I couldn’t possibly sleep.
Tonight, I was in the grip of a windfall.
The individual pieces of down were small, however. A hundred or two wouldn't be nearly enough to make a proper duvet. Just how many would I actually need?
If I worked hard and managed to gather fifty in an hour, a ten-hour hunting day would yield five hundred. Assuming a down duvet required five thousand feathers, I’d have to stay on the thirty-second floor for ten days straight.
Hmph. That might actually be for the best.
Recently, we had been repeating the grueling cycle of ascending one floor per day. We were bound to hit a wall eventually. If we pushed our luck too far and reached our limit in the labyrinth, there was a real possibility of someone dying.
Taking it easy for about ten days around here didn't sound like a bad idea at all.
Alternatively, I could make down pillows instead of a duvet. But I felt like people's preferences for pillows were sharply divided. If I were the one using it, I’d effectively be forcing it on Roxanne and the others. Though, if I made a long, narrow bolster, all five of us could use it together.
Regardless, it seemed a waste to sell the down I’d gone to the trouble of obtaining. I needed to decide quickly whether to make something, and if so, what. Buying bedding at the guild was out of the question, so gathering the materials ourselves was the only way to go.
Alright, I’d made up my mind. We would make a down duvet.
That meant a short break for about ten days. A delay of that length was no big deal.
"There are no monsters in the immediate vicinity," Roxanne announced.
Right, I still had the boss battle before that.
I wasn't sure if Roxanne would accept my plan gracefully. She wouldn't refuse if I ordered her, but I didn't want to resort to that. The timing of the proposal was critical. I’d wait until the end of the day.
You could also call that procrastinating.
We returned to the thirty-first floor and proceeded to the waiting room. After that, we repeated the boss battles. We took a break for breakfast and then headed back for more.
After several rounds, we encountered a streak where the door to the boss room wouldn't open.
"Is it closed again?" I asked.
"They must be in the middle of a battle. There might be another party repeating the boss fight, just like us," Roxanne replied.
"I see. I suppose it can't be helped if our timing overlaps."
If two or more parties were repeating the boss fight, it was only natural that we would be kept waiting. Since they likely returned using Field Walk as well, there wasn't much difference in our conditions. It was almost a wonder it hadn't happened until now.
"No. Most likely, the party currently inside does not have a Mage," Sherry offered a different opinion. "That is why it is taking so much time. The Rem Golem is the last boss that a party without a Mage can defeat with relative ease."
"Is it that easy?"
"I've heard they focus their attacks on the monsters that aren't sleeping to thin them out."
"Because the golem is asleep?"
"Yes. Of course, in the worst-case scenario where none of the monsters are sleeping, they need enough strength to handle three at once. However, in a boss room, they can fight safely without worrying about other monsters intruding, even if they take their time."
If they had the strength to defeat the boss, they could technically progress to higher floors. However, a party without a Mage would be fighting much slower than their level suggested. If multiple groups appeared at once on a standard floor, they could be overwhelmed instantly. Since their clearing speed was naturally slow, they would be in a massive bind. If they wanted to avoid that risk, it was safer for them to stay here and grind the Rem Golem.
"I see."
"I had forgotten that the Rem Golem is quite popular," Sherry continued. "I heard that quite a few people gather for it in labyrinths where it appears on the twenty-third or twenty-fourth floors. I suppose there are parties for whom facing it here on the thirty-first floor is appropriate."
In other words, this congestion would likely last all day. The reason we had been able to fight smoothly until a moment ago was probably because it was still early morning. The Quratar Labyrinth was always crowded, and it was inevitable that things would bottleneck during the day.
"I get it. In that case, we should probably just fight on the thirty-second floor today."
"A boss battle on the thirty-second floor?" Roxanne asked.
No, no. Roxanne, why did you have to jump to that conclusion? Even if you looked at me with sparkling eyes, I wasn't going to cave.
"Not that. Let's try hunting Rock Birds."
"Rock Birds?"
"Since we're at it, I'm thinking of making a down duvet."
"A down duvet? I understand."
I’d obtained Roxanne's approval. I could relax now.
"If you buy the fabric, we can all make the duvet together," Sherry added her support.
It seemed they would help me sew it. I just had to keep providing the down.
"I will help, desu," Miria said.
"That sounds like a good plan," Vesta agreed.
"Then it's settled."
I was on a roll. This meant ten days or so of relaxing and taking it easy.
"Understood. Once we go to the thirty-second floor, I will look for areas with high concentrations of Rock Birds," Roxanne said, dropping an ominous hint.
I couldn't help but feel like I had made a tactical error. I wondered if I would be okay. She definitely intended to lead me straight into a pack of six Rock Birds. From the thirty-second floor onwards, the maximum number of monsters in a single encounter increased to six.
I had a feeling this wasn't going to be relaxing at all.
"W-Well, that will make our progress to the higher floors a bit slower, though," I tried to steer the conversation back.
"No. If we hunt on the thirty-second floor bit by bit every day, there should be no problem with our progression," Sherry ruthlessly dismantled my half-baked logic.
Stunned, I tried to approach the problem from a different angle, but she had already crushed my hopes for a vacation.
I see. Of course. There was no need to hole up on the thirty-second floor. We could just come back to gather materials as we climbed. We just had to accumulate them gradually. As expected, Sherry was perfectly rational.
If we kept ascending one floor per day just like before, wouldn't this just mean I had less time to rest? I had failed. I shouldn't have proposed the down duvet yet. Well, I did want the duvet eventually, so I suppose it was fine.
"We aren't going to the boss room on the thirty-second floor, are we?" Roxanne asked, delivering the finishing blow.
