Chapter 128: Further Down
“Ah.”
The staff broke.
“Don’t make a face like it’s the end of the world just because your staff broke,” Dean said, exasperated.
“I liked it, though.”
I had been trying my best to apply force straight so it wouldn’t break.
“It’s more surprising that it hadn’t broken until now. I was impressed by your pointless skill…”
Dinoss, don’t call it pointless.
“Use a sword, use a sword.”
At Retze’s command, I tossed aside the staff…
“Do you think we can use it for firewood?”
“Just let go of the staff. And help with the disassembly.”
“That’s a bit much, you know.”
I brought the broken staff close to my face, and Retze casually dismissed me, while the Butler scolded me.
In front of a pile of larvae and earthworms stood the Butler with a smile. Looking over, I saw the children, along with Retze and Ash, were all busy disassembling.
“Whoa, sorry!”
I had gone a bit overboard.
“Oh dear, my apologies. Hehe.”
“My bad.”
“I mean no harm!”
“Yeah, well… sorry about that.”
The culprits were the five of us, including me. Shiva, Dean, Chris, and Dinoss each apologized and joined in the disassembly.
At some point, it turned into a competition, and this was the result. I never expected the kids would be the ones disassembling… We were supposed to be hunting together until just a moment ago.
While being looked at by Retze with the face of a bunch of useless adults, we seriously continued disassembling.
What we were mainly collecting were Copper, Iron, and Iron Sulfide, with Gold and Silver coming in second. A little bit of Sulfur and Chromium were also gathered.
Sulfur is famous as a component of black powder, but I wonder if gunpowder exists in this world? When you add a few percent of sulfur to rubber and heat it, it increases elasticity, and if you add more, it increases hardness, right? But I feel like neither is available here.
The [Appraisal] results showed dried persimmons, dried figs, and sulfur dioxide, which is used as a bleaching agent and a wine preservative.
I wonder if Chromium is used for chrome plating or stainless steel?
Among these, there are both regular and magic ore versions. We diligently sorted them into rough categories. The demon beasts weren’t that large, so while there were many, the quantity we could collect wasn’t huge.
However, fortunately, iron was the most abundant, so combining iron and magic iron, there would be enough for everyone to have a regular sword. Though considering Dinoss and Dean’s great swords, it still wouldn’t be enough.
“Phew, finally done. Let’s take a break.”
“I’ve heard that if you roast these larvae, they taste unique and delicious.”
Stop it. Eating bugs is tough for city kids. It seems like our break is directly linked to food or snacks.
“Ah, I can’t eat rhinoceros beetles, but stag beetles are fine.”
Hey, Retze, don’t go along with Dean’s talk.
“By the way, have you actually eaten them?”
“I’ve heard they’re edible. I make it a point to try non-poisonous demon beasts at least once.”
Retze answered as if it were no big deal.
I don’t think you need to accumulate that much knowledge. Is it knowledge for when food runs out for some reason? Or is it just a hobby?
“Then how about we drop down two more levels and hunt Giant Rats while aiming for Irad?”
Dinoss suggested.
As I pondered over the suspicions that had arisen, the discussion had already come to a conclusion. So, we finished our break and descended the vertical shaft.
“Huh? Why is this piled up here?”
“Maybe they left it behind because it was heavy? Once you get down to this layer, you’re probably aiming for magic ore.”
There were some piles of iron and copper stacked against the wall where we had descended. As Retze said, they must have sorted what to take back to the surface here. Carrying overly heavy loads up the vertical shaft would be quite the task.
“Alright, let’s take it with us.”
“Please leave it behind.”
Before I could even finish, the Butler stopped me.
“Kyah!”
Tina’s small voice.
“Wow, it’s huge!”
“It’s gigantic!”
The twins exclaimed in astonishment.
The rats here were far larger than the first one we defeated. They were the size of a small car.
“These rats are bigger than bears…?”
“Are you stupid? You don’t normally find something like this!”
“It’s a Three-Horn, Lord of Dusk! …Gene!”
I was impressed, but Dinoss and Chris looked flustered. Chris had asked me to call him by name, and he was trying hard to do so.
Dean and Ash—everyone except me and the kids were already in battle stance. Shiva was stepping back behind the children. That was fast!
“I’ve heard that strong demon beasts are increasing in number.”
Dinoss’s great sword was enveloped in flames.
He stepped in, and the Giant Rat seemed to misjudge its attack, barely dodging its tail and claws with a slight movement. With what didn’t even seem like a powered strike, the Giant Rat’s head was crushed, and it fell to the ground.
The tense atmosphere vanished in an instant, and the Giant Rat was swiftly dispatched.
“As expected of the King Wolf.”
Ash sheathed his sword and praised Dinoss.
“Well, yeah. I can’t lose to the younger ones yet.”
Dinoss winked and laughed with a snap.
As always, he was a bit goofy and carefree, without a hint of pressure.