DanKatsu Volume 2, Chapter 19

Chapter 19: This is the Blessing of <Lucky Cat-sama>!! The <Beauti-Four Phenomenon>!!

"<Silver Chest>, boom! And doubled on top!"

"There are four of them! Zephyrus, four! Why though!?"

Well, duh. That’s obviously thanks to the blessing of <Lucky Cat-sama>!

Rare bosses drop double compared to normal bosses.

Meaning you usually get two treasure chests. Boss materials also double. The tradeoff is that mobs along the way don’t drop loot, but that’s a small price to pay.

But when you combine that natural double-drop with <Lucky Cat-sama>’s blessing—"sometimes drops double"—bam!

You get four treasure chests. Beautiful.

Actually, back during the regular <Battle Wolf (First Form)>, the double chest thing had happened a few times. But Lana just thought "sometimes there are two chests" and didn’t realize what was going on.

Unbelievable. It’s all thanks to <Lucky Cat-sama>.

Normally, there’s only one chest, you know?

And this delightful phenomenon, where a rare boss’s double drop plus <Lucky Cat-sama>’s blessing turns two into four chests…

Players of <DanKatsu> called it the <Beauti-Four Phenomenon>.

A pun on "beautiful" and "four."

The truth is, it started when the first player who encountered it shouted on the forums: "It’s beauti-FOUR!!" in katakana pronunciation. Everyone found it hilarious, and the name just stuck.

When all four of the chests happen to be <Gold Chests>, it’s called the <Perfect Beauti-Four Phenomenon>, a.k.a. <Perfect Drop>.

Every time a <Perfect Drop> report popped up on the forums, it triggered waves of jealousy and envy. And if all the contents turned out to be duds, it was a storm of "serves you right!" comments.

On the other hand, if someone actually pulled four jackpot drops, everyone spammed them with face-slap emoticons.

My personal record was a 256-hit slap combo. Honestly, the more hits it got, the funnier it felt. Good times.

Sadly, this time they weren’t gold, but still—rare boss drops. Even <Silver Chests> could have rare loot inside.

"Ah, can we open them now?"

"Yeah, go ahead. This time—"

"I’ll pass. I got to open the <Gold Chest> from <Debubu> last time."

We had four chests, but five party members. I was wondering how to divide them when Sierra raised her hand.

Oh, right, she was the one who opened <Debubu>’s gold chest.

Honestly, gold and silver are different categories, so I felt like this shouldn’t even count. But Sierra apparently felt guilty opening a <Gold Chest> and a <Silver Chest> in a row.

"In that case, I'll gratefully accept your offer."

"Sure, but let me watch from behind, okay?"

She was so insistent that I had no choice but to agree.

"Alright then, I’ll take this chest! I’m opening it!"

"Ah! That’s the one I was aiming for! Hey Zephyrus, that one’s mine!"

"There are plenty more, aren’t there!?"

I walked up to a chest nearby, but for some reason, Lana shoved me away.

…Fine, whatever! I just moved to the next chest over. Hanna and Ester had already picked theirs too.

"Alright, on my count—Sierra, watch closely!"

"Got it."

"Ready—go!"

At Lana’s signal, we all opened our chests together. Honestly, this kind of thing felt fresh and fun.

When I flipped mine open, inside was a 『Ring of Frugality』, with 『MP Cost Reduction Lv.3』.

Ooohhh! Jackpot!

That ring is a staple for casters—most magic users have one with MP reduction. If I or Hanna equip it, we’ll cut down MP potion consumption a lot.

We’d actually burned through way too many MP potions this run, so I’d been thinking I should pace myself better. Almost like the world was telling me, "Be frugal!"

Thank you, <Lucky Cat-sama>, for this wonderful drop!

That was a solid win on my end.

But how about the others?

I glanced over at Lana, who had shoved me away to grab hers.

"…What’s this, just paper?"

"Oh, that’s a recipe. Depending on what’s written, recipes from rare boss drops usually explain how to use that boss’s materials. That’s in the jackpot tier."

"Huh, really?"

She didn’t quite grasp the value, holding the paper up to the light with a puzzled look.

That won’t help, you know. You need to use 『Decipher』 to actually read it.

But yeah, if you can’t understand what’s written, I guess that reaction makes sense.

But hey, this one’s basically a double gacha, right?

Once when you open the chest, and again when you appraise it. Two rolls, hence "double gacha."

