“And that makes ninety-eight,” Kent announced, scooping up another Unstoked Ember—two to go until we filled today’s quota of one hundred.
“I wasn’t sure at first, but we’re managing this.” Cocoa wiped sweat from her brow. “Three days in a row.”
Managing it, we were. For the past three days, we’d been following our schedule of checking in on the Salamander Egg, farming a hundred items, and defeating Ifrit each day.
“I think that went quicker than yesterday,” Tarte said.
“Really?! I haven’t been tracking the time, but we have gotten faster at defeating each Heir of Flames,” Kent supplied, pleased with our improvement as measured by how streamlined our farming had become. We were faster at taking out the monsters and picking up their dropped items. Kent sometimes even grabbed the dropped item right as it spawned, not even letting it hit the ground. That wasn’t something you could do in the game, so I’d burst out laughing the first time I saw him do it. Any player would have.
“Ooh. It could be fun to split up into teams and race to collect fifty Unstoked Embers,” I suggested.
“Sounds like a challenge!” Kent said eagerly. “It’ll be tough without Sharon’s support, but we could probably manage with healing items...” he continued, starting to seriously think this through. “We’re a party of five, so we’d split into a team of two and a team of three. Since Sharon can’t attack, she’d be on the three-person team, but that would give them an unfair advantage...”
“Kent, it’s not that serious.” Cocoa chuckled. “Look, there’s the next wave.” She pointed ahead to a group of five Heirs of Flames headed our way.
On a silver platter... Five Heirs practically guaranteed a drop. I could feel myself beaming. “You got this, Lulu! Smiting Light.”
“Julienne!” Lulu diced up the Heirs with her new Chef Skill all too easily. Considering how she could still use Dark magic on top of her overpowered Chef Skills, she was definitely in a class of her own.
“That’s our quota for today.” Kent stowed the last two Unstoked Embers in his Bag and set his sights forward. “Onward and upward?”
I nodded. All we had to do now was take down Ifrit and head back to the inn.
As Ifrit’s dying shriek echoed through the oasis, I held my breath in prayer. Please, let it drop today...
“Purrlease...” Tarte was clasping her hands too, intently watching Ifrit turn into light.
Alas, our prayers were not answered today—Ifrit vanished without leaving anything behind.
“Another whiff. Well, we’re going to be back here farming items again tomorrow. Ifrit will have to drop one by the time we scrounge up a thousand embers. Chin up, Tarte,” Kent encouraged.
“Thank you.” Tarte squeezed her paws into tight fists in an adorable show of determination. “I won’t give up until she does!”
“Then it’s time for snacks,” L’lyeh announced gleefully as we crossed to the other side of the oasis’s spring.
For the past couple of days, it had become our tradition to relax at the oasis after defeating Ifrit. We’d dip our feet in the water and eat our food. Sometimes we even napped, enjoying a time so relaxing that I sometimes forgot we were in a dungeon.
“Oh, speaking of...” I produced a set of traditional desert garb—one for each of us. I’d secretly bought them in the hopes that we could all wear them together.
“Wait, Sharon! You bought those?!” Cocoa stammered, her cheeks reddening. I knew she’d had her eye on these outfits. She’d only been hesitant to reach for them because they were more revealing than her usual clothes.
If I were being honest, it had taken a lot of courage to buy them. But these desert outfits are so cute! And as Charlotte Cocoriara—not as Mitsuki Toyosato—I can finally pull something like this off. Even though I now occupied this body, I was fully aware of how gorgeous Charlotte had been designed to be. Could anyone blame me for wanting to see myself in one of these? In Japan, I would have never had the courage to put these on. “Don’t worry. I got one for each of us!”
“It’ll be fun for you girls to dress up,” Kent said.
“You have one too, Kent,” I said.
“I do?”
“Of course.” I wouldn’t dream of letting Kent miss out. The men’s outfit was just as revealing as the women’s, but I had confidence that he’d pull it off. “Here, let’s change into them! Girls over here...and Kent can change over there where Ifrit was,” I ordered, quickly sending Kent to the other side of the spring. We didn’t have our tents pitched, so it’d be awkward to have him around while we changed.
I handed Tarte, Cocoa, and L’lyeh their respective traditional outfits. With only a chest wrap for a top, the outfit kept our bellies exposed. Most women wore low-rise skirts or trousers on the bottom. I’d gotten Tarte and L’lyeh pants, and Cocoa and me skirts—sexy ones that had a deep slit up to the thigh.
This is going to drive Kent crazy, Cocoa. “And these are gifts, so you can wear them whenever you want,” I said.
“Thank you, Meowster! I’m not sure when I’ll have the opurrtunity, though...” Tarte wasted no time in changing into her outfit. She seemed a little self-conscious about showing her stomach but not to the point that she couldn’t enjoy her outfit.
