"Whoa. This is amazing."
I was the first to dive in with my chopsticks.
It was rich and fatty, with a firm, resilient texture—yet it practically melted on the tongue.
Delicious.
This was the power of a rare ingredient.
It was on a completely different level from the standard white fish.
Once Roxanne and Sherry had taken their portions, the plate of simmered fish settled in front of Milia.
"Delicious," she said, happily stuffing her cheeks with the whole fish.
She had a truly wonderful smile on her face.
"Give me a bite," I said.
"Yes, it is," she chirped.
Throughout the meal, Milia shared small portions with me.
Maybe it was a mistake to skip the regular white fish just because we had the specialty dish. If there’d been a bit more food, I wouldn't have had to keep asking for bites.
Still, she shared without a hint of displeasure, so I guess it was fine.
Though something about the situation felt a little backwards.
The next morning, I purchased a Skill Crystal: Bat at the Merchant Guild.
I returned home immediately and handed it to Sherry.
"Roxanne, take off your boots and give them to me."
"Y-Yes."
Roxanne slipped off her hard leather boots and placed them on the table.
It was time to enhance Roxanne's equipment.
Excluding the Substitution Misanga, I had been prioritizing the gear for the other members lately. It couldn't be helped, as I needed to compensate for their weaknesses.
Since Roxanne hardly ever took a hit, there hadn't been a pressing need to reinforce her armor.
But at this point, I should rotate some skill-slotted equipment her way.
Since the skill was Evasion Increase, it was a perfect match.
Neither Sherry nor Milia suffered from such an overwhelming number of hits that they absolutely needed an evasion boost.
I would have liked to use it myself, but since I only stood at the front when I had Durandal out, I could cover myself with the sword's HP Absorption.
If Roxanne used it, it would further enhance her natural strengths.
Not that she actually seemed to need it, given her current performance.
No. Stronger monsters would surely appear from here on. Since we relied entirely on Roxanne's divine evasion even during boss battles, strengthening it further would directly improve our safety.
Since we were playing to her strengths, a Skill Crystal: Kobold wasn't strictly necessary yet.
I was grateful for that.
Winning a Skill Crystal: Kobold at auction would take both time and money. Starting with a skill that didn't require the Kobold crystal was the right move for now.
The fact that using a Skill Crystal: Kobold resulted in 2x Evasion suggested that the Evasion Increase skill alone probably wouldn't double it. It would likely be a multiplier of one-point-something.
Even so, for Roxanne, that would be a massive boost.
If her evasion increased by even ten percent, it would be a big deal. If it increased by thirty or fifty percent, it would be terrifying.
Her base stats were already incredible, after all.
"Alright, Sherry. Please fuse it with those boots."
"Understood."
Sherry took the hard leather boots with one empty skill slot—the ones we’d looted from a thief.
Then, she performed the Skill Crystal Fusion with practiced ease.
She had completely grown accustomed to the process.
"As expected of Sherry."
"It's wonderful as always."
"It is finished."
"Amazing, it is," Milia added.
When I checked them with Appraisal, they were called Willow Hard Leather Boots.
Like a willow yielding to the wind, I suppose.
They would likely allow her to let enemy attacks flow past like a breeze.
"We'll all try them out just in case, but Roxanne, you wear them first."
"Yes, Master."
I handed the Willow Hard Leather Boots to Roxanne.
Roxanne equipped them, and we entered the 14th Floor of Halber.
From what I could see, there was almost no visible change even after she equipped them.
Well, monsters couldn't hit Roxanne to begin with. If it was just dodging monster attacks, things felt the same as always.
I borrowed them from Roxanne and tried equipping them myself.
Subjectively, I couldn't feel a difference.
It was similar to how there was no dramatic shift when I leveled up, changed jobs, or dumped bonus points into stat increases.
Even when I charged at monsters with Durandal, I didn't feel a particular change.
It was at the level of feeling like it was perhaps slightly easier to dodge than before.
However, that "slightly" could become a major difference in a pinch, so it wasn't to be underestimated.
On the whole, the number of hits taken would likely decrease over time.
I had Sherry and Milia wear them as well.
The frequency of them taking monster attacks seemed to decrease a little.
Since they didn't take that many hits to begin with, the change was subtle.
In the end, it was best for the Willow Hard Leather Boots to be Roxanne's equipment.
In the long run, having Sherry or Milia wear them would reduce the number of hits they took, meaning I'd have to use First Aid less often, which would improve efficiency—but it wasn't a game-changer.
More than that, what we needed to be wary of was encountering powerful monsters that Roxanne's evasion couldn't keep up with.
"Is everyone okay with these staying as Roxanne's gear?"
