The next day, I took everyone to the guild. Maybe I’d run into Endo again, I thought, but the bigger reason was that it was time to start pushing our guild ranks up.
Current ranks: Yumina is green, the rest of us are blue. Black ▷ purple ▷ green ▷ blue ▷ red ▷ silver ▷ gold — I wanted at least the red rank, “first-tier adventurer.”
For one thing, we’d already taken down a black dragon — if that had been the target of a posted job, it would’ve been worth red rank. In other words, in practice, we already had the strength for it.
Clear jobs, raise the rank, the rewards scale up too. Still don’t really know what I want to do, but whatever it ends up being, I’ll need money. Leaning on the fiancées for that would be… a look.
Kōhaku padding alongside us is normal at this point, but the turtle and the snake floating alongside — Sango and Kokuyō — got plenty of stares.
《You two stand out. Quietly minding the house would suffice.》
《I think not. Where Master goes, we go — that is proper.》
《Exactly. And Kōhaku stands out plenty herself, you know.》
The three of them were on telepathy because of the crowds, but I could hear it loud and clear. I mean, Sango and Kokuyō stand out because they’re floating — if I carried them I’m pretty sure it’d be less conspicuous. Suggested as much. Flatly refused.
By their telling, being carried through the streets is something their pride won’t allow. Fine — if anyone asks why they’re floating, I’ll just say “magic.”
We arrived at the guild and I scanned the buzzing hall — no sign of Endo. He’s moved on to another town, maybe.
Everyone else drifted off to the request board, but I grabbed the receptionist who’d handled Endo yesterday and asked after him.
“Ah, the man with the scarf. Yes — he took the Horn-Wolf cull yesterday, claimed his pay, and left.”
Horn-Wolf, huh. Solid choice for a black-rank beginner. My first job was Horn-Wolves too.
“Although… a little…”
”…? Did something happen?”
She trailed off with an awkward smile. Did Endo screw something up?
“The job was five Horn-Wolves. He brought in considerably more than that…”
“The kill-proof is the horn, right? How many did he bring?”
“At least 50, I believe.”
“At least 50!?”
What’s that number!? Way too much hunting!
“Since the contracted count was five, we could only pay the flat fee — but we bought the surplus horns at market rate. He seemed very pleased.”
50-plus, though… And — right — that guy didn’t have a weapon. So he was a mage after all? That’d explain the numbers, but…
…Fine — not worth fixating on. Sticking my nose into other people’s business isn’t a good look anyway.
I rejoined the four glued to the request board.
“Anything good?”
“Ah, Touya-san. This one…”
Yumina pointed to a request slip pinned to a red-bordered board. Hm? We can only take up to blue, can’t we? That’s the one above ours.
I read the slip Yumina was pointing to.
“Mithril… Golem? A golem made of mithril? Location: foothills of the Merisia Mountains. Reward: five platinum coins. …Cheap for a red-rank, doesn’t it…”
“Cheap, yes, but the target is a mithril golem. The body itself trades as material for extraordinary prices. Depending on the size, it could be a tremendous amount.”
I see. Its existence is basically treasure. That’s a sweet deal, maybe. But either way, we can’t take this request… wait — hm?
“Note: parties holding an A-rank title may take this job regardless of rank…?”
Title — like that “Dragon Slayer” we got the other day? I think there’s also “Griffon Buster” or “Demon Killer” or something?
“Dragon Slayer qualifies as an A-rank title. So…”
“Eh? Then we can take this job?”
I peeled the request off the board and brought it to the counter. We hold the Dragon Slayer title, but Yumina doesn’t. Can we still take it in that case?
“Yes — a majority of the party holding the title is sufficient, so it’s fine. Would you like the details?”
“Yes, please.”
The job: at the foothills of the Merisia Mountains, in the Stea Mine quarry, a mithril golem has taken up residence and excavation has come to a complete halt.
The thing isn’t just mildly tough. And mithril being mithril, it’s reportedly fast for a golem too. Light and hard — yeah, that’s mithril. Several miners had already been killed.
These things don’t tolerate intruders in their territory. Which is exactly why some mages use golems as treasure-vault guardians.
“The request is for the mithril golem’s extermination. Will you take it?”
I confirmed with everyone again — request accepted. The kill-proof: the golem’s core. Destroy it and the golem stops moving.
