Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 220: The frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean.[1]

Sophia lopped off the limbs of monsters with her sword, and Kaede’s threads restrained the monsters.

「Now! Please finish it!」

「O, ou!」

Slash!

At Sophia’s command, Heath’s downward swinging battleaxe hit the neck of the incapacitated Orc Knight.

「Haa, haa, h-hold up. Give us a small break.」

「Haa, haa, haa.」

「…………」

Heath dropped then and there, while Lyle and Bogah were also sitting and breathing heavily, exhausted.

「It can’t be helped. We will have a short break. Kaede, please watch our surroundings.」

「Mhmm, leave it to me!」

Kaede disappeared without a sound. Marnie and Laeva immediately watched the surroundings.

「Please keep at it. It’s still morning.」

「No, don’t be ridiculous, Akane-chan. We fought so much since early morning I can’t remember how many we did.」

「That much is normal nya.」

「Lyle, give up. A child like Lulu-chan can do it. How can we adults cry uncle?」

Akane was lighting a fire under the seated Lyle, but Lyle’s complaints wouldn’t end. Lyle was faced by Lulu-chan, who was still a child, with a composed expression. She was telling him to get a grip.

「Still, Takumi’s party always does it like this?」

「It’s search and destroy nya.」

「Search and what?」

Sitting down and drinking water, Heath asked if this was normal for Takumi’s party. Lulu answered, but Heath’s group were clueless as to what it was.

「Destroy seen enemies nya.」

「I-I see…… that’s too hard, ain’t it?」

Normally, it was common practice for adventurers to avoid avoidable battles. However, that didn’t apply to Takumi’s party. In order to train their Levels and Skills, fighting proactively became the norm.

Heath had become partly envious. He said he would help Takumi with the dungeon capture. He now wanted to punch the him of that time. If it were the outer edges of the Forest of Death, it wouldn’t have been of much danger to the Lion’s Fang. However, the place Sophia and the girls had taken Heath’s party was at the heart of the Forest of Death. It was teeming with monsters that were too much to handle even for veteran adventurers. Robbing those monsters of their fighting capabilities and restraining them so easily like Sophia’s group had was a task unthinkable to the veterans.

「Now then, let’s do our best once more!」

「The break over already?! Haa…」

Sophia called Heath’s party and the power leveling set in the Forest of Death continued.

Akane, Lulu, and Heath’s party’s level up session continued for five days. Akane and Lulu’s had risen to the Lv80’s, while Heath’s party rose to the upper Lv60’s.

「……my level increased more than 10 in 5 days.」

「……ahh, what the heck, our 15 years was……」

「…………」

The three middle aged men couldn’t quite accept that fact so easily.

◇

Since the stock of ores in the Volton workshop was lacking, I teleported to the Sanctuary workshop by myself to make Heath-san’s party’s equipment.

For Heath-san and Bogah-san’s armor, I tried making it in a way that the metal armor wouldn’t clatter, or make no sound if possible. I’d like us to avoid being detected by enemies first at the dungeon as much as possible.

I applied Weight Reduction, Physical Resistance, Magic Resistance enchantments, and applied a lining of Wyvern membrane onto the metal parts that make contact with each other to achieve quietness.

「Earth Dragon parts might be too expensive for Lyle-san’s leather armor. He might not be able to pay, but once compared to our armor, I have to use a dragon species’ scales and skin at the very least.」

For Lyle-san, I completed a dragon hide leather armor, bracer, and boots. The enchantments were similar to the Inhibit Perception on our robes. Lyle-san was a scout, so he possessed the Stealth skill too.

Okay, so for their weapons. The dungeon that appeared in Sydnia is a cathedral that Otherworldified. We don’t know what’s going on inside, but we must definitely keep in mind that battle will be in small rooms and narrow corridors.

That’s why I altered Heath-san’s battleaxe to a more manageable size and it now had more heft to it because I added adamantite alloy to it. Bogah-san’s mace had no issues the way it was. Lyle-san has to abandon his bow this time, so I made two mithril alloy daggers and plenty of magic steel throwing knives.

「I think it’s just about time everyone finishes leveling up. They had to level up rashly, but Sophia could be quite the spartan so I hope Heath-san’s party is safe.」

Coordination between everyone aside from me had solidified. The Lion’s Fang’s equipment even became a rank higher. All that’s left is to depart for Sydnia.

***

Footnotes:

1. Japanese proverb, meaning that one should be aware of the limitations of one’s own experience.