Chapter 2

What...? What in the world is this?

Huina momentarily forgot that she was in mortal danger upon seeing the mention of a class she’d never even heard of before.

<Housekeeper (D): You are a talented domestic manager!>

Her rank was D, just like her brother’s, and the class description could not have been lazier.

What was more, her stats were lackluster.

Even an F-rank hunter usually received a minimum of thirty when stamina, strength, and dexterity were added together.

Huina’s status window failed to meet this basic requirement.

<◆Stamina 8 ◆Magic 1 ◆Strength 5 ◆Dexterity 6 ◆Endurance 20 ◆Luck 45>

How is this any different from a civilian?

It left her flabbergasted that her endurance and luck stat were individually higher than the sum of stamina, strength, and dexterity.

My brother told me that luck didn’t have visible effects and was effectively useless!

Huina hid under a huge tree and chewed her nails, trying to think of a way to better the situation.

That didn’t change, however, the fact that her class was downright strange, and that her starting stats were terrible.

On top of everything else:

She heard the cry of a monster approaching. Perhaps one had picked up her scent. At this rate, she would be torn apart by its claws.

Run!

She needed to escape if she was to survive. Making the most of her dexterity stat, which was at six, she rushed out through the thick grass.

It was clear, however—

That the monster apparently had a higher dexterity level than she did. She could feel the hot breath of a monster running down her back.

Her hair stood on end.

“N-no!”

Utilizing her endurance stat of twenty, she refused to give up on her life to the very end.

Instead, she chose to throw herself into a swamp covered with green algae.

There was a loud splash, and the sticky swamp sucked her in. Strange-tasting water entered her mouth, so she quickly spat it back out.

She flailed about, trying to move forward, when a chill ran down her back. Her instincts warned her that something dangerous grew near.

She looked around and found a crocodile-shaped monster as big as a small car behind her, its jaws open wide.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, but her escape was blocked.

It was the monster that had chased her—something that resembled a dinosaur. It apparently hadn’t seen the crocodile, since it was splashing through the swamp and charging at Huina.

The crocodile apparently interpreted this as a charge directed at itself, since it flashed its irregular teeth and waved its snout, roaring.

The dino-monster screeched, sent flying from a blow from the second monster.

There was the sound of something rupturing, but the dinosaur got up and roared immediately.

The crocodile roared back.

The monsters screamed at each other like two violent drivers who’d just had an accident on the road. Soon they were clinging to each other in a murderous rage.

Huina was left standing alone, covered in algae.

Wh-wh-what a relief.

Huina thanked her stars—or perhaps the forty-five luck stat.

She then crawled out of the swamp carefully so the two monsters wouldn’t notice her.

Where do I go now?

Huina looked around, but there was nothing but green. She needed to hole up somewhere safer than this and await rescue.

Do I have any abilities that might help?

As she crouched and glimpsed quickly through her status window, a skill caught her eye.

<Cozy Bed (D): Make a cozy bed where you can rest safely and quietly without fear of interruption. An active skill.>

It was just a skill for making a bed, nothing more and nothing less.

But a single word in the description caught her eye.

“Safely”!

Now that she’d been sucked into a dungeon gate all by herself, she could use every bit of safety she could get, even if it was from a trivial D-rank bed-making skill!

She activated the skill, and soon a System window appeared.

<System: Find a place to lie down, as well as the necessary ingredients.>

“Do I have to do that myself?” Huina said, looking tragic. But she did as she was told and warily looked around.

She began noticing things that hadn’t been there before—blinking status messages, for example.

<System: Auto-activating passive skill “Pluck Plant (C)”!>

Before it even occurred to her that it was a strange name for a skill, countless words appeared before her.

<Edible Plant (E)>

<Deadly Plant (D)>

<Very Delicious Plant (B)>

There were many other such messages, all providing her with information on which of the plants in the verdant jungle were edible and which were not.

Th-that’s a good thing, right? If I’m going to use plants to make a bed, it’s probably better that they’re safe and edible.

