Chapter 8: The Frenzied Feast. What the heck happened between Before and After!?
"W-wow, so many people!"
"It’s so crowded."
Hanna gasped while Sierra calmly surveyed the crowd.
Apparently, ShouDan had way more people now than in the morning.
I knew the reason—it had to be those lab-coat weirdos.
"LADIEEEES AND GENTLEMENNN! What’s the next job gonna beeeeee!?"
Director Miston stood onstage, eyes completely glazed over, yelling like a madman.
While we’d been inside the dungeon, they’d somehow set up a special stage. On it stood a few students alongside the <Dragon Statue> that revealed jobs.
A student nervously placed their hand on the statue… and the job list appeared. Then—
"""【Great Swordsman】 GETTTTTT!!"""
"""UOOOOOOOOHHHH!!"""
Director Miston and the white coats screamed in unison.
The entire hall erupted into cheers and thunderous applause.
At that point, I didn’t even need to guess what the fuss was about.
Talk about escalating fast!!
The difference between "before" and "after" was insane. What the hell went down while we were in the dungeon!?
Look at those lab coats—their eyes are gone, adrenaline flooding their systems. They’ve gone past high into super high. They were happier than the actual student who got the 【Great Swordsman】 job!
And that student? Barely had time to celebrate before they were mobbed, picked up, and carried off somewhere by the white coats. Donadona~. (TLN: ドナドナ = A metaphor for being helplessly taken away)
"ALRIIIIIIIIGHT!! NEXT STUDENTS, STEP RIGHT UUUUUP!!!"
Director Miston’s crazed voice echoed through ShouDan.
It was chaos. Pure madness.
Who would’ve thought that just leaking a hint about high-ranking jobs could spark a festival of frenzy like this?
Never even crossed my mind.
Anyway, not my problem. Nobody saw me, so I’ll just quietly nope out of here. Everyone looks happy enough, so whatever.
"H-hey, Zephyrus-kun, that thing just now—mmph!?"
Crap. Right, I did have witnesses here.
I hastily covered Hanna’s mouth and began slipping away.
"Hey, Zephyrus! What’s all this noise? It looks so fun, let’s go watch it more closely—mmph!?"
"Lady Lana!?"
I clamped Lana’s mouth shut too, drawing a yelp from Ester.
This is fine. We’re leaving.
Absolutely do not get involved.
Exposure to this will corrupt you.
Ester hurried over, but I signaled with my eyes: We’re out. Now.
If word spread that the princess was influenced by this chaos, it’d be a scandal. Ester caught on and nodded firmly.
Before I knew it, I was carrying two lovely girls, one in each arm, covering their mouths as I strutted out of ShouDan.
Kinda felt like I was king of a harem. …Though both flowers in my arms were squirming furiously.
Hey! Lana, stop kicking!
"You look like some evil overlord right now."
Sierra, who’d calmly followed us out of that chaos, perfectly described the sight of me hauling two muffled beauties away.
Wrong. I’m a 【Hero】! Get it right, please!
Phew. We got out of ShouDan and put some distance behind us. Finally, I let out a breath and reflected.
Man. The people of this world are something else.
The hype was even hotter than <DanKatsu> players back in the day!
Gotta hand it to them.
And I get it now, too.
Those researchers must’ve been smoldering all this time.
Frustrated that their research wasn’t bearing fruit.
Reminded me of the old days—when the method to unlock the last three jobs remained unknown. The forums exploded in rage, and the moment it was revealed, a whole thread filled up in four minutes flat. Total chaos. Nobody could even read anything, yet the excitement was off the charts. This was the same thing.
All that pent-up stress, curiosity, satisfaction, achievement, and more—it all went supernova.
On the way back from the dungeon, I thought about what we’d seen.
In this world, most people only face monsters after getting the benefits of a job. Because if you took a monster hit bare-skinned, you’d be in trouble.
That’s why so few ever met the kill conditions for higher jobs.
So, I leaked a hint.
I vaguely suggested that defeating monsters was tied to unlocking higher-ranking jobs.
That was days ago. It probably took some time because the researchers had to debate whether it was even okay to make unarmed students fight monsters. The Academy News even reported on it.
