Chapter 79: No Matter Which Way You Turn
When I heard we were going to a dungeon and that I needed armor, I immediately imagined scale mail or plate armor. However, when I looked at Romanov-sensei and Lara-sensei, I noticed that they were all dressed quite lightly.
Viktor-sensei was the one who gave me the answer.
“Well, you see, even though Alyosha and Lara look like they’re just wearing light clothes, they’re absolutely packed with enchantments. Same for me, of course.”
“Say what!?”
"Come on, this shouldn't come as a surprise."
Apparently, in dungeons, you can find gear as drops—armor that boosts toughness or physical defense, weapons with attack bonuses, things like that.
Most adventurers wear this kind of equipment, and the stronger the adventurer, the rarer the gear they tend to carry. Even if it’s not dungeon loot, skilled adventurers spend a lot on their gear, so the quality of what someone’s wearing can tell you a lot about their strength and experience.
“Most rookies become adventurers with barely any decent gear, even though the job’s really dangerous…”
“That sounds awful!”
“Well, A-tan, there are people who become adventurers because they literally have no other choice. You think they have the money to buy good gear?”
“I mean… I guess not.”
“They scrape together what little they’ve got, buy a leather chestplate and a dagger, take on simple jobs to earn trust, save up, and finally get better gear. Then they take more jobs, maybe conquer a dungeon… that’s the life of an adventurer.”
What a harsh reality.
In places like Kikunoi, where there isn’t much industry, people without farmland or a family business to inherit have only two real options: becoming a traveling merchant or an adventurer.
No wonder so many young people leave for the cities.
Kikunoi is still doing well, but in poorer areas, local governments struggle to retain their young residents, leading to the abandonment of entire villages.
In order to effectively govern people, it's crucial to maintain their vitality, avoid overindulging them, and avoid overstretching them.
Maintaining this delicate balance is crucial.
The handkerchiefs I make don’t circulate widely, and when I sell them for pocket money, Roland—the guild master of Kikunoi’s Adventurer’s Guild—buys them and redistributes them as needed.
I’ve honestly never cared much about where they end up.
The bows are made from azusa wood from the elves’ homeland and have magic that lets them grow with their owner. They can even hit incorporeal ghost-type undead. The arrows, unless they break, automatically return to the quiver.
The chestplates and gloves come enchanted with increased physical defense and magic power.
Why water-resistant? Because Regulus is still four years old—well, technically three years and eleven months.
If something scary happens in the dungeon and he wets himself, at least his clothes won’t get soaked.
Shirt: Physical Defense, Agility, Magic Boost
Tank Top: Durability, Magic Boost
Pants: Agility, Water Resistance
Drawers: Durability, Water Resistance
“Of course! The tempest killer bees and poison moths are among the toughest monsters in Kikunoi Dungeon, and she eats them for lunch.
If you toss one abyss tarantula like Tara-chan near a tempest killer bee nest, she’ll wipe out the whole thing.”
Hey, honey is precious.
It needs to be protected.
But I don’t want to stress the people out either.
…But that’s not the point.
“That’s why I think selling cheap handkerchiefs with enchantments like durability or physical defense is practically charity work,” Viktor said.
Well, I don’t know about that.
Maybe I should start paying a little more attention from now on.
Also, it turns out there’s more to the elf archery sets that Lara gave to Regulus and Kanade.
In that case, I should add speed boosts and durability enchantments to their gear too.
Also, I’ll try embedding enchantments with embroidery into their shirts, undergarments, pants, and bloomers—drawers, technically. I want to see how layering affects enchantments.
So, with Viktor’s help and his appraisal eyes, I began testing different embroidered enchantments on shirts.
My test subject was Regulus, who patiently sat there reading picture books like a dress-up doll.
Each time I moved the needle, the embroidery book would cheerfully say things like “A hummingbird motif boosts agility!” or “Monkeys help attract mana!”—though, oddly, in a pretty deep voice.
