I walked along the coast searching for a fishing village.
Fishing?
You think I can go fishing in a sea like that?!
Wait… actually?
What kind of sea catches water dragons?
Well, the water dragon I snagged earlier was a low-level lesser dragon, so I could handle it, but win too handily and a whole swarm of water dragons might come pouring in.
Even the earth dragon trio avoids them. A massive horde of water dragons? No thanks.
That's scarier than this sea dungeon.
I've got my fill from the water dragon I caught, so I've called it quits on fishing for now and I'm looking for a fishing village.
A village with men who fight water dragons.
There's gotta be some awesome dudes there, for sure.
Muhaha!
Just you wait, you beautiful men.
I'm coming to eye-rape you with my gaze!
I psyched myself up, but there wasn't a single village in sight.
I ended up spending an entire day moving along the coastline, but found nothing before the sun went down.
Hmm.
I don't want to sleep on the beach.
It smells like salt and seaweed.
Plus there are water dragons.
Maybe I'll head back to the dungeon for the first time in a while.
And so, using Teleportation, I returned to the dungeon after quite some time.
Yep.
Nothing's changed.
Coming back like this really drives home how pleasant the air in this dungeon is.
It's a bit chilly outside, but in here it's neither hot nor cold.
There aren't any other monsters anymore, so it's dead quiet.
The smell is a bit bloody, but you get used to it.
No sunlight, so no UV damage either.
Outside, the upper-tier Skill of Visual Range Expansion — Perception Range Expansion — kicks in and I can see all sorts of unnecessary stuff like ultraviolet rays, which gets annoying.
I don't want to overthink it, so I normally keep the Skill deactivated.
I slept soundly for the whole night in this comfortable space.
Morning.
Probably.
The only inconvenience of the dungeon is not knowing whether it's morning or night.
Anyway, let's go hunting for that fishing village again today, shall we?
Using Teleportation, I arrived at the last spot I reached yesterday.
There's no point blindly walking the coastline, so I used Spatial Maneuver to get airborne and activated Far Sight to scout the surroundings.
Nothing but ocean and mountains as far as the eye can see.
Oh! Village spotted!
But it's a bit far from the sea.
Hmm, doesn't look like a fishing village.
Can't see any boats either.
If anything… it's an agricultural village?
It looks like they've carved out part of the mountain and are growing plants there.
So, uh…
Where are all the rugged sea men?!
I was looking forward to that! What am I supposed to do with this deflated spider heart of mine?
Oh well.
I'll aim for that village for now.
I encountered some giant crabs along the way before arriving near the village.
Obviously I can't just barge in, so I circled around from the mountain side to observe the village.
Huh.
So this is how humans live.
Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen humans living their daily lives.
Kind of refreshing, actually.
The village buildings are made of wood.
The style is something like log cabins, but raised on stilts.
Tsunami countermeasures?
There don't seem to be any shops.
This really has that remote frontier village vibe.
The residents are white.
Well, they're close to white-skinned people from Earth, anyway.
They're a bit sun-tanned to really be called white, though.
Most of them have brown hair.
Even though it's a fantasy world, nobody has flashy colors like red or blue hair.
The knights I saw before all had helmets on, so I couldn't tell.
Based on my Appraisal, there are no strong people here.
Even the strongest guy in the village has a Status below 100.
How do they even survive being that weak?
Oh right, I was even weaker.
Still, having a low Status is one thing, but having barely any Skills to speak of? What's up with that?
You'd think humans would at least have some knowledge, so isn't it weird not to train Skills?
Well, I guess it's not that weird.
If you're just living normally in a remote village, you don't really need Skills.
They've got whatever Skills they need, and as long as they don't die, that's enough.
Plus, maybe their attitude is "if you've got time to train Skills, go work instead."
Even on Earth, kids in impoverished villages get put to work from a young age.
Life's tough.
Huh?
The villagers are starting to look restless.
Did they notice me?
That can't be right.
I've got my Tyrant turned off, and with Stealth and Camouflage they shouldn't be able to spot me.
None of them have exceptional detection Skills either, so there's no way they found me.
Well, it's not like I've been discovered. Something else must've happened.
If I get caught up in whatever it is and exposed, that'd be a pain, so I'll lay low.
Might as well hunt some monsters while I'm at it and grab a light snack.
Nighttime.
Everyone's asleep.
What am I doing, you ask?
Stealing.
Hehehe.
The delicious stuff in this village is now mine.
Specifically, the fruits they've been cultivating.
Breaking into someone's house to swipe their seasonings would be way too difficult.
So instead, I'm sneaking into the farm at night to forage for fruit.
A crime?
I'm a monster.
I couldn't care less about human laws.
《Proficiency has reached a certain threshold. You have acquired the Skill "Pilfer LV1."》 There you go.
Proof of my crime, etched right into my status.
Sorry about that.
Ahhh.
What's this?
Makes it easier to take things?
Kind of a underwhelming Skill.
Thieves might find it useful, but I don't really steal anything to begin with.
Huh?
My current situation?
Well, when it comes to sweets, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
I kept a low profile, snuck small amounts of fruit from the farm, and slipped away.
Villager: "I've got the worst chills for some reason."