Rat Slayer

Rai left the guild and wandered the streets, hunting for a passage that led down into the sewers.

Watching him, Cindy hiked up her empty, sagging backpack and whispered to Zeroa.

"What's he... doing?"

"I honestly couldn't say."

Cindy wanted to scream, If you don't know, at least say something! — but as a porter with no say in the party's decisions, she kept her mouth shut. No matter how she looked at it, Rai did not seem like a man searching for a passage.

He had already walked past dozens of them, strolling through the whole of Legandia. From the small maintenance hatches built for sewer work to openings wide enough for a wagon, he merely checked each one and moved on.

After wandering for quite some time, Rai stopped at one particular passage and told Aslan to open it.

It was an iron gate — the kind that normally took three grown men straining together just to crack open. The instant Rai told him to, Aslan lifted it with one hand as if plucking it out of the ground, without so much as a grunt of effort.

Cindy's eyes went wide at that monstrous strength, but Rai and Zeroa paid it no mind and headed inside.

"Whoa — this stench is foul. How much shit are people dumping down here?"

Even with a makeshift cloth mask on, the smell still punched through. As Rai muttered, Cindy sidled up to Zeroa again and whispered.

"Is he really an academy instructor? He's not an impostor?"

"Yes... I believe so. He does speak with the Headmistress, after all."

Judging by Rai's behavior, even Zeroa didn't sound entirely convinced.

Cindy tilted her head and stepped into the pitch-dark sewer. Rai lit the space with magic and sat down on a chair he'd borrowed from a nearby shop. Rai would flop down just about anywhere, but even he apparently drew the line at a sewer floor.

"Do you... actually need me?"

Cindy asked carefully. Rai looked at her as if she'd said something strange.

A porter's job was to hold the party's gear, hand things over when needed, and help with monster byproducts or gathering.

"What, the smell getting to you? Wanna head back?"

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just... there's no luggage."

She couldn't bring herself to call it what it was, so she danced around it — a job like this only needed bodies, which meant a porter like her shouldn't be necessary. Rai didn't get it.

"We'll have luggage soon enough. That's why we need you."

This time Cindy didn't understand. She tilted her head, and Rai added,

"Even if the proof of the hunt is nothing but rat tails, two thousand of them is still a lot of bulk."

"..."

This man was actually planning to kill two thousand of them. Leaving Cindy to puzzle over where that unbelievable confidence came from, Rai began drawing a magic circle on the floor.

Having never been told the plan, Aslan and Zeroa watched the circle take shape with growing interest.

"Emotion domination, rage... and what else?"

"Lure? I think lure's in there too. And a barrier?"

Aslan, whose studies of magic circles were lacking, asked, and Zeroa only offered what he'd managed to pick out. Their grades weren't great, but they were still academy students — and even so, the circle Rai was drawing was far too complex for either of them to read.

Once the ornate array — woven from multiple spells — was complete, Rai dragged his chair into the center and sat down.

"Cindy. Come here."

"Huh? Yes."

At Rai's call, Cindy picked her way over carefully so as not to step on the circle, and stood beside him. As she drew near, Rai poured mana into the array and activated it.

Filled with a soft blue glow, the circle hummed — and nothing else seemed to change.

"The hell?"

"What do you think? They're coming. Start hunting."

In answer to Aslan's question, Rai pointed with his chin toward the darkness ahead. Sensing something approaching just as Rai said, Aslan turned his gaze beyond the dark.

Zeroa immediately raised his sword and shield and took a stance. A moment later, a translucent barrier bloomed over the magic circle.

When the two of them, who'd been staring into the far dark, looked back, they found Rai sitting comfortably inside the barrier, and Cindy glancing around with no idea what was going on.

"Good luck with the hunt."

"You cheap bastard!"

Aslan exploded at Rai's bright smile, but Rai just slurped the drink he'd bought on the way and melted into his chair.

Squeak-squeak-squeeeeeak!!

From beyond the darkness, rats poured in — enough to call an army. A rat or two would have been laughable. Hundreds, thousands of them rolling in like a tidal wave was something else entirely. It inspired genuine terror.

Aslan reached behind his back for the club they called a greatsword, then changed his mind and gathered mana in his hands. Every time he swept his arms, mana blasted outward and dozens of rats were flung away. Seeing Aslan's approach, Zeroa swung his mana-infused shield and beat the rats back.

"Good, good. Looks like you didn't waste your time at the academy."

"You damn bastard! You fight too!"

"I'm too wiped from drawing the circle to fiiight~"

Rai had Cindy sit beside him, slung an arm around her shoulder, and said it in the most infuriating tone possible.

Aslan was furious, but he didn't have the luxury of arguing. He went back to whipping his hands around. No matter how hard they attacked, the rat army didn't seem to shrink — they just kept pouring out of the dark.

Frozen by the terrifying spectacle, Cindy watched the two of them fighting like heroes, then looked at Rai.

"W-what's going on? Why — why are there so many rats..."

"I called them with magic. From their point of view, we probably look like the tastiest meal in the world. I mixed in frenzy, too, so they won't even care about their own bodies."

