Chapter Nine: It's Common Knowledge That Monsters Drop Materials

“Ruby, I want steak for lunch today. With black pepper,” Moyona declared as she descended to the second basement level. This space was much larger than the one above, but the floor was cluttered with all sorts of strange implements, giving it an untidy appearance. Carefully skirting around the unknown machinery, Moyona strode confidently to where Ruby was busy tinkering with a test tube and issued her order. It had been several days since she’d made herself at home here, and she was gradually getting used to bossing Ruby around.

“We’re out of black pepper. Just eat it plain,” Ruby replied.

“No way! Steak without black pepper is incomplete. Figure something out!” Moyona demanded petulantly. She wanted to tell Ruby to go buy some in Derys Town, but after a moment’s thought, she realized that a remote border town like this would never have such delicious spices. Her only hope was Ruby.

“You’re getting more and more spoiled lately, aren’t you?” Ruby put down what he was working on and turned to look at her. He found himself missing the Moyona who used to grab him and ask, “Where are the elemental spirits?” Ever since she had settled in, she seemed to have regressed in age.

“Am I? That must be your imagination,” Moyona denied flatly. She didn’t think of herself as particularly spoiled. Her childhood explained much of her behavior: her parents left her when she was only five, the prime age for a child’s willfulness. After Eula rescued her, she’d never made any friends—only her beloved teacher. In other words, aside from being willful, she hardly knew how to interact with people at all.

Of course, it didn’t help that Ruby indulged her so much. In Moyona’s eyes, Ruby was like a clay figurine: he did whatever she asked, never got angry, never lost his temper—though he never smiled, either.

“Hmph…” came a cold snort from above Ruby’s head. It was Dragan, the branch that had snapped in two a few days ago, now mended with tape and staring at Moyona with its purple eye before shutting it again, as if she were a piece of non-burnable trash. That expression made Moyona fume; she silently vowed to snap Dragan into three pieces next time.

“Well then, let’s try our luck—maybe we’ll get something good,” Ruby said, taking the crossbow from the wall. This ancient weapon, a product of bygone wisdom, was simple in structure and easy to make. Until Ruby could invent firearms, it was his tool of choice for hunting.

“Get something good?” Moyona eyed the weapon in his hand with curiosity. Instinct told her it was some kind of bow, but its shape was strange and much smaller.

Creak.

The old wooden door groaned with a sound that made their teeth itch. Ruby and Moyona emerged from the little cabin, one after the other. Under the blazing sun, Moyona felt as if she’d stepped into another world. She recalled that she had once been carried into this house by Ruby, but now she walked out as its mistress. Life was indeed full of surprises.

“What are you doing?” As Moyona was lost in thought, Ruby’s hand gently pressed against her cheek. There was nothing aggressive about the gesture. Moyona glanced at him sideways and asked calmly.

“You seem very distracted. Is it because you haven’t seen the sun in a while?”

“Do you think I’m undead or something? Get to work,” Moyona retorted, shoving Ruby into the thicket at the foot of the mountain.

This hill near Derys had no name; the townsfolk simply called it the “back mountain.” Now, a pair of young man and woman trekked along its uneven path in search of what they wanted.

“There it is,” Ruby announced, stopping in his tracks. He raised the crossbow and aimed, his eyes fixed on the sight. Through it, he saw a bizarre plant leap out from the earth and scuttle across the ground with strange, jerky steps.

Its body was slender like a vine, about half a meter long, with two root-like appendages sprouting from its middle and lower sections, almost like human limbs to aid its movement. At the top was a large head—no eyes, only a mouth bristling with sharp teeth. It was clear at a glance that this was not a friendly creature.

“A Grotesque Vine? Is that what you’re after?” Moyona recognized the monster. No one quite knew whether to classify it as plant or animal. Its special ability to burrow through the ground while ignoring physical barriers, coupled with its all-devouring nature, meant its gaping maw often contained all sorts of oddities.

Thwack.

Ruby pulled the trigger and loosed the first bolt, but he didn’t check to see if it hit. Instead, he immediately reloaded for a second shot. The Grotesque Vine was unexpectedly agile; it twisted aside the instant it sensed danger, dodging the first bolt. Almost simultaneously, the second bolt followed and nailed it through the stem beneath its head, pinning it to a tree trunk.

“Got it.” Ruby ran over, drew his knife, and sliced off its head. The Grotesque Vine went limp and lifeless.

“You caught a Grotesque Vine so easily…” Moyona was a little surprised. Though it was only a second-tier monster, its agility was on par with third-tier creatures. Like born dancers, they dodged attacks with impossible contortions. Catching one bare-handed was a fantasy; the most ridiculous attempt was by a low-level magic guild who mobilized everyone and still couldn’t catch the one that had stolen the guildmaster’s gemstone, earning themselves the ridicule of the continent.

“As long as you predict its movement, it’s not so hard. Practice makes perfect. I’ve been dealing with these plants for over a decade now,” Ruby said as he split the Grotesque Vine’s head in two. There was no bloody mess—just a dry interior. He extracted a lump of ore and held it in his hand.

“Iron ore, hmm.”

“Wait, so your way of ‘trying your luck’ is to catch Grotesque Vines and see what’s inside them?” Moyona was baffled. Grotesque Vines were among the most hated monsters on the Sacred Continent. Their ability to burrow underground and cause trouble made them a nuisance, and they were notoriously difficult to catch. Even if you managed it, the reward from cracking open their heads rarely justified the effort. But, well, it was like a lottery—what if you struck it rich?

“Of course. These Grotesque Vines often drop strange but useful things for me.”

“Can they drop black pepper?”

“That’s why I say it’s all luck.”

“Ice magic—Frostbow!” Moyona stretched out her right arm. From her wrist, shimmering blue limbs of a bow extended upward and downward. She drew bow and arrow both from pure mana, and loosed a chill-hued arrow like a shooting star. The gust from its passage whipped her snow-white hair back as it sped toward a Grotesque Vine just emerging for air.

“There’s no way you’ll hit it like that…”

As Ruby predicted, the Grotesque Vine easily dodged the arrow. But Moyona had never intended to catch it with skill; she simply relied on overwhelming force. The blue arrow split into ten, ten became a hundred, a hundred became a thousand, and in a short flight the Grotesque Vine was swallowed in a storm of arrows. The ground itself was soon coated in a thick layer of frost.

“What were you saying?” Moyona smoothed her windblown hair and shot Ruby a triumphant glance.

“Nothing at all. What level spell was that?”

“Frostbow is a tier-three basic spell. Frost Arrowstorm is tier seven.”

“The temperature’s not enough to cause frostbite… Ah, copper ore. Good stuff.” Ruby pitied the Grotesque Vine: it would never have imagined dying to a high-level spell. He quickly gauged the temperature of the ice, then cracked open the frozen monster’s head to reveal its treasure.

“This guy…” Seeing the gleam in Ruby’s eyes, Moyona was inexplicably annoyed. He’d never looked at her that way. To him, she wasn’t even as precious as a lump of rock!

“What’s wrong?” Sensing her mood, Ruby finally put down the valuable ore and looked up.

“Nothing!” she snapped.

After slaughtering more than a dozen Grotesque Vines, Moyona finally found the black pepper she wanted.

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PS: Some people ask where the protagonist gets all this stuff—how does he make it? This is a world of magic! Of course you get loot from monsters.

PS: “Grotesque Vine: There’s something I really want to say, but I don’t know if I should.”

PS: The spring event in that game is live! As an admiral, I’m going to take my waifu to battle. After the event, updates should resume at double pace.

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