A late start tamers laid.., p.1
A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life: Volume 6, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Prologue
Chapter One: The Battle at the Fire Elemental Gate
Chapter Two: West Dungeon, Here We Come!
Chapter Three: We Found Another One, Chief! It’s the North This Time!
Chapter Four: North, East, West, and Finally, the South
Chapter Five: The Tea Party Live Stream
Chapter Six: The Mayoiga and the Zashiki-Warashi
Epilogue
Color Illustrations
Bonus Short Story
Bonus Textless Illustrations
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Prologue
“Honestly, I’m starting to get sick of all these flames. I kinda wanna go home already...” I muttered. With my new companion Himka—a Salamander I had just tamed in the Fire Elementals’ trial—having been sent off to the ranch, I was having trouble deciding our next move. We were in a harsh environment, and exploring the dungeon was hardly all fun and games. I much preferred the idea of heading to the Water Elementals’ trial to staying here and continuing to fight. It was prettier there, and besides, there were plenty of food options. That said, it wouldn’t hurt to have more foaming tree fruits and fire ores for future experiments, especially as the latter could be used to make fire-resistant paint.
“That paint does seem pretty versatile.”
It could be applied to plates and furniture; it would definitely come in handy in clearing the dungeon if I could use it on armor as well. Given all that, it seemed like a good idea to secure more fire ores. On the other hand, I was also itching to retrieve my new companion and find out about his personality and abilities.
“Hmm...”
Do I forge on, or quit and come back another time? It was a tough call.
Just then, a thought occurred to me. “Hang on. Aren’t Reflet and Fau close to evolving?” I wondered aloud. The two had gained quite a bit of XP since we entered the dungeon; Reflet was now at level 24 and Fau at level 23. If Reflet’s evolution requirements were the same as Olto’s, she would only need to level up once more. Although I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that the threshold was the same for Fau, given how both Olto and Sakura had evolved at level 25, it was highly likely that she would follow the same pattern as her parents.
“Well, there’s no way I can quit now.”
“Hum?”
“Aye?”
Fau and Reflet looked at me quizzically. I patted them both on the head, gathering my thoughts.
“Grinding until they level up could take a while.”
Thankfully, I could get more fire ores and foaming tree fruits while I was at it.
“Although...maybe I should head back to my farm first.”
There was a lot of prep I had to do if I wanted to attempt the dungeon again, like restocking on the supplies I was low on. I had only a few more rounds until my HP and MP ran out, and I didn’t have nearly enough potions to last a drawn-out battle. Besides, if I was going to grind for a few hours, it would be more efficient to bring Himka along so he had a chance to level up. We also had to finish all of our chores on the farm for the day. Having made up my mind, my monsters and I exited the Fire Elementals’ trial. As soon as we ducked out, however, we came face-to-face with something standing at the entrance.
Click-clack.
“Eek!” I yelped instinctively. How could I not, though, when there was an armed skeleton right in front of us? Surely, that would cause anyone to freak out. Worse still, there was a fairly realistic zombie next to it! The zombie wasn’t the old-school, rotting-corpse type, but the modern horror-movie type that looked like a living person infected with a virus. Not that the distinction mattered much; either way, it made my skin crawl. It was hard to believe this creature used to be human, with its deathly pallor, bulging dark-blue veins, and sharp fangs and nails—in an alternate reality, I probably would’ve shot it clean through the head.
“Oh. Sorry, did I spook you?”
“Huh? What the...?”
For a split second, I thought the cute voice I’d heard had come out of the zombie, but I soon noticed someone poking their head out from behind it. The player was an adorable half-man, half-rabbit hybrid, dressed in a sweet bunny-girl outfit much like you’d see on a magician’s assistant, with white ears sprouting from the top of his head. Yes, you heard that correctly: the person before me was a dude. In this game, your character’s gender automatically matched your IRL gender, which meant you could easily tell who you were dealing with at a glance by using your Appraisal skill. By that measure, this cute “bunny girl” was unmistakably a man—a beautiful, androgynous young man who looked undeniably cute in his frilly outfit. I have to admit, I was almost unsettled.
