Chapter 2: the old man finally decides on his destination.

<Start of Chapter>

Once we arrived at Grannel, we headed over to the inn we stayed at previously and decided to have a meeting to decide our next destination. Although I asked everyone for their preferences earlier, there wasn’t an option to satisfy everyone. There wasn’t a clear cut correct option as every destination had their own pros and cons.

After a long wait, our drinks and dishes had arrived. Especially our main dish, a whole roasted chicken. The Paradise Bird was one of Grannel’s specialties however there were many other monsters that dropped delicious chicken meat in the city.

[Uwaa, it has so much volume to it.] (Til)

[Yuuya, it looks delicious, it’s juice is sparkly!] (Luna)

[It’s another delicious chicken found in Grannel. It’s a whole roasted Surprise Chicken. If you cut open its belly like this…. Bingo. The delicious umami of the chicken will spread throughout its entire body.] (Yuuya)

For Beef (Average) and Pork (Average), they typically dropped in chunks of meat wrapped in tree bark and weighed about 2 kilograms. However, for birds they typically dropped chicken meat. Their necks were cleanly cut off and their skin and feathers were plucked off. Even its internal organs were cleanly removed. This meant that you would be presented with a clean whole chicken making specific dishes possible.

For this dish, the chicken was stuffed with various ingredients, rice, spices, and seasonings instead of its internal organs.

[Now then, I’ll begin cutting up its meat.] (Phil)

I could feel my expectations rise as the gravy within the chicken began to flow each time Phil cut through its flesh. Phil proceeded to portion out the meat and handed out equal portions to everyone.

[Is it time to eat? Luna wants to eat it quickly!] (Luna)

[Uhn uhn, I’m gonna start drooling if I don’t.] (Til)

[You’re right. Let’s start eating then.] (Yuuya)

Just as I said that, the duo began stuffing their cheeks full of meat and rice with satisfied expressions.

It looks delicious so I should start eating as well.

… This is good.

It’s crispy skin was coated in a delicious sweet sauce. It was truly the ideal way to enjoy a whole roasted chicken as even the rice stuffing was appetizing. Not only was the rice piquant, it was mixed with sliced pickles making its taste not as heavy and easier to eat.

[Looks like this dish is a huge success. It both looks great and tastes great. I have to try to replicate this dish.] (Phil)

[I agree, it feels like a truly wild and interesting dish. It might even taste better in the middle of the dungeon when we’re surrounded by nature.] (Selene)

Even Phil and Selene liked the dish.

I could agree with their opinions as this definitely felt like a dish that you would enjoy more around a bonfire in a camp. If this tasted this delicious despite being Chicken (Average), I wonder how good it would be using Chicken (Excellent)? It’s a shame that we couldn’t replicate it with the Paradise meat as the Paradise meat only dropped a cut of thigh meat and breast meat.

[Ah Luna. It’s unfair of you to get seconds for yourself!] (Til)

[It is fair. The first to get seconds is the winner.] (Luna)

After emptying her plate, Luna immediately reached out to grab the leftovers from the main dish. Watching this, Til tried to stuff down the food remaining on her plate to grab a portion of the leftovers.

She looked extremely creepy but at the same time it was a cute sight. It felt like I was being rejuvenated watching them.

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Aside from the roasted chicken, we enjoyed several other dishes until our dinner ended.

Now, it was about time to bring up the main topic.

[Everyone, it’s time for us to decide on our next destination. Unlike our past few destinations, there aren’t any urgent circumstances for us so we have the freedom to head to any town we like. Let’s try to choose our next location with an appropriate reason.] (Yuuya)

[Uhn. Understood.] (Luna)

[I can feel the tension rising right now.] (Til)

The duo began to lean onto the table.

[The first option is the village of snow and ice, Kritarus. It’s one of the villages on the northern mountains. Both its city and dungeons are covered in snow… It is also one of the locations where we can learn the art of blacksmithing as well as the place where we can obtain the materials required for blacksmithing. We’ll also be able to make one of the strongest weapons possible using the materials from the Temple of the Primal Flame. There are also unique foods such as the Silver Rabbit Meat. Although trying to hunt down a Silver Rabbit in itself is a difficult feat.] (Yuuya)

[Hurray! It’s Luna’s new dagger! And delicious meat!] (Luna)

As expected, Luna was the first person to respond as it was a highly favoured destination for her. Furthermore I wanted to obtain the blacksmithing skills and items present there. With the ability to blacksmith, I would be able to synthesize equipment and items using special materials. However, since it was only to the extent of synthesizing equipment, it had limits when compared to an actual blacksmith. It would be impossible to perform finer adjustments and affecting the equipment’s center of gravity.

