Chapter 16
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 16: Scale Artisan
The Lizardmen's attack stopped.
The flying spears and arrows ceased, and the Lizardmen's steps also became calm. The investigation squad members, who were highly vigilant, also stopped their defense.
At that sight, Team Leader Kang Jaewon looked at me with a surprised face.
"Are you acquainted with those monsters?" "I owed them for a short while in the past." "You owed them..."
Why to monsters?
It was a face asking that.
Team Leader Kang Jaewon wasn't the only one surprised.
"B-Boss, what is going on?"
Elena had a similar expression. She stuck closely behind my back while holding a cross and asked.
"No, you're from Hunters Inc. in name! Where is there a human who calls dungeon monsters 'brother'? Boss, don't tell me you're a spy for the demons..."
It was a nuance trying to check with her body by pouring holy power onto my back right away.
"Hey hey, calm down. Do you really think I'm in cahoots with demons? I wouldn't have told you if I was." "Then?" "There was a story."
The group of Red Scale Lizardmen that approached by wading through the swamp. Among them, the one with the largest build and uniquely sparkling scales stepped forward in front of me.
Red Tail. It was a face I especially knew. Because he's the Lizardman who saved my life.
Unlike other Lizardmen, a name attached because he had a uniquely sparkling red tail.
And the owner of the spear that pierced Elena's holy shield.
The guy pulled out the obsidian spear stuck in the ground and approached us.
At the sight of him gripping the spear that pierced the Saintess's shield, all the members couldn't let go of the string of tension. Some audibly swallowed their saliva.
Even Elena.
"Your strength is still the same too."
And the reason he has that tail right now. It was the result of the scaling and ironing I did for him as the price for saving my life when I was distressed, separated from my party during my porter days.
The guy swished his tail and showed his forearm.
This guy crazy for fighting. Even so, I had no intention of putting my employee forward in a situation like this.
"Never mind that, let's just talk. Why did you pick a fight?"
Red Tail glared at the investigation squad members. The investigation squad members also had extremely tense faces at the look in his eyes.
Everyone tightly gripped their weapons in their hands as if they would fight right away.
This place is their territory. There was absolutely nothing good about fighting here.
And there's no reason to fight in the first place.
"Team Leader, you may put away your weapons. Those guys, they're my customers." "...Yes?"
Team Leader Kang's pupils caused an earthquake. Where in the world would there be a crazy person who calls monsters regular customers. I must surely look like a crazy person in his eyes. However, he lowered his weapons at the conversation where hostility couldn't be felt from the Lizardmen approaching as if close.
"They are guys who saved my life back when I used to work as a porter for Hunters Inc. Originally they were ones I met in another region, but it seems they've settled in this dungeon too."
The same monsters showing their appearance in different dungeons was something that happened often. To us it's a dungeon, but to them it's a giant world. The dungeons we enter and exit through gates are a part of this world.
To hunters who entered through the gate, the dungeon might be everything, but for those living here, there's a world outside the dungeon.
It was the same for them.
They left the place where they originally settled and settled here, in the Red Swamp. No wonder, I heard the frequency of Lizardmen appearing in their original dungeon had dropped a lot.
I pointed at their scales.
"I polished their scales a few times as repayment for saving my life, you see."
Everyone had a dumbfounded face. An expression unable to follow the too-fast progress.
Only one, Peep, shouted as if answering my words.
Right, you received scaling from me too. A luxury laundry that washes even spirits. You know, right?
Peep puffed out its chest as if showing its body towards the Lizardmen. The fluffy pink fur shone beautifully.
This seat's body is also a body that received the precious touch of the benefactor! You are a guy who knows how to see!
Peep's solemn tone. Of course, there was no way the Lizardmen could hear it. However, Peep revealed its body as if boasting.
He looked at me and asked.
"Because we're the same humans. I received a request. Asking me to find a method capable of removing this tar."
At those words, the look in Team Leader Kang Jaewon's as well as the members' eyes changed.
The expression they looked at me with was as if looking at some ancient druid or magical beast tamer.
"..." "..."
The look in the eyes of the members who called me useless changed.
The gaze that ridiculed me even for being a laundry boss couldn't be felt in the slightest.
"Tsk, hey Red Tail."
At my words mentioning sacrifices, the members' faces turned pale.
