Read Novel Full Chapter 20 & 21
Chapter 20 & 21
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TL: ALT
Chapter 20 – Elixir? I have it, though?
While Serika calls a cab from an app, I collect my bicycle from the bicycle parking lot and put it in my Item Box.
While waiting for the cab to come,
“Hey, Serika. Do you have a way to get the elixir?”
I ask,
“Huh? I have a few elixirs, though.”
Serika said simply.
“R-really?”
Of course, it was the girl who took the bait.
According to what I had heard earlier, her name is Shinozaki Honoka.
She is a second-year student at Kuzusawa Junior High School, where Serika and I graduated from, and she lives not too far from our parents’ house.
“Honoka was looking for the elixir, right?”
“Y-yes. But how did you know?”
“Actually, I was at Fam’s Explorer’s Shop a little while ago.”
Fam’s is the name of the local shopping mall.
“Uh… by any chance, was it when I annoyed the clerk by asking him if he had any elixirs?”
“I don’t think it was that much of a nuisance. I think you needed it for some reason.”
“T-that’s right. My mother is sick, and I really need the elixir to heal her.”
Honoka says with her face down.
At those words, Serika,
“…Wait a minute. What do you mean you need an elixir for an illness?”
Serika asked with a dubious look on her face.
“Eh, can’t an elixir cure illnesses?”
“Well, it can heal most illnesses and injuries, but… It can’t cure cancer or diabetes. Though it can cure heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.”
“Then…”
“But those diseases can be treated much more inexpensively with a combination of modern medicine and healing magic. There should be no need to use such valuables as elixirs.”
“…What does that mean?”
I tilted my head,
“…My mother was born… a little unusual…”
Honoka said with some hesitation.
“…I’ve been told never to tell anyone about it. Even if I told you, you might not believe me…”
Honoka hesitates.
“You know, Honoka-chan.”
Serika bent down a little and looked at Honoka.
“If your mother is sick and really needs the elixir, I’m willing to give it to you. But the elixir is a valuable item, and it’s not something you can give to someone so easily.”
“Is that so?”
“You should learn a little more about it already, Yuto? The elixir is a national strategic exploration item, and you need permission to take it out of the country.”
I didn’t want to repeat the question, so I kept my mouth shut.
The elixir is said to fully regenerate HP and MP, remove all kinds of abnormalities in an instant, and even restore severed body parts.
The most demanding place for its effectiveness would be on the battlefield.
Is it any wonder that the government has designated it as a strategic exploration item?
“Yes… Yuto-san and Serika-san saved my life… so I’m sure my mother will forgive me if I tell you the circumstances. No, I’m sure my mother would scold me if I hid the fact that I was saved by you.”
What can I say? It’s a very old-fashioned house.
Her hair, hidden by her casquette hat, is golden, and her eyes, behind her sunglasses, are a translucent blue.
She looks like a Westerner, but I wonder if one of her parents married into an old Japanese family.
I don’t think there was a house like that in the neighborhood.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like you to meet my mother.”
“Yes… If I’m going to give you an elixir, I can’t do it without knowing who I’m going to use it on. What about you, Yuto?”
“Me? I don’t think it would matter if I went…”
“That’s not true. I am sure that my mother would want to thank you personally for saving me, her daughter. Depending on the situation, I think she would say that she would visit Yuto-san herself, even if it would be too much for her…”
“She’s sick, isn’t she? I don’t want her to do that.”
I didn’t save her because I wanted to be thanked.
“Hey, Yuto, don’t talk like that!”
“I-I apologize…”
“N-no, I’m not blaming Honoka-chan. I’m the one who suggested it, so let’s go together.”
I guess I can’t refuse anymore.
Serika said she would give her the elixir without hesitation.
But I was the one who initiated it.
I don’t want to put the burden on Serika.
At the very least, I must return the elixir to Serika as soon as possible.
Serika might tell me not to worry about it, but I don’t think I should take advantage of that.
――Should I go for the rare draw slot on the Gigant Rock Golem later?
