Chapter 11
Chapter 11:The Queen of Dreams (2)
"Ugh…. That chicken…. It's pretty strong…."
Yuna, who had passed out and fallen asleep just like that, woke up shortly after.
"Right. It might be a bit much for you as you are now."
"I cannot surrender! I will defeat that chicken! On a warrior's honor!"
No. You're a swordswoman.
"A swordswoman has her own way of fighting. Deflect the attacks as you cut. Redirect the enemy's attacks as much as possible. Understood. You are not a warrior."
"Huh? But how am I supposed to…."
"Let me show you. Lend me your sword for a moment."
I am a mage. A mage by nature, a mage by destiny. Most of the equipment I can use is mage-exclusive, my armor centers around cloth-type gear, and instead of a staff, wand, or shield, I'm supposed to carry an orb or spellbook.
Even so, once you've stacked enough experience beyond a certain point, you can imitate things even without the skills. In a typical game, if you can clear the 80th floor of a dungeon, you can still get through the 2nd floor bare-handed or with a toy wooden sword, right? It's something like that.
"I am right—here—!"
I drew aggro from the 【Rocket Chicken】 by mimicking a Battle Howling. Of course, I have no warrior traits, so it's nothing more than an imitation. Even so, the Rocket Chicken's aggro was pulled by my voice that matched its own size, and it instantly locked its stance in my direction.
I simply began advising the newbies watching from the side—the ones who would eventually have to come with me to find ingredients beyond the 80th floor.
"Yuna, Silen. Listen well. What do you think is the greatest art of a damage-dealer?"
"Dealing powerful damage!"
"Well, I suppose."
These damage-dealer types always think the same thing. Sitting at the top of the damage meter, throwing out damage-brags as their sole satisfaction.
But noble, grand mages who understand tactics and grasp the entire battlefield—we are never such foolish damage-dealers.
"Listen well. The first condition of a good damage-dealer is not falling into danger."
In games, the tank and healer are essentially a set. Like how a burger comes with a cola, the two are inseparable. Therefore, a good damage-dealer must not interfere with that burger combo.
Aggro shouldn't spill over and keep the tank busy, and you shouldn't stupidly get hit and mess up the healer's targeting. Performing mechanics while staying stationed somewhere as safe as possible and squeezing in damage—that's what a good damage-dealer should do.
"So. No matter how skilled a swordswoman you are, taking a monster's attack head-on is the mark of an amateur. If you're a damage-dealer, then like this—"
【Cockadoodle-doooooo!!】
Half a step out of the Rocket Chicken's line of attack, I simply pushed the sword forward.
And that was it. The Rocket Chicken charged straight into my blade on its own, and I merely cut through it.
"Don't take the hit—cleanly cut through and you're done."
"Wooow…. Amazing. As expected of Master!"
"Hmph. I can do that much too, you know?"
The two looked at my demonstration and each voiced their impressions.
"Alright, now try it yourselves. Each of you kill ten Rocket Chickens and bring back whatever ingredients drop."
"Understood! Master!"
"Wait. Mister. Why do I have to?!"
"Didn't you say you wanted to be a hero? I am your external advisor and stand-in master. Follow my instructions and you will definitely get stronger."
"Ugh…. Fine. I'll follow along. But don't expect me to follow any absurd or trivial instructions, just so you know!"
Silen said that and headed off to hunt Rocket Chickens.
"I, Yuna Linforce, am right—here—!"
Yuna fired off a Battle Howling without hesitation, and a booming sound rang out.
Yuna hunted Rocket Chickens precisely and accurately, and began producing results.
"Master! I got one!"
I nodded and gave Yuna a thumbs up.
Next was Silen….
【Cockadoodle-doooo!!】
"Ugh…. Ngh!"
As I expected.
She was struggling more than I'd anticipated.
Trying to hunt 'the same way I did' didn't work—a dagger's reach is far too short. With a rogue's frail health and stamina, she couldn't even properly deflect the incoming rockets by batting them sideways.
And if she waited for the Rocket Chicken to slam into a wall and then ran up to slash it—those things don't take long to shake themselves back to their senses either. Getting hit by a second charge in that state would just send her flying.
The result was an endless standoff. Silen's complexion grew pale.
"Silen."
"Wh-what?! Not a chance! I can handle one on my own!"
She glanced at me and felt momentarily relieved, then grew embarrassed by that fact, then scowled.
"A rogue has her own way of fighting. What can you do?"
"What? Oh…. Oh."
As if something had clicked from my words, Silen drew a breath and vanished on the spot.
The activation of 【Stealth】—a rogue's most basic and most useful skill.
