Chapter 21
Cut, slash, kill!
Boing.
Boing.
Boing.
This is amazing. A real dungeon. It's so much fun.
I'd already fallen hard for real-life 〈Dan-Katsu〉.
The moment I spotted a Mochikko, I charged, closed the distance in an instant, and cut it down before it could escape.
Once I'd gotten the hang of real combat, I couldn't wait to try it out.
The sensation lingering in my hand, the exhilaration of fighting—and this was still 〈Dan-Katsu〉.
Everything was so fresh and new.
I'll say it again. This is so much fun!
Boing.
"All right. Let's switch soon. Zephyrus-kun, come back and trade places with Hannah-san."
But enjoyable moments always seemed to fly by in an instant.
Though disappointed by Phyllis-sensei's announcement, I switched places with Hannah.
Since there was nothing else to do, I decided to check my spoils while I had the chance.
Hmm. Rice, glutinous rice, corn, rice plants, wheat, barley... They're all members of the grass family!
"Yes! I'll do my best!"
"Just try not to get too tense, okay?"
Beside us, Phyllis-sensei was giving Hannah some advice.
Hannah's Job was 【Alchemist】. She had no combat Skills. None whatsoever.
On top of that, Hannah's build was clearly unsuited for combat.
She was probably only in the low 140s in centimeters, and looked two or three years younger.
To put it plainly, Hannah was a little girl.
Her teacher had plenty to worry about.
"Should I learn a combat Skill after all?"
"Hmm... No, I'll try it this way first. If it doesn't work out, I'll reconsider. Besides, Zephyrus-kun didn't use any combat Skills, either."
Hannah had watched me fight, and her opponent was a Mochikko, so she should be fine.
Phyllis-sensei, you really don't need to worry. I know Hannah better than anyone.
Just relax and watch.
"All right, here I go! Hiyah!"
Hannah psyched herself up in her cute little voice.
Hannah raised her weapon, a two-handed mace, approached the nearby Mochikko, and swung at it like a golf shot.
It was a magnificent swing, without a hint of hesitation.
"Hweh?"
Phyllis-sensei let out a dumbfounded little sound, and
a pshh! sound, like something airy escaping, rang out,
as the Mochikko flew away in a graceful arc.
Then it dropped rice and disappeared.
"Nice shot!!"
"Yay!"
I shouted without thinking, and Hannah cheered, too.
Hannah's first battle (?) ended in victory without a hitch.
I high-fived Hannah when she came back.
"Wait a minute. That wasn't a nice shot! What on earth just happened?!"
Phyllis-sensei finally came to, but she couldn't believe what she'd just seen.
Well, that was only natural.
After all, Hannah looked like a little girl who had nothing to do with combat.
She probably hadn't expected Hannah to swat a monster to death without a hint of hesitation in her first battle.
An ordinary little girl—or even an ordinary woman—would hesitate at least a little before killing a monster.
But this girl—Hannah—has killed far more monsters than I have.
Her opponents were Slimes, though.
That's right. Hannah had become a Slime killer.
Hannah had a 〈'Alchemy LV1' Bracelet〉, so she could use 'Alchemy' anywhere.
And while we were apart, she'd apparently been making Slimes and hunting them all by herself, day after day.
A full-fledged Slime Respawn addict.
Some people couldn't stop once they got the feeling that money was pouring out of them, and Hannah was especially bad.
I asked her just a little while ago, and she said, "I stopped counting once I passed 150,000 Magic Stones (Tiny) from drops."
I could understand wanting to carry as many as possible, since 'Alchemy' used magic-stone materials so often, but at this rate, her dorm room would soon be filled with ingredients.
No, maybe it was already full.
Anyway, Hannah had been using Slimes as punching bags, so Mochikko, which looked like a Slime, was no match for her. She hadn't hesitated at all.
If anything, she even had room to play around.
The girl who'd been too frightened to move when Slimes attacked her in the forest where we first met was nowhere to be seen.
How did this happen?
Had I taught someone I shouldn't have?
I started to regret it a little, but there was nothing wrong with having lots of Magic Stones, so I decided it was fine.
I decided to look on the bright side: once I'd founded a guild, I'd have Hannah put that addiction to good use by producing lots of things for us.
In the end, I fobbed Phyllis-sensei off by saying, "Hannah's surprisingly athletic."
Unfortunately, I couldn't explain the Slime Respawn Marathon.
Because Hannah was staring at me with a terrifyingly intense gaze.
Yikes.
I never knew Hannah could look at someone like that. Even though she's my childhood friend—well, we'd only known each other about two weeks.
After that, Hannah took the initiative and smacked a Mochikko a few more times.
Phyllis-sensei got used to it quickly. I guess she decided that was just how things were.
Before long, we reached the end of the first floor.
The Tutorial's tutorial monster, the Mochikko, had made its final appearance.
"We've collected twenty-three drops in total. Want to eat them together when we get back?"
"Yeah!"
The first floor of the 〈Beginner Dungeon〉 only had Mochikko.
Its drops were various grass-family crops. Basically, ingredients for cooking.
As expected of 〈Dan-Katsu〉, a world where you could find every resource in a dungeon.
Even our staple foods came from monster drops.
However, back in the game, there was no hunger, so I'd sold almost all of these.
But in this world, real-life 〈Dan-Katsu〉, people got hungry.
In other words, these items had acquired a decent amount of value as food.
Maybe I needed to take another look at the values I'd had back in the game 〈Dan-Katsu〉.
Materials and items I'd dismissed as worthless might turn out to be surprisingly valuable...
Bwahahaha, I'm looking forward to what comes next.