Chapter 54: What We Can Do
"All right, it’s done!"
Jin placed a golden-brown fried white fish fillet, breaded and pan-fried, onto a plate. Besides it, he added a generous spoonful of homemade tartar sauce made by mixing finely chopped onions, boiled eggs, and pickles into his signature mayonnaise. Of course, he’d also balanced the meal nutritionally: shredded cabbage was neatly piled on the side, and a small bowl of stir-fried vegetables served as a side dish.
Finally, he set down a bowl of soup made with broth from the fish bones, and the meal was complete.
"Got it!"
Rachel and Erza answered cheerfully, carrying the finished dishes to the dining table. After a quick cleanup in the kitchen, Jin joined them and took his seat.
Once the three of them were seated together, it was time for their usual pre-meal greeting.
"""Itadakimasu!"""
It had been eight days since their housewarming party, and about twenty days since the three began living together. And once again, their pleasant dinnertime began.
"This tartar sauce tastes a little different from your usual mayo — it’s really good."
"The fish fry is crispy and delicious too."
They say good food naturally brings out smiles, and right now, Erza and Rachel were living proof of that. Seeing the two of them so happy made Jin genuinely glad — he couldn’t help grinning himself.
"Haha, thanks."
Saying that, Jin also took a bite of the fried fish topped with tartar sauce. It was indeed delicious.
The ingredients he used for these dishes were often similar to those from his original world, but not exactly the same. Normally, he’d have to taste everything to tell the difference, but Jin had one great advantage — Appraisal.
If the ingredient was basically the same as what he knew, even if its size or shape differed, it would show up under the same name. And if it was something completely new, the appraisal would include a short description of its flavor, which helped a lot in cooking.
It also displayed freshness and condition, so Jin never had to worry about accidentally eating spoiled or poisonous ingredients. Though this world had a fairly good understanding of hygiene, the convenience of Appraisal made it one of his most frequently used skills.
In fact, Jin’s appraisal skill had recently reached level 4 thanks to how often he used it, and the higher level slightly increased the amount of information he could see while still only costing 1 MP, making it even more practical.
As they ate, the three chatted, mixing light conversation with bits of news and updates.
"Speaking of which, it looks like there really are more subjugation requests lately. Dan and the others mentioned it the other day too."
Jin said, his tone turning a little more serious,
It was something he’d been worried about since the incident with the mutant monsters, and by now, Jin wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Speaking of Dan and his group, they ended up forming a party with Albert’s team, creating a well-balanced formation of three frontliners and two in the rear. Apparently, the deciding factor was that their skill levels were about the same, and being from the same intake made it easier for them to trust one another. They’d also been promoted to D-rank recently and were steadily building up their experience.
According to Cain, Albert’s partner, Albert in particular seemed to have developed a bit of a rivalry toward Jin, who was slightly ahead of them.
Albert himself had even told Jin, "I won’t lose," with that straightforward determination of his. But Jin didn’t find that competitiveness unpleasant at all; in fact, it felt refreshing.
So, his honest reply to Albert’s challenge had been, "Then I’ll do my best not to lose either."
Recalling that conversation, Jin shared it with the others, and Erza nodded in agreement.
"It’s troublesome that the increase hasn’t been drastic enough to pinpoint the cause. Since we don’t know what’s behind it, we can’t really take countermeasures."
At first, Erza had been skeptical about the talk of increasing monsters, but now she could feel it too.
And when monsters multiplied, it was ordinary people who suffered the most. The guild would handle countermeasures, of course, but as adventurers, none of them could just stand by and watch—all three of them felt the same way.
"The monsters are worrying, but I’m also concerned about that mysterious illness spreading among the children."
Rachel said, voicing another concern.
When she worked solo, Rachel often helped out at the clinic, so she’d noticed the growing number of children suffering from unexplained fevers—the same kind of illness that Airis once had.
Although the fever was temporary and subsided on its own, it often returned after several days, and there was still no cure for it.
"I talked with Clark-san and Bean-san about it recently. The real problem is that no one knows what’s causing it," Jin said.
Since Jin was close to both of them, he was deeply invested in the issue. From what he’d heard, the fever would go down with a priest’s Cure Disease spell or common fever medicine. However, without understanding the root cause, they couldn’t create a true cure. The two healers were currently reaching out through every contact they had to try and identify the source.
Jin, for his part, was gathering and preparing medicinal herbs used for fever remedies to build up supplies, but that was about all he could do right now.
Some time ago, he’d wondered if his Appraisal skill might work on people as well, and when he tested it, it did, and it could show a person’s name, age, and some basic information. Unfortunately, even when he used up all his MP, it didn’t reveal the name of any illness.
Because of that, Jin was now working to raise the level of his Appraisal skill even further.
To make matters worse, since the housewarming party, Airis had fallen ill again, and now Nils and some of the orphanage children were starting to show the same symptoms.
For Jin, this was no longer someone else’s problem.
"Well, worrying won’t solve anything. Let’s just focus on what we can do."
Even when life went on normally, moments of anxiety could easily creep in. Jin pushed back those uneasy thoughts and tried to think about what actions they could actually take.
"First, maybe we should cut down on solo activities and focus on more subjugation requests. While we’re out, we can also gather herbs—they keep well, so having too many won’t be a problem."
