Translator: Charlotte
Like usual, I showed my face in the basement workshop.
Master was sitting down with a complicated expression. It looked like he was thinking about something.
As usual, Metal Skin was waiting by his side.
It was then that I noticed another person was there.
The leader of the adventurer's guild, Lugran.
But something was up.
His body was glowing.
He looked almost translucent.
A glowing ghost?
A vengeful spirit? What is that?
It was a scene quite detached from reality.
It had a somewhat divine feel to it, almost.
「Oh! You're back」
「Hmm, I might be rushing things Keith, but I've got to talk to you about something」
I wonder what kind of business these two greats would have with someone like me.
Without thinking about it, I started stiffing up.
「It'll be only for a while but something urgent came up. I'll have to go to quite a lot of places」
「Regarding the matter of your apprenticeship… It's been entrusted to me」
「Huh?」
I'm not listening.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
「Well, just listen to what this senile old man has to say for a while and you'll be alright」
「Lose the 'senile' part」
「You'll probably have some adventurer's guild-related requests forced on you, but if you don't like it you can always hit him」
「Like I'd just take it sitting down」
The atmosphere seemed like it got a lot lighter but looking closely, I could tell Master was still pretty tense.
Very much so, actually.
「In any case, you can expect great things. I can't make sure since that would take a long time, but for now, Lugran will do just fine」
《You have acquired the Title【Old Summoner's Temporary Pupil】!》
What a strange message.
Title?
I concentrated my gaze on the word in a virtual window.
But nothing happened.
I'd love to get a simple explanation at least.
「It's not like I'm not coming back. But I definitely won't be here for a long time」
「Yes, Master」
「While I'm gone, you can go ahead and use the house and the tower's third floor as you please. You won't have to worry about taking care of the tower or guarding the premises」
I was sure those responsibilities would go to Metal Skin.
I've definitely shown myself to be rather unreliable.
「You can make a living on your own already, so you'll be fine in that regard. You'll have to figure something out on your own for a while when it comes to meals though」
Ah, yeah, I suppose asking to be taken care of to that extent would be too much.
Well on the upside, going to Remut or Legias on horseback won't take as long.
If I run into trouble, I can always learn the【Cooking】skill.
Although I'd like to avoid cooking like the plague.
It's not that I don't have any self-confidence.
It's that I'm the kind of man who can make instant curry taste gross.
「Well, that settles it, you're going to be in my care from now on. From tomorrow onwards, show up at the adventurer's guild whenever you want」
After saying that, the guild leader's figure disappeared.
Well, I figured it wasn't his real body.
Pretty cool.
「Was that his magic just now?」
「He's a very skilled Light Elemental Mage. He just sent over a light clone of himself」
「I see…」
You can do that with Light Magic huh…
Seems pretty useful.
「Now then, let's eat something. Sorry to rush, but after we're done eating, I'll have to go right away. I trust you won't ruin this house」
After Master finished eating, he summoned Roc Bird and flew away, high into the sky.
It was already nighttime.
A lonely mood descended on me.
Well, Master is strong, much, much stronger than I am.
I have no reason to worry about him.
Starting tomorrow I'll have to go back and forth between here and the adventurer's guild.
I felt it would be good idea to spend some time hunting.
Let's go into the night forest.
My MP bar wasn't full.
But even then, I had enough to recall Zangetsu and summon Volff, and then some more.
A surplus?
No, my MP bar had dropped to under half.
It was obvious I had gotten stronger, but I guess it was still too early to say that I had a "surplus" of MP.
Outside was dark.
Volff and Obsidian would have no issue with that, but it was another story for me.
I lit up my surroundings with【Light Magic】. This way I could at least walk around.
Now then, let's hunt.
In the darkness of the forest, I lit up my surroundings with the light magic spell【Flashlight】.
Volff and Obsidian were at a distance away, exploring the surroundings.
While not to the degree of daytime, there were other player parties in the forest.
To not get in the way of other people, I moved deeper into the forest.
