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TL: ALT
Chapter 67 – Day 12 of Exploration
Early this morning, when I went to check the traps I had set in the river, I found that two large catfish had gotten into them.
Yesterday, Jennifer was burned, so I hadn’t been able to check the traps. I was afraid they might have been destroyed, but I was glad I had reinforced them.
For breakfast, we grilled the big catfish with herbs.
“It tastes a little wild, but it’s delicious.”
“I’m glad it’s not crocodile meat!”
Chel is also pleased.
“I set this trap even though my hair got all frizzy! Everyone, please enjoy the taste!”
Jennifer’s eyes are red.
“Oh, good job, good job!”
“N-n-nice fight!”
Jennifer’s frizzy hair was coated with oil made from the seeds of a camellia-like flower with a nice smell. Flies gathered around her head, but she said it was inevitable.
“Oh, I finished the coat too. It’s just really heavy. Makyo, try it on.”
Hel handed me a crocodile skin coat without sleeves. It felt really stiff, and I wasn’t sure if I could really wear it, but I tried to put it on using my arm strength.
“It doesn’t feel like I’m wearing anything. It feels like I’m in a cage. Does it get softer when I move?”
“T-t-the Rock Crocodile is hard to begin with, so it was hard work for both of us to cut it up. W-w-we even had to make the needles ourselves.”
“The reason it doesn’t have sleeves is because it’s too hard. It may need to be soaked in a more suitable chemical for a longer period of time.”
“I see. Well, there’s no need to rush. Let’s try different chemicals. I’ll go and see how the monsters in that marsh handle it.”
“Oh, please do. Oh, no… well, never mind.”
“Is something wrong, Hel?”
“Because I’m working for nothing again. Makyo is totally in control of the pace.”
“There’s nothing else to do in this demonic land anyway.”
Chel patted Hel on the shoulder.
“Still, it feels like we’re the only ones losing. Makyo, find a way to lift my curse in exchange for my work.”
Her entire body is covered in tattoos that contain the curse, and as a result, she is unable to use magic.
“Isn’t the curse sealed?”
“There is a demon tribe and a freak who creates magic here, but I can’t do any research because of the curse. I can do without magic, but when I see the possibilities of magic every day like this, it makes me tingle.”
Hel smiled like a mad scientist.
“Hmph, impossible.”
Chel interrupted with a half-smile.
“Chel, what’s impossible?”
“Hel’s curse is a curse of the heart. Makyo can’t break it.”
“The heart, you say…! Even I didn’t think of that…”
When Chel said this, Hel also seemed unable to hide her surprise.
“Makyo, let’s spar in the evening. All of us.”
“Sure, but is there any point?”
“There is, there is!”
“I want to join too! I don’t want to have a haircut like this anymore!”
Jennifer is also motivated.
“I haven’t trained in martial arts. I’m just doing it.”
“That is good. It’s a little difficult.”
When Chel said that, Sylvia nodded with a snort next to her.
“Okay. So only Chel and Sylvia are going on the expedition today?”
Only Chel and Sylvia are preparing a lunch box for the expedition. Hel is going to sleep now. Jennifer looks for oil to put on her hair.
“Don’t get a rash from picking strange plants.”
I said, a little hopefully.
“I know.”
Last night, I gave Sylvia the blood of a Golden Bat.
“Th-There’s a big cave to the south.”
The map she drew on the parchment was difficult to understand, but when she explained the symbols and such, it made sense. “W-w-well, it was difficult to draw the map because I had to draw it as if it were from the perspective of the monster’s head.” She said.
“All right then. Let’s go to the cave first and then watch the monster in the marsh.”
“Got it!”
Sylvia nodded her head vigorously.
As we moved forward, Chel and I flanked Sylvia.
In our hands were machetes made from the bones of monsters. We were able to kill most of the plants and monsters that attacked us.
“Speaking of which, how did Chel know that Hel was under a curse?”
I asked as I cut down a vine.
“Because she was running out of magic power from the leeches in the marsh. And she was wearing a coat made of Rock Crocodile skin, right?”
Chel asked Sylvia.
“N-n-no, it was too hard to do any detailed work with.”
“Is this the leather you had trouble cutting?”
Chel took out a small piece of crocodile skin and showed it to her.
“W-w-why did you bring that?”
“I picked it up because I thought it would be good for a small item bag. Makyo, try touching it.”
The small crocodile skin was just as hard as the coat.
“It’s no different from the coat.”
“Try putting some magic power into it.”