However, there was a bug present in the game that made it possible to strengthen weapons using specific materials. In fact, Luna’s new weapon would be made abusing that bug. I hoped to create the weapon as soon as I got my hands on the materials but that dungeon had a recommended level of 41 making it an impossible task to challenge early.

[Are you saying that rabbits are edible?] (Selene)

[Eeeh, Selene are you saying that you have never eaten rabbit meat? It’s extremely delicious! It’s one of my favourite foods!] (Til)

[It is one of the elves’ most hunted prey since it was similar to chicken meat, but less pungent and more tender. It is also a better source of protein and much more interesting to cook with although it is much more difficult to obtain.] Phil)

[That sounds interesting, I can’t wait to try it.] (Selene)

I’ve eaten it several times myself and it was delicious. It was even considered a luxurious dish in several towns plus I wanted to find out how delicious its unique drop would be. However the only problem was, the Silver Rabbit had one of the fastest speed among all the monsters that existed in exchange for giving a large amount of experience.

Even adventurers who possessed Presence Detection wouldn’t be able to capture it as it would escape the moment you entered a two-hundred radius around it. It’s fur had a unique characteristic that made it resilient against physical damage, reducing any physical damage by 70% as well as a “Super Reaction” which allows it to sense and react to any long distance attacks.

This caused the monster to be considered a Phantom Monster as it was impossible to come across one, much less defeat it. In the game, it was highly likely that not a single person managed to obtain the monster’s meat drop. On the other hand, this meant that even after the respawn period, there were probably a large number of them running around the dungeon. If we managed to find a way to defeat them, then we would be able to level at a speed far beyond common sense.

[Speaking of which, in Kritarus, it is likely that one of the three elemental dragons, the Ice dragon lurks in one of its dungeons.] (Yuuya)

[Yuuya-ojisama, you’re making it sound like we will not be attempting the dragon in the town.] (Selene)

[Even if we head to Kritarus, we can’t challenge it. If we tried to, then we would die a hundred percent. That’s why, we’ll move on to the next option.] (Yuuya)

The Corona Dragon was strong, however the Iceshell Dragon, Aldovaris was much stronger. The difficulty rating of the battle was four point five out of five with ice-resistant equipment and five out of five without it. The highest rating a boss battle could get was five, however even among those bosses Aldovaris was one of the more difficult battles. It was said that the battle required a minimum of two resetted characters.

[Uhn. In that case, we’ll raise our levels a bunch and challenge afterwards!] (Luna)

[We’ll be staying in Kritarus for quite awhile, most likely two or three months. If we become strong enough within that period, then I’ll consider it.] (Yuuya)

Truth is, if we were to defeat enough of the Silver rabbits, we could shorten our stay there by a large margin. As difficult as it was to defeat it, the monster provided ridiculously high amounts of experience, a unique meat drop as well as a unique material used for fur coats which provided one of the highest resistances against Water (Ice). If we were to challenge Aldovaris in our visit there, then the Silver Rabbit is a monster we must defeat to have a chance to survive.

But I’ll be keeping that information to myself as I myself wasn’t sure if the strategy I had would be successful in hunting the monster.

[The next option, is Phil and TIl’s hometown, the elven village. There is actually a hidden dungeon present there.] (Yuuya)
[Eeehh? Lies. I’ve never heard about that before.] (Til)

[Which is why it’s a hidden dungeon. There is your long awaited unique fruit present in that dungeon and its recommended level is 42. Since it’s a hidden dungeon, the monsters are there for us to hunt and it is also the lair of the final elemental dragon, the Roaring Thunder Dragon, Tempest. The merit of this destination is, both you and Phil will get to visit your hometown.] (Yuuya)

This is the second location, the elven village. In the past when I accepted the request to protect it from Filoria Cartel, I didn’t have my memories nor did I perform any investigation but it was an important location where many events were held. The hidden dungeon was one of the special events and was a dungeon where you could get special benefits by clearing it.

[Uh.. I’ll have to refrain from that.] (Til)

Til who ran away from her village had a difficult face as aside from Phil’s regular letters, their families would most likely be upset once she returns.

