Chapter 6 – An Escort Request and an Undead Subjugation
“Soshi-san. Isn’t it about time you took D-rank?”
I was having a buyback processed at the Guild that evening when the receptionist Mariane put the proposal to me.
With two new skills apiece, we had spent three days down the E-class dungeons, the aim being to settle into them and to earn. Somewhere in there my promotion points had piled up rather higher than I realized. Having Rani along raises the number of monsters that come out, so no doubt she is owed some of it.
“What else do I need for the rank?”
“You must take one ‘subjugation request’ and one ‘escort request.’ As to the subjugation request… I would recommend taking an escort request.”
Blurring the words ‘subjugation request’ like that has to mean the ‘mass subjugation request’ is nearly on us. Being handled with that much consideration means I’ve earned that much trust, I guess. And that may be the whole reason the escort request is on the table.
“Is there one we could take?”
“There is. A request came in from the Pharmacist Guild just now, for the escort of a materials gatherer, with assistance in the gathering. It is marked urgent, so the work would begin early tomorrow morning.”
“What does the assistance amount to?”
“They want monster materials as well if it can be managed. So if the target monster is found, subjugating it falls inside the request.”
“I see. And the monster?”
“An E-rank monster called the ‘Unicorn Rabbit.’ The horn is a raw material for medicine, and they do not drop it in dungeons.”
A ‘Unicorn Rabbit’ is an outsized rabbit-shaped monster with a horn on it. It comes at you trying to run the horn through you, and a bad hit can kill outright, which is apparently how a rabbit ends up rated E-rank.
“I see… I’m minded to take it. What do the two of you think?”
I asked Freinil and Rani, and back came “As Soshi-sama thinks best” and “If it’s ‘Unicorn Rabbits,’ my nose is good for that, so I think it’s fine.”
“We accept.”
I gave Mariane the answer, and we had our first escort request.
The next morning we went to the building we had been given, and a woman with long ears was standing in front of it, the client by the look of her.
Elves are famous enough from games and the like, and she was the second I had laid eyes on since ‘Crimson Anatoria.’ The race is not especially rare, as I understand it, but they largely live in elf settlements and rarely come outside them, or so the story goes.
Early twenties, at a guess. Long-lived race, so there is no telling her real age. Platinum blonde, braided behind her, and good-looking in exactly the way you would expect an elf to be.
“How do you do. My name is Soshi, come from the Adventurer’s Guild. This is Freinil, and this is Rani. Have I the honor of addressing the pharmacist, Hofena-sama?”
I greeted her with my sales manner from my former life coming back to me, and the elf gave me a broad smile.
“How do you do. I am Hofena, the pharmacist. Thank you for taking a request at such short notice.”
“The terms suited us, that is all. Please don’t give it a thought.”
It occurred to me only after saying it that talking myself down that way might land badly in this world, but Hofena’s eyes crinkled and she said “Thank you,” so it seems to have passed.
“Time is short, so I would like to explain the request as we walk. Would that suit?”
“No trouble at all. Let’s be off.”
We followed Hofena out of Euron and set our course for the first destination, the ‘Horned Rabbit Forest.’
The ‘Horned Rabbit Forest’ is, as the name has it, where ‘Unicorn Rabbits’ live.
Their appearance rate is low even so, and making a living by hunting them on purpose is apparently difficult. It is also known for its stands of medicinal herbs, and gatherers hiring adventurers to escort them in is nothing unusual.
Hofena walked into the forest at a practiced pace. As the escort I thought one of us ought to be out in front, but she said, “I can tell when there are monsters about, so I will leave it to you when the time comes.”
We walked about two hours without incident and came out abruptly into open ground: a clearing of pale green grass spread wide and taking the sun.
“I will gather here first. Please keep watch around us.”
So the three of us set ourselves around Hofena and stood watch. Though since we entered the forest there has been no sign of a monster anywhere. Monsters don’t run from humans, so there’s probably nothing in the area to begin with.
I glanced over and found Hofena picking herbs with practiced hands. There tend to be tricks to work like that which an amateur cannot see, so helping looked difficult.
“Is it your first time seeing Holt grass? It is one of the raw materials for the potions you adventurers use.”
She must have felt my eyes on her, because she turned a broad smile up at me.
“It’s my first time seeing herbs gathered, too. Isn’t the grass ever cultivated?”
“I hear they do it in the royal capital and in some domains. Though it does not seem to be going well.”
“Is it a difficult plant to grow?”
“One account has it that the soil must hold magic in it. And places with soil like that have monsters in them.”