The player wore a swallowtail coat adorned with frills on top and a miniskirt paired with knee-length, black-and-white-striped socks on the bottom. Of course, I should have known men could wear skirts too; I had forgotten you could tweak your outfit regardless of gender.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” the player asked, sounding concerned.
“I-I’m good. Don’t mind me.”
Damn it! Stop being adorable, glancing up at me and tilting your head like that! What if it awakens something inside me?! Man, I never thought I would meet a femboy in-game! No, hang on; maybe that’s not so weird. If anything, being in a game made it all the more likely that I’d run into someone like him. Maybe that was just an ordinary occurrence... D’aah! This was way too confusing!
“Er, I, uh, freaked out a bit because of that skeleton, that’s all.” I explained sheepishly.
“Oh, sorry about that! It actually belongs to me.”
Whoa, what a boyish voice out of a— Wait, no, no mystery here. This is a dude! Nope, totally not panicking right now.
“If that’s your monster, does that mean you’re a Tamer?” I asked hesitantly.
“Nope. I’m a Necromancer.”
“No way. For real?”
Talk about an even bigger shocker! To think I would run into a Necromancer—one of the least popular job classes—here, of all places! If I remembered correctly, there were only about thirty of them in the entire game.
“Yes, for real. These guys are living proof.”
Click-clack!
“Rrr-aaghh.”
The white skeleton and zombie raised their hands and greeted me cordially. Not only was it terrifying, but it was also kind of gross. In LJO, you could actually change how certain things appeared to you, like these guys, for example. This feature was probably implemented out of consideration for kids, young teens, and people who couldn’t handle gore or horror well. You could also add a filter to specific types of insects or reptiles, ranging from shadowy black filters to ones with heavy censorship abilities that made such creatures look innocuous.
Until now, I had never encountered any undead aside from ghosts, so I had simply stuck to the default settings. Besides, I wanted to enjoy the fantasy aspect as much as possible without making too huge a compromise. So far, I could still tolerate the bunny guy’s monsters; I could think about what to do later on if I met one that was creepier.
“Cute, aren’t they?”
“‘C-Cute’?”
Dude, there’s a HUGE difference between “tolerable” and “cute”! Those aren’t synonyms!
“Uh-huh! I mean, there’s just something really sexy about a skeleton in motion, don’t you think? And this zombie! Seeing it move with such swiftness makes me positively swoon!”
Holy shit, what was with this guy? A femboy who’s a Necromancer with an undead-monster kink? They were all such distinct qualities that it was hard to grasp his character.
“Anyway, nice to meet you. I’m Chris the Necromancer,” the player introduced himself.
“Yuto. I’m a Tamer.”
“I know! You’re a celebrity, tee-hee!”
Don’t “tee-hee” me! It’s too adorable!
“You’re Silver-Haired, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. A lot of people like to call me that.”
By now, I’d given up trying to keep my identity a secret. After all, I had a bunch of rare monsters with me, like Olto and Sakura—there was no use trying to play dumb.
“It’s an honor to meet you. Any plans on taming an undead, by the way?”
“Huh? An undead?”
“Yes!” Chris exclaimed as he bounded towards me, a twinkle in his eye. Though the harassment block prevented him from making physical contact with me, he was still a bit too close for my liking.
“Generally speaking, yes, your monsters might be considered cute! But! In my opinion, they lack oomph!”
“O-Okay...?”
“Imagine this—a skeleton standing behind your small, adorable monsters! Or a zombie, whichever you prefer. What do you think?”
“What do I think...?”
All I could picture was me screaming, “Olto! Behind you!” as I watched my companions about to be ambushed. In any case, “cute” was the last thing on my mind. Chris seemed to think otherwise, though.
“Doesn’t that sound lovely?” He smiled. Wow, he really meant it; his expression said it all.
