CH 248

Episode 248 – Switching Over

“Thank you for today! About the attack… well, I’ll talk to Juno and see.” (Tobias)

“Likewise, thank you for all the information as always. Yeah, honestly, my own understanding of the situation is a little lacking, so it would be great if you shared the information with Juno-san.” (Lewin)

After finishing the discussion with Tobias and expressing my gratitude, I left the Laudungeon Company. Since it had been a little past noon when we’d first started talking about the attacks, it was already evening. I had wanted to take my time today powering up with plants, but it looked like I would have to make it quick.

…At any rate, the talk about the attacks was a bit difficult for me to understand. In summary, the Demon King’s Army may have secretly left a small number of troops in the kingdom’s territory, and there was a possibility that those troops were gathering near Landaust and were planning to launch a surprise attack.

The possibility seemed exceedingly low, but it made me wonder how Juno had arrived at the conclusion that the Demon King’s Army was planning to attack Landaust. Based on what she had said, there was more of a possibility that they were planning a surprise attack.

This was a town where adventurers tended to gather, so it’d probably be able to manage. Of course, if the Demon King’s Army did attack, then I would fight… But right now the probability of that happening was just too low, and I couldn’t just sit around and wait for them to come. Until more information came out, I had to set aside all thoughts of the attacks from my mind and focus on clearing the Dungeon.

While thinking about this and that regarding the attacks, I found myself back at Ponpokotei. Before entering, I caught the scent of a strong, delicious aroma wafting in the air, making my stomach rumble miserably.

“Ah, Lewin-san. Welcome back! You’re just in time. The food is about to be ready!” (Ruth)

“I’ve just returned. Before I even came in, I could smell the amazing scent of cooking in the air! The breakfast this morning was really delicious, so I’m looking forward to dinner as well.” (Lewin)

“Ehehe. I think Mom would also be happy to hear that you liked it! She put her all into dinner too, so please wait just a bit longer!” (Ruth)

Ruth welcomed me home with a beaming smile. I was happy from the bottom of my heart that I would be able to eat a hot, tasty dinner, and I was grateful for this warm environment that Ruth and Ruth’s mother provided for me. Ponpokotei was really a place of healing to me.

Now then, in the meantime before dinner is ready, I’ll go to my room and make preparations to ingest Magical Grass and Dumbbell Weed. Thinking that I would feel bad if I filled my stomach up with nasty tasting plants before dinner, I decided to make the plants into pill form so I could eat them after dinner.

This time, I was planning to ingest the plants via the method I’d discovered last time—by rolling them into pills with Adhesive Herb and using the Balloon Flower to completely encase the Dumbbell Weed. A small Balloon Flower could fit in my mouth, and if I were to swallow it with contents still trapped inside, then it would further curb the amount of damage done to me compared to if it were in its regular pill form.

I was a little concerned that it might burst in my mouth, but… let’s still try this method of ingestion out with the utmost care.

For a short while, I kneaded the Magical Grass with the Adhesive Herb to form pills and crammed the Dumbbell Weed into the Balloon Flowers. I suddenly heard a knock at the door, followed by Ruth’s bright voice letting me know that dinner was ready.

“Thank you. I’ll be right there.” (Lewin)

After giving a short reply, I temporarily set aside the ones I had made and quickly tidied up before taking off towards the dining hall. It was busier than it had been in the morning, and it seemed like almost all of the customers currently staying here were gathered.

Before I started going into the Dungeon all the time, I used to eat dinner here around this time, but since I had completely neglected to come here recently, I hardly recognized any of their faces. This was purely an inn after all, and I was the only long-stay customer. Stepping into the bustling atmosphere, feeling a bit estranged, I took a seat down in an empty chair. Ruth brought over the food for me right away.

“Thanks for waiting! It’s not as extravagant as this morning, but I hope you’ll take the time to enjoy it!” (Ruth)

“Not at all, it’s more than extravagant enough! Thank you. I’ll take my time to savor it.” (Lewin)

The meal that Ruth had brought over consisted of a flavorful soup with meat and vegetables and a seafood salad. The main dish was white rice paired with a deliciously fragrant, enticing Dumbbell Weed curry, which was topped with a steak cutlet coated in a deep-fried crispy batter.

The amount of variety was certainly a bit less than this morning, but it was still a very extravagant dinner. The curry with the deep-fried steak cutlet on top was called Katsu Curry1 , and it was a superb dish. I couldn’t take it any longer, so after saying my graces before the meal, I dug heartily into the meal.

After enjoying the delicious food in the dining hall, I finally started to prepare for tomorrow. Before ingesting the plants, I checked my baggage.

Since we were planning to clear with only the absolute minimum amount of baggage, forgetting something was absolutely forbidden. The moment we forgot something, there was a good chance that our Dungeon attempt would be interrupted, so I made sure to triple check.

After verifying the baggage, next up was checking my gear. I carefully tended to the equipment that I’d received from the grandma, and I performed a bit of maintenance on my sword.

There was going to be a boss battle on the 23rd layer, so I couldn’t get careless with my equipment. Humans could adapt to things quickly, but they were weak towards first experiences. After taking great care of my equipment and checking that I had the items for the boss battle… It was finally time to ingest the plants.

I didn’t want to eat anything since I was full, but I couldn’t skip out on this if I wanted to get stronger. It was the only advantage that I had over others; if I were to drop this, then I would end up being inferior to even an ordinary person.

Smacking my cheeks to get myself fired up, I picked up the Magical Grass pills that I had prepared earlier along with some milk. My body was rejecting it so hard that my hands were shaking, but I tossed the pills into my mouth one after the other and washed them down with the milk. And in the process, I managed to discover the new method of safely ingesting Dumbbell Weed by encasing it with Balloon Flowers.

I desperately endured, holding back the desire to vomit from the strong bitterness and stench welling up from my stomach. After it had subsided, I went to sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s Dungeon attempt.