Chapter 34 - A Vista of Spoils
“..............................Wow.”
The voice was so utterly drained of energy it sounded as if its owner had given up on everything. In a desert now ruled by a silence that was, for a time, almost unnerving, even that faint, raspy whisper echoed clearly.
Two figures stood in the field, now devoid of movement. One was, of course, me. The other was Sora-san, who had answered my distress call.
“This is… this is just…”
I’d had a feeling this would be her reaction the moment I sent the message, my heart heavy with resignation. But seeing the girl finally cover her face with both hands in defeat, I couldn't shake the feeling that I’d really done it this time.
Spread before us, where there should have been nothing but a uniform expanse of sand, was a sea of red—an obscene number of drop items scattered about, far too many to even bother counting.
Loot in this game is normally deposited directly into your inventory, but it seems there’s a feature where any overflow is unceremoniously dumped at your feet or in the nearest empty space. For whatever reason, materials and items meant for selling were set to be significantly lighter than equipment, but…
“Yeah… I got a little excited and… might’ve gone a bit overboard…”
Combine my already-cramped inventory with a session of… unruly hunting of big-ticket enemies, and this disaster was the result.
Leather, fangs, bones, fin-claws, gallstones, and more… My inventory, already choked with excess gear, was full within the first few minutes. Every last piece of loot from the conger-eel hunt that followed—which lasted for a little over an hour—was scattered across the sandy battlefield.
This was the very definition of having no room to even step. I wasn't sure exactly how many [Desert Serpents] I had slaughtered, but looking at this mess, it was clearly more than just ten or twenty. I was a little taken aback myself, to be honest.
And if I was taken aback, I could only imagine what was going through Sora’s mind.
“A little… a little? I see. It appears your definition of ‘a little’ and mine are quite different, Haru-san.”
Sora slowly lowered her hands from her face, her gaze sweeping languidly across the cluttered desert. I felt an inexplicable terror in her eyes, which seemed to have grown cloudy.
“Out of curiosity, how long were you hunting for?”
Isn't that the kind of question where, whether the answer is short or long, I'm just going to get a different flavor of horrified stare?
“A-About an hour…”
“An hour…”
See? There she goes, covering her face again.
It’s not like I was doing anything wrong, but I could understand how she felt. She was currently stuck in her transition to a melee build—having a massive haul like this flaunted in front of her had to be rough.
I didn't have much of a choice, but still… maybe I did do something cruel.
“What on earth did you do in an hour… No, it’s fine. I don’t want to know.”
I opened my mouth to offer a half-hearted excuse and explain mob training, but Sora shook her head, stopping me. Her words sounded like she was sulking, but from the tone of her voice, it seemed she had calmed down a bit.
I, who had been secretly terrified, let out a sigh of relief.
“Well then, shall we start picking things up? I doubt we’ll be able to fit everything, though.”
Just as Sora said with a wry smile, even she had her limits, despite her light gear and carrying fewer healing items thanks to her own healing magic.
It was doubtful we could even pick up half of the drops scattered as far as the eye could see… A part of me winced at the waste, but I decided to write it off as the price for my unplanned hunting spree.
“Sorry for taking up your time… It’s not much of a fee, but feel free to take as much as you want for yourself. Actually, please do.”
It’ll help ease my guilt, too.
“Ahaha… In that case, I’ll take you up on that.”
Despite her words, Sora showed a slightly troubled expression.
“I haven't actually started crafting equipment yet… Should I ask that ‘master’ you’re indebted to?”
Apparently, she had been selling off most of her loot after keeping a small portion, so she wasn't sure what to do with it all.
“That sounds like a good idea. To be honest, I don’t know any other crafter NPCs besides the old man…”
For a moment, Kagura-san’s face came to mind, but I hesitated at the thought of bringing materials from a beginner area to a master magicraftsman who was leagues ahead of me.
“Then, would you mind introducing me?”
“It’s the least I can do—oh, wait. The quest for an [Anima]… Doesn’t it trigger automatically when you meet an NPC artisan?”
I was about to nod in agreement with Sora’s request when I realized a problem.
In my case, the quest to gather materials had come up naturally during our conversation, but it seemed that it was a guaranteed event that triggered the first time a player visited an artisan NPC.
While the introduction might vary from person to person, the general flow was almost always the same. By obtaining the specified materials and completing the quest, you would have a piece of equipment best suited for you crafted.
The problem was that the selection of the “suited equipment” was left entirely up to the system, and it seemed you couldn't even choose a broad category yourself. So, if it was a sword, you could specify a dagger or a longsword, but you couldn't change the base category of ‘sword’ itself.
Right now, Sora was dressed like a swordswoman in light leather armor with a straight sword, but her skill tree was still just the single shortbow tree she started with. Her other skills were a messy mix of support buffs and healing magic.
If Sora attempted the [Anima] quest in her current state, it was unlikely she would get a melee-oriented piece of equipment. For that reason, we had been holding off, operating under the policy of “tackle the [Anima] gacha only after getting a melee skill tree.”
“That should be fine. It says it’s an automatic trigger, but it’s not like you’re forced to accept it. It seems you can just decline.”
“Oh, really?”
Well, that’s a relief… Come to think of it, I think there was a note about optional acceptance when I took the quest. In any case, if my worries were for nothing, then there’s no problem.
Our plan was set, but first, we had to finish cleaning up the desert. Offering some words of encouragement to Sora, who looked around and let out another mournful sigh, we started gathering the remnants of the conger eels from every corner of the battlefield.
If I have time, I plan to post the continuation later today.