“Y-You think?”
“Of course. How could I not? We’re basically adding a cute undead to an already adorable group of monsters. That’s double the cuteness.”
I didn’t really understand the appeal. In fact, Chris didn’t seem that intereste
“I personally recommend the Poor Zombies in Zone Three since they have both Zombie and Skeleton in their evolution routes!”
“Uh-huh...”
“Although Ghosts are cool too, they’re not as cute as skeletons or zombies.”
“Sure. I’ll think about it if I run into one.”
Crap. Time for me to take my leave. If I stayed, there was no telling what bizarre rabbit hole I would fall down. I’d like to remain a normie, thank you very much! I was more than content with admiring femboys and the undead from afar, nothing more.
“A-Anyway, it was nice meeting you. I gotta go take care of some personal business now.”
“Aww, stay! Let’s chat about the undead some more!”
Don’t “aww” me, you cutie! Sh-Shit! It’s already begun!
“S-See ya!”
“I’ll tell you all about how cute zombies are the next time we meet!”
No thanks! Run, Yuto! Run, and don’t look back! I ran without stopping, trying to forget the fleeting thoughts that were crossing my mind. For now, I simply needed to distance myself from this pushy, adorable character.
Chapter One: The Battle at the Fire Elemental Gate
After a while, I found myself back in the Town of Beginnings. Man, what a day. I was exhausted.
“Fau, Reflet. I want you guys to work together on this task, okay?”
“Hum!”
“Aye!”
Reflet and Fau both saluted at me, the latter perched atop the former’s head. These two were in charge of making potions from our stock of medicinal herbs and the like. In the meantime, I headed to the Magical Beasts Guild to retrieve Himka.
“Chirp.”
“Squeak.”
Rick hitched a ride on my shoulder, which was nothing new. This time, however, we were joined by Drimo, as he didn’t have anything in particular to do.
“All right. Ready to fetch the newest member of our family?”
“Chirp chirp!”
“Squeak squeak.”
In contrast to Rick’s cheerful reply, Drimo simply shrugged his shoulders and waddled away. Not that I expected a grand display of emotion from him; if anything, I preferred his reticent attitude. The only thing we needed to complete the look was a cigarette dangling from his lips. Speaking of cigarettes, would Drimo be willing to smoke one if I managed to buy some from Mattsun, aka The Smoky One?
“Hm!”
Thirty minutes later, a red-haired boy stood before me, waving his arms above his head energetically.
Himka’s cute and rather soft appearance suddenly called Chris back to mind.
“Hm?”
“Nothing. Welcome to the family, Himka.”
“Chirp!”
“Hmm!”
Down by my feet, Rick raised his paw in greeting. Himka bent forward at the waist and shook his tiny paw.
“Hm-hmm!”
“Chirp? Ch-Chreep!” Rick uttered a distressed squeal. Himka’s handshake appeared to have been a tad too strong for my tiny companion. As a matter of fact, the force seemed to have lifted him clear off the ground, as he now dangled above it.
“Squeak.”
“Hmm!”
“Sq-Squeak.”
Once he was done with Rick, Himka moved on to Drimo, pumping his hand enthusiastically. Even the usually calm Drimo was taken aback, blinking in surprise. So far, I had learned that Himka was incredibly energetic and somewhat lacking in the social awareness department. The same thing happened all over again when we arrived home at our farm. Fearing a repeat of Rick, I put Fau on my palm when it was her turn and made Himka settle for a high five instead. It turned out to be kind of futile, though, as the powerful clap of Himka’s hand knocked her straight off my palm and sent her flying. Once everyone had been blessed by his handshake, I pulled Himka aside for a little Q and A sesh in the barn.
“I’m gonna ask you a few questions, so nod if it’s a yes and shake your head if it’s a no. Capisce?”
“Hm!” Himka nodded eagerly, showing that he understood.
“Poko.” Kettle appeared noiselessly, offering me a cup of tea.
