Chapter 77: For the Sake of Future Reference

Original: Chapter 77: For the Sake of Future Reference

Miss Himeka went to collect the remains of her school uniform.

I checked the message confirming I had defeated the Eval Woodfolk. Since it was a Subjugation Quest, that meant the quest was now complete.

Wait, no. The battle wasn’t over yet.

The Acid Slime that had been fighting alongside the Eval Woodfolk was still there. It came hopping toward me, pyonko pyonko.

Ah, it looks so peaceful. But this slime is targeting my clothes. It’s a perverted slime.

“You, weren’t you satisfied with just Miss Himeka? So next is me? You’re greedy, aren’t you?”

The Acid Slime said nothing. It just stared intently at my skirt area and kept hopping closer.

The Acid Slime reached my feet. I lifted my left foot. Then, I pressed the sole of my shoe against the Acid Slime and ground it in, guri guri.

“Take that!”

Huh? What? It had far more elasticity than I imagined.

With a normal slime, I should have been able to go puchi and pop it, but the elasticity pushed my foot back.

The Acid Slime glared at me with its cute eyes. What insolent eyes. Maybe I need to stomp harder.

“Heeave ho!”

My foot overcame the elasticity, and I managed to squish the Acid Slime with a puchi.

At the very end, its eyes darted kyoro and peeked up my skirt. Even after evolving, it’s still a monster that looks up skirts.

“It had more elasticity than a normal slime…”

It felt like I had to push my foot in much more firmly than when squishing a normal slime.

“Ah, lucky. A Mana Gemstone dropped.”

I picked it up immediately.

Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I feel like Mana Gemstones are dropping a lot today.

Maybe slimes in the Red Zone have a higher Mana Gemstone Drop Rate. With normal slimes, the Drop Rate feels like about one per five slimes. But with Acid Slimes, including the one Miss Himeka defeated earlier, that’s two Mana Gemstones in a row now. It’s possible they have a pretty high Drop Rate.

Maybe I’ll look for Acid Slimes on the way back and test the Mana Gemstone Drop Rate. Personally, I’d be happy with a Drop Rate of about one per two. I’d be even happier if it was a guaranteed drop, but that’s probably expecting too much.

…… Hmm?

A shiver ran down my spine.

I immediately turned around. There was definitely a higher-ranked monster there. A sense of fear welled up inside me, the kind that makes you think you’ll be killed if you don’t go on high alert immediately.

Beyond the jungle trees, there was a green monster standing still, observing me.

I immediately raised my hammer.

But, the sensation in my hands felt faint. It felt like I wasn’t gripping the hammer properly. I’m scared. Of the large, bipedal frog beyond the trees—.

I took a small step back. Even though there was distance, I had this terrifying feeling that if I didn’t, I’d be instantly killed.

…The frog was holding something in its left hand. I couldn’t see it well through the trees, but I could see a large, men’s shoe. Was it carrying a dead adventurer?

I don’t know if that adventurer was killed by that frog or died for some other reason. All I know for sure is that even if I wanted to take that corpse back and bring it outside the Dungeon, it would be absolutely impossible for me.

A cold sweat trickled down from around my temple.

What’s the Recommended Conquest Level, I wonder? 80… 90… no, maybe over 100.

It’s not an opponent I can possibly match right now. I should call out to Miss Himeka and retreat.

But before that, the frog let out a fuh laugh. It was as if it was mocking my weakness. I thought it was an infuriating smile.

The frog lost interest in me and, dragging the corpse along with a zuru zuru sound, disappeared deeper into the Dungeon. I only saw it for a moment, but it was carrying an adult male.

My heart is pounding. Wow, that was a life-threatening situation. It was only a matter of a few seconds, but it felt like hours to me.

Someday, I absolutely want to defeat that frog—.

“Little Sayuki, was something there just now~?”

“Eeek!”

Miss Himeka, who had gone to pick up the remains of her uniform, rejoined me. I was so focused on the frog that I was completely unaware of my surroundings.

“Miss Himeka, just now, a frog monster was carrying someone.”

“Oh? Were they still alive?”

“They were completely dead.”

“Ouch. But you see that sometimes, right? Like, monsters, when monsters or adventurers die, they carry them off somewhere. Thanks to that, the Dungeon doesn’t become too desolate a landscape. One theory says it’s for ghost monsters—”

Wh-whoa. I kept looking at Miss Himeka’s face, then her body, then her face, then her body, over and over. And I was getting flustered.

Because, because, with her uniform in tatters, I couldn’t find a place to rest my eyes. It’s really making my heart pound too much; it’s bad for my heart.

It seemed Miss Himeka noticed I was flustered. She took on the expression of an older sister teasing a pitiful child.

“Ufufufu, somehow Little Sayuki’s sensibilities feel closer to a boy’s, don’t they? You must have consumed a lot of entertainment aimed at boys.”

“N-no, I just consumed the really popular stuff, that’s all…”

I’m a loner, you see. Since I never had friends until now, I played with manga, anime, and games more than most people, and among those, I’ve dabbled in stuff aimed at boys here and there.

Ah, now that I’m conscious of it, it bothers me even more. I just have to ask.

“Um… Miss Himeka, what’s your cup size? For the sake of future reference, I really want to know.”

“I wonder if that counts as future reference… Well, it’s fine. I’m a G-cup.”

“G-G-cup!”

That was the biggest shock of the day for me.