Blunt Type Ogre Girl’s Way to Live Streaming
chapter-303

“Huh?! The day after tomorrow?!”

In a certain high-rise apartment in Tokyo, a scream almost like a shriek echoed. The owner of the scream was a girl with extremely heavily lined eyes, so intense that one might question if it was makeup or something else. Despite appearing sleep-deprived and unhealthy, she still possessed an intense beauty that remained striking.

With her beautiful face twisted in anger, the girl confronted the person on the other end of the phone.

“Are you kidding me?! I have plans too… Huh? How do you know… Ah, wait… Damn, that woman hung up on me!”

It must have been an unreasonable call. Fueled by her anger, she threw her smartphone with such force that it made a slicing sound through the air, landing in her usual stress-relief cushion.

“Makura! Where are you?!”

Unable to contain her rage, she jumped into bed after chasing her phone and called out for her roommate. She knew Makura was either preparing dinner or working on a streaming thumbnail at this time. As expected, within thirty seconds, a woman appeared.

Tall for a woman at 175 cm, she had a sturdy build, not chubby, but well-proportioned. Though somewhat plain in appearance, she had an undeniable presence.

“What’s wrong, Rei-san? I was preparing dinner.”

“I’m so freaking irritated!”

“Oh, Okay, I understand.”

Seeing the enraged “Rei,” “Makura” guessed the situation and lay down on the bed. As her name suggested, “Makura” (Pillow) served as Rei’s pillow. When Rei called her in such a state, it was usually best to simply let her use Makura’s body to calm down.

As expected, “Rei” used Makura’s chest as a pillow, laying her upper body on the bed.

“Is it that person again?”

“Yeah! Seriously, always making unreasonable demands!”

“Calm down, Rei.”

Makura spoke soothingly while preventing Rei from thrashing around on top of her. She avoided patting her head, knowing it would only provoke more tantrums, and instead just held her shoulders to keep her from moving too much. After about five minutes of groaning and moaning, Rei finally calmed down and sat up, signaling the end of Makura’s role as a pillow.

“Ahhh… Haah, I’ve agreed to do a collab the day after tomorrow.”

“But isn’t that day scheduled for the endurance tour with the Shachiku Mobile Squadron?”

“I feel bad for Tetsuya and Noel, but I’ll have to cancel on them. It’s regrettable, but they’ll understand that it’s not our fault. The other party has connections, and this is too beneficial to pass up.”

“Indeed. Given the fame and benefits involved, it’s an offer we can’t refuse.”

For their activities, the collaborator they were about to work with was someone they couldn’t, or rather, didn’t want to turn down. Despite not feeling a hierarchy between them, the difference in fame and achievements was too significant. A collaboration like this could bring substantial benefits, even worth canceling prior commitments.

“Makura, you’re coming with me this time.”

“Me too? I see, so it’s a situation where we need extra hands.”

“No, that’s not it. We only need two people at the minimum. I’m bringing you this time.”

“That’s unusual. Not choosing another member and just me, who’s officially just staff.”

“That’s just a formality.”

Makura was indeed hired as a staff member for Rei’s… or rather, for the agency. She had always maintained her stance as a staff member, even though her role had become somewhat blurred due to how extensively Rei used her services.

“And have you forgotten? The invitation is from that person, which means ‘that girl’ will be there. You said you wanted to meet her before.”

Makura was taken aback by this reminder. The one who had extended the invitation was a frequent collaborator in the past, but the situation had dramatically changed in recent months, or even the past two weeks – something Makura had completely forgotten.

“*sigh*… I’ll start contacting everyone. I’m tired from being angry, so add a big pudding to dinner tonight.”

“Understood.”

After Rei left the room languidly, Makura collapsed back onto the bed.

“Right… I hope I can meet Nana-senpai.”

She muttered this while hugging a cushion tightly. After lingering in that position for a while, she remembered she was in the middle of preparing dinner, quickly made the bed, and left the room.

☆

“The monsters in the Volcano are mainly of five types: Magma Slime, Heat Rat, Death Flame Demon, and the Hot Roll Cabbage.”

<Huh?>

<Something weird got mixed in there.>

<Roll Cabbage??>

<Hold up a sec.>

The day after meeting Kleine, I was in WLO from the morning, preparing for the assault on Dos Orca Volcano by buying items. Rin-chan had work today, and unlike me, she had some task she couldn’t avoid.

“You see, there’s this monster that’s like a huge, 3-meter tall roll cabbage with arms, legs, and eyes swimming in magma.”

<Whaaat!?>

<Apocalyptic horror LOL>

<This game glitches out sometimes, doesn’t it?>

<It breaks the world’s immersion>

<Is it Creator God Iris fault?>

“Wait a sec, I saved a funny picture of it…”

The Hot Roll Cabbage. Just as I explained to the listeners, it’s a super-sized, roll cabbage-shaped monster that looks like a laid-back character swimming in magma.

“Actually, when you defeat the Hot Roll Cabbage, it drops some pretty high-quality food items. But it seems to be around level 115, so for players who’ve just arrived at Zeronoa, it might be stronger than some of the tougher Named monsters. By the way, if we exclude Roll Cabbage, the average level of monsters in the active volcano is around 80.”

