We are standing with our backs to the cliff once again. I can’t tell which direction we should go in.
It’s vast. Way too vast.
There are practically no signs of people. And not just people. There are also no signs of monsters.
Even if I look with the Search Skill, there are only small monster insects below the ground.
When it got dark, I thought I saw the lights of human dwellings on the horizon, but there are gentle rises and falls in the way, so I can’t see far without an obstructed view.
Even when Ayle checked from the sky, she could only say, “I feel like I see lights in that direction,” with a complicated look.
Eventually, we ended up running in circles nearby and camped wherever we ended up for the day.
“It’s so vast it’s unpleasant, na.”
I said with a wry smile as we ate the fish stew-like dish that Seth made.
“Iyaa, it would have been nice to ask for some more details.”
“Our plan was a mess after all. You normally wouldn’t go based on, ‘It’s probably over there.’”
Velsa and Ayle also smiled.
You can’t do anything else but smile.
“But is the Water Hero still in the country it’s said he’s in?”
Seth asked seriously.
“He should be there, right?”
“It would be a tragedy if he wasn’t there.”
“I think he’d be there.”
Us three veterans of the company gave moderate replies.
“How about doing the opposite and lighting a fire here to have them find us?”
Merumo said.
“That’s a great idea! Let’s do it!”
“Then how about I make a ball of light with light magic?”
Ayl proposed.
I thought, what the heck is she saying? for a moment, but come to think of it, I remember that Ayl hid herself with light magic when I first met her.
Is that how it is. Ayl isn’t a muscle-brained swordsman, she’s a magic swordsman who can use just a little bit of magic.
“Recently, it’s been slow going. It seems like I’m reaching the limits of the Swordsmanship Skill and the Physical Combat Skill, so I’ve been thinking of raising the low skill level of my light magic.”
“Eh!? Ayl-san can use magic!?”
Seth yelled, and Merumo was similarly surprised.
Velsa also looked worried. I see, I the only one who knew that Ayl can use light magic.
“How rude. I’m still a magic swordsman.”
So saying, Ayl fired off a ball of light high into the sky overhead from the palm of her hand.
“ “ “Ooh-!” “ “
The three people who didn’t know raised voices of admiration and applauded.
Ayl also acted proud of herself.
After dinner, Ayl walked around the campsite while shooting off light magic.
Ayl’s magic power was able to continue for 30 minutes.
I had Ayl, who collapsed from magic depletion drink the magic power recovery syrup and slapped her shoulder, encouraging her with,
“Keep it up, keep it up. Don’t push yourself too hard,”
“Am I really not suited for magic?”
Returning to the campsite, everyone turned in for the night leaving me to stand guard.
Although I said I was standing guard, it’s fine if I just deploy my Search Skill, so I have quite a bit of free time.
By the light of the magic stone lamp, I took a suitable wooden pole out from the item bag and burned light magic circles into them. Once I stuck a small magic stone to the tip, the staff was finished. When we were in Gnomefield, I had made a staff that shot out pebbles, and this is the light particle version.
When I pointed it at the sky, light particles shot out rapidly. It was like I had a rapid-fire sky rocket fire work, so it was fun.
While I was playing around, suddenly there was the reactions of countless monsters from my Search Skill. Human forms gushed out, as if from the ground. Are they ghost types? When I fired off the light particles towards a monster, it hit the human-shaped shadow monsters and dispersed it on impact.
“Sorry! Wake up everyone! I ended up calling monsters while messing around!”
At my voice, everyone got up while rubbing their eyes.
The shadow monsters have already begun to surround our campsite.
I quickly took a pump from my item bag and put recovery potion in it.
“The enemies are something like human-shaped shadow monsters.”
“Naoki! Blow them away with a sound bomb!”
Receiving my explanation, Velsa yelled.
Certainly, the sound bomb seemed effective when were were fighting the shadorows in the sea-side village the other day.
I took out a sound bomb from the item bag and threw it into the surroundings.
“KIII-N
To human ears it doesn’t sound that loud, but it’s very effective against monsters, and the shadow monsters melted to the ground, splattering onto the grass.
While looking about with my Search Skill, I sprayed the rest of the surviving monsters with recovery potions.
Together with a strong, offensive smell, the shadow monsters disappeared. All that remained were a lot of magic stones and black liquid.
