Chapter 264: Phonia’s Adventure
“Hey, Rio.”
Having decided to walk through the first floor of the Dungeon, I couldn’t shake off a feeling of restlessness.
“What’s wrong?”
“I wonder what pace regular newbie Adventurers explore the Dungeon at?”
There was no immediate response to my words, just the sound of our footsteps echoing across the grassy terrain. In the distance, I could see Adventurers hunting animals that roamed around the Dungeon. In another direction, some were digging into the ground.
“……I don’t know, but… should we hunt some animals?”
After a long silence, Rio glanced around and spotted a group of Adventurers surrounding a deer-like creature, weapons drawn.
“Ah, yeah, what should we do…”
I returned my gaze to Rio, deep in thought. I had come to the Dungeon out of mere curiosity, but if I was going to be here, I wanted to delve deeper. However, to act as bait for the Newcomer Hunt, we needed to stick to the shallower levels.
“Oh, right. Does Phonia-chan have anything she wants to do?”
“Eh? Me?”
Phonia tilted her head cutely in my arms. After a moment of contemplation, she broke into a smile as if she had thought of something.
“I want to explore the Dungeon too!”
“Ah, okay.”
In the end, I wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to explore. We had bought a map, but for now, I figured I could have Phonia look for a point that led to the next level.
“Then let’s search for materials while looking for the path to the second level.”
“Yeah!”
With that, I set Phonia down on the ground, and a delightful giggle escaped Rio. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched Phonia curiously glance around, her eyes darting left and right.
“Is it this way?”
With Phonia leading the way, Nil followed closely behind, and Rio and I trailed behind them.
“What’s this?”
“Woof?”
Now, we found ourselves crouched in front of a patch of grass that looked different from the surrounding flora. After inspecting it, it seemed to have no particular effects. There was no poison, but it wasn’t listed as edible either.
Phonia, who had been sniffing the grass with Nil, suddenly plucked a handful and began to smell it again… only to pop it into her mouth.
“…Ew.”
Her brow furrowed, and tears welled up in her eyes almost instantly. Gently, she pulled the grass from her mouth and tossed it to the ground, muttering, “Bitter.”
I had to stifle a laugh, covering my mouth to hold it in. I hadn’t expected her to just eat it like that; perhaps it smelled good to her.
“Water…”
She looked up at me, her hands mimicking a scooping motion as she concentrated.
“Water.”
As she murmured again, water materialized in her hands. It seemed she had been practicing, as she was able to use her magic smoothly now. I reflected on how hard she had worked, and just then, Phonia rinsed her mouth out and perked up again.
“Ah, that was bitter.”
“Hehe, you’re all wet now.”
Rio pulled out a towel and carefully wiped Phonia’s mouth and the front of her clothes. Revitalized, Phonia perked up her ears and tail and resumed leading the way.
“This is amazing; I could watch this all day.”
“Right? Phonia-chan is just too cute!”
For a moment, I forgot we were in a Dungeon, completely absorbed in observing Phonia’s adventures. She flipped over stones to examine the bugs underneath, sniffed different types of grass, and even tried climbing a solitary tree.
Nil, who was about the size of a small dog, added to the cuteness factor.
I kept scanning the area to ensure Phonia was safe, but there was nothing particularly dangerous in the shallow levels. Occasionally, passing Adventurers shot us puzzled looks, but none approached us.
“Oh, Phonia. That plant over there looks like an Herb.”
“Eh, this one?”
I pointed out the Herb I had seen on the request board, and Phonia eagerly began to gather it.
“Don’t take them all, okay?”
“Okay!”
As Phonia suddenly started yanking at the grass, I explained the best way to collect it according to the appraisal results. It seemed the best method was to dig it up by the roots. I thought about how I needed a child’s shovel. Alright, let’s make one. The materials… I could use that.
I pulled out the Tungsten Ore I had received from the Majin Tribe and began extracting the metal, shaping it into a shovel. I made it a bit smaller to fit Phonia’s hands.
“Here, you can use this.”
“Thank you, big brother!”
＝＝＝＝＝
Type: Tool
Name: Child’s Shovel
Description: A shovel made from Tungsten.
Resistant to heat and not easily melted.
Strong enough for various uses.
Quality: C
Affix: None
Creator: Mizumoto Shuu
＝＝＝＝＝
Phonia took the silver-gray shovel and plunged it into the ground, digging effortlessly. It didn’t have any special affixes, but it seemed she was using her own strength to dig.
“I got it!”
With the shovel in her right hand, she raised the Herb, roots and dirt still clinging to it, high above her head.
“You did a great job!”
I pulled out the smartphone Mr. Jinpei had given me and snapped pictures of Phonia. Noticing, Rio also took out her smartphone to record a video. The smartphone I had made could only make calls.
…It’s funny that we both call them smartphones, but it’s a bit confusing. The one I made can only make calls and isn’t very smart at all. …But it’s too late to change that now. Only we find it confusing, so it’s fine.
“Now let’s brush off the extra dirt and put it away.”
“Got it!”
Phonia set the shovel down and began brushing off the dirt with her right hand. Watching her focus so intently was heartwarming.
“Isn’t Phonia-chan just too cute?”
“Yeah. We should definitely thank Mr. Jinpei for giving us those smartphones.”
And so, before we knew it, a photoshoot for Phonia began in the Dungeon.