Vol. 10 - Chapter 505 - End of the trial run… but where’s the way back home?

After Ester had finished checking out her new skills to some extent, Karua took her turn to try out her advanced job next.

“——”

“Mooinkkk…? —Mooiiinnkkk?!”

Seemingly catching up to something, the Sword Bull-Orcs in the area surveyed the situation, but then something occurred and by the time anyone could have noticed what was going on, they released a shriek and disappeared amidst the effect.

“...V.”

Then, Karua quietly appeared by my side, and made a V (for victory in her short accent) sign. Her steps were as silent as a cat’s trail, and that’s how Sword Bull-Orcs were also done by her.

“......Wow, you really got super stealth skill going for you huh, Karua. Though that assassination style was super crazy as well.”

“Absolutely. Monsters didn’t even have a single idea that someone was approaching them from behind, and then her super high-speed dash and a swift slash before leaving just as silently was amazing.”

“They didn’t notice anything until their final moment. Isn’t there a phrase? Killing without a sound, may they rest in peace~?”

“Hn, rest in peace~.”

Hmm, the assassination style wasn’t that bad. I would say, the stealth and that ultra speed were just as great in comparison to Sierra or Ester’s new abilities.

Karua also seemed to have like it, even following with the phrase ‘rest in peace.’ I get it, I totally get it!

Anyway, Karua’s job, «Star Agent», had the element of stealth, scouting, and assassination.

During «Star Cat», her job had been mostly limited to scouting, searching, or evading traps. With «Star Agent», she had ‘Unscathed Dash,’ ‘Silent Step,’ ‘Silent Slash,’ ‘Invincible among the minions’ etc. First one allowed an unhindered run even in the area with bad scaffolding. Silent skills were there to quietly deal with the monsters.

Then comes the last one, Invincible Among the Minions, which was the passive skill to eliminate any encounters. It activated when traversing to a lower ranking dungeon than the highest cleared one, and in the game, the low level enemies would be automatically slayed, leaving only the drops to be retrieved.

Though in reality, this apparently turned a silent strike against a low level monster into an insta-kill move. The more such skills unlock, the more it gravitates toward assassination.

On another hand, along with AGI which had gotten a significant raise, she also had received an uplift in evasion chance. Now, enemies would find it harder to land any hint on her. Also, her speed wasn’t only about swift on her feet, her attack speed had received just as much of an upgrade. Apparently she had won against Ester in the earlier match with quite an upper hand.

“Karua, let’s have another match.”

“Hn, challenge accepted.”

“I will definitely make good use of my equipment.”

Oh, this unexpectedly lit a spark in the heart of Ester. I guess they had become a sort of motivational target for each other.

Afterward, they continued to have a re-match, and it ultimately ended in Karua’s majority win with the ratio of 7:3.

“Haa, I still have a long way to go it seems. I kind of felt I could push for more.”

“Well, there’s also the difference in job’s compatibility. Karua’s «Star Agent» is almost invincible against small fries. And you too, you did quite great in just your first run with new equipment, Ester.”

“Hn, V.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Zephyr-dono. Also, Karua, let’s have a rematch on another day.”

I guess that was the end of the competition between Karua and Ester for today. But their rematch would continue for the days to come.

“Alright, now that we’re done, how about we go back?”

“Hn.”

“Yes, so that I can also try alchemy quickly!”

“Sounds just right. ……But that said, where is Lana-sama and Sierra-dono?”

At Ester’s question, Karua tilted her head in confusion.

So she didn’t know. Well, their running pattern had been erratic so it made sense. Ester, too, had only just realized where they had come and darted her gaze around, surveying the area,

Well, I doubt she would be able to tell given it was her first time coming to this dungeon. In the end, Ester had to seek help.

“W-What should I do, Zephyr-dono?”

“I got you there, though be careful of such a situation in the dungeon from next time, alright?”

‘You’re her guard after all,’ I swallowed these words. I just recall… I was the one who had brought them here.

But that aside, It was an easy answer. Well, I technically had the entire map fitted into my mind, and I already had inkling where they’re. I could explain it right now, but I recalled that it wouldn't be entirely good if the same situation happened in my absence. It was just the perfect chance to introduce that item.

“You see, use this when you’re stuck in a situation like this ever. —Hannah, bring out «Meow-cator».”

“Oww, yes, Zephyr-kun. Err—ah, found it, here you go!”

“This is?”

Ester looked confused as she stared at the item Hannah showed.

“This is «Meow-cator». An item to locate you desired material or items.:

“I found it within «Gold Chest» of «Cat-Dun».”

Just as Hannah said, it was something she had found. She normally used it to search for the materials she was lacking.

The item was shaped after a cat—more like, it resembled the beckoning cat statue, with one of its arms jutting forward. The tool let out a ‘meow’ sound when the material was in the direction the arm was pointing out.

“We’re going to use it to look for Sierra’s «Moon Cat Ring». You just have to touch the item or material once and it will register.”

In anticipation of such a situation, I already had Sierra touch her «Moon Cat Ring» once to the «Meow-cator». Frankly, it was one hell of a coincidence that we happened to try it out with Sierra’s ring. But hey, I wouldn’t mind getting the credit for everything, since I had been the one to push for a trial. Ahaha!

On the side note, it could also help out in locating the equipment, though, and obviously, that feature wouldn’t work for equipment from treasure chests or the one that couldn’t be acquirable from monster drops. Hmm, then what was even the use of this feature? Well, the game had some monsters who had the habit of stealing player’s equipment. And in fact, the main purpose of this tool was to counter that.

The thief monsters would build a base of sorts randomly in the dungeon so it was typically hard to find equipment etc back once they’re taken away. Though, their running pace happened to be on lower side, so as long as you’re not the scatterbrain type, those thief monsters wouldn’t be able to outpace you/

But in case you lost them, well good luck finding the base. Also, the base often happened to have equipment other than yours, or even some rare equipment. So, in the game, there had been some case where players would let their equipment stolen, and then give chase using «Meow-cator»—basically raiding the bases to loot the treasure.

Ahem, I digress from the topic.

“Alright, let’s activate it then. —Search, «Moon Cat Ring».”

In the game, the tool had shown a list to choose from, but in reality, it was voice-activation based. In my words, «Meow-cator» let out a cute ‘meow~’ purr sound.

“S-So adorable.”

“Hn, adorable.”

“It’s adorable.”

Gazing at the unfamiliar tool, Ester’s eyes gleamed with sparkle, meanwhile Karua looked at «Meow-locator» as if she wanted to pat it. And hey, Hannah, weren’t you supposed to already be familiar with that? The tool was quite an eye-candy, so I could relate where she was coming from though.

«Meow…… Meow……»

“Ah, it found them. In that direction.”

When I hold «Meow-cator» in the direction Sierra might be, the tool immediately made a sound.

With Ester and Karua taking their turn in patting it, curiously looking at it how it works, we started walking in that direction right away.