Volume 4 - CH 5.16

And since we can use the eighth floor and its Needlewoods as our new farming spot, 「Chant Interruption」Skill will be immensely useful to us.

「I see. Is there anything else we would need?」

I asked Sherry to be sure that we got everything we would need on the list.

「I think it would be a good idea to make a 「Sacrificial Misanga」by fusing a Green Caterpillar’s Skill Crystal with a regular Misanga.」

「Sacrificial Misanga」, huh? Luke the Broker was wearing something that was named exactly like that. If its name is anything to go by, then I am guessing that it is going to be something related blocking, or perhaps even negating an attack that is going to be targeted towards the one who is wearing it?

「In that case, please add Green Caterpillar Skill Crystal to the list of the items I would like to get from auctions. As long as my Party members feel like it is going to be something necessary for us to obtain, I do not mind getting it, even if it is going to be a little bit on the expensive side.」

「Understood. The fee for purchasing Skill Crystals is five hundred Nars. If there will ever be a time where you are going to have some more questions and I will not be in the anywhere in the Guild’s main hall, then just go to the waiting room and ask one of the staff members there to call Luke the Armor Merchant for you.」

「Understood. I will make sure to do just that if the need ever arises.」

I assured hm as I handed the five silver coins off to him.

「Well then, I guess that concludes our business today. Thank you for your patronage, Michio-sama, and I hope for our partnership to be a fruitful one.」

When our business was over, Luke the Armor Merchant bowed down to me and left the room, leaving only the echo of his final words behind him.

「That man is weird.」

That was what Sherry said to me as soon as we left the Merchant’s Guild and got far away from it to be absolutely sure that nobody could eavesdrop on our conversation.

「Strange? What do you mean, strange?」

「I mean, it was awfully nice of him to give you a bonus to commemorate the beginning of your partnership, but still . . . . .  why did he give you such an odd number as one hundred and thirty- two thousand Nars? No matter how hard I try to find any semblance of reason behind it, I fail to see it. I just do not know what that man was thinking by offering you such an amount of money.」

「Ahhh, I see. So that is what you have been worried about.」

For someone without the knowledge of the Skills that I have at my disposal, such an uneven number is undoubtedly doing to sound strange, and it is only natural that Sherry would get suspicious of someone who offered me such a strange price seemingly out of nowhere.

「I knew it. Broker and middlemen are all a shady bunch that should not be trusted at all.」

I realized that Sherry was somewhat distrustful of the brokers and middleman from the Merchants Guild, but that comment of hers just now only solidified that belief for me.

「Yes, you did tell me that yesterday before we got here, and thanks to that, I was able to avoid the pitfall that Laurel was trying to lure me in. Thank you for that, Sherry.」

「Please think nothing of it, master. It is a slave’s duty to ensure that no harm comes to their master, no matter if it is a physical or financial one.」

「Yeah, but still, I feel like thanks were in order, and that is why I have extended them to you. Let us keep being careful in our dealings with the Merchants Guild from now on.」

「Yes, of course!」

「I agree with both master and Sherry of course, but I also think that this man must have given master such a good price because he was able to see how amazing of a person master truly is.」

Roxanne, it is nice to know that this is how you feel, but it definitely would not hurt you to be just a little bit more distrustful of others, especially if they are brokers and middlemen whose Job is to make money out of other people trying to make money for themselves, you know?

「Sherry, you mentioned that item in our conversation with Luke before, but what kind of item is 「Sacrificial Misanga」, exactly?」

I asked Sherry because I felt genuinely interested in the subject of that item.

「It is an accessory whose purpose is to sometimes absorb the attack that the enemy directs towards its wearer.」

「Sometimes? Not always?」

Does that mean that the effect of absorbing the attack targeted at the wearer has only a certain percentage chance of activating, or are there some other restrictions added to it as well?

「Well, basically, there are rumors that state that 「Sacrificial Misanga’s」effect has a higher probability of being activated if the attack that is supposed to be absorbed is a really strong one, but the strength of the person wearing it also seems to be one of the factors for it. From what I have heard, more often than not it seems to be working for the people who are fighting against strong monsters at the upper floors of the Labyrinths, whereas it almost never activates on the lower floors of the Labyrinths where the enemies are all relatively weak, or at least that is how the story goes.」

「I see, so that is how it works.」

Then, are there really no other conditions to it after all? Like, for example, that the effect of absorbing the attack only activates if the attack that hits you shaves off more than half of your HP, or that it only works for the attacks that would leave you with 1 HP or the one that would have outright killed you? And does the effect works for just a single attack, or perhaps for an entire series of attacks that would have normally reduced your HP to zero?

Well, whatever the case with that might be, as long as you figure out exactly how to proc its effect, then it is going to be a really handy piece of equipment.

「So, what happens when the effect of 「Sacrificial Misanga」gets successfully activated?」

「The item itself is going to be destroyed, but in exchange, it completely nullifies the attack, eliminating even the things such as the feelings of shock or pain that would normally be there when you suffer a direct hit. The downside is that it only works once, so people who have to go into close quarters combat tend to not rely on it very often, but it is the most useful for those who into the Labyrinths only occasionally or those who use magic from the backline as a last resort for when they might get hit by the monster that broke through the vanguard’s defenses.」

Well, since it gets destroyed after absorbing only one attack, then I can definitely see why would regular physical fighters be reluctant to be using it, since when you fight with monsters it is common for them to be using more than just one attack, not to mention that knowing that your final line of defense against being killed is only going to last for one hit before disappearing without a trace is pretty damn scary in its own right. I guess I technically could have Sherry make that item and then we could run some experiments to see what are the exact condition for the activation of that item’s Skill, but since its effect only works once and then the misanga gets destroyed.

「Sherry, if you were to make this item, then would you say that it would be good for Roxanne, since she is fighting on the front lines, but is so good at dodging that she rarely gets hit by any attacks?」

「No, I think that you would be the one who would benefit the most from wearing it, master.」

「I can totally see why you would think like that, but cannot help it but feel that such a good effect that it has would be wasted on me if I am to be staying in the backline. In my opinion, you or Roxanne, the Party members who are always on the frontlines, would be much better off with it.」