Cassia Part 2

I ask Sherry while casting Heal on her to recover the damage that had been inflicted

upon her.

"Yes, master, I am fine. I am sorry that I could not dodge the threads in time."

"Don't blame yourself. If I were in your place, I probably would not have been able to

dodge the threads either. There, all done. How are you feeling?"

.

"Thank you. I should be fine for now, thanks to your quick help."

Sherry stops me when I tried to cast "Heal" on her for sixth time. So five times was

enough to bring her back to full health? Or is she just trying to be strong in order not

to look bad in my eyes? Is she really fully healed now? For her own sake I hope she is

not trying to just tough it out, but it would seem that the "Plating"that she already had

cast on her beforehand helped in mitigating the total damage that she sustained from

the Green Caterpillar's Skills and the attack of the one that slammed its body into her.

But I have to admit that some of the combinations of enemies that we have to face now

can really get quite problematic to deal with. Take the NT Ants and Escape Goats, for

example. If I want to make sure that I am definitely going to be able to consistently kill

them in one or two hits, that would require me to add Warrior to the list of my Active

Jobs so that I could use Warrior's Skill, "Rush".

But the problem with that is that if I want to use Warrior and its Skill, I would first

have to get rid of Alchemist Job and its "Plating" Skill, but plating can provide Sherry

with an additional layer of defense whenever she is getting hit by the enemies whose

attacks she is unable to avoid in time, and if I were to remove the Alchemist Job in the

middle or right after using "Plating" on Sherry, its effect is going to be cut off

prematurely. That is why I was always making sure to use "Plating" on Sherry in the

situations where I would be absolutely sure that she was likely to be continuously

attacked, and in any other situations than that one, I usually refrained from using to

much so that its effects would not end up going to waste.

So if she were to be attacked now, then she would have to bear the full brunt of the

attack's force herself, since the "Plating" that I have previously placed on her has

already worn off.

"In the worst case scenario, you might just have to endure a number of the enemy

attacks before I will be able to come to your aid. Are you fine with that?"

"Yes, I should be able to do at least that much. I promise to do my best."

Sherry nodded with confirmation. You are going to do your best, huh? Well, since

Sherry is an intellectual and a rational person, then she would have definitely told me

if she felt like she would not have been able to withstand the attacks of the enemies

while waiting for me to come to her aid in case of an emergency, or at least as many

attacks as it would take for me to use three shots of my Spells to come into contact

with the Green Caterpillars and deliver a finishing strike to them before they could

launch any more of their threads towards Sherry.

But the downside here is that she would have to endure any attack that would be

coming her way before that could happen. I could also try removing Warrior and

quickly select Alchemist to cast "Plating" on her again, but on the other hand that

would only serve to prolong the time needed to actually take the monsters out.

Then again, what if the situation is going to be a fifty-fifty, or an extremely close call?

What if the attack that Sherry will have to take on is going to be more severe than

expected and she is only going to be able to barely make it out alive by the skin of her

teeth?

Should I tell her to not be reserved with me and not to act tough and be more

considerate with herself without constantly trying to keep up with the rest of the

Party?

I could do that, but I do not know how is she going to react. She could either accept

my words and start taking better care of herself, or it might be possible that my words

are going to have the opposite effect and she might end up resenting me for it. Either

way, I should not take what Sherry said at face value.

After all, a short and simple "I can" would have been much more appropriate in this

situation than the "I promise to do my best" that she gave me, and safety of myself and

the members of my Party should always be my number one priority no matter what.

I am definitely glad that the Escape Goat was already running away when Sherry got

shot with the Green Caterpillar's threads, but I cannot stop thinking about what would

have happened to her if it was not running away, or what would have happened if it

was another monster instead of an Escape Goat?

If it was an NT Ant, then there would have been a real risk of Sherry getting poisoned

by its attack, and I would not have been able to administer the Anti Poison Medicine

to her in time to help her. As things are standing, I am afraid that the difficulty level of

the eleventh floor of the Labyrinth of Quratar has exceeded the limit of what might be

called an appropriate level for us to clear it safely.

After we finished the exploration of Quratar's labyrinth for today, we headed to Vale's

Labyrinth next. There, on the eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth, the Green Caterpillars

hardly ever appeared.

There is still a chance that we might get poisoned by the Spi Spidesr and NT Ants if

they ever make their appearance, but some risks are just unavoidable and we have to

take them regardless of whether we want to or not.

The danger caused by the increased frequency of magic and poison effects have both

increased, and we have to find a reliable way to counter these threats.

if we want to keep on exploring that Labyrinths at the pace that we have been able to

keep up until now, then that is the bare minimum that we have to do. But those are

just Labyrinths for you. When you enter them, there is always going to be a risk that

you have to be prepared to take, and it is not possible to be going through its

treacherous halls while thinking that no harm is ever going to come to you and that

everything is always going to be fine, because it will not. There is no guarantee that

the Green Caterpillars will not appear on Vale Labyrinth's eleventh floor, and we have

to be ready to take them on if they do show up.

There was a chance of it appearing on the ninth and tenth floors as well, but I am not

sure if I could endure long enough to cast three spells if I was covered in that thread

of theirs. Actually, wait just a goddamn minute. Where, or I guess I should ask where

have I last seen Green Caterpillars in the Labyrinth of Vale? Was it on the ninth floor?

Or perhaps somewhere on the eighth floor? Well, anyway, that is how common of an

enemy it is in here, so hopefully there will be nearly no chances of us running into

them while exploring the eleventh floor. I want to believe that at least here our hunting

is going to go smoothly and we are going to make much faster progress than the one

we did on the eleventh floor of Quratar's Labyrinth.

