A late start tamers laid.., p.1
A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life: Volume 8, page 1
Chapter One: Record-Breaking Discovery
After clearing the Subterranean Lake in Zone Five, we stepped foot onto the grassy field that stretched beyond it.
We had received a notification of the event that would be held, but we had already decided to make it to the safety zone first before reading over the details. The problem was that we couldn’t find anything that looked like a safety zone.
“Where’s this safety zone at, anyway?”
“Usually it’s right by the entrance to an area...”
“Heh heh... Hard to make out much.”
The three girls I had come here with—Kurumi, Filma, and Rikyu—and I alike were looking all around, tilting our heads in confusion.
“There’s nothing that stands out, at least as far as I can see.”
In addition to the thick, tall grass growing everywhere, it was nighttime, so seeing anything was almost impossible. I tried equipping my Night Vision Necklace, but I still didn’t find anything.
Normally, there should have been some clear sign like a big tree, a giant rock, or an unnatural-looking patch of flowers that was visible from the entrance. I couldn’t spot anything that would have signaled a safety zone around us. It must have been hidden beneath the tall grass.
Pushing our way through the field of grass seemed like a lot of hard work. Plus, the grass would conceal any monsters, so it would be hard to detect them by sight. Meaning we’d have to watch out for surprise attacks.
“Maybe there isn’t a safety zone here?” I wondered aloud.
“That wouldn’t make any sense,” responded Filma.
“Heh heh... They even have safety zones in Zone Six, after all.”
I see. In that case, it wouldn’t have made sense for this to be the only place to not have one.
“So I guess it’s just hidden in the grass and we can’t see it?”
“You’re probably right!”
This is gonna be a pain to find. But we couldn’t turn back now that we’d gotten this far. We had to make one final push.
I could have easily had Eine fly around and do some recon from the sky, but I was kind of scared to do that in an unknown area, given the possibility she’d get ambushed by a strong enemy and killed in one hit.
Hmm, should I just have her observe from up above for a little while? Wait, no. Eine doesn’t have Night Vision, so she probably can’t see in the dark.
We would do a bit more searching. If we still couldn’t find the safety zone after that, then I would send her on recon.
“We have no info on what kinds of monsters appear here, so let’s move forward carefully,” cautioned Filma.
“Roger that!” said Kurumi.
“Heh heh... I wonder what sorts of items we can get here?”
“Let’s take our time too, okay?” I said. “Olto, Sakura. If it comes to battle, you’ll be our tanks.”
“Mm!”
“...!”
“Drimo, you take care of the back.”
“Squeak!”
I felt like I was using my cute monsters as a shield, but I just could not let myself be killed here. There was no telling what sorts of fiendish monsters we might encounter. Levelwise, this place was probably also a little out of our league, so we had to put survival first as we proceeded. And so, Kurumi took point and pushed through the grass to start moving forward. The grass looked to be as tall as her.
“Grrr, I can’t see anything in front of me!”
When pushing the grass aside by hand seemed insufficient, she began pushing through it with all her body weight. In an instant, she disappeared, swallowed up by the grass.
We rushed in after her. This tall grass was a lot more trouble than I’d been expecting it to be. Plus, it wasn’t the only thing hindering our path.
“Yuck! The bottoms of my feet are all soaked!”
Kurumi’s shrill voice reverberated throughout the nighttime meadow.
“Ah, looks like this is a wetland.”
“It doesn’t gross you out, Filma?”
“Oh, I’ve got waterproof boots on, see?”
“That makes sense. How about you, Rikyu?”
“Heh... Heh heh...”
Rikyu was clearly miserable. She was wearing tabi and geta, after all. Those were probably getting drenched.
“Water’s getting into my boots too,” I said.
“Mm.”
“...”
“Squeak.”
Olto and the others’ moods had also worsened. Drimo especially seemed to be having a hard time walking. After each step he took, he shook the mud off his feet. Reflet, however, seemed the same as ever. Actually, she looked to be enjoying herself. I guess that was because she was near water.
Eine and Rick also looked fine. Eine was floating, so she of course wasn’t bothered by the marsh, while Rick had shrewdly taken a spot on my shoulder. That was fine, though, since he could throw from there during a battle.
“We’re gonna have a terrible time unless we figure out how to deal with this.”
“And we really can’t move forward like this...”
Our feet weren’t entirely stuck, but it was extremely difficult to walk when the soles of our feet were sinking into the mud. Plus, all this grass was obscuring our vision. I didn’t even want to think about being in the front in this situation.
“How ’bout this?” Kurumi offered as she readied her main weapon, her giant hammer. “Filma, stand back.”
“What’re you going to do, Kurumi?”
“I’m gonna clear out all this grass! Take thiiiiis!”
Then, she started spinning her hammer around, mowing down the grass. It didn’t go so great, though. The grass bent back a little, but that was about it. It was almost as though it had evaded the impact.
“Raaaargh!”
