066 – Order
Order
After taking out an NT Ant with three Waterstorms, it takes four Fireballs to take out a Needle Wood Lv9.
If I were to use only fire type magic, it would take six attacks. Which means three water type magic attacks are equivalent to two fire type magic attacks.
Lv8 monsters require five magic attacks, in which case, three water type magic attacks are equivalent to roughly around one fire type magic attack and a half.
Water type magic does half as much damage?
NT Ant is the monster native to 9th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth. However, Needle Woods from 8th floor also appear here alongside NT Ants.
Water type magic is the weakness of NT Ants, but Needle Woods have resistance toward water type magic.
It’s surely not an ideal pair of monsters.
Still, I’m glad that it’s NT Ant that appears most of the time on 9th floor.
I’m glad that it’s not the other way round.
If three Needle Woods and an NT Ant were to appear, it would take three Waterstorms to kill just that one NT Ant. Three Needle Woods would still be standing.
It’s a relief that it’s NT Ant that appears most of the time on 9th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth.
NT Ant has to be taken out before it uses poison type attack.
Since it takes only three water type magic attacks, it can be taken out before it uses poison type attack.
As it stands, NT Ants won’t get any chance to use poison type attacks.
The level of Needle Woods has increased, so should the time and the number of magic attacks required to take them out. It’s not the case overall, however, for the number of Needle Woods has decreased compared to 8th floor.
We are managing 9th floor of Quratar’s labyrinth without any trouble.
We return from the labyrinth for breakfast.
Today’s breakfast is macaroni yakisoba.
Rabbit meat and vegetables are first fried in olive oil. Boiled macaroni and some wine are then added to it. After it’s baked, I season it with fish sauce.
I had already tried it earlier at dinner, and had confirmed that there was no issue with its taste.
There doesn’t seem to be a fork in this world.
Roxanne and Sherry use wooden knife and spoon skillfully.
Because I have made chopsticks for myself, I wonder how Roxanne and Sherry are going to fare with yakisoba.
By the way, there’s a long spaghetti-like pasta in this world.
I was wondering how people here eat it without fork. Apparently, they grab it with bare hands.
To the extent of meat and vegetables, knife and spoon are enough.
But to eat yakisoba with bare hands? I won’t ever let Roxanne and Sherry do that.
Therefore, I used macaroni.
Because it’s short, spoon would do.
While I was preparing breakfast, Roxanne was doing the laundry, and Sherry was doing the cleaning.
Because there’s no washing machine or vacuum cleaner in this world, it’s quite taxing.
It’ll be burdensome for them, if I don’t prepare breakfast myself.
I put the macaroni yakisoba on the dining table.
Sweet-salty aroma of fish sauce is stimulating appetite.
Those two are already here.
“Did I make you wait for long?”
“Not at all.”
Sherry sits down on her chair, and Roxanne brushes her hair from behind her.
It’s the same brush she bought on her day off.
I feel like something is missing.
Roxanne puts the brush away, and sits right across from me.
“Thank you, Roxanne-san.”
“Let’s start eating then?”
“Yes. Thanks for the food.”
Setting that feeling aside, I serve the baked macaroni to the those two.
About the macaroni yakisoba, the taste was good enough. Still, something was missing.
Because it’s macaroni, and not noodles?
Or because there’s no aonori?
I get it. It’s because I couldn’t find aonori and beni shoga.
Oh well, it can’t be helped.
Roxanne and Sherry look so cute with their cheeks stuffed.
The yakisoba is not up to the standards, but it’s still satisfactory.
About the feeling I was having earlier that something was missing.
It’s mirror.
Roxanne and Sherry need a mirror.
I dont need any mirror myself, but it seems to be necessary now.
About a month has passed ever since I came to this world.
My hair has grown quite a bit, and it’s getting annoying.
I’ll ask Roxanne to cut my hair sometime.
It’ll be better to get a mirror before that.
“Do we need a mirror?”
I ask while putting a spoonful of macaroni in my mouth.
“It’ll be better to have one, but not needed.”
