The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

After meeting up with Jeanne, we decide to confirm our loot before leaving the dungeon.

This is our first dungeon exploration today. We could just sell them all, but it is also important to confirm just what and how much we got.

“It was only this much for me. Black stones only appeared rarely.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne defeated Skeletons, Skeleton Soldiers, and Bone Knights.

Skeletons and Soldiers had Transparent Stones.

Transparent Stones and Black Stones from the Bone Knight.

“This must be a Dark Spirit Stone. Actually, this is my first time seeing a Dark Stone, but there should be no mistake about it.” (Hikaru)

“Really? Even though you use Dark Spirit Abilities?” (Jeanne)

“There’s no monster that drops Dark Stones in the 2nd and 3rd Floor after all…” (Hikaru)

Dark Stones can be used for Create Undead, so I would like to keep them as much as possible. I would like to raise the proficiency of my Ability itself, and Bone Knights should be able to serve as tanks when needed. Or more like, an undead of an undead feels weird.

“I got quite a bit.” (Hikaru)

This time I take out the Spirit Stones I looted from the Shadow Storage.

80% of the time, the stones that Goblins and Orcs drop are transparent. Ogres would drop Earth Spirit Stones 50% of the time.

Mantis are Wind or Chaotic. It might even drop transparents, but not from what I know.

There should be more than 100 here, but there are fewer colored ones than I expected.

However, there’s a Chaotic Stone from the Mantis, so it should be quite the earning with only that alone. It can serve as a trump card, so I don’t really want to sell it though.

“…Wow, this much in just today alone?” (Jeanne)

“I am used to the 2nd Floor after all.” (Hikaru)

“Even with that……no, you were the No.1 man in the viewership. You can do this much, huh.” (Jeanne)

“Stop that. I gathered viewers in order to revive Nanami. It is not like I wished for it.” (Hikaru)

“I didn’t say that in a bad way. I simply reconfirmed here that you have the ability to make that possible, Kuro.” (Jeanne)

1,000 Chosen at the beginning is by no means a low number.

Becoming 1st within those really does require you to fight monsters and win results in drawing viewers the most.

Jeanne and I are both battle types, and fighting monsters normally being our main content might be something natural in a world like this that is similar to a fantasy game.

“And so, how much would all of this go for? If this doesn’t end up being at least 3 silver, our livelihood will be rough.” (Jeanne)

“You still didn’t know the market price of Spirit Stones, huh, Jeanne… Well, I myself don’t know it too well though. It is most likely around 1 gold for everything.” (Hikaru)

“G-Gold?!” (Jeanne)

1 gold is around 40 silver in the current rate though. The rent is 28 silver, so we have suddenly earned more than our rent.

(It is natural for Jeanne to get surprised.) (Hikaru)

1 gold is probably around 800,000 yen.

…Of course, it varies depending on the property, so I calculate all from a few instances, but anyways, 1 gold is an abnormal amount of money that is enough to live on for 1 month.

After we confirmed our loot, we exited the dungeon.

To the guild that’s 5 minutes on foot from the dungeon.

They help out in the selling of the Spirit Stones, so I stored the Dark Spirit Stones and the Mantis Chaotic Spirit Stone in the Shadow Storage.

We sold the remaining half and half.

*Whisper whisper*

“Oi, isn’t that…”

*Whisper whisper*

When we entered the guild, it was crowded to an incomparable degree from the time before.

The line for selling the loot seems like it will take time too…

(Aren’t they gossiping here…?) (Hikaru)

I can feel gazes.

I feel as if the other explorers are looking at me… Am I just being too self-conscious?

Am I getting fear of gazes or something…?

But when I strained my ears, I could hear familiar words…

{Isn’t that guy the one that partied with Rifreya-san?}

{He is already with a different woman…?}

{I heard he defeated a Demon Lord too…}

{Love-Love Twin Birds, right…?}

{What’s that?}

{Love-Love Twin Birds is the party name.}

{You kidding me, right…?}

They were clearly gossiping about us.

“Aren’t you famous, Kuro. We really should have made the name of our new party Love-Love Twin Birds. The name has already spread this much…” (Jeanne)

“Please stop… I didn’t know either… Why do I have to suffer this…?” (Hikaru)

They are talking in a really low voice, but my body capabilities must have been enhanced from my Tier going up, I could hear them completely.

Or more like, I always asked Rifreya to sell the things and didn’t enter the guild myself, but did we stand out more than I thought?

I was partying with that Rifreya, so I do understand it to a certain extent, but being famous for a weird name is beyond unpleasant.

I lined up while feeling uncomfortable and eventually our turn came, bringing out the Spirit Stones onto the counter, and selling them.

That in itself was finished without any problems (got 30 silver) and we exited the guild as if escaping from there.

We met up with Grapefull waiting outside and went to get dinner.

Since coming to this world, it is clear that my desire for food has increased. The amount of food I eat has close to doubled, and eating out after an exploration has become a secret pleasure of mine.

