abcnovels
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
“What class do you wanna be, Muu?”
“Mu!”
Ah, Muu marked the class he wants with an arrow.
How convenient.
It almost goes without saying that Muu wants to be a Warrior.
Well, if you’ve seen how Muu has fought up until now, you’d know right away.
It likes to be in the front line like a tank.
“Gotcha. Then I’ll have you be my Warrior, Muu.”
“Mu!”
‘As you are now, it would be safer for you to have a vanguard. It is not a poor choice.’
There’s no good reason to object to our lineup then.
Since I’m already fighting at range, I’d be chuffed to have someone to tank for me.
It’d be great if that’s the reason why Muu chose Warrior.
Speaking of the lineup, now I want to get a magical in our party to balance things out.
‘I am here, am I not?’
What you do is storage magic, corpse disposal, and gathering and compounding assistance. Not to mention, you’re a dragon who’s in my brain. What exactly are you talking about?
‘You dare make a fool out of me?! I am not a mere accessory of yours!’
Yeah, yeah. I know.
If it weren’t for you, Veno, we’d be in big trouble. I thank you.
But you can’t exactly fight as a mage, can you? is all I wanted to say.
‘Hmph...’
So, I select Warrior.
Our surroundings fill with a soft glow as soon as I do and Muu’s job change is completed.
Muu
Mutated Myconid
Warrior
Level 1
Acquired skills: Spore Scatter, Self-Regeneration, Stamina Recovery Rate Increase (Medium), Subordinate of Poison-Wielder, Class change available, Warrior Sense, War Cry
It’s back to level 1, as expected, and he gained a Sense.
Stamina Recovery Rate Increase changed from Weak to Medium... mm.
Checking its stats in the status menu, they have also gone up from before the job change.
Honestly, I’m kinda envious of how he’s ready for another class change. Mine went away after I advanced jobs.
“Mu!”
Muu flexes both of its big biceps, acting like its real tough. It’s still more so cute than anything though.
‘Then, let me offer you my congratulations.’
Veno makes his celebratory gift appear without a sound.
It’s an axe. A plain old iron axe.
Soldier’s Axe
Quality: Average
Required level: 20
Bonus effects: Rustproof
An iron combat axe made for soldiers.
It’s a relatively simple description.
This definitely isn’t something Veno would seize from his enemies and put into his private collection.
At the very least, it’s out of place compared to Veno’s tastes, I think.
‘How bright of you.’
“Mu!”
Muu happily raises its axe in the air.
How does its little nubs even hold anything?
Maybe it’s like an anime character or something and it’s got suction pads on its hands.
‘I have just analyzed that. On Muu’s hands are countless tiny suckers growing so that anything grabbed shall not fall off.’
Just as I thought.
“Muu muu!”
Muu shows its enthusiasm by nimbly swinging its axe around.
Its weight seems just right.
And since it’s got a bit of heft to it, cleaving with it can do quite a bit of damage.
Now it’s all up to Muu and its skills, eh?
But, given Muu’s unique body, finding armor for it should prove challenging...
‘Muu could use a helmet... no, rather, a shield tied around its cap. Its torso can be wrapped in stiff cloth or leather. But whether it needs it or not is another matter.’
We’ll leave that for later then.
Equipping so much at once might slow him down too.
It’s important to be balanced.
“Let’s go home then.”
And just like that, Muu’s job change is over. On our way home, we encountered both zombie dogs and mosquitoes once each.
Turns out that Muu is good with the axe.
It was able to slay a zombie dog in a single strike.
And Muu’s axe swings do more damage every time it shouted Mu! out loud.
I think that’s it activating War Cry.
I was thinking just how damn strong I was after my job change, but Muu isn’t letting it get to its head.
That’s monsters for ya.
I check my level and skills.
Kogure Yukihisa
Poison-Wielder
Level 19
Acquired skills: Spirit Link, Poison Absorption, Poison Release, Synthesize Poison, Detect Poison, Poison Enchantment, Hunting Sense, Hunting Mastery II, Aiming Shot, Trap Mastery II, Call Fungus
My skills didn’t change much.
What did change was that I’m now able to make a new poison with Synthesize Poison.
Piercing Poison
I don’t get how to use this.
Piercing? What does it pierce?
Not to mention, the toxicity of this poison is next to nothing.
Detect Poison is pretty useful after all.
By analyzing it, I learned that when used by its own, Piercing Poison simply lowers the target’s defense.
It lowers the target’s defense so it’s easier to pierce through? Something like that, I guess.
If that’s the case, then it’s not too much different than Mollifying Poison. Gotta do some more research on it.
I wonder why the tooltip doesn’t even explain much.
Even with Detect Poison, all it tells me is that it’s poison.
And Veno too, despite being a former Poison Dragon, he doesn’t know much about it either.
That dragon said something along the lines of him not knowing unusual poisons.
In any case, I’ll keep it just in case. But I don’t know if or when I’m gonna be able to use it.
With that, I return to my room and check on my meat that’s been marinating.
“Well, I’ve got permission to use the inn’s kitchen tonight, so that’s something fun to look forward to.”
I’ve already bathed in the swamp.
I mean, I washed up in basically what is a hot spring, so I’m not dirty anymore.
What’s important now is food! All I’ve had lately is tough meat and crappy vegetables.