But it would be inefficient to run around the Water Park dungeon until the boss drops the elixir, no matter what it costs.
It’s not a waste of time because I can do it while hunting Trehobi, but there are other dungeons I’d like to conquer…
Besides, if I go to other dungeons, there might be monsters that drop elixirs at a slightly higher rate, right?
Or maybe I can get a bonus skill that would increase the drop rate of the item.
Well, that would be wishful thinking.
For a few minutes, until the taxi arrived, I pondered my future plans.
Chapter 21 – Going To Visit Honoka’s Mother
The next day.
Serika and I went to visit Honoka’s mother.
I thought she was in a hospital somewhere because she said she was sick,
“…It’s a shrine no matter how you look at it.”
“Yes, it’s a shrine no matter how you look at it.”
I nodded at Serika, who looked unconvinced.
Honoka led us to a large shrine deep in the mountains―or rather, almost at the top of the mountain.
――Tengumine Shrine.
It takes an hour to get from our hometown to the terminus of the local train line.
From the station, we took a bus for another hour.
The shrine, shrouded in mist, has a quiet and solemn atmosphere that makes it understandable why it is called a power spot.
Honoka leads us up to the main shrine building and takes us into the inner part of the shrine.
It was a one-story house in a pure Japanese style that is hard to find these days.
Serika and I sat by the brazier on the sunken hearth, waiting for Honoka, who had gone to call her mother.
“We look so out of place, don’t we?”
Serika, dressed like a knight, said.
“For me, just the fact that Serika is wearing Western armor is enough to make me feel out of place.”
“It’s been years since the dungeon appeared, you know? I don’t think I feel that way anymore.”
“You’ve adapted too much.”
Well, I guess that’s what a man who couldn’t adapt to the world and was a shut-in would say.
“I don’t want to be told that by Yuto, who soloed a C-rank dungeon with ease in just a few days after becoming an explorer.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
I think the general public, including Serika, takes such an incomprehensible phenomenon as dungeons appearing all over the world too easily.
In the beginning, even though I was a shut-in, I was at least surfing the Internet.
And yet, until a few days ago, I didn’t even know that dungeons existed.
It’s crazy no matter how you look at it.
And yet no one else seemed to care.
“――I brought my mother here.”
I heard a small voice from behind the sliding door.
“Please come in. …I mean, isn’t it strange that I’m the one saying this?”
“Well, if you’ll excuse me.”
The door opened softly.
I knew from the reaction of the Search that there was another woman who looked very similar to Honoka.
Serika would also have noticed the presence behind the sliding door.
And yet, both Serika and I gasped when we saw the woman appearing behind the door.
A woman who seemed receptive yet somewhat fragile.
If she were merely frighteningly beautiful, it would have been predictable from Honoka’s appearance.
Even for a Westerner, her gorgeous blonde hair and clear azure eyes, like the surface of a lake, would not be out of place in Honoka’s ancestry.
The fact that she looks about 20 years old seems unlikely considering Honoka’s age, but even so, we cannot say for sure that it is not true.
Still, there was one feature about her that was hard to believe.
It was that,
“That ear is…”
Serika’s eyes widened, and she spat out her words spontaneously.
But she quickly came to her senses,
“Oh, I’m sorry. For someone I’ve never met.”
“No, it’s fine. It is natural for people in this world to be surprised.”
The woman said with a gentle smile.
She touched her ears with her fingertips,
“There is no race on Earth with long ears, is there?”
“Um, Yuto-san, Serika-san. This is my mother. Well, as you can see…”
At Honoka’s words, I mumbled in a subdued voice.
“…Elf.”
In response to my words, Honoka and her mother nodded their heads in agreement.
The tea was brewed in an iron kettle on the hearth and presented to me by Haruka-san, Honoka’s mother.
Serika’s tea is served by Honoka.
“It might be a little inappropriate, but I don’t know how to drink it or anything.”
“Please enjoy it as you wish. I’m not really familiar with the etiquette of this world either.”
“Y-yes.”
Serika and I look into each other’s eyes before drinking our green tea.
