Chapter 17 – Traveling to the ‘Dungeon’ First Part

The next morning, Senna talks to Maria in the guild making her final preparations before heading off.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Maria asks with concern. “Diving into an unknown dungeon with a group of newbies is really reckless.”

“I’m sure. The whole point that I’m going is to stop them from doing something stupid. I’ll knock them out and carry them back by force if I have to. I need to confirm something out there and I don’t want to miss the chance.” Senna replies. “…Though I can’t say I’m looking forward to the trip.”

“Anahid is probably going to be furious once she finds out.” Maria comments.

“I know. Thankfully she won’t be back for some time. Their expedition group to check out Bouldercoast only just left. I’m hoping it isn’t actually demons that destroyed the area.” Senna mumbles to herself.

“They’re taking an inland route, so it should be fine.” Maria answers.

“Mmn…” Senna turns to look at the rest of the guild drinking. “Oh look. They’re here.”

“They’re…” Maria has an uneasy look seeing the group. Senna is wearing sturdy leather armor and wearing a large backpack packed with supplies. In contrast, the group of four seems blatantly unprepared. Ollar is wearing metal armor, and Helen is wearing a mage’s robe. Innar and Kristel are both wearing clean cloth clothing dressed with ornaments to give the appearance of noble attire. They are all carrying weapons, but only Ollar is carrying any supplies to make camp. Senna facepalms looking at them.

{Maybe it would be smarter to just torture the information out of them.} Senna inwardly groans. Reluctantly, she approaches them. “Are you really planning to travel like that?”

“And what else would a great noble like me wear?” Innar scoffs at Senna’s question. Senna ignores them waiting for the somewhat sensible sister.

“Yes. We have what we need.” Kristel points to Ollar’s supplies.

“I see.” Senna replies as the corner of her mouth twitches. {Everything on one person, huh?} “And about the payment?”

“……We agree.” Kristel replies with a bitter look.

“Okay. Then let’s make this clear. You’re hiring me for healing support and to protect Helen in battle?” Senna asks.

“Yes.” Kristel immediately replies.

“Then I will be helping you for 30% of the reward.” Senna sticks out her hand. {It’s too bad your personality is like that…} Kristel shakes her hands with a weak smile. “Are you ready to depart then?”

“Yes. We have some enchanted bags and Ollar is carrying the rest.”Kristel replies.

“I guess a commoner like you is too poor to afford an enchanted bag.” Innar laughs looking at the large bag on Senna’s back.

“Then we’ll depart whenever you’re ready.” Senna ignores his comment walking to the Guild entrance much to his ire.

“Thank you very much.” Helen whispers when Senna passes by.

“It’s fine. I’m doing this for my own reasons.” Senna whispers back.

They leave town after a few last minute preparations. The group heads west along the main road. Along the way, they encounter and quickly dispatch several goblins boosting Innar’s ego even further. However, Kristel’s irritation rises looking at the idle Senna standing next to Helen. “Hey! Why aren’t you helping us fight?”

“You asked for a healer and a guard for Helen right? That’s what I’m doing.” Senna replies calmly pointing to a magic rod on hanging on her belt.

“You!! At least help a little!” Kristel yells.

“You’ll have to pay more for that. I won’t let you die, so it’s not like you have to worry.” Senna refutes her yell. {There’s no way I would entrust my back to you after all.}

“Argh!” Kristel screams unable to repress her anger. “Forget it!” She stomps away and starts talking to Innar privately.

“Senna. Um…” Helen whispers to Senna.

“It’s fine. I know what I’m doing.” Senna whispers back as they continue to travel.

They travel until the sun starts to set. Making camp, they start a fire and pitch three tents, Innar in one, Kristel and Helen in the second, and Ollar in the last one. Senna pulls out a large blanket to set aside later.

“You’re not using a tent?” Helen asks.

“No. Don’t need it.” Senna replies. “I want to be ready in case something happens.”

Helen glances at Innar. “I see.”

