On Monday, the day after playing with Chika, Shiori returned from university, took care of various errands, and then logged into Fantasia World.

"Phew... I’ll be playing alone again starting today."

After playing with Chika, Shiori had logged out while still on the private beach. Naturally, she felt a little lonely without Chika, who had been with her yesterday. She looked around and began to think.

"...So, what should I do now?"

Shiori left the private beach and walked through the seaside town, thinking about her gameplay plan for the rest of the day. Monsters, NPCs, dungeons. She considered various options... and then an idea came to her.

"Okay, let’s try taking on a quest today."

Yesterday, she had encountered a random event right after joining the guild. For one reason or another, she never got around to accepting a guild quest in the seaside town. Having decided to take on some kind of challenge, Shiori immediately headed to the guild.

"Um... oh, this is..."

Inside the guild, this time without encountering any random events, Shiori began browsing the bulletin board. Her eyes fell upon a particular quest.

"’Orc Extermination’... Not ’lust poison,’ but ’lust swamp’? I wonder what kind of monster it is."

The quest was called "Defeat the Lustful Mud Orc (Recommended Level 45)." The objective was to defeat a monster called the Lustful Orc that had appeared near the town and was causing trouble. The content itself was similar to the previously accepted "Slaying the Lustful Orc" quest. As an extermination quest, it didn’t have any particularly outstanding features.

"Okay, I’ll give it a try."

However, Shiori seemed intrigued by the "Lustful Mud Orc"—a monster she had never seen before. She decided to accept the quest, picking up the paper on which it was written.

Then the location changed, and Shiori arrived at the next field after the seaside town.

"Um, is this... a submerged forest?"

The new field could be summed up in one word: "submerged forest." The entire field appeared to be submerged in crystal-clear water, with trees growing here and there. The name displayed for this field was "Southern Flooded Forest." Sunlight streaming in from the sky reflected off the water’s surface, creating a mystical atmosphere with its sparkling glow.

Shiori had come here because this field led to the field specifically for the quest "Defeat the Lustful Orcs."

"This place is also incredibly beautiful. Maybe I should bring Chika here next time."

The water submerging the field was about knee-deep on Shiori. The ground beneath the water was not muddy but remained firm, creating an environment where, in a pinch, one could likely run through the water by splashing. However, she didn’t know what kind of monsters might appear. This time, the area was merely a passageway to a quest-specific field. Since there was no need to risk making noise and attracting monsters, Shiori began to move slowly and carefully, trying not to make too much noise.

"Hmm, what’s that...?"

After a while, gently rippling the water’s surface as she moved forward, Shiori noticed a spot about ten meters ahead where the water had turned an unnaturally dark green. The discolored area was approximately thirty to forty centimeters wide, and the concentration extended all the way down to the ground. Seeing this, Shiori quietly picked up her air gun and normal rapier and slowly began to approach, ready to move at any moment.

"...!"

"I knew it!"

When the distance to the darker area shrank to about five meters, green tentacles suddenly emerged from the water. At the same time, the words "Green Slime Lv39" appeared above them, and the core in the water became visible. Having instantly read the message and prepared herself, Shiori was not particularly surprised. She swung the rapier in her hand, slashing at the extending tentacles, and then fired her air gun repeatedly.

"—!? ——..."

"...Phew, looks like we’ve defeated it." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

One of the wind projectiles pierced the core. The Green Slime twitched violently, then dispersed and disappeared. Seeing this, Shiori gently lowered her raised hand and let out a sigh of relief.

"There are slimes in here. I was able to defeat this one quickly, so that’s good, but... I need to be careful."

Simply attacking wouldn’t defeat them no matter how much she struck. The fact that there were slimes that could only be defeated by damaging their core made Shiori’s expression grow more cautious. She began to move forward again.

"...Ahhh...! Haa, yeah...!"

"—, —!?"

"—, —!?"

"—!?"

As she progressed through the field, she occasionally encountered Green Slimes. Since it was daytime, the cores in the water became clearly visible as soon as they appeared. Each time, Shiori would instantly shoot them with her air gun, defeating the Green Slimes without letting them do anything.

Meanwhile, a strangely overgrown area appeared before Shiori. The vegetation was so dense that it seemed difficult to even squeeze between the trees. But only a part of that dense growth—there, as if a passageway had been carved out.

"Yes, it’s up ahead."

This path led to the "Southern Swamp Region," the field specifically for the "Defeat the Lustful Orcs" quest. Upon seeing it, Shiori nodded and slowly began to move forward.