Chapter 48
Chapter 48 – To the Next Hunting Ground
[So Okurdono! Where will we be going today!]
The powered-up Noru was getting restless .
She’s doing her usual excited fist shaking too, she must be in a really good mood .
[The Northern Cave is getting stale, so I guess it’s time to look for some place else? I also sort of feel bad for Shisuha not being able to do her “job” . ]
[Oh I’m enjoying myself, so don’t worry about me . I should be the one apologizing for not fulfilling my role properly . ]
Despite having summoned her to be our healer, we haven’t been in any battles which require her services as a healer .
Instead when we went to the Eagle Warrior’s Forest a couple of days ago for my training, she had a go at the Eagle Warrior Chief for kicks and instakills it .
That little event got me wondering, if all the priests I get from the gacha are going to somehow end up being like her .
[A different hunting ground you say . If that’s the case how about finding one that is more challenging?]
[I was thinking about that too . Though our manastone gathering efficiency is pretty good at the Northern Cave so we’d probably go back there occasionally, I guess it’s about time to look for a new spot to grind for our future leveling . ]
It is necessary to pick a suitable hunting ground with good hunting efficiency to exp gain ratio .
But since experience gain isn’t displayed, I have to sort of stare at the Status app as we hunt to see if anyone levels up… . .
[It’s decided then, we’ll be looking for a new hunting ground today . ]
[Alright . We have Shisuha with us now, we should be able to go to places with stronger enemies . ]
Uーmu, saying that gave myself a slightly unpleasant feeling .
Having Shisuha “do her job” means the possibility of taking damage skyrockets… . . I really don’t want to turn into a weirdo like Gauss-san .
[What about Labyrinth exploration then? We should be able to defeat the slime on the 10th floor now . ]
[Yeah, we most likely can beat it now . But since we don’t know what lies beyond that point, and we can’t return anytime we want in the Labyrinth so going there to hunt isn’t ideal . ]
With the addition of Shisuha and me taking on the role of the Tank, we should be able to defeat that Slime on the Labyrinth’s 10th floor .
However, whatever lies beyond that floor is still unknown to us . Also I can’t use Beacons while inside the Labyrinth which means if we go hunting there we won’t be able to return on short notice .
Aiming for the unusual Drop Items there might be interesting, but that’s not the place to go to when thinking about manastone efficiency and grinding experience .
In the end we were unable to decide where we wanted to go, so we went to the Adventurers Guild to get some advice .
We head to the counter where Wizzy-chan is as usual, she should be able to answer our query .
[Ah, Okursan . How can I help you today?]
[So we were thinking of looking for a new Hunting Ground . Would you happen to have any recommendations?]
[Recommendations huh… . ]
She tilts her head and closes her eyes, letting out a “Hーrrm” as she thought about the question .
I have yet to see any object or item native to this world that can see the Status of other people, maybe that’s why the locals need more time to make decisions regarding such matters .
[It’s much further away, but the Lemuri Mountain Range in the North could be a good location . You can find the humanoid monsters known as Lizardman there . ]
Wizzy-can then continued her explanation regarding that location .
The Lemuri Mountain Range is about 2 days plus alpha travelling distance away from here . It’s probably further away than the Swamplands where the Frogmen are .
Lizardman are humanoid monsters much like the Eagle Warriors . Can I assume them to be lizards that walk on 2 legs like the ones I know of from fantasy stories or games?
The main difference between them and the other monsters I have encountered is that the Lizardman use not only swords, but also other weapons like axes, spears and even bows .
[Due to the distance and high difficulty of the location most adventurers don’t choose to hunt there, but the Drop Item of the Lizardman known as Kepool are a popular sought after material . ]
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[Popular materials eh… . ]
So I’m guessing this “Kepool” is the rare variant there? And like the Stinger this fellow drops popular materials too .
Putting the travel distance aside, I’m getting a bad feeling about it having a ‘high difficulty’… .
[Similar to the Stinger, regular adventurers don’t stand a chance against them so the materials are rare and don’t circulate in the markets much . ]
[Don’t the A Rank Adventurers go out and hunt these kind of monsters?]
[Those people have their special circumstances… . . Also there’s basically nobody here who hunts such large numbers like Okursan does . ]
Considering that she spoke in such a roundabout manner, there must be reasons for her doing so . I’m interested in the topic but I’m not about to poke my nose into somewhere it doesn’t belong .
