3 bar menu

Volume 8 Chapter 2 Part 11

The Clamshell in the second row seems to be waiting for an opportunity to spit water at us. The Kettle Mermaid that used the Water Magic attack earlier joins the Clam Shell in the second row.

Is this so because it needs time to construct another one of the magic circles? Now that I look at it, the Kettle Mermaid seems to be doing exactly the same, which means that it also requires a magic circle to use its Water Magic attack.

But forming it under them requires more time than in the case of the Clam Shell, so it’s likely that the Water Magic attack of the Kettle Mermaid is stronger than that of the Clam Shell’s, but I’m not gonna volunteer myself to test it, because I still value my own life above all else.

There was no opportunity for the monsters in the second row to spit water at us though, because all of them drop down with my next 「Sandstorm」.

We continue to hunt on the seventeenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth and leave it for other Labyrinths when it was about time for breakfast.

I decided against moving to the twelfth floor of Bode’s Labyrinth, because tartar sauce is required for fish fry. Even if I catch a Whole Fish, I won’t be able to do anything with it, and Miria understands that, too.

Which reminds me. It’s about time for us to visit the sixteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth again.

「Let’s go to the twelfth floor of Bode’s Labyrinth after breakfast.」

「Okay, desu.」

「I wanted to clear the sixteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth next,  but I have decided to do it tomorrow early in the morning instead.」

I talk it over with Roxanne and company.

「I have no issue with early morning.」

「The monster native to the seventeenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth is Mabream, so we won’t have any problems with fighting them.」

「Go, desu.」

Miria says without needing Roxanne to translate my words. Figures, since Sherry mentioned Mabreams just now. When it comes to fish, she’s going to catch every mention of them without fail.

Well, if we can catch a Whole Fish on the seventeenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth, there won’t be any need for us to go to the twelfth floor of Bode’s Labyrinth.

「Alright then, after breakfast, let’s grab the map and head to Quratar’s Labyrinth. I’ll ask of you three to prepare the meal while I’ll go out to sell the mirrors that we acquired.」

If I take the three of them with me, I can deliver the mirrors in one go, but I won’t do it. It’d be bad, for the Duke seems to have taken interest in Roxanne due to her performance during the duel. And there’s a possibility that Roxanne will blurt out things that should otherwise be kept secret. Therefore, I’ll go by myself to avoid any such possibilities.

I jump to Bode with a mirror and deliver it to the Duke’s study.

「Lord Michio, did you come here alone?」

The Duke asks after I deliver the mirror. I knew it. Not bringing Roxanne here with me was the right decision.

「Yes, I did come here alone.」

「N-No it’s not what you think, I just wanted to hear about the duel from your companion so that I could make sure that there’s no motive I should have guilty conscience for.」

The Duke makes an excuse in a hurry. This is bad. I might have subconsciously glared at him with bloodlust in my eyes, and that’s why he’s saying such things now.

「I’m already married to Cassia after all.」

Well duh, thanks for pointing that out, captain obvious. But it’s true that he has such an outstandingly beautiful wife. So, if he ever tries to ogle Roxanne, I’ll take the matter to Cassia and we’ll see how he’ll like that.

「Oh well, anyways.」

「The price of this one mirror is ten thousand Nars.」

Gozer takes out a gold coin. He must really be having it tough under the Duke’s command. I almost feel pity for the guy. Nevertheless, I receive the coin from him and then I return home.

After having breakfast, I make mayonnaise with the help of Miria. Because we have already had the meal, I decide to use whole eggs this time.

「Miria, can you blend it for me?」

「Yes, desu.」

Because blending it is difficult, I leave it to Miria to deal with, since I don’t want to do such a tedious task myself.

Miria blends it hard, and from what I can see, leaving it to her was the right thing to do, since blending it really is difficult. After a while, Miria’s hands slow down, which means that she must be getting tired. But even so, she did not stop completely. Maybe because she knows that her fish dinner is at stake here?

「If it’s not  going to be mixed well, it will not be as tasty as the Whole Fish tatsuta-age, so do bear that in mind, all right?」

「I will, desu.」

When her hands slow further down, I give her a gentle reminder to motivate her to work harder. Making fish fry won’t be as hard a work as this after all, but I keep that last bit to myself.

「The more you blend it, the tastier will the Whole Fish fish fry be.」

「Will blend, desu!」

Yes Miria, you’re going to blend it. If you don’t, it won’t be mayonnaise anymore.

「Alright, it’s done.」

「Okay, desu.」

All this blending seems to have drained all of Miria’s energy.  I’m sure that she will demand fish fry soon after all this hard work. Having made mayonnaise, we move to the sixteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth.

「Let’s warm up a bit because it has been quite some time since we last were here, okay?」

「Understood.」

I instruct Roxanne to go easy on the monster search so that we could go back to the flow of this floor nicely and slowly.

I has been a while since we last visited the sixteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth after all, so it’s possible that we might be as little bit out of the loop with how to do battles here. That is why a proper warm up is a must.

We hunt monsters under Roxanne’s guidance.

Ah, I remember now. You mostly need Wind Magic Spells to fight the monsters on this floor.

It was overall an easy floor to beat. That much I remember. Regrettably, it isn’t as easy this time as it was last time. Oh well, it can’t be helped. Our equipment has been upgraded and I have Alba on me this time. But that’s about it. Our levels are essentially the same as last time. My emphasis is on「Crystallization」 for the time being, due to which the speed of Leveling Up has dropped.

Yeah, this is probably the reason.

「Is this much enough?」

It’s high time to finish warming up and start exploring this floor for real. Only this time around, we will explore with the help of the map of Quratar’s Labyrinth instead of going in blind like we did before.

「This way. But there’s a group of Bitch Butterflies and Fly Traps on the way, so we might want to be careful.」

「Whatever, we’ll deal with the danger when it comes to us. Let’s go.」

「Understood. This way, master.」

I can’t be picky about the combination of monsters now that I’m following the map. I have to take care of whichever monster I encounter en route, because there are no shortcuts or alternative routes that would allow us to bypass the dangers marked on the map.

However, it’s unusual for Fly Traps to be on the sixteenth floor. Actually no, wait, let me take that back. It’s not so unusual after all.

Fly Trap is native to the fifteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth, so it’s possible to encounter it on

sixteenth floor as well. After all, Roxanne was avoiding it when we were here last time.

The sixteenth floor of Quratar’s Labyrinth doesn’t house only one type of monsters that are weak against Wind Magic. In other words, it was all thanks to Roxanne.

「As expected of Roxanne. I knew Roxanne would be a big help.」

「Eh? Ah… yes, thank you very much, master. Your words flatter me as always.」

Even though she might not understand the full extent of my feelings, the important part here is that the feeling of gratitude has been properly conveyed to her. Now that there are monsters that are weak against different types of magic, I can use Durandal instead, even though my MP isn’t particularly low just yet.

I’ll be using it in the battle against the Floor Boss anyway, so I might keep it on me now instead of taking it out right before the battle itself.

We advance through the cave for now.