ch381-ch400 · 394-ch394

Chapter 394: The Conditions for a Job

"No way. One strike? Natsuki, you're amazing."

The delinquent girl cries out in astonishment.

Her opponent was the Floor 10 boss—a Minotaur over two meters tall.

It should have been her first time seeing such a giant monster, so Aikawa, felling it in one blow, must look dazzling to her.

Grrrnnn. I should have been the one to do it......

"Ah, the status screen came up. ......So this is the job selection screen."

"Miki—any 【Chef】?"

Aikawa returns wearing a smug face and asks the vampire girl, who's delighted the job screen appeared.

The whole point of today was to get the vampire girl to take 【Chef】 so she could cook for herself, after all.

"Let's see...... I don't—think it's there."

"Ah, it showed up for me. I should take it, right?"

It didn't appear for the vampire girl, but it did for the delinquent girl.

She's often seen helping Soushi and the others, after all.

The vampire girl isn't idle either—maybe after I go home, she handles the cleanup, washing dishes and the like.

Fittingly for 【Chef】, cutting meat and vegetables and doing prep work count toward the acquisition conditions—but dishwashing doesn't?

That difference probably showed here.

"Hold on, hold on. You don't have to decide today. It might show up for Miki next time. Hina, you want a combat job, right? I'll come along as many times as you like—take your time deciding."

For the vampire girl's sake, though, she'll have to help with morning and evening prep until next time, or make an effort toward 【Chef】.

"Eh? You don't mind?"

"Sorry, Natsuki. Hina too...... It's my fault."

"It's fine, it's fine. I get to use your bath every day, so this is the payback. More importantly—you brought your notebook, right? Write down every job that showed up. Apparently there's something like a born-with-it job."

So that's why Aikawa's gotten so close to the two of them.

The branch only has showers, after all.

Missing a proper bath—I can half understand.

But every day......

Hey, aren't we working for free here?

Then again, if I complain, Kasumi-san and Shiraishi-san are in the same boat.

Shiraishi-san especially comes to the dungeon early every morning to prepare the two girls' meals.

Compared to that, keeping them company now and then is nothing......

"Born-with-it jobs are that thing, right? Hmm—every one of these is a job for a weapon or something I've used. ......【Trap User】 is probably the 【Digging】 one, right? 【Earth Mage】 seems like that too...... Which one is it?"

"I can't tell either. 【Ice Mage】 is probably from making shaved ice at the beach house? And then, 【Fang User】...... Should I read that Kibashi? This is that one, isn't it......"

That one, yes.

It could be Gashi too, but nobody knows the right answer.

Maybe ask the goddess when you meet her?

But isn't Ice Magic rare?

I mean, a shaved-ice machine gets you an 【Ice Mage】......

Earth magic doesn't ring a bell either, though.

"Magic jobs ARE rare, you know? There's talk of people who do the apparently-right things for a year and still don't get one. Ah, did you finish writing? Show me, show me."

I want to see too.

But I'm not nearly cheerful enough to barge into a girls' giggling session.

I send Soushi a glance; he spreads both hands in a what-can-you-do shrug.

Soushi's no good either, apparently.

"Natsuki's 【Dancer】 was at the very bottom of the list, right? Below the production jobs...... If nothing like that shows up, does that mean there's no talent?"

"No, it's not like that......"

Aikawa searches for words to comfort the deflated delinquent girl.

A topic I can join in on, for once.

"That's right. Born-with-it jobs come attached to the upper job of your aptitude, so you might get a ridiculously strong upper job derived from 【Warrior】 or 【Mage】 at Floor 30. Even 'Sword Saint-chan' took 【Sword Saint】—derived from the totally ordinary 【Swordsman】."

Come to think of it, is 'Sword Saint-chan''s born-with-it job really 【Sword Saint】?

If so, would it follow that you can't become 【Spear Saint】 unless a spear-line job was your born-with-it job?

No—I want to believe it's not that.

"Wha—why'd you start talking all of a sudden? ......I see. So that's a possibility too. You really are a dungeon otaku."

Who are you calling a dungeon otaku!?

And I talked plenty on the way here, didn't I?

Every time a goblin showed up, I told you everything—species, weapons, all of it.

"Pfft. Haru-kun, they say you're a dungeon otaku."

"Well, aren't you? You've collapsed from overusing your skills and lost your memory, you've been snake-bit and stuck unable to leave the dungeon—and you come back for more without learning a thing. How much do you love dungeons?"

Grrrnnn.

Giving you the benefit of a hundred doubts that I'm a dungeon otaku—if you're going to call yourself a gal, be kind to otaku.

Huh?

Weren't gals NOT kind to otaku?

Shirai-san is super hard on otaku......

No—Akane-san. Akane-san, the black gal of the counter, must surely be kind to otaku.

Ota's birthday should be coming up soon, so I'll bring him to Chiba and test whether Akane-san is kind to otaku.

"Geez—Hina, quit it. Apologize. She came with us today, even."

The vampire girl scolds the delinquent girl.

'One boneless chicken, pleeease!'

(Good grief. Time for the cold shoulder!)

Ah......

Again, at THIS timing......

She called yesterday, but I was on the phone with Kasumi-san and couldn't pick up.

I didn't notice the missed call until over an hour later, and I thought calling back in the middle of the night would be rude, so I just left it......

'What's a cold shoulder? Where's the warm? Is the warm coming?'

I should tell her Aikawa and I aren't fighting anymore.

Then she won't keep diving into the dungeon......

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"Thish is bad......"

Aikawa's face contorts in agony.

We helped the two of them level a bit against orcs on Floor 11, then came back up to Floor 1.

Afterward, since 【Chef】 hadn't appeared for the vampire girl, we had her cook to build her track record—and......

Steeled, I take a bite.

"It's not...... baaad."

Not tasty, either.

I managed to claw back the words that were escaping.

Actually, it's edible, I'd say?

"Come to think of it, at the beach house I started out on cooking duty in the back, but they told me I had no prospects and swapped me to serving, right?"

"Eh? No way...... But I was doing shaved ice duty?"

"Anyone's shaved ice tastes the same, right? Well, I'm sure the beach house folks just didn't say it to spare your feelings......"

I see.

The girl who spent the whole summer on shaved ice duty awakened to 'Ice Magic,' didn't she.

"Ugh. You didn't taste-test it?"

Soushi twists the knife into the shocked vampire girl.

"But I can't tell flavors......"

Can't be helped, I suppose.

This is the skill's fault.

The bad taste is all 【Blood Suck】's fault too.

Let's just decide it's so.

But I wonder what would happen if she used 【Chef】's skills in this state?

Would the food actually become delicious, or would it merely START to seem delicious......

If the former, "dungeons are amazing!" and done—but if the latter, it's terrifying......

Actually, will 【Chef】 even show up at this rate?

If it's like 【Sword Saint】—won't appear until your cooking skill passes a certain bar—it might be hopeless.

No, if you work hard it'll work out somehow.

......Without being able to taste-test, though?