When our turn for the boss battle finally came and we moved through to the thirty-second floor, she asked me while fluttering a piece of paper. It was the Quratar 32nd Floor Map.
"You brought that?"
"I thought something like this might happen."
It really didn't.
"T-Today, let's just focus on collecting down."
"I understand."
Oh. She actually understood. I was worried that if it were Roxanne, she might have insisted on a boss battle. Nothing could make me happier than this.
No, wait. To begin with, fighting on the thirty-second floor was a substitute because the thirty-first floor was crowded. There was no reason to challenge the thirty-second-floor boss yet, even if the difference was only a day. Roxanne's demand had been unreasonable from the start. Backing down was only natural. I shouldn't be celebrating the fact that she "understood" common sense.
I had almost been deceived.
Pulling myself together, we began hunting Rock Birds. Since Roxanne guided us to places with high monster counts, it was grueling work. To be precise, she was supposed to be looking for Rock Birds, not just large groups of monsters. Therefore, if she had to choose between a group of five monsters with only one Rock Bird and a group of only two Rock Birds, she would choose the latter... or so I hoped.
Well, even if there were five in total, we could manage.
"I did it, desu."
"I'm backing off a little."
Miria petrified one almost instantly. If I took a step back, the remaining four would usually line up against the front line, putting them within range of Sherry's spear so she could cancel their magic. From there, it was a straight line to victory.
The front line might have it hard with three people against four monsters, but Roxanne would handle it.
"I did it, desu," Miria chirped again.
If Miria petrified a second one, we were completely in the clear. Without boss battles, I occasionally needed to bring out Durandal during these standard fights to recover MP, but I managed that appropriately. The key was that even if we started against five, the enemy wouldn't stay at five for long.
Furthermore, I hadn't even used the Gambler's Status Ailment Resistance Down yet. That meant I wasn't even at full power. I still had plenty of leeway—mentally, at least. In reality, I didn't know if I was truly safe or if I was already at my limit, but as long as I felt like I had a trump card left, my mind was at ease.
We continued collecting down until evening.
"It is almost evening," Roxanne announced.
"I see."
At Roxanne's direction, we ended the day's work.
"It is still a little early, but could you take us to the Imperial Capital? We need to purchase the fabric for the duvet," Roxanne requested.
"I suppose that sort of thing is best bought in the Capital."
"Since Master will be the one using it, we should use the finest fabric."
I wondered if that was really necessary. Personally, I didn't care that much.
"Well, just make sure it's durable."
"I think beautifully dyed silk would be excellent," Sherry suggested.
"That's right. I hope we can find something nice."
"Silk, yes," Miria added.
"I think that would be good," Vesta agreed.
Everyone was clearly in favor of high-end materials.
"I think we could use something with a pretty pattern for the duvet cover," I suggested.
"A duvet cover?" Sherry asked.
I wondered if they didn't use covers here. Currently, we were only using blankets in our house.
"You sew a bag out of cloth and put the duvet inside it."
"I see. That way, you can choose whatever color you like depending on your mood," Sherry said, catching on.
"So even if it gets dirty, you only have to wash the cover? If it's just the cover, we could wash it every day," Roxanne said.
"I think every day would be quite a chore," I countered. Roxanne was in charge of the laundry, but daily washing sounded excessive.
"Is that so? I don't think it will be that large," she replied.
"I think it’ll be quite a size."
There seemed to be a discrepancy in our perceptions.
"Since it's a duvet for Master, if we match it to your height..."
"No, no. The duvet should be large enough to cover everyone."
Did she think I was making a tiny one just for myself?
"Um. Is it alright for us as well?" Roxanne asked tentatively.
"Well, we all sleep together anyway."
"Thank you very much!"
She seemed genuinely happy that we would be sharing it.
"I have only ever heard stories about how soft and high-class they are, so I am looking forward to it," Sherry said with a nod.
"A duvet, desu," Miria cheered.
"I think it will be very warm in the winter," Vesta added.
Everyone seemed on board. Winter was especially difficult for Vesta as a Dragon-kin, so a warm down duvet would be a relief for her.
"If it's going to be a large one, will it be hard to collect enough down?" Sherry fell into thought.
Was the reason she had suggested collecting it bit by bit because she thought it was just for me? A large duvet would certainly take more time. As I thought, we really should take ten days to just—
"There are still many days until it gets cold, so I think we'll be fine," Vesta offered a sensible opinion.
I wanted to point out that warmth wasn't the only purpose of a down duvet, but I kept it to myself.
"If it's not just for Master, then perhaps there's no need to go all the way to the Imperial Capital? We can make the duvet covers separately," Roxanne reconsidered.
I didn't want her to back out now. If she said that, I felt a stubborn urge to buy the best fabric the Capital had to offer. Maybe I just had a twisted personality.
"Don't worry about that. Let's just go to the Imperial Capital."
I warped us to the Imperial Capital Adventurer Guild. If we needed fabric for the covers too, we might as well get everything at once, even if gathering the down would take some time. Buying them together also meant I could use my thirty percent discount.
"They say the shop is this way," Roxanne said after asking for directions at the guild.
Guided by Roxanne, we walked through the streets of the Capital. It felt remarkably similar to navigating a labyrinth—a behavioral pattern I was well accustomed to.
The place she led us to was a shop packed with massive amounts of fabric. It wasn't a clothing store; only raw bolts of cloth were on display. It might have been a specialty wholesaler or a tailor's supplier.
Since I knew absolutely nothing about fabric, I simply purchased whatever Roxanne and the others chose. They took their time, meticulously selecting material for the duvet itself and the covers. Given the quantity, they were clearly planning for a significant size.
When we finally returned home, Roxanne and Vesta immediately began working on the duvet. Though, I suppose all they were doing for now was sewing the fabric into a large bag.