I can’t wait to see what this next pull says.

Next, I head over to Ester.

"This was mine… Sir Zephyrus, do you know what it is?"

What she pulled out was… a simple mat.

Ah, I see. A production-type item.

"The name’s <Soft Portable Mat>. It’s a professional tool for jobs like 【Chiropractor】, 【Esthetician】, 【Innkeeper】, or 【Housekeeper】. Same category as the <Alchemy Set> Hanna’s got."

The <Soft Portable Mat> has an insane effect: it boosts the relevant skill’s efficiency by 1.4x. For someone in the right profession, it’s gold. And it is still a <Silver Chest> drop from a rare boss.

We could sell it, but it’s probably worth hanging on to. The effect’s too strong to toss—might come in handy someday.

"…Doesn’t look useful to me though."

"Why not just use it as interior decor for the guild room, Sierra? It’s empty as a cave right now, and if we use the storage room as a lounge…"

"You’d sleep there?"

"…Yeah, no. If I’m sleeping, I’d rather just go back to my room."

"But decorating isn’t a bad idea. Since it’s a <Silver Chest> drop, we should keep it as a memento if nothing else."

And so, the mat got repurposed as interior decoration.

Maybe I’ll line up some plushies on top of it later.

Last up was Hanna.

"This one’s mine. A gemstone?"

"Ah—yeah. That’s a <Large Magic Gemstone: Topaz>."

Hanna’s was the simplest of all: a straight-up currency item. Sell it, and you get a tidy sum.

Huh. Maybe her money sense is so strong that it actually pulled this result? …Kinda feels that way, weirdly enough.

Currency-type drops come in three sizes: <Small ___>, <Large ___>, and <Huge ___>. <Large> is the middle tier, but since this one came from a rare boss <Silver Chest>, it’ll fetch a solid price.

For Beginner Mid-tier rare boss loot, normally you can sell it for around a million miru. Put it on auction, though, and the price might go even higher.

Auctions are held once a week, every Sunday.

Since the number of items you can list depends on guild rank, it’s always tough deciding what to put up.

The next one’s in two days, right? Now that we’ve got a guild, maybe we should try participating.

This <Large Magic Gemstone: Topaz> would make a strong first candidate.

I’m actually excited to see how much it goes for.

When I mentioned that, Hanna’s eyes sparkled.

"Yes! That’ll save me equipment costs!"

…Don’t get your hopes that high. Does she seriously think the whole payout goes into her pocket? The rewards get split among the whole party, you know?

Anyway, with that, I checked everyone’s drops.

For a <Beauti-Four Phenomenon>, they were… well, pretty average.

Good stuff in there, sure, but not much that was really useful. Compared to the usual, it felt a little underwhelming.

Damn, maybe I didn’t offer enough tributes.

Or maybe the <Beauti-Four Phenomenon> itself burned through all our luck, leaving nothing for the actual drops.

Next time, I’ll make sure to stack the offering pile.

If I throw in enough meat, maybe we’ll even trigger the <Perfect Beauti-Four>… fuhaha!

After that, we collected the rare boss’s other drops.

And there, we actually hit the jackpot: three <Battle Lesser Wolf (Second Form) Large Pelts>.

Since only thirteen <Battle Lesser Wolf's Large Pelt> dropped over fifty-two runs yesterday, this is a blessing. Granted, rare bosses just have fewer drop types, so the odds are better.

But still—pulling three <Battle Lesser Wolf (Second Form) Large Pelts> off a rare boss means Hanna’s armor might be able to get another upgrade!

Man, that’s lucky.

"So, it’s not even three o’clock yet, but since we’ve gathered all the materials, should we head back once?"

"What are you talking about! We still have time left—of course, we’re doing more!"

"Um, if possible, I’d like another rematch as well…"

Lana and, surprisingly, even Ester, were fired up.

Maybe she wanted to make up for her earlier mistakes. Fair enough.

That kind of motivation is important in games.

Turning frustration into fuel and challenging the boss again—that’s the real thrill of gaming.

Unfortunately, whether we run into another rare boss is all down to luck.

I’ve got a <Rare Monster’s Flute (Boss Version)>, but honestly, I’d rather save it for a dungeon ranked higher than Beginner Mid-tier. The flute’s recharge fee is insanely expensive. Using it here at Beginner Mid-tier would almost guarantee running at a loss.

So with Sierra and Hanna also giving the green light, we decided to restart regular boss runs.

