Prologue — Kent

We were spending our time in Laureldite frequenting Ifrit’s Oasis. This dungeon awarded not only lots of materials for Tarte’s Formulation but also a bunch of items that fetched good prices at the Adventurer’s Guild. Maybe I should give mom a present once in a while.

With each encounter, we gained more levels and grew stronger—so much so that I was starting to think we might be the strongest party in the entire world. Of course, that didn’t stop me from pursuing further improvement.

Late one night, I was woken up by rhythmic meowing—Tarte. What is she up to this late at night? I quietly sneaked out of my room and followed Tarte’s grunt-yowls to a space behind our inn where Tarte was swinging an Iron Mace, apparently having stayed up to do some training.

“I can’t swing it too well...but I need to be stronger and use weapons too...!” Tarte muttered to herself. After catching her breath, she went right back to swinging the mace. She was trying to build enough strength to use a weapon for longer in battle.

Should I go talk to her? Squatting down behind the corner of the building, I considered what to do. Tarte’s only means of attack—albeit a powerful one—was her Molotov-lobbing Potion Throw. Combined with the potions she always made us with Formulation, she was more than pulling her weight in the party. Still, she must have felt like she was holding us back in combat because of how many combat Skills the rest of us had in our arsenals. I get it, Tarte! I get it! My level hadn’t been that high until I’d met Sharon and she’d helped me level up a ton. Without her, neither Cocoa nor I would have come this far.

Overview:

Name: Kent

Level: 147

Job: Dragonrider (Powerful warrior who can fight on the ground or in the skies, on their own or with a party.)

Skills:

Boost Self-Healing: Hastens the user’s natural healing process.

Increase Attack (Level 10): Raises the user’s Attack.

Increase HP (Level 10): Raises the user’s HP.

Increase Defense (Level 10): Raises the user’s Defense.

Taunt (Level 5): Draws enemy attacks to the user.

Fighting Spirit (Level 5): Monsters target the user more often.

Steadfast Leader (Level 5): Negates all attacks on the user for 30 seconds.

Got Your Nose: Stuns the enemy for an instant.

Fatal Blow (Level 10): A powerful attack against a single target.

Whirling Tornado (Level 10): Attacks a wide area.

Shimmering Chase (Level 10): Two attacks in one.

Sixth Sense (Level 3): When the user is with their Dragon, they can sense dangers ahead.

Equipment:

Head: —

Body: Bug Armor (+3% Physical Defense / +7% Resistance to bug monsters)

Right Hand: Gladius (A simple but powerful sword)

Left Hand: Bug Gauntlet (+1% Physical Defense / +5% Resistance to bug monsters)

Accessory: Adventure Bracelet (Enables the Menu)

Accessory: Belt of Courage (+2% Physical Defense)

Feet: Bug Boots (+1% Physical Defense / +5% Resistance to bug monsters)

Bonus: Bug Set 3/3 (+3% Physical Defense / +3% Magical Defense / +10% Resistance to bug monsters)

After forming a party with Sharon and going through all those dungeons, I’d reached a mind-boggling level 147. Although my level-up rate had slowed down lately, I had to admit that I was pretty strong already. It seemed like a lifetime ago when I would ask around for advice at the Guild and read tons of books to prepare for my adventures. Nowadays, we were going to places that had to be unknown to all but a handful of adventurers, and books with reliable information about those places were even harder to come by. This is all Sharon’s fault.

I turned my attention back to Tarte. Alchemists weren’t meant to focus solely on combat anyway. They did learn some combat Skills, but all of them were expensive to use. On top of that, unlike most of us, Alchemists had no advanced or awakened jobs to move up to. That could also be part of what had spurred Tarte to work out in the middle of the night. But her Potion Throw is so cool... This isn’t about me, though—it’s about how Tarte feels.

Pushing myself to my feet, I called out to her, “Tarte!”

“Kent?! What are you doing up this late?”

“I heard your voice, so I came to check on you,” I explained.

“That’s embarrassing...” Tarte laughed, looking bashful.

“You’ve been working out?” I asked.

“Oh, yes. I’m not so good in combat, so I thought if I built more muscle by swinging this mace... But it feels too heavy to me. I can’t move it how I want.” Tarte trilled a sort of embarrassed chuckle.

I gave her a smile. “It feels that way to everyone when they first start out.”

“I’ve impurroved a little bit,” Tarte said and demonstrated by swinging the club again. She seemed to be overflowing with determination. It reminded me of how I’d started swinging a sword around when I’d first dreamed of becoming an adventurer.

“Okay! I’ll be your blade master, Tarte.”

“But I already have Meowster,” Tarte countered.

“Well, yeah.” Obviously, I had no intention of usurping Sharon’s role—especially when I wouldn’t stand a snowball’s chance against Sharon in a fight. “Just when it comes to practicing the sword. I still have a lot to learn from Sharon myself.” I didn’t mention that being called a master of anything sounded really cool. “The least I can do is check your form. Let’s work out together. That’s mostly what I do when I have spare time anyway.”

“If you really don’t mind.” Tarte smiled back.

“All right, then I’m your blade master while we’re working out. Working on your swing is a good start, but it’s also important to build muscle. The more you work out your core, the more stable you’ll be in battle.”

“That makes sense!”

Just swinging the weapon would be a fine method to train if we only planned to take on the occasional weak monster, but our party delved into dungeons and took out bosses. We had to condition our bodies from head to toe. “If you lose your balance after swinging a weapon, you waste the time it takes to rebalance instead of using it for the next attack or to guard against a counterattack. Joining Sharon’s party made me realize that raw Attack and Defense power isn’t enough to make me a good fighter. Quick reflexes always help, and it’s always better to keep the big picture in mind.”

The most important skill was teamwork. Where should I stand to make it easier for the party to move? Who’s going to attack next, and how? Those were the questions that ran through my mind during combat.

“So, keep swinging your weapon when you train, but try also thinking about how your Potion Throw can help the party even more.”

“The problem with Purrtion Throw is that it also hurts anyone close to the target. If I can figure out how to only damage enemies...I’ll be more useful!” Tarte suggested. It wasn’t an easy problem to solve. She often opened fights by throwing a bomb, but she couldn’t throw them too far, especially from her position toward the back of the party.

“It’s not a bad idea to practice throwing and work out your arm.”

“Right...” Tarte said as her expression clouded a little. “If I were taller...I could throw farther.”

“Tarte, you’re still young, so— Oh.” I clapped a hand over my mouth.

“It’s okay,” Tarte said, giving me a smile. The Cait Sith were a comparatively short species. The tallest height Tarte could ever hope to reach would still only be up to my chest.

I’m such an idiot! “I’m sorry, Tarte.”

“Don’t be,” she said, still smiling. “I’m just going to be an Alchemeowst who fights with a weapon too.”

“That’s really cool,” I said. She had a good picture of where she wanted to end up. Even if there wasn’t much I could do to help her get there, I had to do all I could as her blade master. “You’re at level 145, aren’t you?”

“That’s right. There are only eighty levels’ worth of Skills available to me, so I have to train the basics after that... I wish I could learn more Skills.” Tarte’s ears drooped. Since I had an awakened job, my Total Skill Cap was 130. Tarte, who had a special job, was capped at 80. “Meowster said that I could become an unbeatable Alchemeowst as long as I had money.”

“Oh, because you always use Molotovs.”

“Right.”

Still, there was a limit to how far money alone could take her. We could only buy so many of each Molotov ingredient. “Let’s keep collecting Fire Shrooms in the dungeons. I’ll help. So will Cocoa and everyone else.”

“Thank you! I’ll keep making money so I can buy them when they’re available!” Tarte said. Tarte also had the option of crafting and selling potions to earn money. The cathedral in Erenzi was a big buyer of her potions, so she and our party were flush with cash.

Maybe I’ll go gather some Orc Rags on our next day off. I could probably rake in a good amount to help supplement the purchase orders we had in place.

Overview:

Name: Tarte

Race: Cait Sith

Level: 145

Job: Alchemist (Expert in Formulation who can craft potions for both attacking and healing.)

Skills:

Drop of Inspiration: A rare chance to find an extra material for Formulation.

Formulation (Level 10): Crafts all kinds of potions.

Potion Throw (Level 5): Attacks by throwing a potion.

Material Comprehension (Level 10): Uses understanding of materials to improve quality of Formulation.

Thirst for Knowledge (Level 10): Every Formulation yields more items.

Deconstruct (Level 5): Breaks down items into parts.

Reconstruct (Level 10): Combines multiple items into new items.

Star Scales (Level 10): Finds an item of equal value to a Star Piece.

Increase Mana (Level 10): Boosts the user’s mana.

Increase HP (Level 9): Boosts the user’s HP.

Equipment:

Head: Hexagram Ward (+3% Physical Defense)

Body: Mademoiselle Dress (+5% HP)

Right Hand: Iron Mace (A simple iron-wrought mace)

Left Hand: —

Accessory: Adventure Bracelet (Enables the Menu)

Accessory: Father’s Locket (+5% Physical Defense)

Feet: Mademoiselle Socks (+3% Natural Recovery)

Bonus: Mademoiselle Dress Set 3/3 (+15% HP / +5% Natural Recovery)

“For now, let’s work out together. When you swing your weapon, try shifting your stance a little, like how you’d move in actual combat. That can pay off later,” I suggested.

“I hadn’t thought of that!”

I had Tarte try swinging her mace while turning, squatting down, resting on one knee... Practicing these movements now would make it more natural to do the same while in action.

“Once you get used to this one, you can also start using a heavier weapon during training.”

“That will help me swing it faster in combat! I’ll buy one...once I get used to this one!” she crowed, on fire with enthusiasm.

“Good idea,” I said.

After almost an hour of training, we returned to our rooms.

Strange Events in Laureldite

Reas, or Reas Life Online, was a game I’d been obsessed with. Somehow—most likely because I’d died in the real world—I’d been reborn into the world of Reas...as the villainess of its spin-off dating sim.

But I was a villainess no more. My adventure had begun when my former fiancé, Prince Ignacia, had broken off our engagement and exiled me. Now, my exile had been revoked and Ignacia was the one who’d faced severe consequences. Freed from my assigned role, I was itching to explore this world of Reas that I loved so much until I’d seen every corner of it. With that goal in mind, I was living every day to the fullest...

***

We were currently staying in Fule, the Oasis Village, a town in Laureldite Republic. It was a peaceful little village built around a desert oasis. After a few days of sightseeing, we planned to double back a bit and head north to the capital of Laureldite—Bahal, the Scorching City.

I was traveling with my party: Tarte, the Alchemist Cait Sith; Kent, the Dragonrider; Cocoa, the Lyrical Sorcerer; and L’lyeh, the Goddess of Darkness who had somehow become sentient after our battle against her.

Tarte, Cocoa, and L’lyeh were out shopping for supplies this morning, leaving Kent and me at the inn. We’d planned to go to the Adventurer’s Guild together, but now he had a weird look on his face.

“What’s the matter, Kent?”

“Well, it’s...” he said, then hesitated.

“Something on your mind? You can talk to me about it if you like.”

“No, it’s... Well, it’s not about me.”

My first thought was that this was about Cocoa, his sweetheart. From what I could see, though, it was smooth sailing between them. They hadn’t outright told me anything of the sort, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if they were officially dating now. That was how well they were getting along—even their jobs complemented each other perfectly.

“It’s about Tarte,” Kent finally said.

“Tarte?” I hadn’t expected to hear the name of the seven-year-old apprentice I’d taken on—with her parents’ permission of course. She still had a lot to learn, but... Did something happen to her?! Why haven’t I noticed?! “What? What about Tarte?”

“It’s not a big deal. I mean, it could be, but...” Kent started, hinting that something was bothering Tarte. When I met his gaze with an intent stare, he finally continued. “Tarte is an Alchemist. Because she has a special job, she can’t get an awakened job like we have. I was wondering how she could get stronger... We’re only going to face enemies with higher and higher levels, and people with combat-centered Skills like us have an edge in combat. On the other hand, Tarte’s only option for an attack is Potion Throw. I was wondering...if there’s anything we could do to help her on that front.”

“Kent...” Something swelled in my chest as I realized how much thought Kent had put into this. This is what being friends is all about! As Kent had explained, an Alchemist’s main strength lay in Formulation. Crafting items for the rest of the party—like power-ups and potions—was the main part of the job, but they were also capable of chipping in during combat. Actually, Tarte’s Potion Throw was very powerful. The drawbacks were that it was expensive and that there weren’t many other options when it came to participating in combat.

Maybe she feels like she’s not carrying her weight... If only she could craft enough Molotovs to use Potion Throw all the time. She was crafting as much as she could, but its ingredients were much harder to come by in real life than they had been in the game. With no players to farm and sell ingredients, most items were put on the market by adventurers with introductory jobs. We were able to shop for a decent number of those ingredients, but they were far from limitless.

Even with those drawbacks, I didn’t think switching Tarte’s job was the best move. As far as the general public of this world was concerned, it was impossible to switch your job—but I had game knowledge of how to do it. If Tarte asked, I could tell her how to switch to most jobs out there. I didn’t think that was what she wanted, though. She took pride in her alchemy and the fact that she had the same job as her grandmother.

If there was a job that could elevate Tarte’s potential in the way she wanted, it would be a unique job—a job only available to one person in the entire world, like my Holy Maiden or Frey’s Hero. There were unique jobs that branched off of Alchemist, but I didn’t know how to become any of them. Because each unique job had only been assigned to a single player, the method for obtaining that job and information about what Skills were available had never seen the light of day unless that player had decided to share them online.

No information on any of the unique jobs related to Alchemist had been made public. Perhaps those players had wanted to keep the ability to make rare potions to themselves. If Tarte were to attain any of those jobs, it would help her become stronger. My apprentice was right that she had exhausted her available Skills, but she could still improve her alchemy by crafting new potions and using better equipment. Maybe the best move was for her to focus on growing in those directions while keeping an eye out for an opportunity to attain a unique job. It might just happen if we traveled all over the world—just like how I’d stumbled across the chance to become the Holy Maiden.

“Thanks for looking after Tarte, Kent. I should have been the one to pick up on how she felt,” I said.

“No, no, I only found out by chance.”

“I’m not so sure. You’re very observant, and you’re always thinking ahead,” I pointed out.

“Stop it!” Kent protested, his ears red with embarrassment.

It was true, though. Kent was always thinking of how to best fulfill his role on the front line, and how we could improve as a party. That was how he’d picked up on Tarte’s conundrum. I really should have been the one to notice... What kind of master am I? At the end of the day, I still saw this world as a video game. I wasn’t trying to make excuses for myself. It was just that, compared to the others who only had memories of this world, I couldn’t help but let my excitement make me reckless sometimes. Staying calm in this world, which was more or less a dream come true for me, was kind of difficult. “Tonight, when we’re all together, let’s have a meeting on how to power up as a party.”

“Good idea,” Kent said, rolling his shoulders in anticipation. “More leveling?”

Not exactly. Well, we probably would gain some levels, but that wouldn’t be our main objective. “Pop quiz! What’s the next step after leveling?” I asked.

“What?” Stroking his chin, Kent began murmuring his thoughts aloud, trying to reach the answer I was looking for. “After leveling... Studying? Learning how different monsters act can help in battles. Boosting our basic strength? But that depends a lot on our levels. Besides, muscle memory improves reflexes. Other than that... Teamwork? More powerful monsters are harder to solo...” But our party already worked pretty well together. Kent knew that too because he added, “No, that’s not what you’re going for. Maybe just...getting better equipment?” He looked at me expectantly.

I grinned at him. “Bingo! I want to go get Tarte some better gear. What do you think?”

Kent mirrored my grin right back. “That’s the best idea you’ve had yet.”

“We’re back,” Tarte announced as she, Cocoa, and L’lyeh returned that night. Kent and I had just come back ourselves.

“Any cool finds?” I asked.

“Yes, Meowster!” Tarte responded energetically. “We bought enough food to last us for a long time, with lots of treats and fruit.”

“We bought some of everything,” L’lyeh reported, absolutely beaming. It seemed to be her motto to buy anything she hadn’t tasted before, which on this occasion seemed to have been “everything.”

Cocoa—their chaperone—chuckled behind them. “Nothing will go bad if we keep it in our Bags. We’re going to have some nice meals even when we’re in dungeons.” Cocoa listed off what they’d bought and how many of each; it included fresh boxed lunches as well as basic stores like bread and water. Having a hearty meal when you were worn out in the middle of a hunt could be a game changer.

Kent and I told them how we had gone to the Guild but hadn’t found any interesting quests. Having exchanged our reports for the day, I brought up to Tarte what Kent and I had talked about in the morning.

“New equipment that will make me stronger?” Tarte repeated with an inquisitive mew.

“Yep. A pretty common way to fight solo as an Alchemist is to wear equipment with high Defense or Resistance that mitigates damage from certain elements, and then attack with Potion Throw from a closer range,” I explained. Thanks to Kent, Tarte wouldn’t need to fight on the front lines, but having the option of placing her there would make our formation more reliable and efficient during hunts. I’d bring that possibility up once we had better equipment for Tarte. No matter how much you shored up your defenses, it had to be scary to face the wrath of monsters head-on. “The equipment you have now isn’t bad at all, but I’d like to track down something better... What do you think?” I asked the party.

To obtain the equipment I had in mind, we’d have to go to the dungeon Underground Volcano and defeat its boss, which had a chance of dropping the equipment in question. It would be a decently grueling process, mostly because of the scorching climate of Underground Volcano. That hadn’t been a problem when I’d been playing Reas through a VR kit, but now I was starting to worry that we were going to combust from the heat once we entered that dungeon.

“Let’s do it!” Kent immediately cried.

“Agreed,” Cocoa and L’lyeh chimed in cheerfully.

Like a gust of fresh wind, their enthusiasm blew away my concern.

Tarte’s face lit up with excitement at the prospect of a new set of equipment. “That would be purrfect!”

“Okay! Then let’s get ready!” I announced.

The party cheered in response as we set our course for Underground Volcano.

***

Thus, we came to the capital of Laureldite—Bahal, the Scorching City. This was the first time any of us had been here.

Most people in Bahal wore the traditional Laureldite garment made of layers of white fabric. Women wore layers of flowy, thin fabric adorned with gold and silver chains that tinkled with charms. This glittering city in the desert seemed like a fun place to just stay for a while.

Water from the oasis flowed within the city walls, providing its denizens with ample water at all times. Still, the city was burning hot by day and freezing cold by night. A secret underground passage lay beneath it, which gave access to Underground Volcano while sheltering those who used it from the harsh elements. Knowledge of Underground Volcano also happened to be restricted to high-ranking adventurers and a select few within Laureldite’s government. On the dungeon’s surface stretched an ordinary road through the desert that led to the entrance to Undersea Tunnel, which connected Laureldite to its neighbor.

Everyone in my party was gazing around the city with palpable excitement.

“Wow. Arcadia was a sight to behold, but this city is something else. I know it’s hot, but...isn’t it too hot for those clothes?” Kent asked.

I laughed. “I know what you mean.” The traditional dress of Bahal made the women look like belly dancers, which might have been a little too stimulating for a teenage boy. Out in the desert, ladies covered up with a thick cloak to protect themselves from the sun, but many of them kept little skin covered here in the city. This fashion was a luxury afforded to them by a sort of sunscreen that lined the shelves of Bahal. Like other in-game items, the sunscreen came with healing properties that could heal even severe sunburns. That would have been really handy in the real world.

“Meowster, should we buy those outfits while we’re here?”

“That sounds fun, but...aren’t they a little embarrassing?” For some reason, I had reservations about wearing clothes that revealing. Not that I wasn’t confident in my body—warranted or not—since becoming Charlotte Cocoriara, and while there was nothing wrong with showing a little midriff, my fear of embarrassment was still winning out. Of course, Tarte, L’lyeh, and Cocoa would all look absolutely adorable dressed that way. In fact, I’d pay for all of their outfits just to see them decked out in them.

Cocoa laughed and kindly backed me up. “It would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”

“But don’t you want to try it...?” I asked Cocoa, and leaned in to whisper, “So you can show Kent?”

Instantly, Cocoa’s face turned bright red. “I-I...” she began muttering under her breath, though she refused to deny it.

That’s it. I’m going to get her one later.

“Let’s book our rooms!” Kent suggested as he eyed us.

“Right—before the good inns are booked up,” I said.

“We should stay somewhere with tasty food,” Tarte purred.

“The most important criterion...” L’lyeh agreed and began to sniff the air. “Smell of good food from that inn over there...” L’lyeh would probably find a nice place for us to stay.

“Once we book our rooms, let’s find out more about the dungeon,” I said.

“Yes, purrlease!”

After securing our lodgings, I told them what I knew about Underground Volcano, and we all headed to the Adventurer’s Guild. Bahal’s branch was enormous because they rewarded adventurers not only for quests like hunting monsters in the desert outside the city but also for rescuing stranded civilians from the unforgiving terrain.

Apart from its size, the Guild was laid out much the same as the other branches I’d seen. Quests were posted on a board where adventurers could pick out ones that matched their rank. Several reception counters lined one wall, and there, quests could be accepted, completed, or offered. The second floor held dining rooms, archives, and meeting rooms that were accessible to anyone. The third floor must have been home to the offices of the Guildmaster and other employees.

To access the dungeon through the underground tunnel, we needed to request permission from either the Guild or the government. I’d chosen to approach the Guild.

When we went up to a counter to explain just that, the receptionist apologetically responded with something I hadn’t expected to hear. “I understand you are all high-level adventurers. Unfortunately, no one is allowed inside Underground Volcano at this time.”

“Why not? It’s a dungeon, isn’t it?” Kent asked. For the most part, dungeons were open to the public.

Restricting access to dangerous dungeons by granting permission only to those who could survive them was one thing, but it didn’t make sense to lock down a dungeon altogether. This didn’t happen when I obtained permission for the dungeon in the game. “Can you tell us a little bit more?” I asked.

“W-Well... I’m not supposed to give too much information to adventurers, but you already know about the underground corridor... This isn’t information we can share with the public, but strange things are happening down there,” said the receptionist.

“What kinds of strange things?” I asked. “We may be able to help.” If they’d locked up the dungeon because of a powerful monster or something like that, we could take care of it. Our first step to gaining access to the dungeon was figuring out why it’d been locked down.

“Yes... Allow me to explain in another room,” the receptionist offered.

“Thank you,” I said. She couldn’t very well talk about the underground tunnel and dungeon with all these other adventurers around.

The receptionist led the way upstairs, and we followed close behind.

Something strange... Something strange... What could be going on here? I racked my brain for an event or quest that might have caused this—there were plenty of quests that could be triggered around or under Bahal. Maybe one of them was triggered?

While I pondered the possibilities, we were led to a meeting room and even served iced herbal tea that smelled delightfully refreshing. The room we’d been shown to was on the third floor, and it held a table large enough to sit ten. Maps of the area hung on the walls, leading me to assume that this room was often used for tactical meetings.

Finally, the receptionist faced us, her brows lowered apologetically. “Most likely, nothing can be done about this,” she declared, a tone of finality weighing down her words.

“You can’t know that before we’ve even tried...!” Kent protested, leaning forward from the very edge of his seat upon a sofa.

The receptionist just shook her head. “No human can do anything about it.” She sounded hopeless.

Kent sat back and scratched his head. “Is it difficult—or impossible—to even enter the dungeon?”

“Not impossible, but there is constant extreme danger,” said the receptionist.

“Constant extreme danger...” Tarte repeated, her shoulders sagging at the same time Kent’s did.

The receptionist’s choice of words was enough to give me a good idea as to what was going on. There had been an event in Reas that occurred at random called “Stop Underground Volcano from Erupting!” If an eruption seemed imminent, it made sense that no one was allowed into the volcano. Stopping the eruption was a simple process. You had to bring Ifrit from Ifrit’s Oasis and have the NPC quell the volcano.

So, if we wanted to beat Underground Volcano, we’d first have to defeat the boss of Ifrit’s Oasis. Once Ifrit was defeated, we could bring the boss-turned-NPC to Underground Volcano to stop the eruption and make it safe enough for us to enter. However, both Ifrit’s Oasis and Underground Volcano were dangerous dungeons, making this a particularly arduous quest to complete. It would be a lot of work, but that also meant it would be a lot of adventure!

“What?!” the rest of my party suddenly exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts. I’d vaguely picked up the word “eruption” while lost in my own musings, so the receptionist must have explained what was going on with Underground Volcano.

“Yeah, there’s nothing we can do about an eruption...” Kent groaned.

“It doesn’t matter how many levels we have...” Cocoa murmured.

Both of them lowered their heads in disappointment before giving me a look—it would be my call.

The eruption event had been a recurring one in Reas, so there was a chance the Guild knew how it could be resolved. Whether or not they expected anyone to pull it off was a different story. Compared to the game, people in this world had much lower levels—so much so that no one else would have been capable of defeating Ifrit. Not even Frey could have done it...if she hadn’t met me and skyrocketed her level, that was.

I cleared my throat and turned to face the receptionist. “Could we take on the quest to stop Underground Volcano’s eruption?”

“What? No, no, no, no, no... Were you listening to a word I just said? There’s no way you can stop a volcano from erupting, unless you’re a Fire Spirit in human skin,” the receptionist protested, staring at me like I was insane. Even Kent was looking at me like I had suggested lassoing the moon.

“You’re right. No human can stop it,” I agreed. “Ifrit will be the one to do that.”

The receptionist inhaled sharply. “Ifrit is the protector of this country. As a Fire Spirit, the god should be able to calm a volcano... But how will you get Ifrit to do that?”

“I’ll bring them over from Ifrit’s Oasis, of course!”

“No! It’s not possible to make it through that dungeon!” The receptionist still sounded incredulous, but the other members of my party were gazing at me with light bulbs going off above their heads. Seeing their reactions, the receptionist turned to the files in her hand. Surprise twisted her face. “What?! Y-You’re a H-H-Holy Maiden?! I didn’t even know such a job existed...!”