Let’s go for meat today.

After finishing our meal, we bid our farewell from Grapefull and went our way home.

I gave Full 5 small silver as usual. I have already paid her at the beginning, so giving her extra might not be good, but the earning for the Lynxes work is way too bad.

That’s why, in the time we are hiring her, it should be safe between ourselves. Also, it would be even better if she could form a pact with a Great Spirit sooner.

We return to our house, and we head to the bathhouse after leaving our luggage.

The house we rented has no baths.

The water can be drawn from the aqueduct. There should be no problem using that and bathing in cold water, but me and Jeanne really are modern people. If there’s an actual bath, we would like to use that one instead.

When I got out of the bathhouse, Jeanne was already out and was waiting for me at the entrance.

“Sorry, did I make you wait? You could have just gone back first.” (Hikaru)

“Don’t say something so sad. There’s nothing to do even if I were to go back first.” (Jeanne)

“True.” (Hikaru)

There’s little entertainment in this world.

Jeanne was apparently quite the gamer, so in this world where not only games but even electricity is lacking, nights must be pretty boring.

It would be a different story if you could buy games with Points, but right now there’s no such item.

“Well, that’s fine. Let’s walk around while chatting for a bit.” (Jeanne)

“Right. The night wind also feels nice.” (Hikaru)

It was a slightly unexpected proposal from Jeanne, but I also wanted to talk about something, so this came at just the right time.

“How was your first dungeon?” (Hikaru)

“Yeah, it was fun. I am still in the learning phase but, at the last one, I managed to defeat a Bone Knight in one hit.” (Jeanne)

“One hit is impressive. You knew about the Spirit Energy Vein?” (Hikaru)

“Yeah, I heard about it from the messages. Well, they are wearing armor, so lopping off their heads is the fastest way of defeating them though.” (Jeanne)

Monsters made out of bones like the Bone Knight have the same weak point, but they of course can be defeated with other means.

Especially if you sever their spine, they die at that point. You can also defeat them by destroying their cranium. There’s not much difference from humans in that part. It may be an undead, but it is not like it is immortal.

Not being fazed at all even when their arms are cut off unlike humans really does make them undead though.

“Then, 2nd Floor from tomorrow on?” (Hikaru)

“No, I will be training for a few days more alone. It would be dangerous to think I have gotten it in just 1 day… We also have the time. And…” (Jeanne)

“And?” (Hikaru)

“…I don’t want to be deadweight.” (Jeanne)

Those are uncharacteristic words from Jeanne who won against me in that duel.

It was a peek of weakness from her usual self that only shows herself filled with confidence.

“Deadweight, you say. You are stronger than me, Jeanne.” (Hikaru)

“Are you talking about that duel? …That was actually my loss. The moment you put your blade at my throat, I should have admitted my defeat. The reason I didn’t was because I didn’t want to lose.” (Jeanne)

“But you are far stronger in attack and defense than me.” (Hikaru)

“Something like that is trivial. What’s important is the result. I could only defeat 20 monsters; you defeated more than 100. You get it, right?” (Jeanne)

“I have dungeon crawled more times than you after all…” (Hikaru)

I do understand what Jeanne is trying to say here, but this is simply my specialty.

If we are competing solely on the speed we hunt monsters in the dungeon, I am definitely faster. There’s the part that I am used to it, but also because I can deal with many different situations for the amount of Spirit Abilities I have in my arsenal.

Most of all, the 2nd Floor matches my own abilities.

But I don’t know if to call that ‘strength’…

The explorers that have been crawling the 3rd Floor for long barely had any effective attacks against the irregular monster that was the Demon Lord.

They most likely can hunt incredibly fast and stably in the 3rd Floor, but that ‘strength’ is really restricted.

I would say it is different from real strength.

“But I have no intention of losing forever. I plan on catching up to you really quickly. After I play on the 1st Floor for around 3 days, I will go to the 2nd Floor. When that happens, let’s practice our battle style as a party.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne is positive.

She is facing straight on her own feelings of not wanting to be a hindrance.

If it were me, what would it be? I feel like I would say ‘please think of me as if I am not there’.

“Also, before the other Chosen come, I want to become strong, strong enough that they wouldn’t want to put a hand on us. Right now we are simply relying on the Gifts of God after all.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne also knows about Tiers.

She knows that that’s a shortcut for our objective.

Also, just like how I use darkness to close the distance and defeat the enemies in one hit, Jeanne should also have her most efficient way of fighting. There’s no doubt she wants to find what that would be while she fights those Bone Knights.

I honestly would get good practice if I were to have continuous battles with Mantis or monsters of that strength, but sadly to say, they are rare monsters, so they don’t show up often.

“Got it. Then, I will get myself back in form in 3 days.” (Hikaru)

At any rate, I would like to raise my Tier.

For the sake of that, going for numbers seems like the faster way.