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The next morning.

When I opened my eyes, I was staring at a familiar ceiling.

“Ah, my head…”

If I recall correctly, I only had a single drink yesterday, so why the hangover?

I swear I’ll never drink again.

What do people find enjoyable about that bitter and disgusting stuff, anyway?

My head was pounding, so I thought about just going back to sleep and pulling the blankets over me, but I felt something squishy on both sides.

When I turned to my left, there was Luna.

Turning to the right, there was Yui.

On my left, a King Slime.

On my right, a Small Slime.

‘Wow! This otherworld is the best!’

My head hurts like crazy, but my mood is still fantastic!

*

After getting another solid sleep, I woke up again.

“My head hurts…”

Why is my head hurting this much?

It’s worse now than before I fell asleep.

Is this what a hangover feels like?

And my stomach feels bad too.

What kind of trash of a body is this?

I didn’t even touch alcohol in my past life, but I can confidently say it would have been better than this.

Come to think of it, didn’t I get the skill for Status Ailment Resistance?

‘Status.’

[ Info ]

Name: Luke

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Magical Power: 0 / 0

Level: 90

[ Skills ]

Inventory (F)

Superstrength (B)

All Attribute Resistance (A)

Status Ailment Resistance (B+)

[ Attributes ]

Strength: 72(+36)

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 0

Stamina: 10

Remaining Stat Points: 18

I have 18 stat points left.

When was the last time I checked my status window?

I don’t even remember.

It’s been a while since I checked, so I have quite a few points built up.

– You’ve got points piled up.

In an instant, a strange meme popped into my head, and just imagining it made me feel nauseous, so I quickly erased it from my mind.

Of course, I dumped all my points into strength.

‘System. Explanation.’

As soon as I thought that, a blue window appeared.

◈ Skill Info

Name: Status Ailment Resistance

Grade: B+

Description: Resists all kinds of status ailments such as poison, paralysis, curses, and slowdown.

What a concise explanation.

Still, everything I needed to know was included in that short sentence, so I didn’t have trouble understanding it.

‘But wait… doesn’t it say it resists all status ailments?’

Isn’t a hangover a status ailment?

Why is this not being resolved!?

It seems just sleeping it off won’t fix my pounding head.

“Ugh…”

“Are you alright, Luke?”

“Who are you?”

“…It’s Luna.”

“I know.”

Luna looked down at me with a blank expression, as if she had gotten used to it.

“You seem fine, since you’re acting weird as usual.”

“Luna, I think I’m cursed by a hungover. Can you help me out?”

“…You’re just hungover.”

“There’s no way a mere hangover can stop a manly man like me.”

This is definitely a curse!

It can’t be anything else for me to feel this way!

“If you keep saying weird things, I’m going to yell right in your ear.”

“Stop!!”

Luna sure has a knack for intimidating her master.

I hoped you’d become smart, but I didn’t want you to get this smart.

“What about Yui?”

“She went downstairs to get honey water.”

– Creaking.

I heard the door open.

Speak of the devil, here she comes.

“Luke, are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay.”

“Um… what can I do to help?”

“Feed me with your mouth.”

Isn’t water fed by a beautiful girl the real honey water?

“Uh, uh…”

“Yui, I’m just kidding. You don’t have to.”

“Ah.”

Not really a joke, though.

What a shame.

“Here, Luke. I brought you honey water.”

“Thanks.”

I accepted the honey water Yui handed me and drank it.

One cup of honey water isn’t going to make me good as new, but I’ll surely feel better after some time.

“Alright, shall we head to work now?”

“Are you sure you’re okay to go? You could still rest more.”

“If someone saw me, they’d think I drank a dozen drinks yesterday. I only had one.”

“Who was it that collapsed from just one drink yesterday…?”

Clears throat.

It was my first time drinking yesterday, you know?

They say if you drink a lot, you build immunity!

Well, that’s what I read on the internet.

“You guys don’t have to come; I can go alone!”

“I never said we wouldn’t come…”

I shot up from the bed with a spring.

And in ten seconds I changed clothes at super-speed.

It’s an easy task for a man, as we inherently possess high-speed undressing skills.

After leaving the inn, we headed straight to the Adventurer’s Guild.

These days, it feels like the entire cycle of my life is just going to the guild, finishing quests, eating, and sleeping.

But given that I’m an adventurer, it can’t really be helped.

– Murmurs.

But for some reason, the inside of the guild was unusually noisy.

‘This guild is always like this every now and then.’

Is there a monthly event or something?

Regardless of whether I want to or not, something like that always drags me into the situation, so I wandered over to find Adela.

“Adela.”

“Oh, Luke! Welcome!”

“Why is it so noisy today?”

“An A-Rank monster has been spotted near the sea. They seem to be recruiting adventurers to participate in a raid right now.”

But the noise was making my head spin, and the nausea I had earlier was starting to rise.

“Oh, I see…”

“By the way, Luke, are you feeling unwell? You don’t look well…”

“Really?”