Apparently, she hadn’t read our files very thoroughly. Maybe she’d granted us this private meeting because she’d been impressed that Kent was a Dragonrider.

“I thought you were a party led by a Dragonrider. One of you is a Lyrical Sorcerer too?! Oh, but Lulu is a Novice... Why do you have a Novice in the midst of a party like this?! Tarte is an Alchemist, but at such a high level...! I’ve never met a party like yours before!” Having reviewed our profiles more closely, she had gone into a little bit of a tizzy. I couldn’t blame her when our party had to be one of the strongest in the world.

I laughed and then pushed for the quest again. “Can you trust us to stop the volcano?”

“I can’t make that decision on my own. I’ll bring the Guildmaster now,” the receptionist said.

“I understand,” I replied. I would have preferred to take the quest and go at once, but I knew she had to follow the proper procedure. I watched as she rushed off to summon her boss.

“Meowster, can we really bring Ifrit out of the dungeon?” Tarte asked, eyes brimming with curiosity. “I always thought Ifrit was just a furry-tale character.”

“There are a lot of books about Ifrit, and a lot of them are fiction...” I said. “After the adventures we’ve had, don’t you think we can believe in Ifrit’s existence, though? Remember, Lulu’s the Goddess of Darkness.”

“Meow!” she exclaimed. “That’s right!”

During our adventures, we’d fought Dragons, an angel, goddesses... Ifrit the Fire Spirit didn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility after all of that. Goddesses are real, so spirits should also be—well, not exactly strolling the streets—but real, at the very least.

“You never stop amazing me with how much you know, Sharon... No one else would think to get Ifrit to calm a volcano,” said Kent.

“No one would dare...” Cocoa said.

“Right,” Tarte chimed in.

L’lyeh seemed neither surprised nor concerned as she sipped her tea and even began eating some snacks from her Bag.

“Ifrit’s Oasis... I was only seeing it as a place to gather materials. It’s a pretty incredible dungeon,” Kent mused.

“It has all those materials and Ifrit at the end...? That’s crazy,” Cocoa added.

“Still, I’m excited to plunge deeper into that dungeon!” Kent declared. As much as he had enjoyed gathering materials, properly clearing a dungeon was the real adventure for him.

“Okay! Let’s do this!” I said.

“Yeah!” Kent replied just as a knock came at the door—the receptionist had returned with the Guildmaster.

“Hey. I’m Tolley, the Guildmaster here,” the man introduced himself. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Sharon. These are the members of my party: Tarte, Lulu, Kent, and Cocoa.”

Tolley took his seat once he’d acknowledged our quick introduction, and I took the opportunity to examine him more closely. He had light blond hair, tan skin, and turquoise eyes. I guessed he had to be in his late twenties, and he stood roughly 180 centimeters tall. He was dressed in a thin shirt decorated with several chains. When I lifted my eyes to his, he winked at me.

Ah. He’s a playboy...

Once the receptionist had poured us fresh tea, I repeated our request to the Guildmaster.

“So you can stop Underground Volcano from erupting, huh? I wouldn’t have dreamed of bringing Ifrit out of the dungeon to do it.” Tolley gazed at me intently. “And you’re the Holy Maiden? Gorgeous...”

See? A total player.

“It’s not a secret that I’m the Holy Maiden, but I haven’t publicized it either. I hope you can understand,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” Tolley reassured me. “I won’t go around blabbing about you. I never thought there would be such a person. Even if someone were to become a Holy Maiden, I would have thought she’d be kept under lock and key at the cathedral in Zille.”

Most adventurers with healing jobs were concentrated in Erenzi because of its abundance of items and equipment related to those jobs, not to mention the cathedral where people could become Healers in the first place. The Holy Maiden was seen as a kind of symbol of Erenzi’s influence. Surely, there were people who wanted me to stand alongside the Pope and rule over Erenzi, but Tithia supported my wish to wander. Without showing a hint of the pressure she must have felt to keep me in Erenzi, she’d sent me off with a smile, like the kind, peace-loving leader she was.

“I am an adventurer free to travel the world,” I said.

“I can see that. Lucky for me. Otherwise, I would have never had the pleasure of meeting you.” He winked at me again.

The receptionist pulled Tolley by the ear and icily warned, “Stop flirting with her.” Apparently, this flirtatious Guildmaster had a habit of doing this to his guests.

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop. Just let me go,” Tolley pleaded. I suspected that this interaction played out the same way on a regular basis.

“So, will you give us the quest?” I asked.

“Of course,” Tolley answered with a smile. “When the Holy Maiden offers to bring Ifrit to stop the volcano from erupting, you obviously take her up on it. For once, we ourselves were stumped on how to deal with this.”

“I see,” I replied. Even though I’d expected the quest to be available somehow—it was an event from the game, after all—I’d been a little worried that we’d have to navigate a tricky conversation here. Much to my relief, Tolley was eager to give out the quest once he knew what we were capable of.

“These are your permits to enter the underground tunnel.” Tolley laid out enough permits on the table for our entire party. They were thin, reddish-brown rocks with the emblem of Bahal carved on each of them, identical to the item in the game.

“You already had them ready to go? Thank you,” I said, and the rest of the party echoed my thanks as we each took a permit. Holding this permit up to a door in the Guild’s basement would open the way to the underground tunnel. Once we had Ifrit with us, we would be able to walk through the tunnel and straight into Underground Volcano. Good. We got the ball rolling, I thought, and then realized I needed to ask another important question. “By the way, what will our reward look like?” Event or not, completing quests was how adventurers made a living. Of course, I secretly already knew what the reward for this quest was supposed to be, based on the game.

“We’ll pay you, of course,” Tolley reassured us. “But a quest like this is unprecedented. To be honest, I don’t know how to even ballpark an amount.”

“We are going to quell a volcano,” I conceded. If Underground Volcano were to erupt, this entire area would be devastated. Considering that—and the fact that natural disasters were normally beyond the reach of human influence—this quest could realistically fetch a reward equivalent to a kingdom’s entire annual budget.

Twining his hands together before his pursed lips, Tolley seemed to contemplate his offer before presenting it. “How about...a Salamander Egg?”

Kent, Cocoa, and Tarte all turned puzzled looks on me.

“Are they yummy?” L’lyeh asked Tolley.

That question must have been unexpected even for the Guildmaster because he blinked a few times before answering. “I’ve never tried one personally, but perhaps you could turn it into a delectable dish, mademoiselle.”

“Um... Please don’t eat it. It’s an extremely rare egg,” the receptionist cut in, refusing to let such a rare item go to waste.

“Still, aren’t you curious whether it is edible? Eating it might offer you some sort of effect,” Tolley said.

“Sure, but...it could also be poisonous. Or it could burn her stomach from the inside out!” the receptionist pointed out.

“True. It may be too risky for a young lady,” Tolley said.

I chose not to voice my suspicion that L’lyeh would happily chow down on even poison or fire. “A Salamander Egg is fine,” I said instead. “Thank you.”

“Are you sure? Salamander Eggs are rare—we’re lucky to get one every few years—but we don’t really know how to make use of them. It’s not like you could hatch a Salamander and make it your pet,” Tolley said, apparently surprised that I’d agreed so easily.

He might be a player, but at least he’s honest. I appreciated him admitting that he didn’t know how the Salamander Egg could be utilized and even confirming whether we were okay with that. However, I knew how to make good use of the egg, and I was very happy to get my hands on one.

“We are sure,” I reassured him repeatedly. A Salamander Egg could be used in Formulation or as an ingredient for a piece of equipment—our party would have to decide how to use it after the quest. It was very difficult to get one outside of events like this. “Now that that’s settled, we’ll be on our way.”

“We’ll be in your debt. If there’s anything I can do to make your job easier, let me know,” said Tolley.

“Thank you,” I replied, earning a final wink from the Guildmaster. I didn’t think I’d ever met anyone who could wink so effortlessly. “Let’s get going,” I said to the party, and we left the Guild.

As soon as we left the building, Kent turned to me with a sense of wonder and adventure sparkling in his eyes. “Are we going now, Sharon?!”

“Let’s get this quest over with and eat the Salamander Egg,” L’lyeh chimed in.

I chuckled to see them equally enthusiastic but for wildly different reasons. For now, I had no intention of letting L’lyeh eat the Salamander Egg, even if I was also curious what would happen. “Since we booked our rooms here, why don’t we take a few days and explore the city?” I suggested...but they all vigorously shook their heads.

“No, no, no, no, no. We’re not gonna relax and sightsee when that volcano right there could erupt any day!” Kent said.

“Yeah, Sharon! We need to bring Ifrit and quell the volcano as quickly as we can! If it erupts...!” Cocoa added, her fear-filled voice trailing off.

“Oh... Right. You’re right. If the volcano blows, this city will be swallowed up by lava,” I conceded. None of them were in the right mindset to enjoy the city for now, and for good reason. Even though I knew the volcano wouldn’t erupt yet based on the timeline of the game’s event, there was no way to prove that. Worrying about a volcano erupting all day wasn’t good for their mental health anyway. “Let’s at least rest for today. Tomorrow, we’ll use the Gate to return to Fule and head straight to Ifrit’s Oasis. Is that okay?”

“Well, we do need to rest and prep for the dungeon. Besides, you and the Guildmaster would be freaking out if the volcano was going to blow any second,” Kent said.

“Okay! We’ll prepare to spend as long as it takes in the dungeon by stocking up on food and supplies,” Tarte huffed.

“Right. Since we’re going to fight Ifrit, we should be prepared,” I said.

“What?!” Kent, Cocoa, and Tarte said in unison, freezing in their tracks.

“I thought we just had to bring Ifrit out of the dungeon!” Kent cried.

“Yeah...after we defeat them. Didn’t I tell you?”

“No!” all three of them protested. They’d been expecting to simply reach the end of the dungeon and guide Ifrit out. Unfortunately, we had to defeat Ifrit in order to bring them outside.

“It’s okay. We can take care of Ifrit if we work together. We’re also going to do some leveling on the way, and Tarte will make fire-resistance potions for us. We can do this!” I said.

Kent swallowed audibly. “Okay...! Let’s do it!”

A Quick Sightseeing

After our meeting at the Adventurer’s Guild, our party decided to take some time for ourselves. We were free to prep for the dungeon, eat a nice meal, or maybe just rest at the inn.

What do I want to do...? Walking through the streets of Bahal on my own, I was looking around for something that piqued my interest. I was open to anything that might be interesting: food, items, equipment...

“Is that...?!” What ended up catching my eye was a fruit stand that sold Tropicallo—a fruit that kind of looked like a small apple but supposedly tasted like a mix of mango and peach. Ever since I’d seen vendors selling piles of them in the game, I’d wondered what they would taste like. I bet Lulu is buying them up by the stall right about now. Knowing that much to be true in my bones, I decided to secure my own share.

“Ten Tropicallos, please,” I said.

“Thanks,” said the vendor. “Mine are so good and sweet that you’ll be back for more before you know it,” she joked with a jovial expression.

I thought about it—the fruit wouldn’t go bad in my Bag, so I could afford to take some extra. “Can I do twenty, then?” I asked.

“That many? Of course, sweetie. Thank you. I’m happy to clear the shelves quicker!” The vendor laughed heartily.

“My friends and I are looking forward to them.”

“Enjoy!”

Taking twenty Tropicallos, I threw them into my Bag that I kept disguised as a Magic Bag. Even though the Adventure Bracelet was becoming better known to the public, too much of the population still remained ignorant about it for me to risk showing mine off.

“Thank you,” I said as I finished packing my fruit and left the stall.

Now, where to next? I wanted to take the opportunity to do some sightseeing while I was in Bahal. Now that the world of Reas had been made real, I couldn’t just go wherever I pleased—not in the same way I had when playing a video game. I’d get arrested for trespassing in no time.

“Oh! There’s a spot with desert wildflowers,” I remembered. How could I forget about that view? I continued my stroll through the city, but now heading straight for the outskirts.

There, the desert sand shimmered in the sunlight, broken up by various boulders here and there. The shade of those boulders had been a popular photo spot where you could take in the view of the cacti. At the border between the city and the desert, stunning cactus flowers bloomed all over. Plenty of players in Reas used to come to this spot—dubbed the Cactus Vista—for dates. The aroma of those cactus flowers hung in the hot, dry air.

“Look at those huge cacti! It hits different when they’re real!” I exclaimed. Plenty of cacti towered over my head so high that I had to gaze up to see their flowers blooming like adorable pink crowns upon their heads. “Now places like this, you can only see in a video game.”

While I was standing there taking in the cacti, I suddenly heard a familiar voice exclaim, “Wow!”

Instinctively, I hid from the source of the voice...for some reason. I peeked around the cactus to confirm whom I’d heard—Kent, with Cocoa beside him. They were alone, without Tarte or L’lyeh. Oh? Could they be on...a date? A grin spread across my face.

“These are way taller than I am,” Kent said.

“I didn’t know cacti could grow this tall,” Cocoa marveled.

They continued their conversation as they stood side by side gazing at the cactus flowers. As cute as they were, it was a little frustrating to watch. Come on, at least hold hands...! From what I could see, Kent was the nervous one while Cocoa looked relatively relaxed.

She pointed at the top of a nearby cactus. “Those flowers are pretty. What do you think they’d look like if we rode our Dragons and viewed them from above?”

That was such a cool idea that I made a mental note to try it myself. We rarely rode our Dragons around cities lest we scare the local citizenry. Unlike Kent’s Dragon—which looked like a Dragonrider’s mount and wouldn’t cause any concern—my Dragon could be mistaken for a wild monster flying in to attack the city. That wouldn’t be a problem if we popularized Dragons as a mode of transportation, but that was easier said than done. Acquiring a Dragon Whistle required defeating the dungeon boss Black Dragon.

While I was thinking about Dragon transportation, a middle-aged drunk guy bumped into Cocoa, spilling a bit of his drink on both himself and her. Ugh. There are stupid drunks even in this world.

“Dammit! Watch where you’re going!” the drunk snapped.

“Oh... I’m sorry,” Cocoa said.

I’d watched the collision, though. The drunk guy hadn’t been watching where he was walking, while Cocoa had been standing still and looking at the cactus. He was one hundred percent at fault. I should step in, right? If that drunk dirtbag wanted to mess with our precious Cocoa, I’d give him something to complain about.

“Hey,” Kent said, stopping me in my tracks.

Of course. Kent can handle this. I decided to keep watching quietly.

“You got something to say, kid?! That girl right there got my shirt soaked! How are you gonna make up for that, huh?!” the drunk guy barked.

“You bumped into her. Let’s go, Cocoa. Don’t worry about him,” Kent said, turning to leave with Cocoa.

“O-Okay.”

But then, the drunk guy grabbed Kent’s shoulder. “Wait a minute.” He must have been using quite a bit of force, but Kent wasn’t budging an inch. The drunk guy looked surprised about that for a moment but chose to continue talking. “Where do you think you’re going?! Hmm, let’s see... Maybe I’ll let this slide if she’ll pour me a drink nicely, huh?”

“Ugh...” Even Cocoa looked exasperated now. The drunk guy had a loud bark, but Cocoa could bite a lot harder than some drunk rando. Not to mention that her white knight, Kent, is protecting her, I thought with a smirk on my face.

The drunk guy then dared to reach for Cocoa, which must have taken her by surprise. Seeing her body jerk in response, Kent slapped the guy’s arm away—very gently, by our standards, but it sent the drunk guy tumbling, splashing the rest of his drink all over himself.

“Dude. You should really grow up,” Kent said.

“I’m done going easy on you, kid! You’ll regret that!” The drunk guy tried to grab Kent, but he effortlessly tossed the guy into the air and let him slam back to the ground.

It’s gonna take a lot more than that to lay a finger on our frontline fighter, I thought with pride.

Then, a group of onlookers—who’d been watching the interaction tensely—broke out into cheers and applause. Evidently, they had no sympathy for the drunk guy.

“Good job, kiddo.”

“A guy’s gotta protect his gal.”

“That was so cool!”

“He’s amazing!”

“That must have earned you some brownie points. You guys are a cute couple.”

Other comments came from the crowd, some of them even sounding like they shipped Kent and Cocoa together.

Kent blushed and scratched his head. “Well... Let’s get going,” he said a little dismissively and began quickly walking away from the onlookers. Even though his face was bright red, he seemed to have a little pep in his step.

Chuckling at his attitude, Cocoa jogged after him. “Kent, wait up.” When she caught up to him, she took Kent’s hand in hers. “Don’t leave without me,” she scolded him with a smile.

Just for a moment, Kent seemed to freeze, like a bolt of electricity had run through him when their hands had connected. “Stay close. I don’t want any other weirdos accosting you.”

“I will.”

His face even redder than before, Kent began walking with Cocoa’s hand in his. I caught a glimpse of their budding relationship as they walked off toward the city to continue their date. I was smiling wide as I witnessed this young love. “I don’t want any boyfriends of my own after everything that went down... I think I’ll be their cheerleader.” There was a chance my family would present another suitor, but I was never going to take anyone like Ignacia for a fiancé again. I was the type of person meant for freedom and adventure. “Oh, I need to look at the cacti too!” I reminded myself. I’d been too preoccupied with Kent and Cocoa.

As I wove through the wild cacti, I noticed that they actually came in all sizes—some of them even small enough to fit in my palm. It was a great sightseeing spot, but the heat was getting to me after walking for a little while. I blew out a breath. “This isn’t a spot to spend the whole day in.”

So, I did a quick lap and returned to the city.

Toward the center of the city, I found a café on the main street and didn’t hesitate to go in. I wanted to relax inside before I became drenched in sweat...even if I was already sweating quite a lot.

As I sat down, I sighed in relief at the cool air. “I like walking around outside, but there’s nothing I can do about the heat...” I couldn’t help but wish for a car to drive around in. Even if I rode a Dragon and felt the wind on my face, the glaring sun would still be there, beating down on me with its rays.

“Your fruit soda,” the waitress announced as she placed the cup on the table.

“Thank you,” I said, my eyes locked on my order. There was no better feeling than having a cold drink in a cool café, sheltered from the desert heat. With the first sip of fruit soda, I finally felt my body relax.

I gazed out the window and watched pedestrians go by. Just taking in the locals in their traditional outfits was interesting to me. Soon, I spotted a familiar pair—Tarte and L’lyeh. They were chatting and strolling down the main street, exploring its array of street vendors. While L’lyeh got in line for some kind of food stall, Tarte browsed a trinket stand nearby. After that, they joined up again, snacking and laughing as they walked.

I smiled as I watched them. “It’s great to see you two get along so well,” I murmured.

It soon became clear that they were not exercising any self-control. They seemed to be buying anything that caught their eye and shoving it into their Bags. “Lulu’s buying a lot more than Tarte, though.” That was mostly because Lulu was buying food—both raw foods and premade dishes. L’lyeh must have had more food in her Bag than anyone else in the party. “She is also buying ingredients, though.” L’lyeh mostly stuck to fruit and other foods that could be eaten without cooking. She used to buy ingredients separately until she’d figured out that she could just buy the finished product and keep it fresh in her Bag until she wanted to eat it at the inn or in a dungeon. “Maybe she’s interested in cooking... She did ask my head chef for advice. Will we eat your cooking someday, L’lyeh?” That was something to look forward to.

Before I knew it, I’d finished my fruit soda...so I called over the waitress.

“Excuse me, can I get another fruit soda...and a fruit salad?”

“Coming right up!”

After walking through that heat, I’d downed the soda in no time. Thank goodness for cold drinks. Speaking of heat, the two girls outside didn’t seem bothered by it at all. “Of course, kids usually don’t mind the heat as much...” I said, then realized that L’lyeh—while she looked like a child—was a goddess who’d lived a long time.

Then, I noticed that the aforementioned Goddess of Darkness was looking at a trinket stand with Tarte for once. Maybe she’d visited all of the food stalls in the area already. “We need to find you a good restaurant, Lulu.” Of course, I’d greatly enjoy a good restaurant myself.

Watching the girls pick out some trinkets, I relished my second fruit soda and fruit salad consisting of banana, mango, and kiwi. While I was distracted with my food and drink, the girls disappeared. They must have moved on to the next block. “I’m glad everyone’s having fun.”

After relaxing at the café for a while longer, I decided to go back to the inn.

Ifrit’s Oasis

We’d spent the night at our inn in Bahal. Now it was the next morning, and I was getting ready for the day when Tarte came up to me. “Meowster, can I braid your hair today?”

“Yeah, that would be great.”

“Purray!”

Tarte carefully gathered my hair and combed it before braiding the sides and putting the rest into a ponytail. Wearing our hair up would mitigate a little of the oppressive heat we were about to face in Ifrit’s Oasis.

“Actually, I have a present for you, Meowster.”

“What?” I blinked, staring at her. I’d never expected such a wonderful surprise.

“I hope you like it.” Tarte held out a hair clip made with desert stones. She must have picked it out with L’lyeh from a street vendor after remembering how we’d all been pinning our hair up in the dungeons lately. The clip featured a rose created from red stones native to the desert, held in place by a gold setting.

It shone so beautifully in the light that I let out a breath in admiration. “It’s gorgeous.” Is this what Tarte and L’lyeh were shopping for yesterday? I’d thought the two girls shopping together was adorable in its own right, but knowing they’d been picking out a gift for me made something swell inside my chest. “Thank you, Tarte! I’ll take good care of it.”

“I’m so happy you like it...because I bought a matching one.” Shyly, Tarte showed off her own hairpin of the same design as mine, but with stones of a slightly different hue. “One for me, one for Lulu, and one for Cocoa.”

“You got me one too?” Cocoa asked.

“Thank you for everything,” L’lyeh said as she handed Cocoa her hairpin. It was a brighter red that would match Cocoa’s hair wonderfully.

“Thank you, Lulu, Tarte,” Cocoa said.

“You’re welcome,” L’lyeh answered.

A little timidly, Cocoa held up the pin to her hair. “What do you think?”

She was so adorable that I struggled to nod fast enough to show how much it suited her.

“It looks ameowzing! Kent won’t be able to keep his eyes off of you.”

Tarte’s words set Cocoa’s cheeks aflame. Cupping her face in her hands, Cocoa quietly asked, “Do you think so?”

I don’t think it’ll take long for Kent and Cocoa to become official. I would have grilled Cocoa about it if we weren’t pressed for time and on our way to a dungeon. Reluctantly, I tore my attention away and turned to Tarte. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Yes, purrlease.”

While I fixed Tarte’s hair, Cocoa did L’lyeh’s.

“You always look cute with your hair down, and I really like it up too,” I told my apprentice.

“Thank you, Meowster.”

“Your hair is so shiny, Lulu,” Cocoa commented.

“Thanks.”

The perks of having a girl-heavy party. “Nothing like matching hairpins to put us in the team spirit.”

“Purray!” Tarte beamed at me, reminding me how lucky I was to have such a precious apprentice.

A smile crossed my face as I studied the hairstyle Tarte had put together for me. Without a doubt, this hairpin was my favorite piece of jewelry I’d ever worn.

We had breakfast in the dining room of the inn, stopped by Fule by using the Gates, and then entered Ifrit’s Oasis.

Once we were in the dungeon, Kent immediately asked for clarification. “We’re usually here to gather materials, but we’re going to focus on beating it today, right? Should we pick up Fire Shrooms if we see them?”

I understood exactly where he was coming from. Who hasn’t picked up materials along the way, even when rushing to clear a dungeon? “Let’s see. If we have the chance while we’re walking or while other members are in combat, we can pick them up.”

“Got it!” Kent said.

Having agreed to pick up materials only when we could comfortably do so, we ventured into our first real attempt at conquering Ifrit’s Oasis. There were three levels to the dungeon. The first level—where the monsters weren’t very powerful—was where we’d been gathering Fire Shrooms for the past few days. The second level would be far more dangerous...and far hotter. We’d packed plenty of water and ice because we’d have to take frequent breaks just to make it through without suffering from heat stroke. The third level held the dungeon’s namesakes—an oasis and the boss, Ifrit.

“Let’s get going,” Kent called.

“Yeah!” we cheered.

There’d be no challenge that matched our determination for a while, though. For now, we would be strolling through the first level, which we’d gotten very familiar with through all our material gathering.

“Oh,” Cocoa said as she stopped in her tracks. At the same time, I spotted a Flame Stone farther up. “Monster ahead! And there are Fire Shrooms over there,” Cocoa added.

“Got it. Lulu and I will take care of the monster while you guys gather the Fire Shrooms,” Kent commanded.

“Got it,” we answered. It wouldn’t take the whole party to defeat that monster, so while Kent and L’lyeh took it on, Tarte and Cocoa harvested materials and I kept watch, ready to provide support as needed.

Kent drew the monster’s attention with Taunt, and L’lyeh took it out all too easily with Dark Arrow. They’d taken down the monster before we could gather all the available materials. Because our goal was to reach Ifrit, though, we halted our harvesting as soon as combat was finished, and moved on. It felt like a bit of a waste to walk away from the unharvested Fire Shrooms, but I told myself we could always come back.

“There’s a Fire Imp. You’re up, Lulu! Taunt!”

What appeared was a monster made of flickering flame, with bat-like wings made of shadow, and a devil’s tail. At the center of its body, it had a single giant staring eye. The Fire Imp was popular among some players for its “fugly-cuteness.”

“Got it,” Lulu answered. “Dark Arrow.”

Seeing the Fire Imp burst into light, Kent flashed a smile. “Nice!”

We continued like that without a hitch until we arrived at the second level. Once we entered, the air began to feel hot and heavy. Streams of lava snaked across the floors, giving off particularly scorching heat waves. If I were to fall into that lava, I’d be melted bones and all in the blink of an eye. This part of the dungeon had been a formidable sight when it was just a game—now, it seemed flat-out treacherous.

“Ugh, what is this place?! It’s, like, a hundred times worse than I imagined.” Kent, already sweating, turned a concerned look on the rest of us.