The Rocket Chicken, with no proper detection ability, tilted its head at Silen's sudden disappearance—and then.
【Bawk…】
Thwk. The dagger that had been thrust straight through it pierced its body, and it vanished midair. Then thud, a drop item fell, and Silen scooped it up and smirked.
"How was that? Mister?"
"Splendid."
"Hmph."
Silen smirked and headed back out to hunt Rocket Chickens.
And so—after a total of twenty Rocket Chickens were slain, the items that came out were, to no one's surprise, chicken breast and eggs.
"Chicken! It's delicious! I could eat any amount of it!"
"Right. But…. Twenty Rocket Chickens only dropped about 10 pieces of chicken breast. Will that fill anyone up?"
"Ah…. That's not enough."
"Exactly. But there are quite a few eggs."
Twenty Rocket Chickens had dropped about a full tray of eggs.
With this many, I could make that legendary thing.
"Do you all like bread?"
"I do!"
"Not really. It's hard and tasteless and…."
The two gave completely opposite responses—and I understood both. The bread in this world is of the worst quality.
But there's a miraculous recipe that can save even bread like that.
"Then let me try improving it a bit."
"How do you mean, sir?"
"Watch carefully. It'll turn into bread that's incredibly easy to make and absolutely delicious."
I pulled out a full tray of eggs, a large bowl, and a tremendous amount of black bread.
And I thought for a moment.
With cooking like this, couldn't these two help out?
"Yuna. Silen. Would you like to try making a very simple dish together?"
"If I can be of help to Master, I'll do anything!"
"That's a bother…. It says in the contract I have to eat the food they cook, but helping out is extra charge—"
"I'll give each of you one silver coin as a service fee for helping with this meal."
"So what do I need to do? Go on, tell me."
Good.
I've secured two people's worth of labor.
"Yuna will toast the bread and slice it into easy-to-eat pieces, and Silen will beat the eggs as I instruct, soak the bread until it's moist, then place it on the grill. I'll handle the actual grilling."
"Understood!"
"That's all there is to it?"
"That's all. I'll make you the most delicious meal you've ever had."
Yuna and Silen nodded, and soon the three of us started cooking together.
Soak the bread in egg beaten with salt, grill it on the griddle, then sprinkle sugar on top. A meal composed of only that—utterly simple.
But no matter how poor the quality, bread is bread, and eggs are eggs, and salt and sugar have been added to the mix. There is no human being who dislikes this.
"There. Egg toast."
"Oh, oh oh. I made a dish! Master! May I eat it?!"
"Eat as much as you like. You worked hard too, Silen."
"Yeah…. Well. I suppose I did."
Silen smirked and took a slice of toast.
She didn't actually think it was hard work herself—which was probably why she smiled.
And the two who tasted the egg toast….
"Wooaaahh…. It's sweet and salty with the fragrance of egg, and then soft, moist, warm bread comes flooding in. It's delicious. Master!"
"Yeah. If it's this…. I could eat a lot of it. Mister. You're genuinely good at cooking…."
Leaving behind tremendous praise, they began massacring the egg toast.
Right.
I've never once seen academy girls dislike this.
I had a taste too—well, it was reasonably good. I'd give it about an 8 out of 10.
"Next time, sprinkling ketchup on it wouldn't be bad either. Eating it with grilled tomatoes on top is delicious too."
"Yes! I'll try it!"
"Yeah…. Tomatoes go well with it. Tasty."
Yuna always smiles brightly, and Silen shows a genuine smile at times like these too.
As expected, kids look best when they're smiling over food.
.
.
.
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Hephaestus Dungeon, 82nd Floor.
The Thunder Strike party—called humanity's hope—had just finished a fierce battle and was resting.
A fresh-faced, handsome young man. Even the face of Jerome, the protagonist of the "original story," was heavy with fatigue.
"Jerome…. Want some bread?"
"No. It's fine. You eat it, Sia."
"Okay…."
Saying that, Sia tore off a piece of black bread, put it in her mouth, softened it with water, and swallowed.
Ollina and Lepus were the same.
Ever since not long ago.
To be precise—ever since Yujin had left the party—mealtimes had always been silent.
With Yujin gone—the one who had gotten in the way of romance—it should now be time to decide who would stand by Jerome's side. But no one could do that.
Mealtimes were ultimately just time to eat.
When the food quality had dropped so overwhelmingly, there was no room for love or anything else.
The four members of Thunder Strike who had yet to reach Transcendence.
Only now did they understand the weight of the Sage who had quietly cooked within the party.
