Was there really anything like that?
“Anyway, I suppose one thing I can do for now is work on improving myself, then.”
Though that was something I was already doing.
—Takioto’s Perspective—
What came to mind when one thought of the Tréfle Empire?
I imagine for most esteemed eroge aficionados, it would be elves. I was no exception, of course.
They would think of elves, beloved by all. If I searched the whole world over, I imagined I would find very few who claimed to hate them.
After taking that into account, I think the next thing to come to mind would be several different dungeons. Though I might have simply focused on not forgetting about them because, you typically weren’t able to visit them on a first playthrough.
With that in mind…
“Here we are, Thorn Cavern.”
This latest dungeon was a limited time dungeon that generally could only be cleared while visiting the Tréfle Empire. From the second playthrough onward, however, maximum expediency and convenience was the goal whether you were grinding exp or doing endgame content, so there was a method to make it always available.
Even in real life, the distance to reach this dungeon was an issue, so it would be hard to consider coming here on a whim. While I was sure it would have been possible if we skipped class, that would be difficult for most of us to do, save for the people on the Ceremonial Committee, who didn’t even know the meaning of the word “class.” This made today all the more important.
“We gotta enjoy everything this place has to offer while we can.”
I had to make sure I did everything I could.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Nanami murmured, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief while looking at me. Incidentally, she hadn’t shed a single tear, so what was the point?
“I am simply relieved. Your arms and legs have been trembling nonstop as of late, Master.”
“C’mon, don’t make it seem like I’m going through withdrawal…”
Though really, Nanami’s quip may not have been too far from the truth. My urge to go to dungeons was indeed that strong. Back home, I also went into dungeons on a regular basis.
If a regular student usually headed into a dungeon two, maybe three times a week, I generally headed out to a dungeon between five and six times. On rare occasions, I would go to one every day of the week. I just felt antsy if I didn’t. At this point, someone might’ve thought I was dependent on them or something. Wait, was that a withdrawal symptom?
Yukine was also stricken with the same illness as me. However, her duties as Lieutenant of the Morals Committee kept her from dungeon diving as often. If she didn’t have that responsibility, though, there was no doubt in my mind she’d be going into dungeons at the same level of frequency as me. There were apparently a lot of different places she still wanted to check out, and when I had talked about the Amaterasu Academy Dungeon, her desire to visit was palpable.
I glanced over at her, and she forced a smile.
“I meeean, this is definitely the most excited Yukine and Takioto have looked since arriving in this country, that’s for sure. I can’t believe Takioto set up a log cabin for himself right next to a dungeon like this.”
Why wouldn’t I, though? Having a base of operations near the dungeon made it so much more efficient to come and go as needed, right? Sure, I wouldn’t have needed it if I could just click a button to come here like in the game, but that wasn’t how it actually worked in real life.
Though, I did also feel a bit guilty about continuing to impose on Ludie’s family.
“He did look like a kid the night before a field trip yesterday, that’s for sure,” Ludie said.
Claris seemed to share her opinion as well.
“Personally, I’m a bit conflicted. The Tréfle Empire has so many great tourist attractions that I would have liked you to experience too.”
“Ha-ha-ha, sorry.”
By the way, we had already decided on going out for ramen. Prioritizing a ramen trip over tourist attractions seemed like such a Ludie thing to do, it made me warm and fuzzy inside. Tourist stops were great and all, but ramen was, too. If anything, going out for ramen had a sort of touristy appeal to it.
Nanami gazed at Ludie and whispered that the situation looked very serious.
“Master, if I am not mistaken, I believe Miss Ludie has not been getting her daily dose of you lately. A healthy girl her age should be getting two thousand Masters a day!”
“What the hell does that mean? I’m not an adult’s necessary daily caloric intake here.”
“Regardless, she still needs it, stat. Hurry, quick, you have to strip!”
“Hey, so what’s this new urge of yours to make people strip?”
Actually, if I remembered right, I think she rated my ass just a little while ago, too…
“Listen, Master. A healthy lifestyle requires an adequate amount of exercise, a proper diet, and plenty of sleep.”
