The Gathering Storm in Baidu (2)
The palace of the Witch Queen had a magic installed that even 4-star mages couldn't detect.
'I got some really good information.'
This was extremely important information.
It might become an enemy to the Witch Queen in the future. So, even if it's minor info, it's good to remember about the Witch Queen.
A magic cast directly by a high-level mage like the Witch Queen. It meant that the palace was no different from a fortress.
Dungeons of unknown origin and human-made dungeons.
Which one was more dangerous?
If a normal human made a dungeon to protect himself, it wouldn't be particularly dangerous. A normal human's traps wouldn't be threatening at all. Most traps could be dismantled without needing to, or just pushed through with the body.
Rather, a dungeon teeming with monsters would be more dangerous.
But if a person like the Witch Queen made a dungeon, then her dungeon would be far, overwhelmingly more dangerous than a dungeon inhabited by monsters.
A high-level master was already dangerous, but a mage was even more so. A mage who had mastered mass slaughter.
So, if the Witch Queen really became an enemy and we had to fight her, fighting her in the palace was absolutely to be avoided.
'But isn't the Witch Queen not coming out? I want to see her face at least. If possible, see her status window too.'
I had seen the illustration of the Witch Queen from the game, but I wanted to see the real thing. Ideally, her status window as well.
But the Witch Queen didn't show herself until we checked the employment contract and signed it.
"Today's personal maintenance time is over. We depart at 9 AM tomorrow to exterminate the Snake Bandit Gang. Please be at the departure point by then. We will provide necessary supplies such as potions and food. If any of you do not arrive before the departure time, the contract will be automatically canceled, and you will have to pay the penalty fee stated in the contract. If you have any questions?"
*swish-*
"Yes, what is it?"
The question about what he wanted to ask came from Prince Pazniri. A man raised his hand. It was the 4-star mage who had noticed the magic installed in the Witch Queen's palace the fastest.
'Even though we're both 4-star mages, the gap in skill level is huge.'
Prince Pazniri, the commander of the extermination team, was a 4-star mage, and that man was also a 4-star mage.
His wisdom and mana stats were 4-5 points higher than the man's. But the man's skill levels were overwhelmingly higher. The man had all 4 skills at level 10 or above.
If they fought without fairies, the man would likely win with high probability. High skill levels meant a lot of combat experience. Stats were important in combat, but experience was even more important.
"The size of the Snake Bandit Gang, their base, and the estimated time for extermination are what I want to know."
His polite manner was quite different from how he acted with friends. From the moment he signed the contract, it seemed he wanted to treat Prince Pazniri as the commander.
'He's not bad?'
This was the first time I saw this man, but seeing his competence, he seemed like a good guy. His status window was good too.
'Status window.'
The man, Chae Gillard, could be called the epitome of a fire mage. He had distributed stats evenly, even those not crucial for mages, and his wisdom and mana were decent.
Moreover, importantly, he had one more trait than Prince Pazniri, and his class was the advanced class of the general-grade [Mage], which is [Fire Mage (Rare)].
The Fire Mage class is a mage specialized in fire skills, increasing the power of fire skills by 20%.
Additionally, when a mage levels up, mana increases by 1 point, but for Fire Mage, it increases by 2 points.
Chae Gillard's abundant combat experience can be seen from his [Upper Male] trait.
The general-grade trait [Upper Male] allows enduring injuries longer and using skills even with serious injuries.
Although it was general grade, it was a trait that couldn't be obtained without fighting a lot.
Chae Gillard, a mage, had such a trait.
That's why I rated him highly.
"Although I signed the contract because the pay is good, I have no information about the enemy, so I'm uneasy."
"I understand. But we cannot tell you information about the Snake Bandit Gang right now."
"You can't tell me now? Then does that mean you'll tell me after we depart?"
"Yes. However, I can tell you one thing for sure: We have accurate information about the Snake Bandit Gang, and the extermination team can easily defeat the Snake Bandit Gang."
'Heh!'
At Prince Pazniri's confident words, I almost burst out laughing.
It seemed like he was talking about the info from the guild, but most of what was written there was wrong.
Only our party knows the true size of the Snake Bandit Gang here.
I can be certain.
If the Witch Queen or her fairies don't participate, this extermination will fail.
"Then, there's no reason for us to hire you, right? If you have enough power, you can just defeat the Snake Bandit Gang yourselves."
"Money is there to be spent. Even if you have enough power, it's better if the damage is less, right? Money can be gathered anytime, but dead people can't be resurrected. Do you understand?"
