Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: A Designated Request
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[ Information ]
Name: Luke
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Mana: 0 / 0
Level: 68
[ Skills ]
Inventory (F)
Superhuman Strength (B)
All-Attribute Resistance (A)
[ Stats ]
Strength: 59(+29)
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 0
Vitality: 10
Stat Points: 9
I was in a pretty good mood after opening my status window right after the hunt.
Setting aside how boring and weak it was, at least the experience points were plentiful.
A world where you could gain nine levels just by killing a slime had to be extremely rare.
Naturally, I put all my stat points into Strength.
My current Strength stat was 68, plus the 34 from Superhuman Strength, for a total of 102.
It seemed the maximum wasn't 99. I'd have to test out just how strong I am now later.
"Sir Luke! Are you alright!"
As I stood there blankly, checking my status window, Luna came running over in a hurry.
She had Yui on her back.
"Yeah. I'm perfectly fine."
It was a completely one-sided fight, so of course I was fine.
"You hunted it in such an absurd way..."
"People are just too stupid."
What was so absurd about it? I was just smart and creative.
Is it better to struggle and swing a hammer like an idiot to kill it, or to kill it easily like I just did?
The answer is obviously the latter, isn't it?
And you guys are making way too much of a fuss over a slime.
"Still, don't be too disheartened, Luna. Your opponent was me, after all."
Humans are creatures of jealousy.
They constantly compare themselves to others, feel inferior, and push themselves harder.
But if the person they're comparing themselves to is on a level so high they can never reach it, they conversely let everything go.
They start thinking things like, *I can never be like that anyway*.
We'll be traveling together from now on, and it wouldn't do for her to give up after comparing her peanut-sized brain to my genius intellect.
That would just stunt her growth.
"...I wasn't disheartened in the slightest."
"Then what's wrong with the girl on your back?"
"Ah, this is mana exhaustion."
"Mana exhaustion?"
"Yes. It's when you use up all your mana, leaving you unable to move for a while."
There was something like that?
She's like one of those crimson mages.
I told her to block it even if it meant using all her mana, and it seems she really did use it all.
If I'd known about this, she should have used her own judgment and left at least 1 point remaining.
"Didn't you guys level up? Shouldn't you have gotten some mana back?"
"...Pardon? Leveled up?"
"Hey, Yui. Get up."
"Y-Yes...? But I can't feel any strength in my body right now...?"
"How do you know you can't if you haven't even tried? Just get up."
Kids these days, always saying they can't do things. Without even trying.
They lack effort.
Do you have any idea how much effooooooort I put into getting transmigrated into this novel?
Two years.
I invested a whole two years without taking a single step out of my room.
If you're going to say you can't do something, you should at least show as much dedication as I did first.
Luna, though skeptical, had no choice but to bend over and let Yui down.
Yui, saying she had no strength, still managed to move somehow, slowly getting off and landing properly on the ground.
"Huh...? What the...?"
"I knew it."
"H-How is this..."
Yui, not understanding the situation, seemed quite bewildered.
The principle was simple. The two who assisted in my hunt gained experience and leveled up, just like me.
In the process, their mana was slightly replenished.
As long as you have 1 or 2 points, you should be able to move.
*Clap, clap.* I clapped my hands to gather the attention of the amazed Luna and Yui.
"Alright, let's just grab the proof now. So we can get back quickly."
The proof of the slime hunt.
All we had to do was collect a part of the slime's body.
Even though it had evaporated, some parts had been flung off in the process, and traces of failed divisions lay scattered everywhere.
The main body was dead, so it didn't move, but it was still bubbling, indicating its acidity remained.
That's why I had brought the collection vials Adela gave me this morning in preparation.
I took one out and carefully scooped up the substance, making sure it didn't touch my hand.
A translucent liquid visible through the glass vial.
It all looked the same to me. How would they distinguish this from a normal slime?
I was curious, but that wasn't my department. They'd figure it out.
But this acid...
Hmm...
"..."
"Sir Luke? What's wrong?"
"Ah. I was just wondering if I should use this myself instead of selling it."
"This...?"
"Yeah."
A high-concentration acid like this would be incredibly hard to find in another world.
If it can easily dissolve rock, it would surely be effective against any B-rank monster.
And not just monsters. I've been getting into a lot of trouble with people lately. If I just pour a cup of this into their mouths, wouldn't that make it easier to open a dialogue?
Besides, the acid alone is useless.
And even if I sold it, who would buy something like this? This isn't Earth, where science has advanced and acid has value.
*Alright. I'll use it myself.*
I filled the vial with just enough for submission, and the rest I poured into an empty glass flask I carried for personal use.
A slime that was useless everywhere else had been very helpful in this hunt.
"Well, that seems to be it. Let's head back now."
I had collected enough acid for proof.
I had also bottled all the acid I'd be using and stored it in my inventory, so all that was left was to return.
The problem was that the way back was damn far.
It had taken half a day by carriage, so there was no way we could walk the same distance and reach the empire before the day was over.
*I knew this would happen, so I brought a tent. We can just camp.*
But camping wasn't exactly comfortable, so the best plan was to leave as early as possible to arrive as early as possible.
"We just go back the way we came, right?"
We came in a straight line anyway, so even in this vast forest, as long as we found our direction, returning shouldn't be too difficult.
And so, just as I took a step in the direction we came from to head back.
