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Chapter 116

 

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Translator: Charlotte　Editor: Weasalopes

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When I logged in it was 6 am.
I’d calmed down quite a bit.
Although it took about nine hours for it to happen.
Well, clearing one’s head would take time.
I was pretty sleepy too.

I summoned Bunraku and gave him some meat to work on.
I still had to go out and get vegetables.

「Ah, Keith! Good Morning!」

「Good morning.」

Hannes was sitting down behind a table lined with vegetables.
Oops.
Was he going to ask me to cast【Grow】on some plants again?
Fudo nodded at me from across the table.
I returned the nod.
There were multiple players taking care of the place.

「Ah, you can just take whatever.」

「Oh, thank you very much.」

「Don’t worry about it, you helped us out by casting【Grow】on a couple trees yesterday after all.」

「Huh…」

「It would be nice if you could come down to the field later. We need a hand.」

I knew it.
I wasn’t in a position to turn him down.

I was overwhelmed by the amount and variety of fruits and vegetables they had.
It reminded me of my parents’ home in the countryside.
The part about being loaded up with vegetables was similar too.

Fiona and Margrid hadn’t logged in yet, so I headed back.
In the meantime, I could have Bunraku cook for me.

I handed the ingredients to Bunraku.
With that Bunraku could probably cook until evening.
Wait… One of the ingredients I handed to Bunraku was flour.
Could I make my own bread?
Well, it couldn’t hurt to try.

I summoned the rest of my team while I waited for Bunraku.
First, Zangetsu.
I wanted to summon Volff, but the death effect was still ongoing.
I wanted to summon him, but I couldn’t.

《Cannot be summoned while the death timer is still ongoing.》

That was all I got.

There was nothing I could do.
I summoned Helix and Ninetails and waited for breakfast to be served.

「Good morning!」

「Good morning, Keith.」

Strange…
Adele and Irina just logged in.

「Where did you go yesterday?」

「A little south from here, I cleared the S1W2 Area Portal.」

「Wow!」

「But Volff was taken out…」

The two of them went speechless.
Well, it wasn’t a good topic anyway.

「It’s happened to me too. Twice. It was quite a problem because I couldn’t summon mine again for a whole day.」

「Yeah, it’s happened to me too. It’s a really sad feeling. But I think it really helps you get even more attached to them!」

「Really…」

Looked like the two of them had experienced it too.
It felt a little embarrassing, being comforted by them,

Anyway.
Adele was the same as always, patting Ninetails.
Irina gave me a strange look.

「What about the fairy?」

「I didn’t summon her.」

「Ah, that’s a shame.」

Huh?
She was acting really strange.
Was it my fault?

「By the way, Obsidian changed class yesterday.」

「Really?」

「An owl class change?」

We continued chatting.
At some point the heavy atmosphere was completely blown away.

We formed a Union and kept chatting while breakfast was being made.
Bunraku suddenly walked up to me.

「Looks like breakfast is ready. You want to eat together?」

「Huh?」

「Is that alright?」

「You might as well.」

We continued chatting, this time while eating breakfast.
Bunraku made us freshly-toasted bread along with some beef and soup.
Not bad…

I heard something interesting while we were chatting.
Apparently, Fiona had been receiving quite a few questions about me.
The topic was, of course…
【Instant Portal】.
But that wasn’t the only issue she had to deal with.
From what I heard, I must’ve been bothering her quite a bit.

After clean-up, I recalled Bunraku.
That was when I felt Irina’s strong gaze.

「Did you just recall a Summon Monster without having to take off its equipment first?」

「Yeah. You’ll be able to do it too at some point.」

「At what level did you learn to do that?」

「Level 12… I think?」

Both Irina and Adele went silent.
Did I say something strange?

In that case…
I summoned Heather.
This way Irina wouldn’t get left out, and Ninetails could get a new friend.

Watching Adele and Irina summon their Summon Monsters was a strange sight.
It looked like a scene from a fantasy world.
Especially with Zangetsu. It was a very nice atmosphere.

Fiona was at the usual location.
Along with Saki and Reina.
And Margrid too.

Would I really get the opportunity to talk to all of them at once?

「Good Morning.」

「Oh, welcome!」

「I heard that you had to deal with quite a few questions about me.」

「Ah, it was nothing. Although it would be nice if you could post all your info in the forums for me.」

Huh…
Alright.

「If you’re looking for your new equipment, it’ll still take a while, you know.」

「Yeah, Adele and Irina told me.」

「Then was there anything else you wanted to talk about? We can even do some business right now, but the meeting starts at 7 so could we leave it for after that?」

「Yeah, for sure. I think it’s easier that way. I actually have something I want to ask you about, Margrid.」

「Me?」

「Yes. I’d like to come up with ways to use gemstones to strengthen my Summon Monsters.」

「Your Summon Monsters, and not you?」

「Yes.」

「Hmm, that sounds interesting…」

We went off topic.
After spending some time chatting, the meeting began.

