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 73

“The closest entrance to the hidden village where the dwarves live is on the fifty-second floor.”

The dungeon informant revealed this.

“The fifty-second floor…”

“Oh, that’s actually not too far.”

Kachua was currently on the forty-seventh floor.

It was only a short distance more.

“Buuut, to get there, there’s something you’ll need.”

The informant spoke in a deliberately drawn-out tone.

“Eh, what is it?”

The informant set down the peddler’s box he was carrying and rummaged through it.

“Fuhihi, this here.”

What he pulled out was a full set of clothes and tools.

“This is the『Dwarf Set』. The path to the hidden village will not open to humans. Only dwarves can pass. But if you wear this set, even a human can walk that path. And right now, one set is only two hundred thousand gold!”

＊＊＊

Kachua and the others paid 1,200,000 gold to buy enough Dwarf Sets for the whole party.

Once they handed over the money, the informant disappeared like smoke with a “Fuhihi, thanks for your business.”

Left behind, Kachua and the others looked over the Dwarf Sets.

“These really just look like regular clothes…”

Rick muttered in a drained voice.

It was simply a tunic and trousers that you could probably buy for 1,000 gold at the Loa market in the labyrinth city, along with a hat, a pickaxe, a compass, and—oddly—a magnifying glass.

All together, it was worth maybe 5,000 gold at best.

And then there was one map of the fifty-second floor.

The X marked on it seemed to be the entrance to the dwarves’ hidden village.

They felt like they had been ripped off a little, but at least Kachua and her team had obtained a map and a full set of items to reach the dwarves’ hidden village!

The dwarves’ hidden village could apparently be reached from the fifty-second floor.

Aside from that, the dungeon informant had also given them the ticket for the Detox Hot Spring Village — Frog’s Bath, Group Invitation.

The Detox Hot Spring Village was supposedly located on the fiftieth floor.

“For now, let’s head to the fiftieth floor!”

And so, Kachua and her companions set off toward the Detox Hot Spring Village said to be on the fiftieth floor!

＊＊＊

On floors with round numbers like the fiftieth, special boss monsters sometimes appeared.

The boss monster on the fiftieth floor was called the Gold Ingot Golem, and as its name suggested, its body was made of solid gold ingots.

Defeating it yielded valuable gold ingots, making it a profitable opponent.

However, this Gold Ingot Golem…

It was also famous for being incredibly tough, and for some reason, it used poison attacks.

Gamma Team managed to defeat it somehow, but they were completely exhausted afterward.

“Ugh, I’m beat…”

On top of that, Rick had been poisoned.

Laura used magic to treat the poison but it didn’t have much effect.

Laura was level 45.

She had leveled up into a mid-tier healer and had gained the ability to cure poison but her magic only worked against ordinary poisons.

The poison used by the Gold Ingot Golem seemed to be a special kind.

Special poisons were still beyond Laura’s ability, and could only be cured at a church or hospital.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem life-threatening, but the wound Rick had received was stained green.

Despite Laura’s efforts, the color seemed to spread little by little.

Rick was limp, likely from the pain of the wound.

They had to find treatment as quickly as possible.

Gamma Team grew desperate.

“Let’s hurry back to the surface!”

At that moment—

“Do you hear something?”

Og perked his ears up and spoke to everyone.

“Huh? What is it?”

Kachua also strained her ears to listen.

“Onseeeen~”

They could indeed hear a voice from somewhere in the distance.

The map of this dungeon floor was the typical damp, underground prison-like style.

The surroundings were all stone walls, dimly lit only by torches placed here and there, and the echoes made it impossible to tell where the voice was coming from.

And the voice itself was somewhat high-pitched.

“Kero-kero~ kero-kero~ Onsen~ Onsen~ anyone want a bath~?”

But along with those strange calls, the voice seemed to be getting closer.

Even so—

“Onsen?”

“Heals wounds, poison, fatigue, everything—Detox Hot Spring Village! How about a bath~?”

Said the mysterious voice.

“Eh, poison?”

“It heals poison?”

For once, Laura raised her voice loudly.