Well, I mean, there is still a chance, small as it is, but a chance nonetheless, that we are

going to run into Green Caterpillars here after all, so I think we should at least come

up with some kind of countermeasures against them and their Skills if such an

unfortunate encounter does end up happening. Other than that, I can say that the

hunting on the eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth was pretty stable, but all of that

stability can pretty much go to shit in a moment's notice if a Green Caterpillar appears.

If it does appear and uses its "Thread Spit" Skill, it is going to be too late for us to think

about anything else, so there is no time like the present to start thinking about the

countermeasures and preventive methods that we could implement.

The best option would be, obviously, to increase my magic attack power, as well as

Sherry's defense Stat, and maybe we could start at her equipment.

The Leather Jacket that she is wearing right now is pretty much no different from a

starting equipment of a beginner player who could not have afford anything better.

.

Or at the very least a little bit more fancy to his name, so if we are looking to improve

Sherry's situation on the battlefield, then I guess there is no better place to start than

there.

I think that once we make enough money from the sales of all the mirrors and amber,

we should all go buy ourselves some pieces of armor that are going to be genuinely

better than the ones that we already have here on us, because if Sherry manages to

increase her DEF Stat, the she is automatically going to take less damage from the

enemy's attacks, and taking less damage is going to directly influence the amount of

time that she should be able to withstand on her own even if she did end up being hit

my another one of the Green Caterpillar's threads.

There is also the matter of a Wand that I am using. It is nothing spectacular or even

enchanted, it is just a simple wooden Wand that I bought at the weapon shop and used

ever since then because there was no need for me to be getting myself some other

ones, because the Wand that I currently have on me has been doing its job pretty

nicely, but I can definitely see how just "doing your job pretty nicely" might just not be

enough anymore, so it would be a pretty good move to either get myself a new, better

one or improve the one that I have on me now.

If magic gets strengthened, then the number of Spells needed to defeat each monster

is going to decrease, which is directly going to impact the time that we are going to

have to spent fighting enemies, decreasing it as well.

If we assume that this decrease means one spell less needed to kill the monsters on

the eleventh floors, then that means that the fighting time can decrease by over a

quarter, and if a fight lasts only three quarters of the original time that it would have

taken to get the desired results, then can such a battle really be called hard or difficult?

Or perhaps in order to be talking about a success in that regard, we would have to

achieve the result of only spending half of the battle time that the original battle would

have taken? I will have to think about it seriously from now on.

Strengthening my Wand might not be such a bad idea after all, considering the

additional damage that I will be doing from the enemies with each consecutive Spell,

and as for Sherry's improvements, I can also give Sherry a Sacrificial Misanga to

protect her from the attack that would have otherwise claimed her life. Then again,

"Sacrifice", a Skill that causes Sacrificial Misanga to be such an OP accessory is just a

one-time usage, after which the item becomes essentially useless and no different

from an ordinary strings tied together in order to create the best accessory possible,

so I cannot be putting too much faith into it unless I want to be in for a world of

disappointment.

All in all, I guess it all boils down to the matter of whether or not we are going to be

able to move around even after getting hit by the threads, because if we are not going

to be able to move at all while being afflicted by them, then being able to survive just

one attack is not going to mean much at all. Sacrificial Misanga is a piece of equipment

that should be used to negate one blow that would have otherwise proven to be a fatal

one, and as such should generally not be considered as a legitimate part of any kind of

battle plans that we might be strategizing about in the future.

Also, I cannot forget about a very simple, but easily missable fact: I should not make

assumptions that Sherry is going to be the only member of our Party who is going to

be hit with the Green Caterpillar's threads. I should make contingency plans in case

that I would be hit with their threads, but we should also prepare one for Roxanne as

well.

You might be thinking that with her godly dodging abilities such a thing is not going

to be necessary at all, but we are talking about the Labyrinths here, a place where

pretty much everything remains a possibility, even if only a faint or an unbelievable

one, so as much as I do not want to do this, I need to start thinking about what I should

be doing in case that Roxanne ever got hurt or slowed down by the threads.

We then fought and explore in the Labyrinth until dawn, and after we left the

Labyrinth, I decided to go to Bode in order to deliver yet another mirror to the Duke

in Bode. I know that it has not been all that long since I started doing this, but it has

actually become quite a daily routine for me that I could probably deliver the mirrors

to Bode's castle with my eyes closed, that is how accustomed to it I have already

become.

After I got back from Bode, all three of us had breakfast, after which I told Sherry to

continue her Master Smith training by making new Leather-based items. This is also

a daily routine that I sincerely hope is going to continue even into the future.

"After we finish eating here, I am going to go pay Armor Shops a visit."

"Does that mean that the time has come to buy ourselves better equipment?"

"Yeah, the time has come indeed. I want Roxanne and Sherry to wear stronger Leather

Jackets so that you could increase your defensive capabilities, and for that, buying a

better piece of equipment is the best possible place to start."

"In that case, master should be the one to upgrade his equipment first."

"My equipment is not the best, I agree, and there is certainly room for improvement.

But for now, I want to do only that which is necessary to clear the eleventh floor of

Quratar's Labyrinth."

I tried to convince Roxanne that she should place her own needs before mine, but as

usual, I do not know whether my words managed to reach her or not. What she needs

to understand is that now that I have taken the role of a rearguard support for her and

Sherry, I am not in much need of new armor, because I am not going to be as exposed

to the enemy attacks as Roxanne and Sherry are going to be in the vanguard.

And in case that I do end up getting attacked, I do not have to worry about my defenses

as much as the others, because I have my Durandal and its "HP Absorption" Skill to

cover that for me, so instead what I should be focusing on is increasing the amount of

damage that I deal to the monsters so that the battles could be wrapped up faster thus

allowing us to progress through the higher floors of the Labyrinth more rapidly and

without putting the three of us in danger of suffering unnecessary damage. For the

time being, our most pressing concern is to upgrade Sherry's Leather Jacket into

something better.