「Fiona, the meeting.」

Prompted by the Ceramics Worker Rupert, Fiona started the meeting.
A giant Union was formed in no time.
Of course, there was a lot of information I already knew.
But there were also some bits of news that I was especially interested in.

The Guide Team was trying to hunt in the W3 map.
They were probably trying to get meat and skins.
I didn’t think Fighting Bulls could cross into other maps, but it looked like it was possible.
I had to be more careful.
I couldn’t just run away from a monster by just running into another map.

The northern forest was the same as always.
There have been reports of battles against Antmen at night.
The messenger was as usual, Yosaku.
Yosaku and his party, along with four other parties, launched an offensive into the cave.
It was pretty difficult, but nobody was hurt.
Apparently, Antmen get a lot more active at night.

Some other parties tried to tackle the cave to the south.
Besides tigers, they also found moles
They ended their report with a warning to look out for traps in the cave.
Scary…
I wouldn’t have Obsidian or Helix to look out for the traps either.
The cave led underground, after all.

There were branches deeper in the cave, but the cave seemed to go on forever.
Some parties gave up after a while.
In the other branches, they found Kobolds and Goblins.
But there was nothing about Gozu or Mezu, or the Floating Bomb.

Then.
It was my turn.
I talked about the monsters I met at the branch I went into.
I decided not to reveal what I found inside the treasure box though.
I ended my report by talking about how I cleared the S1W2 Area Portal.
I just noticed, but the S1W2 Area Portal was named『Tower of Condemnation』.

I felt like I heard some people groan, but I ignored it.

The Production Job Players were making progress.
Their report was pretty brief.
But they ended by saying more blacksmiths were scheduled to arrive.
Looked like they were really trying to create a workshop here.

Next was event information.
The Adventurer’s Guild finally issued a survey quest last night.
It was a quest that was only possible to accept in Remut, and not in Legias.
Hmm…
I felt like going back and accepting it.
But before that, I wanted to check out the cave to the south.
I felt like something interesting would happen if I could beat the Gozu and Mezu.
Maybe I could get something besides Treasure Chests?

In the time I spent thinking about it…
The meeting ended.
I did not notice.

All the players scattered in every direction.
But there were still some parties in the square.
There were some players having duels.
And some players standing by to watch.
Speaking of which, it was the first time I saw a duel up close.

I saw in a lot more detail how swordsmen fought.
It was very flashy.
Rick was beside me, and I asked him a question.

「Is that a duel?」

「Huh? Oh, yeah, they’re the guys that only log in to fight once and then immediately log back out.」

「They immediately log out?」

「Yep.」

Apparently, duels yielded a good amount of experience points.
Regardless of who won.
Because of that, players that don’t have the time to explore and fight monsters fight each other instead.
In the time they spend logged out, their HP and MP would recover back to full.

I returned to Fiona’s temporary stall.
Now.
I had a lot of things I had to take care of.

Peat was being sold at a pretty good price.
Unexpected…
Players could get charcoal from the western forest too.
There were lots of ways to get fuel.
I looked at the turtle shell they were selling. Someone else was arguing about it with Fiona.

「It’ll make for a good shield!」

「Ah, but isn’t it a little too big?」

「The size probably puts it in the Heavy Shield class… But it’s not square, so you would probably not be able to use unless you were taller than 2 metres.」

「Picky, huh.」

The same comment as always.
Not that I didn’t agree with the criticism.
Fiona managed to make the sale, but some more modifications would be necessary.
I wonder what they were going to turn it into.

「Wow, more gemstones.」

「Could we talk for a while about how I could use these gemstones? I’ll put in a request too.」

「Of course! Although it is going to be pretty difficult…」

Margrid took a look at the gemstones I had on me.
I pulled out all the gemstones and laid them out on a table.
Morganite, Iolite, Blue Spinel, Sardonyx, Prehnite, and the Red Jasper.
Along with my favourites, Tsavorite and Aquamarine.
…and some Amber.

The question was how I could use the gemstones to boost my Summon Monsters’ strengths.
It was a very complicated task.

Heather landed in front of Margrid.
She was the biggest problem.
I tried removing the gemstone from the Silver Necklace and giving it to her…
But Heather couldn’t lift it.
She couldn’t fly with it.
I felt like there should’ve been a limit to how weak fairies were.
Although it wasn’t strange, considering their relative sizes.

Irina looked at Heather lovingly from different angles.
Heather was pretty popular among Fiona’s party too.
I just realised how much I was being surrounded by women.

「I’ll come up with something. For the time being, how about I lighten this Red Jasper so the fairy can carry it.」

「I’ll leave it to you.」

It’s not like I really had any other option, I had no idea what Margrid was even talking about half the time.

I kept the three Crystal Balls to myself.
I only asked for one piece of amber to be processed.
I was just interested in what it would look like.
I handed Margrid my leftover Magic Stones too.

