POV Valentine

'I fucked up. How? Did? I? fuck this up?' I sink deeper into the healing water and think back on my actions when facing the fucking apple zerg swarm.

After sprinting away towards the wall, I saw my chance. Just like I've been doing almost since day one, I would bait an attack, get out of the way and deal damage. "This time! I had to do only half of the job! Just fucking move aside! And let the rest deal with all the fighting! Fuck! FY dungeon!!"

I even had the shield angled to take a grazing blow to push me backwards, towards safety, and then I could retreat from the front without anyone complaining! And! I fucked up the only thing I was confident in! Moving the fuck away from danger! '... Am I not going to make it?'

When I realized that I was airborne and heading in the wrong direction. I tried to shout for them to keep formation with me, to move forward and reabsorb me into it. But I hit the ground before I could get two words out… And then came the press. The crunching of the shield as it was pierced and torn down. That's when I closed my eyes and became one with Buddha. I could only hold on and repeat to myself that they will come to save me.

I embraced my inner shell crab and held on for dear life. The heavy shits pressed me into the rock hard ice and tore open my limbs as I desperate held on to the slowly collapsing shield.

I touch my chest, where the hole used to be. 'Another five good hits and that's it. No getting back up without a working heart.' The overall victory tastes like foul blood in my mouth. I gain a total of zero experience from this fight and a couple of apples aren't worthwhile to throw one's life away for.

'A panzer faust or heavy machine gun fire could have taken care of that shit show. Do tanks work in the extreme cold?... I must get my shit together. This is an isekai, so start acting like it! Get up and get strong! No fucking breaking down like a little whining piece of shit!'

I let my mind wander as I sit and try to relax, letting go of all my anxiety. 'Yes, better think about the wine! The sweet nectar of the Gods! Or something… I prefer cider to wine. Hm… I can actually do that. `He, he, he. Cider is mostly made using apples! It's much cheaper than wine, BUT! It will be my personal drink! The classy people can pay for that spoiled juice! And I'll get to enjoy my heavenly lemonade!'

Thinking about the good to come, helps to recover my mood and resolve. The next step would be figuring out how to make cognac with the equipment I have available. 'Preferably the magic cheats version. I won't be waiting years to taste my creations!' I snicker a bit as I get out of the bath and start putting on some spare clothes. 'Too bad I can't summon these military clothes with mana. Haa, I'll have to wash and repair everything by hand… and do the weapons maintenance too. Shat tha fuck ap Me!! I just had a pleasant train of thought. By no!'

Once again I shoot myself in the foot by overthinking things. Is it too much to ask to enjoy the moment? Apparently yes. I'm greeted by an unpleasant question sooner than I'd wish to be.

"Mari: After resting for another hour, we plan to scout out the area we fought around. Do you wish to join us?"

'Fuck!' I try testing my body again. I feel fatigue weighing me down. I can barely put any strength into my body beyond simple movements. I just feel like a squeezed lemon.

Before I can voice my thoughts I am declared unfit for the trip down there.

"Mari: I see. We will need to test if the healing drains the body of any essential resources beyond energy. Rest."

It might be pride. I do have some pride in me. It's just, I… I don't know. The animes usually show the male lead do this shit effortlessly, and that, one word command, makes me feel below Usopp when he was a comic relief weakling.

"Valentine: I'll warm up the food. You'll be cold and hungry upon your return."

'I refuse! to be Mr nothing important! I have skills other than fighting! I can make a mean lunch for anyone! Even weak as I am!'

A man needs something to hold on to, anything, to not break apart into a total mess. And I have very little left in my life... almost nothing really. 'Yeah, erase that train of thought. Now.'

I move. I slice, grill, boil, anything and everything to tame my mind and feel that I'm doing something productive.

POV Meiko

'There is a fire burning in his eyes.' I watch as the chef fails to exert any strength from his body. Sluggish, weak, broken just a few minutes ago and Lady Mari wisely recognises that he will be nothing more than dead weight.

I can respect the determination, the strength of his spirit to not stop pushing forward and I believe Lady Mari can see it too. 'Besides, a hot, delicious meal would be very nice to come back to.' I can't help but swallow some saliva thinking of a full course meal. I can't help it! The ingredients and his skills are all top tier, maybe higher.

