An Adventurer Mom, Who Awakened [Housewife] Skill Through a Login Bonus, Is Making the Most of Her Adventurer Life With the Weekly Flyers She Gets! - Chapter 11

The party advanced smoothly through the dungeon.

“There’s a lot of fish today,” Org remarked.

That’s when Kachua realized—it was Wednesday. “Oh, right, it’s Fish Day today,” she muttered.

Every Wednesday was “Fish Day.”

“What’s that?” Rick quickly picked up on Kachua’s muttering.

“Since it’s Wednesday, there are more fish-type monsters around.”

“…Fish?”

“Dungeons can have things like that?” 

Rick and Laura were both impressed.

“No, they don’t. I’ve never heard of such a thing. Kachua, could it be that you have a rare skill?” Ann cut straight to the point.

“…Actually, yes. But it’s not really anything impressive…” Embarrassed, Kachua couldn’t bring herself to say she had the skill [Housewife].

“Well, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But do you know what your skill does? Whether it’s at the church or the Adventurers’ Guild, you should get it appraised as soon as possible,” Ann advised, echoing what Jessica had already told her.

Skills and professions often come with both strengths and weaknesses. For example, the skill [Defense] teaches various defensive techniques, but it also affects other stats. While defense increases, agility might not grow as much.

For common skills, both strengths and weaknesses are well-known, so there are ways to compensate for the drawbacks. But rare skills are not as well understood, since so few people have them. That’s why it’s important to identify the details early on.

Stats are difficult to correct later, and you might reach a point where there’s no turning back.

“We’re almost at the seventh floor, so it’s fine,” Kachua said.

“Oh, right, the Appraisal Spring is there, isn’t it?” Ann nodded in agreement.

According to herself, Ann had been an adventurer “a long time ago.” Though she had to re-register as an adventurer after such a long break, she still knew a lot about dungeons.

On the other hand, Rick, Laura, and Org, who weren’t as familiar with dungeons, exchanged glances.

“What’s the Appraisal Spring?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. When you look into the water, appraisal magic activates.”

“Something that convenient exists?!”

“I’ve only heard rumors about it. I’ve never actually been.”

“…I’d like to see it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Alright, then! Let’s head for the seventh floor!”

***

Since the topic of the skill [Housewife] had come up, Kachua took out her monster point card from her coin purse during the break to check her points.

She had been fighting repeatedly while in the party, so how many points had she accumulated? Excited, Kachua looked at the card.

“Huh? Why?”

There were only 14 stamps on her card. Since defeating two monsters on the last Fish Day, her points hadn’t increased at all.

Why is that? she wondered. Then, a thought occurred to her. “Oh, right—I haven’t been the one killing the monsters.”

It turned out that only monsters Kachua personally defeated counted toward her points, not the ones the party killed as a whole.

“Oh, I see…” Kachua felt a bit disappointed.

***

After several more dungeon explorations, Kachua and the party finally reached the Appraisal Spring on the seventh floor.

The party had gotten stronger, thanks to their level-ups from battle experience, the increase in their parameters like health, attack power, defense, and magic power, and the new, stronger weapons and armor they had bought with their earnings.

Having reached their goal of the seventh floor, Kachua nervously peered into the Appraisal Spring.

“Level 15, not bad…” Org muttered.

Rick was next. “Yes! My skill [Thief] leveled up to 2!”

“…My support magic has increased,” Laura chimed in.

Hearing the excited voices around her, Kachua began to look forward to her own results.

And then—

“Huh?” Kachua exclaimed.

Her adventurer level was just 4.

The recommended level to challenge each dungeon floor is usually twice the floor number. So, for the seventh floor, level 14 would be ideal. But Kachua’s level was only 4.

She was stunned. “My level is way too low…”

When you level up, a status board appears, notifying you of your progress. But Kachua had gotten into the habit of skimming over it in the chaos after battles.

Thinking back, things had been strange for a while.

“I always thought I wasn’t leveling up as much as everyone else…”

Kachua couldn’t see anyone else’s status board. But after defeating strong monsters, when the younger party members would excitedly say, “Oh, I leveled up!” and “Me too!” her status board would remain unchanged. This had happened many times.

“I didn’t think it’d be this low…” Realizing what was going on, Kachua was in shock.

As she stood there, stunned, a strange beeping sound came from the Appraisal Spring.

“Huh? What’s that?”

Looking closer, she saw a dark arrow pointing down next to her level.

“What’s this? A down-arrow?”

It was a sign that some kind of weakening effect was in place. Focusing on the arrow, she saw the explanation.

—Skill [Housewife] Effect: Experience points earned are reduced to 1/10.—

“Wait—my skill is to blame for this?” Kachua shouted in shock.

Ann turned to her. “I knew something was going on. What is it?”

“My skill is making my experience points only 1/10 of normal!”

“Powerful skills often come with big downsides.”

“But it’s not even that powerful!” Kachua said, on the verge of tears.

“It is powerful! Thanks to Fish Day and Meat Day, I was able to buy this ninja gear!” Rick said passionately. Though it was the cheapest “trainee” ninja gear, it was still considered proper equipment for a thief.

On Fish Day, Meat Day, and Herb Day, earnings doubled. The party had greatly benefited from Kachua’s skill.

Just then—

“Um, I just realized something,” Org said quietly.

“What?”

“My weapon skills seem off.”

Org had been alternating between claw and sword weapons depending on the monster they were fighting. Though this strategy made battles easier, it caused weapon skill progress to slow, as those skills increased by defeating monsters with the weapon equipped. That’s why most adventurers stick to a single main weapon.

“My rank’s gone up higher than I thought…” Both of Org’s weapon skills had gone up to level 2. Weapon skills max out at level 10.

“Today’s the 27th, so it’s a triple-point day.”

Monster points were really working well—for everyone else but Kachua.

“Your skill has such strong support effects! What’s it called?” Ann asked, pressing for an answer.

Finally, Kachua confessed.

“…It’s [Housewife].”