Chapter 6 – Their promise in the kitchen
Translator/Editor: Mana
My first dungeon challenge ended with me just watching the overwhelming power of the ‘Arrivers’. After the boss of the first floor was defeated, we passed through the door to the second floor and used the teleport crystal inside to return to the entrance.
When I looked outside, the sun was about to set. Since it was getting late, we went back to the party house for the day. After arriving at the party house, everyone took off their shoes at the entryway and went inside.
“I’m tired… I’m going to take a bath first…” Neme spoke up first about bathing.
For the record, she didn’t do anything in today’s dungeon exploration. She just followed us. Due to Neme’s role being a healer and no one in the ‘Arrivers’ being hurt, she was on standby the whole time.
That’s why I didn’t know the extent of Neme’s abilities, nor why she was so tired, but I still was a newbie. I should refrain from making crass remarks.
She tottered to the bathroom in a rush, like a child. Because she looked like a little girl, all her actions appeared young.
“I’m going to organise the loot we got at the dungeon,” Jin said, and retreated to his room on the second floor. In this party house, the first floor was shared space with a living room and bathroom. The second floor had the individual bedrooms.
And thus, the only ones left were me, Force, and Erin.
“Then I’m going to my room. We’re counting on you for the food, first-class chef Erin.” Force patted Erin on the shoulder. His expression seemed to be making fun of her.
“Huh… You can cook, Erin…?” It felt wrong to just stay quiet like this, so I reacted without particular thought at Force’s words. But Erin frowned at my careless words. Did I say something wrong…?
“I’m not that good… just so-so…”
“Come to think of it, Note still doesn’t know everyone’s skills, right? Then let me take this chance to enlighten you!”
In contrast to Erin, who scratched at her cheek awkwardly, Force suddenly changed the topic with enthusiasm. Well, it was something I was also interested in, so I prompted for him to keep talking.
To summarise the contents of what Force said:
Force’s skills were filled with the combination of ‘Swordcraft – Master’, ‘Mind’s Eye’, and ‘Magic Resistance – Large’, each costing one slot. This was probably on par with Miya’s perfect skill combo.
Jin had the two slot ‘Shapeshifting – Mineral’ and one slot ‘Absolute Shadow’, which allowed him to enter a mode where his speed would dramatically increase for a short period of time. Incidentally, ‘Absolute Shadow’ was a skill that automatically activated an art that anyone could use as long as they trained up their speed stat, unlike skills like ‘Clairvoyance’ that couldn’t be obtained through human efforts.
Even so, ‘Absolute Shadow’ was a perfect battle skill. There was barely anyone in this world who could use ‘Absolute Shadow’ through their own hard work. That was how high the level was for the ‘Absolute Shadow’ art.
Neme’s sole skill was a three slot skill called ‘Saint Power’. The same pattern as me. However, the versatility of her ability was in a different league—it raised the level of holy skills by several stages, allowed the use of original spells, and included various beneficial buffs—it was plain ridiculous.
Apparently, before she came here, she was a saint in her homeland dwarf country, where this
skill was passed down between saints. I had heard of certain skills only being inherited through clans before, so it was probably one of those types of skills. Force didn’t know many details about her either.
“And Erin’s skills are—”
Force grinned as he shot Erin a look. Erin seemed extremely exasperated.
“Yeah yeah, say what you want…”
Ignoring the annoyed look on Erin’s face, Force continued to talk. “She has three in total. ‘Magic Enhancement – Master’ and ‘Elemental Magic Aptitude – All’ and…”
“And?” (Read this translation at Binbogami WordPress – anywhere else and it’s stolen!)
“…‘Cooking – Small’.”
“‘Cooking – Small’?!”
I unintentionally raised my voice at the unexpected combination of skills.
“Haha… I know, what’s with ‘Cooking – Small’?! It’s ‘Cooking – Small’! You can only laugh, right Note?! How can you have two absurdly strong magic skills while the last one is a cooking skill… Not to mention, small… How did it feel to see those words on the slate? Erin!”
“P-Please don’t make me laugh… Force…”
Force’s direct teasing made me crack up. Erin shot the two of us a piercing cold, murderous gaze.
“You two step outside right now! I’ll kill you both!”
“Nope! I’m going back to my room! Good luck with your cooking! Miss ‘Cooking – Small’!”
“S-Stop making me laugh… Force…”
“I’m going to serve you two a salad of yesterday’s food scraps…”
“Yes… We’re sorry…”
Not wanting to incite any further rage, Force ran up the stairs to his room. The coward.
Now it was just me and Erin left in the hallway. This situation was way too awkward. Well, half of it was my fault, but… the other half was Force’s. Actually, 70% of it was Force’s.
“Umm… Shall I give you a hand? With the cooking?” In an attempt to dispel the awkward atmosphere, I offered to help Erin. It definitely wasn’t because I was scared of eating food scraps for dinner.
Even if I returned to the my allocated room, it wasn’t like I had anything to do… Since I didn’t have anything to do anyway, I might as well help Erin… or something.
Well, I actually had a pretty serious reason too, but…
When I was adventuring with Miya, I left all the cooking to her. After being thrown away by Miya and joining other adventurer parties, I mostly did trivial chores, which included cooking for the first time. The point was, I was late. At everything. At giving it my all.