“Yeah. The second level isn’t just hotter—it spits out stronger monsters. We have to be more than careful,” I warned. To be honest, I was starting to get nervous that we’d succumb to the oppressive heat before making it to the third level. On this level, in addition to the mostly unproblematic Flame Stones, we might encounter Flame Birds, Flame Bears, Heirs of Flames, and Scorching Lava, a monster which could suddenly spew out of the ground. The air was hot, the ground was hot, and we’d have no reprieve for a long while.

“But we have to make it through. If we don’t quell the volcano, it could ruin this country. We can’t let that happen. Let’s go,” Cocoa encouraged us, though clearly feeling the heat herself.

“Yes! We will bring back Ifrit and save this land from the eruption!” Tarte said.

Their intensity pushed me to nod in agreement. “Right. Let’s make this quick. As soon as we get to the next level, we can kiss this heat goodbye.”

“Wait, level three is cooler than this?! Full steam ahead!” Kent was motivated too. “Let’s keep up the pace!” Still being careful, he took one step forward—and lava erupted from under his feet. The monster that jumped out—Scorching Lava—wasn’t as hot as the natural lava forming streams around us, but it was bad enough to send Kent screaming and leaping into the air, both hands covering his butt. He must have jumped a good two meters into the air... Kent’s physical strength had skyrocketed along with his level.

I didn’t miss a beat before casting Heal with Light. “Cocoa!” I shouted.

“Got it.” Cocoa picked up what I was putting down and held up her staff and Tome. “Water Arrow!” Her spell took out the Scorching Lava in one shot.

Although Scorching Lava only had 1 HP, it was dangerous because it shot out of the ground without warning. It was so dangerous that it was also known as Sudden Death—it could kill you out of nowhere if your HP was low enough.

“It dropped something!” Tarte pointed out. This Scorching Lava had dropped an item called Lava Ore. There wasn’t really a use for it beyond cashing it out at the Guild like I used to do in the game.

“That was scary...” Kent wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “It came out of nowhere.”

“Right? I’d tell you to be careful, but it’s really hard to dodge it when there’s no warning,” I said. The only way to deal with a Scorching Lava attack was to heal as soon as it hit. As simple as that principle was, I’d seen some inept players fail to heal their ally before they died. This was one of the hunting grounds that could be pretty intense.

“Then let’s let Sharon handle the lava and keep moving,” Kent said without a hint of fear.

Knowing that I was trusted so wholeheartedly gave me a warm feeling. “I got you.” I was going to meet his trust with flawless support! At the same time, I felt grateful for Kent and his courage to keep moving forward. He made it so easy for me to return the trust he was giving me. Despite the heat, clearing the second level of Ifrit’s Oasis might go more smoothly than I’d expected. As we set out again, I made sure to reapply buffs to the whole party.

The next monster we encountered was a Flame Bird that sent down blasts of hot air that not only sliced at us but also threatened to afflict us with a Burn status condition. On top of that, the hot and humid air made it tough to move around.

“Taunt! Come get me, bird!” Kent drew the monster’s attention with ease.

While I healed him, I noticed Cocoa setting her sights on the Flame Bird. “Smiling colder than frost, the ice queen unveils her frozen domain!” Cocoa sang an AoE ice attack. In the blink of an eye, the entire area froze, icicles shooting out of the ground and piercing the Flame Bird.

“Good job, Cocoa!” I shouted.

Because the only monsters in Ifrit’s Oasis were of the Fire element, Cocoa had drunk the foul potion I was all too familiar with to reallocate her Skill Points toward Water and Ice Skills. “It’s the least I can do to prepare for Ifrit! Otherwise, I’d be too nervous,” she’d said. Sometimes, Cocoa was downright heroic.

Overview:

Name: Cocoa

Level: 163

Job: Lyrical Sorcerer (Enthralls all who hear with their dreamlike singing. Laces songs with mana to cleave through any enemy.)

Titles:

Blessing of the Snow Flutter: Hastens mana recovery.

Skills:

Boost Mana Recovery: Hastens the user’s natural mana recovery.

Increase Magic Attack (Level 10): Raises the user’s Magic Attack.

Mana Detection (Level 5): Searches for life within a hundred-meter radius.

Trampling Warsong (Level 5): Lowers the target’s Defense.

Moment of Bliss (Level 5): Increases EXP gain.

Absorb Mana (Level 4): Attacks also steal the target’s mana.

Water Arrow (Level 10): Attacks the target with arrows of water.

Water Ball (Level 10): Attacks the target with a ball of water.

Arrow of Water, Wash the Woe Before Us (Level 10): Launches powerful arrows of water.

Arrow of Light, Carve Us a Path (Level 10): Launches powerful arrows of light.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand—infinite strands bind those wings and bring judgment down upon the beast (Level 10): Binds the target and launches a powerful attack.

Eyes of Heaven, Pierce My Enemy (Level 10): Launches swords of water.

Smiling colder than frost, the ice queen unveils her frozen domain (Level 10): Launches an array of icicles.

Winter’s Blessing, Turn Rain of Sorrow into Trusty Blades (Level 10): Launches raining blades of ice.

Equipment:

Head: Mystical Snowwoods Cap (+3% Magical Attack / +1% Defense)

Body: Mystical Snowwoods Robe (+3% Defense / Hastens HP recovery)

Right Hand: Staff of the Forest Spirit (+5% Magical Attack)

Left Hand: Elf’s Handbook (+2% Magical Attack)

Accessory: Adventure Bracelet (Enables the Menu)

Accessory: Roaring Pendant (+3% Fire attacks)

Feet: Mystical Snowwoods Boots (+1% Defense / All-terrain)

Seeing that the Flame Bird had burst into light, Tarte ran over to pick up the dropped item. Tarte’s only attack—throwing bombs—wouldn’t do too much damage against Fire monsters, so she’d been our item grabber in this dungeon. She held up an item called Fire Feather, a useful material for blacksmithing.

“All right. So far, so good,” Kent said, sheathing his sword.

As soon as he did, we heard bellowing roars—three Flame Bears were charging at us. Flame Bears were three-meter-tall bears with flames burning along their backs. Holding them off would be an ordeal for Kent, who’d feel intense heat just from being near those monsters.

We should take a break after this battle. As that thought crossed my mind, L’lyeh’s Dark magic and Cocoa’s Ice magic flew past me and struck the trio of bears—defeating two of them and leaving the third frozen solid. Maybe Tarte’s Potion Throw could take it out now. “Tarte, attack!”

“Yes, Meowster?! Purrtion Throw!”

The Molotov struck the frozen Flame Bear and shattered it into a burst of light. Even though it was a Fire attack, smashing the frozen monster must have dealt massive damage. That’s my apprentice! My perfectly adorable apprentice! This hadn’t been a tactic available in the game, but freezing and smashing an enemy could be a very efficient way to take them out now that they were real. Maybe I could explore more strategies that weren’t in the game but are possible now. “Let’s take a quick break!” I suggested to the group after making sure that all three Flame Bears had been defeated.

We found a shady spot by some rocks and sat down.

Kent blew out a breath. “I’m drenched in sweat... Unless it all evaporated?”

Like Kent, my skin was completely dry even though I’d been sweating nonstop. “This heat is no joke. First things first, we need to hydrate. Make sure you drink your water. Oh, and I bought us some Tropicallos.” I took the regional fruit from my Bag. I’d prepeeled them so we could eat them quickly. Captivated cheers rose from the rest of the party.

“Looks delicious. Can I have some?” Unsurprisingly, L’lyeh asked for one first.

“Of course. Have as many as you want,” I said.

Immediately, the Goddess of Darkness reached for a Tropicallo and took a big bite. “Delicious. Very juicy. Quenches my thirst.”

L’lyeh’s five-star review prompted Kent, Cocoa, and Tarte to reach for Tropicallos of their own. I followed their lead, of course. The explosion of flavorful juice—like a mix of peach and mango—felt like a blessing from the heavens that soothed my parched throat. “Eating these here makes them taste even better.”

“You said it. Having juicy fruit in this heat is on another level of refreshing. Not that I’d come here just to eat fruit...” Kent laughed and gulped down some water.

L’lyeh finished her Tropicallo and began rummaging through her Bag. “I brought something too.” She handed us each a sort of panini that held cabbage and what looked like kebab meat, the smell of its savory sauce whetting my appetite. Now that I wasn’t parched, I wouldn’t have any trouble devouring this panini. I bit into it and tasted the umami of the meat and sauce spreading through my mouth, recharging my strength. The heat had tired me more than I’d realized. On the other hand, who wouldn’t feel drained in this heat? We should take breaks a little more frequently. It didn’t take me long to finish the panini while I was reconsidering our break schedule.

“Oh, that was delicious. Thank you, Lulu,” I said.

“You’re welcome.”

“It’s ameowzing how you always find tasty treats.”

“I eat everything I see,” L’lyeh boasted with her chest fully puffed out.

“Such determination...!” Tarte said.

L’lyeh’s approach to finding good food was to try everything in sight at least once and then go back for the ones she liked. Anything L’lyeh recommended to us had already been tasted and approved by the Goddess of Darkness herself.

“Now that we’ve rested, should we get going?” Kent asked.

“Yes. Going forward, we could stop and hydrate after each battle, even. We can also drink water while we walk,” I suggested.

“That would be better,” Kent agreed. “Let’s all have a drink of water every time we finish a battle.”

Hydrate, don’t die-drate. With a new plan in mind, we set out walking again, keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings and on one another’s backs. When one of us wanted a drink of water, we made sure to announce it to the group so the others could keep watch for us. That’s what I’d call teamwork.

“Huh? There’s someone there...this far into the dungeon,” Kent said, looking at me for an explanation. We had progressed decently far through the second level by this point.

“Oh, that’s an Heir of Flames. It’s a monster,” I said.

“That cute little girl is a meownster?!”

“Yep. This one looks like a little girl, but an Heir of Flames can look like a girl or a boy. Both of them have hair that looks like flames,” I explained. The Heir of Flames before us had orange-tipped red hair and golden skin. Its black eyes were pointed toward us, but there was no light in them. Back in Reas, Heirs of Flames had been decently popular for their adorable appearance.

“Heir of Flames? Is it related to Ifrit?” Kent asked.

“You’re spot-on,” I answered. “The Heirs of Flames are monsters that failed to become Ifrit. The Ifrit we’re going to face is an evolution of an Heir of Flames.”

“So those are Ifrit rejects?” Kent asked.

“That’s right,” I confirmed, reminded of how their tragic backstory had contributed to their popularity among some players. “It has powerful Fire Skills, Kent. Be careful.”

“Copy.”

Heirs of Flames couldn’t speak or communicate at all beyond letting out a sort of squeak. At least that made it easier to identify them as monsters rather than children. If it could come up and talk to us, I might have felt bad about defeating it.

“Taunt!” Kent’s Skill drew an attack from the Heir of Flames. Squealing, the monster leaped at Kent, trying to slash at him with its long claws. Even though Kent blocked the attack with his sword, he slid back half a step from the impact. “It’s strong!” Kent announced.

“It’s the strongest monster we’ll face on the second level! Stay focused!” I shouted.

“Got it!” Everyone in the party held their weapons tight.

The Heir of Flames screeched again, launching into a relentless barrage of attacks with its claws. Kent was just barely fending them off with his sword, repeatedly using Taunt to keep the monster’s attention on himself. “Dammit, it’s fast!”

Cocoa attempted a few attacks, but the Heir of Flames dodged her single-target spells all too easily. I could see on Kent’s face that he was considering how to break this equilibrium... If the battle drags on too long, the heat is going to get us before we can take down the monster. Our best chance would be to pin down the Heir of Flames and dogpile it. And I knew just the Skill Kent could use.

I applied Smiting Light to Cocoa, L’lyeh, and then Tarte, tripling the damage of their next attacks.

“I see what you’re going for!” Kent said. “Got Your Nose!” Kent used his Skill that stunned the Heir of Flames for just a moment.

“Now!” I shouted.

L’lyeh was the first one to move. “No more heat! Dark Whispers!”

“Smiling colder than frost, the ice queen unveils her frozen domain!”

“Purrtion Throw!”

The Heir of Flames was damaged, frozen, and shattered by the series of powerful attacks...turning it into an explosion of light. It was a tougher foe than most, but not too bad of an obstacle if we could pull off this Got Your Nose combo.

“We did it!” Tarte purred as she ran and grabbed the dropped item—an Unstoked Ember. It wasn’t a particularly rare item, but if we collected a thousand of them, we could exchange them for a certain item on the third level. It was tempting to collect them for that purpose, but grinding for items in this heat would be pretty grueling.

“I’m drinking water,” Kent announced, reaching for his waterskin. After taking several loud gulps, he turned to us. “We managed to take that one out, but we’re gonna be in trouble if they ever show up in a group.”

“Yeah,” Cocoa agreed. “Our best move might be to freeze them on sight with an ice AoE attack.”

“Right. Even if another one shows up, I can use Got Your Nose on it,” Kent said.

Pride bloomed within me over Kent and Cocoa as they immediately strategized against the possibility of a horde. It was never too early to plan for potentially dangerous situations. Moments like this one were what made me believe our party could still evolve!

Taking out more monsters and earning some levels, endlessly sweating and rehydrating all the while, we finally reached the gate that led down to the third level.

“It looks like we finally made it,” Tarte panted.

“The second level was pretty brutal... I’m not sure I ever want to come back,” Cocoa said, sounding like she was melting from the heat. I didn’t have the heart to say that I wanted to come back and collect a thousand Unstoked Embers...even though I agreed that this heat was oppressive. I’ll bring it up once we settle down, I decided. “Let’s go down to the third floor and take a break,” I suggested.

“Right.” Kent led the way and descended the stairs to the third level.

At the foot of the stairs, I felt a cool breeze brush my face as we found ourselves confronted with an expanse of green stretching out before us. Luscious vegetation grew from shimmering golden sand. A little ways ahead, we could see the oasis proper—a burbling spring fifty meters wide. Refreshing sounds of water and splashing fish helped cool us down. After surviving the sweltering second level, I appreciated this oasis like never before.

“It’s so refreshing...” Tarte purred.

“Compared to the second level, this place is heaven. I almost want to go for a swim.” Kent stretched his arms while he looked to and fro, making sure there were no dangers around. “No sign of any monsters. Ifrit is supposed to be around here...right, Sharon?”

I nodded. “Ifrit is on the other side of the oasis. The battle won’t start as long as we’re on this side of the spring.”

“Okay. Then we can take a proper break,” Kent said.

“Yep. We can relax,” I confirmed.

Kent shook off his shoes and sat at the edge of the spring, dipping his feet into the water. He looked so relaxed there by the cool oasis spring. The rest of us saw this and immediately copied his idea.

When I took off my boots and dipped my feet into the water, I could feel the heat and exhaustion seep right out of me. That feels so good... Taking deep breaths, I let my muscles relax. When I took a look around, I spotted small animals and butterflies in the woods, along with bountiful fruit hanging from the oasis trees. It was so peaceful that I could hardly believe we were still in a dungeon. How blissful would it be to take a nap right here? A part of me even hoped that I could spend the rest of my life here. Just then, I heard snoring—Kent had fallen asleep, looking wonderfully relaxed.

“The second level really took a toll on us,” I murmured. “Why don’t we rest for the remainder of today and hold off on challenging Ifrit until tomorrow?”

“I agree! I’m exhausted,” Cocoa said.

We might have had enough mana, but the heat had drained our strength. Without realizing it, all of us might have been approaching our physical limits.

After deciding to face Ifrit the following day, we all napped, ate dinner, and built a campfire.

“Meowster,” Tarte said, staring right at me. “What kind of equipment will I get?” Her tail swished back and forth with curiosity.

“Well... I’m hoping you’ll get a new weapon and new armor. Your armor will be in Underground Volcano, and the weapon I have in mind for you...is actually right here,” I said.

“Here?”

“Yep. You know how you’re using my old mace? I’m hoping we can get you Ifrit’s Mace, which will boost the effect of Molotovs, making your Potion Throw more powerful,” I explained.

“That would be ameowzing!” Tarte smiled brightly.

I know. Getting a new weapon can be so exciting...! “But the drop rate is pretty low, so we’ll probably have to keep coming here for a few days straight.”

“I understand. If it’s for a good weapon, it’ll be worth it. I’ll work hard for it! If you can purrlease help me!” Tarte said to the rest of the party.

Kent ruffled Tarte’s hair. “Of course we’ll help. We’re a party, Tarte. Your new weapon is only going to make the whole party stronger!”

“Exactly. Let’s get that Ifrit’s Mace together!” Cocoa encouraged us.

“I’ll help too,” L’lyeh added.

Tarte positively beamed. “Thank you so much. I won’t stop until I get that Ifrit’s Mace so I can contribute more!” she exclaimed, full of determination.

All that was left to do was pray for a quick drop while we hit up this dungeon over and over...!

Ifrit Appeared!

We had breakfast and went over the strategy for our battle against Ifrit—we were ready. After one deep breath to calm my nerves, I asked the party, “Shall we?”

“Yeah! Ifrit is on the opposite shore of the oasis, right?” Kent asked.

“Mm-hmm. We just need to walk along the shore and we’ll get there.”

“Got it,” Kent said, a little stiff.

We’d beaten our fair share of dungeons and bosses, but it was always a little nerve-racking facing a challenge for the first time. Despite us walking toward what was sure to be a brutal showdown against Ifrit, the view of the oasis could not have been more peaceful. Will our boss fight destroy the oasis? I wondered. Fighting Ifrit was unavoidable—in fact, I was planning to fight and defeat Ifrit many times over—but I didn’t want to level this gorgeous oasis in the process. Maybe the place will restore itself every time we defeat Ifrit, I hoped against hope.

In no time, we’d come to the other side of the oasis where Ifrit awaited.

“Oh,” Kent blurted, the sight of a figure ahead stopping him in his tracks. “Is that Ifrit?”

I peeked around Kent to see...Ifrit leaning against a tree by the spring and playing with some small animals. I understood Kent’s hesitation perfectly. As difficult as it was to register this person as a monster, our quest wouldn’t progress until we defeated her. After all, wasn’t it another video game trope for a monster to take the form of a beautiful woman?

Ifrit took the form of a sexy lady in her early twenties with hair as red as hot flames tied into two bunches at the back of her head. She wore a black and turquoise dress in the style of Bahal’s traditional garment, except it showed off her cleavage from both the front and along the sides. Little of her supple tan skin was left to the imagination. Her forceful red eyes glowed like fire, her lower eyelids punctuated by painted-on white teardrops. When it came to battle, Ifrit used the rings tying her hair back—called Universe Rings—as melee weapons. Back in the game, Ifrit had also been known as the Smoking Bombshell.

Is she too much for Kent? I could see that Tarte and Cocoa were blushing at the sight of the boss’s scanty clothing. “Kent, like we talked about, Ifrit’s physical attacks can be devastating. Be careful.”

“With a melee weapon, right? Universe Rings?” Kent confirmed.

“Right. I’ll make sure you’re never without a barrier, but don’t let your guard down,” I said.

“Got it,” Kent agreed.

Ifrit seemed to have heard our conversation and realized we were here. She slowly rose to her feet...and smiled at us.

“Holy Maiden’s Boon, Protective Light, Smiting Light.”

Just as I began applying my buffs, Kent leaped forward, sword raised, and rushed Ifrit. “Taunt!”

Ifrit watched Kent approach while she flung her arms wide and took off her hairpins, which turned into enormous circular blades in her hands. She leaped into the air, easily gaining three meters of height.

“She’s nimble!” I exclaimed as I watched Ifrit, still in the air, bring down the Universe Rings toward Kent. With the help of gravity, it threatened to be a really heavy blow. “Starlight!” I shouted, casting a passive HP recovery Skill on Kent, just in case he took damage at some point. “Let’s stay aggressive,” I urged the group.

“Yeah!” Cocoa, L’lyeh, and Tarte answered, jumping to the attack. Ifrit was a powerful boss and an elemental spirit, but her stats were maxed out on physical attack. Once her HP was lowered, she’d lace the Universe Rings with fire—that was her only use of magic. As long as we stuck to the right strategy, this wouldn’t be a difficult fight. The dangerous part was that her all-out physical attacks were powerful enough to push through the defenses of most tanks.

Cocoa sang an Ice spell to try and slow down Ifrit—only for the ice to melt with a sizzle as soon as it touched the spirit’s leg. The flames coating her body were too hot for the ice to stick.

“No way! I didn’t think her flames were that hot,” Cocoa breathed.

“It melted... I can’t believe it,” Tarte moaned.

“We’re okay!” I shouted, bringing Cocoa and Tarte back into the fight. Casting Smiting Light, I waited for Ifrit’s next move. The Fire Spirit did a high backflip, the smirk on her face showing us that she was neither damaged nor threatened.

“Dammit! If Cocoa’s spell can’t even hurt her, what are we supposed to do?!” Kent began mumbling his thoughts out loud as he watched Ifrit closely. Staring her down and making sure to cast Taunt every now and then, he ensured that the boss’s attention never shifted to us.

Suddenly, Ifrit charged Kent, overwhelming him with a barrage of attacks from her Universe Rings—each hit was so powerful that Kent was struggling to block them all and still stand his ground. Ifrit’s ability to move so quickly and fluidly while wielding the Universe Rings, which were nearly as tall as her own body, all came down to her physical strength and flexibility. They would also allow her to finesse any attack we threw at her.

“Tarte, I’ll try to stop her with magic,” L’lyeh announced and leaped high into the air.

“Got it,” Tarte answered.

L’lyeh reached out with her hands, and her staff materialized in them. At the same time, a black blindfold—the same one she’d worn when we’d first fought her—appeared over her eyes. “Come,” said the Goddess of Darkness, and two bats—L’lyeh’s familiars—appeared. “Go,” she commanded, and the bats flew toward Ifrit. “Mist of Darkness.” Her familiars turned into mist that whirled around and constricted Ifrit. “Now!” L’lyeh shouted.

“Smiting Light!”

“Purrtion Throw!”

My Skill landed a moment before Tarte used hers, tripling her Attack. In the same breath, I reapplied buffs to Kent and then watched Ifrit. If this doesn’t damage her, we’re going to have an uphill battle. The Molotov found its mark—Ifrit’s scream echoed through the oasis. Good. All we have to do is keep this up. The thought made me glance at L’lyeh. Does that blindfold bring out her full power? She’d never once worn that blindfold since joining our party. While I wondered what significance it carried for L’lyeh, the sight of it told me that she cared for us and was willing to give this battle her all. It feels like we’re really friends now.

“Great job, Lulu. I have to keep up.” Cocoa unleashed another powerful Skill, piling more damage on Ifrit.

And so, we had a strategy—Lulu bound Ifrit while Tarte and Cocoa attacked. It was Kent’s job to somehow field all of Ifrit’s attacks, and mine to use Smiting Light at the right times and to make sure our buffs didn’t run out. “Okay. As long as we keep this up, we got this,” I reassured the party.

“Let’s keep up the purressure!”

After chaining this strategy for a while, we heard a roar from Ifrit. A red aura rose from her, along with tendrils of steam—Ifrit’s HP was low, and she had unleashed her full power. Gripping her now-flaming Universe Rings, she charged. Dodging the charge didn’t slow her down either. The Fire Spirit kicked off tree trunks to turn and accelerate herself even faster, like a ricocheting bullet.

We can’t avoid her forever. For this part of the battle, we had to accept that we would take some hits. The correct strategy was to make sure a barrier was up when the attack hit, and then launch our assault in the brief window when the collision would immobilize Ifrit. I’d never batted an eye at using this strategy in the game, but pulling it off in real life was pretty scary. Ignoring the thundering of my heart, I watched for the right moment to use Protective Light. One mistake from my end could easily result in our party getting wiped.

Seeing Kent get thrown back by a direct hit from Ifrit, I immediately cast Heal with Light and reapplied his Protective Light. I repeated the process, protecting everyone in the party from Ifrit as she bounded through our group, attacking each of us in turn.

“When she stops, I’ll hold her down,” L’lyeh called.

“Got it!” Tarte called back.

“Leave the attacking to me!” Cocoa added.

All three girls followed Ifrit’s movement with their eyes, determined not to miss the opportunity for attack.

Ifrit continued to ricochet. After bouncing off of ten or so trees, she landed on the ground—and sank into a quagmire of darkness. Caught in what must have been L’lyeh’s Skill, the Fire Spirit couldn’t move.

“Smiting Light!” I shouted.

“Winter’s blessing, turn rain of sorrow into trusty blades!”

“Purrtion Throw!”

Cocoa made blades of ice rain down on Ifrit, pinning her in the quagmire. It didn’t matter how fast she could move when she had no means to dodge our attacks. Tarte’s Molotov finished off Ifrit—or so I thought. With a poof, a tiny girl appeared from where Ifrit had been.

“What?!” we all exclaimed in surprise.

Ifrit had turned from a bombshell into a little girl who looked younger than Tarte—maybe five or six years old. Her arrogant smirk had been replaced by a sleepy expression. As far as I could remember, there had never been an event like this in the game.

What is this? A glitch?

Ifrit yawned and looked our way. “Who are you? Why have you disturbed my slumber?” Her superior attitude was just as I’d remembered from the game, so the only difference was that she looked younger and more tired.

Before making any attempt at figuring out this discrepancy, I decided to bring Ifrit up to speed. “Underground Volcano is about to erupt. We came to ask for your help in quelling it.”

“Hmm. I see. Is it that time already...? I would rather sleep, but that is one of my duties. Very well.” Ifrit apparently knew her role in this quest because she agreed to come with us without a fuss. Then, she looked at Tarte for a moment before walking up to her from behind and jumping on her, straight into a piggyback ride.

Tarte yelped. “Wh-What are you doing, Ifrit?!”

“At ease,” Ifrit commanded in an imperious tone, then yawned again. “I am tired. Your back looks like it will make the best bed. Do not drop me.” Almost immediately, Ifrit conked out on Tarte’s back.