At that, the mysterious figure seemed to notice Gamma Team.

“Oh! Customers, kero!”

Leaping toward them was a giant frog.

The big frog stood upright on two legs.

Its height was about one meter, roughly up to a human’s waist.

“Eh, a frog?”

“It’s talking?”

The Loa Dungeon had many types of monsters, but ones that spoke human language were very rare.

However, it was said that after the fiftieth floor, the chance of encountering such highly intelligent monsters increased.

The frog was wearing a happi coat marked with a hot spring symbol.

Facing the dumbfounded Gamma Team, the frog bowed cheerfully with a『kero』.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Amakichi, employee of Detox Hot Spring Village: Frog’s Bath. I look forward to serving you, kero.”

Laura asked this Amakichi,

“Is it true you can cure poison?”

Amakichi nodded vigorously.

“Of course I can. The poison used by the Gold Ingot Golem is poison from the Doku-doku Frogs. A soak in Frog’s Bath will cure it right away, kero.”

“The Doku-doku Frogs, you say?”

Hearing that, Bernhardt furrowed his brows.

“I thought it was strange. I’ve never heard of a golem using poison. Were you the ones giving poison to the Gold Ingot Golem?”

Previously, when Bernhardt had fought it, he had defeated the Gold Ingot Golem before it could use poison, but this time, with their bad luck, Rick had been poisoned.

And when no one had been poisoned, the hot spring frogs had never shown up.

Which meant…?

Amakichi stiffened and hunched his shoulders nervously.

“Th-there’s no need to worry about such details, kero.”

Ama-kichi tried to cover it up by whistling a『kero~』,but Bernhardt wasn’t having it.

“That’s not good enough. Out with it.”

When Bernhardt pressed him, Amakichi confessed easily.

“It’s true we supplied it, kero. But listen, sir. The reason the Gold Ingot Golem can regenerate right after you defeat it is because it bathes in our hot springs. And adventurers, after defeating the Gold Ingot Golem, end up with their purses nice and heavy, don’t they? So if they come to our hot spring to cure the poison and heal their tired bodies, well, it’s a win-win-win, isn’t it?”

The poison used by the Gold Ingot Golem had been provided by the frogs!

“Eh, then… does that make the hot spring frogs bad monsters…?”

Kachua muttered without thinking.

Og and Ann tightened their grips on their weapons.

Laura stepped forward with her staff in hand.

They were ready for battle.

Amakichi hurriedly denied it.

“No, no! We’re not bad, kero! As proof, let me give you some medicine to suppress that person’s poison for a bit.”

Amakichi pulled out an ointment.

“Let me try.”

Laura carefully applied it to Rick’s poisoned wound.

The wound, which had turned green and was spreading, began to change in a surprising way once the ointment was applied.

The color returned slightly back toward normal skin tone.

“It seems to be working.”

Laura sighed with relief.

“The poison isn’t completely cured yet, kero. You’ll need to undergo hot spring treatment at our baths to fully recover. If you leave it as it is, within a week you’ll end up with the combat strength of a frog — just 1,”

Ama-kichi explained.

“Then… shall we go? To the Detox Hot Spring Village,”

Ann suggested.

“Eh, isn’t it dangerous?”

Kachua looked a little worried.

“Um…”

Rick, perhaps feeling a bit better thanks to the ointment, spoke up.

“I actually did a little research in town about the Detox Hot Spring Village.”

“Eh, really?”

“And what I found was stuff like:『It’s a rip-off, but the hot springs were good』 or『It’s a rip-off, but my circulation improved』 or『It’s a rip-off, but my wounds healed』 or『It’s a rip-off, but my fatigue went away』or『It’s a rip-off, but I lost weight』…”

“Lost weight!”

Ann’s eyes sparkled.

“As far as I was able to gather, that was its reputation.”

After saying that much, Rick seemed to have reached his limit, and his head slumped forward.

Gamma Team panicked.

“Eh, are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine, kero…”

Rick replied weakly to everyone.

“Rick-kun is starting to turn into a bit of a frog…!”