“Touya, can’t you just yank the core out with [Apport] like before? Should be easy.”
Elze said this as we left the guild. True — if it worked, it’d be easy — but with the Phrase, the core was visible through the body. Won’t be that simple with a golem. Linze seemed to think the same, gently shutting down her sister.
”…And a golem’s core would be about this big. [Apport] probably can’t pull something that size.”
She held her hands apart to show a volleyball-sized space. True. [Apport] tops out at hand-grippable size. At that scale, probably no go.
Which means we fight head-on. And naturally, it’ll be hard. Hardness-wise, the toughest opponent so far was the Phrase, and this might be on par or worse. Then again, no regeneration — at least the golem has that going for it.
What’ll work: Linze’s [Explosion] / [Bubble Bomb] — blast-type. Yumina’s earth-element [Rock Crush] — crush-type.
Elze, with the strength-boost gauntlet on her right hand, can probably push through some damage too. The problem is Yae. A swordswoman whose weapon is the katana doesn’t pair well against hard targets.
“This time, sessha shall move as a decoy, indeed.”
After we clear this job, the first thing I’m doing is having Yae’s blade reforged in mithril.
“So — how do we get to the Merisia Mountains? Borrow a carriage again? Or maybe just buy one this time?”
Sure — a carriage would be easier, like Elze says — but let’s try something else this time. No sense in not using something you’ve just acquired.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“DepartinG. Please refrain from leaving your seatS.”
“What seats.”
”…A matter of moOd. Read the air a little, masteR.”
A few days of effort spent ferrying the Hanging Garden over to Belfast’s capital is paying off. With this, we’ll reach the destination in a few hours.
Currently flying at about 200 meters altitude. Lower than Tokyo Tower, but with no tall buildings or peaks in the way, this is plenty. The stealth function means no one looks up at us. Don’t get the theory, but the wild part is that it doesn’t even cast a shadow. How does that even work? Ancient magic, again?
“Estimated arrival: about one houR.”
Cesca said this from the control device in the center of the garden. The device at a glance is just a tall black slab — a monolith, essentially. A simple map and a language I can’t read are displayed on it. Presumably the moving point of light is us — the garden.
I left Cesca and the monolith, walked over to a corner of the garden where everyone had spread a sheet for a tea picnic.
“She says about an hour out.”
I sat between Yumina and Yae, and Yae handed me a sandwich. Simple — ham and cheese — but one bite and I tilted my head.
“I-is something the matter, indeed?”
“No… different flavor than usual, but… it works. Tasty.”
“R-really, indeed!”
Yae visibly let out the breath she was holding. For something Claire made, that was kind of heavily seasoned — salt and pepper a bit much… ah. Wait.
“Did you make this, Yae?”
“Y-yes, indeed. As Touya-dono’s b-b-bride, sessha thought I should at least manage one dish, and Claire-dono has been teaching me…”
I see. Glad I didn’t say something thoughtless. I happily kept eating, and thanked her.
“I made this one. Try it.”
“Oh — Elze? Sure, no holding back.”
“Ah, that’s—”
What she handed me was fried chicken. Linze started to say something but my hand had already speared a piece with the fork and brought it to my mouth.
“Spi—”
“How is it? Tasty?”
“SPIIIIIIICY!? Spicy, spicy! Or — not spicy — painful!? Aaaaagh—”
I gulped the water Yumina shoved at me. Not enough. Linze produced a basketball-sized chunk of ice with magic — I pressed my tongue to it and barely escaped.
”…What kind of thing have you fed me… what kind of thing…”
Without thinking I came out with a line like a Kyoto merchant — but the tears streaming aren’t that kind of tears. What is this stupid-spicy chicken!?
“Eh — that’s spicy?”
Elze was popping pieces into her mouth one after another, eating completely unconcerned. Why are you fine!? Linze, beside her, opened her mouth apologetically.
”…Onee-chan, her tolerance for spice is abnormally high. And when she cooks, she has a habit of over-spicing everything — at home we absolutely never let her in the kitchen.”
Could you have told me that earlier? I never expected to feel defeated before even fighting a golem.
Right — at our place, Elze is banned from cooking too. This is borderline life-threatening.
Ugh — tongue still stings…