“Oh, okay...” Tarte said with resignation, adjusting Ifrit’s position. Despite her surprise, she was treating Ifrit like a little sister.

You make a great big sister, Tarte. At the same time, I felt a little uneasy at the mysterious discrepancy in Ifrit’s appearance. Could it be a sign of trouble?

Underground Volcano

Ifrit in tow, we were en route to Bahal on dragonback. Our objective, of course, was to enter Underground Volcano and have Ifrit prevent its eruption. It would have been faster to return to Fule and use the Transportation Gates, but we couldn’t bring Ifrit that way because she didn’t have an Adventure Bracelet. Flying to Bahal was still pretty fast, though, and it ensured that we wouldn’t get lost in the desert.

Ifrit rode tandem with Tarte, who sat behind the sleepy Fire Spirit and made sure she didn’t fall. They looked adorable, but Tarte also seemed nervous that she was going to let Ifrit fall by mistake.

“Sharon, are we going straight to Underground Volcano once we land in Bahal?” Kent asked from atop his Dragon where it flew before us.

“Since Ifrit is with us, we might want to camp out in the dungeon instead of spending the night at the inn,” I explained. “If something happened while we were at the inn, we may not be able to handle it.”

“Got it,” Kent answered.

I couldn’t guarantee our safety while we were with Ifrit, so I wanted to get to Underground Volcano and have Ifrit complete her task ASAP.

“There’s Bahal!” Cocoa pointed out the small town and its oasis near the horizon.

Usually, we land before we get to the city... Maybe we can get away with getting a little closer this time. Remembering the cacti at the edge of Bahal, I asked the party, “Can we make a little detour?”

“What did you have in mind?” Kent asked, and I explained how I wanted to see the cacti from above. “Those cacti are something else,” Kent agreed.

“It’ll be some sight from the sky,” Cocoa chimed in.

Tarte and L’lyeh, who hadn’t been to Cactus Vista as far as I knew, listened to our conversation with curious expressions on their faces.

“Let’s fly over Bahal and land a little way ahead,” I said. I would have loved to take our time gazing at the cacti from the sky, but Dragons circling above the city for too long was sure to scare the people of Bahal.

“Good idea. If we stop above the city for even a minute, they’ll think it’s a Dragon attack.” Kent laughed, and we all agreed.

Stroking the back of my Dragon, I whispered, “Fly over Bahal for me.”

My Dragon squeaked and flew over Cactus Vista like I’d asked. We crossed over it in a heartbeat, but the brevity of the sight made it even more beautiful...and memorable. Giant cacti stretched their flowers of pink and orange and teal and white to the sky as if taking pride in the grandiose beauty of Bahal itself.

“It’s gorgeous,” I breathed, feeling a smile tug at my lips. I’d barely had a second to take in the view, but this would be a memory I’d cherish. “Let’s fly a little farther, then we’ll land and walk to the city.”

“Got it!” Kent answered.

We tried to wake Ifrit, but she was out cold no matter how much Tarte shook her, so we made our way to Bahal and directly to its Adventurer’s Guild. Without speaking to anyone, we took the stairs down to the basement. The receptionist gave us a quick—and very surprised—glance, which made me think she was going to report our return to Tolley the Guildmaster. She must have expected us to take a lot longer to retrieve Ifrit.

After walking through the underground corridor for a while, we came to a large black door of simple yet sturdy construction.

“Is that the door, Sharon?” Kent asked.

“Yeah. I just have to hold up the permit here...”

The door slid open, revealing a longer corridor. In contrast to the surface, the air was cool down here. Aqueducts ran along either side of the corridor, carrying water from the oasis that provided a cooling rush of mist.

“It’s ameowzing that all this is under the Guild,” Tarte cooed.

“You wouldn’t expect something this grand,” Kent agreed.

Both of them walked ahead, looking around with a mix of excitement and anticipation for what the new dungeon had in store.

“Hopefully we can quell the volcano and find Tarte’s new equipment...” I said.

Tarte’s tail straightened, showing her excitement.

“It has some kind of resistance, right?” Kent asked.

“Right. It’ll let Tarte fight on the front lines too. That will free you up and expand our repertoire of strategies,” I explained.

“That’s exciting, but I’m nervous about learning new formations.” Despite his concern, his face was lit up—he couldn’t wait to test how much he could grow.

“You’re a quick learner, Kent. You’ll be fine,” I assured him.

Tarte huffed, psyching herself up. “I can’t wait to contribute more!”

“I’m counting on you, Tarte,” I said. “You’re going to get a cape with resistance to Fire. The boss is the one that has a chance to drop it, so it might take some hard work before we get our hands on one.”

“No purroblem! We defeated Ifrit. This boss won’t stand a chance against us either!” Tarte proclaimed, full of energy.

“I agree,” I said, even though there was no telling how many times we’d have to defeat the boss until it dropped the item we were looking for... I just had to trust in Tarte’s luck. “Fire-resistant equipment will make the heat more bearable and prevent a lot of Fire damage. You’ll have to switch up your gear when we go to different dungeons, but it should be very useful to you.”

“Yes, Meowster. I can’t wait.” Pure excitement glittered in Tarte’s eyes.

At this point, we came to a door at the end of the corridor. “That’s the entrance to Underground Volcano,” I announced. The door, built from glittering burgundy ore, looked steadfast—it’d take more than a firm push to open it. My guess was that the ore used in the door was a rare one imbued with mana.

“All right, it’s my time to shine!” Kent stepped up to the door, rolling his shoulders. Apparently, he was going to try and brute-force it. When he pushed the door with both arms, it only creaked slightly. Unfortunately for Kent, it wasn’t budging an inch even as he groaned and pushed until his face was beet red and drenched in sweat.

“That’s a really heavy door,” Tarte said. She must have thought that if Kent—whose high level and awakened job meant that he was stronger than most people in this world—couldn’t open the door, no one could.

I knew how to open that door, though. “We need to use the permit again.”

“What? Oh, that makes sense. Why didn’t you tell me sooner, Sharon?” Kent blew out a breath and took out the permit...then turned to me for direction.

“Um... I think you just have to touch the door with it. Give it a try,” I said.

Kent touched the permit to the door, and it opened slowly and noisily.

“So the dungeon’s up ahead?” Kent asked.

“One step beyond that door is the dungeon,” I corrected. “Underground Volcano, or just ‘the underground.’”

Kent froze mid-stride, just as he was about to cross the threshold. Monsters could spawn as soon as we took one step into the dungeon, so I wanted to reapply our buffs before we went in.

Once I’d buffed everyone, I gave Kent a nod.

“Tarte, are you okay?” Kent asked.

“Yes,” Tarte answered. She was still carrying Ifrit on her back. We would have taken turns piggybacking Ifrit, but the Fire Spirit refused to be carried by anyone but Tarte.

“Tell us if you get tired. We’ll take a break right away,” Kent told her.

“I will,” Tarte said.

“Let’s take Ifrit to that volcano!” Cocoa pumped us up.

“I’ll fight hard enough for both Tarte and me,” L’lyeh added.

“Let’s quell the volcano and get Tarte her new equipment!” I cheered.

“Okay, let’s go!” said Kent.

“Yes, purrlease!”

We stepped into Underground Volcano, a three-story dungeon. The boss Scorching Salamander lurked on the third level. Today, we would need to take Ifrit through a hidden staircase on the second level that led down to the crater.

“Do you know the way, Sharon?” Kent asked.

“There’s a hidden staircase behind the western wall on the second floor. We go down those stairs to get to the crater,” I explained.

“Got it. I’ll lead the way, so give me directions when I need them,” he said.

“Of course.” Providing support, assessing nearby monsters, and guiding the way—as usual, these were my responsibilities in the dungeon. “Walk next to me, Tarte. Don’t push yourself.”

“Yes, Meowster! I’ll take care of Ifrit!”

“That’s my awesome apprentice.”

Because Tarte was carrying Ifrit on her back, our roles were more starkly defined than usual. Tarte was on Ifrit duty, Kent was on the front line as always, and Cocoa and L’lyeh would focus on annihilating the enemy. Spawns in this dungeon weren’t too high level, so we wouldn’t have much trouble clearing it...except that it was just as hot as Ifrit’s Oasis in here.

After progressing into the cave-like dungeon for a little while, we saw lava oozing from the ground at the far end. It almost looked like a thin puddle, but stepping in it would burn your foot and deal damage. The common method for moving past the lava puddles was to freeze them with magic. Some hardcore players would just walk through them while they healed themselves.

“Cocoa, can you take care of it?” I asked.

“Yep.” Cocoa cast her spell and froze the ground before us, lava and all, so we could keep walking.

“Sweet.” With the magma neutralized, Kent’s step lightened as he led us farther in.

Then, a monster appeared. About time. This one was called a Lava Rat, a rodent about thirty centimeters long that quickly scurried to and fro. With a minuscule amount of HP, it wouldn’t be hard to take down as long as we could land an attack.

“Leave it to me.” L’lyeh fired off her Dark Arrow, which found its mark and turned the rat into a burst of light.

“All right, that was good!” Kent said with relief and picked up the Rat Tail the monster had dropped. It couldn’t be used for much crafting, so the best we could hope for this item was for the Adventurer’s Guild to take it off our hands.

We all took a swig of our water to stay hydrated in the heat and then progressed farther into the dungeon. Because of the cave-like structure, there were plenty of spots with uneven footing and low ceilings. Without a solid grasp of the landscape, we could get trapped fighting monsters in a disadvantageous spot. Squinting into the dark cave, Kent seemed to continuously scout out the best locations for us to take on monsters.

The next monster we encountered was a Lava Loo—a flame-coated monster the size of a basketball with bat-like wings and tail. It kept itself afloat using its wings and rained down flames from above. It was a decently annoying encounter because you needed a long-range attack to take it down.

“I think it’s my turn.” Cocoa cast a spell and took out the Lava Loo in one shot.

I’m glad my party mates know what they’re doing. I felt like I was just coasting behind them without much to do, but I made sure to keep my guard up...because this level had a miniboss. Back in the game, it had taken thirty minutes to respawn. Since no one had been able to clear this dungeon, it was sure to be here. The miniboss was a little tricky, so I was ready for us to jump into combat swinging.

“What’s that huge thing?!” Kent shouted from ahead.

Apparently, I’d jinxed us by thinking about the miniboss. “Oof. I didn’t think we’d encounter it this early on.”

Tarte yowled and Cocoa staggered back a step. “What is it...? It’s so huge...and hot!”

The miniboss, King Lava, was like a step up from Lava Loo. It looked like a sentient glob of lava a hundred times the size of a Slime. It slithered toward us slowly, leaving the ground scorching in its wake. If that thing touched you, you were not getting away unscathed.

“If you try to cut it, it’ll melt your sword, Kent,” I said.

“What?! Then what am I supposed to do?!” Kent demanded. Without his sword, he had no means of attack and few ways of tanking an opponent’s attacks.

Back in the game, I could have just powered through monsters like this, but dealing with King Lava in the real world had to come down to a hit-and-run strategy. “Kent, turn around and lead us back! Cocoa and Lulu, attack that thing with magic! We’re going to run and fight!”

“Run and fight?! I-I’ll try,” Cocoa said.

“Then I’ll stop it.” L’lyeh got with the program instantly, using her bats to stall King Lava.

Cocoa followed up with Ice magic and dealt some damage, but King Lava quickly melted the ice and healed itself.

Cocoa turned to me. “What just happened?!”

“The annoying part about King Lava is that it heals itself a lot,” I explained.

“It’s powerful and self-healing?!” Cocoa repeated.

This dungeon was the perfect environment to give a massive boost to that ball of lava’s passive healing. There was no point in attacking it little by little.

“How about we attack it all at once?” Tarte suggested.

“Yeah, let’s try that!” Cocoa chimed in.

They must have concluded that making one attack at a time would only put us at risk of getting flanked by additional monsters...and I agreed.

“I’ll distract it for a second so you can take your shots!” Kent shouted.

“I’ll throw a Molotov!” I announced.

“Me too!” Tarte said.

“Okay. Lulu strikes first, Cocoa freezes it, then we’ll finish it off with Molotovs,” I said, outlining our strategy.

“Got it!”

“Okay.”

“Yes, Meowster!”

We ran from King Lava while we decided our strategy and I cast Smiting Light on everyone. Unfortunately, a rat appeared in our path.

“I can—”

“No, I got it!” Kent cut Cocoa off and sliced the rat into particles of light with his sword. Another few rats jumped out, so Kent sliced those up and used the momentum to turn and leap in front of the King Lava. “Got Your Nose!”

L’lyeh landed an attack, and Cocoa immediately followed up by freezing the King Lava with Ice magic.

“We’re up, Tarte,” I said.

“Purrtion Throw!”

Even though I couldn’t use a Skill to throw a Molotov, I manually chucked five bottles at the King Lava at once. Skills took some time to recharge, but just throwing a bottle required no cooldown time. Kent followed my lead and threw seven Molotovs of his own. Bombs—never leave home without them. That still wasn’t enough to take out the King Lava, so I quickly cast Smiting Light on Cocoa. She didn’t miss a beat as she launched another attack, finally turning the King Lava into a burst of light.

“Yeah!” Kent shouted.

“Purray!”

Now that we’d taken out the King Lava, I felt like I could breathe again. The King Lava had left behind an item too—a Lava Rock. It was about the size of a basketball and too heavy to hold up with one hand.

Kent and Cocoa were staring at it curiously.

“It dropped a rock...that looks like it’s burning hot,” Kent said.

“Do you think we could touch it?” Cocoa asked.

“It’ll be really hot to the touch, but you could try holding it,” I suggested.

“Okay... Oh, it’s hotter than I thought! I can’t hold it longer than ten seconds.” Kent quickly let the Lava Rock drop.

Cocoa tried her hand at it but quickly let go. “That’s hot.”

“What do you use it for?” Tarte asked.

I chuckled. “It’s actually a pretty rare item. With this...we can grow Fire Shrooms!” I dramatically revealed.

Tarte began trilling in surprise, turning her wide eyes toward the Lava Rock.

“This scorching rock can support Fire Shrooms that only grow in hot climates,” I explained.

“Then you should hold on to it, Tarte. It’s awesome that you can get Fire Shrooms without having to go back to that dungeon,” said Kent.

“Right?” Cocoa agreed.

So, Tarte stashed the Lava Rock.

“Now that we’ve taken care of that King Lava, let’s head for the second level,” I said.

“Yeah!” Kent chimed in.

We continued through the dungeon, mowing down encounters, and made it to the second level.

“Oh, it’s not as hot as I expected,” Kent breathed.

Unlike the first level, there were no hot lava flows here, which mitigated the heat considerably. Down here, it was a rocky terrain of hardened lava. It was still uncomfortably hot, but enough of a temperature drop from the first level that it allowed us to breathe a sigh of relief.

“There aren’t any monsters around here. Do you want to take a break, Tarte?” Kent asked, clearly concerned that Tarte was running out of gas after piggybacking Ifrit all this way.

Sure enough, Tarte was sweating harder than the rest of us. Her back had to be burning up.

“I’m okay,” she huffed regardless.

We seemed about to move on, but L’lyeh perked up at the mention of a break. “Perfect time for this!” She whipped a bowl of shaved ice out of her Bag.

“When did you buy that?!” Tarte asked. “I didn’t even see a vendor selling those.”

L’lyeh puffed her chest out. “Bought it in Erenzi.”

“Makes sense,” Tarte said. Erenzi was cold enough to have an ample supply of ice—enough to support plenty of cheap shaved ice vendors. Best of all, our Bags allowed us to stock up on the treat without it melting.

“I have enough for everyone.”

Cocoa’s and Kent’s faces lit up as they took a bowl each from L’lyeh.

“Wow! Thank you, Lulu.”

“Mm. I feel human again.”

We were all so beaten down by the heat that our bodies were craving the sweet relief of a cold treat.

“Sharon.”

“Thanks, Lulu.” I took a bite of the shaved ice L’lyeh had handed me. While the ice melted instantly in my mouth, it sent a blast of coolness down my body. “That’s wonderful...” Am I in heaven? L’lyeh’s shaved ices were slathered with fruit and syrup. It was a simple recipe, but the fresh fruit and cold ice perfectly hit the spot.

We all finished up our ices in no time.

“Should we get going?” Kent asked.

“I’m ready!” Tarte energetically announced.

Having cooled down with those shaved ices, we began walking through the second level, heading for the spot where Ifrit could quell the volcano.

“Kent, head a little to the left,” I said.

“Got it!”

Directing us through the second level, I kept an eye on our surroundings. The encounters here were more formidable and included more powerful versions of the monsters we’d seen on the first level.

“Huge rat ahead!” Kent announced.

“That’s a Flaming Lava Rat—a stronger version of the Lava Rat we saw upstairs. It’s bigger and spews fire. It could be a little troublesome,” I said.

“Okay. Taunt!” Kent used his Skill and drew the rat’s attention.

In the next breath, Dark Arrow and Water Arrow turned the Flaming Lava Rat into a burst of light. I should have known a little Flaming Lava Rat was no cause for concern. Reapplying buffs to the party, I encouraged us to keep moving.

As we trudged through rocky ground and took down monsters, I was secretly enjoying our journey and the sights along the way. Walking inside a volcano was a luxury reserved for this fantasy world! Back on Earth, I’d probably have died if I’d tried something like this. Now that we’d cleared the scorching heat of the first level, was it so bad that I wanted to enjoy this unique experience? After all, the whole point of my adventures was to see the fantastical views this world had to offer. Of course, even in this world, it was no ordinary task to enter a volcano. It had taken some convincing to gain permission from the Adventurer’s Guild.

Although the volcano was supposed to blow any day, I knew from my game knowledge that the volcano wasn’t going to erupt. Maybe that certainty helped me enjoy the view without freaking out. On the other hand, the rest of my party thought the volcano was a ticking time bomb and were feeling the pressure more than usual. Unfortunately, I couldn’t prove that the volcano wouldn’t erupt. My friends might just believe me without any proof, but I didn’t want to put extra stress on them.

“We’re going to follow this path for a while until we get to a clearing. There should be a swarm there,” I said.

“A big one?” Kent asked.

“Decently,” I answered. This would be one of the biggest swarms we’d encountered so far. “The problem is, it’s going to be a swarm of Infernal Butterflies. They’re palm-sized butterflies that fly all around the place, so they can be tricky to deal with.”

“Got it,” said Kent.

It was bad enough that they would be flying all over the place, but Infernal Butterflies also dropped flaming scales as they flew. That was simply their normal state, making them an annoying encounter. “Watch out for the scales that fall from their wings like flaming dust. They can burn.”

“Okay. Let’s move slowly and scope out the situation,” Kent suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” I said. Our party was no stranger to scouting. Recently, Kent had been acting as a scout, carefully leading the party to see what waited ahead. That allowed us to form a strategy before facing a large group of monsters, or even to pick them off one by one.

Carefully following Kent, Cocoa asked, “Should I go in with an AoE attack? If Lulu and I use our Skills together, could we take them out before they target Kent...?”

“It’s a good idea, but those butterflies have enough HP to make taking them down in one shot difficult,” I said.

“Okay... I thought I had something there.” Cocoa’s shoulders sagged.

“Besides, they’re constantly on fire, so we can’t really freeze them either,” I added. If we’d been able to freeze them, we could’ve just thrown Molotovs at the problem.

Cocoa grunted, thinking over our options until she reached the simplest solution. “Kent will just have to power through.”

“Mm-hmm. We just need to focus on the attack,” L’lyeh said, hitting the nail on the head.

“I’ll shoot them down as quickly as I can,” Cocoa said.

“Jeez...” Kent had just returned from scouting out the clearing. “Pretty wide space. Maybe thirty monsters or so.”

The clearing was about thirty meters squared, so a swarm of thirty Infernal Butterflies must have been quite a sight. Their flaming scales created a mystical and beautiful scene, but as our tank, Kent would have to dive right into the midst of that. I didn’t envy Kent’s job right now.

“Drawing them out isn’t an option,” Kent said.

“So you need to power through it, Kent,” Cocoa said ruthlessly.

“You had to say it again?!” Kent sulked for a moment before slapping his face with both hands, forcing some courage into himself. “Okay! Here goes... Taunt!” Kent jumped into the clearing and began screaming from the heat of the burning scales. “Make it quick! Please!” He pleaded in a voice that made it very clear how hot those scales were.

Damage could be prevented with barriers, but there was nothing that could protect him from the heat itself. Feeling sorry for our tank, I cast Starlight on Kent so his HP would heal with time.

Cocoa and L’lyeh were firing AoE attacks to shorten Kent’s suffering.

“You got this!” Tarte cheered him on.

“Watch this. Dark Whispers!” L’lyeh shouted, boosting her damage output further.

“Arrow of Water, Wash the Woe Before Us!”

L’lyeh’s and Cocoa’s attacks mowed down most of the butterflies, and Kent sliced up the ones that were left.

When the last butterfly was taken care of, Kent plopped down on the ground. “That was rough. I felt like I was on fire...”

“Thank you, Kent. You should hydrate while we pick up the dropped items,” I said.

“Thanks.”

Unfortunately, there were no rare items to be found—just Butterfly Scales.

One in One Thousand

We finally found the stairway leading down from the secret passage. It was hidden behind a cluster of boulders by the wall—unless you knew where it was, it took patience and a careful eye to find it.

“So this is where we’re headed.” Kent peered down the stairs, muttering to himself, “What’s down there?”

“We finally made it!” Tarte purred, joy blooming on her face.

Thank you for carrying Ifrit all this way. “Are we ready to go down?” I asked.

The whole party was eager to go, so Kent cautiously led our descent.

At the bottom of the stairs, we were greeted by quite the sight—a space about the size of a gymnasium and at its center a lake of lava, bubbling like the volcano was about to blow any minute. This was the place where Ifrit could calm the volcano by performing her quelling dance. Normally, that would be the final step of this quest...but something about the lava lake didn’t look right.

“Hey, are we safe here?! It looks like the eruption could happen any second...” Kent said, eyeing the lava.

Sure enough, the lava was bubbling much faster and much more dramatically than I’d expected, like the volcano was really going to erupt. That was when I realized what was happening. “Oh. I forgot.”

“Sharon?” Kent turned to me, demanding an explanation.

In the grand scope of things, this quest was a relatively easy one, where players just had to defeat Ifrit and bring her to this spot...99.9 percent of the time. The other 0.1 percent of the time, a chance of one in one thousand, there was a bonus encounter. All I could do was chuckle. Lucky us. “We have to defeat that before Ifrit can quell the volcano.”

“Defeat what?” Kent asked.

I pointed at the lake of bubbling lava, just as the monster emerged from it.

“It looks kind of cute...but I have a feeling I won’t think that for long,” Cocoa remarked.

I couldn’t agree more. What had slithered out of the lava was Slava—a slime made of lava. Slimes had a reputation of being easy prey in video games, but Slava was exactly as dangerous as a blob of sentient lava should be, using its devastating Lava Launch attack to burn and melt through anything it hit. How hot does lava get? Thousands of degrees, probably...

“So we need to take that thing down,” Kent said, watching as Slava jiggled...or rather, burbled along. “It looks really hot... It won’t be easy, but we have to do it, right?”

“Unfortunately,” I confirmed. Slava wouldn’t attack us until we initiated combat, but Ifrit wouldn’t dance until we defeated Slava. If we wanted to progress the quest, we had to fight.

“Right. The question is how. I can’t exactly hold that thing off,” Kent added.

“Yeah,” I agreed. Merely touching Slava—whether attacking or blocking—would result in severe injury or death. Long-range attacks were our only option. However, with Cocoa and L’lyeh as our only attackers, we were a little lacking in the necessary firepower to take out Slava in a fair fight. I scanned the area until I found what I was looking for. “Over here.” I skirted the lava lake until I reached the other side and pointed to a spot where two mid-sized boulders stood close to each other about five meters from the wall. “Kent, I need you to stand there and lure Slava over with Taunt. Then we—by which I mean Cocoa and Lulu—will stand by the wall and attack Slava. That’s how we’re going to beat it!”

If we’d had higher levels and better equipment, we could have dogpiled long-range attacks and finished off the Slava before it could counterattack. Without that option, we had to cheese this fight. After much trial and error, the player base of Reas had discovered that Slava could get trapped between these two boulders. The Slava hack was to lure it to the boulders, immobilize it, and pile on attacks.

“O-Okay...” Kent said stiffly after I’d explained the plan. As hard as it was to believe that Slava would get stuck between those rocks, I knew it was going to work.

It’s a feature, not a bug. “Let’s give it a try,” I encouraged everyone.

“Sure.” Kent stood between the rocks. Once he saw that Cocoa and L’lyeh were in their positions by the wall, he psyched himself up. “Let’s do this! Taunt!”

Slava hopped in response. Then, it began slithering toward us, leaving a trail of burnt then resolidified ground in its wake. If that thing were to jump on me, I’d be melted into nothing in a heartbeat.

“Ugh,” Kent grunted—understandably.

Slava slithered ahead and got caught between the boulders just as it tried to attack Kent. To no avail, it pushed ahead, trying to force its way through the boulders—which looked like solidified lava. At least, that had been the best guess among the Reas players as to why Slava couldn’t melt past them. Slava stretched out an appendage toward Kent, but it fell short.

“Whoa! That was scary... I guess it really is stuck.” Kent watched Slava with curiosity. It wasn’t every day that people of this world could see a monster in a state like this.

Cocoa and L’lyeh didn’t waste any time before launching their magic. Their initial Skills found their mark, but that wasn’t enough to take down Slava. The lava slime writhed as if it were trying to attack us. Alas for Slava, it was perfectly stuck—unable to move or attack. All of a sudden, Slava had turned from a dangerous threat to a total doormat.

“That’s ameowzing!” Tarte breathed as she watched the trapped Slava. “I feel bad for it, a little bit.” Leave it to Tarte to be so kind.