Especially the face of the one member who openly criticized me was in a state of pale fright.
He was the owner of the spear that broke the Saintess's shield in one blow. The investigation squad members knew too.
That among the members here, there was no being that could defeat Red Tail.
Even Team Leader Kang Jaewon would probably be impossible.
A threat that absolutely wouldn't have worked if Red Tail hadn't shown such divine might.
"T-Team Leader! Isn't this wrong?" "U-um, M-Mr. Jinsoo, no, Nobleman!" "W-we were wrong!"
Seeing their reaction acting like they were really going to die, Red Tail raised the corners of his mouth.
I held back the laughter that almost came out at the guy's appearance intentionally acting while smiling more viciously.
At the momentum of being ready to draw weapons right away and fight with the resolve to die, I shook my head.
"Never mind. There's no need to purposely fight anyway, right?"
At the words of Red Tail, who seemed to be the leader, only then did everyone look relieved.
"As expected of the Chairwoman's guest." "W-who said he was useless. A-as expected, when an expert comes, the situation changes." "Hahaha, I believed from the start!" "A-as expected, the Chairwoman's foresight is amazing." "We must trust the guest. Hahaha!"
Faces wondering if perhaps I might offer them as sacrifices to those guys if they offended me.
'The reaction is amusing.'
That wasn't my interest. I just fixed their habits once because of the fact that they acted cheekily in the first place, and because Elena minded it.
I was more interested in their perfectly fine appearance even though they crossed the red swamp.
"Red Tail. You guys, you went into that swamp and came out, yet you don't have a single bit of tar on you?"
I was looking at their perfectly fine scales even though they waded through the swamp like us. Unlike us, whose protective suits were thickly smeared with tar, not a single bit of mutated tar was smeared on their scales.
Rather, they looked even glossier. No wonder they had not the slightest hesitation when wading through the swamp earlier.
The guy pointed at the iron held in my hand and shouted.
As expected. My expectation was correct.
Fine oil is originally secreted from the skin of these Red Scale Lizardmen. That oil was a single armor that protected the skin and body from sharp blades as well as surrounding contaminants. And after I was rescued by the Lizardmen and gave their scales a massage—ironing using an iron—that oil became cleaner.
Did he say stronger and cleaner oil comes out thanks to extracting the sebum formed in the oil glands where the oil comes out?
That oil. It was clear that that oil was definitely overcoming the magic reaction of the red swamp.
"Do you guys periodically iron yourselves now?"
The Lizardmen cheered my nickname.
Waaaaah!
At their fanatical reaction, the investigation squad members' expressions became slightly dazed.
"This is it."
I slapped my knee.
At my reaction, Elena whispered in my ear.
"Are you going to offer those people as sacrifices?"
She pointed at the investigation squad members.
Making eye contact with me, they trembled with a start and avoided my gaze. Faces wondering if I really intended to offer them as sacrifices.
"It's not that." "Then what?" "The puzzle to resolve the problem has been perfectly put together." "The puzzle... You mean the liquefied tar?" "Yeah."
Two keys to resolve the Liquefied Mana Tar. First, a pre-treatment agent to weaken the hardness of the hardened tar and unbind the mana's cohesion. This is resolved by the power of Peep, sitting on my shoulder and putting on airs. With the spirit's breath, the tar will melt down.
But this alone is insufficient. If I just wash it once, it'll stick again. Then the equipment will quickly rust and fray, and will have to be replaced.
Then it's only half resolved.
'I need a preventative measure.'
That is the second method. A main wash solvent that will completely wash away the melted tar and make it so it never sticks again.
This would be perfect if it's the natural coating oil coming out from those Lizardmen's red scales.
"Red Tail. Let me ask one favor."
At the sound of doing ironing.
The Lizardmen all shouted cheers in unison.
They were guys who hadn't forgotten the pleasure of that day. Right. An expert is different, you punk.
I took out a special waterproof tarp for laundry from my bag and laid it on the floor.
I instructed Elena, who was blankly staring at my appearance.
"Elena, take out all the empty bottles you have." "Empty bottles? Why that suddenly..." "I'm going to iron those guys' scales and drain all the oil. Since that's the antidote that will be used to wash the liquefied tar, gather it all without spilling a single drop." "Really?"
Her eyes sparkled.
