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nThe next day.

nThe Chosen are finally coming, so we got food, and went down the dungeon.

nToday’s exploration is technically an extra, so we went to the 3rd Floor without hiring Grapefull.

n“It really helps that they are going through the trouble of showing when they will be transferred. 3 more hours.” (Jeanne)

n“I will get a notebook with a Crystal.” (Hikaru)

nThe note that can be bought with 1 Crystal comes with a bonus pencil.

nThis is my first time since coming here that I have shaved off a pencil with a knife.

n“Let’s test out our new weapons until it is the time. It would be boring to just wait.” (Jeanne)

nWe were in the first plaza of the 3rd Floor, the Straying Big Mist Garden, called the Frog Plaza, and we were fighting monsters for a bit there. There’s the most explorers around here and, I won’t call it fighting over monsters, but it usually ends up in a similar situation to that.

nBecause of that, there’s no fear of getting pincered by monsters, and we can take our time in battles.

nThis is most likely the safest place to hunt in Meltia if we exclude the 1st Floor. It is possible to ask for help from other explorers if you are in trouble.

nI unsheathe my new katana.

nAs expected from something that the veteran dwarf forged. It fits into my hands to a degree I find it hard to believe is my first time holding it, and there’s no problems at all.

nThe Hellfire Steel blade was heavy. The auburn blade pattern flickering like fire was beautiful.

nThis is a trait of the Hellfire Steel and it is said to show up when the Great Fire Spirit reacts at the time the blacksmith is forging.

n(But it is a weight that I am a bit worried about whether I can use it in actual combat. Is this a weapon I have to grow into?) (Hikaru)

nJust like the shortsword of before, there’s almost no curvature. Rather than a katana, it is more like a big nata. The body is thick and has width. It is not on the level of Jeanne’s sword and the greatsword of Rifreya, but it is better for it to be this rustic to use when in the dungeon.

nThis is not a sword for cutting people, it is a weapon to defeat monsters.

nThe length of the blade is 60cm. The length of the blade for the black meteoric iron shortsword was 35cm, so this is close to twice the size.

nWith the tip of the blade having extended, I can tell that the range of my attacks has also increased. Until now, it has been a battle style like that of sticking my body to monsters, so the added distance creates a sense of safety.

n(…No, it would be dangerous to think of this as my range having increased. This is solely just so that my weapon can reach the Spirit Vein Center against giant monsters.) (Hikaru)

nEven if my weapon has gotten bigger, I shouldn’t be changing my fighting style.

nMy fighting style is to get close and cut their Spirit Vein Center; that’s all there is.

nWith my weapon being bigger now, I can gouge it out with more force. That’s how I should think of it.

nA Troll and a Gremlin showed up just in time closeby.

nRifreya is going to be standing as backup, while Jeanne will get the Troll and I get the Gremlin.

n“Darkness Fog.” (Hikaru)

nWith my speed, it is not safe to slip through the side of the Troll. I have to distract it with something or use Darkness Fog. Of course, if Jeanne is properly drawing its attention, it is 99% safe, but there’s no point in taking that 1% risk.

nThere’s no certainty that the enemy will always be taking the expected moves.

nI close in on the Gremlin just like that, and just as I pass by its side, I sweep with my sword.

nWith my figure being hidden by the darkness, it of course can’t tell where it is getting attacked. Moreover, it is a Gremlin with no protection, so it has no means to block my attack to begin with. It can only surrender to having its arm fly off if it hits its arm, or its head fly off if it hits the head.

nIt has no means to come out unscathed aside from avoiding, but this monster doesn’t have the wits to do that.

nI easily severed the head of the monster using my swung katana with barely any thought in it.

n(It is a world of difference.) (Hikaru)

nIt would be the same impression as having changed from a utility knife to a shortsword.

nThat’s how different it is.

nYou can’t make use of a shortsword in this way. At least not with my physical strength.

nThis new katana is so heavy that just swinging it can break my posture, but the destructive power compensates for it, and the neck of the Gremlin was torn away and easily flew off.

nWeight is power. Of course, it should be strong even if I were to use it for stabbing just as I have done until now.

nI look at where Jeanne is, and after she took the giant club of the Troll with her shield, she stepped forward and cut off its arm.

nRight after, she slashes its chest upwards.

