Chapter 117: Silence Territory ③
Exterminating monsters in a forest with poor visibility would be a pain, so for now, we decided to move to an open area.
That said, there weren’t any good spots in the forest, so we just returned to the site of the previous battle.
“Are you going to continue exterminating them bit by bit here?”
He seemed a little relieved by our actions, but I didn’t intend to spend that much time on it.
We’d been exterminating the surrounding monsters for a while to put some distance between us and the unit that had returned earlier, so they wouldn’t notice us.
“No, we’ll gather them all at once from here and exterminate them,” I said, creating my usual gong.
“What’s that?” he asked, observing it with interest. “May I ring it?” Yuri-san asked me, a mischievous look on her face.
I returned her smile and nodded, and the deep, low sound of the giant gong reverberated.
“Wha-!? What do you think you’re doing!!”
“Are you an idiot!? If you do that, all the monsters will come here!”
“No, that’s why I said we’d gather and exterminate them. You can head back first if you want?”
The two looked back and forth between us and behind them, then said, “Well, if someone with the young lady’s level of skill says they can do it, I’ll believe it, but…” revealing their anxiety, yet they seemed to have decided to stay.
And so, we began exterminating the gathering monsters with the laser guns.
It was a simple job, just cutting them down horizontally.
“H-hey, what in the world is that? It’s insanely powerful. Those brats from before were using it too, but can it handle this many…?”
“Ah, so Hiroki and the others came to scout too.”
“What, you know them? Well, it’s only natural since you have the same kind of new magic tool.”
Well, they’re not exactly the same, you know.
This one is made of pure Mithril and amplified to its absolute limit, so it’s far more powerful.
While we were talking, the number of monsters suddenly increased.
We were exterminating them at a good pace, but they were spawning faster than that, and the distance was rapidly closing.
“Hey, the extermination isn’t keeping up! Are you sure this is okay!?”
“Ah, yes. Shall I go for it?”
It’s a wide area this time, so fire should be fine. We’re dealing with plants and animals, after all.
With that in mind, I arranged about five fan-shaped Firestorm magic circles, each thirty meters in scale.
I had Yuri-san thin out only the monsters that broke through, then, after luring them in, activated the circles at the most efficient timing. A massive number of monsters were engulfed in flames, and their death cries rose continuously from all over.
“What in the world… A magic circle this big is impossible. Is this a dream?”
“It’d be easier to accept if you told me it was an illusion. It’s hard to accept this as reality…”
I had burned down a good number of the nearby ones, so I was about to stop the magic and reply, but I heard a sound from behind and stopped talking.
When I looked at Yuri-san, she was also staring in the direction the sound came from.
“What’s wrong? Are you changing your method? The monsters are still coming.”
I asked him if he was expecting reinforcements, but he said there were no such arrangements.
Just then, I saw the familiar light of a laser gun in the distance and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was Hiroki and the others. There were three sets of footsteps, no doubt about it.
Thank goodness.
Since we’d drawn the monsters, we had to exterminate them, and it would have been troublesome if strangers showed up.
“Ah, that’s those brats.”
“Oh, it was Ami-san and the others. Good. It looks like it’s just them, so shall I signal them?”
I see, Hiroki and the others can’t use Enhanced Hearing, so they can’t pinpoint our location from this distance, huh?
We’re ringing the gong, so I think they’ve already noticed, but it’s probably safer to let them know it’s us. I nodded to Yuri-san, and she sent a few signals with her laser gun so they’d understand.
After that, we lured in and cast magic twice more before Hiroki and the others arrived.
“Uooooh! It really is you guys, Rui!?”
“Eeh!? You’re really here! Why!?”
“Ahaha, what’s with that… As usual, when Rui uses magic, things get crazy, huh.”
The siblings and Akito called out with their usual energy.
“Yo! I heard you might be in danger because personnel were taken for the war, so I came to check just in case.”
“Huh? We’re here, so of course it’s fine!”
“Is that so? I believe there are about forty thousand more, but may I leave them to you?”
When Yuri-san replied to Hiroki with a challenging smile, he widened his eyes and said, “Eh? I heard there were at most around ten thousand, though?”
“It’s the same as Oldam. The Mana Essence reservoirs bursting are generally pretty bad this year, right?”
“I see. Mana Essence spreads from underground, so human-defined regions don’t really matter, do they?”
Akito put his hand on his chin, looking convinced. Ami-san tilted her head at him and asked, “But once this place is done, that’s it for this year, right?”
Apparently, Silence is the last region in Lestall with a large-scale active period.
The order is somewhat fixed, and Mildrad is supposedly next.
Incidentally, it seems Belfast didn’t have any large Mana Essence reservoirs before its territory expanded.
Did its small territory work in its favor, perhaps?
“Hey, Rui. Since we’re here, we wanna defeat some monsters and get stronger too…”
“Yeah. If it’s okay, can we take on the ones you’ve gathered?”
“Of course, it’s fine. Don’t worry about magical power for the return trip, so go nuts.”
“Yay! As expected of Rui-kun!” Ami-san immediately mowed them down horizontally with her laser gun.
Hiroki and Akito followed suit in the same way.
“Hehe, with this many, it’s easy since you can take out a bunch just by sweeping sideways, huh?”
“Totally. Though if it were just us, our magical power would run out first.”
“I’m pretty confident I could last a long time in close combat, though.”
Hoho. It seems they’re getting stronger quite steadily.
Even by a low estimate, they’re probably equivalent to Knights.