"Umm… I am sorry that you have to do all of this for me."

Sherry said apologetically, thinking that she was causing problems for us.

"Do not worry about it, Sherry. Every Party member has a role that they need to fulfill.

And since you are in the vanguard with Roxanne, then it should be obvious that we

need to increase your defensive capabilities since you are going to be much more

susceptible to taking damage than I am at this point."

I told Sherry to not worry about it and just focus on increasing her defenses. She might

not realize it, but by being able to take more hits without needing to be healed

immediately, she is going to assist me as well, because I will be able to focus more on

killing monsters with magic instead of having to constantly heal her all the time.

Not to mention that Sherry's worth lies not only in being the second member of my

Party who is fighting on the frontlines, but also in being a Master Smith who is going

to contribute to our cause by creating new items and equipment.

"Yes, thank you, master."

"Understood." The current countermeasures are supposed to work with Sherry in

mind, but in fact, it would be the height of stupidity to limit the improvement of our

equipment to just Sherry.

.

I am also going to need to change Roxanne's equipment for the better in order to make

her even more ferocious in battle, and if I am going to be buying things for Sherry, then

I might as well buy them for Roxanne as well, since I need to buy more than one item

in order for my thirty percent discount to trigger properly.

"When you go to the craftsmen, make sure to ask his wife if she is looking for a good

Amber Necklace, okay?"

"Yes, we will!"

First thing's first, I took out Roxanne and Sherry's Amber Necklaces, handed them out

to them and send them on their way to Palmasque to get two more Palmasque Mirrors

for the Duke. Even though this thing has also become somewhat of a daily routine for

us, it is the one that I would like to get over as soon as possible in order to get all of

the money that we possibly can from it, and we still have as much as four mirrors left

to go!

After finishing up the business in Palmasque, we went to the Labyrinth so that I could

get all of my spent MP back, and once that was done, we returned back home to have

some breakfast. Afterwards, Roxanne started doing the dishes while Sherry continued

on with her Master Smith training, and later on all of us went on a quick trip to the

Armor Store.

"Excuse me, what is next, or one tier above Leather Jacket on the list of protective

pieces of armor? If that going to be a Hardened Leather Jacket?"

I asked the man at counter with whom I have become quite a good acquaintance with

as of late. We are currently in one of the bigger Armor Shops located on the main street

of Quratar, where I started coming to in order to sell all of the items that Sherry has

been creating recently and we are not going to be using due to them being somewhat

inferior to the equipment that we currently have on ourselves, and the guy is always

offering me some pretty preferential prices for them, so I cannot really complain about

it.

"For the people fighting in the vanguard, the next best thing would be a Mail Hauberk.

It is about equal in defensive capabilities to armor made out of Hardened Leather and

it is cheaper than Hardened Leather, but it does come with a downside of slowing the

wearer's movements to a certain degree."

The guy at the counter answered my question.

Opposite to the shelf that has Hard Leather Jackets on it, there was the shelf that had

Mail Hauberks put on display.

Mail is a type of armor consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to

form a mesh. When I took it into my hands to see exactly how it would feel, the first

thing that I noticed about it was how heavy it was. This would surely provide the

wearer with a very stable defense, but I have to wonder, would it really be possible to

run around and move quickly through the hallways and the corridors of the

Labyrinths? Because somehow I doubt it. If you would be wearing this on your torso

and then all of your other equipment on top of that: helmet, gloves, pants, boots and a

weapon, then it will really become impossible for you to be moving at quick enough

pace to be able to fight and avoid the attacks of the monsters properly. For that exact

reason, this piece of armor is absolutely prohibited for Roxanne to wear, because in

battle, she relies exclusively on dodging, so if she were to wear that thing, it would

affect her greatly, taking one of her biggest strengths away from her. So instead…

"Roxanne, are you going to be fine with a Hardened Leather Jacket?"

"I certainly should be fine with it, but are you going to be fine with that, master?"

"Yeah, I do not mind."

Our current equipment is essentially the same as the most basic one, so we should not

sweat too much over such a small upgrade as the one that we want to do this time. We

should just grab whatever we can in order to make ourselves stronger and harder to

kill for the enemies.

"Sherry, the same question for you: are you going to be fine with the Hardened Leather

Jacket, or perhaps you would have liked something else?"

"Well, personally, I do not think that it is going to make too much of a difference to me

if the armor that I am going to wear is going to be light or heavy."

Saying that, Sherry picked up the Mail Hauberk and examined it thoroughly. Does that

mean that she is going to pick up the Mail after all? Well, I mean certainly, with her

strength as a Dwarf, she should be more than able to handle its increased weight

properly, but I am going to ask her about it just in case.

"Do you not think that it is going to be too heavy for you?"

"It certainly is heavy, but I would say that it is not all that different in comparison to

the Leather Jacket that I am wearing now, so I think that I am not even going to notice

the difference."

Well, if Sherry is saying so, then I guess that she really is going to be fine. After all, who

else but herself could know the limits of what she can possibly do? All Dwarves seem

to be inherently strong, probably due to some kind of Passive Skill for their race, but I

cannot help but to wonder just how heavy the armor would have to be in order for her

to notice it and for it to limit her ability to move?

Hardened Leather Jacket, Armor

Skills: Empty, Empty

Mail Hauberk, Armor

Skill: Empty

I take a look at other Mail Hauberk and Hardened Leather Jackets to appraise them

more closely.

However, is seems that the best that the Mail Hauberks can do is one Empty Skill Slot,

while on the other hand, Hardened Leather Jackets seem to have up to two Empty Skill

Slots, so overall, Hardened Leather Jacket appears to be a better piece of equipment

for us at the current moment.