Innar approaches Senna and speaks in his normal prideful manner. “Oi! Where’s my food?”

“…Um… I don’t know what you’re doing for food. But I’m going to forage for a few items right now.” Senna replies.

“Wait! You’re not cooking for us?” Kristel asks in a hurry.

“Nooo… You didn’t ask for my cooking skills. You asked for me to be a healer.” Senna answers. She pauses to look at them. “You didn’t even bring rations? There’s a limit to being unprepared.”

“No. We did bring rations. But we were hoping to receive some of your wonderful cooking.” Kristel replies with some panic.

“I didn’t prepare anything. You should have asked beforehand.” Senna shrugs away from the camp. The sibling’s mouth hangs wide open as Senna walks away.

““ARGHHH!!!”” The two of them yell into the air.

Helen hurriedly follows Senna. Senna is calmly gathering some herbs and mushrooms. “Senna, aren’t you being a bit too harsh?”

Senna stops and sighs. “I apologize. I know I’m being excessively rude. But I truly dislike those two. They’re personalities have a lot of similar points to some people that have really hurt me in the past. I’m uncomfortable interacting with them because of the bad memories they bring up.”

“…I’m sorry. It’s my fault.” Helen replies weakly.

“It’s fine. But I plan to keep things as a strictly business relationship during this mission. I won’t be working to get close to them, but I won’t let them die.” Senna replies. “Alright. I think that’s enough.” Senna finishes gathering herbs and heads back to camp. Helen goes to her bag and takes out a few dried pieces meat to eat.

Senna takes out a pot and fills it using . A few herbs are thrown in, while the mushrooms are diced and added to the pot. A sweet smell fills the area as the mixture turns pale green. The others surround the pot drooling at the sweet smell. Their growling stomachs echo through the woods.

“Oi! I demand you give me some of your soup!” Innar declares sticking his hand out.

“I refuse. This is mine. I’m not going to give it to you that easily.” Senna immediately rejects his demand.

“You bitch! How dare you!” Innar grabs the pot and pours the contents into an empty bowl before drinking the brew.

“Ah! No fair! Brother, please give me some too!” Kristel cries out taking out a bowl from her bag. Innar hands her the pot as he gives a smug look on his face. As Kristel drinks the soup, she throws Senna’s pot to the side spilling the contents.

“I’m really sorry Senna.” Helen apologizes repeatedly to Senna. Ollar looks with envy at the siblings eating, but refrains himself when he sees Helen’s distress. Senna holds her head with an amazed look.

“How should I say this……?” Senna mutters with a low voice.

“Hmph! That’s what you deserve for refusing my orders.” Innar wipes some of the soup from his lips.

“That’s right. You should be kinder to us. We’re your superiors for this trip. Without us, you wouldn’t get any treasure.” Kristel adds with an equally smug look.

“Pu…Hahahaha…” Senna is unable restrain herself as she bursts out laughing. Her cheerful laugh resounds through the area leaving the four of them stunned.

“Wh…what’s so funny?!” Kristel angrily screams at Senna. Kristel is completely confused, instead of feeling angry or devestated, Senna is happily laughing at the two of them.

“You Wench! Stop laughing!” Innar yells at Senna.

“Sorry, sorry… It’s just…” Senna wipes the tears from her eyes. “I’ve never seen anyone so happy to drink a pot of poison.” Senna tries to repress her giggling as their faces pale. She glances at the spilt poison.

Incomplete Weakened Buxus Poison (Basic Grade)

Rank: E

An incomplete poison refined from the Grave Buxus plant. The addition of the Mint herb has severely weakened the quality of the poison. This poison lacks the decisive potency to bore through blood vessels intrinsic to the Buxus extract. The resulting poison can only cause severe abdominal irritation as your HP slowly decreases.

Damages health by 1 points every 30 seconds. The poison lasts for 60 minutes.

Sales Value: 30 Triton

“L…Liar!” Innar panics yelling at Senna.