The student handbook gave a sharp "pikon" notification. Come to think of it, this was its first time acting up since that guild battle. Guess that shows how big of a deal this is.
Later, when I checked the academy news, it already had coverage of the commotion at the ShouDan, complete with pictures. They even showed those lab coats with their crazy eyes. Was that really something they should’ve reported?
I skimmed past the long sob stories about the lab’s hardships and focused on the part where the researchers tearfully confessed to the press that defeating monsters was the condition for unlocking higher-ranking jobs.
Director, your subordinates totally stole the spotlight at this press conference. Not really the time to be staring into the void like that.
Well, the chaos was a little more than I’d expected, but hey—they finally nailed down the unlock condition. That’s the important part.
Thanks to their efforts, the knowledge about job unlock requirements will eventually spread throughout this world. Go on and find all 1,021 of them. You probably won’t crack the 【Hero】 route, though.
May fortune smile on their path.
Just as I was thinking that, the princess at my side snapped at me:
"Hey! How long do you plan on keeping so close? Move away already—it’s embarrassing!"
"I-I don’t mind staying like this a little longer…"
"Oh?"
Without realizing it, I’d let go of their mouths and was walking with my hands on Lana’s and Hanna’s shoulders, drawing them close.
Yeah, I was basically a harem king right there. Sierra was giving me a sharp, half-lidded glare. For the record, I wasn’t even holding them that tightly—they could’ve slipped free anytime. So… why didn’t they?
Anyway, with Lana’s face bright red, I figured I’d better release her.
"Seriously! Having my mouth suddenly covered like that—I didn’t know what was going on! If you’re gonna do something like that, at least give me a wall at my back first!"
"…You mean you want me to pin you against the wall?"
She’d told me before that she liked romance novels, so this was probably the influence of one of those. Still, if she asked, I’d do it. Want me to?
"N-not now! We just got back from the dungeon! Save that for another time!"
…Oh. She wasn’t joking?
"Lady Lana, there will be no ‘next time.’ That’s improper. Come on, let’s just go back already," Ester scolded, and with that, we broke up for the day.
I watched Lana, Ester, and Sierra head off toward the noble dorms.
"W-well then, Zephyrus-kun. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. See you, Hanna."
Hanna’s in the girls’ dorm, so she went off a different way from the <Princess Job> group. I waved her off, then headed to see Marie-senpai.
"Hey, mister, you hear ‘bout it? The first-years just had themselves an Elite Explosion! Word is, the institute finally found the condition for high-ranking jobs! You can’t be sittin’ around twiddlin’ your thumbs now, y’know?"
"Yeah. That’s good news."
"…Wait, that’s it? Just ‘good news’?"
Marie-senpai, who’d been grinning and waving her student handbook to tease me, blinked at my calm reply.
Well, of course I’m fine with it. I was the one who leaked the hint in the first place! Bring on the high-ranking classmates!
"Now we can scout anyone who rolls into a nice job."
"Hah! That’s exactly what I’d expect from a guild master gunnin' for S-rank. Wish our guild master would take a page from you."
She laughed out loud at my answer.
According to the news, upperclassmen had already rushed to the ShouDan to start a new wave of recruitment wars. But the researchers were guarding—well, more like kidnapping—the freshmen so fiercely that no one could get near them. Things sounded messy.
Looks like it’ll be a while before we can actually recruit anyone. Still, I’m excited. Can’t wait to see what kind of people show up.
"Here to sell again today?"
"Yup. This time, I went for my first run at a Beginner Upper-tier dungeon. Explored the <Isolated Island Flower Garden>. Mind if I use the back room? Haven’t sorted the loot yet."
"Man, sounds like you hauled in a mountain again."
"Yeah, but that <Gentle Shovel> I bought from you really paid off."
"Ha! So it’s my fault after all! Just as I planned!"
Well, this haul was still less than what I dragged out of the <Lesser Wolf’s Shallow Forest Dungeon>. We didn’t farm the boss much, and half the harvest goes straight to Hanna anyway.
Once we were in the familiar back room, I started unloading item after item from my <Item Bag (Capacity: Large)>, sorting them as I went. Marie-senpai packed them smoothly into the buyback bag in perfect sync with me.
