chapter01 · 025-ep25

Episode 25: The Crafting-Skill Stream Begins

【Elegant Again Today】Karin Ojou-sama Home Stream Live Discussion Thread 5【As Ever】

—A little while after Karin's home stream ended.

709　Passing-by Anon

Wait, I only just thought of this, but minors are completely banned from taking dungeon materials out, right? Is there an exception for personal use?

710　Passing-by Anon

No, taking them out is banned across the board, never mind selling them

711　Passing-by Anon

Right? Then what's Karin ojou-sama gonna do on tomorrow's stream? If she's so broke she runs out of tea and can't buy streaming equipment, she can't afford enough materials for a sofa. Even upper-layer materials cost a bit

712　Passing-by Anon

Oh yeah Wait, you're right. What's she actually going to do?

713　Passing-by Anon

Also, she said that crazy dress was free because she made it herself, but now that I think about it, where did the materials come from...?

714　Passing-by Anon

Wait, has she been taking materials out...?

715　Passing-by Anon

Surely Karin ojou-sama isn't THAT stupid...

716　Passing-by Anon

But she IS the Fist-Fuck Ojou-sama, desu wa

717　Passing-by Anon

Stop using the unbeatable comeback, desu wa

718　Passing-by Anon

That's a banned card, desu wa

719　Passing-by Anon

Rules don't apply to ojou-sama

720　Passing-by Anon

Only to Karin-sama. We ordinary ojou-samas have order and common sense, thank you very much

721　Passing-by Anon

But seriously, what'll she do tomorrow? I'm starting to worry

722　Passing-by Anon

The dress secret and the revelation that she has crafting skills shocked me so much I completely forgot about it...

723　Passing-by Anon

She DID properly leave the gatekeeping skeleton's rare drop behind on her last stream, though... Karin ojou-sama must know minors aren't allowed to take materials out

724　Passing-by Anon

True So what IS Karin-sama planning?

725　Passing-by Anon

Maybe she's broke because she bought the materials for that dress?

726　Passing-by Anon

Then she could've just bought a normal dress and changed in the dungeon or worn a wig...

727　Passing-by Anon

Karin-sama's social media gets too many replies these days for her to notice a question... Guess we'll wait till tomorrow

　　　　　　●

"Good day, everyone~ It's time for Karin Yamada's Elegant dungeon stream, desu wa~"

The next day, after school, Karin started streaming straightaway.

She was in a dungeon somewhere in Tokyo. She had already descended to the middle layers when the stream began; a dungeon wall appeared behind her.

【We've been waitinggggg!】

【Here because I heard the ojou-sama who flattened a deep-layer monster has a crafting skill!】

【Crafting-skill streams are rare to begin with, so this is exciting!】

【Hm...? Wait, isn't that a dungeon in the background...?】

【Has the crafting-skill reveal been postponed???】

"No, no, I'll demonstrate my crafting skill as promised! I want a new sofa today, so I'll use an ordinary crafting skill instead of <Divine Artisan>, which can only work with materials from the lower layers or beyond. Which means we'll begin right here, collecting materials in the middle layers."

【!?】

【Collecting materials in the dungeon????????】

【What do you mean????】

【But Karin-sama's a minor, so she can't use the materials she gathers in a dungeon, can she???】

The issue some forum users had worried over since yesterday's stream filled chat with question marks as soon as Karin said she'd be collecting materials in the dungeon.

"Hehehe. You see, there's a little loophole."

Karin smiled with rare suspense—or perhaps pride.

"But that will be a surprise for later. First, as I said, let us gather materials! I shall make the finest new sofa imaginable!"

Setting the viewers' questions aside for now, Karin pressed through the middle layers as usual.

"...!? There are an awful lot of people here right from the start today."

Less than ten minutes after she began streaming, her concurrent viewers topped sixty thousand.

Her dungeon streams over the past week had averaged around eighty thousand. Moreover, news that Karin Yamada had crafting skills, revealed on yesterday's stream, had spread across the internet in a flash. People curious whether an explorer with such combat power really had crafting skills too were pouring in.

The viewer count kept rising. It was only a matter of time before it passed eighty thousand.