In that case, I need to clear my stomach immediately!

“Excuse me, can I ask for a favor?”

“…Huh?”

“Uugggh! Uwaaaaahhhh!!”

“Eek!!”

Pro tip for vomiting.

When you shake your head up and down while throwing up, you can spray it all over like a Metal Slug zombie.

I even did it on purpose during a speedrun, zombifying myself to splatter the boss room.

*

After a grand heave, my mind, body, and spirit felt light as a feather.

There’s still a bit of a headache lingering, but it should fade in a few minutes.

“Ah… refreshing.”

“… I suppose that’s nice for you.”

Adela glared at me with death rays.

Is it really necessary for her to look at me like that after I vomited and cleaned it all up?

“I’m sorry if I offended you. I drank some last night.”

“When did offending become synonymous with asking for permission to commit a crime?”

“People can feel unwell too. Isn’t it better that I showed up without taking sick leave?”

“… An adventurer can just take a break if they want. There’s no need for a sick leave.”

That’s one of the perks of being an adventurer, isn’t it?

“By the way, Luke, the Guild Master requested for you. Can you head to the Guild Master’s Room?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Really, me?”

“… Yes.”

“Why? I haven’t done anything wrong this time.”

“… Just drop the assumption that if he calls for you, you’ve done something wrong.”

You must have had an experience of this at least once in your life.

Even when you haven’t done anything, when your mom calls you, you feel like you’ve done something wrong, and you tense up when a police car drives past.

“Then I can just go to the Guild Master’s Room now?”

“Yes.”

That’s what they said.

I turned back from the reception area and headed to the Guild Master’s Room.

Since it wasn’t my first time in the Guild Master’s Room, navigating was easy.

On the stairs from the first floor, the people in front of me parted ways for me, creating a path.

“This is what they call a miracle, huh?”

“Are they not just moving aside…?”

“What did I do for them to avoid me?”

“They probably don’t want to catch you throwing up again.”

“One time is enough, I won’t do it that often.”

For fun, I pretended to vomit again, and everyone ran away in fear.

Repeating that cleared the path as I reached the Guild Master’s Room.

– Knock knock.

I knocked on the door but heard no reply, so I walked in.

“… I didn’t give you permission yet.”

“Should I go back and knock again?”

“Sigh… Just sit down since you’re already here.”

We sat next to each other on the large couch in the Guild Master’s Room.

Then Argo sat across from us.

“Why did you call us?”

“You guys… are you interested in taking part in a raid?”

Is that what Adela mentioned earlier?

The cause of all the noise from earlier.

When I think of a raid, I picture many people teaming up to take down a single monster.

Is it the same here?

“So what kind of raid is it?”

“Don’t you think you need to discuss it with your party members first…?”

“If they don’t go, I’ll just go alone, so it doesn’t matter.”

If they don’t want to go, it’s fine by me because I want to go, so I’ll just head out alone otherwise.

“A-Rank Monster Sea Serpent.”

A name I’ve heard before popped up.

Is it a sea snake, then?

I remember once getting bored while sailing and watching a video of a sea serpent that sank my ship back in my gaming days.

“It suddenly appeared and is blocking trade routes, so they’re urgently looking for participants.”

“But we’re C-Rank, you know?”

“You’re taking the B-Rank promotion exam today, right? If you participate in this raid and manage to perform decently, I’ll treat it as a successful promotion exam.”

“That’s nice for me, but can C-Rank adventurers really participate in an A-Rank raid?”

“If you had taken the B-Rank promotion exam separately, it would have been obvious that you’d succeed anyway. You’re signing up for this raid under the assumption that you’re B-Rank.”

The handling of this is so haphazard.

But that’s actually good for me!

If someone is too strict, it gets boring and is just hard work.

“Do you have any other information?”

“Currently, B-Rank and above adventurers are probably gathered at the nearest port to the area where the monster has appeared. There will likely be an A-Rank adventurer there, the commander, so if you show them the letter of recommendation I’m giving you, they’ll provide you with detailed information.”

As he said that, Argo placed a neatly rolled-up letter on the table.

“When can we leave?”

Surely not right now?

“The raid starts one week from now. You’re free to prepare here or go and prepare there.”

At least he has some conscience this time.

He’s not insisting I go immediately.

“Is the reward good?”

“That will depend on how you perform.”

“What do I have to do to get a good reward?”

“The basic extermination reward is 3 gold coins per person. Everything else will depend on your contribution. The more you achieve in the raid, the more additional rewards you’ll get, and the A-Rank adventurer present will vouch for it.”

In other words, I have to make sure to be on the A-Rank adventurer’s good side like crazy.

3 gold coins per person. It sounds fantastic, with the addition of the A-Rank raid factor.

That adds up to 9 gold coins, which means I could probably live comfortably for a year!

“Okay, then see you in a week. I’ll make sure to get it sorted out nicely.”

Saying that, I picked up the letter and left the Guild Master’s Room.

 

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