After Cocoa and L’lyeh piled on another five shots of magic each, Slava burst into light, leaving us completely unscathed. In the back of my mind, I’d considered the possibility that the hack wouldn’t work in the real world. Luckily, we hadn’t had to power through an honest fight against Slava. We collectively breathed a sigh of relief, ready to accomplish what we’d come here for.

“I’m glad we took care of that,” Kent said.

“Now we just have to ask Ifrit to quell the volcano,” Tarte said.

A yawn came from Tarte’s back—Ifrit was waking up. “I see we’re in Underground Volcano. That didn’t take as long as I thought.”

“Ifrit, could we ask you to do your dance?” Tarte asked.

“Mm-hmm.” Just as Ifrit began to move, a large portion of the lava lake swelled up into a magma mountain.

“What?! What’s happening?!” I scrambled to reapply everyone’s buffs. I’d never heard of an event like this happening after beating Slava. What are we supposed to do?! Should we run? “Let’s go back upstairs,” I suggested, my gears churning to generate the right solution. Before we could reach the stairs, though, a giant Slava emerged from the lava lake. A Giant Slava?!

“Whoa! We’re not gonna make it out of here!” Kent shouted. “Taunt!”

Giant Slava began attacking Kent. Luckily, it was slow enough that Kent could dodge the balls of lava it began launching at him.

I was panicking. What are we going to do?!

“This is thanks for carrying me,” Ifrit suddenly announced. “Defeat that foe, Tarte,” she commanded, singling out my apprentice.

Tarte yowled in surprise while Ifrit stood with her hands on her hips and gave Tarte a pointed stare. What are you waiting for? the Fire Spirit’s gaze seemed to ask.

“Wh-What do you mean?!” Tarte stammered.

I kind of wanted to panic along with my apprentice, but we couldn’t afford to do that right now. I’d never seen a monster like this in the game. Even if it had a 0.1 percent spawn rate like the normal Slava, I’d have heard about something this big. Is it because of Ifrit? She had said it was a token of her gratefulness to Tarte. What part of this is a thank-you gift, though?! Only one thing was clear—we had to take down that Giant Slava.

“I-I’m going to try attacking! Purrtion Throw!” Tarte landed a hit on Giant Slava, but the Molotov sank into its body and exploded inside of it. To be honest, it didn’t look like it had dealt too much damage.

“This doesn’t look easy.” I glanced over at Ifrit, who still watched us with a smirk on her face, like she knew Tarte could handle this. I didn’t think she could, though. From what I could see, we could barely hope to defeat the Giant Slava even working together as a party.

After applying the usual buffs to everyone, I cast Smiting Light on each of us. First and foremost, we needed to boost our Attack. While firing off attacks, Cocoa also sang debuffs at Giant Slava that would make this fight a little more manageable.

“Got Your Nose!” Kent stunned Giant Slava, giving the rest of us an opening to attack. The giant blob of lava screamed, showing that we were dealing more damage in this state. Our attacks are working...more than I thought!

Then, Giant Slava stretched high up, creating armlike appendages and bringing them down toward Kent—who narrowly avoided the pillars of lava. “This way!” Kent drew Giant Slava’s attention, creating another opening for our attackers.

“Smiting Light! Starlight! Moonlight!” I made sure to triple Kent’s Attack and cast passive healing on him. One hit, and Kent would take a massive amount of damage. Just in case I wasn’t available to heal him right away, I wanted to use those Skills preemptively.

“Purrtion Throw combo!” Tarte let out a long yowl, casting her Skill as many times as she could and throwing Molotov after Molotov that exploded violently on impact. Still, she wasn’t dealing all that much damage to the mountain of lava.

Tarte huffed out a breath, probably trying to think of a way to break through Giant Slava’s defenses.

At the same time, Cocoa and L’lyeh were attacking relentlessly...but Giant Slava didn’t go down. We were all panting by now, our bodies beginning to give out. Giant Slava had jacked up the heat in this place, making it far hotter than it had been before.

Out of breath, Tarte looked to Ifrit. “Can we really win against that thing...?” She’d asked the question we were all thinking.

“Of course,” Ifrit answered with unwavering confidence. She was convinced that we had what it took to defeat Giant Slava. She’d even called it a token of thanks. Maybe there was some outside-the-box strategy to defeat it. Like pouring water on it? No, that won’t do much good against lava. Or else, one of Tarte’s items or Skills could be the key to winning this fight. That seemed likely, since Ifrit had singled her out...but I couldn’t think of what that could be! I scratched my head, desperate for at least a hint.

“Taunt! Ow, that’s hot!” Kent had drawn Giant Slava’s attention but must have grazed hot lava—he jumped away in pain.

“Rainbow Rejuvenation!” I shouted. It wasn’t easy dealing with lava without much protection.

If only we could trap it between the boulders too... Could we? “Wait. I think we can. Kent, the boulders!” That should get my point across.

“Really?! I’ll try it!” Kent sprinted to the boulders where we’d trapped the regular Slava. Sweat trickled down his face, either from the heat or from the dread of what he’d have to do. “Bring it on! Taunt!” When Kent activated his Skill, Giant Slava turned and began sliding toward him. “How slowly does it move?!” Kent was taken aback for a second but quickly regained his focus and used Taunt again.

Sure enough, Giant Slava became stuck—or at least blocked by the boulders, which were much smaller than it.

“You’re up, Tarte. Give it all you got,” Kent said.

I immediately cast Smiting Light on Tarte and prepared to focus on supporting her. There was only one thing left to do.

“I will! Purrtion Throw!”

“Smiting Light!”

“Purrtion Throw! Purrtion Throw! And one more Purrtion Throw!”

“Smiting Light! Smiting Light! Smiting Light!”

I matched every Potion Throw with a Smiting Light. Even if each attack only dealt a little bit of damage, Giant Slava had to go down eventually. As long as Giant Slava was stuck in those boulders, Tarte just had to throw Molotovs at it until it went down. Easy.

“Purrtion Throw! Purrtion Throw!” She patiently kept up her attacks, and I made sure to cast Smiting Light each time, reapplying the usual buffs whenever I had the chance.

Cocoa and L’lyeh were standing by, allowing Tarte to deal as much damage as she could since this was apparently her reward to reap. We didn’t even know if anyone else was allowed to attack.

“You can do it, Tarte!” Cocoa cheered.

“I’ll give you a treat when you do,” L’lyeh added.

“You got this!” I shouted whenever I could spare a second.

“I’ll do my best, Meowster!” Tarte answered, throwing another Molotov.

We repeated this...over a hundred times at least.

“I really hope...it’ll go down soon! Purrtion Throw!” Tarte put all her strength behind yet another Potion Throw, her breath ragged from exertion. She couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

“Come on!” I shouted...and the final Molotov turned the Giant Slava into a burst of light. Great timing.

Tarte trilled in surprise too.

“You did it,” Kent said in relief.

At the same time, a loud clang came from where the Giant Slava had once been. I went over to see what had made the sound and found a large cauldron used for alchemy. Is this Ifrit’s token of gratitude?

With happy trills and tail twitches, Tarte carefully lifted the cauldron. “Ameowzing. It’s called...Ancient Emberglow Cauldron. It sounds impurressive.”

“I’ve never heard of that item...” I said. “It must be a more advanced cauldron for Formulation.”

“I think so.” Overcome with excitement, Tarte squeezed the cauldron in her little arms. “I can’t wait to try it out.”

I was looking forward to her using it, just as much as she was. That had been quite an ordeal, but getting our hands on a new item like this made it all worth it.

Ifrit’s Quelling Dance

“Now it’s my turn.” Ifrit took a step forward, her mouth curved into a satisfied smile as she watched Tarte cradle her new cauldron.

Noticing the Fire Spirit’s gaze, Tarte ran over to her. “Ifrit, you said this was for me... Thank you so much.”

“No need. It is thanks for carrying me. Furthermore, you had to defeat that monster first. You earned that cauldron. Be proud,” Ifrit said.

“I will!”

Even though it was a token of thanks, Tarte had had to defeat the Giant Slava to earn it. Though the task had been a challenging one, her new cauldron would help Tarte improve greatly as an Alchemist.

“Now, just watch.” Ifrit walked up to the lava lake...and kept walking, out onto its surface. Leave it to the Fire Spirit to walk on lava. Her jewelry shook with every step, adding a mystical rhythm to her progress. When Ifrit reached the center of the lava lake, lava rose up with a whoosh to form a circle around her. She gracefully raised her hand, and the metal on her clothes rang with the movement. As she began dancing, the sounds seemed to reverberate within my heart, like a song.

Elegantly she turned and twirled. Soon, her hands came together in a prayer, and she started singing a song to express her love for the volcano and to quell it. Ifrit sang in a high, clear voice that seemed to echo throughout the volcano and into the distance. As her singing and dancing continued, the lava lake stilled. Tranquility filled the volcano, as though it were retreating and hiding itself away. It had obeyed Ifrit’s command. Ifrit raised her hands and leaped into the air, then spun and landed on her knees, where she offered a final prayer to conclude her dance.

“So beautiful...” I breathed. My eyes had been glued to the enchanting performance. It must have been the same for Tarte and Cocoa and Kent—they were also staring at Ifrit, entranced.

Then, I heard clapping. L’lyeh was applauding. Tarte quickly joined in, followed by Cocoa and Kent. Even though it had felt like a sacred ritual, I decided to offer applause for her spectacular dance too.

Hearing our combined applause, Ifrit grinned and turned to us. “Hmm. That is satisfactory.” Apparently, she was pleased with our applause.

Our peaceful mood didn’t last long, though. When Ifrit stepped off the lava lake and onto solid ground, she fell to her knees.

“Ifrit?! What’s wrong?!” Tarte rushed over and supported the spirit, whose face was twisted as though in pain.

The rest of us quickly ran over too, and I began casting every spell that came to mind, starting with Heal Absolutely...even though part of me suspected they were of no use.

“Meowster, Ifrit is shrinking...!” Tarte tried to hold on to Ifrit, but the Fire Spirit shrank until she could fit in Tarte’s palm.

“What’s going on...? My healing magic isn’t helping at all...” If my Holy Maiden Skills were powerless to help her, perhaps Ifrit could only be helped by some kind of special item. Otherwise, something entirely unexpected was happening here. Either way, I was useless. As that realization hit me, I gritted my teeth until they hurt.

“I’m...fine,” Ifrit told us, although her voice was feeble and her expression sickly.

“Meowster...” Tarte turned to me with tears in her eyes.

“If Ifrit says she’s okay, we can only trust that— Oh.” I watched as Ifrit created a reddish, translucent barrier around herself that looked like blown glass. Then, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Tarte looked surprised but also relieved that Ifrit wasn’t going to die, at least.

This was a curious turn of events, though. “This is just my guess, but she could be sleeping to recover the strength she spent on the dance,” I ventured, especially because she’d set up the barrier herself. But this never happened in the game. There was a chance that this was also an event or update released on the day I’d died. However, there was no way to verify that yet. We put a pin in our questions and decided that Tarte should hold on to the sleeping Ifrit.

“We should go back to the Guild as quickly as we ca—”

“Let’s keep going and take down the boss—Scorching Salamander,” I declared with gusto, cutting Kent off.

It’d be our third big battle in a row after Slava and Giant Slava, but I took Ifrit’s thanks—or dropped item—as a sign of good luck. We could also get our hands on the dungeon boss’s drop item!

“Sharon, are you serious?! Shouldn’t we report to the Guild first...?” Kent protested.

“Sure, but there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to come back here right after we visit the Guild. And we’d have to cross the first and second levels again to get to the boss. If we go now, we can go straight from the second level. We might as well take it out now, especially because it takes a day to respawn. We should take every chance we have to fight this boss!” I insisted.

“I guess you have a point...” Kent said, still sounding conflicted. “And we don’t have to worry about an eruption anymore.”

I knew Kent’s longing for adventure—it didn’t take much to convince him to go on one. He turned to the rest of the party and made sure they were good to go. Look at our chivalrous fighter.

“I’m all right. Let’s go!” Tarte said, excited for a chance to get her new equipment.

Cocoa and L’lyeh wholeheartedly agreed, both eager to help Tarte. It was truly the mark of a great party when everyone was willing to help one member improve their gear.

Still, Tarte had to rest after all of those Potion Throws. Her arm had to be sore too. “Let’s take a quick break before we go,” I said.

“Good idea.” Kent plopped down on a chair-sized rock and quickly drank from his waterskin. “And we can’t forget to eat,” he said, beginning to do just that.

“We should make sure we take extra sodium too.” I produced spiced meat from my Bag and shared it with the party. These hunks of meat were cartoonishly large and wonderfully filling.

“I didn’t see those at any of the shops...!” L’lyeh, of course, exclaimed.

“I had the chef at our inn grill these for us,” I explained.

“An unexpected strategy...!” L’lyeh breathed in admiration.

“They won’t do this at every inn, and you do have to pay them for it,” I warned, concerned that L’lyeh was going to demand all sorts of food from every inn we stayed at from now on. I was still worried, so I made sure to ask L’lyeh to take someone with her when—inevitably—she went to an inn’s kitchen asking for dishes. It’s great that Lulu’s gaining more independence. After she’d spent who knew how long as the boss of Underworld Abbey, I wanted her to make as many happy memories as she could. “Maybe we should get a set of cookware for camping out in dungeons.”

“You mean...we’re going to hunt for game and cook it?” Cocoa asked.

“Depends on the game, but I think that could work,” I said. Unlike monsters, animals left behind a carcass if you hunted them in this world. There were also some monsters that dropped edible ingredients, which we could totally cook.

The question is...how much culinary prowess does our party have? Well, Cocoa seemed like the type to have helped out in her parents’ kitchen. I’d seen Tarte bake some treats, and I’d cooked for myself sometimes in Japan. Maybe we could pull this off.

“Then I’ll make sure the cookware is ready,” L’lyeh promised with delight.

We all chimed in excitedly, looking forward to our new culinary adventure.

In for a Volcano Quelling, In for a Scorching Salamander

We made it through the second level of the dungeon and into the third. Down here, we would encounter Lava Rock Golems, Unicorned Fire Rats, Salamanders, and the boss—Scorching Salamander, which appeared with an entourage of vanilla Salamanders.

“So, Sharon. Where’s the Scorching Salamander?” Kent asked.

“I’m not sure, actually. It’s not a fixed spawn. It should be wandering around this level,” I explained.

“Got it,” said Kent.

We had to search the level for the boss. That wasn’t a big deal now, when our party was the only one in the dungeon. Back in the game, though, when the dungeon had been flooded with people, finding a nonstatic boss had been a race against your fellow players.

“Then let’s hunt while we search,” Tarte suggested.

“Perfect,” L’lyeh agreed. The rest of us were in agreement too.

Like always, Kent led our formation as we progressed through the level, taking out any enemies in our path. Even though these were our first encounters with these particular monsters, our experience and ability carried us through easily. It also helped a lot that Cocoa was using Water magic against the exclusively Fire encounters.

“Dark Arrow!” L’lyeh’s attack turned a Salamander into a burst of light. Then, Tarte ran over and stowed the dropped item in her Bag.

After several encounters that ended in a similar way—and a few short breaks here and there—we finally had the Scorching Salamander’s tail in our sights.

Kent gulped. “Whoa. It’s huge.”

The Scorching Salamander was about three meters long—triple the size of an ordinary Salamander.

“Scorching Salamander is basically a fire-breathing lizard,” I reassured the party. “It’ll be a much easier fight than the one against Ifrit.”

“Got it! Okay!” Kent shouted as if to spur himself into action. “Taunt!” The boss noticed him right away, so Kent sprinted toward our target. Before he reached the boss, Cocoa and L’lyeh each landed an attack, followed by Tarte’s Potion Throw. I reapplied Smiting Light to all of them and set up Kent’s barrier again in hopes of preventing a big chunk of the damage that would be coming his way.

Annoyingly, the five normal Salamanders surrounding the boss weren’t easy to deal with. It was tempting to take care of them first, but defeating all five would just trigger a respawn of the whole entourage. Our party had enough fights under our belt to know that the solution was to take out exactly four of them to prevent the respawn. After confirming that Kent was drawing all hate to himself, Cocoa attacked the whole entourage of Salamanders, and L’lyeh finished them off with single-target spells until only one Salamander remained.

So far, so good!

Kent was holding the attention of the boss while chipping in with his sword—one, two, three times in a row—and even dealt a big blow with his Skill.

Tarte was itching to join the fray, but her Potion Throw would incinerate the final Salamander. Stay, Tarte. Stay.

“It’s frustrating that I can’t attack...” Tarte yowled pathetically.

“I still have a job for you!” I quickly said. “Other monsters might come our way. I need you to take them out before they reach us.”

“Yes, Meowster!” With her sense of purpose reignited, Tarte began monitoring our surroundings, Molotov in hand. Sure enough, monsters of a variety of types began approaching. Each of them took several Molotovs to defeat, but Tarte kept up her watch and took care of them—that alone made this fight a lot easier.

Once we’d dealt it some damage, the Scorching Salamander blew a plume of flames into the air—its HP was getting low. Still breathing fire, the boss rotated its head to try to torch us. There was no pattern to its movements, but it was slow enough that we could dodge the flames as long as we were careful. If other monsters had been in the area, it would have been much more difficult to focus on dodging these flames. Tarte’s assignment was a significant one in this fight.

“We’re almost there! Smiting Light!” Predicting that this next series of attacks would be the final blow, I applied Attack buffs to Kent, Cocoa, and L’lyeh.

Kent was on the same page, shouting over the roaring of the Scorching Salamander. “Let’s do this!” Then, he unleashed a powerful attack. “Dragon Lance!”

Cocoa and L’lyeh followed up with their magic, but the boss still didn’t go down. I cast Smiting Light on Tarte for one last attack. She was surprised but quickly jumped into action, putting all her strength behind a Potion Throw. And Tarte’s attack sealed the Scorching Salamander’s fate—it burst into light, leaving behind only a crimson cape that fluttered in the air.

“We really got it!” I exclaimed in near disbelief.

“It’s some kind of equipment!” Tarte shouted.

“Wow! Today really is your lucky day, Tarte. The drop rate isn’t high...but here it is—an Infernal Cape!”

Tarte picked up her new equipment—a cape that gave her fifty percent resistance to Fire. The stylish one-shoulder cape featured a Salamander pin and shimmering chains that held it in place. Tarte purred as she held it in her hands. “Wow... Are you sure I can use it, Meowster?”

“Of course.” I gave her an encouraging nod, and the rest of the party did the same.

Tarte equipped the cape, and it shrank to match her height. It glimmered faintly, as if to indicate its power.

“You look great in it,” I said, earning a shy smile in return. “But there is one problem.”

Tarte trilled curiously at that.

I felt bad having to break this to her after getting her hyped about her new equipment, but Infernal Cape had to be equipped as an accessory, taking up one of the two slots available to each of us. Right now, Tarte’s accessory slots were filled up with Adventure Bracelet and Father’s Locket. “Your Father’s Locket is a part of the set you’re wearing, along with Mademoiselle Dress and Mademoiselle Socks. Now that you have the cape on, you don’t have the bonus effect anymore—the fifteen percent buff to your HP and five percent buff to your healing.” Still, I was confident the Infernal Cape was an upgrade. If I remembered correctly, Frey had gifted Tarte her current equipment, so it might have sentimental value to Tarte. Of course, I was sure Frey herself wouldn’t stand for Tarte passing up an upgrade like this.

“Equipment is really important for adventurers like us,” Kent said before Tarte could answer. “If we compromise on that and end up dead, it’s all over... But that locket is your dad’s keepsake, right? You probably want to keep that on you forever.”

Tarte looked at Kent blankly, not registering his words. Then, she trilled and snapped to it. “No, it’s not! My dad is alive and well.”

“Wait, really?!” Kent blurted.

I couldn’t hold back a chuckle at Kent’s reaction. “‘Father’s Locket’ is just the name of the equipment. It has nothing to do with Tarte’s dad.”

“Oh. Glad to hear your dad is doing well!” Kent laughed, scratching his head. “Then it might be best to change up your equipment depending on where we are.”

“I agree. Infernal Cape is by far the best choice when we’re hunting in a place like this. What do you think, Tarte?” I asked.

“That’s what I’ll do, fur sure. Frey will be mad at me if I pass on using better equipment,” Tarte said. Mm-hmm. We’re on the exact same page.

“If we get you equipment to buff your overall Defense, you can fight on the front lines too,” I told Tarte. “Since your left hand is open, you could start carrying a shield.”

“I see,” my apprentice said, starting to adorably mime the movement of blocking attacks with an imaginary shield.

Except, good equipment wasn’t that easy to come by, and carrying a weapon and a shield would make it harder for her to use Molotovs when she needed to. She’ll just have to be flexible with her gear.

“We can go back to Ifrit’s Oasis for our next adventure and get you a new weapon,” I suggested.

“I’ll do whatever it takes!” Tarte purred.

Discussing our next few moves along the way, we left Underground Volcano.

By the time we returned aboveground, it was the middle of the night. The Adventurer’s Guild was open twenty-four hours a day, but they would be running on a skeleton crew at this hour, with only one or two receptionists at their counters. We could still buy and sell common items, but the Guild would ask us to return during the day if we wanted to trade in high-volume or rare items.

“We can make our report to the Guild tomorrow. Let’s get some rest,” I said. Neither Tolley nor the receptionist who had first seen us was working right now, and I wasn’t going to rush and report our success to someone else. With how closely guarded this quest had been, even some of the Guild workers might be in the dark about it.

“Good idea,” Kent said.

“I agree,” said Tarte.

“The city isn’t in danger anymore, now that we finished the quest,” Cocoa added.

We decided to get a good rest that night and come back to the Guild late tomorrow morning.

“The heat has taken a toll on us. Make sure to hydrate and eat something salty.”

“Yes, Meowster!”

On that note, we left the Guild. I felt a wave of drowsiness come over me. Swallowing a yawn, I promised myself I was going to sleep in tomorrow.

Guild Ranks and L’lyeh’s Job

The next day, we arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild around noon and were immediately greeted by a receptionist and apprehended—I mean, escorted to a meeting room where Tolley was waiting.

Did they know we were coming? We were here a little later than planned—L’lyeh had been running uncharacteristically late this morning. Maybe we should have at least sent word a little sooner.

As soon as we sat down, Tolley began. “A part of me didn’t think you could do it. Certainly not this quickly.”

“How did you know we quelled the volcano?” I asked.

“It was a little cooler out this morning.”

“Okay?” I said. The air still felt hot to me. Maybe the locals are more sensitive to changes in temperature. Other than being impressed by Tolley’s acute sense of temperature, I wasn’t sure what to make of his response. “Well, we came to give our report for completing the quest,” I said.

“Please proceed,” Tolley encouraged us.

“We brought Ifrit out of Ifrit’s Oasis and had her quell the volcano with a dance. That should keep the volcano from erupting, at least for a while,” I explained.

Tolley nodded, looking satisfied. “I take it Ifrit was agreeable to our request.”

“No. We defeated her in battle so she would come with us,” I said.

Both Tolley’s and the receptionist’s eyebrows flew up. The option of convincing Ifrit to come with us by force had apparently never entered their minds. “What?! You fought Ifrit...?”

I laughed awkwardly. In our defense, Ifrit hadn’t objected to coming with us once we’d defeated her—it wasn’t like we’d dragged her to the volcano kicking and screaming.

Tolley let out a loud sigh. “I knew how strong you were—I thought I did, anyway. I never imagined that you’d be strong enough to defeat Ifrit in combat. We’d better reassess your Guild Ranks. There’s no doubt in my mind that you all deserve an S-rank.”

“Thank you.” I was happy to have our hard work validated. Besides, it seemed like an S-rank came with all sorts of perks. It could also involve some red tape, but an S-rank would definitely come in handy if we ever wanted to enter another restricted dungeon.

“But it’s not all up to me. You need a recommendation from three Guildmasters,” Tolley said.

“That’s right,” I said. It had been the same way in the game. “If you’re willing to recommend us, we only need two more.”

“I am. Not that I think you’ll struggle to get two more names, but do you have any leads?”

“We’re acquainted with Zille’s Guildmaster. We’ll go see him soon,” I said.

“Great idea,” Tolley agreed.

There were a few other Guilds we’d visited—like the ones in Snowdia and Blume—where we could handle a few more quests and score recommendations from their Guildmasters...probably.

“In that case,” the receptionist suggested as we were wrapping up our discussion, “why don’t you apply for A-ranks for the time being?”

“Good idea,” Tolley said. “I’m sure your levels and jobs haven’t changed from the ones in your files—”

“Oh,” L’lyeh breathed out of nowhere. She didn’t usually speak up during meetings like this.

“What’s the matter, Lulu?” I asked.

“My job isn’t Novice anymore.”

“What?!” We were stunned. Once we’d started adventuring with L’lyeh, we had realized that she was a Novice—which, I supposed, was better than her having a unique job called something like “Goddess of Darkness.” In part because L’lyeh could wield powerful spells already, we’d never decided on what job she should get. I just thought that’s how goddesses were.

“What’s your job now?” I asked her.

“Chef.”

The entire room might as well have gasped. It was entirely unexpected, yet...meant to be, somehow.

But Chefs aren’t even supposed to fight! It was a job that allowed a player to cook good food. That was it.

“Uh... There’s no precedent of an S-rank Chef. Or even an A-rank,” Tolley said.

“There is a record of one F-rank Chef in the Guild...” the receptionist added as she shared a look with Tolley.

“I don’t care about rank. It’s up to Sharon.” L’lyeh passed the buck to me without a second thought.

A quick solution would have been to have Tolley witness Lulu fighting...but I had to clarify a few things first. “If you don’t mind, can our party have a word alone?” I asked.

“Sure, take all the time you need.” Tolley must have guessed that L’lyeh’s new job came as just as much of a surprise to me as it did to him. He and the receptionist gave us the room.

“So, Lulu. When did you become a Chef?” I began. “I’m guessing sometime between last night and now...”

