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 24

“I wonder why, huh?”

“Mama, didn’t you ask your friend why they got bitten?”

“Oh, I did ask. You see……Mama’s friend lived in a small village, and apparently, the entire village was attacked and turned into werewolves.”

Unfortunately, the prejudice against wolf beastkin runs deep.

Even though there’s no sign of anyone nearby listening in, just to be safe, I won’t mention Og’s name.

It’s been over three months since we formed our party.

Both Ed and Barbara have randomly bumped into members of Kachua’s party—like Ann and Rick—in town. They were introduced back then and even played together for a bit, so they know each other.

However, even when Og ran into Kachua’s group, he’d only give a little bow from a distance and never actually approach them.

Og always keeps his wolf face hidden, so he looks rather suspicious, all wrapped up in bandages.

Apparently, some kids have been scared by his appearance before.

“Maybe the wolf beastkin got angry because the villagers bullied him?”

“That’s the thing—it seems there wasn’t any trouble at all.”

Most of the villagers didn’t even know a wolf beastkin had come to their village.

One day, a traveling man showed up at the village. The villagers were startled by his strange appearance—his face and hands wrapped in bandages—but being kind people, they welcomed the traveler and even gave him a place to stay…

On the night of the full moon, the village was suddenly attacked.

Luckily, no one died, but all of the villagers were turned into werewolves.

“He just showed up out of nowhere and suddenly attacked them?”

“Yes.”

Kachua nodded with a troubled look.

It really is a strange story.

The residents of Og’s village had no reason to be attacked by a wolf beastkin.

And yet, they were all turned into werewolves.

“I wonder why that is?”

The page of the book flipped over on its own, revealing newly written text.

『Lunatic.』

“Lunatic?”

『The beastkin each worship the guardian deity of their own kind. Those blessed by the gods gain extraordinary power. They become exceptional warriors—some have even left their names in history through great feats. Among the beastkin, the wolf tribe is especially powerful in combat.』

“Wow, I see.”

“That’s amazing!”

『But such power comes with a price. Those blessed grow more beastlike, in both body and soul. For the wolf beastkin especially, their god is the Moon Goddess. On nights of the full moon, powerful wolves are driven mad by bloodlust. They likely attacked people under the sway of that desire.』

“So that’s what happened…”

“Are there other kinds of beastkin besides wolves?”

『The beastkin are divided into dozens of tribes beyond the wolves, including…』

The book continued its explanation.

Ed read on with great interest but Kachua slowly began to grow drowsy…

Pon. Pon. Pon. Pon. Pon.

The chimes rang. Kachua woke up with a start.

“Ah!”

Click. The door opened, and the librarian peeked in.

“It’s five o’clock. The library is now closing. Please return your books to the shelves.”

“Wait! I haven’t learned the recipe yet!”

『Let’s leave it at that for now. Farewell, young one. Until we meet again.』

“Thank you, Book-san. That was fun,” Ed said as he began to pack away Encyclopedia of Supreme Potions – Volume II.

The library had reached closing time!

＊＊＊

When Kachua next met up with her party members, she confessed in the Adventurer’s Guild conference room that although she had found Encyclopedia of Supreme Potions – Volume II, she wasn’t able to learn the recipe.

She had something to share with the others but it seemed they also had updates of their own to tell her while she’d been off.

“I’m sorry. It was a rare opportunity and I blew it.”

Kachua apologized, but Ann said,

“No, you did great. You were up against a magic book.”

“It really was a strange book…”

“Magic books are living books. If they don’t like you, they won’t let you read even a single page. But it said 『Let’s meet again』didn’t it?”

“To my kid, yeah.”

“Then you’ll see it again.”

Ann said it casually, but Kachua still couldn’t shake the feeling of failure.

“Sorry, Og-kun.”

“Please, don’t worry about it. Thank you so much for trying—for my sake.”

“Kachua-san, we’ve got new intel on our end too.”

“Yes, we do!”

Rick and Laura chimed in eagerly, clearly excited to share some good news.

“What is it?”

“This.”

They pointed to a poster hanging on the wall.

