Nicole and the Apothecary Family Live Freely
“Dad, there’s a big chunk of magic iron ore sleeping in the left wall of that orc!”
“Alright! Everyone hold position until the three take down the orc!”
“Ehh~? Can’t we just shoot it with a bow or something? This cave’s pretty spacious, so I think it’ll be fine.”
“This is part of their training too. Orc magic stones and meat fetch a good price, you know? Let’s let them have it, alright? I’ll buy you some candy later.”
Why are you trying to bribe me with candy?
“I can make my own, so I don’t need it.”
Dad visibly drooped.
We waited about five minutes like that.
As soon as the battle ended, I dashed out in front of everyone, dwarf hammer gripped in one hand.
With a single well-aimed strike, a meter-wide section of the wall shattered, and chunks of magic iron ore came tumbling down!
One even rolled toward my foot, but I dodged it in an instant—someone please praise my reflexes!
“Dad! We got the magic iron ore!!”
Beaming, I turned back, only to find all six of them staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths.
“Nicole, you’re really strong, huh…”
The healer, Robelia, awkwardly forced a smile and voiced what everyone was thinking, helping me realize what they were so surprised about.
Nicole, age 14, just shattered a rock wall with her slender maiden arms—not exactly the muscular type!
Oopsie?
It was already too late to cover it up with a laugh.
Dad rushed over and locked my neck in a tight hold, whispering urgently.
“What’s with that monstrous strength!? Even your mother isn’t that strong!?”
“Oh? Are you sure you wanna say that about Mom?”
“Of course not!!”
As Dad started to panic, I quietly handed him the hammer.
“I was just rummaging through the magic bag to see if there was anything useful, and this popped out. Looks like a dwarf hammer—it has incredible power, even with just a light tap! With this baby, you can crush any rock with ease!!”
Ta-da!
I proudly presented it—and immediately got bonked on the head.
“You fool! What are you doing, showing off like that in front of strangers!?”
Got a big scolding.
“I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time. As an apology, please allow me to lend you this hammer, Father. See? There’s another large deposit over there—why not give it a try?”
I respectfully held out the hammer and pointed toward the next deposit. Dad’s face instantly lit up.
“Really?”
He happily accepted the hammer and dashed off excitedly.
So simple!
Boom! Rumble rumble—
“What is this!? Amazing! Arthur, you’ve gotta try this too!!”
“Ooh, looks fun!”
I showed the two excited uncles another deposit, and now Uncle Arthur was happily swinging the hammer around.
Aunt Dahlia ’s gaze was getting intense—you two better notice soon.
It’s getting kinda painful to watch.
But generous me just watched them warmly from the sidelines.
Seems like the sound of smashing rocks attracted more orcs—here come three more!
Furious, Aunt Dahlia started kicking both Dad and Uncle Arthur.
Bad adults, honestly.
Alright!
Time to take responsibility!
“Auntie, I’ll take the lead orc!”
I swiftly pulled out my trusty bow, notched an arrow, and let it fly!
Ever since that incident in the fall, my archery skills have dramatically improved!
The arrow flew like the wind and struck the lead orc square in the right eye!?
“Heck yeah! Fall backwards while you’re at it!”
Just as I hoped, the orc toppled backwards, blocking the path of the other two!
Aunt Dahlia brought her mace down on the one to the right, smashing its head in. That just left one enemy, so I left that to the three girls.
After all, this is their training too!
Nice, things are going smoothly!
My plan is flawless!
I was feeling proud until Aunt Dahlia scolded me: “Watch your language!”
I’m sorry!
So please put the mace down!
With no trouble, we turned the three orcs into magic stones and meat, then continued walking deeper into the cave.
Every now and then, I smashed the walls with the dwarf hammer, harvesting large amounts of magic iron ore.
I did it so effortlessly that the three girls were getting used to it.
While I pulverized the walls, they fought off the new orcs drawn by the noise, without even glancing my way.
They’d already taken down six orcs, so they were clearly gaining confidence.
They probably won’t freeze up at the sight of orcs anymore.
If you’re tired, drink this!
I handed them beginner potions, urging them to drink and keep going.
At first, they hesitated.
“Don’t worry about it! Sometimes I mess up while making potions too. These just have about 20% less effect, so I usually give them to Rossy as water!”
I said with a bright smile, and after that, they started drinking them without complaint.
“So we’re like horses now…”
One of them muttered while drinking?
Wait, what?
When we came across other parties fighting, we waited for them to finish before moving on.
Apparently, this floor was the target for low-rank adventurers. The deeper we went, the more orcs we encountered.
We tried not to interfere, but it did mean fewer kills for us.
And more downtime too.
So boring.
Time passes weirdly down here, but when I checked Dad’s pocket watch, it was already late afternoon.
The return stagecoach was about to depart.
Winter days are short, so we were cutting it close to make it back to town before sunset.
We saw other day-tripper adventurers heading toward the teleportation circle.
“There’s a teleport room just before the fourth floor. Once you register it, you can come straight to the third floor next time—so this floor is probably their farming spot.”
Makes sense.
No wonder the first floor had so few people.
Orcs are tough for solo adventurers, but with a party of three or more, they’re manageable.
Sure, more people means smaller shares, but that just means you kill more to make up for it.
Despite saying it wasn’t much, we’d already encountered ten orcs. That’s decent progress for the girls.
As the third floor got quieter, we ran into three more orcs in quick succession.
While the girls battled, my appraisal skill pinged something unusual.
Ever since entering the dungeon, it’s started giving me a mental map.
I could tell where dead ends were, where two orcs were waiting around a corner, or where fighting was happening.
Yup. My skills are on fire!
But this one really caught my attention.
I tugged on Dad’s arm and he leaned down, asking, “What is it?”
“About thirty meters ahead, turn left—there’s a hollow space in the wall. Like a small hidden room?”
Aunt Dahlia ’s eyes lit up at that!
“A hidden room in the dungeon! Nicole, you’re amazing! Even Lady Luck herself would be jealous!”
Oh no, Auntie figured it out?
That I’m above a saint? Oh, you~!
“Quit squirming, let’s go. Where is it?”
The fight had long ended, and Dad grabbed me by the collar.
Alright! Let’s go, Nicole Adventure Team!
Head for the treasure!
Less than three minutes of walking brought us to the spot.
“If it’s a hidden room, there’s gotta be some kind of mechanism at the entrance.”
Uncle Arthur came in close, clearly excited, so I gave him a firm shove with my right hand.
Dad’s fine, but strangers? Yeah, no thanks.
Seeing this, Dad burst out laughing while Uncle Arthur looked downhearted.