By the way, in the rare boss fight just now, Hanna finally maxed out her 【Alchemist Lv.35】. Figures—rare bosses give crazy amounts of exp. Once you hit level 30, you only get exp from bosses, and the higher your level compared to the boss, the less exp you gain. So it gets harder and harder to level up. Rare bosses are lifesavers. I’d love to fight a few more myself.

Hanna may have capped her level, but since these runs are mainly for collecting materials for her gear (we’ve already hit the quota, by the way), she insisted on joining anyway.

Basically, there’s no real point anymore—but hey, it’s fun, so who cares! That’s the spirit of gaming.

And Hanna’s a material hoarder, so her pointless enthusiasm is actually a good sign. (…probably?)

"Alright then—Boss Respawn Marathon, restart!"

""""Yeahhh!""""

Everyone answered my call. The fun, fun boss grind continues.

We’d fight right up until late tonight!

And so, for a little over three hours, we hunted <Battle Wolves (First Form)>.

At first, the wolves came at us with ferocity, but toward the end, they almost seemed… scared of us. Weird.

Don’t worry, we’ll play again soon! (—Kyain!? *shivers*)

"Ester, how many runs did we do today?"

"Yes. Excluding the rare boss, today we cleared seventy-two runs."

"Seventy-two runs!?"

Ester answered casually, but her words made Lana gape.

As always, Ester kept count. I gave up halfway through.

Still, seventy-two runs are impressive. Everyone kept leveling up, our battle speed climbed steadily, so the number checks out.

Of course, the higher the dungeon rank, the longer each fight takes. Seventy-two runs are only doable in Beginner-level dungeons.

We also burned through a ton of <MP Potions>. We’ll need to restock.

"I can already picture Marie-senpai’s face when she sees this!"

"And this time we even have rare boss drops. That’ll really blow her mind, won't it?"

We didn’t manage a rematch, but apparently, just having rare boss materials is enough to shock most people.

Well, they are technically a tier above the usual bosses. Encounter one unprepared, and most parties would be wiped out.

Not us, though—our gear is on another level.

Rare boss materials are valuable. When I brought in <Emperor Goblin> materials before, the appraisal had to wait until Auction Day.

I’d like to put these up for auction too, but the <Large Magic Gem – Topaz> will fetch an even higher price. That one’s a pure currency item. The amount of Miru it brings in isn’t even comparable. Even rare boss mats can’t compete.

Back then, the <Emperor Goblin> materials sold for 1.7 million miru. A boss on the same tier, like the <Battle Wolf (Second Form)>, would probably fetch about the same. But a <Large Magic Gem – Topaz>, normally priced at 1 million miru? At auction, I’m betting it could go for three million. No idea who’d buy it for that much, or what they’d even use it for, though…

Anyway, that’s why we’ll let <Wappen Seal Sticker> buy out the <Battle Wolf (Second Form)> materials this time. Marie-senpai will probably leap at the chance.

Once we finished collecting all the drops, it was time to head back.

The sun was already setting, but instead of going straight home, I made a detour to <Wappen Seal Sticker>.

Even the girls, who normally dash for the showers the moment we’re out of the dungeon, tagged along today—they wanted to see Marie-senpai’s reaction. Yesterday’s reaction was priceless, after all.

"What the heck, you again? You came back just to give me trouble, didn’t ya!?"

"Leave it to me, Marie-senpai! This time I’ll really blow your mind!"

I half-jokingly declared war, pulling out stacks of materials.

By the time the count passed one thousand, Marie-senpai had already started screaming… and that was just the beginning.

"Behold this!"

"Wha—what is that!?"

The moment I pulled out the rare boss drop—materials from the <Battle Wolf (Second Form)>—Marie-senpai, who had been teary-eyed just a second ago, went wide-eyed in shock.

"Another rare boss drop!?"

"How about it? Amazing, right? And this time, I’m thinking of selling the whole lot to you directly instead of putting it up for auction."

"For real!?"

So shocked, she practically shrieked, "If you keep blowing my mind like this, I’ll shrivel up and die!" Then she dove straight for the materials.

See? Just as I expected.

In the end, she admitted that the sheer amount was overwhelming—they hadn’t even finished appraising yesterday’s haul yet. She promised they’d work hard through the weekend to get everything evaluated. Sorry for ruining your weekend, senpai.