Over a thousand materials, easy—but since most of it was harvest goods, the two of us cleared it in under thirty minutes.
"Thanks for your business~!"
"Yeah, just handle that buyback. Oh, and Marie-senpai—tomorrow morning, can I ask you again for some 『Skill Orb Conversion』 and 『Recipe Dechipering』? Think you can swing it?"
"Leave it to me. That girl’ll be here tomorrow too, so we can handle the 『Recipe Deciphering 』."
By "that girl," Marie-senpai meant that sleepy-looking upperclassman with the messy hair.
Her appearance wasn’t the best, but her <Ability Orb Conversion> skill was an astounding Lv10. With her track record, she could definitely be trusted.
Tomorrow, I’ll bring Hanna and Lana along.
After what happened last time, I’m curious to see what kind of <Magic Orbs> we’ll get.
And then there’s also that recipe Lana pulled from the <Lesser Wolf’s Shallow Forest Dungeon> and left untouched—I’ve been wondering about that too.
This is gonna be fun.
The next morning.
"Morning, Celestan."
"Good morning, Lord Zephyrus."
"How’d it go? I heard things were pretty noisy yesterday. Were you able to handle the delivery properly?"
"Yes. I’ve completed the first task you entrusted to me, Lord Zephyrus. Here are the proceeds from selling the <Large Magic Jewel—Topaz>. Please accept them."
Today was Tuesday.
Inside <Eden> Guild’s room, I received the auction proceeds from Celestan.
It was kind of surreal, the way he held up his student handbook like he was offering me a money pouch. Honestly, a bag of gold coins would’ve suited the scene better.
I pulled out my own student handbook and tapped it against his.
"Piron♪"—transaction complete. Artifacts sure are high-tech.
This was the task I’d given Celestan: from registering at the auction house, to listing the item, to collecting the payment. He’d handled the entire process smoothly, without a single mistake.
The auction system used ancient artifacts for its procedures. Even Sierra still struggled with operating her student handbook, so the fact that Celestan could handle it so well just proved how skilled he was.
Since auction payouts were only delivered the day after, Celestan had picked it up for me yesterday while we were challenging the Beginner Upper-tier Dungeon.
Well, yesterday was chaotic—I hadn’t had time to meet him anyway. That’s why I was only now collecting the money in the morning.
"Ohh—three point four four million miru! That’s more than I expected!"
I’d estimated around three million, so this was a pleasant surprise. Apparently, after Lulu left, the item drew even more attention. Celestan, just how did you figure that out?
"Celestan, do you have some time right now?"
"Of course. And if I don’t, I’ll make time."
"You don’t have to go that far. But I thought you might want to tag along—I’ve got a feeling something interesting might happen."
"By all means, I shall accompany you."
And so I took Celestan with me to <Wappen Seal Sticker>.
"You’re late, Zephyrus! I was about to die of boredom waiting!"
"Lady Lana, you haven’t even waited five minutes…"
"Miss Hanna’s right,"
When we arrived, Lana was already fidgeting impatiently inside the shop, with Hanna, Ester, and Sierra gathered as well.
We’d arranged to meet here in the group chat yesterday. For the record, I wasn’t late.
"Good morning, Zephyrus. You’re with Celestan today, I see."
"Morning, Sierra. Yeah, I thought I’d let him watch today’s 『Ability Orb Conversion』 and 『Recipe Dechipering』."
If he’s going to serve as my butler, half-baked knowledge won’t cut it. The more he saw and learned, the better. Especially since 『Ability Orb Conversion』 was such a rare skill.
"Pardon my sudden joining. Good morning to all of you as well."
Celestan greeted politely, with his usual grace.
So refined. I should probably learn from him.
"Good morning, Celestan. Must be tough serving Zephyrus from early morning again. I’m sure being around him comes with no end of trouble, but do your best."
"Hey, why would it be trouble?"
I don’t give him that hard of a time, do I?
But Sierra just gave me a flat, withering stare.
Come on, at least explain!
"Sorry to keep y’all waitin’. Looks like everyone’s here, so let’s get started, shall we?"
Marie-senpai arrived, leading along that perpetually sleepy upperclassman by the hand.
Correction—the sleepy senpai had already dozed off past drowsy and into full-on dreamland, standing upright the whole time.
