Chapter 69

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After defeating the Orc, I turned to thank Kuudere-san, who had supported me with magic.

"Thank you, Kuudere-san. I couldn't have made it without you."

"Well, I'm not sure if 'you're welcome' is the right response. It didn't seem like you really needed support, but doing nothing at all would have been strange. Was it unnecessary help?"

"No, it wasn't. Your support gave me the final push I needed."

"Oh, that's good to hear."

Kuudere-san, who had looked a bit uneasy, now relaxed. The support had been given in a situation where we hadn't coordinated well. It could have easily turned into friendly fire. She must have been worried about whether her support was effective.

"But still, I think there's a problem with our coordination, right?"

"Yeah... I agree. I thought the same thing during this battle. The timing of the support and all."

"Exactly..."

When I indirectly complained about the timing of the support, Kuudere-san's tone of voice dropped. She seemed to be as concerned as I was about the way we had inadvertently split our forces and the lack of proper communication during the support attack. In this battle, there was no coordination at all.

"Because our individual combat abilities are high, we haven't really fought monsters together with coordination until now..."

"Maybe it was fine until now, but considering the future, we need to improve our coordination early on..."

"Yeah. Enhancing our coordination during battles is a challenge we need to tackle from now on."

"Daiki."

While Kuudere-san and I were talking, Yuzi walked up to us. He had apparently been listening to our conversation.

"This battle, we won, but as a party battle, it was a failure, right?"

"Yeah... that's true."

"Indeed. This boss battle was manageable because the monster was only as strong as we could handle individually, but considering the monsters we'll face in the future, especially the boss-class ones, enhancing our coordination is essential."

Kuudere-san and I nodded silently in agreement with Yuzi's words. He was right. This time, the lack of coordination didn't cause a problem, but in a party battle, a lack of coordination among members can be fatal.

"Well, let's save the reflection for after we leave the dungeon. We're already running late, and we need to skin the monsters before their bodies disappear."

I checked my watch at Yuzi's reminder. It had been about 15 minutes since the boss battle started.

"Right. It would be a waste if we defeated the monsters and their bodies disappeared before we could skin them. Wait a moment, I'll do it right away."

Kuudere-san took out a skinning knife and stabbed it into the nearby Big Bear's corpse. The Big Bear's body disappeared, leaving behind a chunk of meat and a vial of liquid.

"Kuudere-kun, I'll go skin the remaining monsters. Can you appraise the contents of this vial for me?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks."

Kuudere-san handed me the drop items and, with her skinning knife in hand, headed towards the remaining Big Bears and Orcs. She gave the vial to Yuzi, wrapped the bear meat in plastic wrap from her spatial storage, and then took the vial back from Yuzi. I cast an appraisal spell on the vial, which seemed familiar.

"Hmm, just as I thought."

"Huh? What is it, Daiki? Did you find something strange?"

"It's a High Recovery Potion. Basically, it's a reward for the boss battle."

"A High Recovery Potion..."

It's more powerful than the Intermediate Recovery Potion I used on Shinohara-san and can even restore physical damage unless it's congenital. It's listed in the guild's item trading list, but it's a super high-end item worth over 10 million yen. It's always in short supply, and the chances of buying one are said to be as slim as winning the lottery.

"Considering the future, this will definitely cause a stir when we cash it in, right?"

"Yeah, that's probably true..."

Yuzi's concern was justified. While the potion will be appraised at the headquarters, so there won't be a fuss at the local window, we will definitely receive a letter urging us to sell it. If word gets out that we have a High Recovery Potion, people who want to buy it might come looking for us.

"Considering the future, it might be better to keep it rather than sell it..."

"Having a High Recovery Potion can be a good excuse if we encounter a situation like what happened with Shinohara-san."

"Considering the drawbacks of not selling it, the option to let it go isn't entirely out of the question..."

"Yeah. But it seems a bit wasteful to use it as fertilizer for my spatial storage."

I rolled the High Recovery Potion in my hand. It's a tricky item to handle.

While Yuzi and I were discussing how to handle the High Recovery Potion, Kuudere-san returned with the drop items she had collected.

"What are you two discussing so intensely?"

"Ah, Kuudere-san. Just a bit of brainstorming. More importantly, are you done with the collection?"

"Yes. I also have some items I want you to appraise."

Kuudere-san handed me the drop items she wanted me to appraise: a red gem about the size of a marble and a knife similar to a chef's knife.

"The red gem is from the Orc, and the knife is from the Big Bear."

While she explained the drop items, I handed her the plastic wrap.

"Got it. Let me appraise them."

Kuudere-san started wrapping the bear and ogre meat with the plastic wrap. I began with the red gem from the Orc.

"Ah, just as I thought..."

The appraisal result of the red gem was, in a way, as expected.

"Hmm? Just as you thought?"

"It's a type of magic item... a Pass Key."

"A Pass Key..."

Yuzi stared at the red gem in my hand. I held it between my fingers to make it easier for both of them to see and explained its effect.

"If you insert this into the indentation on the relief at the entrance, the door will open, and no Orcs will appear."

"That's convenient."

"Kuudere-san, is this a one-time use item, or can it be used multiple times?"

"It seems it can be used multiple times."

"Wow..."

I handed the red gem to Kuudere-san, who had finished wrapping the meat, and stored the meat and plastic wrap in my spatial storage. Kuudere-san held the red gem up to the light and observed it with Yuzi.

"Alright, let's appraise the next item."