But there seem to be only a few Mail Hauberks in here, so who knows, maybe if we

went to some other Armor Shop, they would actually have Mail Hauberks with two

Empty Skill Slots in stock?

"Alright then, be sure to choose an armor for yourselves from one of these right here."

I pick more equipment with Empty Skill Slots and pass to Roxanne and Sherry. If I left

the choice to them, they would have probably ended up picking something that does

not have any Empty Skill Slots in it whatsoever, but now that I have suggested to them

from which they should be picking, I have essentially made sure they are going to

choose only from the selection of those Hardened Leather Armors that have two

Empty Skill Slots in them.

Well, it is not like they can tell the difference, so my guidance in that regard is the best

thing that can possibly happen here. If they ended up choosing something without any

Empty Skill Slots in it, I think I would have straight up refused to pay for it until they

would choose what I advised them to pick, but at the same time I know that Roxanne

enjoys looking over all of the things that the store has to offer before she makes up her

final selection, so at the very least I did not want to take that simple pleasure away

from her, and that is why I only gave them a hint instead of outright saying: you should

pick this or this or this or this.

While they were deciding which piece of armor they should be going with, I took a

look around the store to check out all the other pieces of equipment that were for sale.

Among all of the equipment that was made from Hardened Leather, there were also

Hardened Leather Helmets and Hardened Leather Gloves that also had Empty Skill

Slots in them. I wonder if all pieces of armor made from Hardened Leather have two

Empty Skill Slots in them, or is it perhaps nothing more but a coincidence? It would

definitely be nice of that turned out to be the case, because these things are an obvious

improvement over the equipment that we currently have, so maybe I should work on

improving our situation with these pieces of armor next?

Nah, I think we should be good for now when it comes to them.

.

t would be nice if we could improve all of our armor all at once, but is there really a

need for us to be doing that right now? I mean, we definitely could go down this route,

but if we do that too soon, then I would just end up getting worried in advance over

what kind of armor should we be taking next if the hardened leather ones stopped

being enough when it comes to providing us with protection from the many dangers

of the Labyrinths.

So for now, I think it would be best for us to just focus on getting the better pieces of

armor for our torsos and see if that is going to be enough for us to handle the Green

Caterpillars Lv.11 just a little bit better. If we are going to be able to handle them

without much difficulty then hooray for us, and if we are still going to be struggling

with them, then that is just going to mean that we are simply not ready to face them

properly yet, and that we just have to do some more grinding, gain more levels and

then try again.

After much deliberation, searching and discussions between them, Roxanne and

Sherry finally managed to choose their equipment. I bought it all with the help of my

thirty percent discount, and then we were ready to leave the Armor Shop.

Unfortunately, even with my discount active, the total cost of our shopping trip still

ended up costing two whole gold coins, so whether I like it or not, I had no choice but

to kiss those gold coins goodbye. That is the ugly truth of this world, which stays

exactly the same as its equivalent in my old world: the better quality the equipment

that you want to buy, the more expensive it is going to be, and there is no way around

it.

We then returned back home, where Roxanne and Sherry immediately proceeded to

change themselves into their new outfits. Wearing her new chainmail, Sherry looked

like she was as ready as she could be to take on the battlefield by storm, but if I am to

be completely honest with you, then I have to say that I am pretty disappointed by this

armor.

I know that I should not think about it and look at it as a simple article of clothing but

a thing worn for the purpose of combat and combat only, but a part of me just could

not stand it to see that it was completely covering Sherry's body, and because it was

made out of metal mesh, it did not emphasize the outline of Sherry's chest at all.

Hell, forget about the outline of her chest, now that she has the chainmail on, I can

barely even see her regular clothing from beneath that armor. I mean… I can kind of

see the color of her clothing beneath it, but I think that we all know full well that this

is not what we are about here, right? Yeah, most definitely. I know that this armor is

supposed to be first and foremost protect Sherry from suffering damage from the

attacks of the monsters from the Labyrinths, but can it not do it while looking just a

little bit sexier?

Is that really so much to ask? It would have been another thing entirely if Sherry had

to wear it while being naked without literally anything underneath, but since this is

not that type of armor and the reasons for why I bought them for Sherry and Roxanne

were not perverted, but as practical as could be, so I guess there is nothing that I can

possibly do about it now.

I touched the chainmail of Sherry's shoulder to confirm if that was really metal or not,

and sure as hell, this is metal all right, so cold and unfriendly to touch. Yup, it is metal

all right. But maybe, just maybe… Maybe I could ask Sherry to wear the chainmail for

me while she would be wearing nothing else underneath, even if only for a short

while?

I wonder if she would be against such an idea, or would she be all for it since I was the

one who requested her to do it? Of course, I would never ask her to do something like

that while we were in the Labyrinth, since that would go against everything I ever said

about safety being my number one priority and we cannot afford to have one of the

two of our vanguard members to just run around the treacherous halls of a living

dungeon while being semi-naked simply because her master ordered her to do it.

Come on guys, I might be horny most of the time, but I would never allow horniness

to cloud my mind and actively work against my better judgement.

"Is it possible to wear a chainmail over a leather jacket? Or the other way around?"

"It would have been possible if only items such as armors sold for Adventurers were

perfectly normal items, but adventuring equipment is most definitely not a normal

type of items, because it is equipped with the spell that automatically reads all of the

information about the person who is wearing it, and that is the reason why armor can

fit anyone perfectly regardless of their mass, figure or size of their bodies. That is also

why doing something like the thing that you just described: equipping one piece of

Adventuring gear over the other would be counterproductive, because if more than

one piece of armor is being worn on a single body part, then the magic of both

equipped pieces of armor would end up getting in conflict with one another, causing

the conflicting pieces of equipment to break down."

