Chapter 273

Ten days had passed since Tatsuro and Rudolf Thiele shook hands.

During that time, Tatsuro had completed all preparations and, together with Leah Schleiermacher, finished that item and delivered it on the fifth day.

And today, if that item had been properly completed, the results should be fully evident by now.

Having informed the other party of his visit today, Tatsuro hurried to the shop to confirm the outcome.

Upon entering the shop, Rudolf Thiele was standing tall in a prominent spot, as if waiting for Tatsuro and the others.

"-You came, Tatsuro."

"Yes, I’m here, Rudolf-san. -So, how did it go?"

A wave of tension began to rise between the two, and a heavy atmosphere filled the air.

After a moment of silence, Rudolf slowly raised his right arm - and as he brought it down, he gave a thumbs-up, quietly shedding tears of emotion.

Tatsuro let out an "Oh!" in admiration, and Rudolf swiftly pulled the string that had been holding his onion-like hairstyle at the crown of his head.

As he did, the long hair from the front, back, and sides fell away, revealing the previously hidden top of his head.

"We did it, Tatsuro!"

"We sure did, Rudolf-san!"

On the crown of his head, once concealed by an invisible veil, short but vibrant silver hair had grown in like a lush lawn.

Indeed. The item that Rudolf found so appealing...

It was the ultimate hair regrowth potion, capable of breathing life into even the most dormant hair follicles.

Many might wonder why such a thing mattered. But for dwarves, there was a unique cultural reason.

Dwarf men are naturally very hairy, with abundant chest hair, leg hair, and other areas often considered "excess hair."

Thanks to this, no matter how old they get, their head hair never thins, allowing even grandfathers to maintain a full head of hair without any effort.

And it’s said that the hairier a dwarf man is, the more he is envied by his peers and admired by the opposite sex of his race.

However, due to the immense struggles Rudolf faced in his youth, he developed stress-induced alopecia.

As a result, the top of his head became as bald as a kappa’s dish, and to hide it, he grew out the hair from the front, back, and sides, tying it up to cover the bald spot.

In other words, for a dwarf, baldness is considered far more shameful than any racial difference.

And Life Magic, capable of healing even missing limbs, struggles to address internal issues like mental illnesses or bodily ailments caused by aging.

This is precisely why, despite having wealth, Rudolf had been unable to regrow his hair until now.

Tatsuro, secretly worried about his own future hairline, had a hunch upon seeing Rudolf’s peculiar hairstyle.

It stemmed from a skill belonging to a monster they encountered in the forest while searching for a Pixie.

Tatsuro had asked Leah to help research it during her free time, using the monster’s corpse.

As a result, they realized that with serious effort, they could replicate it. Around the same time, Tatsuro learned he had become an ageless being.

With no need to rush, the research was temporarily put on hold.

However, Tatsuro secretly resumed the research, and Leah, determined to overcome her technical limitations, tackled it earnestly.

Tatsuro and Leah flew to the forest where the Pixie had been, captured a live furball monster, and secured higher-quality research materials.

They tested the potion’s safety by experimenting on the fur of nearby monsters, carefully checking for side effects with the [All-Seeing Eye].

The resulting topical potion was given to Rudolf, who was instructed to wash his hair and scalp nightly before applying it to the affected area.

After several days of this routine, the kappa-like bald spot transformed into a splendid grassy plain.

"If you keep using the entire supply I gave you every night, your hair follicles should fully revive, and you’ll be able to maintain that state without further effort."

"That’s fantastic!"

With this, Rudolf could finally walk proudly, free from the hairstyle he never wanted.

Overwhelmed with joy, Rudolf tightly embraced Tatsuro.

"I get how you feel!" Tatsuro said, warmly returning the embrace.

(This turned out to be an unexpected gift for Dad and the grandpas!)

Even if he chose to disable the system and accept aging someday, Tatsuro was thrilled at the thought of maintaining a full head of hair for Ai.

But while the men were unusually excited, the women’s enthusiasm was slightly below their usual level.

"Hey, hey, sorry to interrupt the excitement, but... Does this mean you’ll teach Leah-chan now?"

"Of course! I can’t just go teaching everyone left and right, but if you keep the promise we made before, I’ll gladly teach you!"

"Really?!"

"Absolutely!"

Leah, having secured a mentor who would not only demonstrate techniques but also teach her properly, felt that her all-out effort in creating the hair regrowth potion, despite its irrelevance to her, had paid off.

"Well then, I’m not in the mood to teach today! Come back starting tomorrow!"

"Understood!"

"We did it!"

"Yes, we did!"

Thus, Leah would begin training at the shop starting tomorrow.

If she could master even the finer techniques, it would be like giving a demon a metal club.

Feeling the boundless possibilities, Leah’s heart swelled with excitement.

"Well then, we’ll come back tomorrow."

"Yeah, you can come in the morning if you want."

Sent off by a now thoroughly cheerful Rudolf, Tatsuro and the others returned to their lodging.

Over dinner, they held a celebratory gathering in their room while discussing plans for the days ahead.

"So, starting tomorrow, Leah and Nana will train at Rudolf-san’s place.

The rest of us will take on quests outside to earn SP. Sound good?"

Since leaving Leah alone felt uneasy, and Nana often helped with blacksmithing, they decided to let her observe the work as well.

Rudolf had been informed in advance and had no issues with this.

As for Tatsuro and the others with nothing to do, they felt guilty lounging around while Leah worked hard, so they decided to go out and hunt weak monsters to earn small amounts of SP.

Everyone nodded in agreement, looking at Tatsuro.

"Alright. Then let’s just relax for the rest of today."

"Agreed!"

After several toasts, they spent the day lazing about as declared.

The next day.

