CH 39

39 Library Once Again

I return to the border with the Belstead area. Let’s confirm things here.

The newly-absorbed blueprint was that of a Living Armor. The body-type Alf-san had before he became a Dullahan. It doesn’t have «Decomposing Body» or «Bone Body», but an «Armor Body».

It has a resistance to slashes and thrusts, but is weak to blunt attacks. And while it’s better than Zombie in terms of speed, it’s still slow. Well, it is a tank-type race, after all. Also, it might be weak to blunt attacks, but it can always block them with a shield.

Skeletons are fairly fast for Undead, but have low VIT compared to other Undead.

Zombies are slow, but have high VIT and highly effective Automatic Recovery Skills… I guess?

Armor for a tank, skeleton everything else. Zombies are non-existent. No, really, they are non-existent. Well, there is no need to force myself to use them, so...

So, I change the large shield #1 was equipped with to the small shield #2 was equipped with. Give #2 a Zelkova Round Shield instead. And for the Necroarmor I summoned as #3, I give him a one-handed sword and a large shield. Let’s just change the Skill for one-handed swords «Long Handle» to «Swords». ...I can’t deny the lack of equipment I prepared. Let’s take time thinking about their equipment later.

I don’t have enough for triple cost summons, so I summon #1 at double, #2 with just customization, #3 at triple cost and let’s go do some leveling. It’s #1 inside all of them, so I don’t need to confirm the cooperation between them. If there was a problem… it would be the fact that although the AI level is high, he hasn’t learned how to fight well yet. Top players such as Alf-san and Ske-san are definitely much stronger. Well, those two are some of the top players, so no wonder.

I have grasped on how the targeting works in case of mixed race parties, so I can come here together with them. No wait… Ske-san is right now non-existent when it comes to fighting Undead? ...It would be pretty hard for him, so let’s wait a little longer.

Necroarmor is an aged-looking full plate armor. It has a pretty large build, doesn’t it. It has a one-handed sword and a tower shield, so it looks very reliable. #1 and #2 get no change.

Let’s hunt until dinner… if possible. I need to be careful with my positioning as I walk. I put #3 in the front, following him are me and #1, and #2 wanders around in the back.

As usual, I take on the Flying Heads. When I get #4, maybe I should give him a bow? I already have a tank and hit&run attacker, so I could also give #1 a bow. I don’t have a ranged physical attack yet.

Alright, let’s earn some.

Now that I have Servants, the amount of damage I take has decreased, but I guess it’s impossible not to take any damage at all.【Royal Stortz】is so-so here. And #3 doesn’t have【Appeal】yet, so he can’t gather much hate.

When my Servants take damage and lose HP, I use【Force to Convert】on them. The MP they don’t use, is slowly changed into HP.

...I think we are all magic creatures, so is it really okay to suck MP dry like that? Should I think that our MP bars are the surplus MP that isn’t used for moving?

As I thought, my recovery is a weak point.【Force to Convert】is hard to use. I can use it on myself, but the problem is that it consumes half of my MP... It exchanges 50% of my MP for 30% HP healed. Unlike【Life Assignment】, the effect won’t stop even after I heal up to max. On the other hand, it could be said that the state of regeneration continues for a while longer...

I should use【Life Assignment】to heal my Servants while using【Force to Convert】on myself. That is… if I wasn’t a magic attacker. A magic attacker without MP is but a scarecrow. As a result it’s possible to power through with Servants but… in the end, the resource management gets harder compared to other methods of combat.

Although I did aim for the old temple in the center of the map, the number of mob spawns has increased and it did not seem like I could get there yet. The main strength of Undead - the strength in numbers - is something I can’t win against yet. I can go past Zombie types, but… if I charged right in I would only die, so let’s hunt in a moderate spot.

Also, I vaguely noticed that… in this place, it doesn’t seem like they are getting four times the damage from light… It would be nice if I dealt more damage. Is this an area’s effect? I do have a lot of firepower even aside from Dark Magic. This dark area is no problem for me in terms of sight, but is there some other meaning to this darkness? I don’t know the answer, so let’s put it aside.