“I wish there was one that could reflect exact image.”
In this world, polished metal serves as mirror.
It doesn’t reflect clearly.
I saw one in a store. Although it was high quality one, it wasn’t that good.
“There is one that reflects exact image. Do you perhaps not know about Palmasque mirror?”
“Palmasque?”
“Palmasque is a town that’s situated between the Empire and Kassim. Roxanne-san’s native place is a little off from Kassim.”
Hmm…
I remember having a conversation with Roxanne in that regard.
I don’t remember the details, but I know there was such a conversation.
If she came from Kassim, it’s not surprising that she knows about Palmasque.
“I-I’m from a place far away from Kassim, that’s why I don’t know about Kassim.”
I try to deceive them.
I wonder if it was enough.
There’s a possibility of getting cornered if I keep on making random stuff up.
“Is that so? Palmasque is a city famous for its glassworks. The mirror they make using glass reflects exact image. It’s a luxury item, however, and is often exchanged as gifts among nobles.”
There seem to be mirrors made from glass in this world.
There are some advanced manufacturing techniques here after all.
I wonder if I can find one in the Imperial Capital.
“It seems to be expensive. Let’s look for one someday.”
“If you buy it directly from Palmasque, it won’t be that expensive.”
“If it’s master, can’t he go there himself?”
Roxanne points it out.
If I can go there myself, I can buy it directly from there.
If I buy it from there, it’ll be relatively cheaper.
“Palmasque is quit far, you can’t go there directly. This is the reason why it’s expensive here.”
“I see.”
If adventurers could go there directly using Field Walk, its price wouldn’t be so high.
Large objects aside, you can carry hand-size mirrors with you in field walk.
If you could get it directly from palmasqu at cheaper price, and resell it elsewhere for higher, it would be easy money.
But Palmasque is quite far, so much that you can’t go there directly. For this reason, Palmasque mirror is costly here.
The distance seems to be too much for even Field Walk.
“Can master not go there?”
To Roxanne, I’m someone great, but I’m actually not.
To them, I’m from a place that’s far from even Kassim, while Palmasque is closer than Kassim from here.
By that logic, I should be able to go to Palmasque.
It’ll be strange if I can’t.
I really shouldn’t make random stuff up.
“I-I guess.”
“We can cover the distance in several smaller trips. It’s not necessary to go there directly.”
Sherry advises to cover the distance in parts.
It’s not a given that I came here from beyond Kassim in one day.
If it’s on the same continent, I could come here even on foot.
If I traveled for many years.
“Well, it’s worth trying.”
“A little farther from the Imperial Capital is a town called Dohona. Do you know about it?”
“No, I don’t.”
“After Dohona is Dobur, after Dobur is Saboja, after which is Aiena, after Aiena is…”
Sherry cites several towns.
Which I haven’t heard about, of course.
But it’ll be strange for someone, who came from beyond Kassim, to not know that.
That’s bad.
Well then, Let’s just say I came here from Kassim directly.
I didn’t come here passing through all those towns.
“I don’t know any of these.”
“Is that so? You must’ve taken a different route.”
Of course, another route!
There has to be another route.
“That’s right.”
“I won’t recommend going to Palmasque’s Adventurer Guild directly. We should go there via. adventurer guilds of the connecting cities I just mentioned.”
It has been decided that we’ll go there by making several smaller trips.
After breakfast, Sherry makes a Misanga.
The number of misanga she makes is increasing gradually.
Misanga | Accessory
Skill: Empty
By now, she has made a total of three Misanga with empty skill slot.
I wonder if it’s enough for the time being.
We can make three Sacrificial Misanga now.
If it breaks, however, we’ll need more.
“What’s the next equipment that Master Smiths are supposed to make after Misanga?”
“Once you’ve trained yourself in making Misanga, you try to make Dagger next.”
“Dagger?”
It’s Dagger. And here I was hoping that she would make a sword next.
“Umm… Misanga training requires a minimum of six months to a year, but it can go up to two years depending on the person.”