“I see…”
I was nodding along when I noticed Rani looking at me with something in her eyes. She tipped her chin to send my gaze toward Freinil, and when I turned that way, Freinil was standing there with a sad look on her face.
Why on earth—though perhaps my talking with Hofena bothered her. She may be seeing me as a stand-in for her father.
I was still deciding whether to say something when Rani’s nose started twitching.
“I can smell Unicorn Rabbit. Sounds like they’re upwind.”
“Really? Hofena-san, how do you want to handle it?”
At my question Hofena stood and got her pack onto her back.
“The Unicorn Rabbit horns are the first priority, so please go that way.”
We put Rani at the front and went back in among the trees.
Fifteen minutes on, ‘Presence Sense’ picked something up. Seven monsters that looked like Unicorn Rabbits, ahead through the forest and already coming our way. That is a great many to appear at once. Rani’s skill at work again, presumably.
“There are a lot of them. Freinil, get ‘Halo’ ready.”
“Yes.”
Freinil went into her focus. I had Hofena stay beside her and took the position that covered them both. Rani was loose.
A rustling came through the trees. It grew.
“Magic is ready.”
“Not yet… not yet… now!”
The forest filled with light, and a groaning “Gyuuu…” went up from every side. The Unicorn Rabbits had registered their own weakening, apparently. It didn’t stop them charging. Rabbits the size of a mid-sized dog, each with a long horn out of its forehead, came bursting out of the undergrowth one after another.
“They just keep coming!”
Rani used ‘Sprint’ and took the rabbits’ heads off precisely, one after another. ‘Vital Strike’ must have been telling as well, because every one went down in a single stroke.
Two came at me. Hitting them with the mace would shatter the horn along with everything else, so I caught one in each hand as they jumped. What I had hold of was horn, and thanks to ‘Grasp’ no amount of thrashing was going to pull it out of my hand. I put the bodies into a tree trunk and that was the end of them.
“Marvelous, seven horns in one go!”
Hofena was dancing on the spot. It had been a fairly dangerous few moments, but that appears not to concern her.
“Mm? Soshi, it smells like there are more of them.”
Rani’s nose was twitching again. By Hofena’s account they do not turn up anything like this often. And then ‘Presence Sense’ caught it.
Six this time, and one of the six read stronger than the rest. A boss, or else a rare variant.
“Freinil, can you manage another ‘Halo’?”
“I can. Leave it to me.”
The rustling closed in. Five in front, with the special one at the back.
“Rani, there’s one at the rear that isn’t like the others. It may be a strong individual. Watch for it.”
“Got it. Can I leave that to Soshi?”
“You can. I’ll take it.”
“Magic is ready.”
Freinil said it in the same moment the first one broke cover.
“Now!”
Light closed over everything around us. The one that had come out already had its head off, Rani having seen to it.
The remaining four came out and were slow with the weakening on them. Once the last of them was down, Rani came around behind me and took up the guard on Hofena. That kind of movement is no small thing.
The special one showed itself between the trees. A big rabbit, the size of a large dog, near enough. Two horns on its forehead.
“A Bicorn Rabbit! A rare variant. Please secure the horns!”
Hofena cried it out, delighted. Either this pharmacist has nerves of iron, or she simply cannot help herself where medicine stock is concerned.
The ‘Bicorn Rabbit’ turned red eyes on me and charged with tremendous force. If that is what it manages weakened, it must be a serious opponent at full strength.
I met it head on and took both horns in a firm grip. The force behind it nearly drove a horn into me, and ‘Steel Body’ stopped it.
“Hup!”
I twisted the horns over. The Bicorn Rabbit had strength of its own, but it had nothing to answer my monstrous strength with, and its whole body went over sideways.
I twisted the other way in that instant, and with a crack the Bicorn Rabbit’s neck broke. Its body jumped once, and after that it did not move again.
“You did it, you did it, Soshi-san, that was wonderful! Now I can make a great deal of medicine. And a Bicorn’s as well! That such a thing should happen!”
Hofena took Freinil by the hand and began, unmistakably, to dance. Freinil was saying “Eh!? Eh!?” and blinking hard. The dancing went on until Rani stopped it, laughing weakly.
“Thank you very much for today. I have never had so lucky a day. Please, do let me request you again!”
The completion paperwork was done at the Guild, and Hofena took both my hands and said all that in a state of high excitement.
“Ah. I think today was simply a run of coincidences…”
Which I said, though this was most likely my ‘Bad Luck’ and Rani’s ‘jinx’ working as a pair. If a next request comes, perhaps that will settle it.