What makes me further curious, is my Servants’ movements. Although they are equal to Residents now, Residents themselves vary as well. It’s just a name that distinguishes players who are called Outsiders, and NPCs who are called Residents. There is no problem when they fight 1 vs 1, but… they kind of panic when they are surrounded and are weak against unpredictable situations. Either the AI level is too low, or maybe it’s that way to make players party with each other… In any case, the enemy is higher level so I can’t overestimate our abilities

Maybe it will be more stable to summon them when I’m solo, and not summon any when in a PT. Alf-san and Ske-san are without doubt more reliable. I do have royalty’s commanding Skills, but it’s not like I have a summon-specialized Skill build.

The problem is that I go to sleep at 10 p.m., by the time Alf-san and Ske-san come back from their overtime work, I’ll be already sleeping. And so, I should move the crafting days to weekdays during the summer break, open up weekend… Anyway, let’s hunt now.

〈«Enten-style Princess’ Self Defense» reached level 15.〉

〈«Enten-style Princess’ Self Defense»’s Art【Royal Anti-Magic】was acquired.〉

【Royal Anti-Magic】

Blocks and parries magic attacks. Overwrites【Magic Guard】and【Magic Parry】.

Finally my anti-magic Arts have merged. Flying Heads will be even easier now.

Alright, it’s about time for me to retreat. Let’s fall back while beating them.

I quickly left the old temple area, then started to walk leisurely in Belstead’s direction.

It would be nice if I had an one-handed spear for #3 instead of one-handed sword. It’s not a bad idea to have him prick the enemy from behind a shield. I also want a two-handed mace for #2, should I go to Ertz-san to buy them? For now let’s check what’s available from wooden equipment. I need to decide on a combat styles first or the expenses will be no joke. Also, template settings take time and are annoying to do.

It’s been just a month and a little since the official service started. My Skills are still going up quite fast, but it’s about time the Skill leveling will slow down. There will be a need to switch the objective from Skill leveling to something else. Otherwise, I’ll get bored… with that said, the crafting system is also fun, so there should be no problem, but it’s always better to have an objective.

For now, let’s eat dinner.

I deal with various things, then log in.

So, the library. Since I’m in this elaborately-made world, it would be a waste to only do combat. Let’s move through the portal to the Starting Town and hurry to the library.

“AAAH! THERE SHE ISSS!”

When I teleported, I heard a woman’s scream. Is someone meeting up here?

“PRINCESS, WAITTT!”

Huh, so she was calling me. I did not plan to meet anyone, however.

“Good evening, Princess!”

“Yes, good evening. Is something the matter?”

“Do you have time now? If you could only wait a little until everyone gathers...”

“Hmm?”

“We want to give you some gifts as thanks, so everyone was looking for you.”

“Thanks…? Oh, you mean body care’s?”

“Yep, that! Since they were effective, it’s only natural we show our thanks, right?”

I remember seeing her before, and what comes to mind is only body care. Great for you, if you noticed a difference. This kind of thing is up to the person’s feelings, so let’s just accept it. Since I was thinking of reading some books in the library, I do have time now.

Within less than a minute, women started appearing from the portal one after another. With that said, there were just three of them.

Once again, I was thanked by the four. It seemed like there was one more representative who hasn’t logged in yet. ...The moment I thought so, she appeared to have logged in and was called. At this same time I received a notification that a friend has logged in, but this is a coincidence, right? As for the woman...

“Sorry~~ did you wait~?”

"...What are you doing, Kotatsu-san?”

“AWww, see, I heard from other girls.”

She said and stuck her tongue out mischievously. It looks like she was made a representative because she’s one of my friends.

“So, we all thought of showing our thanks in a simple manner and we came to the conclusion of “giving something not unusual, but useful” you see.”

“Isn’t that pretty difficult? I do understand however, I would be troubled if I received something rare.”

“Yup, racially you don’t need potions, right? So we decided on this.”

Kotatsu-san tapped her controls, and what materialized was… meat. I see.

“It’s nothing unusual, but for cooking you need a lot of ingredients and gathering them can be cumbersome. As such, we gathered a Rabbit, Wolf, Pigg, Angus and Tokkei meat set.”

“We examined the cooking board and found that boar and bear meat is only used for leveling, so we didn’t gather any.”

