Chapter 76
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 076
Chapter Title: Hermit's Hideout #2
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─Walru, walru…!
─Walru…!
“Ya ya ya! Nimble! The walrus are coming! In a huge swarm!”
Miskanic University was still crawling with all sorts of octopus monsters.
Tentacles sprouting from the bodies of humans and animals alike!
“Then everyone, get ready for battleeeee—!!!”
“《Thorn Vines》!”
Hammer gripped his hammer tightly, and Nimble stretched out his arms.
Soon, thorny vines erupted from the stone floor with a whoosh, piercing the feet of the tentacle monsters.
─Walru!
─Waaalru!
The monsters were trapped by the thorns, unable to move forward or back.
Even those that barely escaped were sent tumbling back into the thorns by Hammer's body slam.
“Where do you think you're going!”
They looked pathetic!
I provided covering fire with my throwing knives too.
“Die, you seafood bastards!”
Psh! Zap-zap—!
My lightning-wrapped throwing knife pierced a monster's body, erupting in blue flames.
“Hehe, seafood is weak to lightning after all!”
Nimble asked me that.
“Why are seafood weak to lightning?”
“Electricity conducts well through water.”
“So why is that?”
“I don't know either.”
If Hermit were here right now, she'd definitely explain the reason perfectly.
It had already been two days since Hermit left.
“Hammer, take a look at this wall. There's some kind of mark.”
Just then, Felix, who was shaking the tentacles off his sword, spotted a symbol drawn on the wall.
It looked like someone had drawn it with blood and ink or something.
“A skull holding a sword….”
Hammer crossed his arms.
“Definitely a mark we haven't seen before. Some kind of idol symbol?”
Hammer looked at me.
His expression seemed expectant, so I told him everything I knew.
“It's a weird picture!”
Our party had no one who could recognize idols or religions right now.
Because Hermit wasn't here.
We had Nimble the druid for area-of-effect magic, so that wasn't an issue.
But her absence was keenly felt when we needed knowledge like this.
“Alright, Hammer Party, time to head back!”
And so we wrapped up our exploration and returned.
On the way back, we met Sabrannik and handed over the 'Ralkar Statue'.
【─Blessed One─.】
【─I shall bestow upon you an even deeper Serpent's Gaze─.】
【─Continue to serve me diligently─.】
Serpent's Eye upgraded to level 2!
Perfect.
It felt great to be steadily getting stronger.
Back to the strategy room!
“Scatter!”
I glared hard with my eyes and scanned the surroundings.
Zzzzt-.
The swarms of rats everywhere froze and shuddered just from my gaze.
“Hehe, pathetic.”
Serpent's Eye had an 'Intimidate' effect on foes lower level than me.
The higher the level, the more useful it'd be in real combat.
Which meant more reasons to farm Ether like crazy.
“Damn it, Hermit was the one who handled putting stuff up at the auction house and selling it. Now my workload's doubled.”
Hammer grumbled as he dropped off today's reinforcement scrolls, potions, and materials at the auction house.
Today's Ether haul was about 2 million.
50,000 Ether per person!
500,000 won a day!
The thrill of Ether farming never got old.
It felt fresh every time!
“Hey, Yor. Buy some of that chicken from before.”
Just then, Nimble approached me, wagging his tail.
He seemed to be craving chicken.
“Hehehe, I'll even treat you to ice cream for dessert today.”
But weirdly, the campfire wasn't responding.
“Uh?”
The flames were weak, and it wouldn't accept Ether or produce chicken?
Fuck, it felt like the damn thing had eaten my coins.
“Hammer! Something's wrong with the campfire!”
“Ah… so it finally broke.”
“Broke?”
“No shrine maiden to maintain it, so the fire glitches out.”
“But it never happened before!”
“That's because Hermit was handling the maintenance somehow. She had some aptitude for imperial magic, after all.”
“Hammer, what do we do now!”
“Nothing we can do but wait for a new shrine maiden. No idea how many days that'll take.”
What!?
No idea how many days? What kind of nonsense is that?
I wanted to eat chicken right now!
Farm Ether, eat chicken and drink cola, sleep—!
My perfect cycle was broken.
“Hammer, we can't get Hermit back?”
Her absence hit hard.
Hammer shook his head vigorously at my question.
“It's Pilgrim family business. An imperial mage came personally for his daughter—what can we do?”
Evening.
While everyone was doing their own thing, I slipped into Hermit's room.
Hermit's room was packed with ink, quill pens, and stacks of books.
In the midst of it all was an egg.
The 'familiar' egg we'd acquired together.
“You're really not gonna hatch, huh!”
A magnet pet.
With that, our hunting efficiency would at least double.
We'd save time picking up Ether and kill even more monsters!
But Hermit ultimately failed to hatch the magnet pet.
I carefully placed the conical hat Hermit left behind on top of the egg.
“She said it was as important as her life.”
