Chapter 182

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 182

Defense Specialization and an Extended Battle

As Maple sat there under the ghosts stare, Sally slowly regained her calm .

“Maple…is it still there?”

Sally asked Maple without raising her face .

“Yes, it’s still there . ”

“Ugghh…why won’t it leave me alone…”

While there was still a tremble in her voice, she was starting to seem like the normal Sally now .

“Are you calm now?”

“I’m calm . But this is so embarrassing, so don’t look at me…”

Of course, Maple had already seen Sally’s crying face very clearly .

Sally’s ears, which were the only thing visible, were bright red . And so Maple could imagine how much redder her face would be .

“Okay . But…did you want this skill that bad? Really?”

“I currently regret getting myself into this…really . I want to punch myself for believing that I might be fine…”

According to Sally, she had been blind by want of the skill .

“That’s very unusual . You’re always right about everything, Sally . ”

“It was something that I wanted so much, that’s why . Now that I’m calm and level headed, I see that I can make do without that skill . ”

“But what was this skill that you wanted anyway? I never asked you about it . ”

Maple said, and so Sally started to tell her about the skill and items she wanted and about what had happened since she arrived here .

Maple listened and realized that there was not much that would be useful to her .

As she didn’t need to go and get things she didn’t need, it would make exploration much more efficient from now on .

Of course, there was a part of Maple that was enjoying the exploration, so there was no saying that she wouldn’t go .

She would likely just go anywhere that looked interesting .

As they talked like this, Maple wished that the ghost would just float off somewhere else, but the ghost would not move at all .

“It would be bad if I left the throne…maybe I could attack it?”

Maple stretched out her hand to use the item . A blade of wind cut into the ghost .

And the ghost stumbled and retreated .

However, it had no HP bar . And so Maple understood that it did not deal damage and could not be defeated .

The ghost had covered its face in its hands and wailed, but after a moment, it returned to them and tried to touch them .

“We’ll have to escape while it’s recoiling…Sally, can you do that? It will probably catch up with me . ”

Maple suggested that Sally alone could escape .

“Umm…I don’t think so . ”

It was clear that it wasn’t solely due to her AGI being 0 .

“What should we do? Huh?”

The ghost who had until now refused to part from them was suddenly moving away and left the room .

It was so sudden that Maple could do nothing but stare in stunned surprise .

“It’s our chance! Let’s go, Sally!”

“Huh-huh? Uh, okay!”

Sally was covering her face and hadn’t understood the situation as Maple pulled her hand .

For the first time ever, the two of them ran at the same speed .

From behind them, they heard the voice of someone who had been sacrificed to the ghosts in their place .

Sally heard the screams of the newcomers and became red with embarrassment at realizing that she had been acting the same way .

“Dash!”

Maple took the shortest route back through the hallways that she remembered until finally, they came to a place where you could log out .

“Thank you, Maple . ”

“Ehehe…you are welcome!”

They were both happy to have returned .

From behind them, cold arms stretched out and embraced them at the same time .

“Ahhh… . !”

“Oomph!”

Just as both of them froze in shock, they received a notice for the new skill .

“Uhh… ‘Connection to the Underworld’? Oh, it’s the skill where it doubles the effect of items . ”

Maple said as she looked at the skill .

Sally had slumped down, but it seemed like she had acquired the same skill as well .

According to the skill’s description, it was a mysterious connection to someone who would occasionally and slowly lend you a hand from behind .

“Eww…I don’t want that connection . ”

“What do you want to do, Sally? I can stick with you if you want to explore some more . ”

“I’m logging out . I want to leave . ”

Sally said immediately .

“Of course . Uh, bye bye then?”

Maple waved her hand .

“Thanks for helping me today . I’ll make it up to you later . ”

“Don’t worry about that . You helped me a lot up until now! I feel like I was finally able to return a bit of the favor . ”

Maple said with a laugh . Sally’s expression brightened a little .

“Thank you . Well, see you when the 7th layer is ready . ”

“I’m sure you’re just saying that . ”

“No, I’m not returning…after this . ”

With that said, Sally logged out and left .

There is a saying about forgetting the heat once it is past your throat .

In many cases, people tended to repeat their mistakes .

After returning to the real world, Risa got up from her bed and put the game away .

