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Chapter 203 – Part 1

Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes

I logged in.
The time was 2:20 AM.
Yep. My break wasn’t very long at all.
After I took out the Skeleton Mammoth, I figured it would be a good idea to log out right away.
But there was something on my mind before I logged out.

My mobility was very low on the snowy plains at night.
During the day, I could ride Zangetsu and all issues involving mobility would disappear.
But on my own, even with strengthening spells, I wasn’t even close to fast enough.
If only my legs were a little faster.
I could get some more time to cast spells.
I wouldn’t have to use Jericho as a makeshift wall to take all the force of the charge either.

I did have 【Dash】 and 【Endurance Run】 in my acquirable skills list.
How many bonus points did I need to learn them?
Both of them cost only 1 point.
How many Bonus Points did I have on me?
I had 3 remaining.
It was a tough choice.
But at the end of the day, it probably wouldn’t hurt.

I learnt both the skills and activated them both.
Those 2 points I spent could come back to bite me and make it impossible to learn another skill 【Seal Magic】…
But always leaving things for later wasn’t a good thing.
 
 
That said…
Even with those new skills, I doubted I would be able to take on another Skeleton Mammoth.
It was about time to return.
Of course, to the Wind Spirit Village.
There was a lot of equipment I had to take care of.

While I was taking down my tent and organising my inventory, I saw another Skeleton Mammoth in the distance.
Under the light of the moon, I could still see a few of them walking about.
Oh dear…
If I wasn’t careful I could actually get taken out.

I summoned Nias, Telomere, and Shishiku.
Yeah. It would be good to summon them beforehand.
They were the Summon Monsters that needed new equipment anyway.
In addition to them, I also summoned Tigris and Ligand.
Anyway…
I guess it was time to go home.
 

「Return home!」

Skeleton Mammoths…
I was probably going to see them again one day.
 
 
I arrived at the Wind Spirit Village.
The fields around the village were being illuminated by the moonlight.
In the middle of the village, the bonfire was still lit too.
Yep. I was home.
I felt a strange sense of nostalgia.
 
 

「Oh! That’s strange, for you to come back at this time.」

「I’m actually retreating from battle right now.」

「Retreating?」

I first ran into Saki and Rick.
Apparently, Fiona, Reina, and Mio were doing some hunting together with some junior Production Job Players.
That was unfortunate…
I wanted to talk to Reina about getting some kind of musical instrument.

The other members of their Production Job Player team were still logged out.
Well, I had to make the best of the time that I had with Saki.

「A lot of people are talking about you in the forums, you know?」

「Huh?」

「They were talking about those children of yours.」

「Ohh, that makes sense.」

Well, I knew myself it was just going to be a matter of time.
That was fine. It didn’t bother me too much.
The main problem was with equipment.

I lined up the items I wanted to sell on the nearby table.
The Mammoth Tusk was too heavy so I put it on the ground.
On top of all that, I added the Snow Beast Skins and the Snow Beast Bones.
I left one bone for myself.
I kept for myself the Snow Beast Stone and the Ptarmigan Stone too.
I wanted to talk to them about the Silent Ermine Skins and the Wild Rabbit Skins later.
I had a good amount of them, so I had a feeling I could probably make something happen.
 
 
「Ah, that’s an item I’ve never seen before.」

「By the way, do you know where Margrid is? I would love to talk to her. I’m looking to get a new collar.」

「I’m sure she’ll log in soon.」

Even while she said that, Saki’s eyes were fixed on the skins.
Well, she was a leather craftsman through and through.

「What do you think of them, size-wise?」

「The skins aren’t so thick… Your Fighting Bull Leather armour is probably going to be a lot better if you’re speaking in terms of pure defence.」

「Is that so?」

「Yep. But if it’s for someone fighting in the back, this could make for some very good armour.」

「?」

「It’s got a high Rarity after all. It’s bound to have some special effects. And it’s light too.」

I spent some more time chatting with Saki.
Eventually, I decided to use those skins to make armour for Telomere.
But I left the details to Saki.
Telomere already had the Fighting Bull Armguards, so I just told her to make anything except armguards.
But she looked quite distressed as she was about to take measurements.

「You’re sure she won’t attack me, right?」

「I think it’s going to be alright. Ah, could you re-measure Nias please?」

「Huh?」

「This happened…」

I showed her Nias’s old top, which had become unusable.
She looked at Nias, then looked at me.

「You didn’t do anything funny, right?」

「No way!」

Yeah.
Like it was even possible for me to try anything like that!
What a shame…
 
 

While Saki did measurements behind a screen, I sat down next to Rick as he was doing calculations.
There were a lot of new items, so I wasn’t surprised that it was taking a while.
At that time, a visitor came.
No, it was a very familiar face.

「Oh! Is this the chimera everyone has been talking about?」

「Keith! What happened?」

It was Adele and Irina.
Yeah. As expected, Adele immediately attacked Shishiku.
I thought Shishiku would be quite aggressive.
But he looked quite pleased, as Adele was petting him.
He was squinting his eyes.
Even the snake tail didn’t seem intimidated by Adele.
Adele was just treating Shishiku like a normal pet!

The conversation only really started when Saki came over after she finished taking measurements.
I explained Fusion Summon Monsters to Adele and Irina.
As expected, they stared at me with wide eyes the whole time.

Anyway…
Telomere and Nias were standing behind me.
Everyone’s gazes were probably not on me, but on the two of them behind me.
I understood how they were feeling.

「By the way, you think you could use this?」

「A shield, huh?」

Saki showed me a shield.

【Armour: Shield】Snow Beast Shield+　Grade C+　Rarity 5
Def+20　Weight 4+　Durability 370　Power Reduction -1
A shield made from the skin of Snow Beasts. The leather has been processed.
It was made lighter by removing the oil and fat from the skin, allowing it to be handled with one hand.
[Custom]
It is reinforced in various places with thinly stretched bark.

Yep. It fit nicely in my left arm
It looked like quite an amazing item!
But it was also quite large, and I couldn’t really see myself using a full-size shield.

「Do you have a smaller one like this? Two of them, if possible…」

「Two? Yep, got them right here.」

She had them!

【Armour: Buckler】Snow Beast Buckler+　Grade C+　Rarity 5
Def+17　Weight 3　Durability 260　Power Reduction -1
A shield made from the skin of Snow Beasts. The leather has been processed.
It is made lighter by removing the oil content from the skin.
[Custom]
It is reinforced in various places with thinly stretched bark.

Yep. That was more like it.
The smaller the size, the lower its effectiveness as a shield… But it was definitely much lighter.
Rick looked down and up at me a few times.

「Should be fine. You can get two of them and still have some left over.」

「Great! Thanks!」

One would be for Goki.
The other one would be for Telomere.
I quickly handed Telomere her new buckler.
With the Snow Beast Buckler in her left hand, Telomere seemed to have some trouble getting used to the new weight balance.
But it looked like she would be okay.
Suddenly, the buckler on her arm disappeared.

「Huh?」

「Wait, what?」

「What? What just happened?」

「So that’s what you were planning…」

Ah.
That probably needed an explanation.
Telomere just looked at them and smiled.
There really was nothing I could do…

「Your mistress?」

「No way. Oh, Saki, could I ask for a raincoat too please?」

From the very beginning, Margrid’s words were already quite vicious.
But I knew she was just teasing me.

「Len-Len, look, this one’s top is too small now.」

「Huh?」

Saki! No bombs please!
But it was too late.
The place erupted into girls’ talk.