Though I hadn’t been cooking for very long and had no confidence in my skills, I still considered myself more competent than your average person. That life where I relied on Miya for everything. This was a symbol of my resolution to never repeat a failure like that again.
Erin welcomed my offer, knowing nothing of these thoughts of mine. Cooking food for five people took quite a bit of time.
“Thank you… follow me…”
We arrived at a clean and tidy kitchen.
The ‘Arrivers’ was one of the top class parties challenging the Dungeon of Puriff. That Dungeon of Puriff that was often compared to a mountain of gold. However, the ‘Arrivers’ main aim was not to earn money, but to prioritise clearing the dungeon. Of course, they had an abundant amount of resources and assets.
Because of that, the party house was big and the kitchen was just as spacious. Even with me and Erin standing in it, it didn’t feel cramped at all.
“Note, you can help chop up the ingredients.”
Erin dumped some vegetables into the sink, washed them, then placed them in front of me. I had her tell me where the kitchen knife and chopping board was, then silently started to chop the vegetables.
……
An awkward silence fell upon us.
Only the sound of the kitchen knife and running water echoed around us. Unable to stand the atmosphere any longer, Erin started talking as she worked.
“Hey, Note. I heard from Jin that you’re 16 years old?”
“Yes, that’s right…”
“I’m 16 too.”
“Yes, I heard that from Force…”
“That’s why, you know… You don’t have to act so stiff around me…”
“I understand… no, okay… are you sure?”
“Yup…”
……
Once more, an awkward silence fell upon us.
I was somewhat aware of it myself. How should I put it? That I was bad at speaking to girls… Was it because of what happened with Miya? Something in my head was opposed to talking to girls my age.
I felt like I could communicate a little better than this in the past. I hoped that was the case, as I got along well with Miya, who was the same age. Of course, since Miya and I were in the village of Changs until our presentation ceremony, I didn’t have any other girls our age to talk to than Miya.
Since there was no chance to talk to any other girls, perhaps I was able to talk to Miya easily as I had all her attention.
Did that mean I was always bad at talking to girls…?
As I indulged myself in such thoughts, Erin suddenly broke her silence to start a conversation. She had finished washing the vegetables, and was adding water to the pot.
“You know, I was against adding you to this party…”
Erin placed the pot on top of the stove and lit the fire.
Could you not start such complex conversations when I’m in the middle of worrying over my inability to talk to girls?
Even as I complained in my heart, she continued talking.
“Did you know only six people can dive into a dungeon at once?”
I shook my head.
“The teleport crystal can only teleport up to six people at once. That’s why most parties work in a maximum group of six.”
“Is that so… I never knew…”
“But we only had four people, right? Once we find our tank, that would be five. So when we were discussing who to fill in for the last spot, Jin brought up the idea of adding a ‘Mapping’ member… ”
Erin threw my chopped vegetables into the pot as she spoke.
“I was against it. I wanted to fortify our party with six strong members… And I didn’t want someone who would hold us back either… But I understood Jin’s reasoning. In our current situation, we’re strong enough to handle the enemies that spawn in the dungeon, but we take too much time exploring…”
“That’s why you chose me?”
“Yup… Everyone agreed with Jin’s idea. In terms of ability, our party is perfect, so just one person holding us back wouldn’t be a problem. Even that idiot Force jumped on board. I was the only one who disagreed…”
“I’m sorry…”
“It’s not like I’m blaming you for it…”
Continuously stirring the pot, Erin made sure I didn’t misunderstand any of her words.
“Amongst people who have the ‘Mapping’ skill, your situation was the most favourable, since you were already an adventurer… Considering that originally, our plan was to drag along regular, non-adventurer citizen with the ‘Mapping’ skill…”
“It’s true that there aren’t many people who have the ‘Mapping’ skill, much less those who choose to become an adventurer while only having the ‘Mapping’ skill…”
“That’s right… I didn’t want to bring someone who would be a burden… That’s why—maybe after dinner, I believe Jin will explain everything to you in detail, but—for a while, our party will focus on training you up. Right now we can still protect you, but we don’t know what will show up on future floors…”
Erin directed her gaze from the pot to me, staring at me straight on.
“You’ll go through some tough training, so I hope you’re prepared… Note…”
“I don’t want to rely on everyone for everything either.” I clearly voiced my own feelings.
Erin smiled at those words.
“That’s good to hear. Make sure you don’t forget those feelings… If I find you a burden, I’ll kick you out of the party with no mercy…” she declared as she resolutely looked me in the eye.
Words that sounded harsh at first. But I was certain I could feel her kindness behind them. I might have been thinking too highly of myself. But if she truly had any malice behind her words, she wouldn’t go out of her way to warn me.
“I got it. I promise. Thank you, Erin.”
—Even if she hadn’t said anything, I would’ve done the same.
I never want to betray my comrades like I did to Miya again.
That’s what I had decided.
Erin seemed a little taken aback by the completely honest smile I returned to her. That was natural, since she didn’t know what I was thinking.
I started to take the plates out of the shelf as I watched Erin’s expression.