Chapter 139
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: First Strike
The first day, we toured Machina as our employer suggested. The next day, we gathered again to begin our work in earnest.
"Here, please take this!"
What Amy handed over was a teleportation stone, the same kind we'd used yesterday.
"Where are we off to this time?"
"First, for the first ingredient, we have to go to a faraway swamp!"
"What's there?"
"An A-rank monster, a Drake!"
A common name. Amy used her stone first to teleport, and we immediately followed suit. We threw the stones to the ground; a magic circle formed and began to glow.
And just like that, we arrived.
"Hmm?"
A massive shadow fell over us. Looking up, a huge, green, dinosaur-like monster was staring at us, its nostrils flaring.
Hey, no matter how rushed you are, what's the big idea setting the coordinates right in front of a monster?
"Uh, huh? Why is it here? I'm sure it was deeper inside before?"
I thought she might have done it on purpose, but it seemed she was just as surprised. *Sigh*.
-KWWAAAAAAH──────!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Drake, recognizing us as enemies, roared.
Was there any need for words? We were veterans who had been through our share of battles. Even though Amy's blunder had teleported us right under the monster's nose, we were able to react calmly without any specific orders.
"Don't kill it! We have to capture it alive!"
Amy, who had already fled behind a tree, peeked out and shouted, her head the only thing visible. She sure has a lot of demands. What a pain.
The Drake shot a fireball from its mouth. Liche countered it by firing an identical fireball, and Luna rushed forward, severing the tendons in both of the Drake's legs.
The Drake, whose front legs were short like a Tyrannosaurus, then toppled forward.
-Thud!
With its head slammed into the ground, the Drake opened its mouth to gather flames for a final desperate attack. But the attack never came.
Because ropes made of blood magic shot up from the ground and bound the Drake's snout.
The Drake lay on the ground, repeatedly slamming its tail. It couldn't move with its tendons cut, and its arms were too small to help it get up.
And just like that, the capture was complete in an instant.
"Wow, wow! That's amazing!"
Only then did Amy, who had been hiding behind the tree, come running over. Teleporting people right in front of a monster and then running away by herself. Annoyed, I gave her a good flick on the forehead.
"Ouch!"
"You know why you got that, right?"
"Yeees..."
If it had been anyone but us, that would have been a total wipe. Normally, if you teleport right in front of a monster, everyone dies without even having time to get into position. Considering it was a life-or-death situation, a single flick on the forehead was getting off cheap.
"So, what do we need from this thing?"
"Ah! Just a moment!"
When I asked what was needed, Amy opened her bag and took out a leather-covered notebook. The leather was tattered, a sign of how many times it must have been read.
"Here it is! From the Drake... we need its tears!"
"The tears that come from its eyes?"
"Yes!"
That's an ingredient...?
"And how do we make it cry?"
"There's no specific way! You just have to make it cry using any method you want!"
Is that so? Well, tormenting things is my specialty. For starters, I lightly drew my sword and cut off one of the Drake's arms.
-AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Drake roared in agony. The sound was so loud it made my head ring. The problem was, it was just noisy; it didn't shed any tears.
"I guess this isn't enough."
Then I'll have to try another method. I took something out of my inventory and sprinkled it in the Drake's eyes.
"What's that?"
"Salt."
"Why...?"
"Osmosis."
The thing is, eyes always maintain a certain level of moisture. And osmosis is the phenomenon where water moves from an area of low concentration to high concentration.
It's the same principle as when you sprinkle salt on fish and the moisture is drawn out.
So I thought sprinkling salt in its eyes might draw out the tears...
"It's not crying."
"Did you really think that would work...?"
Nothing to lose by trying.
Honestly, even without osmosis, just getting salt in its eyes should sting, but there's no reaction at all.
"Stubborn, aren't you."
"Drakes almost never cry in their entire lives!"
"Why is it so unnecessarily stoic?"
If it were a person, yanking out a clump of nose hair would have it bawling with tears and snot.
"That's why it's a rare ingredient!"
She has a point. If it were easy to get, it wouldn't be a rare ingredient, and she wouldn't have gone so far as to make a request for help.
"So what do we do now?"
"Hmm... I'm not sure?"
Should I tell it a sad story or something? While Amy and I were discussing methods...
"Sir Luke. Could you come over here for a moment?"
"Why?"
"Miss Yui has found something."
Luna, who had disappeared somewhere, returned and said this, so I followed her. The Drake couldn't move anyway.
After following Luna a short distance, Liche greeted us.
"You're here?"
"What's got you all gathered here?"
"See for yourself."
Liche and Yui, who were blocking the view, stepped aside, revealing what was there.
"...An egg?"
There was a large egg there.
"Aha! I was wondering why it had strayed from its usual spot to come all the way out here. It must have been trying to protect its egg!"
"Monsters lay eggs?"
"It depends on the monster. I guess Drakes lay eggs?"
I see.
But looking at the egg gave me a great idea.
"This should be more than enough to make it cry."
"Huh? How?"
"Let's take it with us for now."
When I returned to where the Drake was, carrying the egg, it roared upon seeing me with it.
-KWAAAAAAAK──────!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the best reaction I've gotten so far.
"Watch closely, Amy. I'll show you how to make a Drake cry."
I took out some firewood from my inventory and a large iron plate I had used and stored away before. I would have used a pot, but the egg was too big for that.
"Liche, can you light a fire?"
"Got it."
As the campfire was lit and I greased the pan, the Drake, seeming to realize what I was about to do, thrashed desperately.