“This black stuff is rotten blood. This was probably a battlefield in the past.”
Velsa explained as we collected the magic stones.
“For crying out loud, you’re such a trouble maker. Tonight, Naoki’s in charge of standing guard all night.”
Ayl said.
“My ba-d.”
This time was completely my fault so I accepted it.
Without doing anything else, I spent the entire night just making soap and flash bombs.
Early in the morning, two warrior-looking halflings came over from the direction of the plains.
“W,who are are you guys? Adventurers?”
“We’re a cleaning and extermination company. Ah, we are registered at the Adventurer’s Guild too.”
I replied to their question.
“I,I see. 1, 2… 5 people, all of you are adventurers?”
“That’s right. Who are you guys?”
“A,a, sorry. We’re people from the Adventurer’s Guild. Did Shadowicks come attacking last night? We saw a ball of light last night. We were wondering if it was adventurers, so we came over.”
The two halflings explained as they took of their headgear-like helmets. Both of them had mohawks. So those monsters are called shadowicks.
“Sorry. We’ve troubled you.”
“No no, it’s fine, it’s fine. It’s rare for adventurers to come from outside the plains. You probably don’t have much information either, right?”
“That’s true. Where is the nearest town? It’s a bit too vast so we got lost.”
“Even we’d get lost when we leave the highway.”
There’s a highway?
“Did you lot, perhaps, not go by the highway?”
The halfling Guild employee asked, seeing my expression.
“Yes, well, from the southwest beach, we went through the jungle and climbed down the cliff to get here. And we didn’t have a map or anything.”
“I … see…ee… ee …”
One of the Guild employees froze right there.
“Is that even possible!? How many days did it take?”
The other Guild employee asked, eyes round.
“Well, 2 days. Maa, it’s fine if you don’t believe me though. For now, we just want to go to a town.”
Both of the halfling Guild members nodded and said, “This way” “We’ll take you there when you’re ready.”
“Is that … normal?”
A Guild employee asked as we folded the tents and bedding and put them into the item bag, as if it was something rare.
“Heh?”
“Well, 2 days to cross the jungle, that bag-like thing, is that normal for the outside world? I was assigned to these plains three years ago, but for the outsiders to have suddenly, in the span of three years, become like…”
“Ah, it’s okay. The people in our company are weirdos!”
Seth said with confidence.
“I,I see. That’s a relief.”
I don’t know what he’s relieved about, but he seems to have come to some sort of understanding.
Following the halfling Guild employees, we came out on a highway that was wide enough for carriages to pass each other.
We headed north on the highway, and here and there were things that looked like groves. Looking at them from far away, they looked like emerald green steamed buns.
Were the Guild employees desperate for information from outside the plains? They had a lot of questions.
“There haven’t been many adventurers coming here, has the number of adventurers overall reduced?”
“What kind of monsters have you met?”
“When you came by sea, what did you encounter?”
“Are those ‘coveralls’ popular?”
And so on and so forth. We responded to each and every one.
“Um, we’d heard that there’s a Hero in this country?”
I tried asking them instead.
“Aa, there’s the Water Hero. The country’s keeping him in reserve. Rather than that, about magic tools…”
and it ended in being questioned back.
Before noon I saw a copse of trees that was a little taller than the others in the area.
Once we passed through, there were countless houses shaped like upside down bowls lined up.
“Welcome. This is Morales, the plain’s town.”
The halfling Guild employee said.
They said the name of the country is the Great Plains.
It was lively in the town, with a lot of people on the streets. It felt like there were a lot of beastmen with scales.
There were also people with large tents in the spaces between the earthen houses, and it seems there are all sorts of styles of living. There are also buildings made of wood, but there aren’t many.
The national dress was vividly colored, and women were sitting on the roadside, chatting while knitting.
“It’s an interesting town.”
“I’m going to go look around over there. I leave the Adventurer’s Guild to you.”
“I’m also going over there.”
“Then I’ll follow along.”
The women in our company sure do whatever they want.
“Find us an inn on the way!”
“Roger!”
Ayl replied, so I’ll leave the inn to her.
Seth and I went to the Adventurer’s Guild. The Adventurer’s Guild is a small tent.
“Guild Boss, we’ve just returned.”
“Oh, good work.”
