Chapter 135

135

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 135

EX: Karaboshi Haruki’s Onion Field

Author’s note: This story is set just before Haruki headed for Sapporo.

On a certain day, Haruki stood in the kitchen, opened the underfloor storage and sighed.

“Oops. I’m all out of onions.”

The dungeon onions that he had stored in large quantities were gone.

The reason for their disappearance was simple. This is because Haruki ate too much of them.

The size of one onion from the dungeon was quite large, larger than the head of a baby, but Haruki could make short work of them in no time at all.

Once he started eating them, he wouldn’t stop. The onions from the dungeon were so incredibly delicious.

“Oh well. Guess I’ll go get some more.”

Haruki muttered those words as if he was going to harvest some from the vegetable garden, but he was actually heading for the dungeon.

Different monsters have run rampant across the many dungeons that suddenly appeared in Japan five years ago.

Naturally, those monsters were different from any creature on Earth. They were ferocious, savage, and strong enough to easily kill a person.

Being careless could prove to be deadly. Haruki was a little less nervous to go to such a place.

Which wasn’t surprising. Haruki had already grown to the point where he could easily clear the second floor of the Garage Dungeon.

Equipped with armor made for dungeons, Haruki headed to the second floor of the Garage Dungeon.

“Well!”

A smile appeared on Haruki’s face as he pulled out his short sword.

What he was going to do was to defeat some monsters. He was going to have a battle to the death with these life forms that kill humans. But now Haruki’s mind was all about roasted onions –today’s lunch.

Onions stood in Haruki’s way as he delved deeper into the dungeon.

Each of them were defeated in a single hit. Haruki processed them quickly and put them in his bag.

The onions attacked boldly, but they were poorly matched against Haruki. Someone like him, who was taught by Mr. Kitora from an early age and learned how to harvest various crops, couldn’t be afraid of being attacked by onions.

A little while after entering the dungeon…

Haruki, who had been harvesting –no, hunting down his favorite onions so far, suddenly stopped.

“…Hmm?”

Three onions stood before Haruki. The monsters weren’t attacking Haruki like they normally would.

Instead of attacking, the three of them were shivering as they huddled against each other.

Haruki took a step forward. Then, the onion monsters quivered and jumped.

A flower bloomed at the top of their heads as they jumped.

“Huh?”

Haruki was very confused by this.

Normally, monsters would attack humans. Even if a human were to be overwhelmingly stronger than them, they would still attack humans. They were such creatures.

However, the onion monsters in front of Haruki were now shaking instead of attacking Haruki.

It was as if they were screaming “Kyaaa!”, “Please let us go!”, and “He’s going to kill us!” out of sheer fear…

What scared them so much was Haruki –or human beings in general.

That was the first time Haruki saw something like that.

If a monster attacked, Haruki could fight without any reluctance. However, seeing them so frightened and getting close to each other made his fighting spirit disappear immediately. Even Haruki, who was on a vegetable harvesting frenzy, didn’t feel like harvesting them anymore.

(Hmm, are they trying to pull a trick on me?)

Were they planning to attack as soon as he dropped his guard? However, the onions seemed to be really scared. Haruki didn’t think they were acting.

(I feel that if I picked a fight with them would actually make me a bully.)

Haruki sighed and put his short sword away.

Then, the onions, which had been scared until then, looked at each other and dropped to the ground on all fours.

Each of them stretched their arms while touching the ground with their foreheads.

They were performing a dogeza –they prostrated themselves as if asking for mercy and forgiveness.

“Uuuhhh…”

They submitted themselves as if saying “Aha!”, “Thank you for sparing us!”, and “Thank God!”.

Haruki was amazed at the unexpected behavior of these onions, despite being in the middle of the dungeon.

Had his opponents turned out to be cunning monsters, Haruki, who had let his guard down greatly, would have been seriously injured by now, or even dead.

However, the onions had desperately rendered themselves prone against the ground, regardless of Haruki’s actions.

Haruki opened his mouth into an awkward smile.

“Okay, okay, I got it, please raise your heads.”

“Ooh!” “Mr. Adventurer is so kind!” “Thank you, thank you!”

As if saying so, the teary-eyed onions rubbed their hands together.