Sherry explained to me why putting a hardened leather jacket over a chainmail would

not have been a very good idea. So, the general rule of thumb here seems to be that

there can only be one piece of equipment on a single part of the body, and equipping

more than one piece of equipment on a single body part is possible, but only if you are

fine with your equipment getting destroyed because of it.

"Is it also not good to have both sword and wand equipped at the same time?"

"As long as you do not hold one in each of your hand, there should be no problem. If

you equip them only one at a time, you should be perfectly fine."

So I should be all right if I just keep switching between the weapons, huh? Duly noted?

But then… what is going to happen if Durandal ends up breaking? What am I going to

do if that happens?! Durandal is literally my best weapon here, and I cannot afford

myself to lose it, so I definitely need to be more careful with switching between

weapons.

"I would definitely like to see the effect of changing equipment in the Labyrinth of

Quratar, but maybe we should go there tomorrow morning?"

"The eleventh floor of Quratar is not very popular because it has strong opponents on

it, so because of that it should not be all that crowded even now."

"So what you are saying is that it should be okay for us to go to Quratar's Labyrinth in

order to test that out?"

"Yes."

After receiving Sherry's confirmation, we then went to the eleventh floor of Quratar's

Labyrinth, but even if I said that I wanted to test the effects of having new equipment

on us, then the entire point of this visit right now is to allow ourselves to be attacked

by the enemies in a controlled environment.

In the eleventh floor of Quratar's Labyrinth, Sherry is the one who is most likely to be

caught in the Green Caterpillar's "Thread Spit" Skill and have her movements slowed

down, so that is why I think that Sherry should be the one to conduct the tests, because

being a damage sponge, even if done for the noble cause of an experiment with the

new armor, then that is definitely not something that I would like to be doing myself.

And what is more, I am not the best suited candidate for this experiment, because all

of the damage that I would have sustained would have been healed over the course of

the battle, meaning that the testing period would have just dragged on forever, but

since Sherry does not have any healing Skills on her, she is the perfect specimen for

the job this time.

"Let us fight here for a while. Ah, that is if you really have no qualms about being

deliberately attacked by the monsters here of course. The choice is yours, Sherry, and

I will not force you to do anything that you do not want to do."

.

"Do not worry, master. I am perfectly fine with it."

What we are doing here, allowing Sherry to be attacked on purpose, is essentially

different from being suddenly attacked while fighting seriously, so Sherry will not be

able to feel the genuine shock of being attacked like that because she is already waiting

for the opponents to attack her, so she is basically anticipating the damage that is

going to be inflicted upon her by the opponents.

However, what is the most worrisome at the eleventh floor of Quratar's Labyrinth is

the possibility of being caught up in the Green Caterpillar's sticky threads, because if

she ends up getting immobilized by them, even if it was on purpose, then she is not

going to be able to do shit to protect herself, and needlessly putting Sherry's life in

danger is not what this experiment is all about.

A lot of the enemy groups now contain Green Caterpillars. It is starting to look pretty

dangerous, so it is going to be a lot safer to go and try our experiment in a more

convenient place without as much of these disgusting bugs as there are here.

Guided by Roxanne, we looked for a group of monsters to confront. The first handy

group that we found consisted of a Green Caterpillar and two Escape Goats. Now, with

these guys here, the experiment might just work out. Great job, Roxanne! That is what

I have initially thought, but the Green Caterpillar did not use his thread spitting attack

until the end.

"That was a boring group of enemies."

"Too weak."

"And they did not even use any Skills."

Roxanne and Sherry looked at me strangely. It looks like the Japanese puns do not get

translated all too well in Brahim. I should have expected as much. Maybe I should just

drop any attempts at witty humor if they are just not going to work?

The next group of enemies consisted of three Green Caterpillars. Is this battle going to

be just as easy as the previous one?

"Here they come!"

Seeing that, Sherry immediately moved in to try and take out two of the enemies at

the same time by swinging her Club at them. Her strike connected with the Green

Caterpillars, but they did manage to spew out their threads before that happened.

Because of the impact of the blow that Sherry dealt them, their slimy bodies stretched

in a way which I am pretty sure that no normal body, be it a bug's or a human's, should

ever be stretched, but like I already said, it did not stop their threads from hitting

Sherry in the end.

In this situation, I am sure that Sherry could have avoided being hit by those threads

if only she tried, but instead she chose to accept that attack head on, and after she had

been covered with the Green Caterpillar's threads, she also chose to quietly accept

their attacks that came at her next without even a word of complaint. That was the

time for me to act. I chose which magic to use, thought about its name in my mind, and

then fired it at the enemies

( "Fire Storm!" )

All this time, Sherry was not panicking and continued to stand there, acting calmly.

This must have been her intention all along. She knew that even if she managed to

catch the enemies with her Club and strike two of them at the same time, at their

current level it is not going to be nearly enough to destroy them, so instead, she chose

to accept a few of their attacks as she waited for me to finish them off.

"Fire Storm" was properly activated, and covered all three of the Green Caterpillars

with the sparks that burst into a fiery explosion after a short while. They all fell to the

ground and turned into puffs of green smoke, so when it was finally over, I immediately

went over to Sherry in order to check up on her. After all, she was still attacked a few

times after she delivered her strike to the monsters, so she is definitely going to need

healing, even if only a little bit.

"How are you feeling, Sherry? How was it?"

"I am feeling fine, master. There really was a noticeable difference, because even

though I was hit by the Green Caterpillars a few times, their attacks did not seem to

have as big of an impact as they had before, so I guess that must mean that my

defensive power has definitely improved. Well, there are still some parts that are not

clear to me because I was only hit those few times so I could not measure everything

properly, but at this point I do not think that it will be hard dealing with the attacks of

the monsters here on the eleventh floor of Quratar's Labyrinth. Also…"

"O-Okay now, the most important thing is that you are safe and unharmed."