L’lyeh appeared utterly unconcerned by the outfit, somehow looking perfect in it.
Cocoa and I were taking longer to change out of our frillier outfits. Ours came with thin pieces of fabric that covered our arms and waists, with plenty of jewelry to layer over top. This jewelry jingled whenever we moved, adding to the novelty of the outfit.
“Meowster, you’re so cute,” Tarte purred as soon as she saw us. “I’m so jealous of your curves and your purrfect skin and your long legs!”
I felt my cheeks warm from Tarte’s unbridled compliments.
“You’re adorable too, Tarte. Yours is very similar to Ifrit’s outfit,” Cocoa said.
“Thank you.”
Then, Cocoa turned to me, seeming to have a little trouble meeting my gaze. That was when I realized that she was beet red to the tips of her ears. She seemed almost bashful. I tilted my head to one side in question.
“It suits you perfectly, Sharon, especially with your clear skin... I can barely look at you,” Cocoa said shyly.
“Wait, really?” I asked. Seeing Cocoa fidget like that made me feel embarrassed all of a sudden.
On the outside, Charlotte Cocoriara was the picture of innocence. I could see how wearing an outfit as revealing as this one would make others feel somewhat embarrassed. Cocoa’s reaction was making me blush, though.
“Sorry I took so long,” Kent announced as he approached, shortly after we’d regained our composure.
This was just the distraction we needed to save ourselves from embarrassment—why talk about our sexy outfits when we could talk about Kent’s sexy outfit?
We girls all turned to Kent and let out an impressed “Wow!”
“You look so good!” Tarte said, staring at Kent wide-eyed.
Kent’s traditional outfit left him topless. He only wore a pair of billowing pants, a bandana on his head, and a simple bangle on his arm—the picture of a man of the desert. What drew the eye more than any part of the outfit were Kent’s hardened muscles. He had something of a baby face, so it was somewhat shocking to witness the contrast between his boyish face and his toned physique. Cocoa’s face was bright red, and I could almost hear her heart beating from here.
“You look great, Kent!”
“Thanks, Sharon!” Kent answered with a grin. “This isn’t too bad. It’d be too hot to wear this outside, but it’s great for dungeons where the sun isn’t glaring down on us—with the right equipment, though. I know this has lower Defense stats.”
“Agreed,” I said. It’d have been pretty bold of him to fight his way through a dungeon topless, but if we had been inside of a story, I could have fully imagined coming across a character just like that.
While we were complimenting one another’s looks, L’lyeh whipped her frying pan out of her Bag.
“What is it, Lulu? Are you going to cook us something?” I asked.
She nodded. “With my Chef Skill.”
We all cheered. So far, we hadn’t had a chance to taste the fruits of L’lyeh’s Skills. Full of hungry anticipation, we all watched L’lyeh work.
Naturally, Chefs learned Skills that helped them cook. Using a Skill with some kind of cookware—like a frying pan—allowed them to whip up food in a short amount of time. And a Chef’s cooking came with all sorts of buffs depending on the dish, each with a time limit of thirty minutes. Such dishes were best served right before an important battle. We couldn’t exactly sit down for dinner in the middle of combat.
Holding her frying pan, L’lyeh said, “Cook.” The ingredients she’d prepared ahead of time popped themselves right into the frying pan. With an appetizing sizzle and a waft of delicious aroma, her cooking was done.
Wow. Way to go, Chef. I simply watched, quietly impressed, but the rest of our party members were astonished to see a dish prepared using a Skill for the first time.
“What just happened?!” Tarte yowled.
“You can cook something that quickly?!” Cocoa chimed in.
“That’s so cool!” Kent exclaimed.
L’lyeh lifted the lid of her frying pan to reveal Scrumptious Hot Dogs—piping hot sausages in a fluffy bun, topped with crispy lettuce. Making hot dogs by throwing ingredients into a pan was some video game logic for sure, but I wasn’t complaining.
“Bon appétit,” L’lyeh told us as she offered us the dish.
“Thank you!” we all answered and each reached for a hot dog.
My teeth broke into the juicy sausage, detonating a flavor bomb inside my mouth. “Mm! It’s delicious!”
“This is so good!” Kent cried.
“It’s wonderful. Thank you, Lulu,” Cocoa said.
“This is such a tasty treat!” Tarte added.
We devoured our hot dogs—and our seconds—almost in a trance.
Having finished his third helping, Kent turned to me. “Right. These have some kind of effect, don’t they?”
I looked toward the remaining Scrumptious Hot Dogs on the platter L’lyeh had provided, and read that they buffed our HP by ten percent over the next thirty minutes. Of course, anyone who didn’t know about their stats would just feel like they had a little more energy.