A bald-headed halfling sitting behind the counter in the tent responded to the halfling Guild employee’s words.
In response to the very small size of the Guild, Seth muttered, “This is it…?”
“Aa, this is it. Morales’ Adventurer’s Guild only has 3 employess. I’m the Guild Boss Cheeno.”
So saying as he smiled, Cheeno waved his hand next to his ear. It’s the same greeting as Bori-san and Cory.
We responded with the same greeting.
“We’re the Komuro Company.”
So saying, we filled out a form taken out from behind the counter saying that we were staying in Morales.
“They seem to be a company that does cleaning and exterminating.”
One of the employees gave out explanation.
“I see. Merchants. It would be nice if we had a Merchant’s Guild, but as far as I know, there isn’t one in Morales. If you’re accepting requests, we’ll take care of it for you.”
“Understood. Is there a bar?”
“President!” Seth said, and I saw his look of protest, but I said, “It’s for gathering information.”
“If it’s a bar, it’s behind the Guild. Are you looking for something?”
“Yes, well, a bit about the Water Hero. Do you know where he is?”
“Aah, try going to the bar. They’ll know about the Water Hero.”
“Thank you very much.”
We circled around to the back of the Guild. It’s one of the rare wooden buildings in Morales.
It seems to be popular, as it was packed. The interior make wasn’t different from other bars, in a stand-at-the-counter style.
Going to the counter, I took out a copper coin and asked if I could use it.
The bartender brought the copper coin to his ear and flicked it with his fingernail to check the sound. If he’s trying to investigate the copper content, then he’s got some amazing skills. It’s probably just for show, though.
“There’s no problem. What do you want?”
So saying, the bartender put the copper coin in his pocket.
“Whatever is fine. Liquor wise.”
“Righty-o.”
A cup of alcohol came out immediately.
“There’s something I’d like to ask.”
I said to the bartender.
“What is it? As long as it’s something I can answer, I’ll tell you anything.”
“I heard that you can tell me where the Water Hero is for I came here.”
“Ha- hahaha! Aah, did you come from outside?”
Did I say something weird? I looked at Seth next to me. Seth shook his head.
“That’s right. We came today.”
“I see. Then I’ll tell you. I’m the Water Hero. Remember that.”
The bartender responded.
We found the Water Hero right away. And he’s even acting as a bartender.
“Oh! What? If you’re the Water Hero, won’t you treat me to a drink? Because I’m also the Water Hero!”
A drunkard next to us began to say. That began people raising their voices in the bar, saying, “I’m the Water Hero!” “I am as well!” “There is no Water Hero quite like me!”
What the? Are they making fun of us since we’re outsiders?”
“Ni-san. Don’t think poorly of us. We’re not making fun of you or anything. Let me tell you. All of the men in the Great Plains are ‘Water Heroes’. That’s right, 20 years ago the previous Hero declared it so.”
“Then, all of the men here are truly Water Heroes?”
The bartender nodded at my question.
“Dear! Stop slacking and get to work!”
A female voice came out from within the kitchen.
“I got it! Sorry. My ‘Spirit-sama’ seems to be enraged, so I’m getting back to work. If you have anything else to ask, just let me know.”
It didn’t look like the bartender was lying. And even the drunkards in the bar, although they were having a laugh, didn’t seem like they were trying trick people.
“It’s how this country is. All the men are ‘Water Heroes’, all the women are ‘Spirit-sama’s. So? Treat me to a drink?”
A bearded drunkard told me. I handed the drunkard the cup I held in my hand just like that.
Seth and I left the bar making pinched faces like we’ve just been tricked by foxes.
[“Naoki! It’s Ayl. I found the Water Hero!”]
We received a call from Ayl through the communication bag.
[“This is Velsa here. I found the Water Hero. I’ll follow him now.”]
A call from Velsa also came through the communication bag.
“It’s fine not to follow those two people. Let’s rejoin at the inn for now.”
[“What?”]
[“What’s wrong?”]
“I don’t get the specifics! Anyway, it doesn’t seem like following them will have any meaning.”
We thought that there would only be 1 Water Spirit and Water Hero, but there’s nothing we can do about this. Wouldn’t it be a genocide the day we exterminated them?
“Seth, do you think this town has a church?”