Soon it was time for size measurement.
I couldn’t summon Volff, so Margrid measured Adele’s U-chan instead.
After that, she proceeded to measure Helix, Obsidian, Jean, Ninetails, and Heather.
She looked pretty confused after a while.
Also, it looked like she noticed Obsidian’s necklace.

「What’s this?」

「Just some loot.」

「This isn’t a necklace, you know? It’s a bracelet.」

「Huh?」

Oh.
My mistake.

「Amazing…」

After taking it off and showing it to her, Margrid went silent for a while.
She softly returned the bracelet.

「Another Jeweller is on the way here, can I show this to them when they arrive?」

「I’ll leave it to you.」

「Alright. I’ll contact you as soon as I have a plan for what we should do.」

「Thanks.」

Hmm…
Looked like that would have to do.
I thought about returning to Remut, but I decided to stick around until my equipment was ready.
I could go explore the cave again?

Although…
Maybe I could talk to Fiona while everyone else was busy.

「Fiona, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.」

「Ooh, what is it?」

I spotted Mio from the corner of my eye.
Stop looking at me like that.
I’m not trying to hit on her.

「Umm… Should we speak in whispers then?」

「Alright.」

「I’ll send you the request. And Mio, don’t you have meat to smoke today?」

「Muu…」

Mio slowly moved away.

It was good to clear my mind.
Although I had a feeling that Fiona was starting to get sick of me.

I told her about the title change from 『Spell Archive』to『Spell Glossary』.
Along with the new spells【Spell Effect Amplification】and【Spell Range Expansion】.
I took the opportunity to talk about new spells I could but hadn’t learnt yet like【Whip】.

「Might be a little too late for me to ask this, but you spend a lot of time in-game… Are you doing alright in real life?」

「Huh… Well, I’m making it somehow.」

「Although having said that, I’m quite a bit of an addict myself.」

She sighed, but there was no hint of criticism in her voice.
She dropped the topic.

「Maybe【Speedcasting】, 【Spell Effect Amplification】, and【Spell Range Expansion】are skills used to make up for the disadvantage of having too many spells?」

「Huh?」

「But this is quite interesting information… I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with some other players.」

「Ok…」

「Although I’ll leave whether to post the information on the forums or not to you.」

「Sorry to bother you again.」

「A little too late for that now. But before that, I want to ask you something.」

I wondered what it was…
I wasn’t scared.
Just nervous.

「Did you try using【Clairvoyance】?」

「No.」

「Not even to look at girls?」

「Of course not.」

「Would you try using it on me, then?」

「What?」

My brain froze.
A demon must’ve just whispered something in my ear.

I remained faithful to my instincts.

「Why?」

「【Instant Portal】is good, but I’m getting questions as to how【Clairvoyance】actually works. Just figured I would confirm it.」

「I don’t really have to use it on you…」

「The spell may or may not work on female players you know? Confirmation, that’s all.」

I gulped.
What did I get myself into?

No, no.
Since what I’m about to do would be considered a crime, wouldn’t that make me fall into Corruption?

「Is this alright?」

「As long as there’s consent I doubt there would be any issues.」

Even knowing that I’m still scared!

「Are you perhaps against using it on me…?」

She was suddenly very charming for some reason.

What should I do?

I gave up.
All the parts of my brain stopped functioning at once.

I selected【Clairvoyance】from my spell list and used it.

Well, I kind of expected the result.
I wasn’t even surprised anymore.
Fiona had a very healthy skeleton.

I left Fiona and the village and headed towards the tree-planting zone.
At Hannes’s direction, I used【Grow】on some plants.
Watching the trees grow in a matter of moments was a bit unsettling.

When I was done with my farming work, I started heading back to the village.
Although when I was about to leave, an info screen appeared in front of me.

《A message has arrived from a friend.》

It was from Lambda.
Hmm?

『I stripped 15 people naked and killed them, but three of them died almost instantly. Looks like I still have a long way to go.』

Isn’t that enough?

『I learnt【Dark Heal】. I hope you don’t mind me copying your strategy to prolong their suffering.』

Hmm…
He was growing at a good rate.
I suppose【Dark Heal】would let him enjoy himself more…

『We’re forming a PK-hunting party tonight. I’ll be sure to bring back good news!』

Well, yeah.
PK players were having it tough too.
Although I had a feeling that something wasn’t going the way it was supposed to.

I went back to my original plan of exploring the cave to the south.
My current team consisted of Zangetsu, Helix, Obsidian, and Ninetails.
My mobility team.
Although Ninetails was just sitting with me on Zangetsu’s back.

After that, I took some time to hunt Raptors and Enraged Cranes around the village.
Yup.
It felt the same as always.

I didn’t have Volff with me.
Does that mean I should have another Summon Monster guard my back?
No…
I was having quite a bit of success with my strategy, I didn’t see any need to change it.
Although getting too confident was a bad thing too.

Hmm…
I just had to go and find out for myself.

There was no growth this time…

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