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Chapter 197 – Day 28 of Management Life : Each Rescue Story Day 5
I had been observing the slime since the morning when soldiers from the army arrived with a wagon.
“This food is being transported to Midgard! It would take us too long, so we’ve decided to bring several days’ worth!”
They seemed to be soldiers who had also been to the training grounds in the demonic land. I didn’t know them well, but they asked, “Can we participate in the training again?”
“Thanks. Leave it there.”
The wagon was loaded with a large number of sacks of wheat.
“Give me a hand.”
I called the elf guards, and the three of us carried it to the cave.
The path was clear, and the Green Tiger followed me around, begging to be petted. There was no danger of being attacked by monsters.
We made several trips between the stream at the entrance and the cave, and we stored all the wheat sacks in the warehouse.
This would supply Midgard with bread for several days.
“Do you need anything? I’m the only one here, so help yourself.”
There was a large amount of dried meat in the warehouse. I gave some to the elf guards as payment.
“Are you sure!?”
“Wow! You’re so generous!”
The guards happily returned home, carrying crocodile jerky as big as a human torso.
“If they come close to dying a few more times, maybe they’ll get used to this demonic land.”
I patted the Green Tiger’s jaw and belly as I watched the guards leave.
The immediate problem was the Nushi in the magic stone mine. Without the technology to extract the magic power, mining the magic stones was impossible. I observed the slime, but it was different from the Nushi I had seen in Cliff Garuda. The slime rotated its exterior, but the Nushi rotated its interior.
The Nushi in the magic stone mine was probably both.
“Worrying about it won’t help,” I said.
I baked bread, made a sandwich with meat and wild greens, and headed to the crocodile park to look for clues. Perhaps the park wasn’t well-managed; the Rock Crocodiles were getting plump. When their bellies were full, they didn’t attack.
Moss and rock had grown on their scales, so I scrubbed them vigorously with a palm fiber brush.
They stayed still while screaming, “Goo!” or “Goo-oo!”
Once I finished with one, the second came. This resulted in my having to wash them all.
This was usually Sylvia’s job, but since she wasn’t there, I had no choice.
“Kwaaah!”
I looked up and saw the griffins from the Midgard ruins soaring high in the sky.
It must be time for the “migrating” monsters to return to Cliff Garuda.
The area around the Midgard ruins is thick with dense forest. Monster droppings seem to be fertilizing the growth of the plants. Vines and ivies mainly twine around the trees, spreading further and further. The cam berries have become more aggressive, but they still taste delicious.
The forest environment in the demonic land changes within days. Perhaps other things have changed as well.
I discarded my magic and flew around the area.
The area where I had exterminated the Arachne swarm was now completely overgrown. Where the dungeon dwellers had tried to build a waterway, a proper channel had formed. Outside the dungeon, a satyr looked up at the sky, perhaps sensing my magic.
Far to the south, a giant crocodile monster lay still at the edge of a swamp. It must be one of the Nushis who had fought the giant ape monster before.
“Let me observe for a bit.”
I tore through the tangled vines and ran south.
I suppressed my presence, hid in the thicket, and watched the Nushi from a distance. It was alert, scanning its surroundings. Had it spotted me?
A mere shake of its head sent the nearby swimming birds flying away. Though they should have been about my height, the birds appeared no larger than the Nushi’s teeth.
I sat up and probed the ground. It wasn’t an earth vein, but rather a place where magical power gathered.
Thud.
Vibrations traveled through the ground as the Nushi walked.
Its face was turned toward me.
Its magic power seemed to swirl inside its body. Was its breath mixed with magic power? The leaves of the trees upon which it breathed withered.
I concentrated my magical power in my eyes and stared intently. I could see black, soot-like magic power rising from between its scales.
“I see…so that’s how it is…”
As the creature swung its tail, a mass of black magic power flew toward me.
The mass of magic that landed before me withered the plants. The trees, now completely blackened, collapsed and began to rot.
The creature was marking its territory, apparently saying, “Leave.”
“Corrosion, huh? I could really use you sticking around a bit longer!”
With no reason to hide anymore, I stood up and approached the Nushi step by step. I took out the bone staff and infused it with sticky magical power.
The giant crocodile wagged its tail again, sending another black mass of magic power flying.