While they were absorbed in the red gem, I cast an appraisal spell on the chef's knife-like knife. When the result came up, a small smile naturally appeared on my face.

"Kuudere-san, just a moment..."

"Kuudere-kun, what is it?"

I called out to Kuudere-san, who was observing the red gem. Did she look a bit displeased? Probably just my imagination.

"This knife... it's a magic item."

"Really?"

"It's called an Iron Knife. The effect is 'Disassemble II,' which is an upgraded version of the skinning knife you have."

Kuudere-san handed the red gem to Yuzi and leaned in closer to me.

"Really?"

"Yeah. The effect is the same as the skinning knife you have now. The difference is that it increases the number of drop items you get when disassembling monsters... it increases the amount of meat you can skin."

"..."

Kuudere-san looked at the iron skinning knife in my hand with a slightly resentful gaze. While we haven't tested it, if we had gotten this knife earlier, collecting the orc ingredients would have been a bit easier.

"For now, I'll give this to you, Kuudere-san. Yuzi, is that okay?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"...Thank you."

When I handed the skinning knife to Kuudere-san, she observed it silently for a few seconds, sighed softly, and wrapped it in a towel before putting it in her bag.

After appraising the drop items, we collected the chemical lights and LED floodlights we had set up.

"Alright, we're done with the cleanup. Let's head back?"

"Sure."

"Yes."

"Still... including the break and cleanup, the boss battle took about 30 minutes..."

As we walked towards the entrance, I checked my watch and muttered to myself. It was over surprisingly quickly, I guess.

"30 minutes... if we had better coordination, we could have finished it even faster, right?"

"The battle itself didn't take that long. It was more the time spent collecting drop items and cleaning up."

Kuudere-san was right. We should consider learning light-source magic. The automatic collection of drop items aside, it would have been more convenient to have a light-source spell in a wide space like this. The LED lights were sufficient in the relatively narrow corridors, but setting up a light source to illuminate a large area was a bit cumbersome. We were lucky to have time to set up the floodlights this time, but if the battle had started the moment we entered the room, we would have had to fight with insufficient lighting. In a chaotic battle like before, it could have been a bit problematic.

"Luckily, we've gotten a few light-source skill scrolls from the Slime Dungeon, and everyone's level has gone up, so we have some EP to spare... what do you think?"

I stopped and called out to the two of them, who also stopped.

"Would you consider learning light-source magic? This battle showed that in a wide space, our current equipment isn't quite sufficient."

While moving, it's fine to save EP, but during battles, we need a quick way to illuminate the area. The chemical lights were sufficient for the corridors, but in a wide space like this, the light was insufficient.

"Sure, that's a good idea. We had time to set up the floodlights this time, but we might not always have that luxury."

"Right. In a wide space like this, the chemical lights were a bit dim and not very effective."

Both of them seemed to agree with my suggestion. I took out the skill scrolls from my spatial storage and handed one to each of them.

"Here, these are the light-source magic skill scrolls."

"Got it."

"Thanks."

We immediately opened the skill scrolls and learned the light-source magic. To confirm, I cast an appraisal spell on both of them, and the word "Light" appeared in their status.

"Alright, I'll try it. Daiki, watch how much EP it consumes."

"Got it. Go ahead."

"Alright... Light!"

Yuzi extended his right hand, took a deep breath, and spoke the trigger word. A light orb about the size of a baseball appeared in his palm. However...

"It's not very bright..."

"Yeah... about the size of a small light bulb?"

"Right... Aohase-kun, can you make multiple orbs at once?"

"Multiple? Let me try... no, it's not possible. At my current level, this one orb is the limit."

Yuzi tried to make multiple orbs at once, but it seemed impossible. It's probably due to his lack of proficiency.

"Yuzi, can you release it from your hand?"

"..."

When Yuzi moved his hand left and right, the light orb moved with it. It was dim, couldn't be multiplied, and couldn't be released... it was still in the initial, unskilled state, making it difficult to use.

"Well, it needs practice. Fortunately, it's a skill we can practice at home, so let's each work on improving our proficiency."

"Right."

"True. It's similar to when we learned the cleaning skill, so this result is expected."

"..."

We all sighed in unison.

"Let's head back."

We left the boss room, a bit dejected, heading towards the entrance.

Four hours later, carrying a cooler bag filled with drop items, we emerged from the dungeon, about 30 minutes past our scheduled return time. It was already getting dark outside, but the area around the dungeon was still bustling with explorers.

"Phew, we're finally out."

"Yeah. In the dungeon, you have to stay on guard all the time, so breaks aren't really breaks."

"Right. You're always thinking about when the next monster might attack, so you can't really relax."

I stretched my arms, and Yuzi and Kuudere-san also stretched their bodies. The extended exploration time meant more time under tension, leading to more mental fatigue than physical.

"This boss battle probably contributed to why we feel more tired than usual."

"True. We can't stay here forever, so let's quickly change and head back."

"Agreed. I want to take a shower, even though the skill cleans the dirt."

"Alright, meet at our usual spot when you're done."

"Got it. See you later."

Kuudere-san headed towards the women's changing room.

"Alright, let's go, too?"

"Sure. I want to take a shower too."

"Right."

Let's take a bath after work... well, a shower, but it'll do.

Yuzi and I walked towards the changing room with somewhat tired steps.

The reward for clearing the boss battle is a bit luxurious.

However, it's also a bit of a hassle in our current situation.