Chapter 12: Light Novel Knowledge
To Tame the large number of Killer Bees I’d captured, I called Fran and had her knock them down one by one as I took them out of the hole.
For a Killer Bee that fell to the ground, if (Tame) [Killer Bee – 2] appeared, I’d hit it again to make it 1, and if it became (Tame) [Killer Bee – 1], then (Tame, Tame) [Killer Bee – 50-14].
《You’re Bee-chan No. 14. Go to where No. 1 and the others are and wait.》 [Killer Bee – 50-14, Compound Eyes, Poison Nullification, 28]
《Yes, Master.》
The process of endlessly hitting them, checking if I could Tame them, and then assigning a number if I could, continued until I was thoroughly sick of it. But somehow, I managed to Tame up to No. 50 and then checked my status.
I looked at my palm (Skill) [Shinya, Human – 18 years old. Tamer – Ability 1, Amadeus’s Blessing, Tina’s Blessing, Life Magic – Magical Power 10/10, Search Beginner, Presence Detection Beginner, Stealth Beginner – Tree Climbing – Poison Nullification – Killer Bee Domination]
[Poison Spider – 5-1, Compound Eyes – Tree Climbing, 27]
[Killer Bee – 50-50, Compound Eyes – Poison Nullification, Domination, 28]
Hmm, the Killer Bees have “Domination” in addition to Compound Eyes and Poison Nullification.
Also, under my skills, “Killer Bee Domination” has been added to Tree Climbing and Poison Nullification.
Is this a reward for maxing out at 50-50? But even if it says Domination, I’m already dominating them since I’ve Tamed them, so what does it actually mean?
Koo-chan’s number has decreased to 27. I’m not sure if it’s the number of days Tamed or Koo-chan’s lifespan, but Bee-chan’s number is also decreasing, a day behind.
It seems I’ll just have to wait for these numbers to reach 0.
《Master, Master, I caught some meat!》
I was busy and had forgotten, so I asked Fran, had Bee-chan guide her to the Horned Rabbit, and had her butcher it.
Fran seemed to have gotten the hang of it; she sliced the butchered meat thinly and hung it on tree branches.
《Master, may I eat some? ♪》
《Go ahead. Good work.》
I took a piece and carried it to Koo-chan, letting her eat in a place where the Bee-chans couldn’t see her.
Seeing the large swarm of her natural enemies, Koo-chan was completely terrified and wouldn’t come out of her flowerpot-like nest.
After the meal, I decided to release the remaining Killer Bees and let them go home.
After asking the Bee-chans not to attack us, I wrapped vines around the earthen pipe and pulled it from a distance.
When the pipe fell, the remaining bees all flew up at once. The dull buzzing of their wings filled the air, sending shivers down my spine.
The sound of the wildly dancing Killer Bees’ wings was more than enough to give me goosebumps.
I instinctively wished, “Don’t come here! Hurry up and go back to your nest!” And a great chorus of “We’re going home, Master” echoed in my head.
I let out an involuntary “Eh?” and looked up. The wildly dancing Killer Bees were circling around the earthen pipe, gathering, and then leaving.
Domination… Does this mean I can command a species I’ve maxed out, even if I haven’t Tamed them individually?
“Wow, that was intense, wasn’t it? Just thinking about being attacked by that made me shiver.”
This girl… I’m trying to think about Taming and Blessings, and she just cheerfully starts talking, completely unable to read the room.
But, with this, I’ve obtained a powerful weapon.
It seems like it’ll be easier to get Mina and old Hanna-san back to a town.
“Fran, I’m going to escort those two to a town, but we can’t take them to Zandra, so what should we do?”
“Why not consult with Hanna-obaasan? She seems to know a lot of things.”
“Yeah. I don’t know where Holm town is, but handing them over to officials near Zandra… I’m not sure about that.”
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I didn’t want the three captives to overhear our conversation, so I asked Fran to envelop them in an Earth Magic Shelter.
“Are you saying that the Guild Master of the Zandra Adventurers Guild is the boss of the bandit group?”
“We were attacked near Zandra, and that’s what I heard when I interrogated them after we fought them off. At that time, 11 people, and 5 outside this hideout, attacked us. Including these three, that’s 19 people. They were all Adventurers or ruffians who used to be adventurers, so I don’t think it’s entirely a lie. If that’s the case, we can’t take you to a nearby town. We’ll have to hand you over to officials in a place outside the territory where Zandra is located, at the very least.”
“About that, you said six of them went to town; that was to deliver a letter demanding a ransom for the young lady. We were attacked more than half a day after leaving Zandra Town, and the shop’s guards and the hired Adventurers were all killed. From what they said, it seems they were targeting the young lady, and knowing I was her wet nurse, they didn’t kill me but ordered me to take care of her.”
“Why did you send a small child out on a journey alone?”