“Oh, I see. The Rock Crocodile was weak against attacks that used magic power.”
“Most likely, Hel is using magic power without realizing it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to make the coat.”
“So you’re saying she’s using magic power, but she thinks she can’t use magic?”
“That’s right!”
“I-i-is magic power the same as magic?”
“Eh? Isn’t it?”
Sylvia says that magic is the act of causing a phenomenon by following the laws of magic and learning the systems and techniques of each school.
“Don’t say things that are so hard to understand!”
“For demon tribes, the use of magic power is magic.”
“Maybe elves have a different concept of magic.”
“Eehh, so I said something bad about Hel~.”
Chel said, swinging her machete around, lashing at the centipede monster.
The large cave where the Golden Bat lived was located about two hours south of the ruins. The entrance to the cave was large, and even an adult with outstretched arms could fit through.
Amidst the dense growth of plants and trees, flocks of Golden Bats constantly filled a large gaping hole in the center.
“Are we going in?”
“I at least want to know how big it is. This place could be our base one day.”
I asked Chel to use her magic fireball to illuminate the depths of the cave.
“Then be ready to kill the Golden Bats at any time.”
When Chel told me this, I concentrated my magic power and put it into the machete. The bones of the monster began to glow white due to their high conductivity of magic power.
Chel nodded and released the fireball into the cave.
Kyakyakyakyakya!
The group of Golden Bats began to make warning noises and a racket.
They flew into the bushes where we were hiding, so I cut them in half with my machete. As if that was the signal, hundreds of Golden Bats came out of the cave and flew away.
“It’s easier to get in now.”
A snake monster crawled on the ground at the entrance to the cave, but it didn’t show any hostility and just slithered past. Inside, the slope went down, and there were many rough-looking rocks.
“Are these the remains of a volcano?”
“Chel, how do you know?”
“It kind of looks like it, doesn’t it?”
Sylvia said, picking up a fallen rock and saying, “M-m-maybe you’re right.”
Chel lights a fire on her fingertip as they continue through the dark cave.
The smell of Golden Bat droppings is terrible, and all three of them cover their mouths with cloth. The cave curves gently as it descends. There are several side holes that seem to be the nests of Golden Bats and snake monsters.
“We can’t go any further.”
The deepest part is filled with groundwater, so we can’t go any further without diving in.
“The slope isn’t too steep, so it might be a good place to take refuge.”
“R-r-refuge?!”
“The last time the giant magic beast appeared, the cave we were living in collapsed. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“Next time, let’s run away to the desert!”
“Living in tents in the desert? That might be more reliable. No, you should get out of the demonic land first.”
“I-i-is it still impossible to capture it and ride it?”
“It is impossible at this stage.”
“Impossible!”
We must prepare to escape early. Exploring is good, but we should hurry and find a route to the desert.
Slithering, slithering.
As we talked, countless small snakes crawled out of the underground water.
We cut off their heads with our machetes as they jumped at us, but there were just too many of them. What’s more, they opened their mouths and spat out some kind of liquid. Are they poisonous snakes?
“Retreat! Let’s get out of here for now.”
Before I knew it, I was covered in mud and had come out of the cave. The snakes had stopped attacking us, but the leather armor was now covered in a sticky red liquid, either snake blood or the poison they had sprayed at us.
We went back to the river and washed our clothes, then took a lunch break at the ruins of Lamia. After eating our packed lunches, we took turns taking naps. Sylvia, who usually stays up late, sleeps soundly.
“We need to prepare for an enemy we don’t notice. What would Chel do?”
We had a strategy meeting next to Sylvia, who was asleep.
“If we don’t notice it, we can’t react to it.”
“Is it camouflage? It’s possible. P.J.’s notebook also said there was a tree monster called the Fake Mangrove. But leeches and mosquitoes come near you because of the smell or the carbon dioxide you exhale, right?”
“Is that so? Then should we put on mud?”
“Even though we just washed our clothes… but I guess we have no choice.”
Chel and I began to smear mud over our bodies. The mouths of small creatures are small, so a certain thickness of mud should provide some protection from attack. We also tore leaves from the trees and glued them to the mud. From a distance, the brown and green colors would make it look like we were camouflaged.
“Maybe it’s better not to paint in straight lines. It’s better to make it look natural.”
We tried this and that, with Chel hiding behind me.
Sylvia, who had woken up, was surprised and said, “W-w-what are you doing?!” but when I explained it to her, she understood and started putting mud and leaves on her body in the same way.