I might not need to worry about them too much anymore.
“By the way, I’m here incognito, so keep that in mind, okay? Pops told me not to make public appearances, so I won’t be showing my face to the military or anything.”
“Ah, you did mention that. And yet you came because you were worried? Thanks, Rui.”
Following Akito’s voice, the other two also expressed their gratitude, and I replied, “Don’t worry about it,” as usual.
“Alright then, once you three run out of magical power, let’s call them over one more time, defeat them, and call it a day.”
“That sounds good. If Hiroki and the others have gotten that strong, that should be enough.”
“Huh, you’re leaving already?”
Since we were here, they invited us to grab a meal together, so I decided to accept.
Apparently, since I always make food for them, they wanted to treat me for a change.
And so, after exterminating about twenty thousand monsters, we finished up and flew towards the town of Silence.
When we arrived in town, the veteran hunter couple, who had been mostly silent from some point on, said they were going to report on their mission and left.
Yuri-san and I entered the town using the disguised Hunter IDs we were given and looked for a shop where we could all have tea.
The pretext was to find the most delicious shop in this town.
Everyone recommended one particular shop, so we decided to go there.
However, when we entered the shop and looked at the menu, Akito and Hiroki looked grave.
“Kuhah, so expensive!”
That’s right, it was a shop specializing in serving nobles.
A shop where the cheapest items started at about thirty times the price of a normal shop.
“It’s certainly expensive, but you guys can afford it now, right?”
“That’s right. Thanks to Rui-kun, we’re earning well, so you can’t be stingy here. If we keep working hard, our earnings will go up, so let’s indulge ourselves this much, okay?”
Ami-san was happily staring at the menu. It was a little surprising.
I thought she might hesitate a bit since they were treating us.
Well, I have money, so I could pay for myself, but if I did that clumsily, it would undermine their position after they brought us here to treat us.
Ah, but while Ami-san’s comments about marrying rich stand out, if I think about it, she was always quite generous, wasn’t she?
She always lent us her room, and she proactively took on troublesome support positions in battles.
Yeah. She’s the type to think about repaying favors.
“I’m not trying to be stingy or anything. Alright, everyone, let’s go for the most expensive stuff. Nothing from the bottom half of the menu. Got it?”
“Haha, as long as it’s not every day, it’s totally fine, so why not?”
Hmm. I was about to say they didn’t have to force themselves, but saying that here would be tactless.
Well then, shall I order without holding back?
So, I ordered something reasonably expensive, and Yuri-san followed suit.
And so, while enjoying a delicious meal, we updated each other on what we’d been up to.
That said, I already knew most of what Hiroki and the others had been doing, so it mostly settled into small talk about the state of our forces and how this town was.
After that, I talked about various things, like the monsters that had appeared and the new village I was building.
“Heeh, Rui-kun is building a village? I want to go!”
“Yeah, if you want to come, just let me know and I’ll take you. For now, the only road there is closed to traffic.”
“Closed to traffic… Then how are you going to increase the number of people moving there?”
“Well, you’re right about that, but… there’s also the matter of the Magic Tool Craftsman, so I can’t just carelessly open it up.”
That’s precisely why if we don’t increase the population, the people we’ve invited won’t be able to live prosperous lives.
This information is meaningless to them, so I won’t go out of my way to tell them, but I do want to increase the number of residents, so I’d like to hear their opinions.
“Yeah. I think we have no choice but to recruit from somewhere, but do you have any good ideas?”
“Hmm, isn’t it just about having the nearby Lords announce recruitment for us?”
Yeah, that’s true.
“My family has considered relocating before, but it’s hard to take the plunge if the conditions aren’t good, you know.”
Conditions, huh.
Things like exempting them from taxes for a while or giving them houses and fields, huh.
Well then, first, I guess I’ll have the carpenters work hard and build a lot of houses.
And so, when the conversation had died down to some extent, we left the shop. Since it was already getting late, we decided to stay overnight in Silence today.
The inn Hiroki and the others were staying at apparently still had vacancies, so Yuri and I also got a room there.
And then, somehow, we just went with the flow and ended up in Hiroki’s group’s room, continuing our chat.
“Speaking of which, when is the full-scale subjugation scheduled to start?”
“If things go as planned, it’s the day after tomorrow. I’ve heard it might be tomorrow depending on the situation.”
If that’s the case, there’s almost no more time to do things secretly.
I’ve taken out over ten thousand, but listening to George-san’s words, it still seems like it’s going to be tough.
“What should I do… Should I reduce their numbers during the night?”
“I don’t mind either way, but is your Magical Power okay?”
No, it’s not really okay, I guess.
I’ve been flying too much lately. I used up too much from flying during the Bloody Bear subjugation.
And besides, out of the seven new Backpacks, only one is still completely full.
“In that case, let’s leave it to them. If worst comes to worst, we can call for reinforcements from the surrounding towns, after all.”
“That’s right. Even though you’re busy, Rui, you did that much for us. That’s plenty.”
Hmm. Akito and Ami don’t look particularly worried either.
In that case, I’ll check the situation a bit tomorrow, and if it’s not too bad, I guess I’ll just head back.
Rose and the others are waiting for me too, after all.
“Well then, I’m going to bed soon.”
“Alright, then I guess I’ll get some sleep for tomorrow too.”
“That’s right. It’ll probably be tomorrow, so let’s get to bed early.”
Starting with Ami’s words, everyone decided to go to bed, and we also moved to the room we had taken and went to sleep.