The main enemies here were, as usual, Evil Ants. But I saw some Bloody Woods too.
They were tough, but since their movements were so slow, they were good practice for my【Throw】skill.
I genuinely enjoyed fighting them.
The burdock they dropped was another issue though.
About Evil Ants.
I didn't like to take my time when hunting them, so I tested a few methods in the hopes I could get an instant kill.
Through these experiments, I found the most efficient method.
Twisting their necks.
Then pull.
I tried some other methods of breaking their necks, but all of them weren't that good.
Even if I put my all into it, there were many times when I was unsuccessful.
Of course, to twist their necks, I would have to get up close and personal, so I started to accumulate some damage too.
I used primarily potions to recover but when the cooldown time became an issue, I used【Wind Heal】too.
I needed the light so it was important to conserve as much MP as I could.
Well even with the light, this is still a forest at night.
I can't be careless.
After I dealt with an Evil Ant, I immediately got assaulted by a Hunter Bat.
I didn't notice it was there.
But before the attack hit me, Obsidian attacked the bat.
When it came to flying, the bat was faster.
It managed to pull off some sort of counter-attack.
Obsidian knocked the bat to the ground, where it was finished off by Volff.
《Summon Monster 『Obsidian』 Level Up!》
《Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
Ohh, just the first day and Obsidian's already leveled up.
Obsidians INT stat went up during the level-up.
I chose to raise the DEX stat.
I wanted its attacks in the forest to hit more often.
Monster Summon Obsidian Owl Lv1→Lv2（↑1）
DEX 12（↑1）
AGI 16
INT 20（↑1）
STR 12
VIT 10
SPI 15
Skills:
Peck Silent Flight Far Sight Night Vision Ambush Sense Danger
No new skills.
Well as long as it's steadily growing that's fine.
I tried to head deeper into the forest, but the places where the slope was too steep to go further started to increase.
Whether I wanted to or not, I couldn't proceed.
And in those slopes I would often find several holes.
Upon investigating, I found out they were Evil Ant nest entrances.
I was attacked quite a few times.
Even just getting close to the nest would cause them to call their friends and gather around you.
It was kind of annoying.
I got fed up with it, and started heading back.
On my way back I hunted more Evil Ants and Bloody Woods.
I was going at a nice pace.
Volff and Obsidian were having some kind of competition on who could find more prey.
They had fighting strength of their own, but finding and guiding me to prey instead was very welcome.
I managed to level up some skills because of that.
【Joint Lock】, 【Throw】, and【Grab】.
Yeah.
That was how I fought, so I can't complain.
I reached my goal for that night's hunting.
Well, I only ended up hunting in the forest.
When I returned to Master's house and arranged my inventory, I really realised how much I brought home today.
I spotted wild horse hind in there too.
I guess I'll have it made into something.
Maybe some horse equipment I borrowed from Master but never returned.
I feel like it would take a lot of trouble, working on wild horse leather.
I thought about a lot of things fondly.
Just thinking about things was pretty fun.
But I've been logged in for a long time, and it's gotten pretty late.
I'll log out and prepare for tomorrow.
When I logged in at the usual time a message came.
《Your friend has sent you a message.》
It was from Reina
She's pretty diligent, huh?
『I'm going to be in Legias this morning! I'll be at Mio's stall!』
Go to Legias to get my new rod, and from there I'll show my face in Remut.
They were in opposite directions but there was nothing I could do about that.
After setting up a rough plan for today, I summoned Zangetsu and Helix.
Let's go straight for Legias.
I'll get something to eat there.
It was a little difficult but I finally found Mio's stall.
I just didn't realise it was a joint establishment, and that it was pretty much combined with another stall.
There was another girl in her party that I'd never seen before.
She looked busy with stocking and cooking.
I called out to Mio but the conversation ended with a simple「Hi!」.
There was nothing I could do so I ordered a rabbit sandwich and ate it while I waited for Reina to show up.
「Hey! I'm back!」
In her usual style, Reina entered the stall.
