Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 36

Defense Specialization and Eliminating the Impostors

Four hours had already passed since the start of the battle, and it was now noon of the fourth day.

Maple’s attempt was successful, and 【Venom Capsule】 was already touching the ceiling.

Although the room was large, only a quarter of it was not encroached upon by the 【Venom Capsule】.

「【Venom Capsule】」

With Maple’s voice, the capsule increased in size.

「Phew… just a little more…」

Fake Sally was still undamaged.

But it didn’t matter.

If the capsule filled the room, she would be defeated without even being able to recover.

The biggest problem had been that attacks couldn’t hit it.

The result had already been decided.

Fake Sally didn’t have the means to break through this situation.

And then, an hour later.

「【Venom Capsule】!」

It was the end of a long battle.

Fake Sally was engulfed and disappeared with red effects scattering flashily.

Maple was cautious of 【Mirage】 just to be sure, but there was no spot for Fake Sally in this space covered in poison.

And above all, the medal that fell on the spot where Fake Sally had disappeared showed that Fake Sally was defeated.

Maple deactivated the capsule.

The capsule crumbled down with splashing noises and poison rained down.

「Whew… I’m spent.」

With a different kind of fatigue than from the monster bird fight, Maple sat there.

「Thank goodness it was inside a room… I couldn’t have won if it was outside…」

If the size of the space wasn’t limited, this strategy couldn’t have been used.

If the terrain conditions were not on her side, she would not have been able to win.

「Let’s collect the medal and get on the magic circle… I wonder how Sally is doing. Is she fighting my impostor, after all?」

Maple picked up the single medal that had dropped from the ground.

「I wonder if she can win… if it’s Sally, she’ll have no trouble dodging the attacks, though…」

Maple got on the magic circle, concerned about Sally.

The light faded, and what appeared in front of her was a spiral staircase.

She looked up and saw light shining down.

It seemed to be connected to somewhere.

「Sally… she shouldn’t have gone ahead of me, right?」

Maple decided to wait here for a while.

The two had decided that if they were to die somewhere, they would contact each other about it.

Since Sally hadn’t contacted her by message, she knew that it wasn’t like she had lost and returned to her initial point.

If that was the case, Sally was either still fighting and would eventually transfer, or the two were completely separated.

Separated meaning Sally wasn’t fighting an imposter.

Sally could have been left in the fog and only Maple had fought.

But Maple had a gut feeling that Sally was still fighting.

「I’m sure Sally is fighting too… surely she is! Syrup 【Awaken】!」

The ring shone and Syrup appeared.

「Let’s wait and cheer for Sally together.」

The two—she and Syrup—waited on the spot for an hour, cheering for Sally.

The place was illuminated with a blinding glow.

Maple held up her great shield just in case and looked to see what would happen.

「Whew… I won…」

The light faded and Sally was there.

「…you’re the real one …right?」

Sally also recognized Maple’s voice and braced herself.

「…Let me make sure you’re the real one.」

「Okay?」

Maple saw Sally’s suspicions and knew that Sally was fighting Fake Maple.

That being the case, she agreed that it was only natural to check.

「Are you the same Maple who I saw crying her eyes out in the sixth grade after she was vaccinated?」

「W-w-w-w-w-why do you still remember that? Forget it!」

A way to check that Maple did not expect.

Saying something that only the person in question knew.

It was reasonable, but Maple hid behind her great shield, embarrassed by the shame-inducing content of it.

Sally knew that this Maple was real, but she decided to tease her a bit.

She was tired, so she decided to fool around a bit.

「Hahaha… you’re the real one! Well, I knew that.」

「…wait. I haven’t checked yet.」

Maple looked at Sally with a serious look in her eyes.

「Ah—」

Before Sally could say anything else, Maple spoke up.

「…Are you the same Sally who, in middle school, was so scared when visiting a haunted house that she couldn’t stand up, and the attendant had to take her out of the emergency exit in tears?」

「Y-you don’t need to remember that!」

「That Sally who got so addicted to games that she wrote her own secret techniques in her notebook?」

「Wait, I’m sorry! Sorry!」

「I just wanted to get back at you a bit.」

「…Argh …Talk about stirring up a hornet’s nest.」

At any rate, the two were able to reunite safely.

「How was it for you, Maple? I was fighting against a Fake Maple, though.」

「I was against a Fake Sally. I won about an hour ago, I think.」

Sally also seemed to have gotten one medal, which she handed over to Maple.

This put them at ten medals total.

「How did you win against Fake Maple?」

Sally was about to answer that at once, but she held her tongue.

「If… if there’s a tournament-style event, I don’t want to lose to Maple too easily, so can I keep it a secret for now?」

「Okay! Hmmm… if so, I’ll keep how I won against Fake Sally a secret too! I don’t want to lose either!」

Sally said the way she won was a secret, but she showed her status.

「You can guess from the skills, though!」

「Well, I’ll gladly take a look.」

Maple took a closer look at Sally’s status.

Sally

Lv21

HP 32/32

MP 25/25〈＋35〉

【STR 30〈＋20〉】

【VIT 0】

【AGI 85〈＋68〉】

【DEX 25〈＋20〉】

【INT 25〈＋20〉】

Equipment

Head 【Water Surface Muffler: Mirage】

Body 【Oceanic Coat: Ocean】

Right Hand 【Dagger of the Ocean Depths】

Left Hand 【Dagger of the Sea Floor】

Legs 【Oceanic Leggings】

Shoes 【Black Boots】

Accessories 【Bridge of Bonds】

【Blank】

【Blank】

Skills

【Status Debuff Attack III】 【Sword Attack Combos I】

【Gale Slash】 【Muscle Strengthening (Low)】

【Consecutive Attack Strengthening (Low)】 【Double Attack】

【Power Attack】

【Switch Attack】 【Body Arts V】

【Short Sword Mastery II】 【Jack of All Trades and Master of None】 【Defense Break】 【Super Acceleration】

【Fire Magic I】 【Water Magic II】 【Wind Magic III】

【Earth Magic I】 【Dark Magic I】 【Light Magic II】

【Fire Ball】 【Water Ball】

【Water Wall】

【Wind Cutter】 【Wind Wall】 【Cyclone Cutter】

【Sand Cutter】

【Dark Ball】

【Refresh】 【Heal】

【MP Strengthening (Low)】 【MP Cut (Low)】

【MP Recovery Speed Strengthening (Low)】 【Magic Mastery II】

【Fishing】 【Swimming X】 【Diving X】 【Cooking I】

【Mining Speed Strengthening (Small)】 【Hiding Presence II】

【Sensing Presence II】 【Stealthy Feet I】 【Leap I】

【Poison Resistance (Low)】

「Some of them have changed.」

「Maybe I’ll use them in the remaining time.」

「Look how dependable you’ve become in just a short time!」

「We’ll be fighting together again from here on out.」

Sally smiled happily.

Maple smiled back.

「Let’s go up the stairs then.」

「Sure. And I still want medals.」

The two walked up the spiral staircase towards the light.

The place they went up to was the other side of the valley.

The two were tired from the long battle, but they didn’t have enough time left to rest for too long.

It was already past noon on the fourth day.

It was undoubtedly “first come, first served”, when it came to medals.

「We should search around the forest again.」

Maple said, looking at the forest before them. No one knew how deep this forest was. No one knew if there were even dungeons in there.

「Let’s keep it up!」

「O-oh!」

The two entered the forest in search of a new dungeon.

Author note:
I won’t be writing about Sally’s method of breaking through Fake Maple for now.
There will probably come a time when it will be used, but not for the time being.