There is also the fact that we will become even stronger very soon. The last, mysterious Lv up has given me an increase of close to 35% to my lifting strength. 'Another one could possibly make me the strongest woman on the planet! This is insane!'

I can feel my greed being barely contained. What if I go deeper, to the next floor and kill enough monsters for one more Lv up? Will I surpass every physical human limit? Will I become the pinnacle of humanity? 'It matters not. I support Lady Mari. If she needs me to become a demon in human skin, so be it. I've made my resolve long ago. It's simply that the path has changed, but the one I walk it with hasn't.'

I give the chef another glance as he starts setting pots on the stove and peeling some veggies. 'He won't get stronger, neither faster nor sturdier. A situation like this one, perhaps on the next floor, will be instantly lethal for him. The monsters are obviously getting stronger and faster, they even travel in herds! … He will be lost to us, if we don't stop him.'

With respect comes worry. As far as we have understood he was made to have a cook class, and a high leveled one too. 'The sixth floor is definitely a death sentence. I should discuss this with Lady Mari and make him stay in the kitchen. I honestly doubt that anything will change even if we manage to get that far and help him kill monsters to let him Lv up. Perhaps he will become better in the kitchen? We know too little to make assumptions.'

I can barely guess any incentive for him to risk his life. All the more if one hit can instantly end him. 'We are the strong ones! I will protect everyone!' I reinforce my resolve and walk away to get some more rest. I need to be at my best if something were to go wrong, no excuses allowed.

We rest and have bite to eat and drink before heading back into the cold. I stay vigilant, or the best that I can with all the damned snow! 'Does it ever stop snowing here?! How am I to see any danger coming?!'

My sight and hearing are very limited, and it puts mental pressure on me. Remembering that berry-trap monster makes me cautious of the ground too and I can see absolutely zero under all that snow. 'I can trust my friends to get me out if I get dragged away to be eaten, and when I get stronger I'll rip and unroot the miserable strawberry with my bear hands!'

A bit anticlimactic, we make a short trek to a slightly higher ground, without being ambushed.

Finally, I see our destination. It is a beautiful tree, surrounded by only snow, ice and rocks.

'How can it grow in this environment and not be buried in snow? Can any of our trees do that? Is it because of mana?'

I make sure that there is no danger in a 100  m radius. The tree remains inactive all this time too, no hidden threats come out of it. 'Just a normal tree then. Well, special, but not the dangerous kind.'

I stand guard with Risa, Anna and Yumi, securing all sides, ready to sound the alarm.

Some 10 minutes later Hana switches me out and Tai does the same for Anna.

"Mari: Meiko, can you help us with your strength? We want some roots for samples, but everything here is like a solid sheet of metal below the snow."

"Meiko: Of course Lady Mari! Is this the spot?"

I make double sure where I will need to break the ground before I start swinging the pickaxe. 'Kkuh! It does feel like I'm hitting metal!' My halfhearted swing barely leaves a scratch on the icy rocks. 'This will take a while…'

When my hands grow numb, I rotate out and another person goes at it for a minute. It took us over half an hour to get a 20 cm deep chunk out. 'Damn, this needs mechanical equipment or explosives. My hands are still shaking!'

None of us are in the mood to continue staying here, being covered in sweat and exhausted isn't the perfect condition for exploring dangerous territory. I'm sure that by now everyone wants to warm-up in the shower and have a hot meal.

.. .. ..

'Huwaaaa! AHot hot hot! warm, mmm'

I entered the hot springs with Lady Mari to relax. The warm water slowly melts my frozen body.

"Meiko: Lady Mari, do you believe that the tree has value? Actually, is anything we bring back of any value right now?"

"Mari: Mm, warm… Last time I spoke with father, he reported that the mushrooms and other vegetables have shown exponential growth for the first week. To be more precise about the mushrooms. The ones we have last gathered have been replanted, then they produced spores after an average of 40 hours and the spores grew into full-fledged ones in under a week. The growth stopped after that, and so far, the young ones are indistinguishable from the ones we have on Earth. Except that the natural pests that are destroying the local ones are unable to do anything to them. Similar results come from planning seeds. It all needs time, lots and lots of time. We have plenty of records about how introducing a new species may damage or destroy an ecosystem. If you think too deeply into it, you can say that we are playing God with the world itself."

