The Adorable Red Kitten
JRO’s adorable red cat, Ragna Pussycat, could be summed up in one word: tsundere. Her looks and performance weren’t bad, enough that she often ranked high in popularity polls, but alas, the current Ragna is younger than the JRO Ragna. And on top of that, she seems to be in a bad mood.
Right now, I was undertaking the C-rank request ‘Annihilation of the Orc Settlement’ with this Ragna to obtain the Hero Academy’s ‘Adventurer Recommendation Slot’.
Orcs are one rank stronger than Goblins or Kobolds, D-rank fodder enemies in terms of Adventurer Rank.
In JRO, they basically appear in groups of three or more, and their stats are high in attack power, HP, and magic defense, with everything else being very low.
In short, they’re opponents you can beat by just hitting them appropriately with physical attacks.
Incidentally, in JRO, there’s a tendency for enemies like Orcs, who can’t use magic but have their durability skewed towards magic defense, and for many enemies in the latter half of the game to have magic resistance, which contributes to the misfortune of mages.
Fortunately, ‘Farmer’ is a physically-oriented profession, so I probably won’t struggle.
Rather, the current situation of following behind Ragna, who’s walking a little ahead looking disgruntled, might be the toughest part of this quest.
“…Speaking of which, what’s your ‘Profession’? We’re forming a party, albeit reluctantly, after all.”
As if to break that awkward silence, Ragna asked me a question.
Honestly, I don’t really want to say it because I had a painful experience at the ‘Job Assignment Ceremony’ yesterday, but…
“I guess it’s ‘Farmer’?”
“Huh? ‘Farmer’? Are you out of your mind, aiming for the recommendation slot with that?”
…Why is Ragna so openly hostile about everything? In the first place, Ragna’s ‘Profession’ is ‘Red Mage,’ so in terms of performance, I think she’s weaker than a ‘Farmer’.
In fact, in JRO, players who had Ragna in their party quickly made her change jobs using paid content.
Ragna herself learns the Beastfolk-specific ‘True Beast Transformation’ in the latter half of the game, so she’s reasonably strong then, but a Ragna who can’t use ‘True Beast Transformation’ is, frankly, just trash.
Her Adventurer Rank is E, too. Mine, by the way, is C.
Even without that, the act of walking for several hours for a quest with Ragna, who’s radiating a disgruntled aura you can’t experience in JRO, is normally frustrating.
I was being childish, and I was a little ticked off.
“Heh. Well, if that’s what you want to think, Ragna, then go ahead. But types like you, Ragna, seem like the kind who are all talk and no actual skill, right?”
“Grr. You’d better watch your mouth. Right, if you’re going to say that much, then how about we compete to see who can defeat more Orcs in the upcoming annihilation? Though, the result is obvious even before we start, you know.”
“That’s right. My victory is pretty much decided. A triple score should be easy, don’t you think?”
Ragna and I glared daggers at each other, so intensely it felt like sparks were flying from our eyes.
“Hmph. Then, if I win, you’ll say ‘I am truly sorry, Ragna-sama,’ and apologize by rubbing your head on the ground!”
“And if you lose, Ragna?”
“Let’s see. I could show you my Crotch while apologizing with utmost sincerity.”
“Crotch?”
“Showing one’s Crotch to the opposite sex is the most unbearable humiliation for a Beastfolk woman! In other words, I have no intention of losing, not even by a long shot!”
Crotch… I don’t really understand what it means, but if she apologizes and changes her attitude, I have no complaints.
“Are you sure you should be so confident? If you’re going to apologize, now’s the time, you know?”
“Hmph, that’s my line!”
And so, the Orc settlement annihilation quest, or rather, the kill score showdown with Ragna, began.
◇
Winning the Orc subjugation score attack. It’s a condition I absolutely must achieve because I refuse to bow my head to Ragna, but that being said, there’s no way a JRO addict like me would lose this showdown.
So, while focusing on defeating as many Orcs as possible, I decided to check the behavior of the ‘Farmer’ skills.
There are three ‘Farmer’ skills and spells I can use at my current level.
The first is the skill ‘Tillage’.