Nanami clearly didn’t plan on answering my question. Oh well, that wasn’t new.
“Sure.”
“Balance is particularly important when it comes to one’s diet. It is not simply about counting calories; you need to have proper meals with vitamins, protein, Master, iron, and fiber.”
“Feel like I heard a weird ‘nutrient’ in that lineup. I’m clearly not necessary, right?”
“Master is an especially important nutrient. As long as one gets the proper amount of it, they don’t need anything else.”
“Now you’re blatantly contradicting everything you just said. Why don’t we all make sure we’re eating a full meal, okay?”
“However, you must be careful not to have too much of Master, or you risk forming a dependency.”
“Now I just sound like some sketchy drug!”
“Ha-ha, she might actually have a point there.”
“Yukine?!”
Why was Yukine cracking jokes here with Nanami? If anything, Yukine was the nutrient essential for life. I would die if I didn’t get a periodic dose of the Yukine Mizumori nutrients (dead serious).
“All right, let’s leave the jokes here. Right now, this dungeon is more important. It looks pretty dangerous,” Yukine commented as she looked around the area.
My overall impression of Thorn Cavern was a cave encased in prickly ivy.
In game, the dungeon is described as being covered in thorny ivy, but since it isn’t expounded on any more than that, I had completely forgotten even that minor detail. In real life, it looked like it would be best to avoid the ivy as much as possible.
This was because the thorns growing out of the ivy were about the size of a woman’s pinky. Brushing them awkwardly could very easily result in injuries.
“Oh, it’s definitely dangerous all right. The ivy makes for terrible footing, too,” Yuika said, snapping a nearby thorn. She tossed it aside in a completely different direction.
“I bet slamming our enemies into the walls would deal a lot of damage, but I’m not sure I want to see a humanoid enemy suffer through that.”
Yuika looked at the thorns and echoed Yukine’s sentiments. I agreed that it would probably turn into an X-rated gorefest.
“The ivy might not have much of an effect on elves, though,” Claris chimed in.
“Right? We’re used to walking through stuff like this, and as for the thorns, I mean…,” Ludie said, before thrusting her hand out at the wall, causing the thorns to flop and bend almost into a “U” shape.
“Huh, what’d you do?!”
“I applied my mana to bend the thorns,” Ludie said, reaching out to another thorn. This one was similarly loosely bent, and Ludie touched a part of the vine that didn’t seem dangerous. It looked like this process had interfered with the ivy on the ground, too, as they had moved slightly.
“That’s incredible.”
I couldn’t help but express my admiration.
The truth was, there was an effect in this dungeon that gave a special boost to elven character’s speed and mobility. I concluded that this game mechanic must have come from the unstable footing and thorny walls.
However, the fact that the thorns were actively impeding the movement of us non-elves was a bit different from how it works in the game.
After stretching and doing some light warmup exercises, we looked deeper into the cave.
“Let’s be off. I’ve been here before, so I’ll be able to show you around. Leave it to me!” Claris declared.
For some reason, she was raring to go today, looking over at me with a bright smile. Though, I had to wonder, why was she occasionally glancing over at Nanami?
“Heh-heh, if anything happens, Claris has got you covered! I’ll be your shield!” Claris added, saying she’d go even one step further.
I wondered where this was coming from before I immediately recalled the Seed of Possibility. This was just a guess, but perhaps she felt like she owed us and was trying to work hard now to make up for it? I appreciated the offer, but it put me in a bit of an awkward spot.
“Oh, could you leave this place to me?”
“Hwah?”
A cute gasp escaped Claris’s lips.
I agreed it would be safe and simple to have her guide us through the dungeon. However, in Thorn Cavern, there was a secret route that was impossible to learn about until the second playthrough.
That was where I wanted to go.
And while I obviously knew about this secret route, I doubted anyone around me did.
“This way.”
At first, I’d considered playing off my knowledge of the route by claiming to have “read about it somewhere,” but after consulting with Nanami earlier, she’d told me, “I am of the mind that everyone already understands something is strange about you, Master, so I believe just playing it straight will be fine.”