"I think that is best," Sherry said.
"Yes, it is," Milia agreed.
I confirmed with the girls.
"Then it's settled. Roxanne, you'll be the one wearing them."
"Shouldn't we prioritize better equipment for you, Master?"
"I tried them out, but I think the effect is greater if you wear them."
"I understand. Thank you very much."
Roxanne bowed her head.
It was like giving a metal bat to an ogre—or rather, Willow Hard Leather Boots to Roxanne.
Perhaps our exploration speed had increased thanks to the gear, as we broke through the 14th Floor of Halber in no time.
Labyrinths, whether in Halber or Quratar, were quite vast.
It was almost never the case that the entrance and the boss room were right next to each other.
To some extent, time was always necessary for exploration.
Still, there were cases where the boss room was on the far side of where you started, and others where you stumbled upon it immediately.
It couldn't be helped that the length of exploration was left to luck.
We must have been lucky on the 14th Floor.
Our party's goal wasn't just finding the stairs.
We had to defeat many monsters, gain experience, and grow stronger.
Because Roxanne was here, we could hunt efficiently.
Correspondingly, because we sometimes doubled back to clear rooms, we wandered quite a bit.
The speed of exploration slowed down somewhat as a result.
Since we didn't know when or where we would hit a wall, we had to focus on leveling up.
There were bound to be monsters we couldn't defeat or floors we couldn't handle somewhere out there.
Efficiency-wise, it would probably be best to start grinding only after things got difficult, either on that floor or the one below it.
Even by the standards of this world, a party with our strength would typically be pushing into much higher floors.
However, doing that wouldn't leave us a safety margin.
On a floor where things were difficult, a single mistake could lead directly to death.
They said that if it took too long to clear a room, multiple groups of monsters might converge on you.
Let them laugh if they want to call me a coward.
In the labyrinth, surviving is the only priority that matters.
A horse that stays healthy is the best of all.
"By the way, with strength like ours, it wouldn't be strange for us to be on higher floors, right?"
"Umm... well, yes."
When I asked Sherry, she seemed to find it difficult to answer for some reason.
"Well, I suppose you wouldn't know much about how other parties operate."
"I have heard that parties with combat slaves tend to go to the highest floors possible and engage in combat that is right on the edge," Roxanne answered instead.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Umm. It is believed that by fighting on the highest floors possible, you can gain better experience and grow stronger faster. The danger is greater, but even if you fail, it doesn't necessarily mean the entire party will be wiped out. If the owner uses recovery magic and potions on themselves as a priority, the owner's level of danger remains low," Sherry explained somewhat hesitantly.
I see. In other words, when push comes to shove, they use the slaves as expendable shields.
Even if the overall risk increases on a higher floor, because the combat slaves take the brunt of it, the owner's risk doesn't go up much.
That certainly would be a difficult thing to talk about.
If the Master didn't know, it was better to keep him in the dark.
Being a combat slave really was a grim life.
"But I can't use that method in my party. I'd be in trouble if I lost even one of you—Roxanne, Sherry, or Milia."
"Thank you very much. However, it would be fine to go to even higher floors."
"Yes. Thank you very much."
"Because you are irreplaceable companions."
"...Thank you, it is."
Milia, who heard the translation from Roxanne, bowed her head a moment later.
It was true that other parties might be advancing faster than us. Even so, we wouldn't be following their example.
Everyone surviving was the most important thing.
The 14th-floor boss, the Nepenthes, was something we had already handled on the 12th floor of Quratar, so we took it down without any issues.
There was no way an attack from a Nepenthes would hit Roxanne, especially now that her evasion was boosted by the Willow Hard Leather Boots.
She dodged the enemy's attacks with effortless grace, practically playing with the boss.
"What are the monsters on Halber's 15th Floor?"
"They are Bitch Butterflies."
"I believe they were weak to wind magic."
After clearing the 14th-floor boss room, I questioned Sherry.
"That is correct."
"Since we've fought them on the 16th floor of Quratar, we don't really need to test them in small numbers. Roxanne, if you please."
"It would be best to find a place where there are at least as many Sarracenias as there are Bitch Butterflies."
Sherry interjected as I made my request to Roxanne.
"Why?"
"Have you forgotten? Bitch Butterflies have a resistance to fire attribute magic."
Was that so?
Well, I felt like I might have heard that before.
I certainly had been receiving explanations one by one about monster weaknesses and resistances.
In other words, if Bitch Butterflies and Sarracenias appeared at the same time and I used Fire Storm to try and clear the Sarracenias first, it would have little effect on the Bitch Butterflies.
It seemed I had to think about various factors depending on the combination of monsters.