“Also, we bought some items that are slightly expensive but can be normally bought. It wasn’t a big expense considering we split the cost among us, so there is no need to refrain.”

“And if you made food with this meat then put it on consignment we would be really happy.”

“Rations are a little… give us more FOOD!”

“How about making it yourselves?”

“““““NOT HAPPENING.”””””

Such unison.

“Then what do you eat at home?”

““““BOXED LUNCHES! ALCO! SNACKS!””””

"...I guess it’s still better than having just alcohol and snacks.”

“““““HAHAHAHA.”””””

...The reality of an adult woman’s lifestyle.

“What should I make with this meat I received then?”

“““““KARAAGE! Ah? What about lemon…?”””””

““SPRINKLE!””

““DON’T!””

“I’m fine with either.”

““““…………””””

In silence, they split into the team lemon and team no-lemon, then started to intimidate each other like cats. What are they doing, these people?

By the way, the one who was fine with either was Kotatsu-san.

“A skit, isn’t it.”

“It’s not like this conversation was planned, so it turned so by chance...”

“It would not turn out this way if I didn’t ask, after all.”

“And everyone responds with karaage, as if they decided beforehand. To think it would overlap...”

“Well, I did think of making some deep-fried food soon, so I do have ingredients. But, I don’t have lemons so I won’t make any if you are to bicker.”

Since they were just playing along with the flow, they calmed down soon. Though, it could continue if I didn’t tell them about the lack of lemons.

We moved into the corner of the plaza and I opened the Cooking Kit. Let’s cook some.

Umm the items I received were… Pure Oil, Virgin Oil, Elru and Elnta and other oil-types… as well as about 50 of each type of meat. There’re butter and pig intestines, aren't there.

The Virgin Oil costs 3000 for each. Let’s use it extravagantly. It’s a game, after all! It is a number of uses-based rather than amount-based, so it’s perfect for using for deep-frying.

I take out a pot  for deep-frying and… a normal pot as well. I pour Virgin Oil to the brim of the pot for deep-frying, then fill the normal pot full of water.

Next I split the Tokkei meat, splitting parts for deep-fried chicken and bouillon. Let’s also prepare the vegetables for bouillon.

Then for the main… let’s use the B-quality water. I put eggs in it and whip them, then before putting in flour… I cool down both the water with whipped eggs and flour with【Cool】. After cooling them both I put in flour and mix them lightly.

Once I finish, I use chopsticks to drop some into oil and check the temperature.

"...Not yet, hm.”

I proceed with making bouillon until the temperature has increased enough. Let’s make it into another onion soup.

I remove scum from the pot, and check the oil’s temperature. Since the batter immediately floated, the temperature should be alright. I did not forget to cool down the batter, if I did not maintain the low temperature on it, the water would split.

“Yup, this should be fine.”

“I can’t stop drooling.”

“We’re ingame though.”

“I wanna drink...”

“I wanna start with the first one.”

“I get ya~.”

I coat the chicken meat in batter, then put it inside!

“This sound, a melody to my ears.”

“Right~?”

“Deep-fried food is something I never make at home.”

“You don’t cook at all, not to mention deep-frying, do you?”

“Ehee~.”

Three women make a market. With six of them, it’s terrible to look at. They sure are energetic.

“You’re great at cooking. You’ll make a good bride~.”

“An old man’s compliment?!”

"Let’s leave the cooking to cooks!!”

Did these people come here already drunk? When I thought so, Kotatsu-san retorted to them.

“You girls, you drank before coming here didn’t you?”

“No, we’re sober.”

“Seriously…?”

They are THAT energetic while sober? I leave them to you, Kotatsu-san. I’m busy cooking.

While being careful with the state of the oil, I wait until the karaage turns golden-brown and take it out. Then I put in the next one. The state of the oil is displayed in a pop-up window, so it’s really easy. It is in a good state at this moment.

It’s a shame I don’t have prawns. I wonder if they’d get angry at me if I deep-fried some herbs as edible plants. ...Let’s try it. First, I use【Clean】on them, then put them in. Kotatsu-san seemed to blink in confusion, but it must be my imagination. YOU SAW NOTHING.

Unlike chicken meat, they deep-fried right away. They really look like actual food.

“What’s this, wild vegetables? Gimmee!”

