Having learned a painful lesson, we spent some time hunting the goblins on the 7th floor to gain experience against humanoid monsters. I now truly understood the reason why novice adventurers in fantasy games and manga put so much effort into goblin hunting.
If you don't build a solid foundation by fighting humanoids like goblins, you’ll never be able to handle anything stronger.
"Phew. I'm done over here."
"Same here."
"Me too."
Several goblin corpses lay scattered at our feet, blood pooling from their slit throats. As long as we stayed calm, a feat like this wasn't particularly difficult.
While Yuji and I wiped down our weapons and kept watch, Hiiragi-san went around sticking her skinning knife into the goblin corpses one after another.
However...
"It's no good after all. Nothing very valuable is dropping. Just a few Core Crystals and some ore."
"I see. So it's mostly goblin meat then?"
"They buy that stuff for dirt cheap," Yuji added.
Just as Yuji said, goblin meat was bought for a pittance. When we brought in the goblin meat we’d obtained from our second fight, they told us it was fifty yen per kilogram. I’d actually protested.
Though I withdrew that protest immediately.
"Well, if there's no demand, it won't trade at a high price. It has a strong gaminess and the meat is tough, so it’s not even suitable for stews. There's basically no demand for it as food," Hiiragi-san explained.
Thinking back to that protest, I remembered the taste of the smoked goblin meat the receptionist had given me as a sample. It was truly revolting. An indescribable acridity spread through my mouth, with a texture comparable to the "hard bread" biscuits someone once brought me as a souvenir from Kitakyushu. It was not a flavor I ever wanted to experience again.
"Couldn't it be used for livestock feed?"
"Feed? Wouldn't even animals avoid eating that?"
With how foul it tasted, I suspected even omnivorous animals would steer clear. I certainly didn't think any producers would go out of their way to use it.
While Yuji and I debated the potential uses for goblin meat, Hiiragi-san finished collecting the drop items and handed them to me. I took them and quickly stowed them in my Spatial Storage.
Resuming our dungeon trek, we walked for a while until we reached the stairs leading to the 8th floor, which we had discovered during our previous expedition.
"Well then, let's head down."
Prompted by Hiiragi-san's voice, we descended the stairs to the 8th floor.
I swung Shiranui, slicing through the goblins that rushed at us one after another. I think I’d already cut down nearly ten of them. Goblin corpses were already piled high around us, reduced to mere obstacles hindering our movement.
"Yuji! Are you okay!?"
"Yeah! I'm fine!"
"Hiiragi-san!?"
"I'm fine too!"
As I checked on Yuji and Hiiragi-san, who were killing goblins just as I was, their voices came back sounding like they still had plenty of strength left. I felt a small wave of relief.
"Good grief, what a mess of a monster room!"
"Yeah, seriously!"
"For real, simultaneous spawns are the worst!"
While exploring the 8th floor without encountering any monsters, we had discovered a space that looked like a slightly open room. It was roughly twenty to thirty meters square. As we were searching the room, goblins suddenly began appearing one after another, as if sprouting right out of the floor.
As luck would have it, the exit was on the opposite side, with the spawned goblins standing in between. In other words, for us to escape the room, we had no choice but to defeat every goblin that appeared.
"Well, I guess we're just unlucky!"
Internally, I wondered if this was the "blessing" of the "Great Curse" fortune I’d pulled on New Year's Day, but I shook my head to clear the thought. If I didn't focus on the battle, I could easily trip up in an unexpected place.
As I sliced through another goblin with Shiranui, Yuji shouted.
"Five left! Don't let your guard down until they're finished!"
"Right!"
"Understood!"
Finally, the end was in sight. Recommitting ourselves, we charged at the remaining goblins.
Since Shiranui's blade was already coated in goblin fat and wouldn't cut properly, I aimed a thrust at a goblin's throat. Shiranui pierced through the throat with little resistance, causing a massive spray of blood. I quickly twisted the blade to deliver the finishing blow, kicked the goblin's body to pull the sword out, and then swung horizontally at the neck of another goblin that was approaching with a raised club. The grease-slicked blade didn't bite into the skin, but the sensation of snapping the neck bone transmitted through my hands. Blown away by the strike, the goblin rolled across the floor and stopped moving.