“This morning,” L’lyeh confirmed.

“How did you know that?” Kent asked.

“We were all sharing EXP yesterday. Lulu couldn’t have been level 1 while we were still in the dungeon,” I explained.

“Right... Her level reset to 1,” Kent said, the realization draining color from his face.

“If she had become level 1 when we were making our way through Underground Volcano...” Cocoa said, trailing off yet looking wholeheartedly relieved. Having one of our party members lose over a hundred levels in the middle of clearing a dungeon would have been catastrophic.

“Okay, now we know Lulu’s situation. Once we’re done here, we’ll go leveling—” I began, then realized. “Wait, is that what you were doing this morning?!”

“Mm-hmm,” L’lyeh responded. That explained her being late. She had to be over the moon that she’d become a Chef. “Now I’m level 32.”

“What?! You got that far on your own?! That’s incredible!” Kent raised his voice.

If any of the rest of us had had to start over from level 1, I doubted we could have gotten to 32 in half a day all on our own. L’lyeh must still have access to her Dark magic... She’s the strongest Chef in the world! “Well, we will take Lulu leveling later, but we need to make a decision about her rank. Getting a higher rank means we’ll face fewer restrictions in the future... What should we do?” I asked the party.

“What were you planning to do if Lulu had still been a Novice?” Kent asked.

“She was a Novice who could fight. I was hoping to take Tolley underground and have him watch Lulu fight firsthand. But now that her level is lower...” I was always down for adventures—not for recklessness.

“I’m fine,” L’lyeh said brazenly. “I can fight.”

The rest of us shared a look. As much as I wanted to believe her, it felt too dangerous.

“Hmm...” I grunted in contemplation.

“I can, Sharon,” she insisted. “Trust me.”

After a deep breath, I answered, “How can I not? But if things start to look dicey, we’re turning right back around. Okay?”

“Mm-hmm,” L’lyeh agreed.

After we’d all agreed to the plan, I stepped out of the room and called over Tolley, who’d graciously waited a few steps away from the door.

“If you’re concerned about Lulu’s abilities, could we ask you to come with us to the first level of Underground Volcano and have you watch her fight?” I suggested.

“That sounds great!” Tolley agreed without hesitation. This Guildmaster certainly wasn’t afraid of legwork.

And so, we all went down to the first level of the dungeon.

“I didn’t think I’d be coming down here too... Are you sure we’re safe?” the receptionist asked, trembling with each step she took. In contrast, Tolley was looking around, eyes bright with curiosity. He probably hadn’t had a chance to go into the dungeon like this all that often.

Kent was leading our formation, playing tour guide for the benefit of Tolley and the receptionist as he explained how we would make our way through the dungeon and what monsters to expect.

That gave me a chance to whisper to L’lyeh, “Your usual magic will make them suspicious about who you are... Can you fight only with your Chef skills and physical attacks?”

“No problem. I got it.”

“Thank you. I believe in you!” I answered. It was a huge ask, but even Tolley might freak out if L’lyeh whipped out Dark Arrows when she was supposed to be a Chef. If it could be helped, I wanted the fact that Lulu was the Goddess of Darkness to remain a well-kept secret...preferably forever. While some worshipped the Goddess of Darkness in this world, there were others who harbored ill will toward her. Those were the kind of people I wanted to protect L’lyeh from.

Seeing that I’d finished talking to L’lyeh, Kent came over. “So, what are we going to do? You want me to go ahead like usual and have Lulu attack?”

L’lyeh shook her head and took a step forward. “No. Leave it to me.” Her eyes were trained on a trio of Lava Rats.

If we had been on a routine hunt, Kent would have drawn their attention with Taunt while Cocoa and L’lyeh took them out with their magic. What are you going to do, L’lyeh? Feeling my heart start beating faster, I quietly watched L’lyeh. What made this situation worse was that her weapon was a staff—she could have at least clobbered those monsters if she’d had a proper weapon. Just then, L’lyeh swung her staff fast and hard, sending a rat flying.

“What...? She’s so strong...” I breathed.

Tolley looked dumbfounded that tiny Lulu was fighting by swinging her staff like a club. His eyes had gone wide and his jaw was on the floor.

L’lyeh set her sights on another rat and produced a kitchen knife from her Bag. From what I could see, it was just an ordinary kitchen knife with no added effects.

“Last one. Chef Skill—Julienne.” As soon as L’lyeh announced her Skill, the rat was sliced into thin strips before bursting into light.

How strong are Chefs?! How strong is L’lyeh? Everyone seemed to be stunned speechless by L’lyeh’s unbelievable power, with or without magic. I was no exception.

“That was a sight to behold!” Tolley exclaimed, showering L’lyeh with a round of applause as soon as we returned to the Guild’s meeting room. By the looks of it, L’lyeh was pleased with the Guildmaster’s reaction. “After seeing that, I can’t say you don’t deserve at least an A-rank. What a formidable young woman you are!” He followed his praise up with another round of applause.

The receptionist was fiercely nodding along—L’lyeh’s fighting had knocked her socks off too. Good. Our girls deserve all the praise in the world!

In the end, it was that easy for all of us to achieve A rank. Then, the conversation returned to our quest to quell the volcano.

“It’s time I paid you for your troubles.” Tolley gestured to the receptionist, and she quickly brought over the Salamander Egg on a large tray. The egg was about the size of a soccer ball, its unyielding shell a deep shiny vermilion.

“This is a Salamander Egg...? Ameowzing.”

“Is a Salamander going to hatch from it?” Kent asked.

“I...don’t know about that,” Cocoa said.

I had bad news for them—no Salamander was going to hatch from this egg. I’d read in a book once that Salamander Eggs only hatched in extremely high temperatures. If the climate was cool enough for humans to survive, it was too cold for Salamanders.

“Can I hold on to this for now?” I asked the group. “Let’s talk about what to do with it later.”

“Agreed,” Kent said.

I took that as my cue to accept the egg for the party and stash it in my Bag. “That’s our quest complete,” I confirmed. “If there’s nothing else...”

“Of course. Thank you again for saving us,” Tolley said, offering me a deep bow, and the receptionist echoed his sentiment.

Their reaction felt like more than we deserved—we were just adventurers completing a quest. “We’re happy to help. Let us know if anything else comes up.”

“You got it,” Tolley said.

Bidding the Guildmaster and his receptionist farewell, we left the Guild for the day.

***

By the evening of the next day, we found ourselves absolutely exhausted. After completing our quest at the Guild the day before, we’d gone straight to a dungeon to help L’lyeh regain her levels. Then, we’d gone back the next morning and spent the whole day farming her some more levels. Our hard work had paid off, though—we’d gotten L’lyeh back to where we could share EXP again.

At this moment, we were all gathered in the girls’ room at the inn. In other words, Kent had just come over to our room from his. We were going to try out Tarte’s new cauldron by brewing some potions. She’d been bursting with excitement the whole time we’d been helping L’lyeh level up, counting down the minutes until this very moment.

There were a few different levels of Formulation tools Alchemists could use. Better tools needed less time and fewer ingredients to yield more potions. Tarte’s new cauldron, as far as I could guess, was very high tier. I was excited to see how efficient this puppy was.

“I’m going to try crafting some Molotovs like normal!” Tarte announced.

“All right! Maybe this thing will give you more bang for your buck.” Kent cheered her on, looking just as excited as Tarte to see the cauldron in action.

“Here we go!” Tarte tossed in the bomb ingredients in order, stirring them in the cauldron.

After crafting this weapon so many times, Tarte expertly finished her Formulation in no time at all, its completion marked by a flash of light from the cauldron. I peered over the rim to discover not one but two Molotovs in there. Her yield had doubled.

Tarte gleefully purred. “Wow! There’s two in there!” She took one of the freshly crafted Molotovs in her hands—and yowled in surprise.

“What’s wrong, Tarte?” I inspected the other Molotov to discover something unbelievable. Its damage output was one percent higher than the Molotovs Tarte had crafted in the past.

“No way,” I breathed.

“So, this basically buffed Tarte’s Attack, right?” Kent asked.

“I think so,” I agreed.

Tarte was on cloud nine, beaming and squeezing the bottle tightly in her arms. “This is ameowzing. It’ll help me get stronger.”

“It’ll make our hunts easier,” I confirmed, my attention still snagged by the Ancient Emberglow Cauldron. Never had I imagined that it could change the effectiveness of the Molotov itself. Even though it was only an extra one percent, the improvement to Tarte’s Attack was a big deal. If we could get her the other tools in the series—like a better Firestarter or Stirring Spoon—Tarte’s brews could become even more effective.

Something tingled down my spine, urging me to search for those items. Alchemists always came in clutch in the game...but I never thought there was so much potential in the job! If Tarte loaded up on equipment and maxed out the power of her potions, she could transform into an unparalleled solo fighter. I’m witnessing a historic moment...! “Let’s collect more tools for Tarte’s alchemy!”

“I would love that, Meowster! But I have no idea where to find them... Do you?”

“If I’m being honest...no,” I admitted, and everyone’s shoulders slumped.

Cocoa was the first one to bounce back. “We’re adventurers, after all. We should just collect them as we continue our adventures.”

“That’s it!” I couldn’t agree more. “We are adventurers, and I set out on this adventure in the first place so that I could see all the beautiful sights in this world!” Why shouldn’t collecting Tarte’s items be a part of that?

Tarte, Kent, and L’lyeh all agreed. No matter what, we were all adventurers searching for untrodden ground.

“Let’s keep going to places we’ve never gone before! I’m sure we’ll find Tarte’s Alchemist gear along the way, and who knows what else? We’re not done growing stronger, are we?” Kent said, cracking a dauntless smile.

“No, we’re not! I’m going to work harder and grow stronger!” Tarte shouted.

“I’m going to find undiscovered foods and cook dishes never cooked before...!” L’lyeh added.

It was very nice that both of them had concrete goals. Meanwhile, Cocoa was smiling where she stood at Kent’s side, clearly just happy to be adventuring with him. Some people might have called us reckless, but we were a party with a unified goal and vision.

“I’m going to make a whole bunch of Molotovs!” Tarte announced.

“Then I’ll go pick up the ingredients we posted purchase orders for.”

“Thank you, Lulu!” Tarte cheered.

It was a busy day with a reward well worth our efforts.

***

By the third day after we’d quelled the volcano, we had moved our base of operations to Fule, the Oasis Village. Why? To grind Ifrit’s Oasis until we got our hands on Tarte’s new equipment. Ifrit respawned after a day, so we’d already taken her down three times by now. Long story short, she hadn’t dropped the weapon we were looking for. Based on personal experience, I was expecting to see said weapon within the next ten days of conquering the oasis on a daily basis.

For the moment, though, we were cooling down in the girls’ room of our new inn, enjoying a refreshing bowl of shaved ice—made by our very own Chef L’lyeh. She had gone out and collected some ice before shaving it into a fluffy mound in a bowl. She was already a bona fide iron chef.

Kent, who’d finished his bowl first, turned to me. “There are still a lot of unique jobs in this world, right? Ones like your Holy Maiden?”

“There should be. I don’t know how many there are in all, but there should be several more, like Frey’s Hero,” I said.

Kent had a look on his face, like he wasn’t satisfied with his awakened Dragonrider job—like he wanted a unique job of his own.

Nothing wrong with a growth mindset. “The problem is, I don’t know how to get any of the unique jobs. Triggering the Holy Maiden quest was a complete coincidence...” If only there had been an official guidebook to Reas. Alas, the only resources we’d had were fan-made forums and websites, and no player would have just volunteered the close-kept secret of how to attain a unique job.

“Right... Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.” Kent sounded dejected, but there was no reason to lose hope. Getting a unique job had been just about every Reas player’s dream, but I assumed there were very few people in this world who had a unique job, with the rare exceptions like Frey and me. There was very little competition for any given unique job—no competition, even. The best chance he’d ever have of getting a unique job was right now.

“We could come across a unique job quest while we travel the world. Don’t give up yet,” I said.

“You’re right. That’s going to be my goal—a unique job of my own,” Kent said, pumping himself up...only to turn to me. “If that’s okay?”

He didn’t need my permission, of course. I’d love to have him surprise me one day by showing up with a unique job. “I support you one hundred percent,” I told him.

“Thanks!” Kent grinned and then turned to the others. “Why don’t we try to become a whole party of unique jobs? There’d be no stopping us then!”

Tarte yelped. “All of us?!”

“Where’d this come from, Kent?!” Cocoa protested.

L’lyeh had a sour look on her face. She was in love with her new job as a Chef, so I couldn’t see her jumping at the opportunity for a unique job, even if it presented itself to her...unless it was a unique job that had to do with cooking. Discovering a job like that sounded like an absolute blast.

My adventure had started with a broken engagement, exile, and a dream to see every sight this world had to offer. Now, I added to it the goal of all of us getting unique jobs—and for us to have fun in every corner of the world!

What to Do with a Salamander Egg

One night, we were gathered in the girls’ room, leisurely enjoying some fresh fruit. These moments we spent together after a full day of adventuring were very precious to me. We talked about this and that—going over the day’s fights, planning our next day, and toying with the idea of taking a day off soon.

“Oh,” I blurted, suddenly remembering the Salamander Egg we’d received as a quest reward. We sold most dropped items to the Guild and split the profit, but with an item like this, I thought it prudent to talk over what we wanted to do with it.

“What’s the matter, Meowster?”

“That egg had completely slipped my mind...” I quickly took the Salamander Egg from my Bag.

“Let’s eat it,” L’lyeh immediately suggested.

“No.” I knew L’lyeh’s obsession with food and cooking had only grown since becoming a Chef, but I had to shut down the idea of frying up a rare Salamander Egg. “There are a few things we can do with it. Cooking it is one of them,” I prefaced, “but it can also be used by a Blacksmith to craft a weapon or armor, or even by an Alchemist to brew some potions.”

“Too bad,” L’lyeh relented. Seeing Tarte excited by her new cape must have shown her how important weapons and armor were to adventurers. She also seemed to have weighed the happiness of the party against her culinary curiosity...and graciously put the cooking of the Salamander Egg on indefinite hold.

“I’m sure it has plenty of uses. Are we really going to find someone who could craft this thing into weapons or armor, though?” Kent asked astutely. Back in the game, we players had been the only ones who could craft rare items like this one.

Considering how low the overall levels were in this world, I doubted anyone could handle a piece like our Salamander Egg. A few years—or decades—from now, I was sure Blacksmiths would become adept enough to handle this sort of material. That future was still too distant for my liking, however. It’d be faster to recruit a Blacksmith to our party.

While I contemplated, I noticed Tarte staring intently at the egg. There hadn’t been a chance for her to really inspect it at the Guild because I’d rushed to put it away. Now, she was blinking and taking in the egg from all angles. Something about cats and curiosity... Perhaps she was just assessing it as a potential material for her Formulation. Since we didn’t have a Blacksmith in our party, Tarte’s alchemy might have been the next best option.

Tarte finally turned to me, her expression unreadable. “Meowster, there’s a quiet heartbeat coming from this egg.”

“What?!” My own heart skipped a beat. A heartbeat—that meant there was a little life growing in that egg. Because I’d read in a book that a Salamander Egg only hatched in inhospitably hot climates, I’d never thought that the egg would hatch. In fact, I’d assumed that whatever life had started to form in it had long been lost. I took the egg in my hands and placed my ear against it. I heard nothing. Kent and Cocoa tried too, but they clearly didn’t hear a heartbeat either.

“Hmm...” I grunted.

“Cait Sith have great hearing. It’s very faint, but I hear a heartbeat!” Tarte promised.

“Okay... Then it’s still alive,” I said. If the unhatched Salamander had a shot at life, I certainly wasn’t going to use the egg as a material for anything. That would feel the same as killing the little Salamander just for a piece of gear or an item. “I’d love to help it hatch, but this isn’t a good environment to do that in.”

“How does a Salamander hatch, anyway? Do we have to take it deep into the dungeon?” Kent asked.

That was a great question. I just knew it had to be hot, but I didn’t know the specifics. We didn’t have enough information about this.

Tarte yowled in frustration. “What should we do? It’s too cold to keep the egg here. Could we take it into the dungeon, Meowster?”

“That might be our best option right now,” I agreed. “It’s hotter than here, so it’s probably a better environment for a Salamander Egg at the very least.” There was no guarantee, but I just didn’t think the egg would hatch in any place humans were comfortable in.

We decided to take the egg into the dungeon first thing in the morning and see if we noticed any changes.

When I woke up the next morning, Tarte was already up and harvesting Fire Shrooms from her Lava Rock. Anywhere from one to three Fire Shrooms sprouted from it each day. That wasn’t much on its own, but having multiple Lava Rocks would have increased our yield of daily free Fire Shrooms. Back in the game, players who’d hoarded Lava Rocks had been called Shroom Kings.

“How many did you get today, Tarte?” I asked.

“Two. It’s not a lot, but I’m purrleased to get some every day. A shroom grown is a shroom saved!” Tarte finished gathering her Fire Shrooms and stowed the Lava Rock in her Bag again. Then, she looked at the basket beside her bed. Inside the basket, Ifrit slept in a translucent red glass egg, cushioned by a layer of soft fabric. The Fire Spirit showed no sign of awakening anytime soon. There was no way we were going to just abandon her in a dungeon, so Tarte—who’d grown the most attached—had been looking after her. Since Ifrit couldn’t be stored like an item, Tarte kept her in a nonmagical bag and carefully carried her with us everywhere.

Maybe Ifrit knows how to hatch a Salamander. I should have asked Ifrit beforehand—I’d known that was what our reward would be.

We finished our breakfast and made for Underground Volcano to see how the Salamander Egg would react.

***

We’re back at Underground Volcano! Because of the Salamander spawns and the Scorching Salamander boss, we’d figured this dungeon had a better chance of hatching the egg than Ifrit’s Oasis did.

Once we’d made it through the Guild’s underground passage and into the dungeon, we were greeted by a waft of hot air that clung to our skin—I was never getting used to this heat.

“So, Tarte...how’s the egg?” I asked.

Tarte also carried the egg with her because she was the only one of us who could hear its heartbeat. She carefully took out the egg and twitched her ears toward it. “The heartbeat’s a little stronger than it was at the inn! The Salamander does like the heat!”

Although I was relieved that we’d apparently chosen the correct dungeon, I still didn’t know how long it would take for the egg to hatch—or if it was going to hatch at all. Without proper protection from the heat, we couldn’t stay in this dungeon for long.

“We can’t exactly leave the egg and bail...” I muttered.

“What if another monster eats it, Meowster?!” Tarte protested.

Then, I had a light bulb moment. “Oh! What about the end of the hidden passage where we took Ifrit last time? There aren’t any monsters there to attack the egg.”

“That’s a great idea!” Tarte cheered.

“Love it,” Kent agreed.

Cocoa and L’lyeh were nodding too.

“Then let’s do it!” I said.

With Kent leading the way, we mowed down monsters in our path and soon made it to the end of the hidden passage, where we descended the stairs. The lake of lava made the air here scorching. Tarte set the egg down very close to the lava and whispered to it like she was its mama bird. “Don’t worry. It’s very warm for you here.”

Then, a thought crossed my mind. “This will probably hatch the Salamander Egg, but is it going to be like the Salamanders that spawn here or like...a special Salamander that only hatches from this egg?”

“Oh, I don’t know...” Kent said. “I don’t want a monster to hatch and attack us.”

“Yeah. Raising it and hatching it just to defeat it...?” Cocoa muttered.

They shared a concerned look. If we were just going to be taking out another Salamander, we might as well have not received any reward for our quest at all. I couldn’t think of a more wasteful way to use a Salamander Egg. If it was going to imprint on us, though, it’d be a different story... There was only one way to find out. It’s possible that it may be a mount like our Dragons, allowing us to ride on its back through scorching terrain.

“Let’s keep an eye on it for a while,” I suggested. “Maybe we’ll see some changes in a few days.”

“Yeah. Let’s call it a day for now,” Kent said.

“I’d love to...except I have a favor to ask.” I grinned wide.

Kent’s, Cocoa’s, and Tarte’s expressions froze, while L’lyeh just looked at me curiously.

Can We Farm One Thousand of Them?

We had transferred our operation from Underground Volcano to Ifrit’s Oasis.

“Even from Sharon, I didn’t expect this,” Kent grumbled as he wiped sweat from his face. As usual, he was leading our formation. “Are we seriously doing this? I guess we have to...”

I could hardly blame him. I’d just asked my party to help me gather one thousand Unstoked Embers. That meant we’d have to take out at least a thousand Heirs of Flames—“at least” being the operative phrase there. An Heir of Flames had about a sixty percent likelihood of dropping an Unstoked Ember. It was nowhere near a guaranteed drop, but those were decently reliable chances. I wondered how the party would react once I told them those odds and briefly contemplated keeping the information to myself. Still, they’d figure out the general chances pretty quickly when only about one in two Heirs yielded the item we were hunting for.

I’d only told the party that we’d get something cool after gathering a thousand Unstoked Embers. I was hoping that the element of mystery would make this farming session a little more interesting, but I wasn’t sure if making them farm an item without knowing its purpose was doing more harm to their morale than good.

“Heirs up ahead, Sharon. Three of them,” Kent called.

“Okey dokey. Smiting Light.”

As soon as I cast the buff, Kent used Taunt to draw the monsters to himself. Without missing a beat, Cocoa and L’lyeh launched their attacks, followed by Tarte’s Potion Throw. I could see in Tarte’s face how proud she was of her newly powered-up attack.

Like a well-oiled machine, we made quick work of the Heirs of Flames...which left behind a single Unstoked Ember. The road ahead of us might be longer than I thought. Farming like this had never bothered me that much in the game, but there was so much to worry about in real life: the need for breaks and sleep, not to mention the exhaustion and the unbearable heat. It was going to be pretty grueling to farm a thousand of the same item in these conditions. It’s going to take a few days, at least.

“One drop out of three kills. It’s a long road to a thousand,” Kent said.

“We’re after Ifrit’s drop item too. Each day, we’ll check on the egg, farm some items, then defeat Ifrit, and go back to the inn. Isn’t that a good schedule?” My suggestion earned a look of disbelief from Cocoa. Okay. Too much. “I’m kidding! Well, we do need to fight Ifrit. We really want her drop item, and we can only fight her once a day. That means we need to compromise on either checking the Salamander Egg or farming items.”

“We need to visit the egg every day!” Tarte exclaimed.

“I thought you’d say so!” I said. What else could I do? That meant our best compromise would come in the item-farming department. “Okay. What if we aim to farm three hundred of them per day?” I suggested.

“Three hundred... So we’d have to fight around six hundred Heirs each day?” Kent asked.

“Is that a little too much?” I ventured.

“A lot more than a little,” Kent said, shooting me down without remorse. Three hundred seemed almost doable to me, but it sounded like that number was still daunting to the rest of the party. “How about a hundred?” Kent suggested. “If we only have to hunt two hundred Heirs, we should have enough strength left to take on Ifrit each day.”

“Then let’s do that,” I said. My proposed schedule had been vetoed, but we now had a plan for the days ahead: check on the Salamander Egg in Underground Volcano, and then move to Ifrit’s Oasis to farm a hundred Unstoked Embers and defeat Ifrit.

A hundred a day seemed like a breeze in comparison to my original plan, but I could admit that it was still going to be a lot of work.

Having agreed on a reasonable goal, we huddled up and did a hands-in cheer to rally our spirits.

***

“And that makes ninety-eight,” Kent announced, scooping up another Unstoked Ember—two to go until we filled today’s quota of one hundred.

“I wasn’t sure at first, but we’re managing this.” Cocoa wiped sweat from her brow. “Three days in a row.”

Managing it, we were. For the past three days, we’d been following our schedule of checking in on the Salamander Egg, farming a hundred items, and defeating Ifrit each day.

“I think that went quicker than yesterday,” Tarte said.

“Really?! I haven’t been tracking the time, but we have gotten faster at defeating each Heir of Flames,” Kent supplied, pleased with our improvement as measured by how streamlined our farming had become. We were faster at taking out the monsters and picking up their dropped items. Kent sometimes even grabbed the dropped item right as it spawned, not even letting it hit the ground. That wasn’t something you could do in the game, so I’d burst out laughing the first time I saw him do it. Any player would have.

“Ooh. It could be fun to split up into teams and race to collect fifty Unstoked Embers,” I suggested.

“Sounds like a challenge!” Kent said eagerly. “It’ll be tough without Sharon’s support, but we could probably manage with healing items...” he continued, starting to seriously think this through. “We’re a party of five, so we’d split into a team of two and a team of three. Since Sharon can’t attack, she’d be on the three-person team, but that would give them an unfair advantage...”

“Kent, it’s not that serious.” Cocoa chuckled. “Look, there’s the next wave.” She pointed ahead to a group of five Heirs of Flames headed our way.

On a silver platter... Five Heirs practically guaranteed a drop. I could feel myself beaming. “You got this, Lulu! Smiting Light.”

“Julienne!” Lulu diced up the Heirs with her new Chef Skill all too easily. Considering how she could still use Dark magic on top of her overpowered Chef Skills, she was definitely in a class of her own.

“That’s our quota for today.” Kent stowed the last two Unstoked Embers in his Bag and set his sights forward. “Onward and upward?”

I nodded. All we had to do now was take down Ifrit and head back to the inn.

As Ifrit’s dying shriek echoed through the oasis, I held my breath in prayer. Please, let it drop today...

“Purrlease...” Tarte was clasping her hands too, intently watching Ifrit turn into light.

Alas, our prayers were not answered today—Ifrit vanished without leaving anything behind.

“Another whiff. Well, we’re going to be back here farming items again tomorrow. Ifrit will have to drop one by the time we scrounge up a thousand embers. Chin up, Tarte,” Kent encouraged.

“Thank you.” Tarte squeezed her paws into tight fists in an adorable show of determination. “I won’t give up until she does!”

