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TL: ALT
Chapter 177 – Day 8 of Management Life
When I got up from the hard bench that morning, I could smell meat and wild herb soup. It seemed to be coming from the airship in front of me.
I entered without permission and looked around, but I felt lost in the huge ship, so I decided to wait for Lipa on the deck.
The eastern sky, visible from the window, was turning white.
“Makyo-san!”
Lipa emerged from one of the many doors.
“Good morning. I had no idea where I was.”
“I’m glad you didn’t get lost. Breakfast is ready. Please come in.”
Lipa invited me into the ridiculously large airship. He used to work there as a cleaner, so he knew where everything was. There was a small dining room inside with the usual soup made from meat and wild herbs on the table.
“I’ve always wanted to eat here!”
It seemed that Lipa had never been allowed to eat in the dining room before.
“This is careless. The airship could be stolen, and there isn’t a single guard.”
I looked around while eating the soup. There wasn’t a soul in the airship or the station.
“A flying ship isn’t that easy to steal. Just to move it, you’d need a lot of magic stones. There aren’t many magic stones around these days, so no one would even think of stealing the airship.”
“Is that so?”
“Plus, one of the propellers is broken. I’ll show you after we finish eating.”
It had been a while since I’d eaten breakfast at a table, so I carefully drank my tea from a teacup that looked like it would break if I applied even the slightest pressure.
“Isn’t this a bit silly?”
The two of us washed the dishes and got covered in bubbles. I asked Lipa.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Maybe this was a bit too soon for us.”
We left the bag of magic stones in our pockets as payment and quickly left the station.
As we walked down the street, we listened to people’s conversations, but we couldn’t find any information beyond what was in the newspapers.
Magicians and flying carpet men moved around busily. They must have been called out because there were so few magic stones left.
“Let’s go to the civil war site for now.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for Chel-san and the others?”
“It’s fine. If we meet them along the way, we can just give them the news.”
We left the royal capital and headed west on a road lined with horse-drawn carriages. When the trees became denser, we entered the forest and ran at full speed. Before we knew it, we had passed a large hole.
As we passed through towns and villages, the number of carriages gradually decreased, and we began to see more bird people in matching military uniforms. We also saw carriages carrying many soldiers.
The number of valleys and mountains increased, and we veered off the road, but continued westward at our own pace. Even if we strayed from the road, we would eventually reach the place described in the newspaper.
During a break, Lipa asked me, “Do you want some?” He was applying medicinal herbs to his calves. I declined because I wasn’t particularly sore.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m just running, so I’m not wasting any energy. Try running without using your muscles so much. Use your muscles only to get started, and then maintain your speed by channeling your energy into your legs. That should make accelerating easier.”
“Isn’t that frightening?”
It seemed that Lipa was slowing down out of fear.
“It’s because you can’t see it. I think it’s better to focus on one spot than look around, because you can see the terrain better. This isn’t a demonic land. There aren’t any plants that will bite you if you step on them.”
“That’s true.”
After that, Lipa’s running speed increased.
After crossing a suspension bridge over a ravine, we stood on top of a rocky mountain and looked out over the surrounding area. There were many low trees, and we could see far into the distance. We had strayed quite far from the road, but we could see figures in the distance.
“Hello!”
We closed the distance to the figures at once.
“Huh!”
A middle-aged man, dressed like a merchant with a large backpack, looked completely terrified.
“Are you bandits? This is all the money I have.”
The merchant took out a small pouch and showed it to us.
“We don’t want anything. We just have a few questions.”
“Yes…?”
“Is there a civil war going on around here?”
“Yes, but… Are you adventurers on a reconnaissance mission?”
“No, I’m the lord of the demonic land, and I came here out of curiosity.”
“Huh?”
“So, there’s a demonic land spreading out below the northern cliff? I’m the lord of that land.”
“Huh…?”
No matter how many times I explained, the merchant didn’t seem to understand. I turned to Lipa for help.
“Ah, is there a town without regular troops ahead?”
“Yes, there is…”
“Makyo-san, let’s go. I’m sorry for troubling you…”
Led by Lipa, we descended the mountain path and arrived at a village with a small mining site. At the entrance gate, a farmer holding a three-pronged pitchfork stood guard.
“We can’t let suspicious people through. Who are you?”
“I told you, we’re from the demonic land, but you won’t believe me. What should I say?”
“This is suspicious!”
“We’re adventurers.”
“Adventurers? Show me proof!”
I showed him my adventurer card, but it was different from Cliff Garuda’s. He yelled, “You’re a fake!”
“I haven’t updated it, so it might be outdated.”
“Ah, how can we make you believe us?”
“If you hunt something edible, I won’t distrust you.”
The gatekeeper farmer was thin. He probably hadn’t eaten much.
“What’s the matter? Are you hungry? What can you hunt around here?”
I decided to check it out for myself, so I left the village and headed into a forest of low trees. Lipa followed me.
There was a herd of deer with short horns blending in with the trees. Black wolves were hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce. However, the deer had a wide field of vision and would easily spot them.
I jumped forward and touched a deer’s head in midair. The moment I touched it, I spun my magic, and the deer’s head turned upward. While the other deer checked out the commotion, the bones of the deer I had touched snapped with a loud crack.
“Is one enough?”
Before I could answer, Lipa broke the spine of another deer.
“Huh? I already took care of the second one.”
“If you’re hungry, you can eat it.”
I removed the internal organs with my magic cube and threw them at the black wolf. It devoured them greedily.