But it was already too late.
"Heard your kid is to die for~"
I cracked the egg, and it sizzled on the iron plate—the sound of an egg cooking.
Watching its own child being cooked to a golden brown, the Drake thrashed about. But all it could do was make its eyes bloodshot and flare its nostrils.
Time passed, and the egg was fully cooked. I took a large bite.
"Mmm~ So damn good."
Honestly, it didn't taste good. But as I pretended to savor it with exaggerated delight, the Drake, watching its unhatched child being eaten, began to stream tears.
The tears shed by the Drake were collected in the small flask Amy was holding.
"Geh-geh-geh. Cry a river for me~"
***
After the Drake, we traveled to several other locations.
It was a distance that would have taken months by carriage, not a single day, but thankfully, the teleportation stones allowed us to visit every location in one day.
Traveling by teleportation stone meant there were no discomforts. But just because the travel was easy didn't mean the work was.
The ingredients that followed were such that they made the Drake tears seem tame by comparison. The difficulty was one thing, but they were mostly just incredibly annoying.
We needed a plant called a Mandragora, so we teleported to an island in the middle of the sea, only to find a monster called a Manticore with the body and head of a lion, a scorpion's tail, and bat wings.
We ended up killing the Manticore and finding the Mandragora, but it let out a bizarre cry that put everyone to sleep and then fled. Of course, I'm immune to that sort of thing, so I chased it down like a madman and caught it.
Next, we needed the fin of a monster called a Ghost Shark that lived deep in the ocean, so we were dropped in the middle of the sea. Thanks to that, I had to dive, and my clothes got soaked. It was a mess.
'She's really working us like dogs.'
And there was more besides that. I checked my status to see just how much I'd been worked, and I'd gained 5 levels.
I was getting so annoyed that I was starting to consider just killing her and forging the letter of recommendation. Just as I was having that thought...
"This is the last ingredient!"
Hearing it was the last one, I decided against it. Lucky her.
"The last one is... let's see... Steel Ore!"
"What kind of island is that on?"
"Ah, this one isn't on an island. It's an abandoned mine a few kilometers from Machina! It was originally a mine used by dwarves, but it was abandoned after monsters started appearing!"
Monsters again. Still, it's the last one, so I should bear with it. I'm an intelligent person; I can't get angry over something so trivial.
I crushed the last teleportation stone I'd received. We arrived at the abandoned mine. Except, there was no abandoned mine there.
"What is this?"
"I'm not sure...?"
"If you don't know, who does?"
"Th-this is strange...? I'm sure this wasn't here when I came a long time ago...?"
"How long ago was 'a long time ago'?"
"Three years ago!"
Isn't three years ago way too long? She's just a kid now, so how old was she three years ago?
What greeted us at our supposed final destination was a giant tower made of steel. What the hell is this?
"Sir Luke, could this possibly be..."
Luna spoke cautiously. She was probably going to ask if it was demons or demonic humans again. I didn't know for sure, but I doubted it.
"Would any demon or demonic human bother with something this troublesome?"
Honestly, demons and demonic humans aren't the types to ignore their own perfectly good abilities to do something this cumbersome.
Besides, it's as if their intelligence drops when they become demonic humans; all they know how to do is overestimate their own strength.
The three of them seemed to agree with me. They must have thought my answer was reasonable.
"Huh? But if you look closely, that tower is made of Steel Ore, isn't it?"
"Really? Then let's just secretly mine a piece."
I took out my greatsword and struck the tower hard.
-Clank.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the tower's entrance opened, and mechanical golems emerged. The golems had clearly identified us as enemies.
“……”
"Hey, why are you all looking at me like that? We came here to get this stuff anyway."
Why are you giving me that 'it's your fault' look?
Since it's come to this, we might as well just kill them all. We immediately entered combat. The steel golems' movements were simple. They just raised their steel arms to block and extended them to attack.
However, perhaps due to their hardness, their attack and defense were considerable. In terms of attack and defense alone, each one was comparable to an A-rank monster.
On top of that, they were ridiculously strong, but since they weren't living creatures, they didn't give any experience points.
"What the hell is this crap?"
"What purpose could they have been made for?"
"How should I know?"
Maybe they were preparing for a war.
"What should we do? Should we go inside?"
"Why?"
I could never understand why people go into places like that. Is there really a need to enter the enemy's territory, which is full of traps and monsters, and defeat them one by one? If this were a game, I might have admired it as well-made new content. But what is this place? Reality.
I took out the magic bombs I had bought yesterday. The bombs were empty inside and needed to be filled, but that was no problem. I had my wind-slinger and my fire-slinger, after all.
"Luna, Liche. Take half each and fill them with some magic."
"Yes."
"Got it."
It seemed one wouldn't be enough, so they each took five, preparing ten in total.
"This isn't just for Amy; Liche and Yui, you two listen up as well."
Luna probably already knows, since she saw it when we raided the vampire's mansion.
"With things like that, you don't go in. You destroy them from the outside."
As I spoke, the bombs left my hand and flew slowly toward the tower. And then.
-BOOM─! BOOM─! BOOM─!
Just like before, an absurd explosion erupted. And thanks to the combination of wind and fire, the flames were even more intense.
The tower, which had seemed impervious to any attack, began to bend to the side like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The only difference from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, however, was that it didn't stop midway but collapsed completely along with its broken base.
No matter how well-made a tower is, it's meaningless if its foundation is destroyed.