How was she even walking?
"S-she’s sleeping while standing?!"
See, even the innocent Lana was startled.
"Ahh, don’t mind her, Princess. The girl’s performance is top-notch, so just cut her some slack on the consciousness side of things."
Marie-senpai, usually so boisterous, spoke deferentially to the princess. A rare sight.
But seriously, Marie-senpai—that’s what you want us to overlook? Calling her "high performance" like she’s some kind of machine?
"Alright, mister, let’s get on with the 『Ability Orb Conversion』! Hand me the weapon, will ya?"
"Got it."
Since things were moving along, I got ready as well.
Taking the <Item Bag (Capacity: Large)> from Celestan, I pulled out the <Staff of the Young Witch> we’d just picked up yesterday.
"Okay then, let’s set this in her hands and—done."
…She really was treating her like a machine.
Marie-senpai forced the staff into the hands of the dozy-looking upperclassman I’d given it to.
"Now all that’s left is to press this button, aaannd—poke!"
She suddenly raised two fingers like a gun and jabbed them right into the poor girl’s nose.
"Fugaa!"
"Now’s the time! Ability Orb Conversion, activate!"
"A 『Ability Orb… convurshon』…"
The sleepy senpai jolted awake for a split second, repeating Marie-senpai’s words like a reflex.
Wait… there’s no way that’s really how it works, right!?
But while I was still reeling in disbelief, things continued to unfold—
"—Nothin’ happened, ya dummy!"
"Ow!"
Yeah, I knew it. No surprise 『Ability Orb Conversion』 took a nosedive there.
Marie-senpai, who had been giving it her all, pulled a folding fan from her <Item Bag> out of nowhere and smacked the girl.
Maybe next time, try after she’s fully awake, huh?
And sure enough, when the sleepy senpai actually woke up properly, the 『Ability Orb Conversion』 succeeded without a hitch.
I was a little worried there for a moment, but it safely turned into a <Magic Orb>.
Here’s what we got:
<Magic Orb: 『Dark Javelin Lv5』>
Just a normal <Single Magic Orb>, holding only one ability.
The lower-tier spell 『Dark Shoot Lv6』 had been bumped up to the mid-tier 『Dark Javelin Lv5』. A standard grade-up—just one rank higher.
In other words, no jackpot this time. Just an ordinary conversion.
Too bad.
Guess I’ll have to put my hopes on the 『Recipe Deciphering』 instead.
"So that’s 『Ability Orb Conversion』, is it? Fascinating. I’ve learned a lot."
"Celestan, just ignore that comedy routine in the middle, alright? That’s not how the process is supposed to go."
Better to warn him now—wouldn’t want him thinking nose-poking was an actual ritual step.
And besides, it had fallen completely flat.
"Don’t worry, mister. That last one might’ve bombed, but the next one ain’t a gag or a skit. It’s the real deal."
"O-oh…"
Marie-senpai? Serious?
Now you’ve got my attention.
"This here’s our guild’s secret weapon!"
With a dramatic thunk that practically needed sound effects, Marie-senpai revealed a dragon clutching a round crystal. I knew that item all too well.
"That’s a <Young Dragon>, isn’t it!?"
"Well, well! Didn’t think you’d recognize it, mister!"
Clearly trying to wash away the earlier embarrassment, she presented the item proudly.
『Recipe Deciphering』, like Appraisal, required a specialized item.
Normally, you’d need a dedicated 『Recipe Deciphering』 tool, but Marie-senpai had pulled out something far rarer: an ultra-rare artifact stacked with multiple analysis skills.
This single item contained four abilities—『Analysis』, 『Appraisal』, 『Deciphering』, and 『Illustration Reading』. Naturally, it came from a <Gold Chest>.
Its name: 『Young Dragon (Youwakaryuu)』.
…Which, if you translate it literally, comes out to "Yowakaru"—as in, "easy to understand."
Yep. Top-notch naming sense, dev team. Bravo.
But joke name aside, the performance was phenomenal.
With its 『Deciphering』 skill, it could fully handle recipe work too.
I want one for myself so badly… though since it only dropped from <Gold Chests> in Intermediate Upper-tier dungeons, it’s still a long way off for me.