“Ah, no fair!”

"...W-WHAT’S THISSS? You wanted it, right, I’ll give it to you...”

“Huhh…?”

She’s making a super-sour face

“Oh, was it no good?”

“It’s super grassy. Like normal leaves.”

“You’re doing these things like it’s nothing, don’t you, Princess… These’re herbs, right?”

“It doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to pass them as wild vegetables~.”

And next, I threw Stimushrooms inside.

“Hup, there it goes.”

“How about we stop this adventuring? Ain’t it us who’ll eat it?”

“They are used for making potions, so I thought it’d work...”

“And the result was that herb from earlier, rite?”

“IT’LL BE FINE.”

“What will be fine?”

“Everything will be fine.”

“If you think it’ll be fine then eat it!”

“Want a fried one or a deep-fried one?”

In the end, I made both types. Stimushroom skewers and deep fried ones.

“Oh...ohh? Unexpectedly fine.”

“Yup, unexpectedly fine.”

“Seriously…? But I’ll eat normal karaage instead.”

““THAT’S NO FAIR.””

After that, I deep fried cheese and made pork cutlets. As I made those, the state of oil changed from good to normal, then from normal to bad, so I stopped deep-frying there. When I discard the oil, it turns into polygons and disappears, which makes things really easy.

And bouillon has safely turned into an onion soup.

“About how we came to give our thanks, but ended up being treated to food~...”

“Yeah, that.”

“It’s really crishpy and delicioush.”

“I’m still profitting with what I received, so there is no problem.”

Yup, it’s really tasty. It might be a good idea to put three or four karaage pieces on skewers and sell them. Jerkies are the easiest for making money, but it’s easy to get bored when you make the same thing all the time.

Makes me want to make some dry-cured ham. It’s really hard to make one in real. I only have pork ribs, so should I use beef? Maybe with rump which has little fat.

“Oh, hey ladies! How about playin’ with us?”

Dry-cured ham was… cold-smoked, I think? The preparations were no different than what I do for jerkies. The biggest problem is managing temperature. Since dry-cured ham is uncooked, in real there are problems with disinfection and such.

For now, let’s put salt and sugar in water for pickling, then prepare the meat.

“H-HUHH? Hey, pretty ladies! You ignorin’ us?!”

““““Hm? What is it?””””

...I thought they ignored it on purpose, but they were just so concentrated on eating and did not hear them? Ah, Kotatsu-san did it on purpose. The worst thing to do is to react to such people, after all.

Rather, isn’t this group of four guys from the second batch? That isn’t beginners’ equipment, but...

“Let’s go hunt together! We’ll teach ya!”

“NFGH…*cough**cough*!”

I understand how you feel, but please don’t spit food. Umm… leave it for about a day, then tweak moisture… Fast-forward time.

I mean, we are the first batch… Kotatsu-san and I are among the top, too. Aren’t the other four pretty high up? They are using steel weapons. Steel is currently the strongest material, so it’s quite costly.

Fast-forward is over. Now let’s put in pepper and garlic inside the pickling liquid, then start pickling meat. And fast-forward again. About a week forward.

“I don’t think there is anything to learn from you, so how about you go elsewhere?”

“We're the first batch, so our hunting grounds are much further.”

Yup yup, they nodded and continued to munch. These people eat more than guys. I guess it is a game, so no wonder.

"...F-first batch…? T-then, could we have some advice?”

That was a little forced, I guess that’s a valid response. The man’s averted his eyes though, which was a bad move.

Alright, let’s leave the pickling at this much. It’s good that in the town the MP recovers fast. Next I need to put in water for a few hours and clean off salt.

The four guys were about university student age, but women in this group are all adult women who can drink, so… And they’re all heavy gamers, the type who don’t go with the flow when someone invites them, but do what they want to do. From the conversation with them, it does not seem like they are the type to enjoy being pampered. If anything, they are the type to get pissed at the guys getting in the way of their dinner party. Notice it already, gentlemen.

The four women aside, Kotatsu-san and I are wearing completely custom equipment, aren’t we? Since this kind of equipment normally costs a lot, they should notice that at a glance… But it looks like it’s hard for novices to tell these kinds of things, they must be lacking knowledge of the equipment and items available.

