Chapter 78

After starting the hunt for the Black Oaks, several hours had passed. We had already hunted down about five of them, but we still hadn't obtained any magic stones.

I wondered if the problem was with the way we were defeating them, or if there was something else we were missing, but in the end, I couldn't figure it out, and time just kept passing.

"Ookura, how many more do we need to hunt?"

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry, but please bear with us a little longer."

For ordinary adventurers, hunting five Black Oaks in a day would be more than enough. Even when I and Noll were new adventurers, we would have stopped hunting after that. However, we couldn't just give up and say, "We didn't get any results," and call it a day. This was a rare opportunity, and we had to figure out the mystery of the magic stones.

"Well, I don't mind... but I'm getting pretty tired, so can we take a break?"

"Yes, I'm really sorry..."

"Don't apologize so much. We still have time, you know."

Thanks to starting the hunt early in the morning, it was only around noon. We still had time before the sun set, but considering we had to walk back, we couldn't take it too easy.

"Still, Estelle's support magic is really amazing. I never thought we could defeat Black Oaks so easily."

"That's right. It feels like a dream that we can hunt them."

"I wish we had a mage in our party too."

"Hehe, you can praise me more if you want."

Realizing the power of Estelle's support magic after fighting the Black Oaks, Grin and the others were showering her with compliments. Her specialty is attack magic, but her support magic is strong enough on its own.

"Phew... still, what's going on here?"

"Hmm... it seems that just forming a party isn't enough."

We decided to take a break. During this time, we discussed with Grin and the others what we might be missing. Since we weren't doing anything particularly special, the conditions shouldn't be too numerous. If forming a party isn't enough, we must be missing some other conditions... but we had no idea what they were.

"Maybe we can't get the magic stones unless we defeat them ourselves?"

"But isn't it too early to jump to conclusions? Shouldn't we think about it a bit more before deciding?"

It was possible that only Noll, who was summoned by the gacha summon stone, and I could obtain the magic stones by defeating them. If that were the case, there would be nothing we could do. No matter how much we thought about it, there would be no solution.

"But... if we're not meeting the conditions, what else could it be?"

"That's what I'm wondering..."

"Is there any difference between us and Grin and the others?"

The four of us pondered, but the conversation didn't seem to be progressing at all.

"...Rare species, party... difference... Ah!"

Just when I thought we were out of options, Noll, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly spoke up.

"There's something we haven't tried yet!"

"Really?!"

I was surprised that Noll had come up with something. He occasionally had good ideas. This might be promising.

"We all have something that they don't!"

"Stop being so dramatic and tell us already."

Noll sounded proud because he was the first to notice. His mouth was probably curled up, and under his helm, he was definitely smirking. I wanted to stretch his cheeks, but it would be too cruel to do that after he had just figured it out, so I held back.

"That's... gacha equipment!"

"What? ...Now that I think about it, that makes sense."

"We should have considered this from the start."

Noll pointed at me confidently. That's right... we all had gacha equipment, which Grin and the others didn't. We had all been wearing gacha equipment from the beginning, so we hadn't thought about it.

"Um... in that case, we need to give gacha equipment to Grin and the others, right?"

"That's right. But, we need to figure out if it's the weapons or the accessories that matter. We need to confirm if they need to use gacha weapons to deliver the final blow or if just wearing the equipment is enough."

It was good to know the cause, but giving gacha equipment to others... Well, SR should be fine. We also needed to confirm if they needed to use gacha weapons to deliver the final blow or if just wearing the equipment was enough. This would affect which items we gave to other adventurers.

If it was weapons, we would need to give them something equivalent to or better than what they already had. We couldn't just give them unfamiliar weapons, so we would need to prepare dedicated items. However, if accessories were enough, that would be much easier. We could only hope that just wearing the equipment was enough.

"Let's lend weapons to the beginners and give accessories to Grin. That should be safe."

"Right. That sounds reasonable."

Since we weren't sure, we decided to try both. We would give rings to Grin, who already had decent weapons, and weapons to the beginners, Almire and the others. This shouldn't seem too unnatural... hopefully.

