CH.338 SC: Unika moves to HomeBase

CH.338 SC: Unika moves to HomeBase

[Unika POV]

... what should we do?

That is what I was thinking as I walked towards home. I had the craziest experience of my life over the past few days.

It all began with that girl, Nel. She came up to me at the adventurer’s guild and asked me if I could help her get to the Green dungeon. At first, I was confused and thought that she wanted to form a party with me so we could dive into the dungeon together, but as I learned a bit more, I realized that I was wrong.

She had somehow found out about my skill, Tamer’s Paradise. And even more surprisingly, she knew that it could be used to take a person inside of it. I thought only I knew of that.

I discovered it by accident myself. My younger brother, Valoa, really likes petting my two foxes. So one time, when I was in a bit of a hurry to get to the city gates for an escort quest, I took my foxes, which Valoa was petting, into the Paradise while he was still holding them. I thought that only the foxes would come, but instead, Valoa also disappeared with them.

It was quite the fright at the time, but I was able to get him out of Tamer’s Paradise and even made it for my quest.

At first I wanted to refuse the Nel girl, as what she wanted me to do was against the guild rules, so if I was caught doing it, I would likely be kicked out of the guild. But then she told me how much she would pay me for it and I had to agree. I can’t just turn down that kind of money. We might even get a magic tutor for Valoa with that kind of money. And if he learns to use Light Magic, he may have a better future than I do. Sure being an adventurer isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t pay as much as they say.

So because Nel was willing to pay me a lot of money, I reserved a seat on a carriage heading for Green town, and before I got on the carriage, I took Nel into Tamer’s Paradise.

After I got to the town, I immediately headed for the dungeon, so I could let Nel out. Only to hear what she really wanted to do here. She wanted to go to area 5-3-7 for some shining carrots. And if possible, she also wanted to take a look at area 6.

That is not good. Area 5-3-7 is already bad, as it is really deep in the dungeon and many B-rank monsters appear there, but area 6 was even worse. Area 6 is known to hold many A-rank and even some S-rank monsters. And while the S-rank monsters mostly stay put, the A-rank monsters sometimes wander into area 5.

We really only had one way to succeed. We would need to gather dungeon points on the higher floors and then rush through area 4 and 5 while avoiding monsters, and then make it back to area 3 where the monsters are a lot more manageable.

And the beginning of it went just fine. We got the points we needed and after we rested, we were ready to head to the dangerous areas.

And that is where it went all wrong. When we passed area 5-3-6 on our way to area 5-3-7, we were ambushed by multiple terror plants. Their actual name is eichhornia, but they are called terror plants. They cling to you with long tendrils that have tiny thorns. Those thorns pierce your skin and inject a paralytic poison into you. Then the tendrils drag your body to the main plant, where the plant eats you.

And the worst part is that after the tendrils get to you, they won’t let go, so you cannot let them touch you.

“Nel, throw your bag at it! It will grab that instead of you!” I quickly said to Nel. That would be a way to buy time, but we would lose all of our equipment in our bags. Still better than getting caught.

We both used our bags to distract two of the terror plants, and I shot one of my poison arrows at the third one, so we could escape. I only had five poison arrows in total because they are very expensive, but they were potent enough that if they hit, they would paralyze even an A-rank monster for a bit, so I kept them with me in case I ran into situations like this.

With the plants now distracted, I thought about shooting poison arrows at the other two terror plants so that I could approach and finish them off, but that was not to be.

Because something I feared appeared. A greater man eater. An A-rank monster. It must have left area 6 and now it was here.

“... Nel. We need to run. When I give the signal, run.”

“Wha?”

I quickly shot out three more poisoned arrows, one at the greater man eater and the two others at the two terror plants.

“RUN!” I yelled out and we escaped that situation.

At that time, I thought we would be safe, as even without my bag and with just one poisoned arrow, as long as we make it to area 3, I can fight the monsters.

That was what I hoped, but that was not to be. Because in area 2-4-4, an area that would normally be easy for me, the next tragedy struck.

At first, I didn’t know what the small fairy-looking things were. Their bodies looked like they were made of plants and they had wings made of leaves and their heads were flowers, but it was too late when I realized what they were.

Because as I shot an arrow at one of them, the arrow passed right through its body, doing no damage.