Saki was with her too.
Along with two male players I've never seen before.
「Oh? Keith! Good Morning! Want to take a look right away?」
「That'd be great」
I gave a slight nod of greeting to the other players, and looked at the rod.
I used【Appraise】on it and sure enough, it was a Kaya Wood Rod.
I held it in my hand to feel its weight.
I moved to a more open place and swung it around me.
It's got a nice feeling to it.
Way better than the Beginner's Rod I was using.
「That's nice」
「Of course it is!」
The material costs were unexpectedly cheap, 100 Dyn.
It was cheap and high quality. No room for complaints.
「Oh! Introduce yourself!」
Spurred on by Reina, the other players introduced themselves in turn.
「Greetings. My name is Rick. I'm a merchant」
「My name is Shinohara, I'm a woodworker」
「Hey! The name's Yuka. I'm a cook like Mio」
「It's very nice to get to meet you. My name is Keith, I'm a summoner」
I noticed their expressions change into shock for a moment.
「Ah, sorry. I saw a hawk and a horse with green markers and… Well I understand now」
「No worries」
Rick gave me quite a docile impression. He had a good physique too. With that sword, I'd be willing to bet he's the vanguard.
Shinohara had a slightly smaller build and had a bow and a quiver on his back. A lot of woodworkers make bows, huh.
Yuka, like the name implied, was dressed like a model Japanese girl. Her quiet attitude really contrasted with Mio.
They're probably in a party together with Saki, Reina and Mio.
Working together since they were all in production jobs. It made sense.
For a while after that, Mio and Yuka had their hands full with serving customers and cooking.
I killed some time talking to the other four.
The conversation consisted almost entirely of new hunting locations they found around here.
But all of them were sealed somewhere on the way, so they couldn't go further.
Maybe some kind of event had to trigger beforehand? The forums focused a lot on that front.
A pretty difficult problem, huh?
While I received Mio's just-done cooking, I devoted myself to the listener role.
We talked about the potion shortage issue too.
And the increase in the number of parties with someone who can use recovery magic.
And how the resulting increase in trips and excursions caused the demand in potions to rise even further instead.
A lot of unfortunate news.
「I'm starting a temporary contact point to the adventurer's guild here! Just for selling used equipment and buying potions though!」
It really couldn't be helped.
Having to return all the way to Remut just to refill on potions must be hard on the players too.
「Ahh, the helmet will take just a little while longer alright? The tanning process takes a while」
「No worries, I can wait」
Oh yeah, she mentioned she was looking to buy things off of other players.
「Hey, I've got some things that I think you can sell」
「Show me!」
Reina was really enthusiastic.
I pulled out several items that I thought would sell out of my《Item Box》.
Evil Ant Stings, Bat Fangs… Things you could use as arrowheads, and Pheasant Wings and Steppe Hawk Wings for arrow feathers.
I pulled out Wild Rabbit Skins, Striped Raccoon skins, and finally the Wild Horse Hide. I put Wild Rabbit Meat and Blitz Thigh Meat in a pile, and Bloody Burdock in another.
I pulled out Evil Ant Shells too.
I've hunted quite a bit, so I ended up with quite a lot of stuff.
「Qu- Quite a large quantity, huh?」
「Wow, A piece of leather this big would get any craftsman excited」
「Before that, I'd love to talk to you about this food ingredient I've never seen before…」
「Wait a second, wait a second. I'm trying to calculate something」
She got rather hasty all of a sudden.
I'm being ignored in favour of a piece of skin.
At last, Saki started a conversation.
「So, what are you going to do about this?」
「I'd love to get the hide made into something. Boots, or maybe a saddle」
「I think you could make boots out of that, but it looks a little too small for a saddle」
「Boots it is, then」
「Ok, In fact I think if you're going with boots you'll have some left over. With the Wild Rabbit Skins I think I can make something to go around your waist. As for the Striped Raccoon skins, I doubt you can use those for armor」
「Please do that then, I'll sell the Striped Raccoon Skins」
「What about the others?」
「I'll sell the food ingredients to Mio, but everything else I'd love to sell too」
Saki started taking my foot measurements while whispering to herself. It felt kind of ticklish.
