Book 3: Chapter 1
Book 3: Chapter 1
「Reiji! I will leave the rest up you!」
「Okay!」
A brown giant ran through deep in the forest. It’s called a Giga Boar, which is as big as a 2ton truck, and can easily mow down small trees.
Its coat was far from “beautiful”, and muddy, probably due to wallowing in mud. Its hair was as hard as a wire, so it doesn’t come off easily even when crashing against tree trunks.
And the person sprinting towards the Gigaboar from the front was – me.
I pushed both hands forward and created a huge air ball with【Wind Magic】.
「I won’t let you through!!!」
As soon as I shot the air ball, it hit straight between the Gigaboar’s eyebrows.
「BUMOOOOOOO!!」
The Gigaboar lost its pace, fell forward, and came rolling and flying towards me carried by the momentum.
This is just like those scenes. At the end of a car chase, which is common in action movies, the car rolls over and flies.
「Yop!」
I arched my body backwards and dodged it at the last minute. At the same time, I created an air bed with【Wind Magic】and softly killed the Gigaboar’s momentum. In addition to that, I activated【Earth Magic】to soften the soil to reduce the impact of landing because a hard landing will mess up the Gigaboar’s meat.
「FUGO!! FUGOGO!!」
「Oops, you haven’t fainted yet… quite sturdy, aren’t you?」
It seems that the Gigaboar broke its leg when it fell, and due to the soft soil it couldn’t get back up again. So it started rolling around and thrashing, not allowing me to get close easily. But that’s where magic comes in. Using【Earth Magic】, I made a cone-shaped stone with a sharp tip, and shot it between the eyebrows where I hit it with【Wind Magic】earlier.
「Fugo… oo…」
And the Gigaboar died.
The body was still twitching after death. Probably rigor mortis.
「H-Heeey… Have you taken care of it…?」
Hearing the timid voice, I raised my hand.
「I’m done! Over here, Muge-san!」
Then came Muge-san, accompanied by an engine sound.
It was a metal body a size smaller than a ramen stall that produced such a sound. It had 4 wheels made of iron, and the black, iron car body was rusted.
While puffing out black smoke from its chimney, it proceeded at a speed slightly faster than a human walking.
However, it was not designed to carry humans, as most of the car body was an engine. Muge-san was maneuvering it from behind.
「Ohh, it’s huge.」
Muge-san’s golden eyes blinked. The pupils were vertical like a cat, and the body surface was ocher-colour with spotted brown patterns.
He, a demi-human with close resemblance to a lizard, is a citizen of the Lev Magic Empire.
「Can my Neko-chan carry this Gigaboar?」
「Let’s just try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll remove the internal organs and lighten it.」
「No, no! There are many requests wishing to eat the entrails, so let’s do our best. Ok, Neko-chan?」
The rusty black steam car seems to be called “Neko-chan”, and Muge-san loved it. He said that the car’s mood changes depending on the day, but of course that didn’t make sense to me.
Muge-san came down from the car, wearing a leather jumpsuit, but he had no tail coming out from his back. When he took the chains connected to Neko-chan and wrapped it around Gigaboar and operated Neko-chan, it started moving while making a “Hii Hii” noise.
「Neko-chan seems to be in a bad mood, but she’s still doing her best!」
「I-Is that so…?」
After that, it took about 15 minutes to exit out of the forest—we came out to a sparse grassland, with patches of reddish-brown ground exposed intermittently.
The blazing sun was glaring hot. In terms of climate, it should still be early summer, but the heat was like in midsummer. It’s cool under shade due to being less humid, but… there’s no shade to be found anywhere.
A caravan consisting of 50 people was taking a break on a wide road running through the grassland, and that was where we were headed. The caravan wasn’t made of steam cars, just a series of giant carriages.
From a distance away, Dante-san was waving towards me.
「—Is that a Gigaboar?」
「—It’s huge! They were able to hunt that?」
「—I think we can eat some delicious meat tonight.」
I heard the happy voices of the caravan people.
「Reiji-kun〜, over here.」Mimino-san hollered.
「Yes, coming.」
I headed towards where Mimino-san and Non-san were.
Both Mimino-san and Non-san seemed to be taking a break under a parasol. When Dante-san and I returned, they served us tea.
I finished the delicious warm herbal tea in one gulp.
Ahh, delicious tea after a hard work is the best.
「…Aah, I wanna taste some beer.」Dante-san murmured.
「That you will have to endure until we reach the next town.」I said.