"Hmm... Okay. Then, we'll share all information tomorrow, right?"
"Yes."
"Understood."
"Do any of you have any questions?"
"....."
Prince Pazniri nodded. No one else answered if they had questions.
"Then, see you tomorrow."
The first meeting ended there.
*****
"Hey Alan."
"Why?"
"Didn't you tell Litsha to take care of herself while I was gone? I said goodbye and immediately met again?"
"... Yeah. You were being a jerk."
"Kikikiki!"
When I scratched the back of my head awkwardly and said that, Carnisia burst out laughing.
*****
After returning to the inn where Oralisa was staying, I decided on the action plan for the future and rested for a full day.
"Master!"
When I came back after a while, Oralisa was very happy and clung to me, acting spoiled. Watching her, it was like a puppy, no, Oralisa is a cat, so maybe a cat-dog? Yeah, like a cat-dog.
Thanks to that, my clueless lower body got hot, but I didn't spend the hot night. Since I didn't know when the battle would happen, I was saving stamina for that.
"Wow! Why does your face look like that? Didn't you sleep?"
"... If I had known this, I would have just done it."
"Huh?"
"... No, nothing."
When Carnisia saw my dull face coming out of the bathroom, she was startled.
I endured to save stamina, but enduring less than not enduring.
There were two beautiful women who made my eyes wide open, and two women I didn't know, and it's nearly impossible to hold back surging lust.
But I endured it by reciting the national anthem in my mind, and thanks to that, I couldn't sleep all night.
The condition was at its worst.
"Master, are you going out again?"
"Hmm... It's embarrassing because it's like what I said yesterday, but I have to, right? Don't cry saying you want to see me while I'm gone. Take care of yourself. I'll meet you soon. And don't forget what I said. Got it?"
"Uh..."
Looking at Oralisa nodding with a gloomy face, my chest ached a bit.
But what could I do?
It was something necessary for my, no, our future.
"Then, let's go."
"Yeah."
After saying goodbye to Oralisa, I headed to the departure point, the gathering place for the extermination team. There were still 30 minutes until the gathering time, but many masters and fairies were already gathered there.
'Yeah, the penalty fee is quite high.'
We agreed to receive 1 million gold for the master and 700,000 gold for the fairy per day for this extermination. And for 4-stars stronger than us, 1.5 million for master and 1 million for fairy.
As expected, in a world where strength is law, the stronger get more treatment.
'Jerk, I'm way better than those guys.'
It was fair to assign teams based on ranks, but I felt unfairly wronged. Honestly, some 4-star masters who participated in the extermination could be killed easily if I wanted, without much effort.
'This is all because I couldn't conquer the dungeon.'
This world allows growth through growth stones obtained by conquering dungeons. But since I can't conquer dungeons as much as I want like in the game, my growth is slower.
'If this continues... I think I need to change the plan.'
Following the story line of Fairy Masters was my original plan.
But there's one prerequisite here: I must be able to conquer dungeons anytime I want.
Since obtaining growth stones through heavy spending like in the game is hard, I have to conquer dungeons diligently.
But since the rulers of each city control and control the dungeons near their cities, my growth is even slower.
I can't follow the story line like this. Stronger enemies will appear in the future, and if I don't grow, I can't defeat them.
'Let me think about it once. This won't do.'
I need a way to obtain growth stones periodically.
"Hey Alan. There they come."
"Huh? Ah, yeah."
When I was lost in thought, I snapped back to Carnisia's voice.
When I turned my head, I saw Prince Pazniri in mage setting leading his fairies and soldiers. There were also other masters and fairies under the witch queen.
'That guy is one I haven't seen before?'
Beside Prince Pazniri was a male fairy.
Short white hair, face full of scars. His eyes held the confidence unique to strong people.
Since it's a male fairy, it's not Prince Pazniri's fairy... I didn't see this face yesterday. Who is that guy?
'Status window.'
"... Fuck."
I couldn't help but be shocked after checking the status window of the white-haired fairy, Plasma. To the point where I forgot I had to curse in my heart.
"Wow, suddenly why are you cursing?"
"Master? Why are you like that?"
"Alan?"
Thanks to that, my party members looked at me with bewildered faces on the day I suddenly cursed. But they had no mind to say anything was wrong.
The white-haired fairy, Plasma, was the strongest being I had ever met among all masters and fairies so far.
'Wow, fuck.'
He's really that strong.