I tried to block it with the staff, but though it stuck, the rapidly spinning magic power bounced off the staff and sent it flying. The staff shattered into pieces. The spot where I had been standing was now blackened.
“If I focus solely on rotation, maybe I can deflect it. The magic mass isn’t embedded, after all.”
I spun the magic power in my lower abdomen with all my might.
I provoked it, urging it to fire another black magic blast. It charged forward, opening its massive jaws wide and attempting to swallow the entire forest, me included.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Seeing the giant crocodile lord grinding through the ground, heedless of monsters or plants, and stuffing everything into its mouth, I braced myself for death. The magical power I had been spinning in my lower abdomen exploded from my feet into the ground, propelling me high into the air.
There was no time to worry about landing.
Even as I flew skyward, the giant Nushi crocodile leapt up, its huge mouth open as it lunged at me.
I used the magic cube as a foothold, shifted direction, and leaped toward the side of Nushi’s head.
Thud!
Where I had just been, the Nushi’s upper and lower jaws snapped shut.
Seizing that split second of vulnerability, I imbued my fist with wind magic, added a spin, and struck the giant crocodile’s side as I fell.
Thud!
The blow wasn’t that powerful, but it created some distance between me and the giant crocodile.
In the exposed forest, the Nushi watched me warily, wagging its tail. It seemed to have decided to wear me out from a distance rather than fight me up close.
I deflected the flying black mass of magic with my own rapidly spinning magic.
“I can deflect any amount of magic, no matter how much intent is poured into it. The problem starts here.”
The giant crocodile Nushi kept swinging its tail, sending wave after wave of black magic my way. I countered each one.
I tried to channel magic through the bone to sever it, but the bone only shifted direction. The magic cube was still deflected. Thinking the shape might be the issue, I tried warping the magic barrier. Like Jennifer’s slime wall, the black magic bounced right back.
The giant crocodile Nushi was startled to see the magic it had unleashed return. Its body showed no signs of corrosion; it was absorbing the magic.
“Ah! I see!”
I gathered magic in my right hand and softened it until it was floppy and squishy. It took the form of the slime I had been observing. Elusive and impervious to blows. Sometimes it bites.
Eat or be eaten. The simplest law in the demonic land.
Whoosh!
I altered the magic in my right hand, making it bite and absorb the flying black magic. I reshaped the slime’s mouth, wrapped the black magic around my stomach, and pulled it into my body.
The black magic raged from my arm to my torso and from my hips to my toes, but the stomach I had created from magic didn’t tear. As it passed through my head for an instant, I faintly sensed the emotions embedded within the black magic: a sense of duty to its kind, backstabbing between races, and anguish over its own aging, along with memories.
Next, just as I had done with the stomach lining, I poured viscous magic over it to stop the black magic from rotating. I moved it to my hand and let it drip; the black, viscous substance spread across the ground. The grass turned black and withered.
The giant crocodile Nushi didn’t stop attacking, so I repeated the experiment.
The results showed that recreating the slime’s stomach could counter the Nushi’s rotating magic. Once contained within the stomach, the magic could be reshaped into any form through its inherent properties—not just slime.
I thanked the exhausted Nushi, who was drained from using its magic, and left the area.
Before I knew it, the sun had dipped low and the sky had turned crimson.
“Now, the question is whether it works on all Nushi, right?”
My stomach growled.
I finally realized I was hungry and decided to eat my lunch. Hunting while tired is such a hassle, so I was proud of myself for making lunch that morning.
Thinking it would be better to eat with someone than alone, I headed toward the nearby Genetics Research Institute.
“Hey!”
“Makyo-san! What’s the matter?!”
The satyr, who was slacking off outside, was startled.
“Have you eaten? I made a bento. Want to join me?”
“That sounds great! It’s almost dinnertime.”
The satyr led me through the long passageway below the cliff to the dungeon. As always, he spoke in that peculiar polite manner.
In the dungeon village, people were busy grilling large quantities of fish.
“Oh, that smells delicious!”
“We built a waterway so that we could catch fish. They’re not huge, but we’re better at this than hunting monsters, y’know?”
Even though they were river fish, they were about the size of a child, so they were plenty big.
“Ara, that’s unusual. Isn’t that Makyo-san?”