“The Adventurer Guild’s Team Battle Tournament, huh.”

It was the annual event held here in the Labyrinth City of Loa.

Guild teams fought each other in a tournament-style competition.

It was a famous event, known for its extravagant grand prize.

“The team battle tournament is divided by rank. We’re in C-rank. If we place in the top eight, we’ll earn a bonus prize—half a day of access to the Adventurer Guild’s library.”

“Encyclopedia of Supreme Potions – Volume II is in the Guild’s library! We’ve already confirmed it!”

Hearing that, Kachua’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“That’s great. Now I’ll be able to read the rest.”

It looked like she still had a chance to finish the book. Kachua felt deeply relieved.

“But here’s the thing…C-rank teams are full of experienced mid-tier adventurers. If we face them head-on, we’ll lose. That’s why we need a plan.”

Each team could field five members. Kachua’s party had exactly five, so they just barely qualified to enter.

“Ideally, we want to finish the match with our first three fighters—our vanguard, second, and center. I’m thinking Og as the vanguard, me as second, and Rick in the center.”

In other words, the plan was to keep non-combatants Kachua and Laura out of the fights.

“Yes, please do.”

Kachua had absolutely no objections.

If anything, she wholeheartedly supported the plan.

“The tournament’s in a month. Og and I are combat types. But Rick’s a thief—if he ends up in a one-on-one with a fighter, he’ll be at a disadvantage. Kachua, do you have any ideas?”

“Hmm. Let me think…”

Kachua paused to consider.

The average level of a C-rank adventurer was 40.

Right now, Og and Rick were level 25.

For dungeon floors above the fifteenth, the recommended level was the floor number times 1.5. If the team pushed themselves a bit more, they’d be able to manage around floor 20.

But with just a little over a month left before the tournament, even with great leveling progress, they’d be lucky to reach level 30.

A 10-level gap was a big deal.

Normally, they wouldn’t stand a chance—but Og was a werewolf. And not just any werewolf; he belonged to one of the stronger types.

According to Og, how villagers turned out after becoming werewolves varied from person to person. Most of them just grew a bit hairier or developed a pair of fluffy wolf ears.

Since their village was a small, isolated place with little contact with the outside world, the villagers managed to get by—disguising themselves when meeting outsiders or traveling to other towns.

Og, however, had it the worst. His entire body was covered in fur.

But in exchange, he gained a powerful physique.

His sense of smell became sharper, and his physical abilities drastically improved.

His strength and jumping power, in particular, far surpassed anything from his former human days.

Og came to this labyrinth city, Loa, to seek a way to undo his beastification using that very power.

With that strength, Og could hold his own—even against opponents with higher levels.

Ann didn’t like to talk about her level but Kachua secretly guessed it was over 40. So she was likely strong enough too.

That left Rick, the thief. As Ann said, the real question was how well he could perform.

“It’s absolutely essential we level up as much as possible in the next month. Right now, we’ve reached the 17th floor… so let’s try to push for the 20th floor first.”

“Got it.”

The higher the floor, the stronger the monsters. And stronger monsters meant more experience points.

Everyone agreed with the plan.

“So, let’s focus on fighting as much as we can on the 19th floor—leveling up while also hoping for some item drops.”

Rick and Laura exchanged surprised looks.

“But we heard there’s a great XP farming spot on the 21st floor…”

“Why the 19th?”

“It’s true that the 21st floor has Lucky Rabbits. They give about seven times more experience than other monsters on that floor.”

Lucky Rabbits were rabbit-type monsters known for their incredible speed. While they had low attack power, they gave a huge amount of experience.

They also had a low drop chance for an item called the 《Lucky Charm》, which boosts your luck stat.

Luck affects things like evasion and item drop rates, so it’s a valuable stat no matter your job.

Everyone in the party would want one, and even if you sold it, it’d fetch a high price.

The XP and drops were both tempting, making Lucky Rabbits seem like the perfect monsters for leveling. But Kachua shook her head.

“That’s if you go the straightforward route. But right now, what we need is to power up Rick, right? In that case, the 19th floor is where we should go.”