Being a mage required a surprising amount of tactical thinking.
"I see. Good catch, Sherry. Please continue to let me know if I miss something like that."
"Yes, Master."
"In that case, Roxanne."
"Understood."
I made the request to Roxanne again.
The first group Roxanne guided us to was a pair of Bitch Butterflies and one Sarracenia.
First, I defeated the Bitch Butterflies with Breeze Storm.
Then I burned the Sarracenia to a crisp with an additional Fireball.
Since Bitch Butterflies were resistant to fire, this order was much more efficient.
"Sherry, does magic become completely ineffective if they have a resistance?"
"I do not believe that is the case. However, I do not know specifically to what extent it is reduced. There are likely differences depending on the monster as well. My apologies."
"Then we'll need to test it. Roxanne, find us a group with one Bitch Butterfly and a few Sarracenias."
"Understood."
Following my request, we fought a group of two Sarracenias and one Bitch Butterfly a short while later.
I defeated the Sarracenias with fire magic, then dropped the Bitch Butterfly with an additional wind spell.
The combat time was a bit longer, but only slightly.
It wasn't as big a deal as I’d feared.
"If it's like this, you can take us to places where the Sarracenias are more numerous."
"Is that so? Understood."
A maximum of four monsters appeared on the 15th floor.
When the condition of having more Sarracenias was met, there would only be one Bitch Butterfly.
If there was only one, we could manage easily.
Or rather, Roxanne would manage it.
If it was a two-and-two split, we could just start by focusing on the Bitch Butterflies.
This should be fine for the 15th Floor of Halber.
If we were to engage in fierce battles on much higher floors, a slight extension of combat time might mean the difference between life and death, but we weren't quite at that limit yet.
"Thank you, Sherry. I wouldn't have known for sure without testing it."
"Not at all."
However, the fact remained that I couldn't deal major damage to the Bitch Butterfly with fire magic.
As we moved to higher floors and combat time grew longer, the delay caused by resistant attributes would become impossible to ignore.
In the long run, it was a significant factor.
From now on, I should get into the habit of selecting my magic attributes based on the specific monster combination.
"Come to think of it, remember when I marinated the goat meat Pan left behind in fish sauce and fried it?"
I spoke toward Milia.
It was the black Tatsuta-age I had made a long time ago.
"Yes."
"Don't you think it would be delicious if we did the same with the whole fish?"
There was even a theory that Tokugawa Ieyasu ate too much sea bream tempura because it was so delicious, which caused his health to fail and led to his death.
It was a similar concept.
Moreover, the base ingredient was the whole fish.
This was bound to be incredible.
"I will eat it, it is."
Of course she was on board.
"It needs to marinate in fish sauce, so it will have to wait for tomorrow's dinner, but consider it a celebration for clearing the 14th floor. Is that alright with you too, Roxanne and Sherry?"
"Yes. Thank you very much."
"I think it will be delicious."
With everyone’s agreement, we moved to the 12th Floor of Bode.
I defeated the Marbrims with earth magic.
When the monsters turned into smoke, one of the items left behind was a single, complete fish.
The whole fish.
"Amazing, it is!"
Milia immediately lunged for it, bringing it over with a joyous expression.
"She says that a whole fish is a very rare drop," Roxanne translated. "She is saying that as expected of the Master, you got it on the very first try."
The whole fish dropped because I’d swapped the Monk job for Cook.
The Cook has the Rare Ingredient Drop Rate Up skill.
It seemed the whole fish was indeed a rare ingredient. Well, even so, it was probably just luck that it dropped from the very first group.
If it made Milia respect me even a little bit more, then I was happy.
I took the whole fish from her.
The whole fish, while being a complete fish, had no bones or internal organs. It wasn't as if the head of the Marbrim monster itself had remained.
I wondered how that worked.
"They say that Marbrims have a sea bream inside their bodies," Sherry explained as I tilted my head in confusion. "It is called a sea bream within a sea bream."
Isn't that... not quite how biology works?
Well, I suppose it doesn't matter.
We continued the hunt.
The second whole fish finally appeared after we’d taken down more than ten more of them.
"A whole fish, it is!"
Milia brought it over.
It seemed she had perfectly memorized the Brahim word for it now.
I tucked it away in my Item Box.
"I had heard that the whole fish was considerably difficult to obtain..."
"Milia is saying the same thing. As expected of the Master."
"Ah. But I have heard that if one becomes a Cook, ingredients are easier to obtain."
Sherry, ever the analyst, arrived at the correct answer.
As expected of Sherry.
I nodded to her and decided to call it a day.
With two whole fish in hand, Milia would be more than satisfied.