“H-Hold on, Kurumi! Don’t swing so—”
“Ribbit!”
Right after Filma called out to Kurumi, trying to stop her from wasting her energy, we heard the loud croak of a frog, and the sound of something huge getting sent flying. We whipped our heads over to see something brown lying on top of fallen grass.
“R-Ribbit...”
“Eeugh! It’s a frog!” Kurumi cried.
“It’s a mud frog! How cute!”
“No way, how’s it cute?! Are you okay, Filma?”
“What do you mean? Big frogs are cute!”
“Heh heh... Frog... Toad’s oil... I wonder if it’s flammable?”
Kurumi had accidentally attacked a frog-type monster that had apparently been hiding in the grass. She must have hated frogs, since she was cringing miserably.
Meanwhile, it seemed like Filma might’ve liked frogs? Her eyes were sparkling, unlike Kurumi’s. I bet she liked aquatic animals. I was scared to see how Filma would react if something like a penguin or a sea otter appeared if this was how she reacted to frogs. She might well convert to being a Tamer or a Summoner on the spot.
Meanwhile, Rikyu’s eyes were completely different from either Kurumi’s or Filma’s. She had the look of someone eyeing a prize.
“Ribbit.”
I didn’t really like this thing either. It’d be a different story if it were a cute tree frog, but giant toads like this were just gross. I didn’t hate it as much as Kurumi did, though.
“I’m pretty sure I got a direct hit on it, so why hasn’t its HP gone down at all?”
“Heh heh... It’s probably got some resistance to bludgeoning attacks since it’s squishy.”
“Squishy... Ewww...”
“Which means it’s up to me and Rikyu,” declared Filma.
Filma and Rikyu commenced attacking it in tandem, easily defeating the frog. Evidently, as a trade-off for its high defense against blunt attacks, it was weak against piercing damage—meaning Filma’s harpoon was highly effective.
“Hey, isn’t that the safety zone over there?”
“Oh, you’re right!”
The grass around us had been knocked down in the commotion, making the way ahead clear to see. It must have been because the mud frog had been hopping about all over the place. Actually, maybe the strategy for getting through this place was to fight the monsters and mow down the grass as you moved forward.
We could see a clearly dry patch of land through the grass. Staying vigilant of our surroundings, we made our way towards that spot. Then, an area very different from the thick grassy field came into view. There, a field of light-purple flowers was in full bloom, clearly meant to be a place to rest. Its border with the grass was radiating a dim light.
No doubt about it, this was the safety zone.
“We did it!”
“Heh heh... We’re safe.”
“Yeah, we are.”
Once we stepped into the field of flowers, we immediately heard an announcement telling us a teleportation destination had been registered. This way, even in the worst-case scenario where we died, we should be able to make it back here quickly.
Finally, we could catch our breath.
“It’s so pretty here, isn’t it?” said Filma.
“Heh heh... It is,” responded Rikyu.
“Yeah, I really like this place too,” Kurumi chimed in.
Just as the girls said, it was a beautiful location.
Since it was already the middle of the night, our surroundings were dark, but the purple flowers that were growing here were faintly luminescent, illuminating the safety zone.
T
“Mm-mmm...”
“Squeak...”
While I was transfixed by the pale glow of the flowers, Olto and Drimo, who were sitting next to me, were making some strangely melancholic noises.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mm...”
“Squeak...”
They were both rubbing their bellies in the same way. Oh wait, had they not eaten since I summoned them?
“It might be a weird time for a meal, but we have a great view. Should we eat here?” I suggested.
“Mm-mm!”
“Squeak!”
I could just take out what I’d already prepared for Olto and some of the others, but I’d make my and Reflet’s meals here.
“After all, I’ve got these!”
“Hum!”
It was time for the long-awaited crab dishes. Once they saw me take out the crab, Kurumi, Rikyu, and Filma began clamoring with excitement.
“Ahhh! You’re having crab?”
“Heh heh... You promised you’d cook for us.”
“Please, make some for us too!”
I had no issue with that, seeing as I had promised them that from the start.
“I got it, I got it. You good with leaving the cooking up to me?”
“Yeah!”
“Heh heh... I’m looking forward to it.”
“All we can think of to make is stuff like boiled crab and crab fried rice,” said Filma.
On top of not having the Cooking skill, the three of them apparently didn’t cook in real life either. All the work was being left to me. Filma also sent me a transfer request.
“Could you use this?” she asked.
“Subterranean Lake Water? Never seen this before.”
I had worked pretty hard to gather items, but I didn’t remember obtaining anything like Subterranean Lake Water.
“I got it from a gathering node at the bottom of the lake.”
“Ah, so that’s why we didn’t get any.”
Reflet didn’t have the right skills, so even if she had reached the spot where the water flowed from, she wouldn’t have been able to collect it. If we ever wanted to get some Subterranean Lake Water, either Olto, Sakura, Rick, or I would have to go down and get it.