I really do have a lot of goods, huh.
I'm definitely a solo player by any definition, but since I have my Summon Monsters, I could hunt with high efficiency.
They found, chased after, pretty much hunted prey for me.
My Summon Monsters really contributed a lot more than I did.
Because of that, the《Item Box》I borrowed was quickly filled up.
In fact, until just now, it was almost overflowing.
It'd be great if I could sell off some stuff and make everything lighter.
「Bu- Burdock? And some kind of mystery meat」
With empty hands, Mio peeked over at us.
Mio picked up some Blitz Thigh Meat with both hands, and disappeared into the back of her stall.
Hey, that's theft you know.
She placed some slices on a steel plate and starting grilling them.
A nice smell wafted into the air.
After a short time, Mio took the grilled slices of meat and popped them into her mouth. She pulled a wry face.
Looks like she had a problem.
She stuffed another slice into a small piece of bread and handed it to me.
You asking me to eat that?
While enjoying the smell, I put it in my mouth.
The taste… was alright.
It was alright, but it had a kind of strange consistency.
Not very fatty, it seemed.
It had the flavour of red meat but it was still rather lacking.
「This one still needs some working on」
After saying that, she started discussing with Yuka.
Hey, an NPC customer needs you.
「Rick, how's the calculation going?」
「I'm good, I finished. But this is really something else」
「Pretty close to the amount we can hunt, yeah」
I received 18 100 Dyn coins from Rick.
No complaints about the income.
「Are you doing business and moving together? As fellow players in production jobs?」
「Yes, exactly! We're in the Player's Guild as "Manufacturers". They don't ask for your specific job」
「Hey, looks like we both got our convenient places to form parties and hunt」
「Two of us take care of the store, and the other four hunt or produce. That's the kind of thing we got going on」
「Fiona is coming over tomorrow」
「Is that so…」
「I'm taking initiative on arrow production and making quite a profit out of it too! We're a pretty big part of the overall arrow supply now!」
Reina could be pretty boastful at times, huh.
「You know Reina, I'd love to get a hand in hunting」
「Yeah! That'd be great for me too! I'm steadily getting a lot more arrowhead and feather materials from other players!」
「Come by whenever you have anything sellable, Keith!」
Well, there was nothing to do but nod.
It was a mutually beneficial thing after all.
The number of NPCs and other players looking for breakfast started to increase.
I left the place so I wouldn't get in anyone's way.
I wonder what Mio was always muttering about.
About the burdock, or how to go about cooking.
I couldn't catch anything other than that.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv4
Job Summoner Lv3
Bonus Points Remaining 11
Skill Sets:
Staff Lv3 Punch Lv2 Kick Lv2 Joint Lock Lv3（↑1） Throw Lv2（↑1） Evade Lv2 Block Lv2 Summon Magic Lv4
Light Magic Lv2 Wind Magic Lv3 Earth Magic Lv2 Water Magic Lv2 Alchemy Lv3 Pharmacy Lv2 Glassmaking Lv1
Cooperation Lv4（↑1） Appraise Lv3 Identify Lv3 Cold Resistance Lv2 Grab Lv3（↑1） Horsemanship Lv2 Precise Manipulation Lv2（↑1） Jump Lv1 Heat Resistance Lv1
Equipment:
Kaya Wood Rod Wild Rabbit Breastplate+ Series Snow Ape Armguard Cloth Shoes Rucksack Item Box x2
Items:
Survival Knife
Title:
Old Summoner's Temporary Pupil
Monster Summons:
Volff Wolf Lv3 (Asleep)
Zangetsu Horse Lv2
Helix Hawk Lv2
Obsidian Owl Lv2（↑1） (Asleep)
DEX 12（↑1）
AGI 16
INT 20（↑1）
STR 12
VIT 10
SPI 15