We somehow managed to disguise ourselves and went to the marsh I had visited the other day.
“This time, we’re going to watch the marshland monsters. There’s a swamp near the cave where we live, but the vegetation is different, and the aggression of the monsters is different. Let’s be careful.”
“Roger!”
“U-u-understood.”
When plants or monsters approach, move while hiding in the shadows of trees or grass as much as possible. But since we weren’t used to it, we were spotted right away.
We used our bone machetes and moved in the shortest and fastest way possible. It was difficult not to get blood on us.
“I didn’t realize that being an assassin was such hard work. I thought all you had to do was kill important people in their sleep.”
“There’s no such thing as an easy job.”
Sylvia, who had been a noblewoman until recently, muttered, “S-s-so carefree.”
When we reached the marsh, the two who knew nothing stepped on the ground that was sinking too much, looked at me, and said, “What is this?”
“This is the marsh. Think of the water flowing under the ground. Let’s hide here.”
There was a bird’s nest under a big tree, so we used it as an observation hut. The smell must have given us away because a monster turtle that looked heavier than a grown man attacked us. When we fought back with a machete, it retreated and began to barricade itself inside.
“Chel, are you going to eat it?”
“No, if you kill it and don’t eat it right away, the turtle will start to smell.”
I don’t really understand, but it seems to be difficult to eat the soft-shelled turtle monster. I don’t want anyone to get any ideas, so I’ll make it go quickly.
“You’re in the way of my observations!”
I kicked it away with all my magic power. It flew to a colony of Fake Mangrove trees, and suddenly it got noisy.
The striped arachnids came out and fought with the hermit crabs that were as big as houses. The things we thought were trees in front of us turned into birds and flew away. A scythe of a giant water bug came out of the ground and dragged a panicking field boar into the water. All the monsters began to move at once.
“Makyo, leech!”
Chel burned the leech on my neck with magic. It was hot for a moment, but no blood was sucked out of me.
Just as I was relieved, a bird imitating a tree unleashed wind magic, and countless leeches fell with a thud as the trees around us shook.
“Whoa!”
“Ugh!”
“H-h-hyyiiiee!”
There were so many of them that we had to have Chel burn our entire bodies and spray us with a healing potion.
“I think we should give up our observation today.”
The two nodded in agreement. All three of us had our hair standing on end.
As we were leaving, I took one last look at the area where the Fake Mangrove was growing and saw that Gibier Deer had been attacked by the mosquito monster and was slowly falling over.
“A-a-as I thought, the demonic land is dangerous.”
As Sylvia said, the deep interior of the demonic land is dangerous. If we had just passed through the forest, I wouldn’t have thought it would be so dangerous, but maybe it was just a lucky break.
“Maybe we need to be able to run away from monsters at a certain speed to get to the desert.”
I shuddered to think that we might have died many times if we hadn’t been able to shake them off by moving fast.
In the evening, we returned to our cave and spent some time training together, reviewing how to confront the monsters. We focused more on how to kill the monsters with a single blow than on tactics for dealing with humans.
We studied the characteristics of the monsters and the parts of their bodies that could be used as weapons, such as their fangs and claws, and explored ways to attack the parts that didn’t move.
“Hey, Hel, can you use magic power?”
“No, I don’t think I can control magic power itself.”
As she said this, Hel showed me her tattoo.
“But you were out of magic power.”
“Oh, that’s right, now that you mention it.”
Hel said this and tried to release the magic from her hands by chanting a spell, but nothing came out.
“I guess I really am cursed.”
“No, you released magic power, so I think you’re just overthinking the concept of the spell.”
“Shall we try to fight the slime in the stream at the entrance?”
Hel looked at me as I made the suggestion.
“No, the slime isn’t that strong. I thought I’d just check the magic power in my body while it keeps draining away.”
“I see, it’s worth a try.”
“W-w-well, Makyo and Chel’s magic is outlaw magic.”
Sylvia suddenly started to speak.
“T-t-they use magic by moving the magic power within themselves. T-t-the kind of magic that uses incantations and chants is the magic of magicians who borrow the power of spirits, and it’s different from the magic circle carved into Hel’s body.”
“I see. Maybe my curse is just a guess. Thank you, Sylvia.”
“I-i-it’s okay. I’m going to sleep.”
Sylvia finished her training and went straight to bed.
“Hey everyone, your hair is all frizzy now, and we’re starting to look like a party of adventurers!”
Jennifer said enthusiastically, but both Chel and I had our burnt ends cut by Hel that night.
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