"Sorry."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Once the break is over, can you wear this equipment and hunt with us?"

We immediately went to Grin and the others to give them the equipment. The ring I gave to Grin was a Guardian Ring that increased defense.

"What's this ring?"

"This is a magical item made by Estelle. We want to test its effectiveness, so please use it."

"Wow, this is a magic tool!? Can I really borrow such a valuable item?"

Grin looked at the ring curiously, so I explained why I was giving it to him. There are decorative items that mages imbue with power, so I said Estelle made it. A new term, "magic tool," came up, but I didn't know much about it, so I decided to let it slide. I would ask someone later...

"Yes, and Almire and the others, please use these weapons."

"Such fine weapons? Can we really borrow them!?"

"Wow, these are much longer and sturdier than mine."

"Use them as if they were your own."

I gave Almire and Camilla a gacha iron sword and an iron spear, respectively. I had disposed of a lot of R items in the House Extension, but it was a relief that these were still around. Ganz had given his seal of approval to gacha weapons, saying they were of good quality. Compared to the weapons the beginners had, these should be of equal or slightly better quality. They were surprised, so there shouldn't be any problems.

"...Ookura, where did you get those weapons? You didn't have them when you came here, right?"

"Ah... Estelle, right. This is also thanks to Estelle's magic, which can store items in a bag!"

"Wow, mages are really amazing. They can do such things?"

Grin looked at me suspiciously when I brought out the sword and spear. I quickly said it was thanks to Estelle's magic, and he seemed to accept it. That was close... I didn't bring them out in front of him, but suddenly appearing with a sword and spear would be suspicious. It was a relief that I could get away with it by saying it was magic...

"Phew... that was close..."

"Big brother, most of the time, when something goes wrong, it's my fault, isn't it?"

"No, really, I'm sorry. Saying it's thanks to a mage usually works... but I'll only do it when it's really necessary."

"Sure, that's fine. But if you overdo it, you might be suspected, so only use it when you really need to."

This time, I had pushed the blame onto Estelle, so she was looking at me with a disappointed expression. I really felt bad. This method of avoiding suspicion was convenient, but if I overused it, it might backfire when talking to someone who knew about magic. I should look into magic in more detail, especially after the mention of the magic tool earlier.

"Alright, let's get back to it!"

"Yes!"

"Okay!"

Grin and the others, who had received the equipment from me, were ready to start hunting again. I would have liked to give them stronger equipment, but there were no suitable SR items. SSR and above were too powerful to just hand over...

"Alright, let's go."

"Okay!"

We followed Grin and the others and started hunting again. After a while, another Black Oak appeared from deep in the forest. We dealt with the surrounding goblins as before, and Grin and the others took on the Black Oak. Please... succeed this time! If this fails, I won't have any other ideas.

I watched Grin and the others defeat the Black Oak, staring at my phone as if in prayer. They took turns attacking, and finally, Camilla's spear pierced the oak's chest, causing it to fall forward and turn into particles of light. Come on, now...

"O... Oh! It's here, the magic stone is here!"

"Hehe, I knew my hunch was right!"

My phone vibrated, and a magic stone appeared in it. Noll seemed very satisfied that his guess was correct. We did it... we finally figured out the conditions to obtain the magic stones! This should make our gacha life much easier from now on!

"Wow, it worked even when Grin delivered the final blow. So, as long as they have gacha equipment, they can get the magic stones."

"Then we can use the method Noll and the others suggested."

This time, we asked Grin to deliver the final blow and defeated another Black Oak. The result was the same, and another magic stone appeared in my phone. So, the condition is to wear gacha equipment.

"Hmm..."

"Is something wrong, Estelle?"

We were all happy that we had figured out the conditions, but Estelle looked worried.

"What's wrong? You suggested this, but you don't seem very happy..."

"I know, but I didn't expect there to be so many conditions. I'm a bit worried if we can manage it."

"Well, now that we know the conditions, we can take our time to figure it out."

"...You're right."

The conditions were: defeat a rare species, form a party with me, and wear gacha equipment. Could we manage this? Could we really manage this?