“Freinil-chan, Rani-chan, thank you as well. You were both marvelous. I think this party will be famous. Do your best!”
With that, Hofena left carrying the spoils: twelve horns and two rare ones. Whether she can get as far as the Pharmacist Guild in that state is a mild worry.
“Soshi-san, the paperwork on our side is complete as well. That closes the escort request.”
Mariane spoke up from behind me.
“Thank you. It was good experience.”
“And the appraisal of the Skill Orb is finished. It is ‘Leap,’ as expected.”
A Skill Orb had come off the Bicorn Rabbit as well, in fact. The contract for this request had Hofena buying every horn, but anything else was ours to do as we liked with.
“Understood. We’ll use it ourselves.”
“You do seem to be genuinely lucky, Soshi-san. I know of no other party that has come by two Skill Orbs in so short a time.”
“So it seems. I do get the feeling we run into rare monsters easily.”
I took the Skill Orb, called the two of them over and left the Guild.
“Now then. The question is who uses this Skill Orb…”
Back at the inn I called them both into my room and opened the meeting.
“It was ‘Leap,’ wasn’t it. What kind of skill is that?”
Rani asked it with her eyes shining at the Skill Orb sitting on my palm.
“Just what it sounds like, apparently: you can jump high. Though jump too high and you can take damage landing, or so it goes.”
“Hmm. It’d definitely be useful, though. You could reach monsters up high.”
“You could. And thinking about fighting styles, I think Rani is the one who should use it. How does that sit?”
“I think it is as Soshi-sama says.”
Freinil answered instantly. She is not simply affirming everything I say, is she…?
Rani’s ears went straight up and she looked at me.
“Eh, really!? Soshi’s the one who killed it.”
“Of course we do whatever raises the party’s strength most. It doesn’t suit my style of fighting, and combined with ‘Sprint’ I think the effect will be large. Rani using it is the best answer.”
“Then I want it.”
Rani’s tail twitched back and forth, and she took the Skill Orb off my hand.
“How do you use it?”
“Hold the orb and wish for the skill, from the look of it.”
Rani closed her hand on the Skill Orb and shut her eyes. Her body gave a small jolt, so it had gone in.
“Ah, the skill came in. …Mm, I can fight all sorts of ways with this. Thanks, Soshi.”
Rani’s tail was going hard from side to side. She is after strength, so picking up a rare skill has to have made her very happy.
“When a good skill turns up for Freinil we’ll have her use that one, so hold on until then.”
“Yes. Thank you very much, Soshi-sama.”
I made a point of looking after Freinil too. There’s a delicate side to her, and letting her think she’s being valued less wouldn’t do.
Freinil was looking rather easier when Rani gave her shoulder a little poke.
“Wasn’t there something you wanted to ask Soshi?”
“Eh? No, there is nothing in particular…”
“Really? You want to ask about Hofena-san, don’t you?”
“…!? That is… I mean…”
Freinil looked down and started fidgeting. Rani watched her do it, grinning.
“Is there something you want to ask? Don’t hold back.”
“…It is… that is, Soshi-sama, whether someone like Hofena-san…”
“Hofena-san what?”
“…whether you might be fond of her. You were watching her so closely while she gathered the herbs…”
“What…?”
Ah. So that was what my eyes on her had been taken for. A girl that age would mind it, I suppose. Or perhaps having your party leader lose his head over a beautiful elf is simply a worry in itself.
“What I was watching then was how the herbs get gathered. I wasn’t interested in her.”
“Is that… so?”
“She’s beautiful, certainly, but that on its own isn’t fondness or anything like it.”
“There you go. Isn’t that good, Freinil.”
“I am… glad.”
Freinil let out a breath, and the relief on her face went all the way down.
“The two people in my party are what matters most to me right now, so there’s no room for my attention to go anywhere else.”
Say that much and perhaps she will stop worrying, whatever comes.
“Most of all… yes. That makes me happy.”
“Hmm. That wasn’t bad, I suppose.”
I can’t read much from the pair of them, but let’s believe the party’s bonds got a little stronger.
The two days after that went on strengthening the party in the E-class dungeons as before. I considered going to another town for new skills, but the mass subjugation mission was apparently close, so we put the money into new equipment instead.
With becoming the shield in mind, I tried swapping to a large shield. My style until now had been that attack is the best defense, but with Rani, who does the attacking, sharpened all at once by ‘Vital Strike’ and ‘Brute Strength,’ the party’s balance called for it. Making Freinil easier to protect was part of the point as well.