nThe Troll had its Spirit Vein Center cut from the front, changing to a Spirit Stone, and falling onto the ground.

nIt was a battle with no wasteful moves.

nWe have earned money for around 10 days here defeating monsters to train, but the strength of Jeanne is on the level where Rifreya would praise her.

nRifreya has been an explorer in this dungeon for 1 year, and she should have seen many explorers until now. And yet, she is praising her, so she must be the real deal.

n“How was it?” (Hikaru)

n“That was nice. My strength carries well. How about you, Kuro?” (Jeanne)

n“It went well over here too. But I have to increase my physical strength more or it might get dangerous to swing it around. It may be better to delineate the difference between this and the previous one.” (Hikaru)

n“Yeah, I felt that a bit too. I am still losing a bit against the weight.” (Jeanne)

nDid he make it a bit on the heavy side so it can be used for a longer time? Or was it difficult to adjust it? Looks like Jeanne also felt it slightly heavy.

nThat weight can be the cause of accidents in close battles, but there’s the merit of a high attack power. Whichever the case, it is better than being too light. If we are going to conquer this dungeon, we have to increase our Tier to the point that we can use something like the giant axe of Garnet-san from the Crimson Vials.

nIn that sense, the weapon we have here is not the last weapon we will be having.

nWe have to go with the mentality that we will be using it till it is completely worn out to head to the next stage.

nWe continued hunting with our new weapons for a while, and at the time when the 2nd group timer hit the 30 minute mark, we took a break in the Frog Plaza while preparing for that moment.

n“Let’s fill up our stomachs a bit. I have brought food to snack with after all.” (Hikaru)

nI bring out a carpet from the Shadow Storage, and take out the meal that I prepared.

nI also have a canteen. Its content is an unknown tea that I bought at the marketplace.

n“Ah, you made it? I’m sorry, it is always you who makes it, Hikaru…” (Rifreya)

n“Kuro is good at cooking after all. He can become a good wife.” (Jeanne)

n“That’s exaggerating. It is just sandwiches.” (Hikaru)

nMy family environment was a special one, so by the time I noticed, I was already capable of cooking. Since around middle school, Celica began helping me out, so it wasn’t that much of a pain. Also, because Celica is a picky one and wanted to challenge a variety of dishes, my assortment increased.

nThe house chores aside from that one were almost all done by me, so it is serving its use in our current residence as well. Jeanne is completely out of her element there, and Rifreya is, well…she was raised like a rich lady.

n“Yeah, it is tasty. Even though it is just a sandwich.” (Jeanne)

n“That bacon was self-made. I tried smoking it in the garden.” (Hikaru)

n“Now that you mention, you were indeed doing something in the garden… So it is true that all men like smoking, huh…” (Jeanne)

n“No, I don’t think all men like smoking…” (Hikaru)

nI remember smoking meat with my two little sisters and Nanami when we were young, so I simply tried it out too. You can’t preserve raw meat, so it should last a bit longer when smoked.

nBy the way, after buying the house, I bought a refrigerator at the Spirit Tool store so, even if it is not on the level of Earth, we can store our food for a bit.

nIt doesn’t change our style of buying food almost every day though.

n“Uwah, this is truly tasty! You really can do anything, Hikaru.” (Rifreya)

n“It is not like I can do anything, but I am glad to hear that it was to your liking.” (Hikaru)

nEven though this world is like a medieval fantasy world, the food alone is strangely tasty, so I can make it tasty even if it is just a sandwich.

nIf this truly was a medieval world, it wouldn’t turn out like this.

nSoft bread, butter, meat, vegetables; you can get all of that easily.

nI don’t know well what this world is. Did God make it? Or did it exist from the very beginning?

nWhichever the case, the food is abundant and tasty.

nI can at least thank God for that.

nI am a Japanese person who has a culinary drive, so that might be enhancing that feeling.

n“At any rate, people gather often here, so they should at least leave benches.” (Hikaru)

nWhen I muttered this while looking around and eating, Rifreya answered.

n“Eh? You didn’t know, Hikaru? Even if you leave things in the dungeon, they are gone in around 10 days.” (Rifreya)

n“They are gone? Why?” (Hikaru)

n“They get dissolved and return to Spirits. I don’t know in detail either though.” (Rifreya)

nI see. That might be why everyone was throwing things around as if this were a trash can, huh. So they didn’t care because it would eventually disappear. That said, it does lead to injured Lynxes, so it is not good to just litter.