"Sir Luke, that's the opposite of the direction we came from..."
"Ah."
***
Returning to the empire after camping one night in the forest was the most welcome sight I could have imagined.
Honestly, everything that had happened since I was transmigrated, including catching the King Slime, wasn't as hard as camping.
Camping was just so inconvenient.
First of all, my palate had become too refined.
After eating restaurant food every day, trying to eat simply grilled meat did nothing for my appetite.
The sleeping arrangements were the worst, too.
The ground was hard, and I had to stand guard, so I only got to sleep intermittently, leaving me in the lowest of spirits.
And the most annoying thing about standing guard is when nothing happens.
How nice would it have been if we'd been attacked by monsters?
I wouldn't have killed them; I would have slowly tormented them and played with them until the sun came up.
As a result of waking up and moving out early in the morning, we were able to return to the empire just as the sun began to rise.
"Hah... Camping is not something you do more than once."
"Is that so...? I thought it was quite luxurious, all things considered."
"That's just you. Look at Yui."
I pointed at Yui, who was trudging along behind us.
Maybe because she didn't sleep well, the girl who was already a stick had been downgraded to a stick with only bones left.
"Hey, hey. Yui. Snap out of it."
"Y-Yes? I wasn't sleeping!"
"See?"
"..."
Well, what can you expect? A room-dwelling shut-in who rolled around in a soft bed every day had just worked hard enough to suffer from mana exhaustion. Of course the sleeping conditions would be tough on her.
How hard must it have been?
The diligent and hardworking Vampire Queen Yui might have been different, but our little shut-in Yui seemed to feel the same way about camping as I did.
"Next time, I should just beat up the coachman and keep the carriage."
"Wouldn't that get you on a blacklist...?"
Then should I... no, should I buy a whole house, put it in my inventory, and take it out whenever I need it?
"Houses are probably expensive, right?"
"...Pardon?"
This won't do. I'm definitely resting today.
My body still feels stiff. I haven't recovered from my fatigue at all.
Before that, we had to stop by the Adventurer's Guild, so we headed straight there.
Rest is rest, but I had to get my money first.
"I'm glad you're all safe."
Perhaps because we came early in the morning, there weren't many people in the Adventurer's Guild yet.
Adela, seeing us enter, recited her signature line.
"I'm not safe at all."
"Pardon? Are you injured somewhere...?"
"My feelings are hurt."
Camping completely ruined my mood.
"...I apologize."
Luna suddenly apologized.
"...You're as strange as ever."
Hey now. I'm not in a good mood.
If you keep treating me like a weirdo, who knows what I might do?
"Seeing you here today must mean the King Slime hunt was a success."
"No, I told you I'm not safe, didn't I?"
My feelings are hurt!
Waaah! Spoil me!
"If you keep this up, I'll dock your pay."
I immediately dropped into a grand bow.
"Gomen-nasai!"
Through my upside-down vision, I could just barely see Adela letting out a weary sigh.
Come on, docking my pay is just too much.
The reward for the slime they were fawning over so much had to be huge.
"So, did you collect the proof?"
"Hahaha. Of course."
I took out three glass vials from my inventory.
"As a token of my apology, I shall now perform a juggling act~"
"D-Don't...!!"
"Hey, it's fine. I'm actually pretty good at juggling, you know."
In my past life, I had nothing but time, so I used to sit in my chair and absentmindedly juggle pens.
Hasn't everyone tried juggling pens at least once when they were bored?
If you disagree, you're wrong.
*Whoosh, whoosh.* The three glass vials spun in a circular trajectory.
Adela followed the vials with fearful eyes at the sight.
"Where are you looking? Those are merely afterimages of the vials."
Then, my hand accidentally slipped, and I dropped one on the floor.
-Crash!
"Ah."
-Sizzzzzle...
The acid inside the vial spilled out and melted the wooden floor.
"..."
"..."
"Haha. People make mistakes in life—"
"The repair cost for the floor will be deducted from your reward."
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
***
Since I broke one of the vials I was supposed to submit as proof, I had no choice but to hand over one of the flasks I had set aside for personal use as a replacement.
Not only was my reward docked, but I also had to give up one of my hunting tools. It was, quite literally, adding insult to injury.
"Ah... Why are tears falling..."
"...You brought this upon yourself."
Adela took the proof and handed us three iron adventurer tags.
It seemed she had them made in advance, expecting us to succeed this time as well.
"So, how much is the reward?"
"It's 25 silver coins per person, for a total of 75 silver. But with 1 silver deducted for repairs, it's 74 silver."
Oh... that's still a lot.
Is this why everyone risks their lives to be adventurers, getting this kind of income at C-rank?
Considering the inn we're staying at costs 10 silver a week, it's a huge amount.
Of course, it was less than the Iron Golem quest, but that was an emergency request, so the reward was bound to be higher.
"The floor repair cost isn't much."
"How expensive can a wooden floor be?"
True, it would be ridiculous to charge a lot for replacing a few planks.
If someone charged tens of silver coins to replace some boards, you'd have to replace the brain of the person who came to do the repairs.
"Oh, right!"
Just then, Adela clapped her hands and spoke to me as if she had just remembered something.
"Sir Luke. There's a designated request that came in for you."
"For me?"
"Yes."
I just became C-rank, so what kind of designated request could it be?
Honestly, this popularity of mine.
"But I refuse."