It was a more reasonable business model than I’d expected, although it seemed like we’d still be working around the clock during the season.
“The dungeon gets rebuilt during the off-season. Not only do the adventurers stay away, but it also means we get to take it easy.”
“Can you tell what day it is right now?”
“It’s only been about eight hours since the season started.”
Urk! Only eight hours?! A third of a day?!
“Um, how can you tell time? I don’t have a way to tell, so I’ve been having trouble with that.”
“You can just look at the clock... Ahh, you’re a newborn, so you don’t have one yet.”
Hmmm? Clock? But I can’t even see anything like that on Slatarou either?
“You can buy it with points. When you buy the Clock plug-in, it displays the time on your stat screen.”
“Ohh, I see! But what’re points?”
“Points are kind of like our salary. You earn some if you survive the season, and you get a bonus for defeating adventurers. We only get paid after the season ends, though.”
“That’s some good info. I see, so I can buy things...”
I’m kinda getting excited. I still don’t really have a clue about anything, but now I’ve got something to look forward to. I feel like I can get into this!
“Yeah, shopping is one of the few things we get to look forward to. Is there anything else you want to ask?”
“Mmm, yeah... I got this skill called ‘Explosive Legs.’ Do you know anything about that?”
“Nope. Did you get it from the equipment that human gave you?”
“Yeah. Oh, also, does my attack not go up even if I equip it?”
“That’s foot equipment, right? It’s categorized as armor, so that’s why it doesn’t. Armor only improves defense in general, although I believe footwear also adjusts movement speed.”
I see. So my kicking power, or my attack power, wouldn’t get buffed. I still don’t know all the details on Explosive Legs either, so it’s kind of concerning... I wonder how much defense I got from the shoes?
“If you want to look at an item’s details, you need to get a plug-in for that. You could also get it looked at by an appraiser, but you’ll need points either way.”
Points, huh? So it’d be better to defeat more adventurers, wouldn’t it?
“Well, I don’t know what’s up with your skill, but having limbs is an advantage. You can equip armor and hold weapons, after all. I don’t have any parts to do stuff like that with.”
Yeah...I can’t even tell where your head is.
“Um, could I hide here?”
“I don’t really mind... But this place isn’t exactly safe either, you know? I’ve just been lucky so far—all the adventurers that’ve come in here have left because it’s too much work to attack a monster on the ceiling. I move very slowly, and if I get hit by fire magic, I’m toast.”
Not to mention pretending to be a treasure chest here would only raise the chance of adventurers actually coming in. It wouldn’t feel right to cause trouble for my senior here... Also, well, I was finally able to go outside. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to survive, so I kind of feel like it’d be a waste to stay cooped up in a room. Anyway, I came in here to calm down and think about my plans, so let’s just do that while I’ve still got the chance.
“Hmmm... First, I’d need to get a grasp on the floor’s layout...”
“Yeah, that sounds like it would be pretty necessary for a wandering monster.”
“By the way, have you ever been outside?”
“Nope, so I don’t know much. I get here and back by dungeon keeper taxi.”
Apparently that old man who’d brought me to this floor was called the dungeon keeper. It seemed he would be back to retrieve me when the season was over too.
“I’d also need fighting practice. I don’t really know much about Explosive Legs, after all.”
“Hrrrmm, I wouldn’t really recommend that. It’s not like there’s a quota for us on the first floor. If you just want to live, then it’d be better to just run, I think. On a fundamental level, we monsters can’t win against adventurers who get to prepare for us. The only ones who survive are either really lucky or those who’ve got such a strong combat sense that the difference in levels doesn’t matter.”
Mm... Well, I can’t really picture having that “combat sense” or whatever, but I did get these shoes. Why not make the best of what I’ve got?
“All right then, I’m gonna explore a bit outside.”
I grew my arms and legs and stood up. Unlike the first time, I transformed rather smoothly.
“Sure thing. Make sure you come back—I’ll be happy to let you know the time whenever.”
“Okay! Thank you very much!”
I left the room and looked around. Luckily, it didn’t seem like there were any adventurers nearby, so I quickly started practicing moving.
I couldn’t quite handle my newfound mobility before, but if I were to master it, then it’d definitely come in handy.
All right, time to start sprinting!
*KerSLAM!*
“Owwww...”
H-Huh? I hit the ceiling again, but I’m positive I held back that time...
“Wait, maybe...?”
I checked my status screen.
Name: Harumi
Race: Mimic
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Gift: The Beautiful Die Young
Divine Protection: None
Skills: Mimic (Treasure Chest, Treasure Chest remodeled), Languages (Inorganics +2, Human), Storage, Explosive Legs (*Only when equipped with Crimson Rose)
Equipped Items: Feet: Crimson Rose
Oohh, I leveled up!