They'd thought he was making nothing-special meals from nothing-special ingredients. When he'd carefully pick out ingredients at the market, they'd thought it was some eccentric quirk unique to mages.
But humans are brief in their gratitude for what they've gained, while long in their regret over what they've lost.
In the end, it was Sia—who had at least learned some cooking from Yujin—who handled mealtimes, but it was an absolute disaster, plain and simple.
And the result was this meal.
Tasteless bread and water. Meat that hadn't been bled properly, cooked without knowing how to handle it, reeking of staleness. Lukewarm pickled things.
Even this had been scraped together somehow from what Yujin had left behind, and it was Sia's best effort.
Seeing the party's morale crumbling, Jerome took drastic action.
"Once we clear this floor, let's head above ground and find a proper cook. We also need to reinforce our mage slot."
"Ah, yeah. Right. Let's do that. Eat something good too."
At those words from Jerome, Sia and the rest of the women all nodded in agreement.
Having finished the meal and recovered their stamina, they opened the boss room door on the 82nd Floor. Yujin was gone, but they were confident they could still take it down.
The boss room door closed behind them, and dozens of torch stands inside the room simultaneously burst into flame.
And what appeared before the staircase leading to the next floor was something that wore a human shape.
Jerome immediately drew his holy sword, and Sia darted forward to take position. It was a perfect formation where everyone could support one another.
If they'd gotten into position before the boss even reacted, all that was left was to move according to their roles.
Even so, Jerome furrowed his brows, and Sia broke into a cold sweat.
Hundreds of torch stands igniting simultaneously, and a boss appearing in the shape of a human?
This was not a 'normal boss presentation.'
A special presentation. A raid-type boss room that appeared randomly starting from the 50th floors. The symbol of despair woven from the fissures between dimensions.
The appearance of a Demon.
"My, my. I wondered who it was—it's been a while. Thunder Strike, everyone. Have you been well?"
The most beautiful human form, shaped in the most bewitching way.
Jet-black hair that fell to the thighs, deepening as it descended into a red as vivid as blood; a body that was, quite literally, perfect, boasting a supernatural allure that could captivate anyone regardless of gender.
Four pairs of black-feathered wings emerging from her back and waist resembled a breathtaking gown, and a pair of horns looked like the finest hairpiece imaginable.
The only flaw, if any, was a small scar on one of the horns. Yet even that was something you would never notice unless you looked very closely.
"Thunder Strike, everyone? Why aren't you answering? Could it be that only I'm happy to see you?"
A voice of unspeakable beauty rang out, sweet and lovely.
But to Thunder Strike, it was no different from the voice of a devil rising up from hell.
"One of the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings…. Demociela the Enchantress…!"
"Correct! I'll award Hero Jerome one Succubus Point."
How could they forget? How could they not know?
Their first encounter had been on the 56th Floor. Back then—the fact that every single one of them had made it out alive had been nothing short of a miracle.
Without doubt, she had reached Transcendence—and not just any Transcendence, but a fully matured one.
The ruler of the legion led by the Demon King said to reside in the deepest depths of this dungeon.
And a monster that the current Thunder Strike could absolutely not hunt.
She let out a soft fufu laugh and gestured toward Thunder Strike.
"It's alright. I have no intention of killing any of you. If I killed you now, it would be far too boring. Why do something I can do anytime? No. Rather, wouldn't it be more enjoyable to make it something I cannot do someday and then challenge it?"
"You crazy b*tch…."
Even at Lepus's outburst, Demociela merely smiled.
It was as if, even if the sound of a hamster crying out was actually the hamster cursing at her—'Hand over the seeds, you human wench'—to human ears it would only sound like squeaking. She paid it no mind whatsoever.
Just as no human gets angry at understanding a hamster's squeaking.
From the very beginning, neither Thunder Strike's hero Jerome, nor the rest of the rabble, concerned her in the slightest.
She turned her gaze and checked the faces of the entire Thunder Strike party, then tilted her head.
"Oh my…. Isn't someone missing? Where has Mastermage Yujin gone?"
"We have no obligation to answer that. If he's not here, just assume he's not here!"
At those words from Sia, Demociela folded her arms and pondered for a long while before eventually sighing and apologizing.
"I'm sorry, I really do apologize. But Thunder Strike without Mastermage Yujin holds absolutely no interest for me. So…. Yujin. The man I love—if you won't tell me where he is…."
A presence rising in an instant.
Demociela stood in the position of a human holding a hamster cage aloft, able to dash it down at any moment—and gazed at the hamsters that were the hero's party.
"I'll first give all of you a thorough thrashing, and then I'll ask again. Is that alright?"
There was no way—anywhere—that the hamsters could resist.