I’ve gotten a little used to this parallel world, but that’s something that I can’t.
I’ve gotta find a way to have a chance at a decent meal.
Even with people coming after me, this is still important.
‘Could you not just roast some mushrooms?’
Did I ask you for your opinion?!
I’ve got the whole kitchen to myself!
Plus, I don’t exactly want to die from poisonous mushrooms.
That, and I don’t have the courage to eat mushrooms in front of Muu.
“Mu.”
‘Muu was just eating mushrooms growing by the road earlier.’
“You can’t eat stuff that’s fallen on the ground, kiddo!”
Sure, you probably can eat mushrooms, but at the same time, I can’t recommend cannibalism.
Well, it’s not like Muu really feels like it belongs with random fungus.
More importantly, though, most of the mushrooms around here are poisonous.
I don’t know what would happen if you were to eat one of them.
Wait, what? Muu was eating a mushroom?
“Mu?”
Muu eating with the mouth on its torso looks really indecent.
With that... cat-like mouth. I’m overthinking this.
‘Are those vulgar thoughts what interests you?’
I feel like Veno is trying to say I’m dirty for thinking it’s dirty.
Hey, I’m still a young man. What can I do?
I just got freed from slaving it in that company. But replenishing myself with enough sleep, food, and exercise, my body is working like it should.
Ah, life in this world is easy.
‘What a trooper you are to find this situation we are in relaxing...’
Heh heh, if you know how hard it is for us, then you’d know that it’d even knock you dragons out.
‘All I know is that you are making fun of me. It is not a battle where your lives are at stake.’
If we fail, we get fired and we’ll be out in the cold. What’s the difference between that and dying?
Don’t underestimate us humans.
‘All I learned from your memories are how rotten humans are.’
I’ll let Veno off the hook for now.
I take the piece of meat out of the poison.
Oh? You can tell that it’s not tough anymore, even when raw. It’s even close to the meat I had back home.
Even the tough bits turned to something like fat, like it’s got good marbling on it.
I gotta make sure by grilling it and burning off the poison.
‘This soft deteriorated meat is something that you wished for? To me, meat is best enjoyed dripping with blood or just normally roasted. Next best are the organs and brains.’
There too are humans who love offal. Heck, I can even understand why people like liver.
But brain? I don’t think I feel the same.
Well, after all, dragons are wild creatures.
I’ll show you how to prepare meat that’s better than the sum its parts.
But more so than tired of tough steak, I never liked it in the first place.
If this fails, then next time, I’ll try my hand at Hamburg steaks.
‘A pursuit in the culinary arts? That reminds me of an acquaintance of mine, a monster who had the same hobby.’
That right? I think I’d get along with him just fine.
‘I would advise against that. That acquaintance asked me for the best way to prepare human.’
For the record, I am against cannibalism!
That doesn’t matter anyway.
I put the meat back in the barrel and head towards to the kitchen.
I take out the skillet I bought earlier and place it on the fire at the hearth.
By the way, the proprietress is simply letting me use the kitchen after she’s done with it.
She’s charging me for the firewood, but it’s not a lot of money.
Cooking in the campsite at the swamp was fine, but there’s always the danger of being attacked by monsters. It’s definitely better here.
The real danger here is how the handle gets pretty hot too since the frying pans are all cast iron here.
Gotta find a piece of cloth of leather to wrap the handle with. But even then, it still gets damn hot.
It seems like there are nicer ones where the handles don’t heat up as much, but in a dying village like this one, no such luck.
I cut off some of the fat and render it out onto the pan to get it nice and greased up. I then mix some salt with culinary herbs that Veno taught me about. I fry the tenderized slab of meat with some of that herb-salt mixture.
The meat sears with a nice sizzle.
Oh? That smells real good.
“Mu?”
It seems like the scent piqued Muu’s interest and it comes to watch me cook.
I did marinate a few pieces of meat, so I have enough for Muu. But since this is just a trial, I don’t know how it’ll turn out.
I’d feel bad for Muu if it tastes like crap, so I’ll be the guinea pig.
Juices leak out from the meat and sizzle onto the pan. I flip the piece of meat over.
Ooh, that’s a nicely seared crust.
I plate up the meat before it overcooks.
I was originally going to sauté some mushrooms for a side, but I’d rather not in front of Muu. Instead, I’ll do a vegetable stir fry with some herbs and the fat in the pan. Can’t waste that meaty goodness.
I’ll make a soup with the herbs I found on the first floor of the dungeon.
The ingredients are pretty much the same as the stir fry. I just hope it turns out edible.
Mimosa Wild Boar Steak
Quality: Superior
Steak of wild boar that has been prepared in a unique method.
This results in an extra succulent steak.
Herb Stir Fry
Quality: Superior
A healthy stir fry loaded with lots of nutritious herbs.
The effects vary from the herbs used.
Herb Soup
Quality: Average
A soup made from herbs.
Et voila!
I arrange it nicely and sit down at the table with it.
Ah, the proprietress is sneaking glances at me. Looks like she’s interested too.
Sorry, but I’m already paying you for the use of this kitchen. There’s no way I’m letting you have my steak too.
Not to mention, despite that the Mollifying Poison is weak to fire, I still have to test it out with Detect Poison. And my taste buds.