Checking the surroundings for other goblins, I saw the battle was already over; the one I’d just defeated seemed to have been the last.
"Phew... it's over. Is everyone okay? Any injuries?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm a bit tired, but no injuries."
"I'm tired too, but I'm not hurt."
"That means everyone's safe, then. Although we look pretty terrible right now..."
Since we’d cut down the goblins without worrying about the spray, we were all heavily stained with goblin blood.
"Well, considering the numbers, it couldn't be helped."
"I suppose. But I want to wash this off as soon as possible."
"In that case, shall we collect the drop items from these goblins and head back for today?"
"Agreed."
"I agree too. I'm exhausted today."
With everyone in agreement, we immediately prepared to head back.
We quickly handled the tasks: Hiiragi-san stabbed the corpses with her skinning knife, I collected the drop items into my Spatial Storage, and Yuji took charge of guarding the area in the meantime.
When Hiiragi-san stabbed the very last one, something rare appeared.
"? Kokonoe-kun, could you check this for a second?"
"Hmm? Did something rare drop?"
"Yes. It's a skill scroll. I don't know what's inside, so please check it."
"Got it, hang on."
I hurriedly finished collecting the remaining drop items and performed an Appraisal Analysis on the skill scroll Hiiragi-san was holding. The result was immediate—this skill scroll contained the "Cleansing" skill.
Talk about pinpoint timing... or maybe just plot convenience. I shared the results of the Appraisal Analysis with Hiiragi-san and Yuji.
"The Cleansing skill!"
"That’s a very specific skill for right now."
"I was thinking the same thing."
Hiiragi-san was overjoyed and practically frolicking with the skill scroll, while Yuji and I looked at each other with complicated expressions.
"Hey, hey. Is it okay if I use this?"
"I don't mind, but... what about you, Yuji?"
Selling a skill scroll would net us hundreds of thousands of yen. Being asked if she could just use it made me hesitate to give an immediate answer.
I did a quick check and found it was an active skill with a minimal EP cost, so there were no issues with Hiiragi-san using it. I looked at Yuji, my gaze asking what he thought we should do.
"I think it's fine for her to use it. Considering we'll have to deal with blood splatter from now on, having Hiiragi-san hold the Cleansing skill isn't a bad choice."
"True, Yuji has a point."
As Yuji said, considering we planned to keep diving into the dungeon, it wouldn't be a bad thing for her to have it. Right now, we were still on the shallow floors where we could return to the surface quickly, but once we reached the deep floors, just traveling back and forth would be an ordeal. If we got covered in blood like this deep inside, we’d be stuck. I could carry spare clothes in my Spatial Storage, but the clothes we wore now were armor. It wasn't something we could just change out of easily.
Taking all that into account, having Hiiragi-san learn Cleansing was a viable option.
"So, Hiiragi-san, you can go ahead and use that skill scroll."
"...Really?"
"Yeah, of course."
Since Yuji and I both nodded, Hiiragi-san gave a happy smile and opened the skill scroll. It emitted a glow, and particles of light entered her body.
"Cleansing."
Hiiragi-san immediately tried out the skill. The goblin blood on her face and hair vanished cleanly.
However, that was all. The blood on her clothes and armor remained.
"Eh? Why? Kokonoe-kun?"
"Ah, well... I think your proficiency might be too low."
Hiiragi-san shot me a sharp look that said this isn't what you promised.
Stammering slightly, I offered a guess as to why the cleaning was incomplete.
"Proficiency... so you're saying I have to use it a lot before I can clean my belongings or other people?"
"Probably. I think as you master it, the range of what you can clean will expand in stages. Your own body, then your equipment, then others—something like that."
"I see. Which means it's useless for us blood-stained guys right now?"
"Unfortunately, I think so."
"Sigh... so that's how it ends."
Hearing Yuji and my conversation, Hiiragi-san let out a deep sigh and looked dejected.
I’d thought it was a remarkably convenient development, but it seemed things wouldn't go quite that perfectly. For the time being, we moved away from the area where goblins might spawn in large numbers again and used paper towels to wipe most of the blood off our bodies. The sight of massive amounts of paper towels turning bright red was quite shocking, but we’d grown fairly used to it lately.