An unfamiliar Arachne spoke to me. She probably knew the person who liberated the dungeon.
“How’s it going? Are you getting enough to eat? Not dying on hunts or anything?”
“Yeah, we’re doing okay, I guess?”
The Arachne turned to the Lamia beside her.
“It was scary at first, but I’m getting used to it little by little. Having meat is really nice compared to living on magic power alone.”
Both the Lamia and the Arachne rubbed their chests over their clothes.
“Fat’s good, but muscle is too. Anyway, I’m getting hungry. Let’s eat. I made some bentos. Want some?”
“Sounds good!”
“What kind of sandwich?”
“Dried meat and wild herbs!”
“”Heeee!””
The dungeon dwellers seemed to have little concept of cooking. Apparently, they simply sprinkled salt on the fish and ate it, and their soups were only seasoned with salt.
Jennifer had recently arrived and was teaching them about seasonings like sanshō pepper and mustard.
“Speaking of which, Jennifer-san’s in the back with the director, doing something. What are they up to?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got work piling up, though.”
Just as they were gossiping, Jennifer arrived.
“Makyo-san, what are you doing here!?”
“I came to eat my bento.”
“You can eat dinner anywhere, can’t you?”
“It’s better when we eat together. You seem to be up to some pretty shady stuff, but Jennifer and the others should eat properly, too.”
“Shady stuff…? We’re not doing anything like that.”
“Nah, it’s just that work’s piling up.”
“We’re not in a position for that right now! Chel-san’s in that state! I just went to the director to get her arm…!”
“Jennifer, if you want to keep this a secret, don’t say another word.”
Jennifer tried to cover her mouth with her hand and bit her arm. That’s wild.
“I don’t know why you’re mad, but tell Chel to ‘tell me where the defeated Nushi is.'”
“Ask her yourself!”
“If it’s okay, I’ll go ask. Is that alright?”
“No way! What are you talking about!?”
“I’m the one who doesn’t understand what you’re saying. Anyway, I found a magic stone mine in the earth veins, and I tested some techniques on the Nushi. Everyone should come back soon.”
“What do you mean, like you’re the only one working? I’m working hard, too, you know!”
Jennifer grabbed my collar and started shaking me violently.
“Hold on a second! My leather armor is going to tear! Stop it! I only have this one! I’ll apologize; just help me!”
The dungeon folk watched, laughing. How awful—and I’m the lord!
“Who do you think made me this strong?”
“Why did it have to come to this?”
◇ ◇ ◇
“What should we do?”
Lipa and Kahiman asked. They had lent the sorcerers the magic power gauge and were now walking through the Cliff Garuda Forest, carrying a large load of cursed tools.
“Hmmm… I guess we have no choice.”
“Yeah, you’re right! Now that we’ve collected so many cursed tools, we can’t very well refuse to lend them.”
“We’ll just use these tools to heal Chel-neesan.”
“That’s it! As long as Chel-san gets better, that’s all that matters. Nothing else can be helped!”
Despite the load not being particularly burdensome, the two living in the demonic land felt their steps grow heavy.
“What if Chel-san is already healed by the time we get back?”
“I guess we’d be glad…”
“What do you think will happen to us for lending out the magic power gauge without permission? We need that to find the earth veins, right?”
“Ha… Better not think about it. Better not think about it.”
“Right! There’s no point in dwelling on bad things.”
Lipa and Kahiman took their time returning to the desert of the demonic land.
◇ ◇ ◇
“I-I don’t really want to get married…”
Sylvia said this while gazing at the sunset on the deck of the riverboat heading downstream.
“That’s right. What’s needed is Makyo’s seed. If you asked me if I wanted to marry him, I’d be overwhelmed.”
Hel also gazed at the sunset, looking sour.
Cosmos flowers bloomed along the Meiju Kingdom’s riverbank, swaying in the wind.
“Well, even if I pushed him down, I’m not sure he’d accept it.”
“Getting married at the same time would be a hassle. Conceiving children simultaneously would be impossible anyway. Hmm, maybe we should ask the director of the Genetic Research Institute about that sort of thing?”
“I-I think artificial insemination might work!”
They had come to investigate the curse of Chel’s devilization, yet Sylvia and Hel were thinking about something completely different.
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