I forcibly summarized Sherry's story, because it was beginning to look as if she was

about to go on another lengthy talk about all of the things and aspects related to what

she just went through, and if I guessed correctly, then she was about to suggest that in

order to conduct a much more thorough testing she should allow herself to be caught

by the Green Caterpillar's threads and allow them to hit her even more than they did

just now, and that is just impossible and out of the question. She has already done

enough and played her part, proving that the changed equipment does indeed make a

difference and caused her to withstand more attacks than she could face before, and

for the time being that is more than enough contribution from her in my book.

"Yes, I am most definitely unharmed. In fact, I feel that I could really use some more

thorough testing in order to see exactly how much more damage I could possibly take

and to what point I could withstand the increased amount of attacks before…"

"Then, do you want go to the eleventh floor of the Vale Labyrinth next?"

I quickly changed the subject to defuse the situation that was about to head off in the

exact direction that I'd thought that it was going to go.

"Oh yes, we can definitely do that to see how my new defenses are going to fare against

the monsters there instead. Good thinking, master!"

It is not good thinking, but common sense! Anyway, since Sherry expressed her

agreement, we went to the eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth next. Fortunately, the

eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth was not as hard as the eleventh floor of Quratar's

Labyrinth, so we did not have as many problems traversing it. As long as Vale is

concerned, we should be doing pretty okay here. Now that Sherry had her equipment

changed for a better one defense-wise, I feel like I can safely kick back and observe her

battles on the eleventh floor of Vale's Labyrinth with the confidence that she is going

to be fine and will safely pull her own weight. That might sound as if I was worried

about her performance, but trust me, I was not all that worried since the beginning,

because I knew that she was going to make it work one way or another. We then fought

our way through the Vale Labyrinth's eleventh floor until evening and then went back

home.

While I was in the middle of preparing dinner, Sherry continued to make dumplings

from the broth of the dried-up Shrub Rose leaves. I have to say, the finished product

looks quite big, definitely bigger than I had anticipated. Instead of being of the same

size as the three-colored dango that you put together on a skewer, but instead it is as

big as a peony rice cake.

"There. It is all dried up nicely and cleanly. And since it is our first time ever making it,

we are only going to mix flour and sugar into it."

"I see that you have also made it pretty big, huh?"

"That is because you do not actually need a lot of them in order to make this plan work.

You can put one of them in the kitchen where you had last seen it, and then we can

place the rest of them near the entrance to the house."

Sherry then set the dumplings.

Maybe it was only my own imagination, but in my opinion they looked pretty dignified

on the table. They look pretty reliable, so I want them to live up to their reputation

and prove to be as useful as Sherry described them as.

.

On the morning of the next day, Sherry told me to come to the kitchen, and when I did

that, I saw that the dumpling that has been left there bore the mark of being bitten, so

the plan to have that thing eat it must have been a success after all, and once again

proves that the wisdom of mankind has triumphed over the brutality and

mindlessness of simple beasts.

Take that, you black creature! You will not be seizing control of the world just yet!

Mankind is still going to be here for a while longer, and we are going to continue to foil

your plans of world conquest, no matter how many times we have to do this!

After that, we waited until the night to confirm whether or not these suspiciouslylooking shadows have truly disappeared, and once Roxanne has reported to me that

she did not see any suspicious activity in the kitchen throughout the entire night, only

then was I able to finally breathe a sigh of relief, but ever since then, I made sure to

develop a habit of not drinking excessive amounts of water in the evenings or at night

so that I would not have to go to the toilet in the middle of the night ever again.

Say whatever you want about it being nothing but a primal, irrational fear, and

something that not even the kids in kindergarten are afraid of anymore but I

absolutely cannot deny that seeing that black thing scurrying about our house in the

middle of the night had left me with a sense of intense trauma that might just stick

with me for a good while longer.

Of course, now that I have regained full control over my house and can be absolutely

sure that no pest or evil spirit or any other kind of meddlesome gremlin is going to be

disturbing the safety and tranquility of my bedroom, I am once again free to engage in

nighttime activities that kindergarteners are not allowed to engage in and cannot even

begin to dream of without running the risk of suffering from a heart or anxiety attack

caused my being aware of the presence of unwanted guests in the house and that they

might just randomly pop up somewhere in the bedroom or in my bed itself when I am

going to least expect it.

But now that the vermin that threatened us have been swiftly dealt with, there is

nothing stopping me from indulging myself further in the sweet nighttime

debaucheries.

On the morning of the next day, I continued with my routine of delivering Palmasque

Mirrors to the Duke of Hartz Duchy in Bode exactly like I was doing for a past few days.

Before I knew it, this had become a part of my new daily routine, but I am glad that it

will soon be over and done with, because I definitely do not want it to turn into a habit,

because I have not been able to cook breakfast in the morning myself because of it

lately, and that is a habit that I am starting to miss greatly.

That, and it also makes me feel a little bit guilty that Roxanne and Sherry always have

to wait for me for God knows how long before they could eat because they always want

the three of us to eat all meals together and it never even crossed their minds that they

could eat by themselves without waiting for me, for which I am grateful to them,

because now that I have gotten used to eating my meals together with them, I would

certainly feel lonely if I had to go back to eating my meals alone. However, as bad as I

am feeling about having them wait for me, it is a necessary sacrifice that I have to

make, because the alternative is much too frightening for me: alternatively, if I did not

want them to wait for me with breakfast, this means that I would have to take them

with me to Bode and Bode's castle, and both of these locations are literally crawling

with handsome Elven pretty boys.