<That’s too strong>

<Like a character out of a gag manga>

<Is this stronger than the Boss Golem we fought a while ago…>

<The mystery of the volcano>

<I really don’t want to risk my life for this food>

In fact, the second most common cause of player deaths in the Dos Orca Active Volcano is being attacked by the Hot Roll Cabbage. Despite its relaxed, mascot-like appearance, it’s ridiculously strong. The number one cause of death is dehydration due to running out of heat-resistant items. However, this seems to be half due to lack of preparation, and half because players find it easier to respawn than return to the town from the volcano.

Using the Traveler’s Wings to return to town doesn’t incur a death penalty, but they’re still quite expensive at 20,000 Iris each. For players ending their day’s play, to die with negligible penalty can be a way to save money.

“Most monsters there are either of the flame or hellfire attribute, so if you can prepare water, torrent {Ryuusui-tlnote}, or ice attribute attacks, you can hit their weak points. But no enemies are immune to physical attacks, so there’s no need for special weapons. In the worst case, just having my main weapon, Oboro, should be enough.”

<Right>

<Hunter Crusher>

<A mass of murderous intent>

<Just be careful with the durability>

“The real problem is the environmental effects, though.”

With our current levels, Rin-chan and I shouldn’t struggle too much with the enemies. The real challenge is the environment. First of all, it’s a volcano, so it’s extremely hot. More than just hot, it’s actually scorching. For heat resistance, we’ll need level 3… Well, skipping the details, we need to buy the best heat resistance potion available in Zeronoa. It lasts for two hours per potion, so I’ll need about five for a day’s play. They’re not cheap at 10,000 Iris each, but without them, the avatar quickly becomes dehydrated and dies.

And there’s another tricky feature of the Dos Orca Active Volcano.

“There are areas with high concentrations of gas scattered around. They are visible, but hard to see due to the heat and light of the magma, and getting caught in them causes severe poisoning. So we need to prepare for poison too.”

<Volcanic gas, huh>

<Gas but it causes poison status?>

<Ugh>

<Isn’t there some kind of accessory in RPGs that nullifies poison?>

“An accessory, huh… That might be possible. I’ll check the market. Even if it’s not immunity, there might be something that provides resistance.”

I was thinking of collecting antidotes, but if I can deal with it through equipment, that would be better. There tends to be spare accessory slots, and I can make room if needed.

I decided to stop by a random accessory store I saw on the upper level and ask the shop owner about poison-resistant accessories.

“Thanks for your business.”

“Thank you. By the way, do you sell accessories with poison resistance here?”

“What’s this, young lady, planning a trip to the volcano? It varies, but some shops should have them. We don’t, though.”

“Could you tell me about their effectiveness and general price range?”

“Sure, no problem. A basic poison resistance accessory is around 50,000 Iris. They’re cheap, but they can reduce the damage from poison over time. Most jewelry accessory shops usually have them. If you want an accessory that makes you immune to gas, especially for volcanic gas, you should check the commercial buildings. There are four stores on the first floor. For volcanic gas, you should be able to get something for about 500,000 Iris.”

“Does the price go up for stronger poisons?”

“Yes. There are deadly poisons, and then there are cursed poisons. Those are the high-end of the spectrum, and the price can go up by an order or two of magnitude. Especially cursed poisons, which are a bit of a specialty of the Holy City, so they’re harder to come by.”

“Un, thank you very much!”

“Don’t mention it.”

After bowing to the shop owner who waved me off, I left the store.

“Antidotes for deadly poison cost 3,500 Iris each… So, it’s cheaper to buy those unless each person uses more than 140, right?”

<Hmm>

<It’s hard to tell how bad the gas will be until we get there>

<Won’t that make your inventory super heavy?>

<Rinne doesn’t have as much inventory space as Sukuna, with her lower strength stat>

<How much money do you have right now?>

“Let’s see… about 18 million, I think. That’s enough for accessories for a party of six, but it feels like I have more money than I thought… Oh right, I haven’t sorted out the loot from Es≠Trillia!”

I was struck by this realization. I had completely forgotten about the vast amount of loot we had gathered from the extremely tough zombies during our long battles in Es≠Trillia.

“I totally forgot about it because of the five-day sleepover and the birthday stream…”

<We forgot too>

<There were drops? Thought there was nothing since Sukuna didn’t mention it>

<Weren’t you sorting them in the background…>

<So forgetful>

<Realized it from the weight of the inventory>

<This is what happens when you’re not worried about money and materials>

“That’s harsh chat! But you’re right… There might be something sellable, and there should be some rare weapons too, so I’ll check it out. It could help fund the accessories.”

Anyway, I need to discuss with Rin-chan and whoever else is joining us as reinforcements about whether to buy these or not…

For now, since my inventory gets smaller the more items I have, I should prioritize sorting out all that loot.

It’s a curse, so decursing is essential. If an NPC gets it, they’re almost certainly dead.

Tl note:

Ryuusui is the higher tier of water, literally translated as flowing water, I cannot find the appropriate localization for it, so I use ‘torrent’