[Til, don’t affect the decision due to your own personal reasons.] (Phil)

[But okaasan will definitely be furious! But on the other hand, there are fruits… Fruits….] (Til)

Til was conflicted however I still had a suggestion. The benefits from clearing the dungeon wasn’t small, plus comparing Tempest and Aldovaris, Tempest was the better option.

[The last option was the underwater city of Lunaria which was filled with advanced dungeons. The monsters that appeared there generally provided large amounts of experience as well as a variety of item drops. Thanks to this, the adventurers there are dispersed across the different dungeons making it always possible for us to hunt monsters. It is a stable location for level fourty adventurers to raise their level. Since it’s an underwater city, whether it’s in the dungeon or outside the dungeon, it is filled with seafood. The shellfish that you could harvest their leaves a large impression.] (Yuuya)

There aren’t that many adventurers who managed to reach the level forty range.

Thus with the large number of dungeons and scarce number of adventurers spread throughout the dungeons, the monsters in each dungeon were less likely to be hunted.

Normally, the respawn period for the dungeons in a city were synchronized, however this town was different. Each dungeon had their own respawn period making it the perfect hunting ground to raise your level. In addition the equipment stores there sold equipment especially suited for high levelled adventurers befitting of their wealth. The entertainment industry in that town was also flourishing.

[There are several other options but these were the best options.] (Yuuya)

The village of Snow and Ice, Kritarus, the Elven village and the underwater city Lunaria. These were the three locations that we could head to.

[I think that the elven village would be better. Although Kritarus seems to be the most attractive option, if Aldovaris is too difficult for us to fight then it would be better for us to become stronger at the elven village then head to Kritarus.] (Selene)

[Luna chooses Kritarus! It has delicious meat and strong weapons! Plus with blacksmithing not just Luna but everyone will become stronger too!] (Luna)

[I choose Kritarus too! It’s not because I’m afraid of okaasan at all!] (Til)

[I choose the elven village as well. The reason is the same as Selene’s. Plus it would be nice to show everyone in the village that Til is lively and doing well. My bad, I’m getting my personal feelings involved as well.] (Phil)

Til made an extremely reluctant face towards Phil as everyone’s opinions was divided into two.

[In that case, let’s head to the Elven village first since someone’s vote was nulled due to personal reasons.] (Yuuya)

[Aahhhhhh, Yuuya-niisan is a devil!] (Til)

Til began to pout as she stared at me. Meanwhile, Luna tapped Til’s shoulders.

[Calm down and eat this.] (Luna)

Luna placed the strawberry from the dessert into Til’s mouth as Til reluctantly chewed on it. However she still continued to stare at me with a hateful look.

I wasn’t doing this just to bully her but it looks like I can’t help it. I’ll get her a dessert before we depart tomorrow.

Til was a simple person who could be appeased with her favourite sweets.

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The next day, we entered the guild building in Grannel to check for any exclusive requests or letters sent to us. This was one of the services provided by the guild for adventurers.

Apparently, a letter was sent to Phil from her village as she had informed her family about her new guild card number due to her level reset.

… It looks like I should inform my acquaintances about my new guild number as well as they could be sending letters and the like to my old number. After looking at the letter, Phil folded it neatly and placed it in her pocket.

[Now then, Yuuya. Let’s head to Kritarus instead. If you think about it, it would actually be the better option. Now the votes are reversed. Let’s send our information and achievements towards Kritarus and make that our next base of operations.] (Phil)

[Just what was written inside that letter?] (Yuuya)

She had blatantly changed her opinion from yesterday as if she did not want to return to the village. Til sneaked behind Phil and pulled out the letter from her pocket as her eyes widened.

[Yuuya-niisan. As expected Kritarus is the best! It has snow everywhere after all!] (Til)

[Wait, what does snow have to do with anything?] (Yuuya)

TIl clearly went crazy.

[Yuuya-ojisama, i think it’ll be the best for us to follow their instructions.] (Selene)

[Well, I’m fine either way.] (Yuuya)

[Hurray! Meat! Looking forward to it!] (Luna)

In the first place, I brought this up since I was fine with all three locations.

[Now then, it’s decided. I’ll head over there and apply for the Kritarus guild to take note of our arrival.] (Phil)

Phil immediately left for the counter.

This is suspicious.. I’ll have to ask her for the reason afterwards.

Regardless, the next destination was Kritarus. Since it was my first time heading there in the flesh, I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of town it actually is.