I know that both Roxanne and Sherry already stated that they have no particular

interest in Elves, and Sherry seems to dislike them just as much as she dislikes brokers

and middlemen from the Merchants Guild, but who is to say that her mind wouldn't

change if she saw how ridiculously pretty all of the Elven ikemen really are? So yeah,

there you have it. If the three of us would go from Bode to Palmasque together, we

would have been able to carry three Palmasque Mirrors instead of one Palmasque

Mirror at a time, but if taking only one Palmasque Mirror to Bode per day means that

I can protect myself from being cucked to death, then I will gladly take that option

every time.

Just like it has been up until now, I arrived at the castle in Bode, announced myself in

the castle's lobby, was guided to the Duke's office where the Duke and Gozer were

engaged in their paperwork, delivered the mirror and received the payment of one

gold coin from Gozer for my troubles. Yup, all in the day's work, just as usual.

"I assume that you are quite used to getting around the castle by now? If that is so,

perhaps you could come straight to my office without having any of the Knights or

servants guide you here?"

"Well, I guess you have a point there. But is it really going to be all right for an outsider

like myself to be coming and going as I please?"

"I think it should be fine, since most of the staff working in the castle remembers you

from the relayed supplies distribution operation and from your everyday mirror

deliveries."

Even Gozer seemed to agree with the Duke's words. However, I still had some difficulty

believing that the residents of the castle would accept my continuing presence just

like that.

"Besides, your coming here is not going to be cause for alarm, unlike the situation that

we have on our hands now."

"A situation?"

"Yes, precisely. The Knight Order is going to be busy like never before from now on,

because a third Labyrinth has just been found in the Duchy's territory, and since we

found the second one just the other day, we need to move forward with our

exploration of it and proceed to this new one immediately."

Gozer added an explanation to the Duke's words. A new Labyrinth has appeared, huh?

It is one of the Lord's responsibilities to exterminate Labyrinths that pop up in their

territories as soon as they appear, because the safety of his subjects depends on it.

Even so, I cannot possibly imagine such an endeavor to be an easy one, even if he does

have both people and resources to spare for these efforts.

"I see."

"The number of Knights in the castle is surely going to decrease, and I do not want to

thrust any additional duties on the shoulders of those who will remain here."

You do not want to add to your Knight's duties as their numbers in the castle decrease,

but you are fine with letting a strange, unverified Adventurer like myself into your

castle? I have to say, these are surely some strange priorities that you have there. Oh

well, as long as Gozer and the Duke are fine with me being here and walking around

freely, then I guess there is nothing for me to worry about.

"That is what our current situation looks like."

"All right, I think that I understand."

"With that being said, I would like to extend a request to you, Lord Michio. Would you

be willing to offer us your assistance in the exploration of the new Labyrinth? Having

someone like you aid us would be a huge help."

The Duke presented me with a request. Oh wow, he wants my help with the

exploration of their newest Labyrinth? Once again, are they really going to be all right

having someone like me, an outsider not affiliated with the Hartz Duchy in any way

helping them out with their internal problems? I am somewhat hesitant about this…

But also kinda flattered and embarrassed at the same time. I mean, who would not be

if they were in my shoes? The Duke of the entire Duchy and the leader of the Knight

Order, asking me to fight side-by-side with them? I imagine that a chance like that does

not happen all that often.

.

"Ah, it is going to be alright if you just enter it."

"I would have to just enter it? That is going to be enough for you?"

"Yes, and if you want, you can feel free to bring all of the members of your Party along

with you, we will not really mind it. After all, the more people to explore the Labyrinth,

the faster it is going to be cleared, am I right?"

They are really going to be fine with me entering their Labyrinth? Okay then, if they

say so, then who am I to judge them for it? But that reminds me, back when we met at

the Quratar Merchant's Guild, Gozer definitely saw Roxanne and Sherry together with

me, so that is why he probably suggested me to take them along with me for the ride

in the excursion. Since this is supposed to be an entirely new Labyrinth it would have

been quite a nuisance it it turned out to be too difficult for us to handle, but if all that

I have to do is just to enter it, then I see no problems with doing that.

"Allow me to ask this for confirmation purposes, but you are not contracted to any

Knight Order of your hometown or any other organization like that, are you?"

The Duke asked me a question to see whether I was already affiliated with some kind

of organization or not.

I see. So that is his reasoning here, huh?

Even though I am an Adventurer (in Duke's eyes), that does not mean that I might be

completely free to do what I want, or to do what the Duke might have requested of me.

because even though Adventurers are technically able to go wherever they want and

do whatever they want, some of them might still be bound by territorial boundaries,

their relationships and affiliations to other groups and organizations. Also, the way

that he phrased it, is there some kind of rule that prohibits the members of one Knight

Order to seek help with such matters from the members of the other Knight Orders?

"Well, for the time being, do know that there will be no problems with you entering

the new Labyrinth for the foreseeable future."

By not saying anything, I did not confirm having connections to a Knight Order from

my hometown, but at the same time I did not deny there being such a possibility either.

If only Gozer and the Duke knew that I am actually a totally free guy who is not bound

by connections and obligations to anyone or anything, they would have probably gone

after me in a much more aggressive manner, or at the very least that is what my hunch

is telling me.

"In any case, it is going to be quite reassuring to have an excellent Adventurer like you

enter the Labyrinth."

"I only have the experience with the exploration of the Labyrinth's lower levels, but as

long as they are concerned, then I should be able to help you by clearing them up a bit.

I just hope that I will really get a chance to be of use to you since you seem to be having

quite the high hopes for me."

As much as it makes me happy to see that the Duke has such high hopes for me, I had

to do something to at least keep his expectations of me somewhat in check, and it is

exactly for that reason why I told him, truthfully enough, that I only have experience

with the exploration and the battles on the lower floors of the Labyrinths. If he thought

that I am the type of Adventurer that goes and eats the higher floors of the Labyrinths

for breakfast, that would have spelled out one hell of a problem for me.

