CH 74

I continued on past the 12th floor, then the 13th and 14th floors, and reached the 15th floor, but there were still a lot of people on every floor.

I kept going and didn’t encounter any Orcs, but when I was about to reach the 16th floor, I finally encountered an Orc.

Orcs, to put it simply, are bipedal pigs.

It was a fist or two taller than me, and although its body was rotund and fat, I could see rugged muscles in its arms and legs. It looks like a sumo wrestler. Its only armor is a pair of loincloth-like pants, but it seems to have more wisdom than the goblins and kobolds, and it keeps a certain distance from me, looking for an opening.

In terms of power, I’m at a considerable disadvantage. But to put it bluntly, it’s easier for me to do it if they act cautiously like this. It would have been more difficult to deal with it if it had come at me with all its power.

I faced the Orc and slowly closed the distance.

The moment I got into striking distance with my spear, I thrust it into the orc’s chest to gauge its reaction.

“Ha!”

“Fugo!” (Orc)

Before the thrust could reach the orc’s chest, it was flicked by the orc’s left hand.

The spear was hit with more power than expected, my body buckled, and the moment there was an opening, the Orc stepped in and hit me.

“Boo!” (Orc)

“Guh!”

I managed to twist my body away and try to dodge it, but its fists hit my left shoulder and I flew back.

I managed to stop being seriously injured by back-stepping some distance while I spun.

I retract my previous statement… It is so hard to do. It is as if I am fighting a human being.

Perhaps the Orc saw this as an opportunity, it quickly closed the distance between us and flung its fist towards me.

While guarding my still numb left arm, I keep stepping away while dodging it.

While confused by the apparent difference in the battle from the previous monsters, I calmly analyzed my opponent.

Orcs are… strong. It’s a little different from the strength I assumed based on the abilities of the monsters I’ve fought, but it’s strong. But after taking a hit, I understood.

I, too, was stronger than I had expected.

I was strong.　

Up until now, I had avoided it at all costs, thinking that there was no way a flesh-and-blood human being would be able to catch a thrust from, say, Desert Cow. However, I should have remembered the fact that a C-rank adventurer had been able to take the impact of a Great Boar that was bigger than an elephant, if only for a moment.

In this world, if you raise your level, your physical ability also increases. The higher your level, the more you can take a hit from a Great Boar. I, too, have already gained a level of power that surpasses the common sense of Earth.

In fact, the blow to my left shoulder from the orc was so painful that my arm went numb. For better or worse, that was the extent of it.

In other words, I can fight this orc evenly now, and if I had my spear, I could do even better than that.

Once I realize that the rest is simple.

With minimal movement, I dodged the Orc’s attacks, and either used my spear or arm to repel the attacks that I couldn’t avoid or avoided the vital points and made sure to land a blow on the Orc’s body.

Even though I was hit by the orc’s fist several times, I was able to strike the orc with my spear.

And then.

“Ha!”

“Buguu…” (Orc)

The spear pierced the orc’s throat.

The orc fell to its knees and collapsed.

And soon it disappeared on the ground.

“Phew.”

I took a big deep breath to catch my breath.

But this orc had taught me many things. I think Orcs are a great opponent for combat training.

I want to train with Orcs for a while, but there are too many people on this floor. I heard that orcs also appear on the sixteenth floor, so I can hope that there will be fewer people on that floor.

While thinking about this, I looked at the spot where the orc had fallen and found a magic stone, a scroll, and a rice paddle on the ground.

I picked up the magic stone, the scroll, and the paddle.

I held it in my hand and examined it carefully.

It was wooden, with a thin handle and a large, flat, rounded tip.

“…Yeah. It’s a rice paddle.”

The more you care about scrolls, the more rice paddles you have.

I think all the items dropped from a monster in the dungeon have been related to the monster. In other words, this rice paddle is also an item related to orcs.

…right?

Even though the Orc was kind of gross, it was actually a female, and she cooked rice for her husband and children, and she used to serve with that rice scoop, and yes, she was able to cook rice. I don’t like it when I imagine that…

…Speaking of which, the oak has a lot of fat in the body and around the chest… No, let’s stop.

Well, this is might be the lost item that Mel said, right? In the dungeon, there are items that people don’t know how to use.

Maybe not, but I’ll believe it’s that way for now.

“Divine light, heal your people, [Holy Light].”

I healed my wounds from the battle against the Orc with magic, then threw all the items into my backpack and headed for the 16th floor.

“This is… an [Enhancement Scroll]?”

“Is this an [Enhancement Scroll]?”

“Yes, it’s an [Enhancement Scroll].”

After that, I quickly went down to the sixteenth floor and came right back up to the surface.

And while selling magic stones in the guild, I showed them the scroll.

Scrolls are one of the few items that the guild buys. These scrolls are mainly found in dungeons and are necessary for many adventurers, so the adventurer’s guild buys them and transports them to adventurer’s guilds that do not have dungeons nearby for sale.

“What do you want to do with it? The current purchase price is five gold coins.” (Receptionist)

The receptionist asked me that, and I thought about it.

Five gold coins… As of now, I have only 6 gold coins, so 5 gold coins is a lot of money. It’s not a bad choice to sell it for money, but… I am planning to collect [Enhancement scroll].

Since there is an interesting system in this world that is able to strengthen equipment, I wanted to try it and I would like to utilize it. At some point, I want to have all my equipment reinforced, so I have to start building my foundation now.

However, I feel that… is not the right time for that.

After all, my current equipment is only the starting cloth robe, ordinary iron spear, and cloth cloak. Why on earth will I be enhancing this? If I do so, what would happen?

Just as I can’t be happy if my homemade bamboo armor is strengthened and becomes stronger, I can’t be happy if my cloth robe is strengthened and becomes stronger. I only want to strengthen good equipment.

…Hmm, but I think I should stock up for the time being. The size is about 20 cm long, so it wouldn’t get in the way. The price seems to be stable enough for the Adventurer’s Guild to buy it, so there’s no need to rush and sell it. If it gets in the way, I can sell it then.

“Well, I use it myself. And… This one too.”

I said no to the receptionist and handed her the thing I had found while rummaging through my backpack.

The receptionist took it and looked at it carefully.

“This is… a wooden spatula.” (Receptionist)

“It’s a wooden spatula?”

“Yes, it’s a wooden spatula.” (Receptionist) [T/N: Rook calls the drop a rice paddle/spoon/scoop and it was written in hiragana while the receptionist called it a wooden spatula in katakana. It just shows that the commonsense he has from Earth is not always applicable here.]

The receptionist smiled while holding the wooden spatula (rice paddle).