Still, it was very accurate and helpful, probably because it came from Romanov’s mother.
With the final stitch done and the thread tied off, I finished the water-resistant embroidery on his drawers.
I enchanted everything: chestplate, shirt, tank top-style undershirt, pants, and drawers.
I handed the full adventurer outfit to little Chick, and he eagerly changed into it.
“Do I look good?”
“You look great.”
He couldn’t get the chestplate on by himself, so I helped, but he managed the rest alone. He proudly puffed out his chest and turned to Viktor.
“Funsu!” (like a strong “hmph!” of pride)
“Well done, Rē-tan,” Viktor said, clapping.
He looked Regulus over from head to toe a few times and sighed.
“Yeah… I kinda knew, but wow. The physical defense is really high, and there’s even a [Weapon Break] effect. Some others changed too… Water Resistance turned into [Water Absorption Resistance], and Magic Boost became [Magic Absorption]… The layering boosts effects a lot.”
“Uh… meaning?”
“Basically, A-tan, your adventurer outfit is as good as—maybe even better than—armor forged by master blacksmiths. And that Weapon Break thing means if someone stabs you with a spear, the tip might snap off. Slash you with a sword? The blade itself will break.”
“Hyeee!?”
I nearly dislocated my jaw in shock.
I mean, I always knew I was better at enchantment than attack magic, but I didn’t expect this.
I’m kind of scared of myself now.
“…Can I ask something weird? Are there any monsters in the Kikunoi dungeon that could get past this kind of gear?”
“Well… I can’t say none. In adventure, unexpected things always happen. But if we ignore all the extreme edge cases, then no, there aren’t. Also, everything in the Kikunoi dungeon has a lower difficulty than your pet, Tara-chan. As long as she’s with us, intelligent monsters won’t even approach.”
“Wait, Tara-chan is that strong!?”
“Oh no! But their honey is a local specialty! No mass extinction! Yes to preservation, no to annihilation!”
“A-tan, you can be kind of dark sometimes, you know.”
If we can coexist, great. But if we can’t, extermination should never be the first option.
Anyway.
Now that I know layered clothes multiply enchantment effects, I’m going to make full adventurer sets for both Regulus and Kanade.
Of course, I’ll make one for myself too, but I’m not as physically capable as they are… What should I do?
As I mulled it over, Regulus—now in his drawers—came up and held out his pants to me.
“Rē wants you to draw a chick!”
“Draw? Ah, you want me to embroider a chick motif?”
“Niini likes chicks, so Rē likes them too!”
Aww, that’s adorable.
The back pocket of the pants was still empty, so I decided to stitch a chick there.
“Mm!” he said, handing me the pants and squatting down to watch.
With him in his drawers like that, his little puffy butt made him look like a pumpkin—or maybe a duckling or a baby chick. Super cute.
“Only kids like Kanatan or A-tan can wear drawers and still look adorable,” Viktor said, shaking his head in a strangely sentimental way.
“Once you grow up, they stop being cute and just look like short, weird pants.”
Wait… What did he just say?
It sounded like even Viktor and the others wear drawers.
I stared at him in disbelief.
Then Viktor tilted his head. “Did I say something weird?”
Wait. Hold on a sec.
This world’s fashion does resemble the time around the French Revolution in my previous life…
And I do remember drawers and similar undergarments being common back then.
So that means—
“Wait… does everyone wear pumpkin pants?”
Oh no.
EUN: JET LAG IS HARD!! but the heat in LV is harder.....oofff--- Anyway, how would you guys feel wearing underpants from long ago? 🤣
As for what I said on the previous chapter...if anyone's interested about the raws for the manga version please don't hesitate to comment down below if you are interested.
I know someone commented on the previous chapter and if you are reading this how do I reach out to send you the raws?Anonymous commenter where art thou!!!???
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EXTRA CHAPTER X1 from Tempeh: Thanks for the Dono Tempeh. I still owe you 1 extra chapter^^
PAYPAL
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😂 pumpkin pants lolol
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