“You were cooking your dinner just now! You’re just trying to trick us saying that it’s poison.” Kristel is equally flustered as she tries to deny Senna’s words.

“No. It was poison. I never said I was going to eat it. Why did you think that I didn’t want to share it?” Senna replies with a wry smile. Their faces pale hearing her confirmation.

“G-Give us the antidote!” Innar demands. His prideful tone continues to persist despite his poisoned state.

“Hurry up and heal us!” Kristel cries out as her face starts to turn green.

“Hmm… That was fast. What happened to your ‘superior’ tone when you happily drank the poison?” Senna replies with a teasing tone and a bright smile.

“Of course my health is the most important thing!” Innar exclaims.

“Please hurry up!” Kristel panics as a shooting pain starts to spread through her stomach.

“Since you asked so nicely~” Senna creates a blue light, with no actual healing effect, that scatters over two of them. A soft blue light surrounds them, but their face continues to turn a darker shade of green.

“Why didn’t it do anything?!” Kristel’s voice becomes more and more hysterical.

“Because the poison is too strong, I think it will take at least a good hour before my magic can break down the poison. The poison was still incomplete so it shouldn’t kill you at least.” Senna answers her in a carefree tone.

“Hurry up and give us an antidote to this now!” Innar screams as he falls to his knees clutching his stomach.

“I normally make the antidote from the base poison. You tossed it out, so I’ll have to go gather materials again first.” Senna answers. She stands up and walks into the woods again to gather the proper herbs.

Innar and Kristel fall to the ground clutching their stomachs. Ollar and Helen prepare wet towels for the suffering siblings. Senna returns after a short while and slowly brews an antidote. The siblings slew out a sling of curses at Senna for being so careless. Senna calmly watches their condition as she brews the potion. After an hour of suffering, she feeds the two of them the antidote taking effect a short while after. “Well that should help with the poison, but you will have to keep still for the night to avoid worsening it.”

Innar and Kristel continue to curse Senna until they fall asleep from the exhaustion. Senna, Helen and Ollar are forced to stand watch over the night in shifts. Senna takes the longest watch because of how inexperienced Helen and Ollar are.

The next day, the siblings have mostly recovered and the group continues their travel. Innar and Kristel continue to mutter curses at Senna after their initial tantrum when they first woke up. They travel through the day encounter a few goblins and other low leveled monsters. In the evening, Senna forages more herbs and mushrooms and begins brewing it. An enticing aroma of cooked pork fills the air as she cooks forming a deep yellow colored stew. Innar quickly looms over the pot drooling. Kristel and the others lingers a short distance, wary of Senna’s cooking. Senna uses a wooden spoon to take a sip of the soup. “Almost there. The fire’s a bit weak though.” Senna stands up and walks into woods to gather more firewood.

Once Senna is out of sight, Innar immediately swoops down on the pot and starts eating it.

“Come on and dig in!” Innar enthusiastically invites the others to eat as he spoons food into his bowl. Helen and Ollar shake their heads rejecting the invitation.

Kristel also shakes her head. “No thanks. I don’t want any soup after last night.” A feeling of nausea comes up thinking of the poison she consumed.

“What are you afraid of? That bitch ate it too. She wouldn’t eat poison.” Innar tries to encourage his sister to join him.

“Haaa….” They turn their heads hearing the loud sigh and see Senna holding her head. Senna walks up to Innar. “I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Do you secretly like poison and want to die? Should I just let you pass away?” She asks with an exasperated tone.

The bowl and spoon drop from Innar’s hands. As the contents spill onto the ground, the grass beneath him turns a dark yellow as it swells up. They hear a popping sound as they look down and see the blades of grass expand to the point that it explodes. They pale and look at Senna weakly.

Weakened Swelling Pudge (Intermediate Rank)

Rank: D

A poison created from a Yellow Pudge flower, and weakened with Medicinal herbs. The poison is highly drawn to water and seeps through pores to cause the body to expand to its limits. The poison is highly effective against plants and only has a minor effect towards other organisms.