"Marie-senpai, I didn’t know you had something that rare."
"Well, this here’s been passed down through our guild for generations. Callin’ it ‘mine’ ain’t quite right. And of course, it ain’t for sale, ya hear?"
Figures.
Not that I’d buy one even if I could—it’d be way too expensive.
I’ll take my chances with a drop, thanks.
Otherwise… I’d go broke in a heartbeat!
"Hey, don’t just get all excited by yourselves—let us in too. It’s lonely being left out."
"Ah, sorry about that."
Rare items just naturally get me worked up.
The curse of a hardcore gamer is a heavy one.
Once I explained the features of the tool to Lana and the others, who’d been completely left behind, they all leaned in with curious looks.
"Even just the skill 『Decipher』 is actually a compound one, including things like 『Recipe Decipher』, 『Book Decipher』, 『Code Decipher』, and 『Ancient Script Decipher』. And this item comes with four of them. Can you see how outrageous the <Young Dragon>’s value is?”
"Wait, that’s incredible!"
Right? It’s insane. The name might be silly, but the item’s no joke.
"Well then, enough stiff explanations—let’s get started! Mister, bring out that recipe."
"Got it."
I pulled out the recipe we’d picked up in the <Lesser Wolf’s Shallow Forest Dungeon> and handed it over to Marie-senpai.
She held it up before the <Young Dragon>.
And then—
"Oh! Its eyes lit up."
"It’s making the recipe readable now."
Just like Hanna and Celestan said, the recipe that had been scrawled with those weird wavy letters was now transforming into ordinary Japanese, perfectly legible.
Whoa! Letters changing on paper like that—now that's pure fantasy. Straight out of some magic academy story. Honestly, I was kind of moved.
While I was standing there, deeply impressed by this surreal sight, the locals only reacted with a casual "Huh, neat." Unbelievable. To think there’s no one here who can share in this sense of wonder!
I felt just a bit lonely.
"It says here… this is the method to craft <Dash Boots>."
"Oohhh! <Dash Boots>!"
<Dast Boots> are footgear with the skill 『Movement Speed Up Lv. 5』. They fall under the 【Tailor】 job of recipes.
Since they’re a rare drop from the rare boss <Silver Chest>, the gear itself is top-notch. Back in the game days, I used them often. Definitely a hit.
The best part of recipe items is that they can be mass-produced.
Unlike materials, recipes aren’t consumed on use—you can reuse them forever.
Drops give you just one piece, but recipes let you craft unlimited copies, which makes them more valuable for mass production.
That said, some people argue it’s easier to just get the equipment itself, since crafting costs materials. In the end, it depends on the person. Me? I say both are worth having.
"Marie-senpai, can you make this for us? Or… do you already have it?"
"Nah, first time I’ve seen this one. ’Course I’ll do it—leave it to me. What ya wanna do with the recipe?"
"Well… we could sell it to the Academy, but what do you think, Marie-senpai?"
"Since it’s my first time crafting it, I’ll check the result first. If it turns out good, I’ll buy it off ya!"
"Haha, sounds fair. Then I’ll leave the recipe with you for appraisal."
<Dash boots> boost movement speed. Meaning, they’re perfect for guild battles. Since it’s a guaranteed useful item, we’ll have Marie-senpai buy it for a good price.
"Got it. Though… most of the required materials come from <Battle Wolf (First Form)>. I got way too many of those sittin’ in stock, so this’ll help me clear them out."
Well, makes sense—it dropped from a <Battle Wolf> after all. Recipes usually require mats from the dungeon they come from.
So, we put in an order with Marie-senpai for <Dash Boots>.
Enough for all guild members, of course.
We measured foot sizes on the spot. For the absent members, Kalua’s size was already recorded, so no problem there. As for Rika, I’ll just tell her to come later.
"Don’t you worry, I’ll keep everyone’s measurements safe with me."
Since we’ll be asking her for equipment again in the future, I had everyone measured just in case. And then Marie-senpai gave me some teasingly suggestive reply.
Now that’s just unfair—it makes me way too curious!
When I fixed her with a serious look, she just grinned back with that sly smile of hers.
Marie-senpai really knows how to keep the mood lively.
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