Chapter 72

After receiving a request from Mikazuchi, I spent the night in a frenzy of work. I prepared dozens of meals with a few others, and during the free moments after meals, I made the necessary potions using the materials I had collected during the day.

Just when I thought I could take a breath, various consultations came up.

-- I was asked to replenish arrows by one of the few archers...

-- Even acquaintances needed more potions due to a shortage of supplies...

-- An acquaintance's tamed young beast demanded better food, so I needed good advice...

-- Was there a good way to tame a young beast...

If I listed them, they would go on endlessly, but these were the issues I could handle.

For the archer, I made arrows using the materials I had, and the news of the arrows' strength spread, resolving one of the concerns about arrow refills, much to their delight.

For the potion shortage, I could only say, "Go collect the materials." If it was a standard potion, I could create it from a recipe, which didn't take much time. Of course, due to the consumption of MP and other resources, I couldn't make the requested amount all at once and had to take breaks.

For the young beast, I advised to be honest and feed it well. "Prepare good food? Pet it? Maintain an appropriate distance?"—these were light conversations. For those who couldn't immediately improve their food, I gave them a few loaves of bread I had made in the morning.

These consultations were handled as separate requests from Mikazuchi's, last night.

I finally got some personal time when everyone went hunting on the fifth day, in the afternoon.

I petted the young fox with my right hand and stroked Rui's neck with my left, taking a break.

"It's tough... I feel like all the requests are coming to me..."

"Can't be helped, right? Yun-kun is in a valuable production field... Besides, it seems that production jobs of the same type are popular in other base camps too."

While Magi was making weapons and listening to my complaints, she gave a light response. But that's not what I meant. Among the requests, direct or indirect, there were many that didn't seem to match my capabilities.

"Why is that? Why do they try to offer something other than the reward? They could ask a better production job, right?"

Indeed, among my requests, there were items like weapons and armor that seemed to be crafted by a master. Not as good as my own "Captain Volk's Longbow," but rare weapons and armor in different directions.

A certain longsword, for example, had effects like "Lower Magic Resistance" and "Lower Magic Defense," which seemed designed to kill mages.

It was far beyond my capabilities—besides, I don't use swords—so I politely took it and received food or unnecessary items like poison plants as rewards.

"Probably, the requester wanted to play with the young beast so much that they were willing to give up their sword. That must be it."

"Yun-kun doesn't have much desire. You even respond politely to people with ulterior motives."

"Please stop. I'm trying not to think about it!"

"But it's true. You don't have much desire. Or—your requested rewards are strange."

Is that so? The low-value plants, poisons, unnecessary accessories, and books dropped by unique mobs—these are the three points.

The plants are just to lighten the reward by taking the poisonous ones when collecting potion materials.

The unnecessary accessories are useful for reference in designing my own accessories.

And the books, since I have linguistics, I really want them.

By the way, I need four more books to complete the set, and the rare four that are hard to find have started to become premium, so I'm worried if I can get them. Also, I have a few duplicates of the same book.

"Are the rewards that strange?"

"Very strange. First, it's better to collect useful accessories rather than collect accessories for fun."

Highly designed accessories often include cursed items. I've collected about thirty, ranging from joke effects to instant death. A third of them are from Mikazuchi's requests, and the rest are treated like exorcisms or warding off evil.

"I like them, though. A headband that makes you say 'nya' at the end of sentences, ear cuffs that make dog barks after three steps, a necklace that plays a sad melody when you level up..."

I really like these funny accessories. They are excellent party goods, and last night, the one-shot performance party using them was a huge success.

But there are problems, and I want to complain.

"However, cursed accessories are too dangerous."

"Yeah, like death items and status effect items."

Death items are the ones that caused the black fox to go berserk. They can't be removed or controlled, making them extremely dangerous.

Another type is status effect accessories. They don't add or resist status effects.

They trigger bad statuses like poison, paralysis, sleep, curse, charm, confusion, faint, and anger.

While their performance is very high and excellent, if you fail a check once a minute, you receive a status effect level 3. Of course, status effect level 3 can be removed with items or time, but stopping in battle or suddenly attacking your allies is very dangerous.

Furthermore, the HP lost to poison and other effects doesn't recover naturally before the next check, making it a subtle nuisance.

The only saving grace is that they can be removed, unlike death items.

"But there are useful accessories. Look."

I pointed to a ring on my finger, a simple gemstone setting. It looks a bit disappointing, but it has the best performance among the accessories I've received as rewards.

Substitute Gemstone Ring [Accessory]

Additional Effect: [Substitute Gemstone]

It's not an accessory that changes stats, but the substitute gemstone effect is useful. The ring unconditionally takes the hit for you, depending on the rank of the gemstone set in the setting.

Since it's unconditional, both weak attacks and one-hit kills are nullified without damage, but the ability to prevent damage is sufficient.

Furthermore, if the gemstone is shattered, it can be replaced under certain conditions.

The rules are three:

1. The number of attacks that can be nullified depends on the gemstone's rank.

2. A gemstone that has nullified all attacks disappears.

3. Once a gemstone is set, it cannot be removed, and a new one cannot be set for the number of times the old one nullified attacks × one hour.

This special accessory is desired by rear-line players who want to minimize damage. I seem to have a strong connection with gemstones.

"But, the ring isn't effective now because there's no gemstone set."

"Well, I have a raw gemstone, so I can process it here."

I took a raw gemstone from my inventory and used the [Polishing] skill. The pebble in my hand turned into a small, translucent black and dark red gemstone that emitted light.

"Yun-kun has leveled up, huh? I'm happy for you."

"Thanks to my excellent teacher."

While joking with each other, Magi completed the short lance she was working on, put it away, and faced me for a break.

"So, how's the gemstone?"

"This is... a small garnet. It can only substitute once."

"Garnets can be found in the northern mountains."

"Garnets?"

"Yes, another name for garnet. They're beautiful. It's my birthstone for January."

"Is that so?"

Hearing that, I became interested. I picked up the stone and held it up to the sky. Although it's small, the contrast between black and red is quite beautiful.

While I was absentmindedly looking at the gemstone, the young fox started tapping my knee with its front paws, trying to get my attention.

At first, it was quite wary, but now it's become affectionate with me. Of course, I find it healing.

By the way, this young fox still doesn't get along with others and immediately runs to Rui. And Rui, who is not used to people, doesn't even let them get close, let alone touch her. In the past few days, anyone who tried to touch her impulsively was washed away by a water strike and had to cool their heads.

"What's wrong? Are you interested in this?"

I showed the garnet to the young fox. I compared the fox's fur and the gemstone. The glossy black fur with a hint of red is very similar to the garnet in my hand. This is probably a coincidence, but people tend to feel a sense of destiny in such coincidences.

I picked up the young fox and spoke to it.

"I've been so busy that I forgot to name you. I'll give you a name now, even if it's simple."

The young fox, still not understanding what I was talking about, tilted its head. I chuckled at its adorable expression and clearly announced its name.

"Your name is—Garnet."

"Y-Yun-kun!?"

At that moment, the young fox's red fur caught fire. The fire touched my hand, but Magi panicked, as it wasn't hot at all. This fire didn't hurt.

The fire quickly subsided, and the young fox, Garnet, looked at Magi's surprised face, as if to say, "What's wrong?" I couldn't help but laugh at the mismatch and whispered softly.

"Nice to meet you, Garnet."

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It's been a while since my last post. It's so hot. It's summer, and I'm exhausted. Everyone, make sure to stay hydrated.