“Hmm…so sweaty . I need to take a bath… Oh, maybe later! I need to eat first . ”

Risa said, and then she opened the door, much more carefully than usual, and went downstairs .

When she reached the living room, she saw that her mother was in the middle of making dinner .

“Risa? Dinners not ready yet . ”

“Yeah, I just came to watch TV . ”

Risa said as she turned on the TV and sat down on the sofa .

However she was not really interested in it, and she was basically just occasionally glancing at it .

Translations by AsianHobbyist Website

As Risa sat in the living room and waited for dinner to be ready, the telephone began to ring .

Risa turned around and looked towards the phone .

“Oh…yes, this is Shiromine . Yes . ”

“…”

Her mother talked on the phone for quite some time before finally hanging up and turning to Risa .

“Risa? Something urgent has just come up, and I have to leave . Your father is also going to be late today… You should eat before the food gets cold . ”

“Wha…uh…okay…”

Risa said hesitantly . Her mother rushed to her room in order to get ready .

“I’ll try to be back as soon as possible . ”

“…Okay . ”

And then her mother left the house .

It was already dark outside, and the only sound in the house came from the TV .

“I better eat, then . ”

After seeing her mother off, Risa returned to the kitchen to eat .

“…”

Risa picked up the TV remote and raised the volume .

She was sitting on the chair, her feet swaying uneasily and her eyes slightly narrowed .

Her chopsticks seemed to move slowly .

“That was good . ”

Risa said as she washed the dishes and randomly switched the channels .

According to the weather report, it would rain tonight .

She spent the time like this aimlessly, but no one returned home .

“I better take a bath…but…”

For some reason, she was much more nervous than usual .

Well, she knew the reason .

“I’m…a little scared…”

And putting it into words made it worse .

Risa went around and closed all of the doors and curtains so there were no gaps . Then she hugged the cushion on the sofa and curled up .

“…I know!”

She must have had an idea because her face lit up .

In a different house, Kaede had also logged out and was studying in her room .

Her phone started to ring .

“Is it…I knew it . ”

Kaede picked up her cell phone and saw the name ‘Risa’ on the display .

“Hello?”

“Ah, Kaede? Are you busy?”

“Uh…I’m fine now . What is it?”

“I just thought that I really inconvenienced you today . Want to talk for a while?”

Kaede had a vague idea of why Risa was actually calling, but they continued to talk without her bringing it up .

“Hm?”

As they were talking, Kaede realized that she could hear the sound of water apart from Risa’s voice .

“Maybe the bathtub or bathroom . She’s such a scaredy cat…oh . ”

Kaede had accidentally said what she was thinking out loud .

Risa could have easily pretended like she didn’t hear it, but she fell silent .

“Ri-risa?”

There was a short silence and then Risa’s voice could be heard .

“…Kaede, there is no one but me in the house now . ”

“Yeah . ”

“It’s a little…lonely, I guess…”

“Yeah . ”

“To-to be honest…I’m scared…can we keep talking?”

There was no way that Kaede would say no, and so they continued to talk .

As they talked, Kaede remembered that something like this had happened before .

“Do you remember, when this happened before?”

“Did it?”

“Yeah . But that time, you weren’t calling while in the bathtub . But I remember being sleep-deprived the next day . ”

“Oh, when we were in elementary school? Ohhh…I haven’t grown at all then . ”

Talking like this made her fears go away a little .

By the time that she got out of the shower and into her bed, they became more excited in their conversation, and Risa had cheered up quite a lot .

“Good night, Risa . ”

“Yes, thank you . Good night, Kaede . ”

Risa went to bed a few hours earlier than usual .

She turned the light off and buried her head under the blankets and closed her eyes .

She could hear the sounds of rain that had started to fall .

Going to bed early was fine, but it didn’t mean you would fall asleep .

30 minutes, then an hour elapsed .

As time passed, the feeling that had been growing thin started to return .

“Mmm…mmm…”

Risa began to move restlessly in her bed . After a while, she made up her mind and grabbed her phone .

It was obvious who she would call .

Risa turned the lights back on as she began to talk with Maple, who had been woken up .

“Ahaha…this happened before too!”

“I’m…really sorry, Kaede…”

And so it goes without saying, that Kaede was sleep-deprived the next day .