Episode 16: Rescue
“Lady Evelyn, and Kalinka-san, was it?”
“Cladfield? That’s dangerous! Duck down!”
“Well, it’s not dangerous anymore, so I showed my face.”
The ones hiding were acquaintances.
“Th-those many monsters… where did they go?”
“I defeated them. They’re piled up over there.”
Since there were witnesses, I left some of the corpses as they were. I added attacks to the corpses to make it look like I had thrown pebbles with telekinesis.
I also tied the Monster Repellent Sachet to a nearby tree, so there’s probably no need to worry about other monsters eating them.
“Cladfield-kun is strong, isn’t he?”
“Well, I’m blessed with Magical Power.”
“Honestly, if Kalinka hadn’t objected, I would have taken care of it myself.”
“I can’t handle that many alone. Besides, if Young Lady Evelyn goes all out in the Forest, it’ll immediately turn into a fire.”
Ah, come to think of it, Lady Evelyn is good at fire magic.
“What are you doing here?”
“Collecting Dreg Magic Stones.”
“There weren’t any satisfactory requests. At first, there weren’t this many Monsters, but suddenly they came from over there… We didn’t know what kind of Monsters they were, so we hid, but there were so many that it was hard to get out.”
“It seems they’re flowing down from the mountains. It’s dangerous today, so shall we head back? There aren’t that many now. I’ll guide you to the edge of the Forest.”
“That would honestly be a great help.”
“It’s an unexpected offer, but is it okay, Cladfield-kun?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, coming to a place like this means Cladfield-kun is also an Adventurer, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then you’re here on a request?”
“I just finished defeating the Monsters from that request.”
I defeated nearly a hundred in total. There shouldn’t be any complaints.
“I see.”
“It seems these Monsters aren’t usually found around here. The Adventurer’s Guild and the Knights Order are moving, so I think it will be resolved soon.”
“There were so many, and they were Monsters I’d never seen before.”
“They’re called Stun Mantas.”
“Manta… can they be eaten?”
“Huh?”
“Y-Young Lady Evelyn!?”
“But Sand Mantas can be eaten!”
For some reason, Lady Evelyn clenched her fist and said powerfully.
“Umm…?”
When I glanced at Kalinka-san, she sighed and answered.
“Lady Evelyn is… addicted to eating Monsters.”
“Huh? I mean, most of the meat we usually eat is Monster meat, right?”
“Exactly!”
“Eh? Eh?”
“The reason I’m working as an Adventurer is to increase the number of edible Monsters!”
“Is that so!?”
“That’s right…”
“My territory is a Marquisate, but the desert area is large, and crops can only be grown in some regions.”
“I see.”
That’s bound to happen in a desert area.
“So our ancestors thought! If we can’t grow crops, let’s eat Monsters!”
“…Well, that’s not a strange idea.”
“Yes… as long as it’s not excessive.”
Is it excessive?
“My family is a family of hunters, so we know a lot about edible Monsters, and we can cook them too… By the way, these Stun Mantas are edible.”
“They are!?”
“They are, but not right away, okay?”
“Why not!?”
“It seems it’s common to dry them in the sun until they’re crispy, then grill them.”
“I can’t eat them right away, huh.”
Well, isn’t she just hungry?
“Are they like snacks for alcohol?”
“The edible parts don’t seem very large. It might be okay if you fry them in oil, though.”
” “Oil?” ”
“You don’t know about fried food?”
“I know about it. But it’s a luxury that rarely appears even in the Marquis family.”
That’s strange. It was common in my village.
“It’s hard to come by. There are hardly any opportunities to get good oil, and a pot full of it.”
“…Ah, is that what it was?”
There was a Monster called Flame Trumpeter near the village.
Its oil sacs were full of vegetable oil suitable for frying. Whenever I wanted to eat fried food, I would go hunting with Aniki once a week.
It shoots out almost endless flames at anyone who approaches, so the contents of the oil sacs decrease with each attack. That’s why we had to defeat it quickly, or we’d get scolded. I think it was an A-rank Monster. Ah, A-rank is no good.
“Could it be that oil is quite expensive?”
“Oil that can be used for frying is expensive. Most of it comes from strong Monsters, and it’s flammable, so transportation is dangerous.”
So it was our village quality again.
“Can’t I eat it raw?”
“There’s a possibility that the meat is soaked in paralyzing Poison, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”
She really looks disappointed. Ah, cooking with oil. I feel like eating Karaage.
“Oh, Iserina-san?”
“Oh, did you end up rescuing people too?”
When I led the two out of the Forest, there were many young Adventurers resting with tired expressions.
“They were hiding well in the Forest.”
“…It’s a good thing Stun Mantas aren’t Monsters with excellent detection abilities.”
“Iserina-sama, is it okay to take these home?”
“Eh? You defeated them? That’s amazing for a Level 9. Did Claffy-kun help?”
“They defeated them all by themselves. I was just on guard.”
There was a battle on the way back, and the two wanted to try it out, so I had them actually fight.
Kalinka-san, with her heavy equipment, used her shield to block the enemy’s attacks, and Lady Evelyn, who can use strong magic, defeated the enemy with lightning magic.
Lady Evelyn’s lightning magic is quite powerful. Well, it seemed difficult to use in the Forest.
Kalinka-san’s shield and armor are also special, light despite their appearance, and more durable than they look.
“We can buy them, but you’re taking them home? I don’t mind, but what are you going to do with them?”
“I’m going to eat them!”
“…I think I just saw the biggest smile today. Okay, I don’t mind. Claffy-kun, are you still going into the Forest? I heard that the recovery team has collected quite a few.”
“I don’t mind either way, but is there something?”
“I want to ask you to escort them. There are quite a few Knights out there, but I want to leave it to someone whose abilities I know to some extent.”
Saying that, she points to the Adventurers who are tired and resting. And the smiling Lady Evelyn, and Kalinka-san stuffing Stun Mantas into her backpack.
“Since I know them, I’ll take it. Is it okay to leave the Ogre Horse as it is?”
“It’s okay. We’ll use it here.”
It would be troublesome to have only one horse when walking with this many people.
“Then there’s no problem.”
“Okay, thank you. I’ll settle the escort money later, but give me two or three days.”
“Understood.”
Iserina-san nods and starts telling the sitting Adventurers to move. They look at me when they hear about the escort, but I wonder why they have such resigned expressions.
“Oh, it seems a nest has been discovered.”
Colored smoke is rising from the mountain side. It seems the incident is heading towards a resolution.
“Is that so? That’s good.”
It was different from what I expected, but I got to experience real combat for the first time in a while, so I guess today was good.