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 55

“Eh, the sword has a will of its own?”

Gamma Team was astonished.

“But if even magic books have wills of their own, then maybe the Holy Sword does too?”

No one understood how it worked, but the magic book certainly seemed to possess a will.

If that was possible, then perhaps a sword could as well…?

“Why are you so sure the Holy Sword is in Dungeon Loa?”

Laura asked Bernhardt.

Bernhardt said he didn’t know what exactly had happened, yet he seemed certain that the Holy Sword was inside Dungeon Loa.

“The place where the first queens received the Holy Sword was Dungeon Loa. The Holy Sword is said to appear before those deemed worthy. The royal family had safeguarded it since the time of the first queens but perhaps at long last, that duty has come to an end.”

Bernhardt murmured this and slumped his shoulders.

“That must be why even the『Guidance』hasn’t been shown to me. Even though if we don’t return the Holy Sword to its rightful place soon, something terrible will happen…”

He was so dejected that Gamma Team couldn’t help but feel sympathy.

“That must be rough.”

“We’ll help you look for it too.”

Og and Rick offered encouragement.

“Ah, thank you. That means a lot.”

The friendship between men — beautiful.

“Still, you don’t have any leads, right?”

Meanwhile, it was Ann who delivered the finishing blow as she ate her after-dinner apple.

“Yeah.”

Laura also agreed. “How are we even supposed to search for it?”

Kachua let out a sigh.

“I have one idea.”

Bernhardt said.

“An idea?”

“Yes. I thought we might ask the dwarves. If it’s them, they may know something about the Holy Sword.”

“Dwarves, huh…”

“Come to think of it, there was some ring of the moon-something… I think? Anyway, I remember it was the kind of item dwarves could make.”

As usual, Kachua only remembered vaguely.

“The New Moon Ring— that’s what it’s called.”

It was the ring Og had been searching for, the one that suppresses his destructive impulses on nights of the full moon.

“We were looking for dwarves too.”

“Dwarves have an eye for rare treasures, especially ores. First, let’s aim for the thirty-seventh floor.”

“The thirty-seventh floor?”

“That’s where the《Raum Stone》 can be found.”

The《Raum Stone》 was said to be located in a bird’s nest built atop a sheer cliff on the thirty-seventh floor.

The bird was called the One-Eyed Bird, and as its name implied, it was a monster with only one eye.

There was only a single nest on the cliffside.

For them, it was prime nesting ground, and only the strongest pair of One-Eyed Birds could build their nest there. Because of this, no other nests would be nearby.

“The One-Eyed Birds attack anyone who approaches their nest. But even if you defeat them, another One-Eyed Bird will soon take over the nest.”

To obtain the《Raum Stone》, the party would have to split into two groups: one to keep the One-Eyed Bird occupied and the other to scale the sheer cliff and reach the nest to retrieve the《Raum Stone》.

First, they would need to obtain the《Raum Stone》.

If they could acquire such a rare ore, they might just be able to meet the dwarves!

＊＊＊

“「「「Thank you for the meal!」」」”

“Take care getting home!”

After the discussion ended, Gamma Team disbanded.

“Well then, I’ll head home too. Thanks for the meal.”

“See you, Ann. Take care.”

It was already completely night, but since Laura was with Rick, and Ann was strong, she would be fine even on her own.

“Ann.”

Bernhardt called out to Ann as she was about to leave.

“What?”

Turning back, Ann replied curtly.

But Bernhardt, unfazed by her tone, continued speaking.

“I looked for you. To just suddenly leave like that—what happened? You’re still not fully recovered.”

Ann waved her hand wearily.

“I’m already healed. I spent a year eating and sleeping, so I got fat.”

“But you slept for two whole years. Because of me…”

“……”

“I’ve done nothing but take from you.”

Bernhardt’s expression twisted with pain. He looked deeply regretful.

Ann gazed at Bernhardt, then spoke quietly.

“That’s exactly why I left.”

“Eh?”

“All of that, I did because I wanted to. You don’t have to stay trapped by guilt forever. Let’s both move forward. Goodbye.”

With that, Ann left, leaving Bernhardt standing there.

“Even so, I still… I still can’t give up on you…”

“Uwaa, what’s going to happen now?”

Kachua, eavesdropping from the shadows, had overheard Bernhardt’s lonely murmur.

After all, they were speaking right outside her house.

＊＊＊

With Bernhardt now part of the team, Gamma Team advanced smoothly.

They still hadn’t told Bernhardt about Kachua’s skill【Housewife】.

It wasn’t as though they were deliberately hiding it but the next time they explored the dungeon together, Bernhardt naturally produced a Transfer Magic Scroll to the thirty-first floor, so there had been no need to use Kachua’s Goddess Statue warp. On top of that, it hadn’t happened to be a flyer event day either, so she simply forgot to mention it.

The same happened the next time and the time after that. So even two weeks after Bernhardt had joined, Kachua still hadn’t told him about her skill.

“Ah, I forgot again today.”

On the way home from the dungeon, after parting ways with Gamma Team, Kachua realized once more that she’d forgotten to tell Bernhardt about her skill.

“Hmm, well, I guess it’s fine.”

She figured she could explain it during some event eventually.

Besides, it was a rare skill no one had even heard of, and if she suddenly brought it up, he might not even believe her.

“I’ve come to pick you up!”

“Mama!”

After finishing the shopping for dinner and heading to the Adventurer’s Guild nursery to pick up Barbara, Barbara came running and hugged her tightly.

‘So cute—’

Nearly dying of heart-melting affection for her own child, Kachua heard Barbara say:

“Mama, buy me a juumimi kachusha!”

[獣耳 (juumimi) = “beast ears” / “animal ears”, 獣 (juu) = beast/animal, 耳 (mimi) = ears,カチューシャ (kachuusha) = “headband” (a Japanese loanword from Russian katiusha → European-style headbands). So together: 獣耳カチューシャ (juumimi kachuusha) = “Beast-Ear Headband.”]

It seemed she was using her cuteness as a weapon to try and beg for something.

But.

“What’s a juumimi kachusha?”

Kachua tilted her head in confusion.

“Eh, Kachua-san, you don’t know about beast-ear headbands?”

A mom friend nearby explained.

“Beast-ear headbands?”

“They’re a mega-hit item right now in the royal capital. Of course, they’re popular here in the labyrinth city of Loa too!”

“Eh, beast-ear headbands are?”

“That’s right. They come in a wide variety: cat ears, dog ears, bear ears, leopard ears. But the most popular are the wild-and-cute wolf-ear headbands.”

When Kachua glanced around, she suddenly noticed the mom friend herself had a pair of cute wolf ears on her head.

“Cute, right? A headband.”

So saying, the mom friend proudly touched the fluffy wolf ears perched atop her own head.

She wasn’t of beastman race.

The ears weren’t real — they were artificial.

But they were so fluffy and well-made they really did look like actual animal ears…

Startled, Kachua looked around and saw children and mothers everywhere wearing beast-ear headbands.

“They’re trending!?”

Beast-ear headbands — breaking into popularity!