CH 232

Episode 232 – News of the Attack

“Er, is the town that’s being attacked close to Landaust?” (Lewin)

“Hmm. It’s about three villages away, so it’s a considerable distance. But in terms of big towns, the one that’s closest to it would be Landaust, so we can’t quite set aside our worries.” (Tobias)

I had been asking Tobias about the recent news. Tobias didn’t seem to know all of the details yet, but when I heard that “a town was attacked”, I couldn’t help but think of what happened in Seykoll.

“I see. So where did the monsters that attacked them go?” (Lewin)

“About that… they were nowhere to be found. But the people from the town that was attacked today said that there was a huge swarm of monsters.” (Tobias)

“A huge swarm, is it? …Could it be the Demon King’s Army?” (Lewin)

“Dunno. This was really all the information I could gather. Well… even if it was the Demon King’s Army, Landaust is crawling with so many adventurers that the Demon King’s Army wouldn’t even stand a chance, so there’s no need to worry.” (Tobias)

A majority of those adventurers were stuck on the 7th layer and above, but their strength was still better than the average soldier. Besides, aside from the Dungeon-going adventurers, there were still normal adventurers from other towns. There was a good chance that Landaust was even safer than the royal capital, which was at the center of the kingdom.

“That’s true. Even supposing the Demon King’s Army did attack Landaust, there would be no need for concern.” (Lewin)

Our discussion about the attack ended there, and Tobias returned to his office on the second floor. It seemed that after taking his lunch break, he was planning to prepare the news coverage and then go out for another interview about the attack. He said he would come back to interview me in the evening.

I had already finished with the Sticky Bomb, but I still had tons of potions I wanted to make, so I agreed and told him that I would stay here. Item creation was fun, and making potions that made the best use of plants was even more enjoyable to me. From here, I think I’ll try out all the potion recipes that I thought of while I was in the Dungeon.

After I switched from item creation to potion brewing, time passed quickly. By the time I noticed, the sun was already setting. I had spent about two hours brewing potions. However, since all of them were new works inspired by random ideas that I had had in mind, only three of them were practical in terms of their effects.

There were a few potions that could work if I let the idea simmer for a bit longer, and I really wanted to keep making potions, but… it seemed like it was almost time for Tobias to come back. I decided to stop here and clean up.

After taking out the cleaning equipment, I began to wipe down the brewing stand and thoroughly wash the tools. Then, I took each potion and wrapped them in cloth, placing them with utmost care into my bag so that they wouldn’t break.

With that, I was roughly finished with cleaning up. Tobias showed up moments later with great timing.

“My bad. Did I make you wait?” (Tobias)

“No, I just finished cleaning up, so you were just on time.” (Lewin)

“I see. That’s good then! Are you okay with going to the 2nd floor for the interview? I really would’ve wanted to go grab something to drink or a light meal while talking, but… you’ve become a bit too famous, Lewin.” (Tobias)

“Of course the 2nd floor is fine. I was planning to have the interview here after all.” (Lewin)

When I checked over the contents of the article, I was happy to find that it was well-written, even though reading it made me feel embarrassed. The name for our party that I had come up with seemed to be well-received by Tobias and there seemed to be no other problems, so that wrapped up the interview for the newspaper article.

“Man, thanks so much! Now all I have to do is finish the article and release it as a special issue. Thanks for your time.” (Tobias)

“Not at all. I owe you a lot, Tobias-san. Plus, I already promised to do this, so no worries!” (Lewin)

After finishing the interview with Tobias, we said our goodbyes, and I left the Laudungeon Company, where I had been for the entire day.

―Nnggghhh!

I went outside and stretched deeply to work the stiffness out of my body, and then I began to think about what I was going to do.

Honestly, I thought the interview would take longer, so I didn’t think about what I was going to do after this at all. Also, there was still some time left until the dinner time at Ponpokotei. I guess I could go to Green Formula, or I could go check out the Dungeon monitors.

However, I was trying not to follow the movements of the [Azure Alliance] so that I wouldn’t end up imitating their strategy somehow…

After much deliberation, I decided to do some shopping for tomorrow. The shopping, of course, was not for the things we needed to sleep outdoors, but for the plant feast. I had to buy lots of foods or spices to eat together with Magical Grass to cut down on the bitterness, otherwise I’d have hell waiting for me.

Now that I had decided on what to do, I would have to first return to Ponpokotei to drop off the potions. While I’m at it, I should ask Ruth and Ruth’s mother for their recommendation on a food ingredient shop.

I made my way back to Ponpokotei while rubbing my stomach, which was beginning to rumble ominously at the vivid memories of Magical Grass.