It had been crushed under the knights' boots.
I'd dusted it off as best I could.
'Hermit, how am I supposed to get to Cunning Town without you!'
I need to make armor from Sabrannik scales.
And find that young lady too!
“What are you doing here?”
Just then, Nimble approached with a towel on his head.
He smelled like soap all over—he'd just bathed.
I asked him the same.
“What are you doing here?”
“This is my room.”
“Oh, right.”
Nimble had shared the room with Hermit.
Now that she was gone, it was just Nimble's room.
Nimble dried his wet tail with the towel and said,
“Go on. A man and woman who haven't even had a wedding shouldn't be alone in a room.”
“Yes, sir!”
Nimble was a wildman, but super strict about stuff like this.
'Don't wildfolk usually mate just by making eye contact or something?'
I was curious but didn't have the guts to ask.
Didn't want him to hate me.
I slipped out of the women's quarters like that.
Then I spotted the Blasset twins scurrying down the hall.
My vision turned blood-red with rage.
“Hey, you little shits, get over here!”
“Eek?”
“Ugh?”
I grabbed the twins by the scruffs of their necks.
These punks introduced me to Karma Dantes, causing me all sorts of trouble.
'If you think about it, they're the root cause!'
Maybe they're in cahoots.
As horns of fury sprouted in my mind—
“Yor oppa! You hear the news?”
“Karma, that woman, turns out she's the psycho who cuts off men's heads!”
“Huh?”
“Evidence poured out from that burned house, and even Dantes is in hot water!”
“Who could've known she was that crazy!”
Chatter chatter-.
The twins started babbling before I could say a word.
They giggled.
“Yor oppa, so now you can tell which one's the little sister and which is the big sis?”
“Kekeke! You can tell by touching!”
“Nope, not falling for it.”
I'd almost died to Karma Dantes's romance scam just the other day.
Couldn't underestimate these kids either.
'Plenty of middle school girls seducing middle-aged men out there.'
Lure in guys who look loaded to motels, then their thug bros bash 'em from behind for cash.
These Blasset twins struck me as exactly that type.
“So, you girls farming rice or not?”
I casually changed the subject.
I had about 100 gold coins from various gigs.
The twins' eyes lit up.
Clink-.
“Yor oppa's gold coins.”
“So hard.”
The deal was quick.
40 gold coins for 10 million Ether each—total 25 million Ether acquired.
“Yor oppa, keep it secret from that auntie… Germain!”
“Special cheap price for Yor oppa only.”
Current rice rate was 70 gold per 10 million.
Cunning Town, the thieves' rice-farming hub, was half-wrecked, so supply was low.
But the twins sold to me at nearly half price.
'Guess it's atonement for introducing me to Karma Dantes?'
Acquiring Ether in bulk lifted my mood instantly.
25 million.
A fortune out of nowhere.
'What to do with it?'
Level up?
Or save for a house?
I lay in bed pondering what to spend the Ether on.
But only for a moment.
Jingle jingle-.
I heard bell sounds.
'What time is it to be ringing bells…'
I cracked my eyes open, and Felix was already up.
He'd drawn his sword and was glaring like a demon.
Creak-.
Our room door opened—
As someone's hand reached in, Felix swung his sword.
Slash-. Splatter-.
Someone's arm was severed.
“Hey! Felix! You crazy bastard! Swinging your sword out of nowhere—.”
I was about to lose it at his insane reflexes—
When I saw the dagger clutched in the severed hand.
“Nice!”
Anyone sneaking into a room at night with a dagger deserves a sword to the face!
“Arghhh! M-my arm!”
The door swung open to reveal a masked man clutching his wrist, collapsing.
Hard to make out his face under the mask, but weird that he had bells on his ankles.
“…Bells!”
Felix shuddered violently.
He grabbed the intruder's collar and roared.
“You fucking dog, who the hell are you! What are you!!!!!!”
I'd never seen Felix this furious.
Come to think of it, hadn't Felix been looking for thieves with bells?
This intruder fit the bill perfectly.
But the guy bled out and died quick.
On closer look, Felix's ghostly blade work had slashed his chest and throat too.
Felix, you human butcher!
I rummaged through the dead intruder's pockets.
No money, but there was a note.
「Great Wall 33, Sewer Manhole 4」
A location pretty far from here.
What could it be?
Only way to know for sure was to go check it out myself.
“Felix, hang on a sec.”
I wrapped the dead guy's mask around my face and headed out.
Great Wall 33, adjacent squad's Sewer 4.
Stepping in, there were tons of idiots with bells on their ankles.
'Wearing masks, so probably not up to anything legit.'
They were showing each other bloodied daggers.
“Done.”
“Me too.”
“I got both too.”
“Mission complete.”
They all stared at me.
Eyes glowing red in the dark.
“…….”
I silently held out my bloodied knife.
For reference, the blood was from the severed arm.