“Then it’s time for snacks,” L’lyeh announced gleefully as we crossed to the other side of the oasis’s spring.

For the past couple of days, it had become our tradition to relax at the oasis after defeating Ifrit. We’d dip our feet in the water and eat our food. Sometimes we even napped, enjoying a time so relaxing that I sometimes forgot we were in a dungeon.

“Oh, speaking of...” I produced a set of traditional desert garb—one for each of us. I’d secretly bought them in the hopes that we could all wear them together.

“Wait, Sharon! You bought those?!” Cocoa stammered, her cheeks reddening. I knew she’d had her eye on these outfits. She’d only been hesitant to reach for them because they were more revealing than her usual clothes.

If I were being honest, it had taken a lot of courage to buy them. But these desert outfits are so cute! And as Charlotte Cocoriara—not as Mitsuki Toyosato—I can finally pull something like this off. Even though I now occupied this body, I was fully aware of how gorgeous Charlotte had been designed to be. Could anyone blame me for wanting to see myself in one of these? In Japan, I would have never had the courage to put these on. “Don’t worry. I got one for each of us!”

“It’ll be fun for you girls to dress up,” Kent said.

“You have one too, Kent,” I said.

“I do?”

“Of course.” I wouldn’t dream of letting Kent miss out. The men’s outfit was just as revealing as the women’s, but I had confidence that he’d pull it off. “Here, let’s change into them! Girls over here...and Kent can change over there where Ifrit was,” I ordered, quickly sending Kent to the other side of the spring. We didn’t have our tents pitched, so it’d be awkward to have him around while we changed.

I handed Tarte, Cocoa, and L’lyeh their respective traditional outfits. With only a chest wrap for a top, the outfit kept our bellies exposed. Most women wore low-rise skirts or trousers on the bottom. I’d gotten Tarte and L’lyeh pants, and Cocoa and me skirts—sexy ones that had a deep slit up to the thigh.

This is going to drive Kent crazy, Cocoa. “And these are gifts, so you can wear them whenever you want,” I said.

“Thank you, Meowster! I’m not sure when I’ll have the opurrtunity, though...” Tarte wasted no time in changing into her outfit. She seemed a little self-conscious about showing her stomach but not to the point that she couldn’t enjoy her outfit.

L’lyeh appeared utterly unconcerned by the outfit, somehow looking perfect in it.

Cocoa and I were taking longer to change out of our frillier outfits. Ours came with thin pieces of fabric that covered our arms and waists, with plenty of jewelry to layer over top. This jewelry jingled whenever we moved, adding to the novelty of the outfit.

“Meowster, you’re so cute,” Tarte purred as soon as she saw us. “I’m so jealous of your curves and your purrfect skin and your long legs!”

I felt my cheeks warm from Tarte’s unbridled compliments.

“You’re adorable too, Tarte. Yours is very similar to Ifrit’s outfit,” Cocoa said.

“Thank you.”

Then, Cocoa turned to me, seeming to have a little trouble meeting my gaze. That was when I realized that she was beet red to the tips of her ears. She seemed almost bashful. I tilted my head to one side in question.

“It suits you perfectly, Sharon, especially with your clear skin... I can barely look at you,” Cocoa said shyly.

“Wait, really?” I asked. Seeing Cocoa fidget like that made me feel embarrassed all of a sudden.

On the outside, Charlotte Cocoriara was the picture of innocence. I could see how wearing an outfit as revealing as this one would make others feel somewhat embarrassed. Cocoa’s reaction was making me blush, though.

“Sorry I took so long,” Kent announced as he approached, shortly after we’d regained our composure.

This was just the distraction we needed to save ourselves from embarrassment—why talk about our sexy outfits when we could talk about Kent’s sexy outfit?

We girls all turned to Kent and let out an impressed “Wow!”

“You look so good!” Tarte said, staring at Kent wide-eyed.

Kent’s traditional outfit left him topless. He only wore a pair of billowing pants, a bandana on his head, and a simple bangle on his arm—the picture of a man of the desert. What drew the eye more than any part of the outfit were Kent’s hardened muscles. He had something of a baby face, so it was somewhat shocking to witness the contrast between his boyish face and his toned physique. Cocoa’s face was bright red, and I could almost hear her heart beating from here.

“You look great, Kent!”

“Thanks, Sharon!” Kent answered with a grin. “This isn’t too bad. It’d be too hot to wear this outside, but it’s great for dungeons where the sun isn’t glaring down on us—with the right equipment, though. I know this has lower Defense stats.”

“Agreed,” I said. It’d have been pretty bold of him to fight his way through a dungeon topless, but if we had been inside of a story, I could have fully imagined coming across a character just like that.

While we were complimenting one another’s looks, L’lyeh whipped her frying pan out of her Bag.

“What is it, Lulu? Are you going to cook us something?” I asked.

She nodded. “With my Chef Skill.”

We all cheered. So far, we hadn’t had a chance to taste the fruits of L’lyeh’s Skills. Full of hungry anticipation, we all watched L’lyeh work.

Naturally, Chefs learned Skills that helped them cook. Using a Skill with some kind of cookware—like a frying pan—allowed them to whip up food in a short amount of time. And a Chef’s cooking came with all sorts of buffs depending on the dish, each with a time limit of thirty minutes. Such dishes were best served right before an important battle. We couldn’t exactly sit down for dinner in the middle of combat.

Holding her frying pan, L’lyeh said, “Cook.” The ingredients she’d prepared ahead of time popped themselves right into the frying pan. With an appetizing sizzle and a waft of delicious aroma, her cooking was done.

Wow. Way to go, Chef. I simply watched, quietly impressed, but the rest of our party members were astonished to see a dish prepared using a Skill for the first time.

“What just happened?!” Tarte yowled.

“You can cook something that quickly?!” Cocoa chimed in.

“That’s so cool!” Kent exclaimed.

L’lyeh lifted the lid of her frying pan to reveal Scrumptious Hot Dogs—piping hot sausages in a fluffy bun, topped with crispy lettuce. Making hot dogs by throwing ingredients into a pan was some video game logic for sure, but I wasn’t complaining.

“Bon appétit,” L’lyeh told us as she offered us the dish.

“Thank you!” we all answered and each reached for a hot dog.

My teeth broke into the juicy sausage, detonating a flavor bomb inside my mouth. “Mm! It’s delicious!”

“This is so good!” Kent cried.

“It’s wonderful. Thank you, Lulu,” Cocoa said.

“This is such a tasty treat!” Tarte added.

We devoured our hot dogs—and our seconds—almost in a trance.

Having finished his third helping, Kent turned to me. “Right. These have some kind of effect, don’t they?”

I looked toward the remaining Scrumptious Hot Dogs on the platter L’lyeh had provided, and read that they buffed our HP by ten percent over the next thirty minutes. Of course, anyone who didn’t know about their stats would just feel like they had a little more energy.

“A ten percent buff?” Kent repeated, impressed.

“Adventurers like us would probably notice that buff, but if someone with a normal job happened to eat one of these, they probably wouldn’t. Even without any items, our energy levels can fluctuate,” I said. Because we spent our days fighting monsters, putting our lives on the line all the time, we could really feel and appreciate that extra ten percent.

“It’s delicious and it boosts our HP? I wanna eat L’lyeh’s cooking every day,” Kent said.

“I will improve my cooking,” L’lyeh announced. Despite the shower of compliments, she clearly thought her cooking had room for improvement. There were plenty of dishes that a Chef could learn to cook, and she seemed determined to learn them all. Go, Lulu!

Still wearing our traditional outfits, we stuffed ourselves with L’lyeh’s cooking, played in the oasis spring, and napped on the soft bed of grass along its shores.

Having taken full advantage of the oasis, we went back to our inn for the night.

Sorrowful Fireheart

“Thank you,” the receptionist said, her smile looking a little forced. “Your total payout will be 1,765,320 liz.”

I gave her a big smile, knowing that we had to be the most successful party this Guild had ever seen. Our daily routine of farming the dungeons always left us with piles and piles of dropped items. To save the Guild workers some time, we waited a few days between cashing out our loot each time.

We’re not going to bankrupt the Guild, are we? They’d surely refuse to buy our items if they couldn’t afford to. If we’d been able to store infinite items in our Bags, I wouldn’t have had to dump them in their laps like this, but alas...

“Any luck on our purchase orders?” I asked.

“We have eighty-six Fire Shrooms but no Orc Rags,” the receptionist promptly supplied.

“We’ll take all the Fire Shrooms.”

“I’ll ring them up.”

I wasn’t surprised that no one had brought in Orc Rags—none could be found around this area. The receptionist subtracted the price of the Fire Shrooms from our total loot payout.

I had no other business at the Guild that day, so I went on my way once the sale was complete. “Thank you. I’ll be back soon,” I said.

“We are looking forward to it,” the receptionist answered.

Every time we visited, the amount of loot we brought into the Guild caused a huge reaction...and that was only for items we farmed from normal monsters around the dungeons. We still held every single item dropped by a dungeon boss. I’d have preferred to sell them at some point, but they weren’t the kinds of items we could dump into the market without careful consideration. But it’s such a waste to let them rot in our Bags. A common use for boss items like these was to offer them to the king or queen, or to put them up for auction to most likely make a small fortune. If I’d thought that anyone I knew was in need of one of these items, I might even have given it to them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anyone who would directly benefit from the items we’d collected.

While thinking about the items burning a hole in our Bags, I’d arrived at the Transportation Gate where the rest of my party waited. When there was no need for all of us to go to the Guild, we’d decided that whoever had the time would stop by, then meet up with the rest of the party by the Gate at a preplanned time.

“Hey, Sharon. Ready to go?” Kent asked.

“Today is the day we’re going to get a thousand!” Tarte purred. As of right now, we had amassed 917 Unstoked Embers over nine days of farming more than a hundred of them a day.

I can’t wait...! “Come on. Let’s go!” I eagerly rushed them forward.

“That’s 998, 999, and 1,000! We did it!” Kent announced as he scooped up the momentous thousandth Unstoked Ember.

“Hooray!”

“Purray!”

We all cheered with unbridled joy. Ten days of farming Heirs of Flames had seemed to last forever, yet it had flown by at the same time. Considering how a party could easily spend more than ten days trying to get one boss item to drop, I was thankful that the Unstoked Embers were basically guaranteed drops by comparison.

“What are we going to do with them?” Kent asked once we arrived at the third level of the dungeon.

I pointed at the oasis spring ahead of us. “Dumping all one thousand of them into the spring triggers an event that lets us trade the Unstoked Embers for the item we want.”

“Sweet. Let’s give it a shot.” Kent began taking the embers out of his Bag.

“Wait a minute!” Cocoa shouted frantically. “Ifrit’s on the other side of the spring! If we’re going to trigger an event, we need to defeat her first! I don’t want her to attack us while we’re preoccupied with whatever is going to happen next.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Kent admitted.

Cocoa and Tarte seemed to sigh in relief. No matter how many times we’d defeated Ifrit, she apparently remained a threatening presence to them.

“Let’s go take care of Ifrit really quick,” I said.

“All right!” Kent shouted.

“I’m ready!” Tarte crowed.

While crossing to the other side of the oasis, I made sure to give everyone their buffs. Then, Kent shouted, “Taunt!” and charged toward Ifrit like he’d done so many times by now. He swung his sword at the Fire Spirit, who dodged Kent’s blade by taking a step back, only to be met with Tarte’s well-timed Potion Throw. After that, Cocoa’s and L’lyeh’s attacks landed consecutively.

Kent kept Ifrit’s attention on himself with another Taunt, using his sword mostly to parry but countering when he had the chance. Even though he was geared toward tanking on the front line, he also had access to great attack Skills as a Dragonrider. On top of defending us, he always contributed to taking down the enemy. “This is it! Dragon’s Breath!” As soon as he was in range of Ifrit, Kent finished the job.

Immediately, I dropped to my knees in prayer. “Please, please, please...let my precious apprentice have this weapon.”

“Purrlease...”

My hands were clasped tight. Statistically speaking, it was about time for one to drop. It has to drop eventually. Alas, our prayers went unanswered once again. Instead of the weapon we’d hoped for, Ifrit dropped an accessory called Fire Ring that buffed the user’s Fire attacks by three percent. It wasn’t exactly rare, and we wouldn’t have a reason to use it in the dungeons here, but it’d be a decent option if we came across monsters susceptible to fire, especially while we lacked more-powerful equipment. Cocoa could always switch to Fire Skills, of course, and Tarte’s Potion Throw could benefit from the buff. Since Tarte was more interested in fighting on the front line, Cocoa was probably the best person to hold on to this ring.

“It’s nice to see equipment drop, even if it isn’t the one we’re chasing.” Kent scooped up the ring. “Who wants it?”

I explained my thought process and recommendation that the ring should go to Cocoa.

“Right. Tarte can’t wear both the ring and her cape,” Cocoa agreed. “Okay. I’ll hold on to it for now, and we can talk about it again when we want to use it.”

“Great. It’s best practice to be flexible with equipment and strategy, so that’s what we’ll do,” I said, and Cocoa stashed the ring in her Bag for the time being.

With Ifrit defeated, the time had come for today’s main event.

“A thousand items laid out like this... It’s quite a sight,” Kent said, staring at the ground, which was buried beneath our thousand Unstoked Embers.

“We can’t lift a paw without stepping on one,” Tarte chimed in.

“Let’s get this event going. We just need to chuck all these items into the spring...which is easier said than done, I think.” Chuckling, I began picking up and throwing Unstoked Embers into the spring. The others followed suit—it shouldn’t take too long with all five of us working together.

“Something’s going to happen when we throw all of them in there, right...?” Kent asked. “I feel kind of guilty, like we’re wasting items.”

I put a finger up to my lips. “Shh. Don’t you hear quiet voices?”

“What?”

“Wait.” Tarte perked up her sharp ears. “I do hear them!”

“Really?!” Kent followed Tarte’s gaze to the spring and lowered his ear to the water. As he listened carefully, his brows quickly became furrowed.

These voices weren’t exactly fun to listen to.

“Why am I not good enough?”

“We couldn’t become Ifrit. We’re not needed here.”

“I’m sad.”

“It’s dark and cold in here.”

“Help...”

The others, who’d all been listening to the voices with their ears to the water, snapped their heads up.

“What are those voices, Sharon?!” Kent demanded.

“What’s going on?!” Cocoa added.

“It’s too sad,” Tarte yowled.

“Are those the Heirs who couldn’t become Ifrit?” L’lyeh asked.

I gave them a sympathetic smile. Every Unstoked Ember triggered one line, so throwing them in one at a time and listening to those voices could be pretty emotionally taxing. Some players had liked the emotional beat, though. “I know it’s shocking, and Lulu guessed correctly. Those voices are representations of their regret over never becoming Ifrit. The voices can be a little unsettling, but the moment they became Heirs of Flames, well...”

“Oh,” Cocoa breathed, clasping her hands in front of her chest as she caught my meaning. There was nothing we could do for them now.

While everyone stood still, L’lyeh threw another ember into the spring. “I will pray and throw.”

“Yeah. Good idea,” I said.

Slowly, we all resumed our task.

“This is the last one,” Tarte announced as she threw the one thousandth Unstoked Ember. As soon as it hit the water, the entire spring turned red.

“What is this, a blood bath?!” Kent shouted.

“What?! Sharon, are you sure we’re doing it right?! Th-This is supposed to happen?” Cocoa shrieked.

“It’s a very dark red...” Tarte murmured.

My party was freaking out at the unexpected start of the event. If they hadn’t guessed it by now, this wasn’t a wholesome storyline but a tragic one.

The red water swirled at the center of the spring, revealing a single Heir of Flames. Unlike the wild Heirs of Flames we’d farmed on the second level, it looked exhausted in its torn clothes. It gazed out at us with vacant eyes. “Thank you for bringing me the voices of my kin.” The Heir of Flames raised its hands to chest height, and all one thousand of the Unstoked Embers seemed to rise out of the water and float in the air. Then, they each burst into flame and became stones of fire—like an unawakened Heir of Flames. “They will sleep here as embers, saving their strength until the next Ifrit is chosen.”

“So they’ll keep fighting to become the next Ifrit?” Kent asked.

“I don’t know if that’s how they choose the next Ifrit, but it’s kind of sad to think that they’re repeating this process over and over,” Cocoa supplied.

“It means they can’t live their lives how they want to...” Tarte murmured.

I shared their sentiments—it wasn’t right that the Heirs of Flames were destined to repeat their tragic life cycles.

The Heir of Flames in the middle of the oasis showed a hint of surprise...and smiled. In a heartbeat, though, its smile had faded back to the same blank expression. “Please take this.” It held out an item to us.

Kent, who stood the closest to the Heir of Flames, reached his hand out. The item floated through the air and into Kent’s hand. He held it reverently with both hands as he showed it to us.

Wanderlust—an item that allowed the whole party to return to the main Transportation Gate of the last city they’d been to.

“This item is incredible!” Kent shouted, blowing away the somber mood.

I could hardly blame him. It was an incredibly useful item that allowed us to return to our inn from any dungeon in an instant instead of walking the whole way back. “There’s no way we’re not using an item like this, right?” I asked. Now more than ever, when we’d been walking home every day from sweltering dungeons, we really needed an item like this.

Everyone nodded fervently in agreement.

“Wow! We can use this in a dungeon? Anywhere?” Cocoa asked.

“We could come from the middle of a dense forest?” added Tarte.

“Yes,” I confirmed. We could even use it inside a city to teleport to that city’s Transportation Gate. This item was even more convenient than it seemed.

Water splashed over the edge of the spring, and the red began to clear.

“That’s a token of our thanks...so we may travel somewhere with you,” the Heir of Flames told us quietly.

We watched it return into the spring without a word, and I thanked it silently.

Cocoa was the first to break the silence. “We’ve been fighting monsters without really thinking about it. It’s kind of sad, knowing the other side of it.”

“Yeah... Sometimes, monsters have their own lives and destinies,” I said. Not all monsters came with backstories like this, but I suspected very few of the ones who did had cheerful backstories. “Well, there’s no sense in sticking around. Shall we go back to town?”

“We probably should. Let’s try using this item. I think the Heirs would want us to,” Kent said.

The rest of us agreed, and Kent activated the Wanderlust. A circle of flame spun around us, and in the blink of an eye, the world beyond the circle shifted.

“That’s awesome! We really made it back here in no time!” Kent exclaimed.

Sure enough, we had teleported to Fule’s Transportation Gate.

“We didn’t have to take that long walk home...” Tarte breathed.

“Wow. I don’t think I can live without this item anymore,” said Cocoa.

Just like the three of them, I was enthralled by the utility of Wanderlust. After all, the least enjoyable part of any adventure was the journey home. And lately, our journey home had been more than a little bit arduous. Even during boss fights, we’d had to be careful to preserve enough strength to make it back to town. In that sense, Wanderlust would also allow us to not hold back during boss fights or the final stretch of crawling a dungeon.

“Oh, before I forget...” I began, getting the attention of the party. Not to rain on our parade, but we had to proceed with caution when it came to Wanderlust, one of the most exceptional items out there. “Just so we’re on the same page—we shouldn’t go showing this off to anyone else.”

Everyone voiced their agreement.

“Yeah. Who wouldn’t want something like this?” Kent answered. “Some rich noble would probably offer a fortune for it.”

“It makes for an easy getaway,” Tarte added. Then, realization crossed her face. “Meowster... If we gather another thousand Unstoked Embers, could we get another one of these?”

“Yeah? We can repeat this as many times as we want. Did you want your own Wanderlust?” I asked.

Tarte shook her head. “Not for me. I thought if Ti had one, she could make a quick escape from dangerous situations.”

I nodded in understanding. Tithia had once nearly been killed by a power-hungry tyrant who’d come after her position as the Pope of Erenzi. If she’d had an item like this at the time, she might have escaped that situation unharmed. “You’re absolutely right, Tarte.” Tithia, no matter how strong, was still a seven-year-old girl. There couldn’t be enough safeguards for her.

“Right. Ti’s at a higher level and in a safer position now, but who knows when someone else could come after her,” Kent said.

“She’s always going to be the Pope,” Cocoa agreed.

I glanced at Tarte, who looked as relieved as I felt. “We’ll have to farm another thousand all over again...but could we do it for Ti? After everything we’ve been through together?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m in!”

“Good idea.”

Kent’s, Cocoa’s, and L’lyeh’s approval lit up Tarte’s face. “Are you sure?!”

Cocoa beamed. “Of course!”

Tarte’s tail straightened adorably. “Thank you so mewch...!”

“I know you want to help her, Tarte. You’re her official Alchemist. And Ti is just as much of a friend to us. We’re always happy to help her. Right?” I turned to the rest of the party.

“Yeah!”

“That’s right!”

“You can count on me.”

Once again, they were quick to back me up.

“We were going to continue hunting Ifrit anyway. Let’s keep up our routine for another ten days,” I said.

“Thank you, everyone!” Tarte purred.

So, we set out on our adventure to collect one thousand Unstoked Embers...again.

Epilogue

“Purrtion Throw!” I shouted and threw a Meowlotov at Ifrit. With a loud kaboom, dust rose everywhere. I watched Ifrit burst into light through the cloud of dust—we’d defeated her.

I saw the items Ifrit dropped and felt my tail droop and swish.

“Today isn’t our lucky day either,” Meowster said with a sigh.

“It’s disappointing, but the equipment we’re after is a rare drop, isn’t it? That’s why it’s taking so long?” I asked.

“Yep. It might take a lot more Ifrits until it drops,” Meowster said.

Today’s marked the thirteenth Ifrit we’d defeated so far. It was a lot of work to fight Ifrit day after day, but Meowster smiled like it was no work at all. She’s so ameowzing! “I’m going to give it my all!” I promised, holding on tight to the Meowlotov in my hand. Sooner or later, we were going to see Ifrit’s Mace drop!

Kent went over to where Ifrit had been standing and picked up our loot. Even though it wasn’t the mace, Ifrit had dropped something. “A Firestone and Dancer’s Clothes. That’s our eighth set of clothes already. They’re pretty common,” Kent said.

Cocoa chuckled. “It may be common, but it’s a good item! Don’t underestimate it.”

“We’ll have to wait another day to fight Ifrit again. Why don’t we go back to town?” Meowster suggested.

We all agreed. This was the tail end of what had become our morning routine over the past few days. We each had the afternoon to ourselves.

Kent activated Wanderlust, and we flew back to the city of Fule.

***

“Here are the Orc Rags, per your purchase order.” The receptionist at the Snowdia Adventurer’s Guild handed me fifty Orc Rags—one of the ingredients I needed to make Meowlotovs.

I wasn’t going to turn all of them into Meowlotovs, though. My new cauldron had increased the Attack of my items. That meant that, if I got my paws on better Furmulation equipment in the future, I could craft even stronger Meowlotovs. Making more of them than we needed now would be a terrible waste of these Orc Rags when I could save them for later when my Furmulation was more efficient.

After buying up more items in other branches of the Adventurer’s Guild, I went back to our inn in Fule to craft enough Meowlotovs for tomorrow—which I did with expertise, if I did say so myself. Tomorrow is another day of fighting Ifrit and hoping for her mace to drop!

After that, I went to practice my swing with an Iron Mace in the backyard of the inn.

“There you are! Hard at work, I see!” Kent called as he rounded the corner. Cocoa was with him too, so they must have been out together. They never admitted to it, but they were a purrfect couple. “Way to go, Tarte! You’re swinging that mace much faster,” Kent said.

“Do you really think so? Purray!” After swinging this mace day after day with every bit of strength I had, it was finally becoming a little easier. I’m the weakest one in our party right now. That meant I had to work harder and longer so I could become an Alchemist who fought alongside Meowster and our friends instead of just being protected by them.

Kent picked up a stick and raised it. “Let’s see what you can do!”

A bout! I huffed out a breath and stepped up to Kent, swinging my Iron Mace toward him. He easily parried my strike, leaving my arms shaking. “You’re too strong, Kent...”

“You should keep your elbows down when you swing,” Kent advised. “The Iron Mace is top-heavy. When you swing it too wide, it’s easy to lose your balance.”

“You’re right!” I said. Whenever I swung wide, the Iron Mace took my balance with it. I’d always thought it was because I was too small—maybe I needed to train my core. Tucking my arms closer to my body, I adjusted my grip a little toward the center and tried swinging at Kent again.

“Much better!” Kent said.

Encouraged by Kent’s purraise, I swung my mace a few more times, even though Kent blocked and parried me easily with his stick. My bout with our Dragonrider ended quickly, with me knocked back on my tail and sweating a lot.

“That was great, Tarte. You were so much faster.” Cocoa held out a handkerchief for me.

“Thank you.” I laughed, trying to hide how disappointed I felt that I wasn’t even close to Kent’s level.

Cocoa picked up the Iron Mace and cracked a smile. “It’s much heavier than a staff.” Cocoa fought with a staff in one hand and a Tome in the other, destroying enemies with powerful magic—and she looked so cool doing it. “Swinging this mace must work out your arms. And when you have stronger arms, you can throw your Molotovs farther and more precisely.”

My tail went straight up—I’d never thought of that! If I could get better at throwing Meowlotovs, I could become so much stronger! On top of practicing using the mace, simply working out my arms might be just as important! There were new possibilities for powering myself up—the thought made me want to work on everything right this second. “Thank you, Cocoa! I’m going to work harder and harder!” I promised.

“I’d better do the same if I don’t want to be left behind!” Cocoa replied with a smile.

The three of us trained together to wrap up our day.

***

The next morning, we defeated Ifrit all over again without a hitch. Purrlease drop your mace today...! Practically praying, I ran over to where Ifrit had been a moment ago. “Purrlease...” I let out a cry when I saw it—a weapon on the ground! Isn’t this Ifrit’s Mace?! I snatched it up and turned to Meowster, who had come up behind me.

She was beaming! “Congratulations, Tarte!”

“So this really is Ifrit’s Mace?! Oh, I’m so happy...” I clutched the mace in my arms.

