Looking at the quest window, I could tell things were going to get complicated.
'After offense cos treasure hunting...'
The quest log was hinting at it, and quest logs don't lie. Apparently, the 61st floor contained forest fairy villages, a nad monster that prowled through shadows, and so unknown entity that attracted the nad monster—all of these things together.
So far, we'd found two fairy villages—the green-haired village and the brown-haired village. We'd also roughly identified the nad monster's territory.
The problem was the mysterious fragrance that had recklessly disturbed the nad monster. According to the forest fairies, the shadow fang tiger was an extrely cautious stealth-type monster. Yet sothing had made it move its lazy behind... Wait a minute.
Did that an the nad monster had wandered off following this fragrance?
"If the quest window is right, doesn't this an the nad monster is wandering around on its own? If it left its territory to follow so scent, we could camp here for a hundred days and it might already be long gone."
-Is the tiger not paying attention or is it waiting for the Man vs Elf 1:30 video featuring Teacher Roland and the forest fairies?
-Could it be that the nad monster started moving randomly because of so event trigger?
-At this rate, it seems like we need to find this fragrance thing instead of the shadow fang tiger running in circles
-Co on. Let's just ask Teacher Roland to seduce one of the forest fairies
-For real, we used a guide rcenary in the southern jungle too. Let's bring along an elf sister guide
Han Se-ah must have been thinking sothing similar, as she muttered to the cara with a serious expression. Of course, the viewers couldn't care less about that—they were busy discussing which forest fairy was the sexiest.
The frantic behavior of those who'd lost their betting points was gone, replaced by perfect unity in front of female characters. That the object of their desire was was a little strange, but that was nothing new.
Anyway, we were able to gather quite a bit of information from this fairy village. As the viewers called them the "maiden village" and the "mature woman village," the fairies here seed more mature and wiser. You could tell just by how the village leader rely frowned at Han Se-ah instead of bursting into tears.
"We'd be grateful if you could deal with that troublemaker. But be careful—we don't want to force our guests to risk their lives."
"Don't worry, this is our duty as well."
"You're the Saint who serves the Goddess, was it? Heheh, how spirited. I wonder what you'd be like in bed... but I shouldn't keep busy guests too long. Take this."
The voluptuous forest fairy, who managed to slip in a sexual comnt even while Irene was expressing our determination to hunt the nad monster that attacked both humans and fairies, pulled out a necklace from between her ample cleavage.
Like Minthe's leaf, it seed to be a village emblem—this ti a leaf with white down on the back that made it appear white, given to us by a nymph nad Leuke. At this point, my suspicion that this forest layer's gimmick involved treasure hunting was strengthening.
It might be a bit obvious, but perhaps we needed to collect all the fairy emblems for so chanism to activate against the mid-boss or final boss? Like collecting gym badges.
"Feels like we're collecting Pookiemon gym badges."
I felt slightly annoyed that Han Se-ah and I had similar thoughts.
"So, what now?"
"Why don't we go deeper into the forest and try cooking?"
"Cooking?"
While viewers spouted nonsense about Leuke being silver-white or gold-sun-sothing, Han Se-ah and the party mbers ignored them and began a strategy eting.
I didn't interject since I had nothing to offer beyond my "use my body as bait" plan. As we moved from sunlight into shadowy areas, Irene suggested an idea.
Use an even bigger bait.
"The forest fairies said this creature sprays poison on the food of strong enemies. Instead of Roland grilling jerky alone, what if we all pretended to be defenseless while cooking soup in a pot? Wouldn't that attract it?"
"That makes sense."
From the monster's perspective, a pot of soup would be easier to poison than skewered jerky.
And if the monster had intelligence... wouldn't it consider won easier targets?
Even though the common sense in Heroines Chronicle was that won with ample chests were stronger than muscular warriors, and tiny girls wielding enormous weapons were tougher than special forces operatives... this was Heroes Chronicle.
Though our party might look like a noble young man's beautiful harem party from the outside, all of us had abilities at 5★ level or higher. The monster might not realize that.
"Wouldn't it be better if only one person was at risk?"
"We spent good money on antidotes—we should use them."
"If your logic is that Roland will be fine alone because of the antidote, then doing this together would be even safer. It's unlikely that we'd all be poisoned simultaneously to the point where none of us could move."
From a safety perspective, it still seed better if only the tank got poisoned, but looking at Irene's intimidating glare, it was clear she wasn't going to back down.
"And honestly, I'm curious about this poison that disrupts holy power."
"...Katie?"
"No, I didn't an it like that."
And that's how our party's outdoor camping trip was decided.
※
We set up our regular tent instead of the stealth magical tool, gathered stones in a circle, and piled kindling inside. No flint was needed—a spark from Han Se-ah's casual gesture ignited dried leaves to create a campfire, atop which we placed a large pot.
At Irene's direction, Han Se-ah magically filled it with water, then opened her inventory and dumped in ingredients.
Butter and flour went into the shallow water, followed by at chunks and vegetables that Irene had quickly prepared. The resulting aroma was overwhelmingly delicious, far surpassing the simple pepper scent of grilled jerky.
"Wow, it slls better than usual!"
"I used more butter than normal. Plus, I chose ingredients with deeper flavors and stronger aromas."
We gathered cozily around the pot, sharing laughs without anyone standing guard, all enjoying the food together. Naturally, our armor and weapons were removed and set aside.
We looked so defenseless—peaceful, even—that other adventurers who saw us might have dismissed us as forest illusions rather than drawing their weapons. Of course, we weren't being careless.
We'd stocked up on hastily made antidotes that had cost us a fortune, and despite removing our weapons and armor, Roland, Irene, and Han Se-ah could all enter combat instantly. I could summon the holy sword, Irene could use the symbol hanging from her neck, and Han Se-ah just needed to pull her staff from her inventory.
"Here you go."
"Thanks as always, Irene."
So we set our trap to lure the nad monster, outwardly showing no vigilance as we laughed and began our al. The buttery aroma made swallow involuntarily, and Grace, smiling broadly, whispered while taking a sip from the small dish of soup Irene had handed her.
"Ah, sothing's coming."
"Right?"
Though she muttered as if admiring the food's aroma, her words were far from peaceful.
Hearing Grace's whisper, I began inching my rear end on the pile of luggage that served as my chair to make it easier to draw my sword. Han Se-ah pretended to dip bread in her soup, setting her spoon down and wiggling her fingers to open her inventory.
Tension descended upon us in the quiet forest amidst the sweet butter aroma. No insects, birds, or wildlife made a sound—only the crackling of the campfire.
Following Grace's subtly gesturing fingers, I spotted sothing. Like a viper silently creeping forward, a tiny thing was stealthily approaching our pot through the campfire's shadows.
It was too small to call a snake, more like a submarine's periscope.
"How was the food? I changed the flavoring a bit."
"This one's even more delicious. Not that it wasn't good before!"
My companions had also noticed the thing extending just two finger-joints' length from the fallen leaves, slinking closer—their gazes gradually dropping as they chatted.
The creature seed intelligent enough to sense our presence and gauge human combat power, but apparently couldn't detect the awkwardness in our voices. Our conversation grew stilted with tension as we wondered when it would spray its poison, but the creature kept approaching regardless.
The mont it erged from the flickering campfire shadows and tilted its head toward the pot, I reached out.
"Hanna! Earth Control!"
"Got it!"
Like pulling up a radish, I grabbed the tail, and grabbed, and...?
"This bastard's tail isn't a snake's tail, it's a lizard's?!"
"I-I did excavate the ground!"
Enjoy the chappy!
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