Everyone except Nana and Leah donned full gear and prepared before heading to Rudolf’s shop together.

"Please take care of Leah."

"Yeah, I said I’d do it, so I won’t hold back."

"That’s what I’m hoping for!"

Tatsuro patted Leah’s head, who was brimming with enthusiasm, saying, "Take it easy," before heading with Ai and the others to the adventurer’s guild to check on quests.

There, they accepted a request to hunt and gather materials from several specified monsters around the area, then left the town while looking at a tunnel painting.

The monsters this time were said to frequent an unmaintained area off the paved stone road.

So, they had Jeanne pull the newly acquired Rhinoceros Carriage, arriving quickly.

As expected from what they’d heard, the area was completely different from the maintained stone-paved sections.

Weeds grew wildly, the ground was rocky and uneven, and animal trails likely left by passing monsters crisscrossed the area.

Sparse, thin, and tall trees dotted the wild landscape.

"Cardina, how many types of monsters are within your detection range?"

"Peewee... Peewee!"

"About eighteen types, she says."

"That’s a lot. Can you tell which ones are likely our targets?

Their characteristics are-"

Ai read aloud the features and illustrations of the monsters listed in the quest document, while Cardina used Spirit Division: Far Sight Near Slash to project images of distant monsters.

The quest involved eight types of monsters: a creature with a boar-like body and a shark-like head stretched thin; a giant mushroom that walked on three insect-like legs; a plant monster camouflaged as the sparse, thin trees; a moth about thirty centimeters large with green wings; a flat lizard two meters long but only five centimeters thick; a rabbit-like monster with bird-like feather ears; a black monster with a three-eyed face, a straw-like mouth, a worm-like body, and two arms that swam through the ground; and a catfish-like monster with a single horn living in a swamp further ahead.

Using Dispel Magic alongside Spirit Division: Far Sight Near Slash, they successfully located all the monsters.

"Alright, let’s hunt them down one by one. Can I count on you for route guidance?"

"Piyu!"

Guided by the enthusiastic [True Form] Cardina, they took the shortest route to hunt the monsters.

These monsters were only for beginners or lower, so they posed no challenge to Tatsuro and his group. They were easily captured alive, had their levels drained with [Level Eater], killed cleanly, and stored in the [Infinite Item Field].

However, the lack of danger came with proportionally low SP rewards.

"After coming out of the dungeon, these enemies are just too weak and boring."

"Yeah. We came fully equipped just in case, but we probably could’ve come in casual clothes."

"The SP is so low, it’s hard not to feel disappointed."

After spending considerable time wandering and hunting the eight types of monsters, they earned a mere 27 SP. None of the creatures had any significant skills.

Having stayed in a level 10 dungeon for a long time, Tatsuro and the others couldn’t shake that sense of scale.

The weakness and meager rewards left them in a slump.

But complaining wouldn’t change anything. With time to spare, they decided to venture a bit further.

However, Cardina’s Dispel Magic picked up another group of adventurers being chased by a single monster, running toward them at full speed.

The other group seemed aware that someone was using Dispel Magic over a wider range than theirs, likely assuming Tatsuro’s group was stronger and hoping for help, Tatsuro reasoned.

"Cardina, show me what kind of monster it is."

"Peewee."

"Is this... an armadillo?"

"It doesn’t not look like one, but isn’t it a pill bug?"

When Cardina adjusted the angle with Spirit Division: Far Sight Near Slash, it appeared at first glance like an armadillo with a brown shell from above. But closer inspection revealed wriggling, unsettling multi-legs and sharp, blade-like tentacles used as weapons to attack the humans.

Seeing it clearly as an insect, Ai grimaced in disgust.

"I don’t want bugs..."

"But compared to the stuff around here, it’s decent. If they don’t want it, let’s take it down."

"Still, even if it’s decent, the normal Fire Salamanders from Flame Mountain seem stronger."

"Neigh."

Jeanne nodded in agreement with Athena, staring at the five-meter pill bug projected by Cardina’s spirit.

As Tatsuro and the others waited leisurely in full readiness, six adventurers - men and women - approached, panting and struggling across the uneven, rocky ground.

The man in front was shocked to see that the group he thought was superior consisted of younger kids.

He likely assumed they were just a party skilled in Dispel Magic.

"You guys, too-"

He seemed about to say, "Run," but Tatsuro, with a casual tone, pulled the trigger on his Rifle Staff, activating a single core and shouting loudly.

"Spread out to the sides, please!"

"Hey, you guys!"

Reassessing the situation due to Tatsuro’s relaxed tone, the man instructed his team to follow the command, and they scattered sideways, clearing the monster’s path.

At that moment, Tatsuro unleashed the ice magic stored in his staff, freezing the monster’s back half and completely immobilizing it.

The monster thrashed, trying to break the thick ice with its sharp tentacles.

But even at full strength, it couldn’t crack the ice infused with Tatsuro’s ample magic, let alone with such a weak attack.

The reason he froze only the back half was to prevent suffocation.

The adventurers, jaws dropped, stared at Tatsuro, who had captured the monster they’d been fleeing from in a near-death state.

Ignoring them, Tatsuro and his group approached the still-thrashing monster. Athena sliced off its tentacles with her Great Scythe, Ai knocked it out with a punch, and Tatsuro used [Level Eater] to drain its skill levels.

"Even this only gave us 12 SP total. Its regular level was 28, higher than the others."

"Ugh, that’s a shame. But the monsters around here are level 8 or 9 on average, so this one’s pretty strong... right?"

"Probably. If we had just arrived in this world, we would be dead against it."

While they talked, Jeanne, the lowest-leveled member in her [Child Form], delivered a back kick that blew the monster’s head off.