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020 This is
Truly Catching All in One Sweep of a Net
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Translator : PolterGlast
It's the 10th day
since my reincarnation, and it's a dungeon exploration day. There are no
bandits around the inn. No suspicious shadows either.
Anneliese and I pulled
our hoods low and left the inn. If possible, I don't want them to know about
the inn. I don't want my sleep disturbed.
As we headed to the
dungeon, keeping a watchful eye (using Detailed Appraisal), there was a
suspicious guy observing passersby from behind a building. He was a Bandit
Lv12. He hadn't noticed me.
But he was oozing
suspicion, so I quickly identified him as a bandit. Since he's Level 12, he's
fairly high-leveled. At least he should be at a skilled level as a bandit.
Is he doing it on
purpose? If not, I wonder about his competence as a bandit, and if it is on
purpose, what's his objective? Me? Does he want me to discover him?
What are the guards
doing? They shouldn't be leaving a suspicious guy like that alone. They should
question him.
I'd like to circle
around behind him and slit his throat with a dagger, but I won't do that. If I
did something like that in such a crowded place, I'd stand out too much. If I'm
going to do it, I'll do it secretly, from shadow to shadow. A corpse can go
into the Item Box. If I dispose of it in the dungeon, it's evidence gone.
I'll consider it if I
spot a bandit on the way back from the dungeon. Yeah, I'll do that.
"That guy hiding
behind the building is a bandit. Let's take a detour."
"Yes."
We moved quickly,
making sure to stay out of the bandit's sight.
I know this can't go
on forever. But I don't know the scale of the bandit organization or how many
strong individuals they have. For now, I'll prioritize strengthening myself.
Since yesterday, I've
been wondering how they knew I killed the bandits.
Were they watching me
kill the bandits, did they find out I took the record cards to the government
office, or did they learn through something else? Even the mighty Detailed
Appraisal didn't tell me that much.
In front of the
dungeon, there were many bandits. You can't tell explorers and bandits apart by
their appearance, so they were acting boldly.
The ones in town
looked rough and had suspicious eyes, and their behavior was strange. Compared
to that, these guys seemed natural.
With our hoods pulled
low, we entered the dungeon. My face shouldn't have been seen, so even if they
thought something suspicious, they couldn't definitively say it was me.
"Is anyone
nearby?"
"No, no
one."
We used Dungeon Move
to go to the 3rd floor. This way, even if the bandits chased us into the
dungeon, they wouldn't be able to follow us.
For movement within
the dungeon, I, who can change to the Explorer job and use Dungeon Move, have
the advantage.
No bandit I've seen so
far had Dungeon Move. Bandits have a few unusual characteristics that other
jobs don't.
The first
characteristic is that they change jobs naturally without going to a temple.
The job change conditions are to commit theft 5 times, or commit a crime equal
to or worse than robbery.
The second
characteristic is that they inherit half the abilities of their job immediately
before changing to Bandit. If their STR was 10, they would inherit 5.
If the previous job
was Swordsman Lv10, even a Bandit Lv1 is quite strong. Moreover, they inherit
all skills, which is troublesome.
However, even if a
Bandit's level increases, their ability growth is low, so a well-developed pure
combat job is supposedly stronger.
The third
characteristic is that they naturally change to jobs derived from Bandit. By
repeatedly committing crimes, they naturally change to jobs superior to Bandit.
Other jobs can also
naturally change to higher-tier jobs, but it seems to happen more easily with
Bandits. What a troublesome system. I hope I don't change to any heinous jobs.
Now, the monsters on
the 3rd floor are spider-like Thread Spiders. Unlike previous monsters, they
have a mid-range attack where they spit out webs.
"The Thread
Spider's web reaches about 5 people's distance."
The web's range is
about 10 meters, give or take.
If you get hit by a
web attack, your AGI value supposedly drops for about 5 minutes. It's not a
bind, so it's better, but Anneliese says it's dangerous because the Thread
Spider's movements are fast.
Right away, the Thread
Spider appeared. It was about 1 meter in size, with black and yellow stripes.
Its colors were like a Joro spider, but its body was plump and round, and its
legs were short. Either way, it was disgusting.
I raised my Mithril
Two-Handed Sword and closed the distance with the Thread Spider.
It opened its fangs.
Is it a biting attack?
"Gah!"
It spat a web from its
mouth. A net-like structure spread out and flew towards me.
"Not from its
butt!? And a net? That's ridiculous!"