'Is it really that serious? I didn't think about it to that level.'

"About the tree… Hmm… What do you think Kate?"

"Kate: Don't know enough about them to give anything but wishful thinking. So…hmm… image a new forest covering the poles and all the useless eternal ice regions. Forests that won't be burned down or chopped down by man, and they bear fruit too. This could solve climate change, bring prosperity to desolate regions, diversify the ecosystem… . For now it's just wishful thinking. Like Mari said: it needs time, lots and lots of time to observe, record, test and so on. He, he, he in ten, twenty years we might be living on a drastically different looking planet."

'We ARE playing God! Fuuu, I would truly trust Lady Mari to take on that role. I, I will be her supporting pillar. A shield and sword if it's required of me.'

We chatted a bit longer, and I admit to feeling my stomach twist and turn as the topic of our possible impact on the planet was discussed further in detail. I'm not that good at looking at things from a business perspective, so I mostly stay out of that particular discussion. I am more concerned about the human mentally aspects of this situation.

'Generally people are stubborn sheep, with plenty of reckless, destructive and outright crazy elements mixed in. There is always some civil unrest when new things are introduced. This time, it's something new from another planet! This isn't a new can of worms, it's a whole tanker of worms! Although, … I imagine that most people wouldn't bother to go to the coldest regions to protest, even if they could freely do so. Cowards and pretenders will stick to blabbing into a microphone from a warm home.' I shake my head, thinking about all the shit, people are capable of doing.

'There are plenty of disgusting human beings in the world. Some, less so than others.' I think back to my history with Kate. My tormentor from school. Was it the price for meeting Lady Mari? Just bad people being bad? Was it my own weakness that allowed it to carry on? Is there one reason or a web of thousands of barely related things? '`Sigh. I'm getting caught up in my head. Well… I take solace that she had the guts to apologize in the end, even if it was way overdue and mostly because we are trusting each other with our lives in the dungeon. I imagine that some people wouldn't be able to do even that.'

There is another thing I wanted to ask. "Meiko: While we have some privacy, I wanted to ask everyone's thoughts on the chef's matter… Should we insist he stays behind after this floor? We will gain the strength to move forward, but he is barely able to keep up even now."

There is a contemplative pause and a silent conversation.

"Mari: There are risks and benefits to doing either. I need more time to come to a conclusion."

"Kate: Same… Though, I will add what Mari didn't want to voice out loud. IF and ONLY IF we find ourselves in a situation that comes down to: one or all… We won't hesitate on choosing the odd one out."

I glance at Lady Mari, she is wearing an expression of someone bitting down on a lemon, but doesn't say a word in refusal.

Logically, it is a sound argument. Anything can happen on an alien planet inside a monster producing factory. I can't find it in myself to exclaim that it will never come down to it. 'If…If the choice is between taking a step or giving a push… What will I do? Would I take the step and leave my Lady in possible danger, or give a push to another and convince myself that I'll do a better job of protecting everyone else than they ever could?'

"Kate: It's not something that may ever happen, or it could. I.. would rather we are strong and carefully enough to not be forced into that situation. Haa… Forget about it until we reach the next floor, by then, we may have a better answer for you, Meiko."

I silently nod. It's been a long time since I last doubted my own character. 'It was foolish of me to assume that everyone else hasn't though about it on their own. Now I brought the mood down. I guess this too needs time. Sorry.'

Soon we get out and join the rest for lunch. It is delicious, but some different meat would be nice for a change. 'Maybe there will be a whole sea floor underground and monster fish? How would we deal with that? I doubt my strength will be much of use underwater. Harpoons?'

My stomach is making me imagine new delicacies that may come soon. 'Fish dishes made by chef Valentine would turn out great, I'm sure of it. We should go shopping for some fresh fish and ask him to cook it. He would appreciate having some too.'

The rest of the meal passed with pleasant conversations and light drafts for our next moves.

'We are slowly growing into a big family… Well, almost all of us.' Chef Valentine is still acting more like an acquaintance and focuses on cooking and serving the tables. 'Perhaps it's because there are only women here and he feels uncomfortable to stick so close to us? I don't think anyone had any problems with his behaviour or personality as of late. Hm… Am I overthinking again?'

`Sigh, someone does need to do all that work and none of us are very good in the kitchen. It will sort itself out soon enough, somehow.