“It finally paid off! That’s gonna be a good boost to your equipment, Tarte!” Kent called.

“I’m happy for you, Tarte,” Cocoa said.

“That can help us find new food,” Lulu added.

I didn’t have any idea how a mace could help with food, but I appreciated all of their congratulations.

Ifrit’s Mace was a shorter weapon that fit nicely in my hands. Designs shaped like flames swirled around the end, which looked like it was spiked. A hit from this mace had to hurt. A portrait of Ifrit was painted on the handle, making me almost hesitant to use it. But I will, I promised myself. I’m going to make the most of my new weapon!

But I should have known we weren’t going to just sit around and celebrate. “Let’s go through Undersea Tunnel to Fishermen’s District. There’s plenty of places we haven’t been to in this country, but we’ve been cooped up in these sweltering dungeons for so long... It’s going to be a good change of scenery!” Meowster said. Normally, no one could travel to another country that easily—but that wasn’t the case with Meowster.

Fishermen’s District was a region to the north of Laureldite and Farblume where many fishermen lived and worked—that was what I’d read in a book, at least. As a Cait Sith with an endless appetite for fish, I was curious about going there.

“Raw, braised, grilled...” Lulu already sounded eager to cook the fish we might find there in all sorts of ways. Maybe this would unlock new potential as a Chef for her.

Besides, we might find new Furmulation tools, I remembered. Now I was excited too—and ready to leave right away. “Let’s go now, Meowster!” I exclaimed.

“Okay, I love it. Then let’s go find new items and equipment in Fishermen’s District!” Meowster said.

We all cheered in agreement.

“Yeah!”

“Let’s do it!”

“Purray!”

“And new food!”

***

We decided to leave after resting for a few days.

“Of course, we still need to check on the Salamander Egg in Underground Volcano,” Kent said.

“Yes! Its heart has been beating louder—I think it’s growing up,” I said. I was the only one who could hear the heartbeat in the egg, so this was a job only I could do.

When we went to the Guild that morning, the receptionist told us good morning. We answered her greeting and headed downstairs. She wasn’t surprised by us going to Underground Volcano every morning anymore. What a purrfect receptionist!

We were steadily gaining levels through our daily grinding in the dungeon, even though we weren’t gaining them as fast as we had when our levels were lower. I couldn’t wait to challenge new dungeons so I could grow even stronger.

Kent led us to the second level through the quickest route, and I trotted over to the Salamander Egg. This area didn’t spawn other monsters, so it was the purrfect place to safely hatch an egg.

“How are you feelin’ today?” I laid my hand on the shell, and I heard an even stronger heartbeat than before. Trilling in surprise, I whipped back around toward the rest of the party.

“What’s wrong, Tarte?!” Meowster asked, startled by my overreaction.

“Is something wrong?!” Kent cried.

They both rushed to crouch by the egg, taken aback by how frazzled I appeared.

“I was surprised by its heartbeat—it’s much louder than before,” I explained.

Meowster looked relieved. “Oh. That means it’s growing, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. I’m sure of it.” I brushed the eggshell with my fingertips. “Grow up big and strong,” I whispered to it. I couldn’t wait to see its cute face peek through the shell.

Just then, it felt like the egg...moved. I looked at the egg again, but it wasn’t moving. Did I imagine it? Guess this is just another day of making sure the egg hasn’t been disturbed.

“Oh!” Kent shouted as I stood up to leave.

Just as I was going to ask what he’d noticed, I heard a faint crack. Another look at the egg showed that it had cracked open! I began trilling in excitement.

“Is it hatching?” Meowster asked.

I held my breath and waited. I hadn’t imagined the egg moving. The egg shook, and the crack widened, doing a full circle around the egg...and then a Salamander poked its head out of the egg!

I trilled more loudly, unable to form words.

“Whoa, it hatched!” Kent exclaimed.

“It’s small and cute,” Meowster said.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a baby Salamander before,” Cocoa breathed.

“Incredible,” Lulu said.

All of them stared at the baby Salamander happily, accepting our new friend right away. The baby Salamander was small enough to fit in my palm, and it looked like a tiny alligator with shining red scales and a fire burning at the tip of its tail. It looks too hot to pet...!

The baby let out the tiniest roar and breathed a puff of fire.

I was so surprised that all my fur stood on end! All of us had taken a step back in surprise, but there was no way that the baby Salamander we’d worked so hard to hatch would hurt us. Putting my trust in the little one, I slowly reached my hand out.

Then, with a flash of light, a quest window appeared before me. It was so sudden, I was left at a loss for words.

“Tarte?” Meowster called while I stared at the air.

Before answering, I took some deep breaths to calm myself down. Otherwise, I could hardly have grasped what was happening. “Meowster, there’s a window in front of me.”

“A window?! For what quest? What does it say, Tarte?” Meowster grilled me.

“A quest for Creator—a unique job,” I said and read the words on the quest window out loud.

Switch to Unique Job: Creator

After an eternity of slumber, life emerged from the egg and deemed you its life giver.

Find every spirit kin and awaken its power.

While everyone listened with bated breath, Kent was the first to speak. “Wow! A unique job?! We’re one step closer to a party of all unique jobs!” Now that I’d manifested a unique job quest of my own, Kent sounded more hopeful than ever.

“In order to become the Creator, it sounds like I need to collect other eggs and hatch them,” I said.

“No problem. Let’s do it! We can do it!” Kent said, bouncing with excitement.

“Of course!” Meowster crowed. “This is a unique job we’re talking about! You’re incredible! The best apprentice ever! I’d only ever heard rumors about this quest!”

I’ve never seen Meowster more excited about anything...! I was also shocked that there was something Meowster hadn’t known about. I’d always thought she knew everything. But now, there was a clear path ahead of me that I wanted to follow.

“I won’t let you down, Meowster. I’m going to become the Creator!”

Side Story: An Exceptional Item — Leroy

“Your Excellency, Miss Tarte is here to see you. I’ve shown her to the parlor,” a priestess announced.

“Thank you.” I gave her a nod and left the office.

Tarte regularly brought us potions, and she was right on schedule. Each time she visited, she always stayed for tea with Her Holiness after handing over her potions.

Her Holiness always looks forward to tea with Tarte very much. Naturally, I had instructed the chef to prepare the best tea and snacks ahead of time, as I’d done every time Tarte came to visit. Nothing made me happier than seeing Her Holiness smile.

Since some of the Paladins and Templars had obtained Adventure Bracelets, they’d been using more potions than before. Tarte’s supplies were always a great help. Those Adventure Bracelets had revolutionized everything we knew. Not only did they allow the wearer to select which Skills to learn, they also functioned as a Magic Bag that carried a vast inventory with ease. Those bracelets did not merely make people stronger—they made their lives easier. Her Holiness had garnered a great amount of trust from the people for publicizing the existence of such an exceptional item. Although we’d taken credit for Sharon’s knowledge, I was happy to see Pope Tithia’s position solidified because of it.

It didn’t take long for me to reach the parlor. “Thank you for waiting,” I called as I knocked and opened the door. “Everyone is here, I see.” Inside the parlor, I found not only Tarte but Sharon, L’lyeh, Kent, and Cocoa as well. This was a rare occasion. Usually, Tarte came to us alone.

“Long time no see,” Sharon greeted me, speaking for the group. “We decided to come together because we have a gift. I think it’ll surprise you.”

“How exciting.” I forced a smile, but I couldn’t help but tremble at the thought of what surprise Sharon had brought for us. Sharon was truly exceptional, even if she never seemed to consider herself as such. Obviously, she hadn’t come all this way to bring us something trivial, such as a snack.

After exchanging some small talk, I took Tarte’s usual delivery of potions.

Once that was settled, Her Holiness came to the parlor, accompanied by a priestess attendant and three Paladin guards.

“Leroy, have you taken Tarte’s potions already—? Sharon! And Lulu! Cocoa! Kent!” Her Holiness’s face lit up at the sight of her old friends. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you all here.”

“Hi, Ti. It’s been too long,” Sharon said.

“How are you doing?” Tarte asked.

“I brought snacks,” L’lyeh announced.

“Hello, Ti. I know you’ve been working really hard. I’m glad to see you looking well,” Cocoa said.

“Yeah, you look great,” Kent added.

“You all look wonderful,” Her Holiness replied.

“Your Holiness.” With a gesture, I guided her to an armchair. Without missing a beat, the guards dispersed: One stood behind the armchair, another by the door, and the third out in the hallway.

A priestess brought in tea and snacks for Her Holiness, officially commencing the afternoon tea.

“How is Zille lately?” Sharon asked first.

“Well...many are requesting their own Adventure Bracelets,” Her Holiness said. “Other than that, the city is calm. Thanks to those bracelets, more people are able to hunt monsters in the surrounding area. I would say that Zille is peaceful, all in all.” Her Holiness said this all with an unconcerned smile, leaving out the chaos that had erupted immediately following the public announcement regarding Adventure Bracelets. Paladins had been given priority in obtaining them, and there had been some adventurers who’d come here to complain about that.

I didn’t tolerate any of them, of course. In this land, Her Holiness the Pope must be placed above all else.

“You wanted peace more than anyone,” Sharon said. “I know it wasn’t easy.” Her smile seemed apologetic—she had to have anticipated the problems that had arisen with the introduction of the bracelet.

“It is what I wanted,” Her Holiness reassured her.

The others were smiling wholeheartedly, voicing their relief at hearing that Zille was peaceful. None of them seemed to be thinking the situation through as Sharon was, but I could hardly expect children and teenagers to understand the intricacies of politics.

Her Holiness smiled brightly as she offered tea and cake to our guests. L’lyeh was the first to dive in. “Delicious,” she said simply, as if entranced by the cake. “Oh.” But then, L’lyeh took a tin out of her Bag. She opened the tin to show that it was filled with shimmering cookies—double-layered and stuffed with jam in a flawless presentation. “I made these cookies. Here.”

“You made these, Lulu?” Her Holiness asked.

“Yes. I’m a Chef now.”

“What?!” I blurted in unison with Her Holiness. My composure had cracked at the unbelievable revelation—the Goddess of Darkness had become a Chef. I was surprised enough that the Goddess of Darkness could obtain a job at all...

The world is full of surprises, isn’t it?

Her Holiness blinked a few times...and smiled. “That is wonderful.” Admiration rose in me for her flexibility of mind. “These look delicious, Lulu. Thank you.”

“Eat as much as you want,” L’lyeh said.

Her Holiness took a bite of the crisp cookie and its strawberry jam. She looked so adorable relishing that cookie.

“It is delicious, Lulu! You are a genius Chef!” Her Holiness exclaimed.

“Thank you.” L’lyeh smiled brightly. When I’d first met her, she’d never been this expressive. As she’d traveled with Sharon and the others, perhaps she had gradually learned these emotions—she’d gained her humanity.

After finishing the cookie, Her Holiness asked the group with excitement in her voice, “Where are you staying now? Tarte always tells me stories when she brings us potions, each time about a new place. I look forward to hearing about the different places you have traveled to.”

“We finally finished what we had to do in the dungeons of Laureldite, so we’re thinking of going on an adventure to Fishermen’s District,” Sharon explained.

“That far...” Her Holiness breathed.

“Yeah. We want to travel all over the world,” Sharon said, which drew nods of agreement from the rest of her party. L’lyeh looked particularly eager to go there—perhaps out of a Chef’s professional curiosity about the seafood of a famous fishing district.

“What did you have to do in the dungeons of Laureldite?” Her Holiness asked—a natural question.

Sharon didn’t answer, though, instead glancing at the guard and attendant standing behind Her Holiness’s armchair. “Can we have some privacy?”

I could sense the two Paladins in the room tensing. This was the kind of request that guards were trained to be wary of. The fact that Sharon was making such a request suggested that the gift she’d brought was something world-shaking. I felt a headache coming on just trying to imagine the possibilities.

Her Holiness looked puzzled for a moment before schooling her features into those of a Pope. “Leave us, please,” she commanded the guards and priestess.

“If something were to happen—” one of the guards began to protest.

“I will be safe,” Her Holiness said firmly. “No one in this world is stronger than Sharon’s party. Trust me.”

“As you wish, Your Holiness.”

How could the Paladins argue any further when Her Holiness declared her safety with such a confident smile? Besides, they knew full well that even the whole roster of Paladins in the cathedral would not stand a chance against Sharon’s party.

This instance is definitely an exception, but I may need to discuss with the Paladins about standing their ground at times when I am not in the room. An unexpected need to train the Paladins had come up.

Once we were alone in the room, Tarte was the one who broached the topic. “We brought you a purresent, Ti. We all worked together to get it, and we think it will help protect you. We’d like you to have it.”

That was a fantastic gift as far as I was concerned—we could not possibly have too many items that protected Her Holiness. With curiosity, I watched Tarte produce an item from her Bag—a red rock in the shape of a flame. There was no shine to it, but it had a certain presence. Is it some sort of material that can be crafted into an accessory? I guessed.

“This is an item called Wanderlust,” Tarte explained. “When you use it, you and your party members will be transported to the main Transportation Gate of the city you last visited. Well, the entire party is transported to the city last visited by the person who uses it.”

Her Holiness and I were rendered speechless by the unbelievable effect. And I had thought it a mere accessory...

“Where did you get a thing like that...? No, I don’t think I want to know,” I said. Nothing like this had ever been on the market, as far as I knew. Even if it had, I was sure that royalty around the world had managed to keep it to themselves as a national treasure or the like.

Her Holiness carefully took the item and stared at it.

Giving her a concerned look, Tarte began to explain why they’d brought it to us. “We thought about what you went through before, Ti. If something like that ever happens again, you can use this to turn tail and run.”

They wanted Her Holiness to have a means of emergency evacuation. In the past, I had been powerless to protect Her Holiness from grave danger. Never again.

“And...if you use this in a dungeon, it will still bring you back to the city immediately. It’s very useful,” Tarte added.

“To return home, you mean...? Using it like that seems like a terrible waste,” Her Holiness said, and I couldn’t agree more. Not even the greatest fools in this world would waste this item just to quickly return from a dungeon. Something like this had to be reserved for a true life-and-death emergency. That was how valuable an effect like this was.

“You can use it as many times as you want,” Sharon said then. “It’s not consumable.”

“What...?” I found myself speechless again. It isn’t a consumable item...?! That meant the item was far more valuable than any national treasure. There was no other way to describe it than as a precious gift from above.

“I can really reuse it over and over?” Her Holiness whispered.

“You can. We’ve been using it every time we leave a dungeon,” Tarte said.

“Really? I am sorry. It is such an impressive effect that I was a little surprised...” Her Holiness said.

“I know, right? I was very surprised when we first used it,” Tarte laughed.

Surprised? That shouldn’t begin to cover the significance of this item...and that was precisely why I wanted Her Holiness to have one. It would be invaluable if Her Holiness could escape from danger, even on her own. At any cost, we could not lose the Pope.

“Thank you...but I have no idea what I can give you in return,” Her Holiness said.

“We don’t need anything. We’re furiends! That’s why we did this,” Tarte chirped with a smile.

Hearing Tarte’s reason for the gift, Her Holiness smiled and accepted it, tears shimmering in her eyes. I could see how happy it made her that, even when we weren’t in their party, they still considered her a friend. Considering how often Her Holiness is cooped up in Tithia Cathedral, perhaps I could recommend that she go adventure with Sharon every once in a while. That would certainly be a nice change of pace...even if Sharon’s adventures were concerningly brutal.

“I will use it the next time I go out,” Her Holiness promised.

“Purrfect! Oh, you might not want to tell other people about this...” Tarte said, her ears drooping as she explained how it might be difficult for Her Holiness to use Wanderlust casually.

Her Holiness did not have to be told to understand the implications of an item like this.

“Of course. Other than myself and Leroy—and perhaps a few of my Paladin guards—no one will ever know about this,” Her Holiness assured them.

“Thank you,” Tarte said.

In the worst-case scenario, if knowledge of an item like this were to leak to another country, it could start a war. I silently vowed to ensure this would stay a tightly sealed secret.

“Tarte, Sharon, Lulu, Cocoa, Kent, thank you for such a wonderful gift.” Her Holiness beamed at her friends.

We enjoyed our tea for a while longer after that, until Sharon’s party eventually left. What a day this has been... “You must be tired, Your Holiness. I shall have your bath drawn early today.”

“Thank you, Leroy.” Her Holiness smiled. “I have a favor to ask.”

I didn’t even need to hear what it was—she wanted to use the Wanderlust. With a chuckle, I said, “Just once. It is not an item to be used recklessly, but we can’t know how exactly it operates if we never use it.”

“Of course! Here we go.” Her Holiness must have been bursting with curiosity because she immediately activated the Wanderlust.

A circle of flame whirled around us. When the fire faded, we found ourselves standing before the Transportation Gate in Zille’s central plaza. It had all happened so quickly that I hadn’t even blinked. I could barely comprehend what had happened. Apparently, Wanderlust was an even more exceptional item than I had expected.

“Your Holiness.” I quickly pulled out a coat I kept in my Bag for this very purpose and helped Her Holiness put it on, pulling the hood down over her head. Now no one would recognize her as the Pope. I always carried anything Her Holiness might require in the event of an impromptu outing or emergency, including this coat.

“That was a bit reckless, wasn’t it? Thank you, Leroy.”

“No, no,” I reassured her. Curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she hadn’t thought of what to do once we’d been transported here. That was my job, though—Her Holiness was free to do as she pleased. I reached out a hand to her. “Shall we go home?”

“Yes.”

As we walked back to Tithia Cathedral, I listened to Her Holiness passionately tell me how much she would like to go on another adventure.

Side Story: Chef, a Job — L’lyeh

My days had been filled with surprises since I began traveling with Sharon and the others. The biggest one was food. I had never tasted anything so delicious before. Maybe it had been the switch from the simple and vegetable-heavy meals at the abbey to fun and extravagant dishes, or maybe it was because I was eating with my friends now. Either way, I’d never expected food to make me so happy. When I became a Chef, I felt excited...but also a little weird.

***

I woke up that morning, washed my face, got dressed, and ate breakfast in the dining room of the inn. Maybe because of the early hour, there weren’t many people there.

While I ate breakfast, I noticed that something felt different. “Why?” I looked around for anything unusual, but there was no one watching me or acting suspiciously or anything. There weren’t any unique dishes being served either. Nothing was amiss—I only noticed the appetizing aroma of the dining hall.

A trick of the mind? My instincts had never failed me before, though. I thought about it and decided to cook to calm myself down. Maybe I’d notice why I felt this way through doing something I enjoyed. Luckily, it was early enough that I had plenty of time until we would head out for the day. Sharon probably wasn’t even up yet. Tarte was training with Kent. She was doing more of that lately. I didn’t know if Sharon had noticed Tarte’s hard work, but I woke up early enough to see it.

After finishing my breakfast and returning my tray, I called out to the inn’s chef. “Can I borrow the kitchen for a while?”

“Hey, Lulu! Take the one at the end!”

“Thank you.”

He happily let me use the cooking station in the corner, which came equipped with a magic tool burner. It was still early enough that he didn’t mind me taking up part of the kitchen. If it had been a little later, the kitchen would have been too busy trying to feed the morning rush of guests.

I stood in front of the burner and took the stockpile of ingredients from my Bag. What should I cook? The first dish that came to mind was a vegetable stir-fry. I’d been taught how to make it by the chef at Sharon’s house, so I was pretty good at it. When I went to chop a head of cabbage on the cutting board, though, I felt like...my hands weren’t my own. It wasn’t that my hands were frozen or in pain. It was the opposite. It was easier to chop the cabbage into more-shapely strips. My hands moved smoothly and quickly, even without effort. Did I get better with the knife without realizing it? I decided that my improved skills and this morning’s strange sensation were somehow connected. But what should I do? I’d never experienced something like this before, so I didn’t know what to do—maybe nothing, but I didn’t like having this strange sensation every time I moved. It wasn’t so bad that it would affect me in combat, but it wasn’t fun either.

“My level hasn’t gone up. I didn’t do anything overnight...” Just in case, I used my Adventure Bracelet to check my stats. Much to my surprise, I had become a Chef. “What?” Until this morning, I had been a Novice. Now I was a Chef. I hadn’t done anything to cause this, or so I thought. I’d just gathered food and cooked dishes frequently. “Sharon said before...” I remembered how she’d told me that our first jobs were based on our actions. My frequent cooking must have made me a Chef. That’s why I felt off all morning. Knowing the cause of it was a relief. “Now that I’m a Chef, I should learn Skills and cook different dishes.”

In the corner of the kitchen, I quietly checked my Skills. What kinds of Skills do Chefs have? Can I attack? It turned out that there were Skills I’d never heard of before: Julienne, Dice, Mince, and more. “The head chef taught me these.”

When we were staying at Sharon’s house, her head chef had taught me a lot of techniques—everything from the basics of how to cut and prep food to how to find fresh vegetables. Seeing my knowledge appear on the screen as Skills made me happy. The Skill screen explained that cutting food with a Skill made it taste better. I need to learn all of these Skills. “But I have to gain levels first...” I realized. I perused the other Skills: Whip Up, Keep Warm, Food Drop...

Food Drop? That one caught my attention. It said that monsters could drop food when we defeated them. It didn’t say what kinds of food the monsters would drop, but if this Skill was going to help me collect new food, there was no way I could go without it. “Undiscovered foods... I’ve dreamed about this!”

That was it. I had to run out of the inn.

“It is my duty to fight monsters and raise my level to see what kinds of food they will drop.”

Sharon had said she was going to the Guild today, so I didn’t have much time. I could probably raise my level alone for thirty minutes, though.

I rushed to the nearby desert and found a Desert Scorpion—a seventy-centimeter-long scorpion that I could easily take out with magic.

“Dark Arrow!” One attack, and the scorpion turned to light. At the same time, a sound in my mind told me that my level had gone up. “First, learn Food Drop...” That was all I had to do to test out the Skill.

“Dark Arrow!” Another scorpion defeated...but there was no food to be found. Of course, I hadn’t expected the very first monster to drop something.

Another Dark Arrow struck a scorpion, but no drop. The third, fourth, and fifth Desert Scorpions all left nothing behind as well.

“Is this Skill really working...?” I was suspicious of my new Chef’s Skill, but I would never find new food if I gave up now.

I quickly defeated thirty-three monsters, but none of them dropped any food. “Hmm,” I grumbled. “I think I’m doing this right.” There shouldn’t be any other requirement for food to drop, like a specific weapon or item. “Food...” I sighed.

If I spent too long out here, the others would worry. I destroyed another scorpion while I was thinking about going back to the inn...and something orange flashed in the corner of my eye.

Is that...food? I ran up to where the scorpion had turned into light and found a small carrot lying there. “That’s not what I was hoping for.” Not at all. I’d been expecting them to drop food I couldn’t find anywhere else, like Phoenix meat or Dragon meat or deep-sea fish fillets. The carrot in my hand looked like a carrot I could just buy anywhere.

“Maybe rarer foods are rarer drops.” If I defeated hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands of monsters, there was a chance that one of them would drop a slice of Phoenix meat. Anything was possible with Food Drop...I thought. One sad little carrot was all I had to show for defeating dozens of those monsters. Or do I need to be a better Chef to find better drops? I checked, and there was no way to level up the Food Drop Skill.

“First I need to be the best Chef ever,” I decided and continued gaining more levels.

Before long, I had gone over level 20. “I need cutting Skills like Julienne, but Keep Warm...?” Food stayed warm when I put it in my Bag, so using a Skill wasn’t necessary. If it ever became necessary, I could always learn it then.

“First, Julienne.” I learned the Skill and then took a cutting board, a knife, and a cabbage from my Bag. Taking deep breaths, I tried to concentrate. I’d never been more worried in my life. I curled my left fingers over the cabbage like the head chef had taught me. “Julienne!” My right hand began moving like it belonged to someone else, rhythmically chopping the cabbage at great speed.

“I could already chop that fast, but...” Without the Skill, I couldn’t have moved my hands like this—like a chef who’d trained a hundred years to precisely chop vegetables. Those were my hands now. “Wow,” I breathed. “I want to cut more vegetables.” As soon as I said so, I took out more heads of cabbage and used Julienne on them. In a few seconds, I had a pile of cabbage strips.

“It’s so much fun.” I julienned three, then four, then five heads of cabbage. “The head chef once told me to change the thickness of the cabbage strips depending on the dish. It was too hard for me then...” But maybe now I could do it. I took out the sixth head of cabbage and tried to imagine julienning it thinner than before. “Thinner... Thinner... Julienne!” The cabbage turned into strips in no time, but their thickness seemed similar.

“Hmm?” When I took a closer look, it looked very slightly thinner than before. “Can I make it thinner if I practice with my Skill more?”

Once I’d thought of it, I couldn’t stop myself from trying it. I took out all three hundred heads of cabbage I had stocked up and julienned them all—until I was pretty much buried in cabbage strips.

“Oh...” I took a strip from the last cabbage and held it up. It was so thin that I could see through it. “Wow...” I breathed. I ate the cabbage strip, and it felt as soft as silk as it melted in my mouth. Did I master Julienne? I thought but decided no. “If I can do this with a brand-new Skill, there has to be so much more to learn.” Just imagining what I could do once I truly mastered Julienne made me shake with anticipation. “I’ll work hard to—”

Then, I sensed a scorpion behind me and instinctively used Julienne as I turned—slicing the Desert Scorpion into strips. “I can use it on monsters too...?” Maybe monsters were considered food too. I couldn’t eat them because they turned to light after defeating them, but there was a chance...

“Chef... Full of possibilities.” I had a lot to look forward to in my life as a Chef. “Now, I should try defeating monsters with my Chef Skills— Oh, I’m out of time...” The sun was already high in the sky, when I’d thought it was still early morning. I was going to hold up the party if I didn’t go back to the inn quickly. Even though I wanted to keep gaining levels and using my Chef Skills, I hurried back to the inn.

That was how my adventure as a Chef began.