Freinil’s staff is already a good one, so she took her armor up a grade. Her being in a position to take a hit at all is a thing that must never happen, but preparing for it is still necessary.
Rani, who had picked up skills at speed since joining us, had outgrown the longsword she had been using. She got hold of a sword with a blade something like twice the width and applied herself to getting used to it.
Then, on the morning of the third day, I showed my face at the Guild and the notice for the mass subjugation mission against the undead castle was finally up on the board.
I spoke to the receptionist Mariane, and she said, “The mission has been issued at last. Your participation is requested.”
“I believe you said there might be more you wanted to ask us. Does that mean scouting was carried out beforehand?”
“It does. Another party was engaged and carried out the scouting, as I understand it. The undead castle was confirmed as reported, and this mass subjugation mission was issued on the strength of it.”
“Understood. An undead castle for certain, then.”
“Yes. Undead building a base and operating out of it does happen, if rarely. Though when it comes to a castle, it means there is a considerably high-ranked undead in it.”
“That’s… quite something. High-ranked adventurers will be taking part as well, of course.”
“‘Crimson Anatoria’ will, and ‘Fortuner,’ who are the top of this Guild. There should be no problem on the strength available.”
A cast I have heard of somewhere. Well, in the Viscount Barius domain, those will be the highest force there is.
“Understood. I’ll read the notice and get ready.”
“Thank you.”
As we left the counter Rani started talking, ears twitching.
“I’ve thought this for a while, but you get on well with Mariane-san, don’t you, Soshi. A lot of parties keep clear of her because she’s so cold with them.”
“Talk to her properly and you find she deals with you perfectly normally. Maybe the way she speaks and the face she makes get taken the wrong way.”
“Does it work like that? What do you think, Freinil?”
“Eh?”
Freinil started at being brought in so suddenly. Something had been on her mind.
“About Mariane-san. What do you think of Mariane-san?”
“Ah, well, I think Mariane-san is a good person. She was kind to me from the first.”
“Was she. Maybe I just never knew because I’ve never talked to her.”
Rani put a hand behind her head and glanced over at Mariane. Standing at the counter with her face always turned somewhere off to the side, Mariane is not easy to approach in the first place.
“Never mind that. Something was on your mind just now, Freinil. Is anything wrong?”
Her manner a moment ago had bothered me, so I asked, and Freinil’s face went slightly troubled.
“Yes. Well. It may be my imagination, but a moment ago, only for an instant, I felt a faint and strange presence. It is close to the same feeling as when we found the ‘Lich’…”
“The presence of undead, you mean?”
“Not undead themselves, but I believe it is something near to them.”
“Where did you feel it from?”
“The people standing over there.”
Freinil pointed without letting it show, and at the end of it were two adventurers looking hard at the notice for the mass subjugation mission. Both men, both dressed in a similar swordsman fashion, and nothing strange about the pair of them.
“Hm. Let’s watch them a little. Rani, do you get anything?”
At my question Rani twitched her nose.
“Now that you mention it, there might be a bit of a smell like food gone off. But you pick that up normally if you’ve been killing undead.”
“True enough.”
We stood at the edge of the lobby and watched them for a while, and they did nothing out of the ordinary. My ‘Hearing’ skill level has come up enough that I could follow the conversation, and beyond an accent I did not recognize it was an ordinary exchange about taking part in the mass subjugation mission.
Before long they left the Guild.
“What do we do? Follow them?”
Rani’s suggestion had crossed my mind for a moment too, but at bottom this is only Freinil saying she feels something that might be the presence of undead. There is not enough in a thing that uncertain to justify pushing our preparations for the mass subjugation mission down the list so that we can tail two men.
“…No, we leave it. They said they were taking part in the mission themselves. Even if they are suspicious, whatever they do will be done then.”
“Fair enough. Even if Freinil’s sense is right, they might just have come off fighting undead.”
“If they’re there on the day we watch how they move. I could tell Anatoria, but honestly the chance of her acting on it is low.”
“It’s only a feeling, after all. So what are we doing today?”
“We check the schedule for the mission and get together what we need. And we go to a dungeon if there’s time, obviously.”
“Naturally. If we’re walking into an undead stronghold, every bit stronger helps.”
“Freinil’s magic may be the important thing there. Bear that in mind.”
“Yes, Soshi-sama. I shall work at getting my spells off even a little faster.”
The notice on the board put departure at three days out, early morning. The same as last time in that respect too. Until then I can get even one skill level up—for the irregularity that is bound to happen.