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Volume 8 Chapter 2 Part 9

To even find out the amount of money for the sale… Sherry is truly an excellent negotiator.

「I understand.」

「The second one is an order from the merchant’s wife’s friend. She’d like a similar necklace to the merchant’s wife, with a price of around twenty five gold coins. However, think we should prepare a necklace that’s slightly inferior to the one the merchant’s wife has.」

「We shouldn’t prepare one that’s as good as hers for the same price?」

「I told the merchant’s wife hers was at a special price when I sold it. It would be bad for her if we brought one the same quality then. Just slightly inferior one should be good and shouldn’t cause any problems. At least theoretically.」

I see. So that is the sort of thing that Sherry had in mind. As expected of her.

「It might be difficult to find though.」

We need to satisfy the pride of the merchant’s wife who gave us this business opportunity, as well as satisfying the customer’s needs at the same time. It will be tough. Doable, but tough.

「It will be alright. All the amber necklaces are high quality unique items where the color and sizes are all slightly different, so there are no two amber necklaces that could be said to be exactly the same. That, and we can spin the description of the item however we want.」

「Ah, you think so?」

Sherry, that’s a pretty dark approach to the subject. Effective, but pretty ruthless at the same time. That she’s willing to go to such lengths in order to make sure that our business is going to be successful just goes to show how reliable she is.

That being said, we shouldn’t go buy the necklaces before we sell the Palmasque Mirrors to the Duke. Going to buy the amber necklaces after we sell a mirror though, that’s going to be a good plan. They might not have anything else to sell me yet, but it’s possible some new goods have arrived, so it’s definitely going to be worth my while.

My thirty percent discount is only effective when I buy multiple items, so I’ll buy both at the same time to cut myself the best deal possible, even though I can’t expect the Amber Merchant to have rough amber ore every time I visit his shop, so I probably should take that possibility under advisement.

We hunted in the Labyrinth until evening came, and then left and went back home, where I ask what everyone wants for dinner as we shopped for ingredients.

「For dinner, I’d like to make pot-au-feu with Miria.」

「Pot-au-feu? That sounds delicious.」

「We won’t need soup then. I’ll make a stir-fry.」

「Okay. I’ll also make a dish as well.」

The pot-au-feu that Roxanne makes is a slowly cooked one based on meat and vegetables, and is considerably delicious, so if she wants to make that again, then I’ll be happy with that. It also gives me a chance to make a japanese-style soup that I wanted to try making for quite some time, ever since I first obtained clams as a cooking ingredient. But since it’s going to be my first time making it, then there’s a possibility that the process of making it is not going to go all that well.

But even if I fail, it’ll still be alright if we have pot-au-feu alone , and if it goes well, we can include it with the pot-au-feu and eat these two dishes together.

After returning to the house, I make the japanese-style soup in question. I boil some water and stew clams in it with just a pinch of salt.

It’s a seafood soup seasoned with salt. Normally you’re supposed to make it with seaweed though, so I I don’t know what to use instead. Oh well, if worse comes to worst, I’ll just settle on preparing it with salt and clams without adding anything else.

I stew it carefully over a low heat.

「Well. This should be alright.」

It’s only a bit salty, but it’s the refreshing kind of salty, so overall I’d say that this is a pretty good result. It’s definitely not bad, and it could have been much worse. I’m using the Drop Items as ingredients, so there wasn’t much preparation required for it either.

We don’t have a wooden bowl, so I put it in a cup and place it on the dinning table.

「It’s very delicious. As expected of Master.」

「I haven’t tasted anything like this before.」

「Tasty clam, desu.」

Even though the soup is only salty, the opinion of it is alright?

「Hey Miria, if we cook fish with this as well, do you think it will be delicious?」

As well as clam, it should be good to stew other seafood with it as well, because it’s basically like cooking things in sea water.

Miria’s cat ears react to my words with a twitch. They turned towards me to make certain she heard my comment correctly.

「Yes, desu. Delicious, desu.」

Miria answered without needing Roxanne’s interpreting.

Trying this with a Whole Fish might be nice. I’ll make sure to make that the  next time I get the chance.

The next day I sell the Palmasque Mirrors

In the morning I go to the Duke, and then we reach the Boss Room of the sixteenth floor and challenge its Floor Boss after that. There’s a room with only a door to the front and back where we are now, so this is without a doubt a Waiting Room.

「The Clam Shell Floor Boss is the Oyster Shell. It has a rough shell and it’s offensive power is greater than the Clam Shell.」

Sherry gives us a description of the Floor Boss that we’ll be taking on in a bit. Her info is as reliable as ever. I prepare Durandal as I listen to Sherry’s talk, and then we head into the Boss Room.

Smoke gathers in its center and two monsters appear. One Clam Shell and one Oyster Shell. The Oyster Shell is another bivalve monster. It’s also one size larger than the Clam Shell. Its shell is quite rugged, making me have a sneaking suspicion that It would be painful to be hit by that.

Roxanne rushed up to the Oyster Shell right from the start. Sherry and Miria also surrounded the Oyster Shell along with her.

The Clam Shell is my opponent for now I move past the Clam Shell to take it on from the other side instead of facing it head-on. The Clam Shell might shoot water at me, so I can’t let it face in the direction where the others are.

I attacked it with Durandal, and it focused its attention solely on me, just like I wanted it to do. Since we are fighting a Floor Boss, I’m using a 「Fourth Job] with Explorer, Hero, Monk, and Warrior.

Actually, I’d like to try fighting without the Mage Job and 「Plating」Skill from Alchemist. I’d also like to try fighting by using only Knight’s 「Defense」Skill as my defensive measure… but can I get some breathing room like that? Will it be alright even on upper floors if we get in a difficult fight?

No. Am I putting the cart before the horse here? Yeah, I probably am.

When entering the Labyrinths, my purpose in them is to earn money, get a lot of EXP and become stronger.

I also want to get more Bonus Points so I can add them to 「Increased EXP Gain」and「 Crystallization」. I don’t need to fight against anyone too tough.

I use 「Rush」 on the Clam Shell. The shell tries to move away from me, but fails. The Clam Shell then opens its mouth and prepares to sandwich me between its shell.

I withdraw, and manage to avoid it this time. According to Roxanne, the way the shell opens when it’s going to shoot water and when it’s going to do a bite is different. I can’t tell the difference at all though, so I just finish it by using 「Rush」in rapid succession.

I then joined the siege on the Oyster Shell. I attack it from the side because Roxanne is handling the front. Miria is to one side, and Sherry is slightly back to the other side, each attacking the Floor Boss from a different angle.

The shell of the Oyster Shell moves. It tries to sandwich Roxanne, but Roxanne dodges with a backstep. She blocks it’s charge with her shield as well. It feels peaceful when Roxanne is fighting against our opponents.

I attack from the back, and the Oyster Shell stops it’s movement.  I use 「Rush」 and drive Durandal right into its body.