Chapter 36: The Destination and The Magic Tools

After storing a large amount of spiders in my item box, I jumped high again and flew toward Herrera to see what was going on.

From the distance, I could see the monsters withdrawing from the town.

It seemed that the spiders were the Boss after all.

I wanted to go to the Guild to report it. It was a short walk from the town’s entrance. However, I did not pass through the gate, since I landed on the Guild’s grounds. I hoped people wouldn’t say that I was a smuggler by arriving this way. Was even there a possibility of someone accusing me of smuggling? Perhaps not, since this was a town, and not a country after all.

Besides, the gate at this town was not as alert as it was in the gate at Ain. It felt rather normal.

Moreover, wasn’t this Guild a bit energetic? Or was there still a problem?

When I reported the results of the battle inside the Guild, the receptionist sent me to the branch manager’s office.

I felt like I’ve been to the branch manager’s office quite a few times already.

「So, I heard that there were 208 Giant Spider Crabs. Is that true?」

「Yes, that’s true. Shall I show you the corpses? 」

「No. I’m not wondering if it’s true or not, because that information is also written on your Guild card. It’s just my way of talking since I am surprised.」

How convenient.

「I prepared a reward for the time being. It’s a small reward even though you did an amazing work. But I have many things going on, so please accept this much.」

That said, I was given 2 large gold coins. Even though I still had to sell half of the Metal Lizard, this reward was still more than double than that of the Metal Lizard’s subjugation. There was no problem whatsoever.

「What happened to the corpses? The meat of the Giant Spider Crab is delicious. You see, it’s a relatively premium ingredient, and you can sell them if you want.」

Did they eat that thing? Was there something edible between the spider’s head and crab’s legs? It was true that people on Earth ate crabs, but spiders… Well, the Snow Crab* was also known as a Spider Crab because it resembled a spider. Anyway.

There were people on Earth who were told to eat anything other than the table.

「I have all of them in the item box, so I can sell one to you. How much can you afford?」

「How about 70,000 Tael? 」

「It is fine. By the way, do these things happen a lot? I feel like I’ve been seeing weak monsters being driven away lately.」

I’ve encountered a Metal Lizard, a spider swarm, and even irregular monsters.

There was no possibility that once every 10 years, or even 100 years, something would trigger odd occurrences… Or so I thought.

「Yeah, it’s rare, but it has been over 200 years since then. Some say that the frequency is gradually increasing, but I think it is within the range of bias, because once it happens, it will not happen for a while.」

「What do you mean? 」

「At least until now, this type of incidents have never happened in a row in just one place, so there is no guarantee that it will continue.」

「I see. Well, I’m thinking of leaving this town. Do you have any suggestions?」

My weapons were complete. The business talks had also ended. I had the issue with Catherine, but…It was not a reason to stay in this town.

What remained was my armor. It would be convenient if she were able to make magic tools, but I could not wait without knowing when it would happen.

「Well, if you are confident in your abilities, there is a place where you can raise your rank. The place I’m talking about has many short-term escort requests for only one day. The reward is double than that of a normal escort request that last a week.」

Just one day as an escort was the double pay as opposed to a whole week… Did that mean those requests were dangerous ones?

For example, 『Run through the dragons’ lair with your luggage! 』

「What kind of town is that? And it’s obviously not an ordinary request, is it?」

「Decibator. It is a frontline city in the middle of the battlefield between people and monsters. Between Decibator and the fortified city of Photoren is located a narrow peninsula. People from these strong cities try to eliminate fearsome monsters as much as possible, because Decibator blocks the path along with Photoren behind it. Due to the nature of this conflict, strong monsters appear at a reasonable frequency between Decibator and Photoren, so escort requests are a reasonable risk, and about 10% of the people doing it do not come back. Moreover, about 20% of the people leave their luggage on the way and withdraw. That’s the degree of danger.」

Super scary. Why did I have to go to such a place?

「That’s a bit… I don’t want to die yet… 」

「If you’re an escort, you’ll be fine. 10% will die, but it is the result of a bad escort or the result of someone trying to seek a large fortune without being properly prepared. It means that, if there are three people with the ability of C-rank or higher, it is often possible to withdraw. It means the survival rate is not bad under these circumstances.」

…Often, he said.

It meant that there were times when that didn’t happen…

「There’s a possibility that withdrawal may fail, right?」

「If you’re a group of three C-rank adventurers, then there’ll be no problem, since one of them is actually you, and you defeated around 200 Giant Spider Crabs alone. It’s impossible to have a single C-rank adventurer do the job. In fact, those who do the job from the B-rank usually gather six people. The numbers are limited because if you fight in a narrow alley with a group, it will be tough to move. I think you will manage it without an issue, since your strength clearly exceeds the A-rank. Besides, if you go to Decibator and deal with a horde of powerful monsters, you will receive the world’s top rank.」

「Ehh… 」

I thought I was relatively strong, but be considered as one of the best in the world?

Anyway, it would certainly be possible to withdraw if it got too perilous. I could avoid most attacks, and I could just fly in the sky and run away.

