Chapter 136

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 136

30 Chapters to go. Thank you for all those who supported the novel so far. We are near the end

Let’s Report the Successful Completion of Our Request!

Maat was looking down at the unclean man.

Several of her feathers were clinging to his body.

It had been these feathers which had caused the man to fall to the ground.

Feathers grew heavier with sin.

And as long as the sins were within a certain range, the feathers would remain white.

But if they exceeded that range, they would turn completely black.

The blackened feathers would grow heavy in order to pin the sinner down.

At worst, the weight of the feathers could crush the sinner.

It was the weight of one’s own sins what would crush oneself.

This was the power of Maat’s special skill, “Scales”.

The color of the feathers clinging to Yoshioka’s body was gray. Not jet black.

In other words, he wasn’t the absolute worst there was.

He was working earnestly, all while thinking about Hakodate first and foremost.

He managed to run a Self-Defense Force on such a low budget, and was proud to rely on it to protect the citizens of Hakodate.

The direction of his feelings about Hakodate was a little different from the others.

But even then, he had the same feelings as any member of both the Self-Defense Force and the City Council.

He turned out to be evil simply because he started to put too much thought into it.

His thoughts had gone too far –the feathers took action and became something too heavy for his body to bear.

“…Piyuuu”

Maat squinted when she saw something crawling out of one of Yoshioka’s ears.

What came out was completely black.

A jet-black snake.

It crawled out of Yoshioka’s ear.

Then, it turned the two purple eyes on its black head toward Maat.

A weak person would feel a pressure in their heart and have difficulty breathing. The eyes of the snake were filled with such intense hatred.

It also had a terrible stench.

Maat held her wings in front of her, covering her nose.

This snake was a malicious embodiment.

It was a concept that should not be incarnated.

So why was it here?

When that malicious embodiment had completely crawled out of Yoshioka’s body, the color fell off from the feathers that were crushing Yoshioka’s body.

All they had now was just a little shade of grey.

His strength would be enough to crawl back to his feet.

After all, it seemed that the feathers were reacting to the malicious incarnation that had come out of Yoshioka, and not to Yoshioka himself.

Maat reached out and shot her feathers once again.

However, the snake quickly avoided the feathers.

It repeatedly moved from the wall to the ceiling as if to narrow in on Maat, and went around behind her..

“–Piii!”

An impatient chirp leaked from Maat’s beak.

Looking back in a hurry, she saw that the snake had already squirmed its body into the gap in the door.

Half of its body already seemed to have left the room.

Maat immediately tried to follow the snake.

“Pii!?”

However, Maat couldn’t get through those gaps.

She couldn’t even open the door. Someone as tiny as Maat could never grab a doorknob sized to fit a human hand.

She tried to move it by standing on the knob, but it wouldn’t budge.

This is bad, this is bad.

In front of the door, the panicked Maat spun around.

Meanwhile, the jet-black snake disappeared completely behind the door.

If left to its own devices, that snake would go about spreading malicious intent.

Before that happens, I have to do something about it.

“Piichichiii!!”

Maat jumped out in a hurry from the slightly open window and fluttered into the sky.

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

Shortly after leaving the headquarters, Maat did a u-turn and returned to Haruki.

After roosting on his shoulder, she immediately sneaked into Haruki’s feather necklace.

Was this the same feeling of being wrapped in a parent bird?

Haruki’s feather ring had completely replaced Maat’s bed.

Haruki and his colleagues then headed to the armor store, and Kagemitsu went on to report the request status to the clerk.

While waiting, Haruki checked the stock of the Hakodate armor store.

Would the number of items be the same as Sapporo?

However, the quality is a little better than the armor oriented for beginners.

There were some sets of high-class armor, but they were just for showcase.

With a dungeon that only went down to the 5th floor, the armor store couldn’t expect to sell equipment of too high of a quality.

Even so, they had armor up to the middle-level available for sale.

Their short swords were entry-level only. It was a bit sad, but it couldn’t be helped because they weren’t as popular.

Haruki went around the shelves with middle-level armor.

I want to upgrade my gear soon…

He was planning to get new armor, but he wasn’t looking to replace his arm or leg guards.

At this rate, only his armor might become stronger.

However, even if only the armor is strong, it won’t be very balanced if the rest of his gear was weaker.

Haruki was now at a level where he could easily defeat Werewolves.

The gear on his arms and legs were entry-level “Ichi” series.

It was a good time to exchange them for a middle-level “Ichi”.

Hand guards were directly linked to weapon handling.

The better the quality of that type of armor, the closer to being bare-handed they would feel, the higher the defense value, and the better the grip.

Especially grip friction improved grip strength.

As the grip strength increased, so would the attack power.

Although rarely on the spotlight, hand armor was an important piece of offensive gear.

Foot armor was directly linked to agility.

The higher the quality, the less defensive, but the kickback during sudden braking, and the more efficiently the force would be transmitted to the ground.

(What kind of armor should I get…?)

Haruki was prioritizing checking out the gear with colors that would attract people’s eyes, such as bright red and bright blue.

“U-Umm… Mr. Air?”

A voice was heard from behind, and Haruki looked up from the shelf.

The one that had called out to him had been the store’s clerk.

It looked like Kagemitsu had finished reporting the request’s completion, since he and the other team members were browsing the store.

“Umm, what is it?”

“Ah, yes. Umm… Are you looking to buy something?”

The clerk seemed frightened as she asked Haruki.

Why are you so scared?  Haruki tilted his head.

“Well, yes. I’m looking for arm and leg guards.”

“I-In that case…”

(Oh?)

Was there any gear that she would recommend?

Haruki was filled with expectations about what the clerk would suggest, but…

“I’m so sorry!”

…He only received apologies from her.

“Huh? Why are you apologizing?”

“Please, please take your business to Yuzuki’s shop! Otherwise, she’ll…”

She was trembling.

I see.

Haruki had a feeling about what this clerk was so scared of.

And that was probably the reason why she had talked to Haruki first, instead of Team Aerial, the top team in Hokkaido

She must have been threatened by Akane.

That’s just how Akane was. She must have told her something like “If you rob me of my customers, I’m going to end you!!”

Should I buy something at this armor store in Hakodate in order to piss Akane off? That also looks interesting.

But if I do so, Akane may cause trouble to the clerk here.

Haruki had no choice but to accept the clerk’s suggestion because it was hard to put up with Akane’s rashness.

“V-Very well! I’ll let Yuzuki know about this, then!!”

“Ah, wait, that won’t be necessary–”

The clerk’s fear disappeared suddenly, and with a smile, returned to the counter with a short run without hearing Haruki’s words.

“You don’t need to do that…”

Yes, Haruki wanted new armor, but he hadn’t decided what exactly to buy yet.

Akane would definitely provide the armor he’d like to buy, but he wasn’t in a hurry to let Akane know that he’d be buying something from her.

Besides, this is Akane we’re talking about.

She would probably not be able to sleep at night if you tell her “Haruki is going to buy armor from you.”

She was such an anxious person.

However, even if she were to get so excited that she wouldn’t be able to sleep, this was still Akane.

Even if she can’t sleep, she was likely to be most excited about doing business.

He didn’t have to worry about her at all.

While looking at the clerk who sighed with relief as she held the phone receiver next to her ear, Haruki said “Oh, well”, and abandoned his thoughts about his future business with Akane in K town.