I thought it would
shoot a straight thread from its rear, so the web spat from its mouth attached
to my body. Strangely, the web disappeared.
The Thread Spider
pounced on me, whose AGI value had clearly dropped.
"This is
nothing!"
The dropped AGI value
was 5 points. For a Villager, it would be a fatal debuff, but my AGI value is
boosted by 10 points due to Body Reinforcement. It only being halved isn't
fatal.
"Hup!"
I swung my Mithril
Two-Handed Sword, slicing the Thread Spider, and it vanished with a snap.
"I never thought
it would spit webs from its mouth."
"It also produces
webs from its rear."
"Seriously?"
Spider-type monsters
in this other world are not to be underestimated if they can produce webs from
both their mouth and rear.
"Cotton thread
dropped."
Regarding cotton
thread dropping from a spider, I feel like I want to complain to the god of
this other world.
"And seriously.
That wasn't thread, it was a net, right? Why would something like that suddenly
appear? It's ignoring the laws of physics too much!"
I want to complain so
much. Complaints just keep coming out. Have some restraint, otherworld!
*
I complained to the
wall for about 10 minutes. It's a bit embarrassing.
"...I did
something bad to Anneliese."
"No. I understand
Master's feelings too. Please express yourself to your heart's content."
Being told that just
makes it more embarrassing.
"But with this
cotton thread, we can weave cloth and tailor clothes for us to wear."
Changing the subject
is best in times like these. I changed the topic while averting my gaze.
To be honest, from the
3rd floor onwards, there are two types of normal drops.
In the case of Thread
Spiders, the normal drops are either this cotton thread or G-rank magic stones.
I saw magic stones in Golteo-san's shop too, and they serve as an energy source
for magic items.
The water in the
washroom installed in our inn room also needs these magic stones for the magic
item to work.
Anneliese told me that
an inn with a washroom that dispenses water like that is considered a good inn,
if not a luxury one. I assume it costs at least 1,500 Grill per night (about
15,000 yen).
"Don't they
cultivate cotton?"
"They do
cultivate cotton, but the cultivation volume isn't very high. I assume they
limit the cultivation volume out of consideration for explorers, because of the
dungeon-produced cotton thread."
"Why do they
consider explorers?"
"If the exchange
value of cotton thread drops, explorers lose motivation. If that happens, fewer
explorers will enter the dungeon. If fewer explorers enter the dungeon, the
number of monsters in the dungeon increases, and monsters overflow from the
dungeon. Therefore, policies are in place to ensure that the number of explorers
thinning out monsters doesn't decrease."
So, explorers are
necessary to prevent monsters from overflowing from the dungeon. I didn't know
there was such a behind-the-scenes story.
Such policies are
enacted depending on what the rulers prioritize and how much consumers can
tolerate.
Expensive clothes are
bad for consumers, but as an explorer, I'd rather the guild's exchange value
not drop. Especially since the 3rd floor is already troublesome with its
special attacks that lower AGI, it would be hell if item values dropped.
Though sometimes the
drop is a magic stone, so even if the thread's price drops, the damage might be
minimal.
"But about
that..."
"About
what?"
Her head tilt is so
cute!
"Since I don't
have Treasure Hunt, I wouldn't know if there was a hidden passage."
"I see... In that
case, why don't you recruit party members?"
"Explorers have
strict acquisition conditions, so it's not easy."
Hero of the Two-Handed
Sword has even stricter acquisition conditions, though.
"If you purchase
a slave who has never entered a dungeon and lend them the Mithril Two-Handed
Sword, wouldn't that fulfill the condition?"
"I see..."
If it's a slave, I
wouldn't have to worry about them running off with it, and I could form the
party I envisioned. That might not be a bad idea.
The problem is the
"slave" part. I don't really like the slave system. Criminals might
be better off than being executed, but I feel a definite aversion to voluntary
slaves (debt slaves).
"Purchasing a
slave is for the slave's sake. If they aren't bought, they'll have to work in
poor conditions. In such cases, even voluntary slaves often don't live
long."
I bought Anneliese
because she was unsold and I heard she would be sent to the mines. At that
time, I didn't think she was this cute, so I bought her out of pity or
compassion, not desire.
"Helping people,
huh."
Anneliese says I
should just think of buying them as helping people, but it's not that easy to
change my mindset. I guess I just dislike the word "slave."
Leaving aside the slave
issue, let's move on. It's not a problem I can easily resolve right now.
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