"Good idea. And if we move directly from one village to the next instead of returning to town after each request, we can handle more jobs efficiently."
"That’s true. Thanks to you, Jin-san, it’s easier for us to locate our targets, so we can finish faster. There are still enough adventurers around for now, but thinking ahead, Erza-san’s plan makes sense. Honestly, I think helping with subjugations is more important right now than treating patients at the clinic."
Each of them was thinking carefully about what they could do—and what they wanted to do. None of it came from obligation; it came from genuine will.
"All right, let’s start tomorrow. Things might get busier than ever, but let’s give it our all."
"Yeah."
"Yes!"
Believing their efforts would lead to smiles all around, Jin and his friends set out once again to take action.
Six days had passed since Jin and his party decided to focus more on subjugation requests, and today, as always, they were hard at work helping out in a nearby village.
"Hmph!"
Jin swung his glaive down at a Mad Boar, and the blade cut deep into the beast’s neck.
The weapon was still made of steel, but its design had changed from before. Previously, the blade had simply been shaped like a short sword attached to a spear shaft. Now, it resembled a falchion—a broad, single-edged sword whose blade curved like a crescent toward the tip while the spine stayed straight. The wider blade added weight, but it also greatly improved its cutting power. It retained its spear-like reach while enhancing its effectiveness as a slashing weapon—a perfect hybrid.
It was a major redesign, but one that Jin and Gantz had refined together without compromise. Thanks to that, the weapon was far more practical and had become Jin’s finalized model.
"That’s the last of them. Doesn’t look like there are any others around."
"Good work. You’re not hurt, are you?"
After defeating the group of Mad Boars, four in total, which was a rare and dangerous pack, Erza and Rachel approached Jin. The three had handled the fight smoothly, without any real trouble.
Both Erza and Rachel were now wearing armor crafted by Gantz. It was made from the leather of mutated Mad Boars, and Rachel’s chestplate had been reinforced with the carapace of a Mad Ant Queen. Erza’s armor had additional plates attached to her gauntlets and abdomen as well. Though neither had as much carapace material as Jin’s gear, the dark leather from the mutated beasts made their armor incredibly tough.
Their weapons had also been upgraded from plain steel to black iron, purchased from Orto’s Galdin Trading Company—not custom-made, but of top-notch quality.
The three had spent nearly all of their previous earnings on this new equipment, but it was worth every coin. Once Jin’s own glaive was reforged in black iron, their gear would rival that of a B-rank adventuring party.
More than a month had passed since the three had formed their party, and everyone’s level had risen significantly since then.
Erza was now level 20, Jin was 18, and Rachel was 17—though after the latest hunt, Jin would soon notice he’d actually hit 19.
Since the requirement to take the C-rank promotion exam was level 15 or higher, all of them already qualified.
Their progress was the result of efficient work—using Jin’s MAP skill to clear requests quickly and taking on stronger monsters that other adventurers tended to avoid.
On top of that, they’d gained new skills and improved existing ones, steadily honing their abilities. With their levels, skills, and equipment all upgraded, they were more than ready for C-rank promotion.
"Good work. That should take care of things for now. Let’s grab the drops and head back."
Saying that, Jin placed his hand on one of the Mad Boar corpses, and in an instant, its loot—a magic stone and hides—materialized out of thin air.
"Got it. I’ll keep watch," Erza said calmly.
It was an impossible sight, but she didn’t even flinch. She and Rachel simply kept guard as if it were normal.
This strange way of collecting drops was something Jin had already revealed to them during an earlier adventure. They’d been shocked at first, but had grown used to it by now. Jin had explained that the ability was something like a unique skill called Dismantle, a leftover mechanic from his "game days."
Thanks to Jin’s skill, all the drop items were collected in no time, and they set off to the village to file their report.
"Fighting those Mad Boars reminded me of the mutated one we faced before, but we haven’t heard of any new ones appearing since then."
Rachel said as they walked towards the village.
That battle against the mutated monster had left a deep impression on all three of them, not just Rachel.
"Yeah, that’s one bit of luck I’m grateful for. We’ve gotten stronger since then, sure, but I still don’t think we could handle one head-on," Jin said.
The appearance of a mutated beast could easily mean death for an unprepared adventurer.
Since then, Jin had been regularly using his MAP skill to monitor for any such threats. Thankfully, no new ones had appeared. Still, if one did, he was ready to tell Greg about his ability if that’s what it took to raise the alarm.
"Still, as efficient as it is to go straight from one job to the next without returning to town, being away this long makes me uneasy."
Erza sighed, scratching her head,
They had already spent two nights lodging in the village instead of at home. Efficiency was good, but the thought of Airis’s illness—and the others’—kept nagging at the back of her mind.
"True," Jin agreed. "It’s been two days since we last checked in. They might’ve found something new by now. Want to head back early?"
"Agreed."
"Yeah, me too."
The two women answered in unison to Jin's suggestion.
Everyone felt the same; they worried about the people waiting for them.
They had already gathered enough herbs anyway, so returning straight to town wouldn’t cause any issues.
With that, Jin and his party hurried back, submitted their report to the village officials, and made for the town at a brisk pace.
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