Once we finished the cleanup, we took a break and then headed for the stairs to exit the dungeon. The trip back was relatively smooth, involving only a few battles with monsters.
When we emerged from the dungeon, the area around the gate buzzed for a moment. It seemed some rookie explorers were startled by our blood-soaked appearance. Glancing toward the source of the noise, I saw a variety of looks directed at us—frightened gazes, looks of pure disgust—especially toward Yuji and me.
Well, the two of us were much filthier than Hiiragi-san, who had used Cleansing.
"This place feels awkward."
"Let's get out of here."
"Ah, wait for me!"
As Yuji and I hurried toward the locker rooms, Hiiragi-san followed behind us in a panic.
Once we reached the locker room, we first tossed our clothes into the coin laundry. If we didn't wash them and get the blood out before it set, it would leave stubborn stains. We also used the coin-operated high-pressure washers to blast the blood off our armor. As expected, it was incredibly fast. Once the armor was clean, we wiped it down with cloths and put it in our lockers.
Finally, while the laundry was running, we washed ourselves. The shower room floor turned bright red from the blood we were rinsing off. Yeah, I’d better put in extra coins and give this place a good scrub afterward.
Feeling refreshed after washing away the blood and sweat, I bought a bottle of coffee milk from the vending machine inside the locker room while still shirtless and drained it in one go. It really hit the spot for my parched body.
"Phew, I finally feel like a human being again."
"You sound like an old man, Daiki. You're a high schooler, aren't you?"
"Hmm? You're one to talk, Yuji."
Standing behind me, Yuji was also shirtless, sipping a fruit au lait with one hand on his hip.
"Still, today's battle was rough."
"Yeah. I never imagined that many goblins would spawn all at once."
"True. But thanks to that, a lot of problems came to light."
"Definitely."
That massive encounter with the goblins had been an unforeseen situation for us. Until now, the most monsters we’d encountered at once was five or six, so we hadn't planned for fighting over thirty at once.
One could call it carelessness, but because of it, various issues had surfaced.
"If we have to fight that many monsters at once, Japanese-style swords aren't very practical for slicing."
"Right. You can cut through seven or eight monsters, but more than that and the fat builds up on the blade until it won't cut for anything. By the end, I was using it as a blunt weapon."
"My kodachi were in a similar state. They'll cut again once they're maintained, but it's not like we can pull out tools and degrease them in the middle of a fight."
"Thinking about that, wouldn't it be better if we got that Cleansing skill Hiiragi-san learned, too?"
If we could clean our weapons as needed during combat, the problem of reduced cutting ability during prolonged battles would be solved. When I thought about it that way, the Cleansing skill felt like it might be more important than some mediocre combat skill.
"True. But how do we get it?"
"...How about we check the Association's auction site?"
"...Buy it with money? It'll cost at least several hundred thousand."
Just as Yuji said, the market price for skill scrolls ranged from hundreds of thousands to millions of yen. Even if we wanted to buy one, there was a chance we wouldn't have enough funds.
"But, well, just in case... right?"
"Well, looking doesn't hurt."
"Alright, let's check."
When I accessed the Association's homepage on my smartphone and looked at the auction site, a Cleansing skill scroll was trading for approximately 870,000 yen. We couldn't just shell out that kind of money right now. Yuji and I let out a simultaneous sigh. At this rate, we had no choice but to pin our hopes on Hiiragi-san's Cleansing skill. Concluding that there was nothing we could do for now, we spent the rest of the time waiting for the laundry to finish by discussing other things we’d noticed during the battle to change the mood.
Once the drying cycle finished and the machine stopped, we collected our laundry and left the locker room. After waiting a bit on the lobby sofa, Hiiragi-san emerged from the locker room, and we held a brief debriefing session, including the points Yuji and I had discussed earlier. Hiiragi-san seemed to share our concerns and agreed to focus on raising her Cleansing skill proficiency.
After exchanging our drop items for cash, our dungeon exploration for the day was over. Phew, I felt twice as tired as usual today.