His opponents were monsters. They were enemies of mankind. He knew that well. However, their behavior completely deprived Haruki from any ill will towards them.

He already had a large amount of onions inside his bag. They would last him for a week.

Oh well, I guess I’m done for now.

Haruki turned his back on the onions and started walking toward the surface.

“…Hey.”

He stopped and looked back.

“Why are you guys following me?”

When he asked, a flower startledly bloomed from the corner at the back of the dungeon.

There was no need to think about what kind of flower it is. It was an onion.

Haruki was aware that the onions had been tailing him from the beginning. He hadn’t taken any action so far because he didn’t feel any hostility from them.

He had been wondering why on earth they were following him, but they didn’t do anything other than follow him from a distance.

Which is why Haruki asked them.

And the result was the three onions performing another dogeza.

“No no, I’m not angry or anything, so please raise your heads…”

“Really~?” “Mr. Adventurer is not a bad person, right?” “Uuhhh~”

The terrified onions continued to approach Haruki.

More than monsters, they looked like scared puppies.

“Why are you following me?”

“Why~?” “Mr. Adventurer is so kind…” “Yeah, yeah.”

The onions looked at each other and nodded, and then placed their hands together as they faced Haruki.

A glittering light seemed to be shining in their “eyes”.

The onions approach Haruki as if they were saying “Take us with you”, “Let’s go with Mr. Adventurer”, and “Yeah, yeah!”

“Uuuhhh…”

Monsters and humans were struggling for their lives against each other. But these onions’ behavior was that of a pet.

Even though he thinks he shouldn’t be fooled by them, Haruki was attracted to their loveliness.

(I don’t really want to bring these monsters back home with me. What should I do…?)

Haruki’s gaze heads for the buds that gradually extended from the head of the three onions, which had been on his mind for a while now.

Their buds bloomed when aroused. It was unclear if it had any effect. Haruki didn’t feel any changes, so it didn’t look like an attack.

(Are these flower buds a way for them to express their feelings, like a human’s face?)

A flash of light burst into Haruki’s mind, which was focused on the flower buds.

This is it!

There was no time like the present. Haruki immediately embraced the onions (when he hugged them, the buds of all three of them bloomed at the same time) and escaped from the dungeon. Then, he released the onions in the fallow land next to Haruki’s house.

It is a part of the land owned by Haruki, which was used for the vegetable garden before the Stampede occurred.

“From today onwards, this is going to be your home.”

“Here?” “We’ll live here?” “This is awesome!”

The three onions tilted their heads to the side.

“Yes. You can use this land as you see fit. But don’t go outside this. And you can’t attack humans. Can you promise me that?”

“Yes~” “Got it.” “Uh-huh.”

The onions nodded with glittering eyes.

“Well then. This place looks a bit sad, so how about we prepare the soil?”

With that said, Haruki first started dealing with the weeds that were growing everywhere as they pleased.

He readily pulled out horsetail and dandelion. The onions were watching, and soon started to imitate Haruki, pulling out the weeds just like he was.

As they pulled out the weeds, the onions would lose their balance and fall on their backs.

Then, they would get back up, shake their heads, rub themselves on the back of their head, and head back to the weeds once again.

Looking at this, Haruki started to think.

(If they seed, will they be able to produce onions in the fields next year?)

Their leaves would grow quickly in the summer, and the dragonflies would stay on their leaves in the fall. A vast onion field that inhales the scent of the earth…

Haruki hadn’t seen the prosperous onion field of the Kitora family since the Stampede. That was because Mr. Kitora’s wife had passed away.

Human lives weren’t the only thing lost due to the Stampede. All the onions, onion seedlings and the vegetable production had been lost as well.

(It used to be the both of them growing their vegetables, but now it’s just Mr. Kitora and I…)

Through Haruki’s efforts, Mr. Kitora may be able to create an onion field. With such a faint hope, Haruki set up a place for the onion monsters to live.

From that day onwards, people who passed in front of Haruki’s house were often surprised by the unknown creatures moving in the grass.

However, the appearance of those onions rolling around, chasing butterflies, and staring at the dragonflies…

“Ah, that Karaboshi kid seems to be doing yet another one of his eccentricities again… Even though we can’t see him. Uuhuhuhh~…”

…Would make them squint.