By the way, Kotatsu-san is a cat beastwoman with brown hair and yellow eyes. She’s wearing hotpants, has bare legs and is a little slimmer than me. Also, she is the guild master of the Great Wan-Nyan Empire.

Now, the next problem is with the repetition of drying and smoking, I don’t know just how much I should dry it. Should I even use【Moisture Control】here…?

“Insistently hitting on girls will get you a warning, got iiiit?”

“Ah, Kuon-san, yahoo!”

“Yes, hello. I’m GM.”

She’s all smiley. The group of guys froze stiff, though.

“Since the number of people increased with the second batch, these kinds of problems started appearing. This isn’t an online dating website, dang it. We added a Sexual Call option to GM Call function, so if you get annoyed by insistent guys, use it.”

“Ahhh, speaking of which, there were changes to GM Call weren’t there.”

“I guess it was only skimmed through? Please spread this info among everyone. Sexual Call has higher priority, and instead of AI, it’s GMs who manually deal with it.”

There, Kuon-san went “shoo shoo, go away” and drove the guys away. They certainly were insistent despite the fact we refused. The number of players just increased, so it looks like GMs will patrol for a while, and if someone goes too far they’ll be sent to a punishment room.

The four guys from earlier did not make any problems yet, so they were only driven away.

“Oh and, thanks for the body care. As expected, a GM can’t give gifts to anyone, so this is pretty much all I can do, but please call me if you have a problem with some weirdos. It would be a huge waste for us, the management, to lose famous players because of silly things.”

“I wasn’t troubled by anyone myself. With that said, Kuon-san, you also received the body care methods?”

“I’m also a woman, so it’s only natural, isn’t it?”

Well, I guess it’s fine.

In the end, I used【Moisture Control】to remove moisture, lowered the smoking cylinder’s temperature and continued to watch the thermometer as it smoked.

“Well then, I’m off to the next place.”

““““See ya~.””””

She was seen off really sloppily.

I repeatedly smoked the meat while checking the dryness. This takes at least two weeks. Over two weeks, it’s necessary to hang it and dry, then smoke it again. After that, it has to lie idle for some time, and it’s complete.

[Cuisine] Rump Meat Dry-Cured Ham　Rarity: No　Quality: B-

Smoked meat that was put a lot of attention into by the cook.

Let’s cut it into thin slices and enjoy the taste.

Satiety +30

Prepared by: Anastasia

Mmm, B-, is it? It must be【Humidity Control】that’s the problem. I need to think of a better method to dry it.

It’s a number-of-uses type of food just like Roast Beef? Let’s cut it into slices before serving it.

“I made something new.”

“Dry-cured ham!”

“SO THAT’S WHAT YOU WERE MAKINGG!!”

It’s a game, so everyone ate clean whatever I served, and then we dispersed. Just as planned beforehand, let’s go to the library in the remaining time I have.

“Welcome, young lady.”

“It has been a while. Are there books with world maps and information on world politics?”

“There are, how difficult books do you seek?”

“At first I wouldn’t mind books with wide and shallow information.”

Looks like he will guide me again, so I follow him.

I wouldn’t be able to understand highly difficult information on world politics at this point. I don’t even know what countries are where.

After receiving the books, I sat down on a seat and started reading. As a result, I was able to grasp the world’s geography to an extent.

On the continent where we are, there are four big countries in the center of which is the Starting Town.

In the Northeast there is Clandell Kingdom. It seems to be a country where the metal industry thrives.

In the Northwest, there is Tialen Magicountry. It’s a country where magic and potion industry thrives. In other words, a production area of magic herbs.

In the East there is Nealence Kingdom. A country where farming and animal rearing thrives, as well as the location of the church’s main headquarters.

In the West, there is Creakstone Kingdom. ...Just a kingdom, it is. Nothing special to say about it.

And in the South, you can travel by ship to another continent.

There exists a militaristic country called the Dinight Empire. It has multiple splendid arenas, which are bustling with energy.

Between the continents, the Southern continent is larger, there is both a group of minor nations and the Dinight Empire there. In short, the continent we are on now is much more peaceful.

And the five towns in the East, West, South and North, in the center of which the Starting Town is, are neutral. They don’t belong to any country and act as a trade route between the countries...