Catherine was also with me. But if she proved to be a hindrance, I could sell her in Photoren.

Actually, to be honest, I was not used to the feeling of buying and selling people, ‘cause they were human beings like me. However, it was pointless to worry about this since I happened to own a slave.

This place was a different world, and Japanese common sense did not work here. I could even eat the Green Wolf. If I were to eat a wolf in Japan, I would certainly get a large collection of prejudices and anger.

「Well, I can go then. My journey won’t be interesting if I stay here for long.」

After all, it felt good to be able to fly in the sky and escape at any time. I could afford it.

If I failed to be a proper escort, my karma could drop and I could become a criminal. But of course, I would try fulfilling the requests without doing anything wrong.

Well, in reality, if I breached the law, I would be criminal in one shot. Reality was ruthless.

「I see. Then, I must thank you. Actually, a while ago, the headquarters told me that the situation of the Decibator battle was getting worse, and I was told to gather strength. However, even if there are adventurers who are temporarily staying here for weapon procurement, there are also people whom I need on my Guild. I was in a bit of trouble.」

Was that so?

「Is there anything I can do in the Guild over there to gather strength?」

「No, there’s nothing. In fact, that Guild doesn’t bind adventurers unless it’s an emergency. It is better for you to destroy the monsters you see in the process even if it only means the salvage of the thing you transport. Of course, the greatest deals are those who handle the subjugation requests at a high pace on the frontlines, but I do not request that much.」

Should I consider it too?

「Okay, I’ll think about the subjugation requests when I arrive. I don’t know how strong the monsters are, so it will depend on what I see. By the way, how do I get there?」

「I have a good escort request; it’s about two weeks to Photoren, with daily three meals.」

Therefore, I decided to accept the proposal. It seemed there weren’t much people who would accept it. It was also okay to take Catherine with me. But departure date had to wait until the blacksmith completed my armor.

The Guild conveniently imposed everything on me, but it felt as if we had the same interests.

When I gave the spider to the branch manager, I received and deposited the money. Then, I returned to the inn from the Guild. It was already getting dark outside.

I visited Catherine’s room to hear the progress of the manufacture practice of magic tools. I did not think that she was treated as a slave anymore.

Well, I did not find any merit to make her treatment worse. I was not a horrible guy. Besides, I had a decent amount of money now, so I could treat her well too.

「How is the process with the magic tools? Can you make them? 」

「Yes, it seems easier than what I heard before. But it’s impossible now because I need magic stones to make magic tools.」

Magic stones, huh. Could we use the magic stones of the spiders?

「I have a corpse from the Giant Spider Crab. Can you use it?」

「Hmm, well… I think it can be used, but a magic stone is something expensive. You will receive good money if you sell it. So, is it okay to use such a thing? And I don’t know if it will succeed. Are you sure that you want to waste a magic stone for this?」

「Yeah, it’s okay. Besides, I have many corpses in my item box since it is a little big.」

「A little, you say…? Well, if it’s okay with you, then I don’t see any problem… What should I try making then? I think the disposable type has higher performance.」

「What do you mean? 」

「It means things that are possible to achieve. In other words, the ones that are disposable and practical are barriers, explosions, floating, and acceleration.」

「Can you explain the performance? 」

「Yes, the barrier is a fixed barrier that can withstand attacks of monsters of the same rank as the material, and the size is a circle with a radius of about 5 m. An explosion is something that explodes when you insert magical power, but it detonates using a magic wire or something alike. It has a radius of about 10 m and it is powerful enough to kill a person within that radius. Floating is commonly used to float in the air at a height of about 10 m for about 5 minutes. Acceleration is about the same as Wind Magic and you can maintain it for about 1 hour.」

Hmm, all of them seemed to be quite convenient.

Since I had no magic wire, I decided to exclude the explosion. My firepower was sufficient. I could use both floating and accelerating by myself.

There was no way that I wanted Catherine to make them since this was her first time, but I couldn’t think of a situation where Catherine stood on the frontlines in the first place.

It was a barrier by elimination.

The escort thing may be easier to do and it won’t hurt to have it.

「I choose barrier because I can use the others without magic tools. But why is such a convenient thing not used?」

「I understand. It is not used much because it’s expensive. Moreover, it is difficult to handle and the duration is short. It can be reused if its performance is reduced, but even so, a human’s life is shortened, and even if a person with a lot of magical power replenishes it, its life will be further shortened. A large company that can prepare a large number of people to replenish the power of a barrier is used for a campsite, and large amounts of explosive magic tools are stockpiled in some branches of the Guild.」

So it was all about money in the end, huh. Well, it couldn’t be helped if one thought that the material alone cost around 100,000 yen. It was not something that could be thrown away that easily.

I wouldn’t throw it away if it weren’t for the military. Well, the military were the Guilds in this world.

After these endeavors, my armor was complete and the day of departure came.

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*Chionoecetes opilio is a species of Snow Crab, predominantly an epifaunal crustacean native to shelf depths in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and north Pacific Ocean.

Vol.2 COMPLETE! Thank you for reading!!!

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