As for Hanna’s gear, she said the design could still be adjusted, so we decided to incorporate three <Battle Lesser Wolf (Second Form) Large Pelts> into the set.

She promised to start working on it as soon as the appraisal’s done. I can’t wait for the start of next week.

.

.

.

The next morning, Saturday.

Today’s a free day.

Yesterday, we not only gathered all the materials we needed, but we also overloaded Marie-senpai’s guild storage with our deliveries.

If we went dungeon diving again and dumped another mountain of materials, Marie-senpai might actually transform into a demon this time. Honestly, I kind of want to see that—but I’ll restrain myself.

This kind of thing never happens in games.

Back there, you just clicked the number of items you wanted to sell and—bam!—they were instantly converted into Miru. This feels way more real and fresh.

So today, I’ll take care of all the errands and things I’ve been putting off because of constant dungeon runs. Dungeon Attack Time is officially on hold.

On top of that, I asked Lana, Sierra, and Ester about recruiting new members. They said they’re free today, so we scheduled interviews for the afternoon.

Lana also told me, "Actually, there might be one more person joining. That okay?" So in total, we’ve got five candidates lined up. At this rate, we’d better push for rank E soon, or our member cap will fill up in no time.

Anyway, the afternoon schedule is set. Now, what should I do in the morning?

That’s it. Dungeon Attack!

"…Excuse me, what!?"

Hanna immediately called me out.

"A true gamer must sometimes push forward even when told not to!"

"???"

I strung together what sounded like cool words, but really, it was just a joke.

Right now, I’m in my room at the nobles’ dormitory. Hanna came over this morning to have breakfast with me, and here we are.

Naturally, she cooked enough for both of us, so we ate together.

Yep—Hanna’s homemade breakfast is as delicious as always!

"So, weren’t you saying we’re taking a break from the dungeon today? Are you still going?"

"Of course I am!"

I gave a thumbs-up like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

In fact, Sierra, Lana, and Ester—the <Princess Job> trio—went to help out Kalua and Rika, tagging along with them into Beginner-Low tier dungeons. Well, more as advisors than helpers, but still.

If they can go, then so can I.

That whole "Dungeon Attack Time is over" line? Yeah, that was a lie!

"Besides, we used way too many <MP Potions> yesterday. Supplies are running low, so I thought I’d restock while I’m at it."

"Low? Are you sure you can call it that? We still have nearly 150 left, you know?"

Yeah, but we burned through more than 200 just running those wolves.

From my perspective, 150 bottles of <MP Potion> isn’t nearly enough—it’s basically pocket change.

Still, I’d rather save Miru than spend them.

So today’s mission: farming <Mana Herbs>.

"I'm heading out to the <Grasslands> today."

"Can I come too?"

"Well, yeah, I figured you’d say that, Hanna."

And so, we decided to spend the morning together in the <Grasslands>.*

"Gobuh!?"

"『Ice Lance』! 『Flare Lance』!"

"Go-bwaaah…"

One after another, the common goblins were blown away by Hanna’s mid-tier lance spells.

Man, she’s gotten strong.

Her INT stat hasn’t changed, but with a good weapon and second-tier magic tree spells, even goblins go down in one shot.

And thanks to all that hunting of those speedy <Wolves>, she barely ever misses now—even without slowing her targets down. Her growth is honestly impressive.

"Last one! 『Ice Lance』!"

"Gyabuh!?"

The final common goblin fell just as easily, and Hanna turned back to me with a refreshed expression.

"Nice work, Hanna. You’ve really improved!"

"Yeah! Thanks, Zephyrus-kun! You know, I can really feel it in my hands—the impact!"

"H-huh… well, good for you, I guess?"

"Yeah! Zephyrus-kun, can I keep going a little longer? I feel like I’m in a really good rhythm right now!"

"I see… Well, I’ll go collect some <Mana Grass> like I planned. Do your best."

"Thanks!"

The situation had completely flipped from before.

Now I’m the one playing the porter. How did it come to this?

For some reason, Hanna was firing off spells with a dazzling smile, squeezing her hands with a giddy grin. Seems like she’s really hooked on that satisfying impact she feels.

"Maybe I should try it on some slimes when we get back…"

Her muttered words slipped out during a lull in battle, reaching my ears.

Poor slimes. As if smacking them around wasn’t enough, now she’s adding magic to her arsenal.

While gathering <Mana Grass>, I quietly murmured another little prayer for their souls.

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