Chapter 143.1

143 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 143

Let’s Enjoy Some Mountain Wasabi!

“Umm, Karaboshi?”

“…”

“Karaboshi!?”

“Huwhah!?”

Haruki’s shoulders shook after hearing his name being called so close to his ear.

“What is it, Karen? You surprised me!”

“What is it? How long do you intend to keep on hunting?”

“Ah, umm, until dusk, I guess?”

Haruki looked at his analog wristwatch.

According to it, it was still 4:30.

Akane’s store was on summer business hours, so he could still allow himself to hunt until around 5:30.

“…Dusk is long gone.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Dusk already happened 12 hours ago!”

“…Whaaaaaaaat!?”

Haruki hurriedly checked his wristwatch again, but since it was analog, it wouldn’t specify if it was AM or PM.

Now that you mention it…

His blood quickly started to flow down from his head.

As soon as he broke his focus, his body began to scream due to extreme fatigue.

His stomach complained as if it had been empty for days.

“Sorry…”

“Really now.”

Karen puffed up her cheeks and folded her arms.

Haruki tried to get back on Karen’s good books by explaining himself.

“Ah, Karen… You know how I act impulsively sometimes, so feel free to restrain me physically if needed…”

“Yeah… That’s what I’ve been doing up until now, but…”

There was an awkward smile on Karen’s face.

“I was so absorbed in practicing my non-attribute magic… When I realized, it was already time for Akane-san’s shop to close, so I thought I would hunt until it got it right… And then it became this late…”

“I-I see…”

Apparently, Karen couldn’t bring herself to stop fighting the Mountain Wasabis either.

Of course, her goal was completely different from Haruki, who had simply surrendered himself to his appetite.

(Maybe it’s my fault that Karen ended up losing track of the time while hunting?)

Was he having some sort of negative influence on Karen?

Haruki reflected on his rashness with that idea in his mind.

The reason why Karen couldn’t stop the rampaging Haruki was because she felt that she absolutely had to improve her skill with non-attribute magic as soon as possible.

She couldn’t use her lightning to attack the Mountain Wasabis.

So she had to resort to her non-attribute magic, but its power was considerably lower compared to her lightning strikes.

Other monsters similar to those Mountain Wasabis, who couldn’t be defeated with lightning magic, could appear in the future.

If that were to happen, if she didn’t have a strong non-attribute magic to damage those monsters with, she might end up feeling like she was nothing but a dead weight.

Karen wanted to never feel like a burden to Haruki ever again.

(Of course, Haruki wouldn’t call her a burden, but still…)

In order to increase the damage efficiency of her non-attribute magic, Karen fired her spells one after another, targeting any Mountain Wasabi that would be lured in by the shining on Haruki’s mask.

(Why do monsters draw nearer whenever my mask shines?)

After unleashing tens, hundreds of spells, Karen finally began to get the hang of it.

It was still rather vague, had no shape, and would disappear easily if she were to lose her focus.

That’s why Karen unleashed spell after spell, so as to not lose her focus.

She didn’t have any time to think about anything else.

“Well, shall we head back, then?”

“Yeah.”

Haruki and the others turned around and started to walk out of the woods.

Even though he was so absorbed in his hunt, Haruki still knew how to find his way back to the gate.

That’s because Haruki and the others hadn’t really gone that deep into the forest.

In spring, tara sprouts, bracken, ainu leeks, and bamboo sprouts.

In autumn, boribori shrooms, hiratake, and hanaiguchi.

Haruki would often go to the mountains in order to pick up various roots and mushrooms.

At that time, if he were to get absorbed in the fact that there were a lot of wild plants and walk too deep into the woods, he could easily lose his way back, and even encounter brown bears.

No matter how immersed you get while hunting or foraging, don’t go too deep into the forest.

That was the most important thing to know when entering the mountains of Hokkaido.

Of course, Haruki was aware of that knowledge as well.

He had been trained by his neighbor, Mr. Kitora, from an early age.

“Many creatures live in the forest. If brown bears were to come to our town, everyone would make a fuss, right? It’s the same for brown bears. When a human approaches a brown bear’s dwellings, the brown bear will be startled and will try to drive him away.

Humans have their homes, and so do brown bears, and we respect each other and live in harmony so as not to step over each other’s domains. That’s the most important thing.”

As he walked through the woods  while remembering Mr. Kitora’s advice from a long time ago, the signs of two monsters entered Haruki’s Detection range.

“Karen, there’s two more ahead.”

“Okay!”

Even though she had been hunting all night long, Karen was more lively than she had been just before Haruki got himself absorbed in hunting Mountain Wasabis back then.

Karen had been hunting all night long.

There was no way she wasn’t tired.

(The reason why she doesn’t seem to be as tired as me must be because of our age difference… Nah, let’s not think too much about that.)

Haruki changed his focus back to the Mountain Wasabis, desperately trying to hide the numbers that began to appear in his mind.

The two Mountain Wasabis appeared from behind the trees.

Haruki quickly slashed at one of them.

He blocked his opponent’s club with one Short Sword and tore its hand off with the other one.

The Mountain Wasabi, having lost its club, thrusted itself onto Haruki.

Haruki dodged the Mountain Wasabi’s tackle.

After getting on his opponent’s back, he chopped off all of its remaining limbs, along with the leaves on its head.

Then, after defeating the first Mountain Wasabi…

*whoosh!*

…Haruki shifted his attention to the other Mountain Wasabi.

The second Mountain Wasabi was already full of wounds.

Then, a white magic fired from the tip of Karen’s staff blew its head off.

Her spell didn’t end after that first shot.

More and more of it was unleashed from the tip of Karen’s staff.

Karen’s magic began to cut through the Mountain Wasabi.

Haruki was at a loss for words.