“If they can’t make more than one Misanga in the morning and in the evening during the training?”
“Y-Yes.”
“But Sherry can make more than one. Shouldn’t you move on to next equipment?”
“Y-Yes, I guess.”
She hasn’t completely let go of what was taught to her, it seems.
“It’s alright. Even if you can’t, it’s fine.”
“We use a branch when making Dagger. However, the branch is lost, if it results in failure.”
I see.
There seems to be a cost of failure.
“Is there anything else, in case of failure?”
“No, there’s nothing else.”
“If it’s only a loss of branch, then there’s no problem.”
“I-I understand. To make a Dagger, we need two Jack-knives, dropped by Kobolds, a branch and a piece of hide.”
It’s complicated.
Is it gonna be alright?
Yeah, it’s alright.
I said it’s alright, but…
“But isn’t it a sudden increase in difficulty level?”
“Using multiple materials is not difficult. There are many equipment that require a lot more raw materials.”
“I see. Two Jack-knives, a branch and a piece of hide?”
Jack knives seem to be used as material.
Can they be evolved into a Dagger?
Not unless you’re a Master Smith, I guess.
Jack-knife can be turned back into metal to make copper coins. Is that why branch is used?
Branch is necessary in processing metal.
What about hide then?
“Hide is used to make sheath.”
“That’s convenient.”
When an equipment is made, its sheath is made together with it.
It would indeed be bothersome if you were to first make the equipment and its sheath separately.
But that’s not the case.
For afternoon exploration, we go to 3rd floor to hunt Kobolds.
The problem is, Kobolds don’t drop only Jack-knives.
I hunted about ten Kobolds.
Last two Kobolds both drop Jack-knives. Finally!
Can’t I buy it from the guild?
No, Dagger is not an essential item.
We need to make a Dagger only because it’s the next equipment in order.
I have no idea why Master Smiths have predetermined order of equipment. Due to MP capacity, perhaps?
Or to gain experience?
Whatever the reason is, we need to follow it.
“Well, I’ll start then.”
Before dinner, I hand two Jack-knives, a branch and a piece of hide to Sherry.
Sherry activates the skill.
Her hands start glowing.
Her hands keep glowing.
I don’t know why it’s taking too long this time.
She picks the materials up from the table one after the other.
It’s clear that the difficulty level has increased.
Dagger | One-handed sword
When the light subsided, only a sword remained.
And it’s sheathed.
“Oh, a success.”
“I did it!”
Sherry seems to be fine too.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I feel I can make one more.”
“No, there’s no need to overdo it. It should be more taxing than Misanga.”
“That’s right. Making a Dagger requires more effort than making a Misanga. But I don’t feel tired at all. I think I can make more. And I was told that it’s more tiring to make a Dagger than to make a Misanga. They told me to make one Misanga in the morning and in the evening for a long period of time. Why did they lie to me?”
Sherry’s distrust toward people who taught her seems to be increasing.
It’s getting bad.
Her MP is a lot more than other Master Smiths of same age as her, due to her high level, and shared effects of my Hero job.
There’s no helping that she’s different from the rest.
“I think it varies from person to person. They were not wrong in my opinion. It’s just that Sherry is an extraordinary Master Smith.”
“Thank you. That might be so. Dagger sells for high price, yet there was no one who mass produced Dagger. Dagger might indeed be tiring to make, so it was probably not a lie. It’s a mystery to me.”
“Dagger’s price is high? Then can you make more Daggers from now on?”
I change the subject.
It’s too good to be true in this world, so it’s better to not dwell further into it.
“Yes. I’ll do my best.”
“So, after Dagger are hide equipment?”
“Hide Mittens, Hide Cap, Hide Boots, any equipment that requires one piece of hide.”
I see.
So the difficulty level doesn’t increase if it requires only one piece of hide?
“There’s plenty of hide here. Can you make one?”
“Yes. It should be fine even if it results in failure, since it doesn’t need branch.”
Because there’s no cost of failure this time, Sherry replies with a voice full of energy.