Touya folded his arms and nodded. “Oh, yeah, that’s totally true. We basically never take on any quests that are posted on the guild bulletin.”
“You think so too, huh? But your party seems to be doing okay,” said Yoshino. “The equipment you had earlier looked really nice, and the clothes you’re wearing now look just as well-made as something we could have bought back in Japan. I assume clothes like that are pretty expensive in this world.”
“I admit I’m a bit jealous,” said Sae. “Even ordinary new clothes are expensive enough...”
“Mm. We have had to content ourselves with secondhand clothes of middling quality,” said Kaho. “As for this dungeon—is that the true source of your wealth?”
She gave me a look as if trying to pry clues out of me, but I just laughed and shrugged.
“Well, we’ve definitely made a lot of money on the dungeon, but that’s not actually relevant. There are a lot of reasons that we’ve been able to lead comfortable lives in this world, but probably the most important is that we’ve been able to do a lot of DIY stuff ourselves.”
“H-Huh? DIY? Wait, you’re not trying to imply that you built this house yourselves, are you?” Yoshino asked.
“Of course not. We paid for some local carpenters—for the furniture too. It wasn’t cheap by any means, but it’s high quality—furniture is Laffan’s main export, so it’s pretty easy to order here.”
“Oh yeah, it’s definitely stylish and fancy,” said Yoshino. “I’d love to own some furniture like this...” She tilted her head quizzically. “But, um, I mean, what exactly do you mean by DIY? Like, what else can you make by yourselves to save money?”
Natsuki laughed at that reaction. “I believe the word ‘handmade’ would be more accurate than DIY, Nao-kun. You see, most of the tools we use in the course of our adventures are things we made using our skills and magic. In this way, we’ve been able to save a great deal of money.”
“Yeah, we’ve got skills like Alchemy that have helped us out in all sorts of ways,” said Yuki. “Even Touya’s Blacksmith skill has been super useful for stuff like maintaining our own weapons and making kitchenware. Our lives pretty much depend on the skills we got before we came to this world.”
“I can’t take too much credit for the smithing—I personally think you three have contributed way more by making clothes for everyone,” said Touya. “I really wouldn’t want to wear secondhand clothes. It’s a bit of a shame that most of the requests I make about design get ignored, though.”
“Sorry, Touya,” said Yuki, “but if you want us to stay motivated, you gotta let it go!”
The girls sewed all of our clothes by hand. True, they had the Sewing skill, but it wasn’t like that made them as fast as a sewing machine, so motivation was a crucial consideration, and if we complained about the things the girls made for us, it was entirely possible that they’d tell us to go buy clothes for ourselves. I didn’t have any particular preferences in clothes, so it was convenient that I could just wear whatever Haruka thought would look good on me.
“...I see. I guess you guys keep your expenses low compared to us,” said Yoshino.
“Ugh, is this the true power of all-arounder builds?! I suppose it’s impossible for people with specialized builds like ours to replicate your accomplishments.”
“‘Specialized builds’? Did the three of you blindly pick similar skills or something?” Haruka asked.
Yoshino gave Kaho and Sae an exasperated look. “Yeah. Well, my build is a bit more rounded out, but these two over here are just walking disasters.”
Kaho and Sae must have agreed with that assessment, because their eyes got shifty.
“Oh, really? If you don’t mind, could you tell us your exact skill builds?” Haruka asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Yoshino replied. “But just to be clear, I wasn’t as knowledgeable about these kinds of things as Kaho.”
“W-Well, I had good reasons for choosing certain skills,” said Kaho. “I-It is not so bad as Yoshino would have you believe...”
The Jade Wings girls displayed their status screens for our inspection. However...
“Yikes,” said Yuki. “Yoshino’s build is specialized enough. Kaho’s and Sae’s are...amazing.”
“Yeah, even if you had some specific build in mind, this is so over the top,” said Touya. “I can’t believe you went through with it.”
No one in my party had any individual skill above Level 5, but Kaho and Sae each had multiple skills as high as Level 8. Both were completely specced for combat. Apparently they hadn’t even had the Robust skill initially, which was crazy to me.
“I bet Kaho could beat Touya one-on-one,” I said.
“Whoa, that’s amazing!” Metea exclaimed. “I can’t believe you’re that strong even though we’re about the same age!”
“Ha ha ha, yes, feel free to shower me with more praise— Wait, no, it’s merely that we’re about the same height! I’m older than you are!”
“Yeah, sure, I think your skill builds are amazing as well, but in essence, I think you’re overrelying on brute force,” said Haruka. “I’m surprised that you were able to survive in an unfamiliar world with builds like these.”
“Truthfully, it’s all thanks to Yoshino,” said Sae. “I’m sure Kaho and I would have struggled if we’d only had each other to rely on.”
“Yeah, no doubt,” I said. “In terms of food and clothing, couldn’t you just make your own and save money that way?”
Haruka had been the only person in our party who’d started out with the Cooking and Sewing skills, but Natsuki and Yuki had learned to do both things, and I felt like Yoshino’s party ought to be able to as well.