“I wonder…”
We are standing with our backs to the cliff once again. I can’t tell which direction we should go in.
It’s vast. Way too vast.
There are practically no signs of people. And not just people. There are also no signs of monsters.
Even if I look with the Search Skill, there are only small monster insects below the ground.
When it got dark, I thought I saw the lights of human dwellings on the horizon, but there are gentle rises and falls in the way, so I can’t see far without an obstructed view.
Even when Ayle checked from the sky, she could only say, “I feel like I see lights in that direction,” with a complicated look.
Eventually, we ended up running in circles nearby and camped wherever we ended up for the day.
“It’s so vast it’s unpleasant, na.”
I said with a wry smile as we ate the fish stew-like dish that Seth made.
“Iyaa, it would have been nice to ask for some more details.”
“Our plan was a mess after all. You normally wouldn’t go based on, ‘It’s probably over there.’”
Velsa and Ayle also smiled.
You can’t do anything else but smile.
“But is the Water Hero still in the country it’s said he’s in?”
Seth asked seriously.
“He should be there, right?”
“It would be a tragedy if he wasn’t there.”
“I think he’d be there.”
Us three veterans of the company gave moderate replies.
“How about doing the opposite and lighting a fire here to have them find us?”
Merumo said.
“That’s a great idea! Let’s do it!”
“Then how about I make a ball of light with light magic?”
Ayl proposed.
I thought, what the heck is she saying? for a moment, but come to think of it, I remember that Ayl hid herself with light magic when I first met her.
Is that how it is. Ayl isn’t a muscle-brained swordsman, she’s a magic swordsman who can use just a little bit of magic.
“Recently, it’s been slow going. It seems like I’m reaching the limits of the Swordsmanship Skill and the Physical Combat Skill, so I’ve been thinking of raising the low skill level of my light magic.”
“Eh!? Ayl-san can use magic!?”
Seth yelled, and Merumo was similarly surprised.
Velsa also looked worried. I see, I the only one who knew that Ayl can use light magic.
“How rude. I’m still a magic swordsman.”
So saying, Ayl fired off a ball of light high into the sky overhead from the palm of her hand.
“ “ “Ooh-!” “ “
The three people who didn’t know raised voices of admiration and applauded.
Ayl also acted proud of herself.
After dinner, Ayl walked around the campsite while shooting off light magic.
Ayl’s magic power was able to continue for 30 minutes.
I had Ayl, who collapsed from magic depletion drink the magic power recovery syrup and slapped her shoulder, encouraging her with,
“Keep it up, keep it up. Don’t push yourself too hard,”
“Am I really not suited for magic?”
Returning to the campsite, everyone turned in for the night leaving me to stand guard.
Although I said I was standing guard, it’s fine if I just deploy my Search Skill, so I have quite a bit of free time.
By the light of the magic stone lamp, I took a suitable wooden pole out from the item bag and burned light magic circles into them. Once I stuck a small magic stone to the tip, the staff was finished. When we were in Gnomefield, I had made a staff that shot out pebbles, and this is the light particle version.
When I pointed it at the sky, light particles shot out rapidly. It was like I had a rapid-fire sky rocket fire work, so it was fun.
While I was playing around, suddenly there was the reactions of countless monsters from my Search Skill. Human forms gushed out, as if from the ground. Are they ghost types? When I fired off the light particles towards a monster, it hit the human-shaped shadow monsters and dispersed it on impact.
“Sorry! Wake up everyone! I ended up calling monsters while messing around!”
At my voice, everyone got up while rubbing their eyes.
The shadow monsters have already begun to surround our campsite.
I quickly took a pump from my item bag and put recovery potion in it.
“The enemies are something like human-shaped shadow monsters.”
“Naoki! Blow them away with a sound bomb!”
Receiving my explanation, Velsa yelled.
Certainly, the sound bomb seemed effective when were were fighting the shadorows in the sea-side village the other day.
I took out a sound bomb from the item bag and threw it into the surroundings.
“KIII-N
To human ears it doesn’t sound that loud, but it’s very effective against monsters, and the shadow monsters melted to the ground, splattering onto the grass.
While looking about with my Search Skill, I sprayed the rest of the surviving monsters with recovery potions.
Together with a strong, offensive smell, the shadow monsters disappeared. All that remained were a lot of magic stones and black liquid.
