Chapter 82

Chapter 82 – Dungeon of Ripples・Capture 9

　　Because the alligator meat from yesterday was far easier to eat and more delicious than I thought, both I and the children liked it, so they decided to get even more alligator meat today .

　　I stopped them in panic . We already have plenty of alligator meat, I somehow persuaded them .

　　That being the case, we have promptly descended the staircase we have found today and started the capture of the twenty-second floor .

　　《Let’s get in high spirits and go~!》

　　「「Ohh~」」

　　『Nnaa~』

　　Because the twenty-second floor’s pa.s.sage also had a knee-height water level, I put Allen and Elena on Joule, held the small Feat in my hands and we departed .

　　《Ah, alligator discovered~!》

　　「「Yay~ Joule, do your best~」」

　　《Here I go~!》

　　Just as we set out, a White Alligator has appeared and Joule who discovered it vigorously broke into a run .

　　《Tooh~!》

　　「Gyaahーーー!」

　　Joule easily trampled the White Alligator .

　　《Meat get~》

　　「「Get~」」

　　The dropped items are alligator meat and…… this is a topaz!

　　A rare drop jewel right from the start…… seriously, where did the low drop chance go to? Aren’t they dropping too much?

　　《Ah, another one discovered~!》

　　「「Meat~」」

　　Allen and Elena love sparkly things, but they were happier about the meat this time . Do they like the alligator meat that much?

　　「Next, Allen!」

　　「Elena too~」

　　《Sure~ Can you go from here? Shall I approach a little bit more?》

　　「「Is fine~ ――《Water Jet》」」

　　《Yay~ It’s meat again~》

　　「「Yay~」」

　　Before I come to myself, the children defeated an alligator and obtained meat again .

　　The meat won’t rot because it’s stored in the《Infinite Storage》, but we got enough meat to eat it regularly for a few years . But, while that may be true, the children would get angry at me if I sold it, right? No, they won’t get angry…… I feel like they would be sulking .

　　I would be troubled if they sulked, so as I thought, I can’t sell the alligator meat~

　　Ah, I could gift it to Cedric-san and others! The children wouldn’t tell me not to then .

　　But, I should confirm with them first .

　　「Oy~ Even if you get so much alligator meat, I won’t be able to use it all~ What do you say about gifting Cedric-san and others some?」

　　「「Un, gift~」」

　　《Okay~》

　　『Naa~』

　　I heard the words of approval from everyone . With this, the stock of the alligator meat will decrease .

　　Then, while thinking such――

　　《Then, we have to defeat more alligators!》

　　「「Ohh~」」

　　「………… Excuse me?」

　　It appears they intend to get even more alligator meat .

　　No, wait a moment! Even though we already have plenty of alligator meat, why are you set on obtaining even more!?

　　「「That way~」」

　　《Alright, here I go~》

　　Without being able to stop them, Allen, Elena, and Joule ran off to get more alligator meat .

　　Huh…… I feel like it would be useless even if I stopped them? Ah~……

　　『Naa~』

　　While dejected over the different plan, Feat snuggled up to close in order to comfort me .

　　While being healed, I hastily followed after the children .

　　After that, we were alligator hunting all day long . Though I wanted to stop them…… I couldn’t .

　　Understandably, we obtained a ma.s.sive quant.i.ty of alligator meat . Alligator meat of such quant.i.ty…… seriously, what to do……

　　◇ ◇ ◇

　　The next day after the second consecutive day of alligator hunting, we stepped on the twenty-third floor .

　　There, the knee-deep water level returned to the ankle depth .

　　It’s not necessary to let Allen and Elena ride Joule, but they said that they want Joule and Feat to go with us, so I decided to take them along .

　　Ah, Feat is being carried by me as usual though .

　　The journey was smooth and we favorably progressed . The reason being the children instantly killing all the monsters that appeared . My turn has quite not come yet, but I’m enduring, the children are enjoying themselves and I can’t barge in uninvited, after all~

　　While thinking such, we have discovered a treasure chest hidden along the path .

　　「「Treasure~…… huuh~?」」

　　Allen and Elena rushed up to the treasure chest, but they stopped in the middle for some reason .

　　「What’s wrong?」

　　《What, what?》

　　『Nnaa?』

　　「「Somewhat weird~?」」

　　「N?」

　　Allen and Elena pointed at the treasure chest and proclaimed it weird .

　　I immediately used【Appraisal】on the treasure chest . Doing that, I found that it’s a mimic――a monster that camouflaged itself as a treasure chest .

　　「That is a mimic . A monster」

　　「「Mimic~?」」

　　《A fake~?》

　　『Nnaa~?』

　　Even though it looks like a treasure chest until the moment you open it, the two noticed it well . As expected of them .

　　「Right . It’s a fake treasure chest . It pretends to be a treasure chest and a.s.saults those who approach it」

　　『Naa~』

　　「N? Ah, Feat wants to defeat it? It would work with magic . Sure, go ahead Feat」

　　『Nnaa!』

　　When I give permission to Feat who wanted to defeat it, Feat immediately fired《Wind Cutter》and attacked the mimic . Then, with a bang, a white smoke escaped from the mimic and the pattern on the treasure chest changed .

　　It appears that this is a genuine treasure chest .

　　「Allen, Elena, want to open it?」

　　「「Un, will open~」」

　　Since it seemed that there are no more gimmicks, the two opened the chest and when I looked inside, there was a Transfer Magic Tool (simple) inside .

　　「「What is it~?」」

　　「A transfer magic tool」

　　Speaking simply, it’s that . That thing which the guild uses to send letters .

　　It’s a convenient thing, but it’s useless without the recognition code of the recipient .

　　However, should I sell it or hold onto it? It might eventually become needed . Besides, if I got another magic tool of the same kind, I would be able to exchange with whomever I liked .

　　「「Transfer~?」」

　　「Right . Remember how we instantly moved from the hall to the tenth floor?」

　　「「Un!」」

　　「This can do the same thing . This fellow can only send letters or small things to a person with the same thing though」

　　「「《Ohh~》」」

　　『Nnaa~』

　　The children raised their voices of admiration .

　　Do Allen and Elena properly understand? But, I feel like Joule and Feat didn’t understand at all, but somehow raised their voices in consent . Well, Joule and Feat are monsters, so it might be possible that transfer equipment wasn’t necessary for their daily lives until now .

　　「Alright . Then, shall we keep going?」

　　「「Un! That way~」」

　　With Allen and Elena pointing out the direction, we soon discovered the staircase to the twenty-fourth floor .

　　We continued the capture and were able to find the staircase leading to the twenty-fifth floor .

　　That was all for the day . I decided to rest before descending .

　　By the way, alligator meat was used for today’s dinner . We ate it deep-fried with soy sauce . Un, it was immensely delicious .