Huina was no longer confused. Rather, she gathered all the safe, edible, or delicious plants she could find.

<System: The skill level of “Pluck Plant (C)” is rising rapidly!>

With every notification, Huina’s movements grew more and more accurate. She almost looked like a lunatic as she tore at the plants around her while drenched in dirty swamp water.

“I suppose that should be enough,” she said, gasping as she stared at the pile of plants behind her. It seemed to be enough for a person to lie on as a bed.

She carried them with some difficulty to a moderately secluded spot.

“Cozy Bed!” she announced, activating the skill. Her hands began to move automatically. Instructions regarding what she needed to do entered her mind clearly, and all she had to do was follow them.

“There!”

Perhaps it was because there had only been one material type required, but it didn’t take her long to complete her bed made of plants.

She stared down at what she’d just created, and a window appeared.

<Cozy Bed Made of Edible Plants (D): Relieves both hunter and fatigue because it is made of edible plants. +20% recovery speed.>

Under the words were some numbers.

<Skill duration: 05 hours, 59 minutes, and 13 seconds remaining. *Only the caster may see the remaining time.>

There was also an explanation that only the person who’d activated the skill could see the duration. There was something rather considerate about that.

“Not bad for a first time,” Huina said, praising her own efforts.

It didn’t look like much, but from the viewpoint of a prehistoric human, for instance, it wasn’t a bad place to sleep at all. Science!

As it happened:

She heard something approaching. She felt her neck hair stand on end again.

Doubtful that it would work, she slid into her bed.

It was cozy, but the first emotion she felt was fear. If the Cozy Bed skill didn’t work properly, she would likely end up dead.

The hissing grew louder.

She waited with bated breath, hiding in her D-rank bed made from edible plants.

A monster soon appeared. It was a large snake that could probably swallow a human without any issues.

She was not only disgusted, but everything started seeming so out of this world that she began comparing the sight to computer graphics.

It hissed, flicking its long tongue and slowly turning its head. It seemed to be searching for food.

Please save me! Huina prayed desperately, clasping her hands together.

Perhaps someone in the sky had heard her.

The snake failed to locate her, even though she’d been right in front of it. It soon turned away.

With difficulty, Huina stopped her teeth from chattering.

I-I guess the skill did work, then.

As the saying went, everything had its use. She’d dismissed her class and skills as useless, but they’d proved to be surprisingly helpful. At this rate, perhaps she could stay alive until rescue arrived.

Good thing I became a Housekeeper or whatever it’s called. Otherwise, I might already be dead.

If she’d become a middling D-rank hunter like her brother, she would have clearly been slaughtered while trying to defeat a monster.

“Oh... I feel so tired...”

In the relative security of the bed, she felt fatigue wash over her.

The bed was unbelievably comfy for something made of plant matter. It sure was cozy, all right.

No. I can’t fall asleep like this…

She blinked drowsily, curled up on the grass. Her eyelids grew extremely heavy.

The bed apparently increased recovery speed by 20%. Did that mean it forced her to sleep to achieve that effect?

An unstoppable yawn escaped her.

In the end, she nodded off to sleep, and didn’t even dream.

Whether it was because of her desperate escape or the overtime she’d worked for the past three days, nobody knew.

* * *

“Hey! Hey!”

The voice was loud. Something poked Huina’s body.

It was like the person was trying to see if potatoes in a fire were fully cooked. In other words, it was painful.

“Ow!” Huina shouted, sitting up, forgetful of the need for quiet. “That hurts!”

“Oh. I thought you were a plant monster that only looked human.”

A woman with vicious eyes peered down at Huina.

She wore light armor and held a long spear in her hand. No doubt she’d used the dull end of that weapon to prod Huina.

But Huina was now awake, and the jarring jabs from the back end of the spear no longer mattered to her.

“You’re a hunter!” she cried.

The woman was clearly a hunter who’d endeavored to clear this dungeon.