…Yes, it’s green tea.
“It’s delicious.”
“Thank you. I had nothing to do, so the head priest taught me the tea ceremony, but I still had a lot to learn. Even sitting in seiza is numbing if I do it for too long!”
Haruka-san smiled at me as she said this,
“Then please make yourself comfortable.”
Serika takes the initiative.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Haruka-san breaks her seiza and sits down with one leg to the side.
I quickly look away at the whiteness of her calves peeking out of her red hakama.
…I mean, red hakama?
It’s quite late, but Haruka-san was dressed in a shrine maiden costume of a white robe and red hakama.
Like Honoka, a Westerner with blonde hair and blue eyes―no, an elf dressed as a shrine maiden.
I would have noticed it sooner, but I was so focused on Haruka-san’s otherworldly beauty, interesting appearance, and especially her long, pointed ears that I didn’t pay attention to what she was wearing.
It may be a prejudice to say that a shrine maiden should have black hair… but it suits her very well, even though it is a very different color combination.
When it comes to elves, you might think of them as slim, but Haruka-san has a great style.
The bulge that makes her white robe look so sexy…
“Yuto… How long are you going to look at her?”
“Huh!”
I finally come to my senses when Serika stares at me from next to me.
While Honoka’s cheeks are slightly puffed up,
“Yuto-san, do you prefer women like my mother?”
“N-no, it’s not like that.”
“Ara? Am I not attractive to you?”
“T-that’s not true! I thought Honoka-chan was amazingly beautiful, but Haruka-san even added an adult touch to it…”
What am I saying?
Serika’s look at me turned cold, and Honoka turned bright red and face down.
“Fufu. I haven’t given it up yet. I’m still much older than this.”
“Are you really an elf?”
“Yes.”
“Well… Where did you hear that…?”
“We will talk about my daughter’s and my situation later. But first, I want to thank you for your help.”
Haruka-san urged her daughter Honoka,
“Thank you for saving my daughter yesterday when she was in danger.”
“Thank you very much.”
Then they both bowed to me and Serika.
“P-please don’t do that. I just happened to be there.”
“No, it is a rule for explorers to defend themselves. Not many people would risk helping someone who has foolishly fallen into a trap. I heard that you didn’t ask for anything in return.”
“…In return, huh? I hadn’t thought of that.”
For me, the reward was worth the risk because I was able to obtain a special condition by using the scum explorer.
But I can’t talk about it.
If I told them, they’d probably reply that it’s different from this and that, so they’d thank me again.
…I thought it was an old-fashioned family, but I never expected it to be an elf.
I don’t know what kind of existence the real ‘elves’ are, but they might have some kind of rule or commandment that says you always have to return the favor you received.
Well, Serika was grumpy for some reason,
“…Anyway, you decided to help Honoka-chan because she’s cute, right? Good for you that a cute middle school girl adores you.”
“No, as expected, I would have saved her even if it wasn’t Honoka-chan in that situation.”
“I wonder if that’s true.”
“Why do you doubt me? If it were Serika who was being harassed, I would have done whatever it took to save her.”
If there is anything I can do to help Serika, that is.
“H-hmm. Is that so? Fufu.”
Then Serika, in a better mood, put her mouth on the cup of tea and hid her face as if to hide her embarrassment.
“I have strictly warned Honoka not to do anything dangerous like that.”
Haruka-san said with a smile on her face, but the look in her eyes towards Honoka was not smiling at all.
“Uh, y-yes… I’m sorry that I put Yuto-san and Serika-san in danger with my stupidity this time…”
Probably because she had been scolded so severely, Honoka said, looking so depressed that she even looked scared.
“Don’t worry about it… I wonder if I should say that. I know you were just trying to help your mother, so if you’re thinking about what you did, then there’s nothing I can say to you.”
“I only rushed over after Yuto had taken out all those people. If you’re sorry, I see no reason to be angry with you.”
“As the mother of this girl, I thank you for your generous words, Yuto-sama and Serika-sama.”
Haruka-san bowed deeply once again.