“This black stuff is rotten blood. This was probably a battlefield in the past.”
Velsa explained as we collected the magic stones.
“For crying out loud, you’re such a trouble maker. Tonight, Naoki’s in charge of standing guard all night.”
Ayl said.
“My ba-d.”
This time was completely my fault so I accepted it.
Without doing anything else, I spent the entire night just making soap and flash bombs.
Early in the morning, two warrior-looking halflings came over from the direction of the plains.
“W,who are are you guys? Adventurers?”
“We’re a cleaning and extermination company. Ah, we are registered at the Adventurer’s Guild too.”
I replied to their question.
“I,I see. 1, 2… 5 people, all of you are adventurers?”
“That’s right. Who are you guys?”
“A,a, sorry. We’re people from the Adventurer’s Guild. Did Shadowicks come attacking last night? We saw a ball of light last night. We were wondering if it was adventurers, so we came over.”
The two halflings explained as they took of their headgear-like helmets. Both of them had mohawks. So those monsters are called shadowicks.
“Sorry. We’ve troubled you.”
“No no, it’s fine, it’s fine. It’s rare for adventurers to come from outside the plains. You probably don’t have much information either, right?”
“That’s true. Where is the nearest town? It’s a bit too vast so we got lost.”
“Even we’d get lost when we leave the highway.”
There’s a highway?
“Did you lot, perhaps, not go by the highway?”
The halfling Guild employee asked, seeing my expression.
“Yes, well, from the southwest beach, we went through the jungle and climbed down the cliff to get here. And we didn’t have a map or anything.”
“I … see…ee… ee …”
One of the Guild employees froze right there.
“Is that even possible!? How many days did it take?”
The other Guild employee asked, eyes round.
“Well, 2 days. Maa, it’s fine if you don’t believe me though. For now, we just want to go to a town.”
Both of the halfling Guild members nodded and said, “This way” “We’ll take you there when you’re ready.”
“Is that … normal?”
A Guild employee asked as we folded the tents and bedding and put them into the item bag, as if it was something rare.
“Heh?”
“Well, 2 days to cross the jungle, that bag-like thing, is that normal for the outside world? I was assigned to these plains three years ago, but for the outsiders to have suddenly, in the span of three years, become like…”
“Ah, it’s okay. The people in our company are weirdos!”
Seth said with confidence.
“I,I see. That’s a relief.”
I don’t know what he’s relieved about, but he seems to have come to some sort of understanding.
Following the halfling Guild employees, we came out on a highway that was wide enough for carriages to pass each other.
We headed north on the highway, and here and there were things that looked like groves. Looking at them from far away, they looked like emerald green steamed buns.
Were the Guild employees desperate for information from outside the plains? They had a lot of questions.
“There haven’t been many adventurers coming here, has the number of adventurers overall reduced?”
“What kind of monsters have you met?”
“When you came by sea, what did you encounter?”
“Are those ‘coveralls’ popular?”
And so on and so forth. We responded to each and every one.
“Um, we’d heard that there’s a Hero in this country?”
I tried asking them instead.
“Aa, there’s the Water Hero. The country’s keeping him in reserve. Rather than that, about magic tools…”
and it ended in being questioned back.
Before noon I saw a copse of trees that was a little taller than the others in the area.
Once we passed through, there were countless houses shaped like upside down bowls lined up.
“Welcome. This is Morales, the plain’s town.”
The halfling Guild employee said.
They said the name of the country is the Great Plains.
It was lively in the town, with a lot of people on the streets. It felt like there were a lot of beastmen with scales.
There were also people with large tents in the spaces between the earthen houses, and it seems there are all sorts of styles of living. There are also buildings made of wood, but there aren’t many.
The national dress was vividly colored, and women were sitting on the roadside, chatting while knitting.
“It’s an interesting town.”
“I’m going to go look around over there. I leave the Adventurer’s Guild to you.”
“I’m also going over there.”
“Then I’ll follow along.”
The women in our company sure do whatever they want.
“Find us an inn on the way!”
“Roger!”
Ayl replied, so I’ll leave the inn to her.
Seth and I went to the Adventurer’s Guild. The Adventurer’s Guild is a small tent.
“Guild Boss, we’ve just returned.”
“Oh, good work.”