n“There’s also rumors that Lilimuph takes them away somewhere though.” (Jeanne)

nLilimuph is said to be the Divine Beast that gives treasures.

nI don’t know if it actually exists. If you steal the treasure of someone else, it is said that Lilimuph will bring retribution, but I don’t know just how true that is.

n“…Speaking of which, I have never gotten a gem once. Even though I have been here for 1 year.” (Rifreya)

n“Not even once?” (Hikaru)

n“Yeah. That gauntlet of yours is a present, right? Are you loved not only by the Spirits but by Divine Beasts too?” (Rifreya)

n“Who knows. I might have just been lucky.” (Hikaru)

nAll Divine Beast Presents are quite high in quality, and they are things that any explorer would wish to obtain. I have been saved a lot by this gauntlet, and even more as a beginner explorer.

nAlso, you can sell the presents for a pretty high price.

n“Now, it is about time. You open your map too, Kuro. I will confirm too.” (Jeanne)

nJeanne had finished eating really quickly, and checked the blue dots in the note once again.

nThere’s apparently no means to travel at fast speeds in this world, so the blue dots that denote the Chosen didn’t move that much.

nOf course, there’s the ones that are travelling, but they don’t advance so much that it would be hard to get a grasp of them in the World Map.

nThere’s 1 blue dot a bit further away from us. It must be Alex.

nLooks like his escort journey is going well.

nWith Alex having left, the only Chosen in this city are me and Jeanne.

nIf I had to mention any close Chosen, there’s none in the southern and eastern part of the continent, but there’s a decent amount north and west.

nAccording to the investigation of Jeanne, there’s apparently almost no big cities in the eastern part of the continent. Rifreya’s hometown is in the east, but she herself says it is the countryside, so it might be natural that there’s no Chosen.

nThe southern part is where Jeanen was transferred to in the beginning.

nThere’s apparently a port city that’s decently developed, but there weren’t any Chosen for some reason.

nThe Ringpill Continent… We are currently in the Northern part of the Ringpill Continent, and I may be exaggerating here, but it is in the shape of an inclined croissant. The south side is sunk in, and the right side is slightly slanted.

nMeltia is close to the center of the Ringpill Continent, and facing the south sea. There’s another small continent at the other side of the sea, and that’s the southern Ringpill Continent. There’s apparently sea mail, but the amount of rounds compared to the capital of Stranoa is pretty low, so there’s barely any trips.

nWhat’s even further south from the Ringpill Continent is the West Roshesill Continent. This one is the size of Earth’s Eurasia. Looking at how many blue dots there are, most Chosen are in this Roshesill Continent.

nThis is just an assumption, but I think most of the 2nd Chosen group will be transferring to the Roshesill Continent.

nThere’s a number of continents aside from that one.

nAt the far far west, crossing the ocean, there’s the Alaura Continent, but this one is completely isolated by the ocean, so I can’t even imagine what kind of place it is.

nIt seems like there’s a decent amount of Chosen living there, so it might not be a bad place…

nFurther east from Meltia, across the sea, there’s the Lanshimoza Continent. There are a decent amount of Chosen here as well.

n“For now, it seems like there’s no change to the number in this continent and the south Ringpill Continent. Now, just how many will be increasing…” (Jeanne)

nJeanne says this while glaring at the map.

nFor now, the only place where there might be a chance of contact with us would be the Ringpill Continent, but we checked everything, and tried to determine how many people will be coming in the 2nd group.

nIt is increasing by 300 people. Thinking about it normally, around 30 will come to Ringpill, and only a few will be coming around here…

n“I may be repeating myself here, but there’s the chance that they can choose where to transfer. No one knew anything about the isekai in the 1st time, so it was impossible to make a decision to begin with, but this time is different. It wouldn’t be strange for God to give them that much.” (Jeanne)

nIt is as Jeanne says.

nJeanne and I have a high number of viewers, and there’s a dungeon here.

nIt wouldn’t be strange for there to be a lot of Chosen who will be choosing this place.

n“It is time.” (Jeanne)

nJeanne says with a sharp tone.

nAnd then, that time came.

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