“Are you sure I can use this? It seems valuable...”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I go to the Subterranean Lake like once a day anyway.”
So the Subterranean Lake was her replacement for a pool. Not surprising, considering her character’s focus on water.
“I have a lot of Subterranean Lake Water stocked up. I collect some each time I go since I have a tendency to be a hoarder about things... So please, feel free to use it!”
According to Filma, it was the kind of item that didn’t have much worth if you had too much of it. I thought it’d be a good idea to sell it, but apparently you could get them at the NPC shops at South Gate for a relatively reasonable price. Aquatic items were used in most crafting, so they must have been made to be pretty easy to get a hold of in the game for that reason.
“All right then, I’ll gladly use it.”
“Great!”
It was water with a rarity of 4. Wow, this is awesome! I was happy to be able to try it out.
“What should I start with?”
Just obtaining the crab had unlocked several basic recipes, so I’d try those out first. Besides those, there were a bunch of other recipes that seemed feasible to make. In addition to the crabs I’d caught, the girls had also craftily gotten their own too, giving me a total of fifteen crabs to work with. With this many, I could probably make all the recipes.
“I’ll make this one first. It’s just basic boiled crab.”
It was an easy recipe. I just had to place the crab in a pot along with the Subterranean Lake Water and salt, and then light a fire under it. Twenty seconds later, it came out with just what I was expecting: a bright-red boiled crab. It looked just like the Shanghai crab I’d once eaten in Chinatown.
“I-It looks delicious...” I muttered.
No, I need to be strong. If I tried sneaking a few bites, I’d get booed out of there. People could be scary when it came to their food.
After that, I made lots of different dishes: grilled crab, crab omelet, crab miso soup, crab hot pot, crab stew, crab salad, clear soup with crab, crab cream croquettes, crab bread, crab pizza, and crab steamed dumplings.
If rice had been discovered, I could have made an impressive spread of crab fried rice, crab pilaf, crab rice soup, and a seasoned rice dish with crab. There wasn’t much I could do about that, though, since rice hadn’t yet been found in the game. Plus, the variety of dishes I had already made should be tasty enough.
“I’ve really outdone myself, if I do say so myself!”
Hearing the call, Filma and the others started gathering around. Their eyes gleamed when they caught sight of all my crab cuisine.
“I call dibs on the crab omelet!”
“Hey, no fair, Kurumi!”
“Heh heh... That crab bread is mine.”
“Hum!”
It looked like a fight would break out if I let this go on. Maybe we needed to settle things fairly with rock-paper-scissors. I’d made enough crab hot pot and stew for five people, so we could all eat those at least.
In the end, I won the hot pot, stew, miso soup, and clear soup. Yeah, I was not expecting to lose every round of rock-paper-scissors. All I got was the soup-based dishes. Now that I thought about it, since I had made hot pot and stew, the miso and clear soups were really unnecessary.
The game gods must have been moved by Kurumi and the others’ desire for crab.
“I guess this is fine. I can just make more when I want to, after all.”
My frustration was diminished by watching the girls devour the crab dishes. It felt really nice to hear them compliment my food. And seeing even Filma, who was always so prim and proper, tear through the food like her life depended on it reaffirmed the magic of crab for me.
I took a slurp of one of my dishes and said, “Mm, yeah, this is good. Reflet, what do you think? How is it?”
“Hum!”
Reflet flashed me a wide grin, holding a grilled crab leg high up above her. I guess that’s a yes. I’m glad I cooked them... But you’ve got food stuck around your mouth, you know that? I thought about wiping it off for her, but it would just get dirty again immediately. Okay, just enjoy your meal.
While we were having our fill of the crab dishes, Olto and the others who had already finished their meals were playing around in the safety zone. Wait, they should have been. But for some reason, they were nowhere to be seen.
I hadn’t even realized. I’d been too absorbed in eating crab.
“Huh? Olto? Sakura?”
Did they leave the safety zone without my noticing?
Flustered, I called out their names. But there was no response.
Could they have left the safety zone and then died?
“G-Guys! Olto! Sakura!”
“Mm?”
Hearing my desperate cries, Olto promptly returned, responding as though he was saying, “You called?” The tilt of his head suggested he didn’t understand why I was so panicked.
“Jeez, you scared me... Where the heck did you go?”
“Mm!”
Olto pushed apart the grass and pointed at something. When I looked, I saw a marker indicating a gathering node amid the grass.
“Hm? Oh, I see.”
“Mm-mm!”
Since he had nothing to do, he had gone to collect some items.
“You didn’t wander off too far, did you?”
“Mm.”
“Then that’s fine.”
My other monsters also came back soon after. Apparently there were several gathering nodes right by the safety zone. When I jumped up and down to check it out, I could see several markers coming in and out of view. This really was one of those times where being short was a disadvantage. It was an advantage in places like cramped caves, though.
“I see three of them...”
The gathering nodes weren’t even ten meters away from the safety zone. At that distance, I could just gather materials and return in a flash.