"Team Leader Kang." "Yes, Mr. Jinsoo."
His originally polite voice became even more courteous. Seeing the Lizardmen's reaction just now, it seemed he felt true greatness.
"Do you have something like a mana battery?" "I do. I do have an emergency battery to use in combat." "Please give me that once. I think I'll need it a little." "Understood. Seeing the Lizardmen's reaction, it seems combat won't be necessary."
Having received even the battery, I clapped my hands.
"Now, customers, please come!"
I laid the largest, Red Tail, on the tarp. And raised the temperature of the portable magic iron to the maximum.
I slid the hotly heated iron over the Lizardman's scales just like that.
Siiiiizzle-!
The Lizardman let out an ecstatic scream at the ultra-high temperature steam massage. As heat was applied, a clear and transparent red oil began to bead up like sweat through the gaps in their red scales. An S-Rank natural magical coating agent that fundamentally blocks and deflects the oxidation reaction of the tar.
It was the moment South Korea became an oil-producing country.
Ah, is this not it?
The oil slid onto the tarp. Thanks to setting it so it poured into the bottle, the red oil slid into the bottle. It might be old oil to them, but it was a coating agent that could be used anytime.
"Boss, money, no, oil is pouring out!"
Elena changed the bottle full of oil with possessed hand movements. It was a mysterious movement without a single waste of oil.
I laid dozens of Lizardmen down in turn right there and cast a storm of ironing. The investigation squad members could only watch that extraordinary sight with blank faces.
Because the middle of the dungeon where a blood-splattering battle should have occurred had instantly turned into a top-grade sauna exclusive for reptiles.
The air heated due to ironing became piping hot.
The languid Lizardmen sat down next to us and took a rest among themselves.
That appearance was just like people gathered in a sweat lodge. If I just attached sheep head towels, it would have truly been the scenery of a jjimjilbang (Korean sauna).
"...This must be a dream. I'm seeing illusions because fatigue has built up."
Yoo Deoksu laid down his shield and escaped reality.
Some were relieved, saying it's a relief they survived.
"As expected, there was a reason why you are the Chairwoman's guest."
Team Leader Kang Jaewon muttered with a voice mixed with admiration.
The gaze looking at me, who subdued(?) all the Lizardmen in an instant, completely changed.
The limp Red Tail said with a dazed voice. The guy's eyes were half unfocused. There was no such thing as hostility.
Saying he'll spare everyone.
They were Lizardmen who had no intention of fighting from the moment they met me in the first place. Even so, the reason Red Tail said he would spare us and let us go right now.
It was for my sake.
A message that all of you lived thanks to me.
Unable to stop smiling at the guy's kindness, I looked at the dozens of glass bottles full of red oil.
"Now, with this much, it should easily be enough to wash dozens of protective suits."
[Material Understanding: Liquefied Mana Tar - Achieved 100%] [A perfect laundry method has been established.]
"Elena, there was one protective suit we brought to practice on site, right?" "Ah, yep!"
Ziiiiip!
Elena opened her backpack and took out a completely sealed protective suit. A protective suit that lost its function stuck with liquefied tar.
"Peep."
Peep got onto the protective suit spread on the floor.
Puffing up its fluff, it emitted a pink energy. Then the tar dregs stuck to the protective suit began to melt down mushily.
"Uhh?"
The eyes of the investigation squad members who saw the change that occurred to the protective suit grew large.
The tars completely melted and disappeared.
But it doesn't end here.
I applied red oil onto the cleaned protective suit.
As I applied the oil, a glossy shine began to flow. Having meticulously coated oil all over the protective suit, I put it on myself for a test.
"Now then~, shall we see how effective it is?"
And dived into the swamp.
Splash!
"M-Mr. Jinsoo!" "N-no!"
All the investigation squad members who knew the effect of the red swamp called me with astonished faces. However, contrary to their worries.
"Wow, the effect of this is killer."
Not a single bit of tar smeared on the protective suit.
Even though I made that fuss, the mucus of the red swamp smoothly slid off the protective suit.
Just like the scales of the Lizardmen.
"Uhh?" "Ehh?" "T-that works?"
The investigation squad members unable to stop their astonishment.
"Elena, I think I properly resolved a case, right?" "Yes, it's perfect!"
It seemed I would definitely be able to secure the special duty pay.