A Simple Experiment and Some Well-Earned Rest
The honey of the Night Bees is an extraordinarily valuable delicacy. The floral fragrance that blooms across the tongue without ever turning cloying, paired with a delicate sweetness that lingers long after, completely captivates the palate. Its extreme difficulty to harvest drives nobles to madness under the simple laws of supply and demand. Commissioning Bronze-rank adventurers carries too high a failure rate, while hiring Silver-rank ones costs a fortune. As a result, it has become the ultimate luxury item that countless people crave. To a Laserdon, however, it is simply a high-calorie, delicious treat.
Crunch!
“Uwoooong.”
Laserdon hung happily from the top of the tree and bit straight into the honeycomb. Each time it did, the Night Bees swarmed in a frenzy, stabbing their stingers into its hide. Laserdon paid them no mind whatsoever, entirely focused on devouring the honey stored within the comb.
The adventurers watched the sight with worried eyes.
“Is that really okay?”
“Night Bee venom is nothing more than an itch to a Laserdon.”
A Night Bee’s stinger cannot pierce the creature’s thick hide. Even if one managed to break through, the antibodies in its blood would destroy the toxin instantly. Among all the monsters in existence, only Laserdons possess this resistance, which made the current scene possible.
Having eaten the entire honeycomb and forced the Night Bees to flee with their queen, Laserdon finally dropped back to the ground with a thoroughly satisfied expression.
“Kwooeeong.”
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Kwooeeong!”
To my pleasant surprise, it had even brought back another fully intact honeycomb as a gift. I stored it in my inventory, planning to have Neon clean out the debris later, then turned to the adventurers.
“What will you all do now?”
“We intend to return to the guild for the time being.”
After nearly dying, they needed rest to settle their shaken nerves. I nodded at their sensible decision not to push their luck and exchanged a few brief words of encouragement. As the adventurers prepared to head back to Edenberg, they paused and looked at me.
“If I may ask, what are your plans while you remain here?”
“I was thinking of hunting some Storm Locusts to pass the time. Why do you ask?”
“We discovered some rather unusual traces nearby. We lack the experience to identify what kind of monster left them, but the local monsters have become unusually agitated.”
The unexpected information sparked my interest. An unidentified monster?
“Do you think that’s why the Night Bees attacked us?”
“Yes. Otherwise, those normally docile insects would have no reason to swarm simply because something was fighting nearby.”
After the adventurers left with serious expressions, I naturally met Adela’s eyes. Without a word, we both nodded, clearly sharing the same thought.
“Shall we go hunt it?”
“A new monster means money.”
It was the perfect stage to test the performance of my fusion. Whatever the creature was, I doubted it could handle me once I merged with the fragments. At present, I stood at the upper echelons of Silver-rank—equal to Grid, Edenberg’s training instructor.
“Gold-rank is still out of reach, but I can confidently claim I’m the strongest among Silvers.”
“I’ve reached Silver-rank myself now.”
“Kwooeeong.”
On top of that, Adela had grown steadily stronger through continuous gene collection, and the Irregular Laserdon had fully digested the elixir it consumed earlier. Both had now reached Silver-rank as well.
“With this lineup, we can handle anyone unless they’re a high-tier monster.”
Three Silvers in one party. If we lost with this kind of strength, we’d simply have to accept it as fate.
“Still, our main goal is the Storm Locusts. Let’s not go out of our way to chase after some unidentified monster.”
“Yeah.”
“Kwoong.”
I had no intention of forgetting our original purpose, so we wandered the forest in search of Storm Locusts. If we happened to stumble across those mysterious traces while hunting, and if we happened to follow them and encounter the monster, then we would fight. But I refused to actively search for it from the start. Instead, I moved toward every Storm Locust that entered my detection range.
Thanks to Adela’s and Laserdon’s highly developed monster senses, we located our prey quickly.
“Kikikik.”
“Ugh. Just look at that thing.”
Perhaps it was the size, but every movement of its leg joints and segmented body was disturbingly visible. Nepentulas had been tolerable because they were mostly plant-based, but Storm Locusts were one hundred percent pure insect. The sight triggered an instinctive, visceral revulsion.
“And if these things swarm up and transform into locusts, they apparently double in size.”
The mere thought was horrifying. It was no wonder Edenberg had issued an unlimited extermination order. Since they played no vital role in the ecosystem, I felt zero guilt blasting them apart the moment they appeared. There was no need to increase the railgun’s power like in my earlier test, so I simply infused a single fragment with a moderate amount of mana and fired. The Storm Locust’s body exploded.
“This is strangely satisfying.”
The tactile feedback felt exactly like playing an FPS game, so I kept shooting every one I saw. Whenever larger groups appeared, Adela joined in to help clean them up. Two hours later—
“I think we’ve taken down around three hundred by now?”
