However, it was thanks to those efforts that we were able to cook up a dish that contained a very toxic, odorless poison. And yes, we tested the strength of the poison ourselves. I was not expecting to be both paralyzed and poisoned at the same time. I seriously almost died. Thankfully, Fuka healed me right away, so I avoided having to respawn.
“I’ll store away these duds for now. I’m sure I can use them somewhere.”
“That was fun, even if it was a little harrowing,” Sawyer said.
“I agree! We’re going to kick that raid boss’s butt!” Fuka declared.
“I finished making the plate too. We got this!”
Ashihana and I had also completed the plate that would waft the smell of the food, so this had all been time well spent.
I left the other crafters and went to pick up Sukegawa from the village. His time with Yadan had also been a success, and he’d crafted a good number of traps. However, whether they would work against the boss or not remained to be seen.
“And even though they cost a fortune, they can only be used once,” Sukegawa lamented.
“Are they really that expensive?”
“About as expensive as a weapon for a frontline player.”
“Oof...”
And it was a single-use item...? Incidentally, Yadan’s trap was also single-use. But then, why had I been able to collect it from the pond? Just game logic at work, I guess.
I compared Yadan’s trap to Sukegawa’s and saw they varied considerably. Their designs were the same, but they had a different shine to them, which I chalked up to their use of different materials.
“It looks a lot nicer than before,” I commented about Yadan’s trap.
“Ga ha ha ha! I outdid myself! I made this trap better than ever! I have a good feelin’ it’ll hold that big brute back for even longer!”
The trap I’d pulled out of the pond had been rusted all over, but this new-and-improved version was shiny and bright. The dangerous glint on the teeth gave me the impression that a regular monster would die just from one snap of this trap’s jaws. In real life, it’d probably turn an animal into mincemeat.
Yadan turned that trap into a scroll and gave it to me. The installation was easy. Like home objects, all I had to do was place the scroll on the ground, activate it, and the trap would automatically be set up underground.
“All right, I’m gonna head back to my workshop. I learned a lot today. Thanks,” Sukegawa said before taking his leave. He was going to log out early to make sure he could join the raid later.
“What should I do now?” I said to myself.
“Hum?”
“Honk?”
“No, we can’t go fishing today.”
Perca and Reflet clung to my sides and looked up at me with stars in their eyes. They clearly wanted to go fishing, but that wasn’t happening right now. I hadn’t accepted any requests to fulfill either. Though I supposed it couldn’t hurt to pop into the Adventurers’ Guild to see if there were any quests I could complete on the way to the raid boss.
“Battle quests, gathering quests... Looks like there’s a new one here.”
A quest to slay the Cerberus Lion was now available. Had it been unlocked because we had spotted it? There were no penalties for failing, and success was rewarded with money and a house in the village, which could be used as a simple home. I had been wishing there was a teleportation circle here, but the ability to teleport wouldn’t be available until after the raid battle was won. At least teleporting to and from a simple home was free of charge. That would make progressing through Zone Eleven much easier.
As I was checking to see if there were any other new quests, I saw Weris the wolf girl walk into the guild.
“Oh, hello there, traveler,” she greeted me.
“Hi, Weris.”
Weris waved at us as she walked over to the receptionist’s counter.
“I brought back some meat, miss.”
“Oh, thank you. This will help a lot.”
Weris had apparently gone on a hunting quest. So NPCs in this village did quests too, huh? That was probably because of the village’s food shortage that Pollick had informed us of. As a hunter, Weris was doing her part to alleviate that.
“Are there any rules about what kind of meat can be delivered?” I asked the receptionist. “I have meat and fish that I hunted in other areas.”
The only quests on the noticeboard were ones that required deliveries of animals hunted in the cave and the Great Wilderness, but if I could just give the village provisions, then I had plenty to spare that I had obtained elsewhere. I especially had a good stock of fish and meat that I kept on hand to cook with.
“That would be very much appreciated! However, since we’re unable to offer much money for those types of deliveries, we don’t officially request them. And you won’t earn any guild points for doing so.”
I was indeed offered a paltry sum in exchange. I would receive way more money if I sold my stock at an NPC shop. Plus, I wouldn’t earn any guild points this way... But I had already told the guild receptionist that I had food, and the village was going through hard times. Now wasn’t the time to worry about making a profit.
I handed over fish, vegetables, herbs, and a large amount of low-rank meat to the receptionist. Both her and Weris looked delighted. Even though I gained nothing from this, it felt good to help.
“Thaaank you,” Weris said in a singsong voice.
“No problem. We should help each other out in times of need.”
“I knew you were a nice guy, traveler.”
Did her favorability towards me just go up? Doing these kinds of good deeds was probably what bolstered my reputation among NPCs, though I didn’t recall going above and beyond for any other NPC, at least not enough that it would have raised my favorability scores that substantially.
“Be careful when you fight the cave monster,” Weris said.
“We’ll be fine,” I told her. “It’s not like we die for real.”
“Oh, right.”
“Do you have any tips for fighting the boss?”
“Hmm. I know wind is really effective against it.”
I guess she has nothing new to tell me?
“And watch your step,” she added.
“My step?”
“Stalagmites pop up from the ground. You could trip and fall on those.”
“Gotcha.”
“Watch out for the ceiling too. Stalactites sorta break and fall down.”
So not only did we have to watch out for spikes protruding up from the ground, but also falling from the ceiling? I expected no less from a zone-unlocking boss. A strong monster wasn’t the only thing this battle was going to throw at us.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Yeah. Good luck,” Weris said supportively as she gave me a thumbs-up. Even though she was only an NPC, it was still motivating to be cheered on by a cute girl.
Although we certainly wouldn’t be able to beat the boss on our first try, nothing could stop us from beating it eventually! This was just the first step to victory!
“All right, I should log out before the boss fight too.”