"It does not matter to us. Just be having you enter that Labyrinth, you are already going

to be a great help to us, Lord Michio."

I don't understand. Is that really how it all should be? Instead of relying on me too

much, should the Duke not have Gozer and his Knight take care of it entirely?

"Okay, is there anything that I should be aware of before I go and enter this new

Labyrinth?"

"You can enter wherever you want. When you arrive there, just show the emblem of

Hartz Duchy that I gave you to one of the members of the Knight Order watching over

the Labyrinth's entrance, and they are going to take you to the topmost explored floor

for free, since I already told them to treat you in the same way as they would have

treated the other members of the Order. There are also advantages to be had from

exploring and clearing the newly-discovered Labyrinths, like material rewards for

every Knight who is going to make it to the new floor as the very first one. The first

Labyrinth is in Haruba, the second is in Tare, and the third is to the south of Bode, not

that far away from here.

"Roger that."

I did not understand some of the things that he said, but nodded affirmatively anyway.

It would have been a huge problem if such an "Excellent Adventurer" like myself did

not know even such basic things.

"Tare is a village that received the relief supplies from you during the flooding

packages during the floods. I will organize for an Adventurer to guide you straight to

Haruba."

I am going to be taken there instead of having to go there myself? That is great news.

For once in my life I will be able to have it a little bit easier.

"Thank you, you are too kind."

"Great. I am going to organize it right away, so you can go wait in the lobby for a little

while, and we are going to be there with you shortly, Lord Michio."

The duke stood up and left the room at once. For a leader of the entire Duchy, he always

seems to be in a rush to get everywhere where he might think there is a need for him

right away. But I guess that him leaving was my cue to stand up and haul my ass to the

castle's lobby myself, huh?

"Well then, if you will please excuse me, I will be on my way."

I said my farewell to Gozer, who nodded back at me, and then I moved towards the

castle's lobby from which I have come from. And after a few moments of waiting, the

Duke has finally arrived, with his wife Cassia at his side. She was just as beautiful as

the last time when I saw her, but now she was also elegantly armed.

Cassia Nordbraum Anzelm, Female, twenty nine years old

Job: Mage Lv.41

Equipment: Staff of Offerings, Waterproof Tiara, Fireproof Robe, Windproof

Gloves Earthproof Shoes, Sacrificial Misanga

The equipment that I saw she is wearing after I used "Identify" on her is pretty

amazing, especially the pieces with the four elemental resistances: Waterproof Tiara,

Fireproof Robe, Windproof Gloves and Earthproof Shoes. Is this the equipment that

someone of the Duchess's stature is going to be wearing?

But rather than that, there was something else that was intriguing me even more. Is

the Duchess Cassia going to the Labyrinth with us as well? Let me ask her.

"I might be overstepping my boundaries by asking this, but are you going to be fighting

in the Labyrinth together with us, Lady Cassia?"

"Yes, because that is a part of my duty as the Duchess of Hartz."

She answered my question while also giving me a graceful nod.

The duchess who takes the lead and fights for the people. How admirable. With this, I

really do not think that a revolution is going to be necessary here anymore.

"All right, listen up. First of all, the four of us here: Michio, Cassia, Klaus and myself are

going to head to Haruba."

The Duke declared with a voice that was just dripping with confidence and charisma.

Since we have a full Party of six people, that means that the Adventurer is going to

need two round trips to deliver everyone, including me, to our destination.

I am terribly sorry for being such an inconvenience.

The six Elves that arrived here with the Duke and Cassia might be the members of

Duke' Party. Overall, he has a Paladin, a Knight, a Mage, Shrine Maiden, an Explorer

and an Adventurer.

It is a well-balanced Party where both the Mage and a Shrine Maiden can play the role

of a support to recover as much of the other Party member's HP as it is going to be

necessary depending on the situation.

The Adventurer is their only transport, and he formed the Party with the first group

that was going to be transported, so I was quietly preparing myself as I was waiting

for my turn to come.

"Well then, here we go."

The Adventurer came back and formed a Party with the remaining members of the

group. As the Adventurer faced the wall to prepare his "Field Walker" Skill, I took that

chance to see what the Duke's status is. And what my eyes saw were the following

information:

Paladin Lv.l4, Knight Lv.50, Warrior Lv.30, Villager Lv.6, Mage Lv.1, Explorer Lv.1,

Swordsman Lv.1, Forest Ranger Lv.1, Herbalist Lv.1

I used Party Job Settings to see at the Job that was set as the Duke's First Job.

I am not familiar with it yet, because I have never seen anyone use it before. If I had to

guess, then I would say that the order of obtaining it probably went like that: Warrior

Lv.30 → Knight Lv.50 → Paladin. Forest Ranger is probably the Job that is unique to

Elves, just like Sex Maniac is for Humans, since all the other Elves have it as well. Did

he also pick up a leaf or something to get the Job of a Herbalist? He is always so hasty

to do things that I can picture him grabbing items before even getting a chance to see

them or show them to his Party.

The Duke follows the Adventurer into the wall. Cassia was next, and I went as the last

one. By the way, since I can use Party Job Settings, it would also be possible for me

to change the Duke's Job... for example, to Herbalist Lv.1.

Ahahahahahaaaa!

He would have entered the Labyrinth like that! It certainly will not be the first floor,

so I wonder what would it be like to be a Herbalist Lv.1 fighting against the stronger

demons of the upper floors of the Labyrinth?

Ahahahahahaaaaa!

Cassia would definitely end up becoming a widow! So hilarious…!

No, I will not do it. Most likely. Probably. Perhaps. We shall see.