’ve taken it off of Rutina for now.

It has to be worn when entering the Labyrinth, but it’s best to take it off at any other time, especially since we’re not constantly in the Labyrinths. I do not run a black company like that, and I take a great deal of pride in it.

We should make sure to take it off when eating or resting. This comes from the kindness of my heart, nothing else, and I want the girls to appreciate that and know that I’m never making Rutina wear it with any wicked intentions in my heart.

「Um, is it okay? 」

「Yeah, no problem. 」

Sherry’s eyes wandered a little, but she went ahead with it anyway.

「I-It’s done. 」

「Wow. You did a great job. You’re really good at it, Sherry! 」

「T-Thank you… very much. 」

Sherry managed to successfully fuse the equipment yet again. Since she was always doing fusions on items that had at least one Empty Skill Slot in them, she had never failed before, and there should be no problem with her fusions from now on as well.

「Okay. It’s a proper Sacrificial Body Clip. Rutina, come here, please. 」

The Caterpillar’s Skill Crystal was fused, and the resulting equipment had the Sacrifice Skill embedded into it.

The Body Clip is an accessory, so it cannot be equipped at the same time as the Sacrificial Misanga, which is also an accessory. That’s why we fused it. Because you never know what you’ll find in the Labyrinth, the Sacrifice Skill is absolutely necessary for our survival, just in case that things would ever go south. Since you can’t equip the Sacrificial Misanga at the same time, the only option was to give the Body Clip the Sacrifice Skill instead.

「Um, you fused the Sacrifice Skill, right? 」

I called Rutina over. Because it’s the equipment she’ll be wearing, she probably wanted to confirm it herself.

「That’s right. You’re really good at it, Sherry. 」

「Ah, y-yes, I am… but… 」

「Huh? What’s wrong, Sherry? Is there a problem? 」

There shouldn’t be any problems, since everything went down as it usually did.

I’m going to put the equipment on Rutina myself. The Body Clip must be put on gently, carefully, with love, and with the utmost care. That’s how delicate of a piece of equipment it is. I can’t leave it to someone else. I have to put it on myself.

「Umm…Is it alright? I think it’s valuable equipment…khh…! 」

Yeah, it’s fine. As long as I can hear that lovely voice of yours, it’s absolutely fine.

「No problem. 」

「Yes, but… but when the Sacrifice Skill is going to be activated, the equipment will be destroyed…kya! 」

「Life is more important than equipment. 」 I’ll only be able to hear this voice if Rutina is alive. Only then can I enjoy it. Only then can I be happy about it.

I’ve confirmed that equipment with the Sacrifice Skill will be destroyed when hit with an attack strong enough to take the life of the one who wears it. As a result, no life is lost, but the equipment itself gets destroyed in its place.

Well, if the same attack would be used twice, there would be nothing to block it the second time. Gozer said that it should be fine as long as the first attack can be blocked, so it is more than enough to prevent surprise attacks or assassination attempts.

For that reason, I needed equipment with the Sacrifice Skill on it.

「Yes. Thank you. Mm… Mm… 」

Thank you too, Rutina, for making such wonderful noises.

After putting on the equipment for Rutina, we set off again. We explored the 48th floor of Akishima’s Labyrinth. The 48th floor is of moderate difficulty. It’s not so difficult that I feel my life is in danger, but it’s not so easy that it’s a piece of cake either. There were no enemies strong enough to satisfy Roxanne, but not so weak that she would complain either.

I fought with a sense of tension, and slowly got used to fighting the enemies there. It’s good that there are no maps or information about Akishima Labyrinth, because it means that we can fight on the 48th floor for a while. It’s clear that our limit is getting closer to us, but it’s not the 48th floor.

「Well, since I’ve been summoned by the Duke, I’ll be out for a bit today. 」

The next day, I answered a summons from the Duke of Hartz.

I got called upon by the Duke Hartz, I have to buy things from Luke, and when I have nothing to do, I go to the Imperial Liberation Society’s lodge, and I have a lot of errands to take care of.

I think the reason things are running smoothly is because I’m not fighting in the Labyrinths all day long. I don’t feel stressed, and I don’t feel cornered, except for the issue of my limit. Well, my limit isn’t now. I can worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

Objectively, I think we spend a relatively long time in the Labyrinth, but there’s no TV or games or any decent form of entertainment in this world, so it’s not like there’s anything else to do anyway. Sleep well, eat well, fight well. That’s about it here. That is all that it takes to have a fulfilling life here. That, and at the end of the day you just have to take a refreshing bath.

Of course I don’t take a bath alone, and when I get out of the bath, I feel even more fulfilled.

Mufufufufu!

How can you say things aren’t running smoothly with things like this? Everything is definitely running smoothly. And it’s not like we have to enter just the Labyrinth of Akishima, where we reached up to the 48th floor. We also defeat Floor Bosses on the 44th floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth.

We enter other floors as well from time to time. Sometimes we even enter the first floor of the Quratar’s Labyrinth in search of Kobold Salt for the purposes of my cooking. Salt is a necessity, after all. You could say I could just buy Kobold Salt in the shops in town, but when I see the price difference between selling and buying it, I just can’t help it.

I know that it makes me look like a bit of a cheapskate, but in my opinion it seems stupid to buy it with money if I can get it essentially for free with relatively little effort. I also feel like I’ll lose if I buy it.

So anyway, it’s not like we’re always on the 48th floor of Akishima’s Labyrinth, so I don’t feel any strange pressure or stress. I’d say I’m doing well.

The Labyrinth is also one group from the 45th to the 55th floors, so the number of enemies we have to fight won’t suddenly increase. If we continue at our current pace, we should be able to get up to the 55th floor without any problems.

As long as we don’t do something unreasonable like going up one floor per day, that is. The danger is that if Roxanne gets out of control, that can really happen. In order to make sure that’s not going to be the case, I need to keep a firm grip on her reins.

The Labyrinths only appear when they’ve grown up to the 50th floor, but it seems they don’t get particularly strong at that level. Sherry had said so too. They only get strong from the 56th floor, and in fact, labyrinths with a top level of 55 or lower seem to be defeated by the lord’s knights shortly after they appear.