Volume 5 - CH 2.21

A good equipment should use good materials indeed. There is only so much you can do with cheap materials from the lower floors, and good materials are dropped by stronger monsters.

The items which monsters drop are originally parts of their own bodies. In other words, if you want Orichalcum, which is a type of steel, you have to defeat a monster that had this Orichalcum as part of its body (most likely armor), and such a monster definitely cannot be weak.

If you do not hunt strong monsters, you will not get strong materials. It is perfectly rational.

「Can we not just buy it?」

「Umm… generally speaking, you are supposed to make and sell Leather equipment until you are able to hunt Rub Shrubs for their materials.」

「Is that so?」

「If you buy materials, your profit will decrease, so unless you specifically request me to make it, I will not be doing it. There are many items beside the Club that can be made with just leather, so I can try making those instead. It will also serve as a good alternative to my training.」

Just like making a Dagger consumes more MP than making a Misanga, equipment which are further up the order list are going to require more MP in order to make them, even if they are made of just plain old leather.

If you make only the simple items, you will make much less money than if you made more complicated, but more expensive things. Because people who can make advanced items are fewer, they are entitled to making more money because of how they are putting their practical skills to use but there is no need for us to overdo it, since we are not that strapped for money.

「I understand. You keep making Leather Mittens, Helmets and boots for the time being.」

「Understood. Also, now that we can hunt monsters on the ninth floors, we should try the Labyrinth where Minos appear on the ninth floor.」

Is there really such a convenient Labyrinth? But it is true that if we do that, thenthat way, we can keep hunting monsters and get used to battling tougher opponents, and Sherry will be able to collect materials at the same time, so it would be like killing two birds with one stone.

「Hmm. I do not think we have to go out of our way too much with this one, because Leather is a normal drop from Minos, so there will be no trouble with collecting it anyway.」

Not to mention that the monster on the ninth floor of Vale’s labyrinth is Slow Rabbit, the skin of which sells for twice as much as Mino’s, so it would be better for us from the financial standpoint.

Although I am reluctant about fighting Rapid Rabbit again, it does not mean we should just run away from it. That, and it is definitely not good to fight only weak monsters, because that would feel like bullying to me.

「Understood.」

「Anyway, is there no labyrinth where the monster that drop Boards appear on the ninth floor?」

「Uhm… the least floor where Rub Shrubs appear is the twelfth floor. Although the order is different for each Labyrinth, monsters that appear from the first floor to eleventh floor are the same for every Labyrinth. It is the same for floors twelve to twenty two and so on.」

So it is like that.  It is my first time hearing this. Kobolds, Slow Rabbits, Minos… they seem to be the monsters that appear from the first to eleventh floor in every labyrinth. This has indeed been the case for Quratar’s and Vale’s Labyrinths. And Rub Shrub seems to appear from twelfth floor to twenty second floor.

「Then would you like me to find a Labyrinth where Rub Shrub appears on the twelfth floor? At this point, this is pretty much all that we can do.」

For the time being, Sherry is only going to be able to make Leather equipment, but I cannot have her make in large quantities, because if we tried to sell it then we would end up breaking the market and its prices, so she should just stick to making it at her own leisure.

We finished afternoon round of exploration rather quickly.

It is the eleventh day of Sherry living with us in our house, and today should also be the day when her maid clothing should have been finished.

「We finished quite early today. Are we going to take a bath?」

When we returned home, Roxanne asked me with her eyes filled with expectations.

She is really hoping for it, huh? But it is perfectly understandable, since she seems to have

taken a liking to baths.

Unfortunately for her, however, it is not time for bath now.

「No, it is not the time for bath. It is time to go to the Slave Merchant’s place.」

「Slave Merchant? Do you intend to increase the numbers of our Party again?」

The light of expectation quickly faded from Roxanne’s eyes, and she looked at me pretty coldly, but that last bit might be just my own imagination.

「Not this time, unfortunately. I do not have enough money to afford another slave, but I do intend to get more Party members in the future. It is a natural course of action to increase our battle strength, just like it was with the two of you.」

「Yes. Of course.

「Understood.」

It is better to inform them about it ahead of time, but I should still only tell them that which is absolutely necessary. The purpose of increasing party members is to increase battle strength, of course. There is no ulterior motives behind it. At all.

Well, maybe just a little bit.

「My objective is to increase  our battle strength, but I will not buy someone who will not be getting along with Roxanne and Sherry, you can be sure of that.」

「Yes.」

Having a male slave is out of question because of the risk he would pose to these two. Not to mention that I could not have sex with him. Ideally, I would like someone young again to improve our strength even more, but also someone who would motivate me to give it my all the entire time. Morale is an important factor in determining battle strength, after all. The most important one, even.

A young, beautiful woman would have been nice. But my motivation for getting such a slave is slightly different from what I have been saying to Roxanne and Sherry all this time.

The purpose of adding new party member is to increase battle strength. It is a natural course of action to increase battle strength. We should follow it to enhance our battle strength. It cannot be helped as long as it helps us increase our battle strength. Yes. It is the rational thing to do.

「The reason for my visit this time is different. I have to go pick Sherry’s clothes, as well as her will. Are you sure you do not want yours to be changed still Roxanne?」

「Yes, I am sure.」

Roxanne nods with confidence. Roxanne is supposed to die if I die. There seems to be a system in this world where slaves are killed when their masters die so that they do not try to do anything harmful to their masters. It can be changed by a will, but I when I talked about that subject with Roxanne, she got really angry at me and said that she does not want that. Well, if Roxanne says it is fine, then it is probably fine.

「Sherry, do you want your will to be changed? The way it is now, it states that in the event of my death, you are going to be released from your duty as my slave.」

「Eh? I can decide what to do with my will, even though I have come under your care only recently? And whatever I end up choosing, you are going to be fine with it?」

「Yeah, exactly. Whatever you end up choosing, I promise you that I will have no qualms about it and that I will not try to question your decision.」

「Thank you very much, master.」

There is always a possibility that I might suddenly die outside of a Labyrinth or battle, from an illness, for example, and if such a thing happens, I see no reason or merits in needlessly dragging the two of them into death together with me just because they have become my slaves. If nothing else, I want the two of them to decide their own fate with their own hands, and that includes allowing them to choose the moment of their deaths.