So far I’ve only seen 1 A Rank Adventurer, and it really gets me wondering what they do and where they go to . You can see B Rankers around the guild fairly often, but you pretty much don’t see the A Rankers around at all .
Since it is said that they can traverse up to the 40th floor of the Labyrinth, it’s easy to imagine them being superpowered people . I really wanted to see the Status of the ‘monster tamer’ person back then too .
[With the influx of Stinger Shells brought in by Okursan, other adventurers now have more opportunities to obtain the material . With the quality of equipment improving for the adventurers as a whole, the Guild Master is really happy . ]
After my dealings with Dhius ended I still sold the Shells to shops every so often, but I sure as heck didn’t expect this to happen .
Increasing the strength of adventurers as a whole is a good thing… . right?
Or so that’s what she(the guild) is saying, does this mean that their aim is to get me to do the same thing with the Lizardman this time…?
[So, we(the guild) are looking forward to your exploits this time as well . ]
[Ahaha… . I’ll give it my best effort . ]
Saying that with a smile on her face, I gave my best smile back in kind .
Having learned how to get there, we begun travelling to the Lemuri Mountain Range .
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However, this tiny little problem popped up… . .
[Why did this happen…]
[Fufu, don’t worry about the minor things . ]
We are riding on our awesome Flying Carpet as usual, except I am sitting cross legged and Estel is sitting in the hole formed by my legs .
To maintain a position such as this, is reeeeally unhealthy for a man such as I … . .
[Muuu Estel, that is so unfair . ]
[Estel-san fits in there so nicely . ]
Noru and Shisuha are sitted behind me . I can’t do much of anything for Noru regardless of how resentful she sounds .
4 people was a little too much for the passenger limit of the Carpet . So there was talk of leaving 1 person behind in the Inn and bringing her over with a Beacon afterwards .
But, for some inexplicable reason this is the end result of that discussion .
I told her(Estel) to sit together with Noru, but I ended up folding to her insistence that she liked it better here… .
I keep smelling this nice fragrance, and coming into contact with soft body parts . Now I can’t exactly blame Noru for using her as a hug pillow when she sleeps .
[Even so, this Carpet really is oh so fast . ]
[Yeah, it’s going quite fast . Do be careful about falling off, ‘kay?]
The carpet was moving at fairly high speeds, though i keep getting glances of Shisuha sticking her body out of bounds to look around curiously .
It’s bad for my heart if anyone really falls off so I really want her to stop doing that . She’s just so fearless .
[Yes, thank you for the advice . Even if someone does fall off, I can heal that person back in no time at all so no worries . ]
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[That’s a different kind of thing to be worried about… . ]
Shisuha replies with a smile, but Noru who was sitting next to her gave a slightly off put reaction .
Sure you can heal the injuries, but falling off is definitely going to hurt… She tilts her head to Noru’s off put reaction as though saying “Did I say something weird?”, gets you wondering what goes on in that head of hers…
Such conversations continued on the Carpet as we travelled for several hours, I then briefly stopped the Carpet .
[Right, I’ll dump 1 here . ]
I pop a Beacon out from my smartphone, and stuffed it in the midst of some inconspicuous bushes to hide it .
[Okurdono? What are you trying to do, by placing a Beacon here?]
[Aren’t we already a decent distance away from the City?]
The girls were mighty curious about what I just did .
This was a spot that was faraway from the city, and not the sort of ‘important’ location where you’d normally think of placing a Beacon .
[Y’see, we are still a ways off from our destination . This is just insurance for when I can’t transfer back to the Beacon in town directly from our destination . This is also an experiment to see how far is too far before I lose reception for them . ]
The Lemuri Mountain Range is comparatively the furthest location we are going away from the city yet . It’s going to be a pain if I can’t get reception from the Beacon I set up near the Capital .
So I thought of setting up more Beacons along the way .
[To think that you saw that much ahead… . . I expected nothing less from Okursan . ]
[Indeed . Though it’s super unexpected to see Okurdono use his brain for anything other then the Gacha―― fua!? Wuh arr yuu fuuing diis foor!?]
[Sorry for being incapable of thinking about anything else other than the Gacha!]
Noru nodded in agreement with Shisuha, but she added in an unneeded comment so she gets her cheeks pulled .
It’s been a while since I last did this, so I put in that little bit more effort .