I returned to the village and showed the two deer to the farmer guarding the gate.
“This is food. Will you believe that we are adventurers?”
The farmer’s mouth fell open, and he nodded vigorously.
After receiving permission to pass, we hurried into the village and went to see the mining site. It was an open-pit mine that had been dug in a spiral pattern. It was so deep that it looked as if a large house could be buried in it.
“Where did you guys come from?”
An old man who was digging asked us.
“Um, from the north.”
“If you’re volunteering as mercenaries, you should go a bit further south.”
“No, I just want to ask a few questions.”
“What is it?”
“Are you mining magic stones?”
“Yeah. But we can’t get any. The flow has completely changed. If we can’t find any here, we might have to go further east to find a mine.”
With that, the old man showed me a meter with a memory function. When he brought it close to me, the meter’s needle swung wildly.
“Are you a magician, brother? You don’t look like one.”
“It might be broken. Are there any magic stone mines in the west?”
“The large deposits there have been depleted. Prices naturally increase when there’s no supply, but the airship company said they wouldn’t buy it even if the price rose. We’re looking for new mines, but there aren’t any.”
So that’s why the rebellion started.
“We’ve known for years that the magic stones would run out, but everyone insisted they were hidden somewhere. What exists will eventually disappear. Even the Earth’s veins change.”
“You mean the flow of magic underground?”
Hel also mentioned the flow of magic.
“Isn’t that what you call it?”
“No, I didn’t even know about it until recently.”
“It’s not important for adventurers. But they say that powerful monsters appear where there are strong flows of magic. It might be useful for adventurers to remember that.”
Could that be the demonic land…?
“Thank you. By the way, what kind of strong monsters are there around here?”
“There are more legends than monsters. In the southeast of Cliff Garuda, there’s a large monster called Nushi. It’s become a tourist spot, but there’s a harpy’s nest to the south right now.”
Harpies are monsters with wings for arms.
“Shall we go?”
“Sure.”
I thanked the old man and gave him some of the best venison.
As we left the village and headed south toward the hills, we heard the sounds of battle. Several balloons were flying overhead.
BANG!
Soldiers riding in balloons dropped bombs on the rocky mountains. Harpies swarmed around the mountains, attacking the balloons, but magicians riding broomsticks and flying carpets defended them.
“That’s strange. The harpies are wearing iron breastplates.”
“Does that mean they’re being controlled?”
“I don’t see any monster users.”
“Isn’t that harpy screaming?”
“If they’re wearing clothes and can speak, that’s a sure sign.”
“Let’s wait until the battle is over. The magicians seem to be reaching their limits.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Lipa and I began preparing healing potions while watching the battle.
Eventually, the soldiers must have run out of bombs because they left with the magicians.
“All right, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
It took us a few seconds to climb the rocky mountain.
As the sun was setting, we found the harpies in a dimly lit cave.
Many of the harpies were injured and bleeding. There were broken bones and burns, and many had burned wings.
The harpies with legs like humans instead of bird claws were shouting and helping the injured. Do the symptoms differ even among harpies with the same disease?
“Enemy attack!”
The harpies who had noticed us cried out.
Before the flock could attack, I examined the harpy who had cried out. I straightened her broken arm and applied healing medicine.
“Ugh… What…?”
“Are you okay? We should treat the seriously injured first. Has anyone been hit in the abdomen?”
“Guh.
“Not good!”
The sound of blood being coughed up and people crying out could be heard from deep within the cave.
“Stop!”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to heal them.”
Dodging the harpies’ attacks, I went deeper into the cave and examined a harpy with a piece of iron stuck in its abdomen. Using my magic, I saw inside its body and discovered that its intestines were about to spill out.
I pulled out the iron fragment and cast a healing spell. I rarely use this spell on others, but I repaired the damaged blood vessels as Chel had taught me, making sure that no air could enter. Then, I returned the intestines to the abdomen and poured healing potion over them.
I think an antidote is necessary, but Hel and the others will arrive tomorrow, so we’ll manage somehow.
“Next!”
The deeper we went into the cave, the more severely injured people we found. There were combat units and healers outside. These weren’t ordinary monsters; they were patients with the Beast Demon Disease.
I pushed the harpy’s bulging eyes back into their sockets, reattached the feathers that were about to fall off its shoulders, and applied a healing potion to its burned skin. From midway through, the harpies seemed to realize that we weren’t enemies and watched silently.
“Do we have any medicinal herbs left?”
“A little.”
“Good. The rest will be taken care of by the women who will arrive soon. Please ask them to handle the antidotes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. May I ask you one thing? The people here weren’t born from monsters, were they?”
“””…”””
Silence was the only response. That was answer enough.
“Thank you for surviving.”
The sun set behind the western mountains.
Lipa and I left the cave and set up camp at the foot of the mountain.
We had allies among the dungeon dwellers. Living outside the demonic land was possible after all. I couldn’t help but smile.
As we roasted freshly hunted deer meat over the campfire, we noticed harpies clinging to the mountainside and watching us.
“If you want some, help yourselves! We could make soup if we had a pot, but we don’t have one, do we?”
After calling out for a while, the harpies flew down with pots and plates of their own.
The soup, made with wild herbs and meat seasoned only with salt, seemed to be a hit with the harpies.
“Is it that good?”
Only the sound of chewing came back. Clearly, they knew we weren’t enemies, but they were still a bit suspicious of us.
They wanted to feed the injured, so I gave them the pot.
After a while, night fell.
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