“South of Zandra, there is the town of Cantas. We were returning from visiting Mina-ojousama’s great-grandmother, who is ill. As for the six who went to town, they said sending the letter from Zandra would be too conspicuous and problematic, so they were going to the neighboring domain’s capital.”
“The neighboring domain’s capital?”
“It’s Emden, in the Klux domain! The territory to its north is the Elzart domain, where Holm town is located. By the way, it takes three days by carriage from Zandra Town to Emden, and another four days from there to Holm town.”
“So, Hanna-san, what are you trying to say?”
“From what you’ve said, going to Zandra seems dangerous, and there’s no guarantee their allies aren’t in Emden either. Could you escort us to Holm?”
“That’s unreasonable. We just registered as Adventurers the other day; we’re G-rank Adventurers. What do you think would happen if the four of us—just us two, you, and the young lady—traveled the main roads?”
“But the two of you captured nearly 20 bandits, didn’t you?”
“About that, we only captured three of them alive. The bees helped us with the rest. Even those three were thanks to the bees.”
“You’re a Tamer, and you command bees, don’t you?”
“Even yesterday, there were over 10 bees. I don’t know what a Tamer is capable of, but my Ability is the lowest, 1. Commanding that many is impossible for me!”
“But the bees gather around you, and they seem to obey you.”
“That’s because I have Blessings. Maybe the Tamer god is helping me out.”
Even though I was playing dumb, Fran was looking at me with a strange expression, so I glared at her, telling her not to say anything unnecessary.
“But according to your story, we can’t return to Zandra. And if we go to Emden, and the ones who took the ransom letter happen to meet us or find out about you, that Guild Master fellow will find out.”
Now that she mentioned it, that was certainly true, and I couldn’t help but exchange glances with Fran.
If we move around carelessly here, we’ll mess up. What should we do?
Even if we head to this Holm place as old Hanna-san says, it’s impossible with a 5-year-old child and an old woman.
“Maybe coming to town for training was a mistake. What should we do, Shinya-san?”
“You said your village, Fran, is close to Zandra, right?”
“It’s about a two-day walk, but…”
“But, what?”
“Osius Village is to the east of Zandra. There are many Beasts, so they sometimes call Adventurers for subjugation.”
“Good grief. So even going to your village isn’t necessarily safe, huh?”
From what that bastard Amadeus said, I thought this was a rotten world, but it seems even harsher than I imagined.
Judging by his way of talking and his carefree, dismissive personality, he’s probably forcibly Summoned many people and let them die.
I have no intention of being treated as disposable and dying so easily, so I’ll survive no matter what.
“Staying here won’t solve anything, so let’s move. But what about those three?”
“We can’t let them escape, so let’s ask Koo-chan.”
“Yeah. It’s dangerous to stay here forever, so let’s move to a different spot and think about what to do next.”
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I had old Hanna-san wear my trousers to walk. We decided to have Mina sit in a carrier basket and take turns carrying her on our backs.
Walking on the main road is dangerous, so we headed north towards Holm. But we decided to walk slightly to the east, so as not to stray too far from the road.
I asked the Bee-chans to scout, and we chose easy paths to walk, but on the fourth day, Hanna gave out.
I knew it was cruel to make an old woman, the young lady’s wet nurse, walk through the forest, so I couldn’t push her any further.
I told her to drink a Potion for her leg injury, but she refused, saying it was for the young lady.
In that case, we’d have to leave the two of them here and go to Holm by ourselves.
However, their safety is an issue. It’s at times like these that I need to mobilize all my light novel knowledge.
I had Fran search for a suitable, inconspicuous place to build a Shelter, one that would be easy to find when we returned.
After leveling the ground and preparing to build the Shelter, it was time to test if my light novel knowledge would be useful.
“Fran, make me a weapon for hunting.”
“A weapon?”
“Using Earth Magic. Didn’t you say before, ‘I can also fight Beasts’?”
“Stone Arrow? What are you going to do with something like that?”
“Just make it. We might be able to make a really sturdy Shelter.”
“I beseech the earth, borrow its power, and become an arrow to strike down my foe… Hah!”
An earthen arrow about 60cm long materialized. I took it and snapped it. There was some resistance, but it broke cleanly, like a thin branch.
“One more.”
I told a displeased Fran-san I’d explain later and had her make another one.
“Can you imbue this with Magical Power to make it harder?”
“Eeeh? Is something like that even possible?”
“I think so. Where I grew up, they said magic was something that grants wishes. If you can create Shelter and Stone Arrow, Fran-san, you should be able to do this too. Just try it, as if you’ve been tricked. Wish for this arrow to become hard and release your Magical Power. If you can do it, you’ll reach a new level as a magic user.”
This was just something I picked up from a light novel, but if it worked, it would be a huge gain, and her attack power would increase too.
She seemed to be seriously contemplating something, then chanted, “I beseech the earth, borrow its power, and become an arrow to strike down my foe… Hah!”
After creating the arrow, she glared at it and chanted, “I borrow the power of Amadeus-sama, the Creator God, and harden this… Hah!”