CH 126

We’re done taking apart the blood snake, but we’re not used to it, so it took some time. We struggled with it together while I tried to remember what I saw in the reference room.

I roast some of its meat, just to have a little taste, and it doesn’t disappoint. Hikari looks very happy with it too. This meat is expensive, so I’m going to sell half, and save half for us to eat. Blood snakes are big, so that won’t be a problem.

But apparently I can get more money for the skin, because people say it’s a great material to make equipment. It’s light and tough, and resistant against not only poison but also acid, so it’s popular with people who stay back in their party’s formation.

The fangs can also be used as materials to make weapons.

“Big sister Mia, that was some nice magic.”

Hikari looks like she has mixed feelings about being complimented so directly by Hikari. I think she feels she didn’t earn it.

I think the nerves got to her in the middle, and she panicked a little and lost her concentration, but I want to praise her for being able to rebound and use magic anyway. But Hikari is handling that.

“So what are we going to do today, Master?”

I get the feeling that Sera has sort of caught on to the fact that I know where monsters are. Sera herself also seems to be good at tracking monster presences. Is it a characteristic of beast people? Are her senses just sharp? She’s not as accurate as me, but still.

“I want to pick medicinal herbs, if I can.”

“Yes, you’re incredible at doing that.”

“You seem to be the opposite, Sera.”

“Yes, I know I’m not delicate enough.”

Says Sera, looking embarrassed for once.

“What are you two talking about, master?”

“About how fun it is to pick medicinal herbs.”

“Weeding is boring.”

I guess medicinal herb picking and weeding are pretty much the same thing in Hikari’s eyes…

I turn to Mia, looking for a different opinion, and she turns away…! You too!?

Uh? Is this why so many medicinal herb picking quests tend to go unaccepted?

“What about digging for potatoes?”

“That one is very necessary.”

I ask, just to see what she’d say. I guess it’s different when we’re talking about food.

By the way, their actual name is ojyaga, but they’re clearly potatoes. They’re usually boiled and accompanied with salt or butter.

After I let it slip that they’re used in all sorts of dishes, I end up saying I’ll try to make them sometime. I mean, I’ll try, but I’m not too confident that I’ll do it well. I just have to rely on my skill I guess.

“You can watch out for any threats, or look for berries and stuff like that.”

I hope we can find killer bees too. They’re quick, but their honey is popular, and I think I remember a quest asking for it too.

In the end, they agree to do as I want.

I guess I am the leader of a party of slaves, although in practice it’s more complicated than that. But that means I’m pretty much free to decide what we do, except for what we eat.

But even though we are in a forest, that doesn’t mean we’ll come across a field of medicinal herbs right away. As we walk, we pick fruit, hunt the monsters we encounter, and this pattern repeats, meaning we’re actually going pretty slowly.

I get my wish, and we find killer bees too. They’re about as big as an adult man’s head, and the sound of their wings is really annoying. It would be one thing if it was just one, but it’s so loud when they all make the same noise.

I can see Mia’s face contorting, but I think that’s more because she thinks that swarm of killer bees is creepy. Hikari and Sera don’t seem to mind, and take out one after the other.

I take down a few myself, but the targets being that small and fast means I have trouble swinging my sword accurately. How does Sera manage to hit them with an axe?

I’ve read that we can harvest their wings, but I didn’t check what they’re used for. What we need to present to prove that we hunted them is their stingers.

Of course, we make sure to take the honey after they’re all down. The area surrounding their nest is like a stockpile of food too.

I also get my wish to pick medicinal herbs, because there’s a field not too far away. There are many magic energy herbs here, so I take care to only pick the ones that are ready to be picked. Conversely, I don’t find a single vitality medicinal herb.

We take a break to have lunch, and talk about what to do after we’re done here.

“We’ve kind of accomplished our goal here. Should we go back?”

“Don’t you want to go to the next floor, Master?”

Asks Sera.

“It would make things easier if we registered there, but we don’t even know where the staircase is, and looking for it would take time.”

“I think I have a good idea of where it is.”

You do? That’s the first I’m hearing of it. Even my Map doesn’t know.

“Remember that smoke signal we saw when we got to this floor? That’s probably where the next staircase is.”

She explains it further, and it makes sense. The hunting party came from the fifth and sixth floors to search for the enemy, probably because this floor is so big. And according to the adventurer we met before, they don’t want to spend a lot of time here, so I guess they split into two groups.

I’m thinking since there’s a superior species around, splitting your forces actually sounds more dangerous, but there’s a chance that they might evolve further if left alone, so it’s also recommended that they be taken care of as soon as possible.

I do remember Fred saying something about meeting up with the others, but it’s great how she got such a good grasp of the situation from that small conversation.

“But if the wolf isn’t in the direction where we came from, that makes it more likely that it’s in the opposite direction. Isn’t that dangerous?”

My Map isn’t totally filled out yet, so there’s more to explore. It could be there.

But this place is actually bigger than I expected, so exploring the whole thing might be too much effort.

“It’s up to you, master.”

Thinking about efficiency alone, we should keep going. It’s like that’s on a scale with safety on the other side.

“Let’s go back to the entrance and check things out there. If the dark wolf’s territory is near where that smoke signal came from, they might have encountered it.”

Whether we advance or go back, we should check things first. If the dark wolf has been defeated, that makes things simple, and we should just go register the next floor.