“It looks like we’ve cleared out the entire local population.”
After a thorough search confirmed the extermination, I scanned our surroundings with a disappointed expression. We had covered a fairly wide area, so I had expected to find the traces the adventurers mentioned. Unfortunately, we discovered nothing.
“Too bad. If we’d found the tracks, we could have followed them.”
“We should have asked the adventurers for the exact location.”
“Yeah, we should have.”
As Adela said, asking for the location would have allowed us to track the creature quickly. But I decided to let it go. We would soon be heading to the front lines, and I couldn’t afford to get sidetracked in a fight with some unknown monster.
“Let’s leave that creature to other adventurers and head back.”
“It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
Since this had only been a short recreational outing, we chose not to push ourselves. I would simply have to test the fusion’s performance once we reached the front lines. With a touch of regret, I flexed my fragment-fused hand a few times before we returned to Edenberg.
Time in Edenberg passed with surprising speed. After completing requests, we used the earnings to maintain our equipment or simply rest. We enjoyed exquisite desserts at an elf-run shop, looked into proper real estate instead of the usual adventurer inns, and even placed commissions with Barok, owner of Vulcan’s Embers workshop.
“What is this?”
“The armor and weapons worn by the Black Knight. They don’t appear to be made from materials of this world, so we wanted them examined…”
“Hand them over immediately! I’ll disassemble every piece and reveal every single function they possess!”
“Then the commission fee…”
“Forget the fee! Just cover the material costs!”
Barok’s eyes had practically rolled back in his head the moment he saw equipment suspected to originate from hell itself. He had gathered every artisan he knew to study the items, so by the time we returned from the front lines, the analysis should be largely complete. Only then would I decide whether to sell the Black Knight gear or melt it down to forge something new. While I waited leisurely at the adventurer guild, Anel—my personal receptionist—approached with news.
“Argo. A named request has come in for you.”
“Finally, what I’ve been waiting for.”
The items had been taking up space in my inventory and weighing on my mind. Now that a proper destination had appeared, I rose from my seat at once. I followed her upstairs, but instead of Luna’s office that I had visited often lately, we headed for the branch manager’s room.
“Branch Manager Vergo? Guild receptionist Anel reporting. I’ve brought the Argo party as requested.”
“Come in.”
The ornately decorated door opened to reveal Vergo, Luna, and Hornst waiting inside.
“Yo! I heard you raised quite a storm in the Central region. You holding up alright?”
“Perfectly fine. As you can see, I’m pretty sturdy.”
“The summoners I know usually have bodies like wet noodles.”
“I suppose I’m a bit special.”
I accepted the compliment with a straight face. Vergo burst into hearty laughter, apparently delighted by my bold—bordering on shameless—attitude. Hornst, who had been quietly sipping tea, looked genuinely surprised.
“It seems Branch Manager Vergo is quite close with these young ones.”
“Aren’t you the same?”
“That is true. For some reason, they just grow on you.”
Hornst smiled modestly at Vergo’s words. Given his usual boisterous personality, the humble reaction seemed out of character—until you remembered who he was speaking to. One of only seven Master-class adventurers in the entire North. One of the Thirteen Heroes who had forced the Mountain Dragon Magranas to retreat from human lands. The battlefield reaper who had single-handedly slaughtered an entire monster wave bearing down on the city. The wolf beastman acknowledged by the divine beast Fenrir. The Blue Fanged Wolf of the northern frontlines. Every title attached to his name was legendary, and his accomplishments were enough to make even the proud Hornst bow his head in respect. Luna sighed as she watched the usually fierce Hornst practically fawn over Vergo’s casual demeanor.
“Aren’t you getting a little too excited about heading back to the front lines?”
“My body’s been feeling stiff lately anyway. This is the perfect chance to have a proper fight and shake off the rust.”
I couldn’t hide my surprise at their conversation. Vergo heading to the front lines was monumental news—enough to make most adventurers faint on the spot. Every Silver-rank adventurer and above would probably beg to follow him. After all, warriors would empty their entire fortunes for the chance to witness a Master-class adventurer in battle. I was no exception.
“You’re going as well, Branch Manager?”
“That’s right. A valuable guest has arrived from the South. The least we can do is provide proper hospitality. Besides, from the way things are developing, this won’t end with just the South.”
“Just so you know, I’m going too. I can’t let the branch manager run off alone.”
“Then what about the Gold-class adventurers who are supposed to remain at the branch?”
“Fortunately, one of them just entered a rest period. We’ll leave the branch in their hands.”
So they were truly going. I nodded, impressed that they had even prepared a Gold-class adventurer to stand by in case of emergencies. If they were sending this much firepower, there would surely be a formal meeting between the North and South. Just how powerful was this new weapon from the South? The one currently stored in my inventory suddenly felt a lot heavier.