In other words, ahead of the second area we’re in now, we will enter various countries.

In the past there was a war over the Starting Town, but it was so fruitless that it ended. Well, it’s not only in the middle of four countries, but also is directly connected to a port town. Any country would want it. They did not want it taken by other countries, but fighting over it caused the casualties to continue increasing.

If with this, these towns won’t become either mine or theirs then… and so, the current situation was the compromise. The moment any of these countries tries to put their hands on these, it will make the other three countries and the Starting Town their enemies.

In a way, it’s no wonder that the war did not last long. I mean, each country has its specialty. The one to be in the most pained position must have been the Creakstone Kingdom.

If they fight with the East, they will have problems with food supply. If they fight with Northeast, they won’t have metals… so, they’ll have problems with weapons. If they fight against Northwest, they will have problems with potions. And since the Starting Town becomes a battlefield, there will be no salt either. And above all, the biggest problem in war are monsters. It can’t get any more unproductive.

The four countries decided the five towns between them to be neutral and forbade each other from interfering with them. And now, they receive salt which is a necessity, at a low price.

The reason the Starting Town is stupidly big, is because it’s in the middle of a trade route between the four countries, and on top of that, it’s where we start. In other words, the nobles’ mansions that are in the Northeast part of the town… are the home of this land’s lord. No, position wise it’s more like they are royalty rather than noble lords?

As for the empire in the South… there isn’t much information on them. But I learned that there are places where there is a war going on. It’s a mystery whether we players are capable of meddling in the war, though.

...For now, it’s enough that I learned the names of the countries on this side.

The nobility system looks normal. The royalty is on top, then… Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. And as for the single-generation titles, there are various ones depending on the country.

Racially-wise I’m royalty as well, but my current position is that of a commoner. I think something might change if I get to Nether, but… I’ll know once I get there, so I put that aside.

The time now is… still a bit early. I think there were a few parts of that mythology picture book, so let’s try reading that. I already read the first volume, so I start the second...

Gods, being too powerful to act directly on the planet, have created Spirits.

Newly born Spirits have adjusted the planet in place of Gods.

The planet adjusted over the many eras, and abiding to Gods’ will, created living beings.

Gods have left for the Divine Realm and watch over the planet.

Which means that  Spirits are here in place of gods? Then it might be a good idea to avoid picking a fight with them.

Umm… there are four in total, so two more left.

In order to prevent other goddesses from fighting, Creall-sama gave them their own roles.

The youngest and most energetic, Sigrdrífa-sama received a role to watch over combat and victory.

The middle goddess who was calm and kind, Harvensis-sama received roles of benevolence, growth, nature and rest.

And Stellura-sama as the eldest, received the remaining, painful and hard, but important roles.

Governing over life and death, contracts and punishment.

The goddess holding the role of governing life and death needs to leave the Divine Realm and go elsewhere.

Stellura-sama has decided that this role cannot be held by the chief god, and left the divine realm.

Creall-sama granted Stellura-sama the role of the vice-chief god and a powerful role even among gods, of governing over space and time.

Having the power over space and time, although rarely, she is able to visit the Divine Realm.

It is possible that right now, the four gods are having tea time together.

Hm-mm...

From my real knowledge, it feels like Stellura-sama is based on something pretty insane, but in this game it doesn’t seem like she’s an evil god or something like that? And she seems to be getting along well with other gods, too. If this picture book is the last one… that is!

And if I’m not wrong, the official site said that Creall-sama has borrowed Stellura-sama’s power to summon us Outsiders to this world, so it should be alright...

Now, it’s sleep time. Let’s return the book to the shelf and ask.

“Is there just four volumes of this mythology picture book?”

“Indeed. You will not find anything else, even in the church.”

“Eh, really?”

“There are copies of books with more difficult wording, but the content is the same. It would be a problem if it was different, right?”

“Well… certainly so. Do gods get along even now?”

“I wonder. They aren’t bickering at the very least. We would feel the aftermath if that was the case.”

“So the fact nothing happens, is the proof of peace.”

“It seems so.”

I confirmed what I wanted to know, time to leave.

I do stretches in the inn, log out, and do stretches in real life before going to sleep.