“Hey. Thanks, Kettle,” I replied, grateful for the gesture. Kettle felt a lot like a housekeeper—a tanuki maid, if you will. Regular housekeepers probably didn’t climb onto the table, though. I patted its stomach in return, which was extra fluffy today. It seemed like Kettle was able to alter its appearance and size to an extent, ranging from toy-poodle size to Olto size. Sometimes it resembled a Tea Kettle Tanuki, with arms and legs sprouting from a kettle, while other times it wore the kettle on its back like a turtle, as it did right now. Although Kettle was cute either way, this form was much nicer for cuddling.
“I see you’re using the teacup I gave you. Neat.”
“Poko!”
Kettle could only produce tea once every six hours. That wasn’t exactly profitable, so I’d decided to save it for myself rather than sell it.
“Okay, first question,” I said, turning to Himka. “For starters, I wanna know if you can fight. Can you use your Malletworking skill and fire magic in battle?”
“Hm.”
“You can’t, eh?”
Another monster specializing in crafting—the same as all the other elementals I had seen so far.
“Hmm...”
“Come on, no need to look so gloomy. I figured as much. It’s okay as long as you do your best at crafting.”
“Hm?”
“Yeah, really. So don’t give me that sad look, okay?”
“Hm!”
Hearing that, Himka jumped up and down with joy, no longer dejected. Perhaps energetic wasn’t the right word for him; expressive was more like it. In that sense, he was similar to Reflet.
“Okay, next question. You’ll need a furnace of some sort to do glassblowing and metalworking, correct?”
“Hm.”
“Do you need a separate furnace for each skill?”
“Hm!” Himka shook his head. Apparently, that wasn’t necessary. In that case, maybe I could just buy the cheapest furnace available and see what he was capable of making. I had apparently misunderstood him, however, as he immediately moved to the corner of the barn and crouched down, humming to himself while he rummaged inside his personal work bag.
“Hm-hmm-hm-hmm!”
“Whoa! No way!” I gasped at the small furnace that had suddenly appeared inside the barn. It seemed that Himka’s work bag doubled as a storage box, although I would never have guessed he had a furnace stashed inside it. Did that mean he could work outdoors if he wanted? Oh, but unlike metalsmithing, metalworking lacked the ability to repair your equipment’s durability. Maybe there wasn’t much point in being able to use it out in the playing field then.
“Guess that means I don’t need to buy a furnace after all.”
“Hm!” Himka puffed out his chest proudly.
“Hey, can you try making something for me now?”
“Hm?”
“Let’s see... Which ores are good for this? How about these copper ores?” I asked, handing him ten from my inventory.
“Hm-hmm!”
Himka began tossing the ores into the furnace one after another before stirring them around.
“Hm-hm-hmm.”
After a minute or so, he extracted something from the furnace, holding it high so I could have a good look at it.
“Whoa, did you just make an ingot?”
“Hm.” Himka nodded, handing it to me. In true video game fashion, there was no need to wait for it to cool down.
“It really is an ingot.”
“Poko,” Kettle agreed as we both stared at it side by side. Since the quality of the copper ores and furnace hadn’t been high to begin with, the end result was also of low quality. Regardless, I was glad to have Himka as our new, much-needed metalworking expert. This was great news—it meant I could potentially make my own ingots for future incubators from now on.
“So, what next? Given that your skill is Metalworking, you’re not done with this ingot yet, are you?”
“Hm!”
Himka beamed confidently, rolling up his sleeves—or pretended to, anyway, seeing as he was wearing a sleeveless top. After I returned the ingot to him, he used fire magic to heat it and began beating it with his mallet on an anvil, which he also produced from his work bag. What was the difference between Himka and Reflet? I wondered. Why did Himka have all of the tools he needed for work right from the get-go while Reflet didn’t? Was it due to how affordable their tools were? In Olto’s case, it made sense since he mostly just used a hoe. Maybe the difference was that while Himka could get his work done in the furnace in one minute, Reflet required several days to brew stuff.