In essence, it’s just a skill to till the soil and make it suitable for growing crops, but…
“‘Tillage: Lotus Root Field’!”
Lotus roots are grown in soil like a rice paddy, so the suitable soil for them forms a mud bog deep enough to reach an Orc’s knees, slowing their movement.
This is a familiar application in JRO.
It consumes almost no MP and is an incredibly versatile and wonderful skill.
The second skill is ‘Grass Cutting’.
This is purely a skill for cutting grass, but if you take it further, it’s a wide-arcing horizontal slash with a large hit-box.
It’s a skill that’s actually more powerful when attacking with a Scythe, but I have a sword now, so I’ll make do with that. I mean, even in Japan, there’s the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and stuff, so you can cut grass with a sword too!
And so, I cleanly lopped off the Orcs’ heads.
Three Orcs fall.
They’re just Orcs, after all, and besides, this is a map in the Kingdom of Hermenia where the monsters encountered in the field are weak to begin with.
I’ve already maxed out my Growth Stat and I’m level 10, so fodder like Orcs were a piece of cake.
And the third skill… or rather, spell, is ‘Seeding’.
This is a spell that infuses magic into planted seeds to make them grow. I threw some plant seeds I picked up nearby at an Orc I could see a little way off.
“‘Seeding’!”
The seeds stuck to the Orc’s body began to grow rapidly, absorbing its nutrients. However, the Orc easily plucked out the sprouting plant and charged at me angrily.
“‘Grass Cutting’.”
With a return horizontal flash, I subjugated another Orc.
Hmm. ‘Seeding’… without that item, it really doesn’t show its true potential, or rather, it’s useless, huh.
Until I get that, I probably won’t use any skills other than ‘Grass Cutting’.
‘Tillage’? …Against mere Orcs, my attacks will land even without hindering their movement, so I don’t think it’s necessary to use it; it’d be a waste of time and MP.
And so, I wandered around the Orc settlement, cutting down Orcs with normal attacks or ‘Grass Cutting’ as soon as I found them, getting the job done.
◇
“Wh-why can a ‘Farmer’ like you subjugate so many?”
“Even if you ask why, I just cut them down normally. You saw bits and pieces of it too, right, Ragna?”
“Well, yeah, but…”
Looking frustrated and unconvinced, Ragna compared the pile of Orc corpses she had defeated with the pile I had defeated.
The score was 6 for Ragna, and 32 for me. Roughly a five-fold difference.
Well, honestly, for a mage, I think she did pretty well against Orcs with their high magic defense.
That said, a contest is a contest. A promise is a promise.
“So, what was the loser supposed to do again?”
“Ugh…”
Ragna ground her teeth in frustration, glaring sharply at me. However, whatever she said now was nothing more than the ramblings of a loser.
With a smirking expression, I said,
“Come on, come on, you’re going to apologize, right? With utmost sincerity.”
At my words, Ragna, who bit down hard on her molars with a ‘grrk,’ slowly reached for the underwear beneath her skirt and began to take off her panties.
Eh? Why? …Ignoring me, who was bewildered by her sudden, unexpected action, Ragna showed me the part of her panties that had just been touching her crotch, holding them out as if playing cat’s cradle.
“I-I was wrong. F-for saying things that made fun of you.”
Her face beet red, her eyes welling up with tears, Ragna muttered softly, “This is the first time I’ve ever been so humiliated…”
Then, I remembered Ragna’s words from earlier.
Something about showing her Crotch while apologizing with utmost sincerity if she lost. In other words…
“‘Crotch’ meant panties, huh. Heh.”
“…Eh?”
So, Ragna wasn’t acting bizarrely out of the blue just now. As I nodded in understanding, my question resolved, Ragna’s face turned so red it looked like it would boil, and she shouted,
“…D-die!! And forget this!!!”
She punched me right in the face. I don’t know if it was because Ragna’s a mage class or because of the level difference, but it didn’t hurt at all.
But, I felt genuinely sorry for Ragna-san, so I pretended to be blown away and rolled onto my back on the ground.
…I really embarrassed Ragna, so she probably hates me now, huh.
Well, but I got to see a cute girl’s panties, so it was a lucky lecher moment. Oh well, I guess it’s fine.