Sales Value: 100 Triton

“Y-Y-Y-YOU!!!” Innar points at Senna unable to repress his anger. His arm has already started to swell and look a bit pudgy.

“Yes, yes. It’s all my fault.” Senna answers in monotone. She bottles some of the poison and adds in a few more herbs to counteract the poison. Innar falls to the ground twitching. His entire body begins to swell like a balloon. Senna casts repeatedly with her to prevent him from exploding. When she finishes brewing the antidote, she forces the antidote down his throat.

Kristel cares for her brother as he gradually stops twitching and falls asleep. When he is fast asleep, she glares at Senna. “How could you poison him again?!”

“How is it my fault? I was brewing a poison the same as yesterday.” Senna innocently tilts her head.

“You didn’t get poisoned. You must have done something.” Kristel points at Senna accusingly.

“No. I have [Poison Resistance]. An incomplete poison like that won’t work on me. It’s your brother’s fault for stealing my poisons all the time and wasting important materials.”

“It’s not his fault! It’s your fault for making dangerous things in the first place.” Kristel cries out.

“Technically, he should pay more attention. He already got poisoned yesterday for the same reason. That’s more than an enough reason to be careful.” Senna shrugs her shoulders. She focuses on bottling the remaining antidote she made.

Kristel doesn’t reply bottling up her anger while she cares for her brother. “I’ll get you back.” She whispers to herself. Senna notices Kristel’s mutter, but ignores it.

Helen sits down next to Senna. “Senna, how come I don’t see you eating anything?”

“Because I’m eating dried food as I walk around. Before I start collecting any herbs.” Senna shows a mischievous smile waving a dried piece of meat.

“Aren’t you being too careful?” Helen asks.

“Don’t you think it’s important though? Considering…” Senna silently signals to Innar with her eyes.

“……” Helen reluctantly nods. “…I guess I’m the oblivious one.” She mutters to herself walking away.

Their second night passes by quietly as they rotate standing guard. Natural to say, Innar was fuming mad the next morning. He stayed away from Senna the entire day and successfully avoided being poisoned for their third day of travel.

On the fourth evening, Senna quietly gathers herbs and brews another concoction during dinner time. After putting away the concoction, she stores away her belongings and stands up. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to take care of some business, don’t follow me okay?” Without waiting for a response, she disappears into the woods.

Innar and Kristel grin dangerously seeing Senna disappear. They silently signal to one another before moving. Kristel starts to badmouth Senna loudly distracting Helen and Ollar. Innar silently slips away following Senna.

“Where is that damn bitch? I’ll teach her to mess with me. She will be begging me to bed her after tonight.” Innar licks his lips as he blindly walks through the forest. He stops and looks around when his path is impeded by a large cliff. “Where is she?!” He growls in annoyance. Some shuffling noise near the cliff edge catches his attention. He peers over the edge of the cliff yelling. “Who is it?!” A large puff of pink pollen flies directly into his face. Before he can curse, the pollen enters his eyes, ears, nose and mouth entering his blood stream. The pollen affects him immediately as he collapses to the floor unconscious.

“Haa…” Senna releases her grip on the base of a large flower. A large handkerchief covers her nose and mouth, while animal hide earmuffs cover her ears. Handmade goggles protect her eyes. “I focused too much on examining the flower. What a waste.” Senna despondently mutters looking at the large three meter wide flower. The outer part of the petals is crimson red, but gradually lightens in the center to a deep pink.

Red Leferry

A flower that only grows on cliff edges. Large and resilient. Every part of the flower contains hallucinogens causing the victim to fall into a deep slumber. While asleep, the victim suffers from fearful nightmares causing their bodies to weakly move about in their sleep.

She harvests some of the residual pollen storing it away. She pulls herself up from the lower ledge she’s standing on and takes a look at Innar. “Poisoned again.” {It’s a bit sad he falls straight into it when I’m barely trying.} Senna shakes her head as she thinks about what to do next. “Well he won’t die from it. Let’s bring him back as is.”

