Area Boss (Part One)

When I woke up, I yawned with a “fwaaah.”

I was in a room at the inn where I had been staying ever since I came to Piptat. It was a cramped room with only a bed and a small table.

Another day began today.

I would defeat the gray ghost that was part of my daily routine—and dive down to the E layer.

…Maybe it was about time I considered the D layer too…

As I was thinking that,

“Meow.”

I heard a voice from under the bed.

I peeked down and greeted him.

“Good morning, Nyankoromochi.”

“Meow.”

Nyankoromochi greeted me in a good mood. I leaned out of bed and picked Nyankoromochi up.

His soft fur felt pleasant.

Haa… I wanted to spend the whole day like this…

“Meow meow.”

Paying no mind to my entranced feelings, Nyankoromochi patted me with his little paws.

“…Ah, are you hungry? Wait a bit.”

I lowered Nyankoromochi to the floor, then took dried meat out of my backpack and placed it in front of him.

Nyankoromochi bit into it.

Then he looked up at me with a satisfied face and,

“Meow.”

He cried in a happy voice.

“Of course it’s delicious. That dried meat is pretty expensive, you know!”

Yes, until recently, it had been cheap dried meat, but lately it had changed to something quite high quality.

Of course, that was because I had money to spare.

Personally, I thought it was fine as long as it filled his stomach, but—

“I demand an improvement in Nyankoromochi’s diet!”

When we had gone to buy dried meat together, Misha had proposed that with great enthusiasm.

“Huh?”

“This is abuse, Ios!? A-buse! Come on, come on! You have money, so buy this one! You man who earns 110,000 gold per second!”

110,000 per second—

It was true that defeating the gray ghost took about that long, but technically, there was travel time too…

Even 110,000 per hour was pretty outrageous, though.

And so, Nyankoromochi’s diet was greatly improved.

Part of me wondered if cats could tell the difference in taste, but I felt like he ate it more eagerly than before.

“Good for you. You lucky thing!”

As I said that, I poked Nyankoromochi. Nyankoromochi ignored me and greedily ate the dried meat. How cold.

When Nyankoromochi finished his meal, I dropped a bag in front of him.

“Come on, get in.”

With his belly full and looking satisfied, Nyankoromochi lumbered into the bag.

“Schrödinger’s Cat.”

At the same moment it activated, the bulge in the bag vanished with a whoosh.

I put the bag into my backpack.

This has been my habit since long ago. When I went out hunting, I hid Nyankoromochi with Schrödinger’s Cat. It was dangerous to keep him outside.

After I got ready, I went down to the first floor of the inn.

“Yo, Ios.”

While eating bread, Misha waved at me in a casual manner.

I ordered breakfast and sat in front of Misha.

“Good morning, Misha.”

“Is Nyankoromochi happy about the improvement in his diet?”

“I don’t understand cat language, but he’s eating more eagerly.”

“Nishishishishi!”

Misha laughed happily.

“As Nyankoromochi’s spokesperson, I couldn’t be happier!”

“When did you get a position like that…?”

“I have to convey Nyankoromochi’s feelings to his duuull, duuull owner!”

Then Misha held out her right hand as if asking for something.

“Hey, I want to fluff Nyankoromochi later…”

“That should be fine. Once we get back, do it as much as you want.”

When I said that, Misha showed a happy smile.

Then we headed for the dungeon.

Slash.

I knocked down the gray ghost in one blow and obtained the Alchemy Stone.

“Then, shall we go down to the E layer?”

After descending to the E layer, I faced a hunter lizard.

The powerful enemy of the past was not even an enemy now.

My defense power already surpassed the hunter lizard’s attack power. Unless I was extremely careless, there was no way I would lose.

The levels I had built up would not betray me.

…Well, it was also true that my equipment was too good. A standard warrior would probably have around 450 attack power and 400 defense power at most.

The hunter lizard charged at me.

I blocked it with my shield without any difficulty. The impact transmitted to my arm was very light. It was as if I were facing a goblin.

I swung my shield with a whoosh.

The hunter lizard lost its balance. I walked up to it and slashed with my sword.

Slash.

The hunter lizard died from just that one blow.

…What an easy job…

Even so, level-wise, this was still a place where I could earn experience, so I was probably getting a decent amount.

“Hey, Misha?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t we try going to the D layer soon?”

In other words, to the lower layer.

In search of more experience—

And new rare drop items.

At my words, Misha’s face brightened at once.

“Sounds good, sounds good! That sounds fun!”

“But I’m worried about your safety, Misha.”

“I. Told. You!”

Misha thrust her staff sharply at me.

“Enough of that stuff! I told you, it isn’t fun!”

I chuckled.

“That’s true. It isn’t fun.”

An adventure should be fun. Let’s make that our motto. Those words unexpectedly resonated pleasantly in my chest.

While cutting down monsters, we advanced toward the stairs leading to the D layer.

And then—

It happened when we reached the room just before those stairs.

As usual, I had Misha wait and stepped into the room first.

It was to confirm safety.

When entering a large room, I advanced first, checked the situation, and then called Misha.

If I did not, a surprise attack from a monster would be scary.

After entering the room, I looked up, down, left, and right.

…There was nothing there.

Good, I thought.

But my chest was strangely stirring with discomfort. There should have been nothing there. And yet, something was different. The air was clearly different from usual.

“Heeey, Iooos. How is it?”

Misha’s carefree voice came from outside the room.

“…Yeah…”

I let out an indecisive reply. I looked around again, but I could not find anything anywhere.

…Was it my imagination…? I was probably just on edge because we were heading to the D layer.

After convincing myself of that, I turned back toward Misha.

“Misha, it’s safe—”

That was when I noticed it. A translucent mist-like thing had slowly spread over the entrance I had come through.

This was—!

My spine froze.

“Don’t come in! Misha! No matter what!”

At the same time I shouted, I dashed toward the entrance with fierce steps.

I leapt into the translucent mist, but—

Thud!

I was repelled as if I had struck something hard.

I had not made it in time—

“Ios! Ios! Ios! This, this is—!”

Misha pounded hard on the transparent wall that had solidified.

“…Yeah, it looks like an area boss.”

I sighed and turned my back to Misha.

At the front of the room—in the space where there had been nothing until now—the shadow of something large was about to appear.

An area boss… huh.

I drew the Magic Wolf Broadsword from my waist.

…This probably wouldn’t be an easy victory like before…

My mouth felt dry.