Chapter 139.1

139 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 139

Let’s Enjoy Some Lumpfish Soup!

After entering the gear shop, Karen was drawn to the shelf where she had seen that “Piyoko” earlier.

“Piyoko” is a monster that lives in the dungeon in Nakasatsunai. What was sold at the gear shop was a stuffed animal-like toy.

Its belly felt soft, and when pressed lightly with the fingers, it would chirp with a “Piyoo” as air gets expelled from its beak.

It felt and sounded so cute that Karen just pushed the Piyoko’s belly many times.

“Piyoyo. Piyoyoyo!”

Karen used to be very curious about the Piyokos sold at a gear shop in Sapporo.

After a long time of not seeing stuffed animals, seeing the stuffed Piyoko fiercely captured Karen’s heart.

She had wanted one for herself.

But at that time, she didn’t have enough money to spend on stuffed monsters.

Besides, she was in the middle of a mission to rescue Oiso, so back then, Karem had no choice but to swallow her tears and return the Piyoko to the shelf.

But Karen now was different than she was back then.

She had enough money to buy her own Piyoko.

(I can finally get my own Piyoko!!)

Karen chose the one she liked best and went straight to the register.

After paying with her IC card, she left the store with the happiest face while hugging the paper bag that had her new Piyoko.

Looking extremely pleased, she took out the newly purchased Piyoko from the paper bag.

The fluffy Piyoko is finally mine!

Karen puffed up her chest in wild excitement.

“Piyoo!”

A cute chirp came out.

At that moment…

“…?”

The air around Karen has changed.

It felt like when a monster in a dungeon would direct its aggro towards her.

She didn’t understand what happened.

But Karen found herself bending her body as if she had been punched right in the stomach.

“…”

Karen looked around, but there was no suspicious shadow.

As she held her breath and tried to read the situation, the sharp and pointed sensation disappeared.

“…Huh? What?”

Since she didn’t know why that sharp and pointed sensation first appeared, she didn’t understand why it was gone already.

Completely confused, Karen stood there in shock.

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“Piyoyo…”

After smashing the black snake that appeared from Van’s ear with her “Scales” skill, Maat let out a sigh of relief.

The black-colored feathers did not allow the snake to leave.

Reacting to its evil power, the feathers silently crushed the snake.

Maat’s feathers were still attached to the man who now slept on the ground.

He had fainted because he was being crushed by the feathers.

The feathers attached to him had already regained a beautiful white color.

His life was not in danger.

If she let him lie down like this, he should wake up after some time.

However, this man was an acquaintance of Haruki, Maat’s master.

The relationship is different from that with the leader of the Self-Defense Force. If something were to go wrong with this man, Haruki could be saddened by it.

Just in case, Maat healed the man’s wounds with her “Healing” skill.

Maat had been quite upset about the snake getting away earlier, but fortunately  she was able to quickly detect its next host.

As a result, she was able to corner the snake this time, just as Maat imagined.

The snake would parasitize the most mentally unstable of those who had gained power in the dungeon.

The stronger the host, the stronger the “malice”.

You can either destroy the city directly, or you can incite humans to the path of self-destruction.

By the time that rampaging “malice” is stopped, it would have already caused considerable damage to humankind.

The man Maat assumed would be a host was physically strong enough to be of interest to that snake, and had a dangerous mental state.

It could be said that it was a perfect target for it.

However, the sprout of calamity was plucked out.

Then, its “real body” was completely crushed.

It would take a considerable amount of time for that “malice” to be born here in the future.

“Pii.”

With this, Maat was able to recover from her blunder.

Relieved, she took to the skies once again, and returned to Haruki.

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Based on the information obtained at the hotel’s front desk, Haruki and the others hurried to the Hakodate Morning Market.

The Morning Market was already crowded with people.

Which wasn’t surprising.

There was a temporary food handout in Hakodate. Citizens’ groups, including the Self-Defense Force, were providing meals free of charge there.

It was only natural that there were many citizens who wanted to partake in these handouts.

The food that was being handed out for free was, of course, a dish prepared from the rare species monster that Haruki and the Self-Defense Force defeated.

It was “Lumpfish soup”.

The lumpfish had already been butchered up and thrown into huge pots that would easily fit five grown men inside.

There were three of those pots in total. All of them had lumpfish soup in them.

“I’ve never had lumpfish soup before, is it yummy?”

“It’s the absolute best!”

Haruki replied to Karen with a hint of surprise in his voice.

Among all of the fish-based soups that Haruki used to enjoy, the lumpfish soup was as delicious as anglerfish soup.

To have never enjoyed such a delicacy! What a shame!

Karen, you definitely must try this lumpfish soup!”

In addition to the lumpfish, kelp and potatoes harvested in the neighborhood were also thrown into the pot.