***

(Turning back the clock to the day of Senna’s departure)

Mid-afternoon, the town of is filled with wails of sorrow. A third of the townspeople lie despondently along the sides of the street. Men and women alike, of various ages, cry rivers of tears wailing. The unaffected townspeople have a mixture of reactions, confusion, concern, and avoidance of whatever affliction the other people are suffering from.

Throughout various parts of the town, the same notice catches people’s eyes and causes them to scream and wail. In the noble district, servants and even a few nobles cry in agony when they hear the news. Only some of the townspeople are indifferent to the news. Even when they ask their lamenting friends what happened? They receive no response when their friend is too busy crying.

In the center of the shopping district, three grown men stand in front of one of the town’s bulletin board holding the latest news in town. After reading one notice, the men freeze up as they process the message. After a few moments, they break from their stupor and fall to their knees wailing while clutching their heads.

“Oi! What the hell are you crying about?” A member of three men’s group steps out of a shop after finishing his purchase. His group don’t respond to his question. One of them weakly points to the notice on the board. The man approaches the board. “What? It’s just some news. It’s not…like…it’s something… terrible…” The man’s voice trails off as he reads the message. He drops the bag of food in his hands and clutches his head. Falling to his knees, he screams, “NOOOOOOOOO!!!”

The exact message on the notice reads as follows

I quit working at the Restaurant. I apologize to my expectant customers, but don’t expect to be able to taste my cooking there anymore. Everything is left to the owner now.

~Senna~

P.S. I am currently away for two weeks on an expedition. So I am unable to specially prepare any meals even as a special favor.

At the Restaurant, the same notice hangs outside the restaurant. However, the number of people able to read the message is far lower. They enter the restaurant, but quickly leave feeling despondent.

The food that Senna created with her level 8 [Cooking] skill had an incredible effect. It was far tastier than a normal cook’s creations and made people feel like the meal was fit for a king. Plus, the menu had a variety of items from cheap to expensive. No matter what was chosen, Senna refined the meals to perfection making customers want to eat until they burst. If it wasn’t for the incredibly long lines, people would come to eat for every single meal.

However, the incredible popularity in such a low scale part of town was solely due to Senna. Now that Senna has left the restaurant, it has returned to its original state of being a deserted store. Inside the restaurant, a small commotion occurs as furniture flies out from the kitchen.

“Argh!!! My money tree!!!” Dassler yells as he throws kitchen utensils in every direction. His eyes are bloodshot while his face is flushed red in anger. When he returned from gambling this morning, he paled seeing the large notice hanging down from the edge of the roof written in large characters. He hurriedly rushed into the restaurant and quickly found a personal message written to him.

Dear Mister Dassler,

I have decided to leave the restaurant. I know that you will not be happy with this decision, but I believe it is in the interest of both parties that I step back and return to my normal line of work. I have left your profits from the previous day in the kitchen.

I appreciate the free reign that you’ve given me that allowed me to improve my cooking skill and develop new recipes. In addition, I’ve taken it upon myself to announce to the town my withdrawal from the restaurant. Both Eve and Eva have decided to take this chance to also step away from the restaurant. I hope you understand our decision.

Sincerely,

Senna

P.S. You should refrain from drinking and gambling so much. You aren’t young anymore and should be saving up money for the future.

Filled with pure rage at the message, Dassler rips the notice off the wall shredding the notice into tiny bits. “Argh!!!” He laments losing his source of profitable income. Never has he had a chance to earn so much money without lifting a hand to deal with the troublesome restaurant. Spending money without a care while Senna slaves away cooking and handling all the annoying ruffians that pick a fight in his restaurant. Now everything has been lost in one night. He feels as if he could cry tears of blood.

He can only rage about venting his anger on the kitchen. As his rage starts to cool, the view of the empty restaurant only serves to renew his anger. When his tantrum has exhausted his strength, he goes to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

Author's Note

Anyways, take care. I'll try and release next week's chapter a bit early to celebrate Thanksgiving.