“S-Sprites?!” I yelled out.

“B-But there shouldn’t be any here?” Nel was also surprised by the monsters we had ran into.

“Doesn’t matter. We have to fight them.”

“... Can you?”

I thought for a moment. I cannot use magic, as I’ve never had the time or money to learn how to. The only thing I can do is use just a bit of Fox Fire, but not to the point where I could fight sprites with it.

If I still had my poisoned arrows, they should be able to harm the sprites. ... but I only have one left. And even if I had all five, I might not be able to deal with all these sprites.

“... Nel. Can you use magic?” I asked. I hadn’t seen her use any magic, but she had some reasonable skill with her blades, so she might be able to.

On HomeBase, we were shown around by two cat-folk who were just a bit older than Valoa. Their names are Einar and Eline. They were sold to slavery so their parents could reduce the number of mouths they had to feed, but they were then picked up by Lord Brian and he freed them from slavery and is now having them work for him.

As they showed us around, I saw some really cool things. I really liked the practice grounds, but my real favorite was the spa area. I still remember how it felt to be pampered by that demon maid, and I really wanted to experience that again.

“Sheou isn’t a demon, she is a dragon. Like Agunan.” Eline corrected me.

“D-D-dragon?” Mom was very surprised. I had told her about Agunan, but maybe she didn’t believe me.

“... I didn’t know. I thought she was a demon.” I admitted. “She doesn’t have wings or a tail like Agunan has.”

“That is because she is different from Sir Agunan.” Einar answered. “Sheou is made with Master’s skill. He calls them cards. They live inside these things that make them look humanoid called avatar dolls. We’ll show them to you later.”

As they kept showing us around, we eventually reached a place that was like a house for tamed monsters. Einar told me that I should leave my iron foxes here.

There was already one monster present, so I had to ask who had tamed it.

“Who tamed that snow tiger?”

“Lumi is a blizzard tiger, and I did.” Einar answered.

“You? Really? But a blizzard tiger is a B-rank monster?”

“I got help from Master Lord Brian. I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.”

“That is amazing!” Maybe he could help me tame a B-rank monster. Or perhaps even an A-rank monster.

“You want to see mine?” Eline then asked.

“... you have a blizzard tiger as well?” I asked.

“No. I have a mountain lion and a lightning tiger.” She answered.

“... a young child with two B-rank monsters?” Mom questioned.

“Where are they? Do they have a place of their own?” I asked, as this place only had the blizzard tiger.

“I’ll call them. Please respond to my call and come to my side. Mountain Lion Mufasa, Lightning Tiger Sparky.” Eline chanted a bit and two beasts appeared by her side. A tiger and a lion.

“... Is... Is that summoning magic?” I asked.

“Yes. ... I know it isn’t as impressive as what Master can do, but I hope you liked it.”

“... master... Lord Brian...”

“When you compare tigers and lions to the monsters Master summons, they really aren’t all that impressive.” Einar said.

“But for us, B-rank monsters are already amazing.” Eline continued.

“... what can he summon?” I asked.

“Anything.” Einar answered. “I don’t think something exist that he cannot summon. He can even summon things that don’t exist, even in legends.”

“Yes. Like the airships.” Eline cut in.

“Airships?”

“Yes. Master can summon airships. They are Huge!” Eline said excitedly, as she opened her arms wide.

“And the smaller ones travel super fast.” Einar added.

“Wow. I want to ride one!” Valoa exclaimed.

... that really does sound cool. I saw his carriage already, so I wonder if the airships are as nice as the carriage is. I hope that it is.

But I’m more interested in the summoning magic that Eline showed. Maybe I could do that? That way, I could have both tamed monsters and summonable monsters. That could be very useful. Maybe Lord Brian will teach me if I ask?

By the end of our tour, Einar and Eline helped us situate into our new rooms. We all had our own rooms. It was amazing. We used to live in a house with only two rooms, the kitchen and the bedroom, so we all had to sleep in the same room. And while the room I got wasn’t as nice as the room I stayed in last time, it was still really nice. But I wonder, if I work hard, would Lord Brian be willing to move me from this room to a better one?

But that won’t matter. It is time for what I’ve been waiting for the most. That spa place. I want to wash my tail again. I will make sure it shines and from now on. It will be perfect.