"Oh, a dungeon bull! Its hide has a marvelous feel and absorbs moisture so well! It often drops horns instead, which is troublesome... But I'll hunt it for now!"

"BUMOOOOOOOOOOH!?"

"Ah, that spring hopper over there drops a tail that makes a fine spring... So I'll hunt it too!"

"GYUPII!?"

"There they areeeee! A flock of sheep's killers! Their poisonous fleece is so soft and fluffy! Given the drop rate—I'll need to hunt at least fifty, desu wa!"

"""MEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?"""

【Ojou-sama's having way too much fun lmao】

【Excited ojou-sama!】

【Genocide ojou-sama!】

【Still not a single hit on her dress. This must be a nightmare for the monsters lol】

【Wearing a dress made of monster and massacring more monsters to make furniture... She's the Ed Gein of the Reiwa era lmao】

【Who's that?】

【Serial killer who made clothes and household items from the people he murdered】

【Ed Gein but an ojou-sama? That's basically a cruel medieval aristocrat】

【Medieval aristocrat... So, Elegant!】

Chat stayed lively as Karin beat middle-layer monsters to death onesidedly, as usual, cheering on her Elegant dungeon conquest.

Then a question from someone freshly horrified by her fighting style caught her eye.

【Um, I've been wondering since yesterday: if you have crafting skills, you can make weapons too, right, Karin-sama? Why do you always fight barehanded?】

"Ah, there are several reasons—"

Karin readjusted the bags separated by material type on her back and answered the question as she hunted for her next target.

"I didn't have much money when I first became an explorer—still don't, really. I couldn't afford a weapon, so at first I explored the dungeon with a bat I'd found lying around."

【A bat you found lying around????????】

【Fwah!? lmaoooo】

【You really ARE Thug Ojou-sama, aren't you!?】

"But the bat broke quite soon. I tried fighting with my bare hands and found they were sturdier, and even if they broke, they healed. Much more cost-effective. Eventually I could make weapons, but by then I was so used to barehanded fighting that here we are. Most importantly, though, Setsuna-sama's main fighting style was barehanded too!"

【You can't be serious lol】

【This ojou-sama really is something else lmao】

【Her bare hands are STURDIER????】

【W-well, they say leveling up is basically becoming inhuman, so...】

【'My fists heal if they break, so they're cost-effective' is a full-on barbarian thing to say】

Chat grew even livelier at the tale of how Karin had developed her fighting style.

【Wait, I just realized she casually said she's broke lmao】

【Too broke to buy a beginner's weapon...】

【Is Karin-sama a student struggling to get by?】

【People have suspected that for a while】

【Even a beginner's exploration weapon costs a fair bit】

【It'd be hard for a normal student to afford one】

【Upper layers aren't too dangerous, but your life's on the line. It's an upfront investment like getting into music】

【No money, so she used a bat... I really wish they'd let minors sell materials...】

【Then poor kids with no options would push themselves till they died... There's even a law meant to protect students in financial trouble. Dungeon law specialist Mitsurugi-tan explained it in a video】

【True, if kids could sell materials, poor families or abusive parents might send them into dungeons constantly】

【Then ban minors from monetizing dungeon streams too, like I always say】

【Go that far and fewer young people will want to become explorers...】

【Either way, letting minors sell materials isn't very realistic...】

【Whether the ban gets lifted or not, it's in force now... What is ojou-sama going to do?】

【Oh yeah. Apparently there's a loophole, but...】

【Is this really okay...?】

As Karin busied herself gathering materials, chat returned to its original question: how would she use the drops minors were forbidden to take out of the dungeon?

Just then—

"Phew. I believe I have enough materials for now."

Karin peered contentedly into her separate bags of drops, including dungeon bull hides and sheep's killer fleece. Then, as if to put chat's fears to rest, she said,

"As a minor, I can't take unprocessed drops out of the dungeon, so I'll process them here. First, before using my crafting skill in earnest, I'll remove the poison from the <Sheep's Killer Fleece> as preparation!"

She dumped her gathered drops beside a water source in the middle layers and began working on them right there.