Chapter 79

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Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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Amidst the cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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"Because, whether it's Alyosha or Lala, those clothes that look so light have all sorts of added effects. Of course, I do too," Viktor said.

"What!?"

"No, no, it's not that surprising."

In the dungeon, you can find armor with effects like durability and increased physical defense, and weapons that boost attack power. Most adventurers wear such items, and the stronger adventurers tend to have rare dungeon-produced armor and weapons. Even if not, the better adventurers spend more money on equipment, so whether they have good items or not is a sign of their skill and strength.

"Most novice adventurers have dangerous jobs but no proper equipment..."

"That's dangerous, isn't it!?"

"But, Aya, many people become adventurers because they have no other way to earn money. Do you think they can afford proper equipment?"

"That's..."

"With the little money they have, they buy a leather chest plate and a short sword, complete simple quests to build trust, buy better weapons and armor, take on more quests or explore dungeons, and rise up. That's the reality of being an adventurer."

What a harsh world.

Especially in places like Kikunoi, where there are no major industries, and no land or business to inherit, becoming an adventurer or a merchant is often the only choice.

No wonder young people keep leaving.

Kikunoi is still okay, but in poorer territories, young people keep leaving, and residents abandon their farmland and flee.

Neither too harsh nor too lenient, neither too tight nor too loose.

Ruling people is truly difficult.

But that's not the point.

"That's why I think selling cheap handkerchiefs with durability and increased physical defense is almost a charitable act."

I'm not sure about that.

The handkerchiefs I make don't circulate like that, and the ones I make for pocket money are bought by the master of Kikunoi's adventurer guild, Mr. Laurent, and distributed appropriately. I didn't really care what happened to them.

Maybe I should take a bit more interest from now on.

By the way, the elf archery set that Regulus and Kousuke received from Lala has a secret.

The bow is made of catalpa from the elf village and has a magic spell that changes its size as the owner grows, and it can even pierce through ghosts, which are incorporeal undead. The arrows return to the quiver unless they break, thanks to a magic spell.

The chest plate and gloves also have increased physical defense and magic power.

Maybe I should add spells for increased agility and durability to the armor and bow.

I also want to try adding fixed magic spells to the embroidery on the shirts, undergarments, pants, and pumpkin pants (drawers) worn under the armor. I want to see what happens when they are layered.

With the help of Viktor, who has the Appraisal Eye, I am currently embroidering various patterns on the shirts to confirm the added effects.

Incidentally, Regulus is the model. He is waiting to be dressed like a doll while reading a picture book.

Every time I move the needle, the open embroidery pattern book tells me things like, "The hummingbird pattern increases agility" and "The monkey pattern makes it easier to gather magic essence," but the voice is a bit rough.

Still, it's a great pattern book, as it gives precise information when I need it, just like Mr. Romanov's mother's book.

After the last stitch and finishing the thread, the embroidery for waterproofing on the drawers is complete. I made it waterproof because Regulus is only four years old, or rather, three years and eleven months. If he gets scared in the dungeon and wets himself, this will prevent him from getting soaked.

Chest plate, shirt, tank top-like undergarment, pants, and drawers.

I added increased physical defense to all of them, and to the shirt, I added agility and magic power. To the tank top, I added durability and magic power. To the pants, I added agility and waterproofing. To the drawers, I added durability and waterproofing.

I handed the adventurer's outfit to the chick, and he quickly changed into it.

"Does it fit?"

"Yes, it fits."

He couldn't put on the chest plate by himself, so I helped him, but he managed to change into the rest by himself. He puffed out his chest and said, "Funs!" to Viktor, who applauded him and said, "Good job, Leitan."

After looking Regulus over from head to toe a few times, Viktor sighed.

"Ah... I kind of knew, but what should we do? The physical defense is high, and there's a weapon-breaking effect. Other effects have also changed... the waterproofing has become absorbent and waterproof, and the magic power increase has become magic absorption... The effects are significantly enhanced when layered."

"Um... so, what does that mean?"

"Your adventurer's outfit is as good as or better than armor forged by a master craftsman. By the way, the weapon-breaking effect means that if you're stabbed with a spear, the spear's tip will break, or if you're cut with a sword, the sword will break."

"Whoa!?"

I nearly dropped my jaw as Viktor shrugged.

Well, I thought I was better at imbuing spells than casting attack spells, but I didn't expect it to be this powerful when layered.

Wow, this is scary.

"By the way, are there any monsters in Kikunoi's dungeon that can eat through this?"

"Hmm, I can't say for sure that there aren't any. Accidents can happen in adventures. If we don't consider that, I can say there aren't any. Moreover, the difficulty of defeating the monsters in Kikunoi's dungeon is lower than Tala, your pet. As long as you have Tala, intelligent monsters won't come near."

"Really!? Tala is that strong!?"

"Of course. Tala is the natural enemy of the bane wasps and giant poison moths, which are among the most difficult monsters to defeat in Kikunoi's dungeon. If you release a tarantula near a bane wasp nest, it will destroy the entire nest."

"Wow, bane wasp honey is a specialty of the Kikunoi household! They can't all be destroyed, absolutely not! No destruction, yes to neither killing nor harming!"

"Aya, you can be quite ruthless sometimes."

Honey is a valuable specialty, so of course, it needs to be protected. But if they oppress humans, that would be a problem.

Coexistence would be ideal, but it's not right to exterminate them just because it's not possible.

Anyway, putting that aside.

I now know that when layered, the effects of each imbued spell are compounded. So, I'll make an adventurer's set for Kousuke as well, not just Regulus.

I'll make one for myself too, but I'm not as good at sports as the two of them, so I'm not sure what to do.

While I was thinking, Regulus, who had taken off his pants, held out his drawers and said, "Lei, I want a chick!"

"Draw... Oh, you want a chick embroidered?"

"Big brother likes chicks, so Lei likes chicks too!"

How cute.

There was a blank space on the back pocket of the pants, so I thought I'd put a chick there.

When I took the pants with a "Hmm!" he squatted down in his drawers, probably eager to see the embroidery. When children wear drawers, their bottoms puff up and look like pumpkins, ducks, or chicks, which is very cute.

"You can only call drawers 'pumpkin pants' until you're about Aya's age. When you grow up, it's not cute at all."

As I was enjoying the moment, Viktor sighed and shook his head.

"When you start growing, drawers just look like short pants and aren't interesting at all."

What did he just say?

Did he just say that even adults like Viktor wear drawers?

I was stunned, and Viktor tilted his head and asked, "Did I say something strange?"

Wait, hold on.

This country, or rather, this world, has clothing very similar to the "French Revolution" era.

Back then, drawers and similar types of undergarments were commonly used.

So, maybe...

"Everyone wears pumpkin pants..."

What a surprise!

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