Level Down 22 (Patreon)

Volume 1 Chapter 22 - Acquisition of Building Materials

RAW

It had only been about an hour since Allen left the house. Allen reached his desired floor at the Lilac Dungeon on the south of the city at an incredible speed, considering the usual mess that happened when he entered as Nera.

That was the 9th floor, where he went with Nick just yesterday.

“Alright, as usual, no one’s here.” (Allen)

Allen muttered as he looked around right next to the stairs he had descended from. He tapped his shoulder lightly with the stick in his hand, and then grinned.

“Then, shall we start cutting down trees?” (Allen)

And Allen ran off toward the floor full of building materials (treants).

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“Yosh, found the fifth one. Windcutter.” (Allen)

The instant the treant responded to Allen's purposely slow dash and made just a slight movement, Allen sensed it and used magic.

Windcutter is the weakest spell of wind magic. It has the same power as the Fireball spell of fire magic that Allen often uses and is usually effective against monsters on the 1st to 5th floors of this Lilac Dungeon such as goblins and lacks decisive power against monsters on the 6th floor and beyond.

It should have been nothing more than that, but the blade of wind that Allen released passed through the treant as if there was nothing there, and in fact, that blade sank halfway to an ordinary tree that happened to be there behind it.

The treant fell to the ground while letting out a ‘zuun’ sound, and the tree behind it slowly inclined its trunk while making a cracking sound, then stopped, supported by other trees.

“Uwah, the power is still too high, huh. I'm trying to keep it pretty low though.” (Allen)

Allen approached the treant while muttering something like that.

Back when Allen was active as an adventurer, he often helped other parties as a helper, so he was able to generally use magic. However, he could only use beginner-level magic, and it was inferior to a professional’s, so he hardly ever joined a party as a substitute magician. He was extremely popular for things like starting fires and replenishing water though.

Because of this, Allen wasn't that familiar with using magic, and as a result, he had a harder time adjusting the amount of force with it than with a sword.

“If there were other people behind it, they’d probably be cut in half, so I’ve got to adjust it more.” (Allen)

Allen muttered something like that to himself, then ‘fuu,’ let out a breath and used Windcutter consecutively. Those blades sliced through the trunk of the treant, and what was left was a neatly aligned square pillar about 10 meters in length.

Allen then used Windcutters to cut the pillar even more, resulting in a large number of planks that could be easily used as building materials, measuring 15 centimeters wide, 3 meters long, and 3 centimeters thick. Allen tapped the planks lightly, and his cheeks loosened with satisfaction at the dry sound it produced.

“Man, this is really easy. You can defeat it with a single hit of Windcutter, you can immediately use it, and it’s durable on top of that, treant is the best.” (Allen)

While saying that, Allen put the planks he industriously made into his magic bag.

Of course, Allen's words don't apply to ordinary adventurers. It takes a certain amount of effort to defeat a treant, and what's more, it ignores the biggest reason why the 9th floor is hated; the fact that treants are extremely difficult to transport.

It’s true that treants are an excellent building material. However, the place treants appear in Lilac Dungeon is the 9th floor. In other words, it is necessary to carry the defeated treants through that many floors.

Since each floor is connected by stairs, they can’t even bring in a cart to transport the treants, they can only be carried by hand, which naturally results in a limited number of treants.

There is a demand for treants, and if you bring them home you can get a decent price, but you can make much more money if you bring home large quantities of other materials. Well, the reason why the price is only decent is that there is a place where treants appear in the shallow floor of a dungeon near the neighboring city.

That said, to Allen who has a magic bag, transporting it doesn’t take any effort. It might be the same for other adventurers who have a magic bag, but there is no way an adventurer skilled enough to have the rare magic bag would hunt treants.

“Alright, let's go to the next one.” (Allen)

Allen already had 5 treants worth of material. He should have clearly obtained enough building materials to repair his house, but, ‘somehow, this is fun,’ Allen thought that as he continued to immerse himself in making building materials.

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“Alright, it’s filled to bursting.” (Allen)

Allen, who had already turned treants into building materials so many times that he didn't know how many he had defeated himself, smiled with satisfaction as he held the building materials that wouldn't fit into his magic bag even if he tried to put them in.

The magic bag Allen bought cost 17 million zenny. In terms of the capacity of the magic bag, which varies depending on the item, it was in the lower-middle, and boasted a capacity that could fit about two of Allen’s houses.

In other words, he completely overhunted.

But Allen wasn't particularly concerned. Because, in addition to repairing the above-ground part, he was also planning to build a basement as a hidden room, and that even if there was some leftover, there would be some way to use it, he thought casually.

“Hmm, it might be interesting to also build a secret base outside of the city. If I surround it with treant trunks and make it so that you can only enter by jumping over it, I'll be able to prevent intrusions to some extent anyway.” (Allen)

Allen was having such a delusion when it happened.

“Kyaa─!!” (???)

Faintly hearing that scream, Allen instantly reacted and ran in the direction it came from at full speed.

(Damn it, make it in time!) (Allen)

Frustrated by the fact that he couldn't hear any sound after that cut off scream, Allen ran through the forest at such a speed that the ground he kicked was gouged.

Allen knew that if one fights monsters in a dungeon, they would be responsible for everything no matter what happens. Others don't have the obligation to go and help, and on the contrary, there is a possibility that your own life will be in danger.

Still, Allen wouldn’t abandon them. Allen himself had been saved more than once or twice by adventurers who happened to be passing by. He could also think that, because of that, he was able to survive and feed his younger brothers and sisters.

That's why Allen actively helped adventurers in trouble whenever it was within his ability. It wasn't without trouble, but he was doing it partly for his own satisfaction, so Allen wouldn't stop doing it.

Thanks in part to such actions, Allen's reputation among beginners and starting mid-level adventurers is by no means bad at all. They won’t say it loudly too often because he is thoroughly disliked by several powerful parties, starting with the aforementioned Lionel though.

The fact that Allen was accepted as a guild employee too, was because his actions were highly evaluated, but there is no way for him to know that.

And Allen finally arrived at the place. The first thing that caught his eye was a giant tree with thick, withered branches spread out and a maniacally smiling face plastered to its trunk.

Next was the figure of Iseria, hanging by the neck from the ivy hanging from its branch. One of her hands, which seemed to be desperately resisting, let go of the vine and hung loosely in front of Allen's eyes.

“Windcutter─!” (Allen)

Allen shouted that, and at the same time ran towards the giant monster that shouldn't be on this floor; a hanging tree.

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