A bald-headed halfling sitting behind the counter in the tent responded to the halfling Guild employee’s words.
In response to the very small size of the Guild, Seth muttered, “This is it…?”
“Aa, this is it. Morales’ Adventurer’s Guild only has 3 employess. I’m the Guild Boss Cheeno.”
So saying as he smiled, Cheeno waved his hand next to his ear. It’s the same greeting as Bori-san and Cory.
We responded with the same greeting.
“We’re the Komuro Company.”
So saying, we filled out a form taken out from behind the counter saying that we were staying in Morales.
“They seem to be a company that does cleaning and exterminating.”
One of the employees gave out explanation.
“I see. Merchants. It would be nice if we had a Merchant’s Guild, but as far as I know, there isn’t one in Morales. If you’re accepting requests, we’ll take care of it for you.”
“Understood. Is there a bar?”
“President!” Seth said, and I saw his look of protest, but I said, “It’s for gathering information.”
“If it’s a bar, it’s behind the Guild. Are you looking for something?”
“Yes, well, a bit about the Water Hero. Do you know where he is?”
“Aah, try going to the bar. They’ll know about the Water Hero.”
“Thank you very much.”
We circled around to the back of the Guild. It’s one of the rare wooden buildings in Morales.
It seems to be popular, as it was packed. The interior make wasn’t different from other bars, in a stand-at-the-counter style.
Going to the counter, I took out a copper coin and asked if I could use it.
The bartender brought the copper coin to his ear and flicked it with his fingernail to check the sound. If he’s trying to investigate the copper content, then he’s got some amazing skills. It’s probably just for show, though.
“There’s no problem. What do you want?”
So saying, the bartender put the copper coin in his pocket.
“Whatever is fine. Liquor wise.”
“Righty-o.”
A cup of alcohol came out immediately.
“There’s something I’d like to ask.”
I said to the bartender.
“What is it? As long as it’s something I can answer, I’ll tell you anything.”
“I heard that you can tell me where the Water Hero is for I came here.”
“Ha- hahaha! Aah, did you come from outside?”
Did I say something weird? I looked at Seth next to me. Seth shook his head.
“That’s right. We came today.”
“I see. Then I’ll tell you. I’m the Water Hero. Remember that.”
The bartender responded.
We found the Water Hero right away. And he’s even acting as a bartender.
“Oh! What? If you’re the Water Hero, won’t you treat me to a drink? Because I’m also the Water Hero!”
A drunkard next to us began to say. That began people raising their voices in the bar, saying, “I’m the Water Hero!” “I am as well!” “There is no Water Hero quite like me!”
What the? Are they making fun of us since we’re outsiders?”
“Ni-san. Don’t think poorly of us. We’re not making fun of you or anything. Let me tell you. All of the men in the Great Plains are ‘Water Heroes’. That’s right, 20 years ago the previous Hero declared it so.”
“Then, all of the men here are truly Water Heroes?”
The bartender nodded at my question.
“Dear! Stop slacking and get to work!”
A female voice came out from within the kitchen.
“I got it! Sorry. My ‘Spirit-sama’ seems to be enraged, so I’m getting back to work. If you have anything else to ask, just let me know.”
It didn’t look like the bartender was lying. And even the drunkards in the bar, although they were having a laugh, didn’t seem like they were trying trick people.
“It’s how this country is. All the men are ‘Water Heroes’, all the women are ‘Spirit-sama’s. So? Treat me to a drink?”
A bearded drunkard told me. I handed the drunkard the cup I held in my hand just like that.
Seth and I left the bar making pinched faces like we’ve just been tricked by foxes.
[“Naoki! It’s Ayl. I found the Water Hero!”]
We received a call from Ayl through the communication bag.
[“This is Velsa here. I found the Water Hero. I’ll follow him now.”]
A call from Velsa also came through the communication bag.
“It’s fine not to follow those two people. Let’s rejoin at the inn for now.”
[“What?”]
[“What’s wrong?”]
“I don’t get the specifics! Anyway, it doesn’t seem like following them will have any meaning.”
We thought that there would only be 1 Water Spirit and Water Hero, but there’s nothing we can do about this. Wouldn’t it be a genocide the day we exterminated them?
“Seth, do you think this town has a church?”
“I wonder…”