「Rather, dad, you shouldn’t drink for a while. All the money you earn keeps going into the liquor bill.」
「N-No, it’s just… alcohol tastes so delicious after the petrification is gone. Basically, it’s Reiji’s fault.」
Huh?
「Dad… do you want to get petrified again?」
「J-Just a joke. Right, Reiji?」
「Don’t drag me into this please…」
I feel that Dante-san is becoming more and more like Zerry-san.
And said Zerry-san was sleeping in the carriage. She said she was gambling with the other caravan people until late night and won. But the truth of the matter is, her debt towards me keeps increasing, so she’s actually losing. It might be time to tighten the leash on her…
「Besides, wouldn’t that Gigaboar fetch a good price?」Dante-san said, expectantly.
It was our daily routine to hunt during breaks and earn a small amount of money, but today we were lucky to obtain such a big game.
「Reiji-san, Dante-san, let’s start the Gigaboar assessment.」Muge-san said as he arrived, and we headed towards him.
The Lev Magic Empire is located in a small land between the Saint Knight Kingdom and the Kruvan Holy Kingdom, in the undeveloped land “Canion”. But because it is surrounded by steep mountains on three sides, it has prevented the invasion of foreign enemies.
The Lev citizens, a special race who cannot use skill orbs, are reptile demi-humans. They have been persecuted many times in the past due to not being able to use skill orbs that are commonplace in this world, and as a result, they have shut themselves within this limited land.
Looking at it from another perspective, it is quite difficult for outsiders like us to enter the country— so, it was a pleasure to encounter a caravan with the few in number Lev citizens, and to get to know them.
No matter how exclusive it is, it is not bad to do business with other countries, and Lev citizens who venture outside, have high communication skills.
「I-Is it really okay to pay this much?」
「It’s fine. From here, it’s only a short distance to the Empire, and there are no Gigaboars in the Empire, so fresh meat can sell for really high.」
The gold coins piled up in front of me and Dante-san were Lev Empire’s currency, and each one should be worth about 50,000yen(500usd). This alone comes close to 100 gold coins.
「…Hooray!!!」Dante-san cheered, with a guts pose. But… I wonder how much of this Non-san will actually give him…
「Does Silver Balance plan to leave the Empire as soon as the Adventurer Guild’s work is done?」
「No, there are people I really want to meet there… so I’ll try to apply for a stay.」
「I see, I see. Recently, I’ve been able to meet people in the empire smoothly, so I hope your meeting goes well too.」
「Thank you.」
「But seriously, the skills with which you hunted this Gigaboar was truly brilliant.」
「What about Neko-chan?」
「She’s sleeping over there.」
The silent steam car was parked behind the carriage.
The Lev Magic Empire started with a steam engine using coal, and is advancing the motive power using magic stones. Most of the magic airships distributed around the world are made in Lev.
We collected the gold coins on the table and returned to Mimino-san. Sure enough, Dante-san’s share was withdrawn by Non-san, and there stood one heavy, dispirited warrior.
(We should be arriving soon.)
It has been 15 days since leaving the Holy City of Kruvanyu, the capital of the Kruvan Holy Kingdom. We will be reaching the national border between the Holy Kingdom and the Lev Magic Empire in about two days.
When I was working as a mine slave, he departed knowledge to me for free — the old man Hinga who can be called my “teacher” in this world. Just before his death, old man Hinga entrusted me with the “Phosphorus stone” that had been placed in his molars.
The old man said I would be able to meet his granddaughter, Lulusha-san, with this–or I could even sell it if I wished.
Although various things happened after that, one of my two goals is to meet Lulusha-san and to convey the final hour of old man Hinga. Another goal is to meet my big sister, Lark.
Lulusha-san being in the Lev Magic Empire is information I obtained in the Holy Kingdom. I don’t know where exactly in the Empire or what the situation is, but fortunately the Empire is small, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find her.
(It’s depressing to think about old man Hinga, but still…)
I was the only person who witnessed his final hour in Sixth Mine. I think I should tell someone other than myself that he was alive. After all, from the perspective of El-san, the high priest of the Holy Kingdom, old man Hinga was “a leader in deciphering ancient documents” about the “Covenant” and the “Other World”, and the study of “skill orb” – a professor who was called the “Brains of Forsha Kingdom”.
「Reiji-kun, it’s time to depart.」
「Ah, yes.」
Mimino-san called me to get into the carriage.
Alright then, let’s go. To a new land!