The rats were, as he'd said, completely insane. The ferocity with which they hurled themselves at the two holding the line, heedless of anything, surpassed even monsters. And it wasn't one of them — it was an endless horde in a frenzy. The sight was horrific.

But Rai explained it all as if there were no danger whatsoever. Cindy looked back and forth between the two fighting and Rai's face, dazed — then she startled.

"What if the rats go somewhere else?"

Even if something delicious was here, with that many rats on the move, some were bound to peel off down side passages. If frenzied rats spilled into the city, it would become a major incident.

Even at Cindy's urgent question, Rai just slurped the last of his drink.

"That's why I walked around sealing them off. You think I wore my feet out for nothing?"

Hearing the reason he'd wandered the city with no apparent purpose, Cindy stared at him blankly.

Porter or not, Cindy could use magic, however clumsily. She hadn't sensed Rai casting anything at all — and even if he had, he'd only been walking past. How he'd sealed dozens of passages was beyond her.

She couldn't doubt the skill of a man who'd driven countless rats into a frenzy all at once, so she decided to just set aside what she couldn't understand and turned her gaze back to the two still fighting.

Unlike the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leisurely side of the barrier, the two of them were in a fierce fight.

Calling a fight against rats "fierce" might sound funny — until you saw this. There were so many rats they'd given up counting, a single wave that had become a giant monster in its own right. Cut them down and the holes filled in instantly, like a troll regenerating as fast as you carved it.

Whenever the sheer numbers pushed them into real danger, Rai fired a small, bead-like spell. The little pretty beads looked like something a child might play with. They drifted out weakly — then detonated in massive explosions that blew hundreds of rats apart. The gaps filled in again, of course, but the shock of the blast briefly stalled the frenzied march.

"You can fight!"

"Yeah, yeah — I'm just pooling it and shooting. It's exhausting. Can't use it much."

Aslan yelled, but Rai was already cracking into snacks, still insisting he couldn't fight.

Inside the barrier, even the sewer's foul stench was blocked. Humidity and temperature seemed regulated too — even to Cindy, whose head was spinning, it felt downright pleasant. Rai offered her a snack; she refused. He ate them alone, and by the time he finished, the rat army had stopped.

Neither of them was injured, but Aslan leaned his shoulder against the wall, spent, and Zeroa dropped to one knee, gasping. They didn't have the strength to move anymore, staring blankly at the scene they'd created.

Thanks to Rai meticulously gathering even the rats that had been blasted away with magic, a colossal mountain of corpses now blocked the sewer in front of them.

"Excellent, excellent. For this great achievement, I hereby bestow upon you the title of Rat Slayer."

"Don't need it."

Rai dropped the barrier, came out clapping, and praised them. Aslan cursed at him with an exhausted face. Giggling, Rai cast healing magic on the two of them, then stood before the mountain of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rat corpses, looked up at it, and turned back to Cindy.

"How do we move this?"

He'd boldly declared he'd kill two thousand of them — but he hadn't thought as far as how to deal with the bodies. A corpse pile large enough to block a sewer this size couldn't just be left. Blocking the water flow was one thing; leaving that many bodies would cause all kinds of problems — plague, malevolent energy, you name it.

"I'll... check with the management office..."

Sickened by the staggering sight, Cindy climbed the ladder in a weak voice.

Nobody believed her when she said they'd killed too many rats and needed manpower. An official who thought it was nonsense came down to the sewer, saw the massacre, and his jaw dropped. He called for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠support, and people poured in.

The sight of the city watch, support crews, and municipal office staff all hauling rat corpses through the narrow sewer passages was a novel spectacle for the citizens of Legandia.

"Whoa — that's a lot."

"They hunted all those rats? The Adventurer Guild actually pulled one off."

"No kidding. They should've done this ages ago. We kept telling them we couldn't live with the rats."

"Still, it feels pretty damn satisfying."

As rat carcasses began piling up in front of the sewer, the citizens each had something to say. But as the rats kept coming and started forming a mountain, the squeamish ones drifted off one by one, and the gathered crowd vanished in no time.

While the city officials hauled the bodies, Rai's group sat at a nearby restaurant and filled their stomachs. Sitting at an outdoor table with a view of the growing pile of corpses, Cindy had no appetite for the gruesome scene — but Aslan and Zeroa, who'd burned through a lot of stamina, ate with gusto.

Their hair was still wet from a rinse of cleansing magic, but they didn't care, shoveling food down. Rai laughed watching them.

"Hey, you're gonna blow the entire rat bounty on the meal."

"Shut up. You didn't do a damn thing."

"Yep. I'm an INT build. I don't do the heavy lifting."

Aslan cursed with food still in his mouth. Cindy figured the two who'd suffered through hell had every right to eat, and looked at Rai as he snickered.

As he'd said, without Rai's magic they never could have hunted this many rats. A magic circle she couldn't even parse, and the power to drive thousands of rats into a frenzy all at once — you could call it a miracle. Even without knowing much about magic, she could tell it was extraordinary.

A city administration official approached Rai as he ate and filled him in. Perhaps because he'd heard Rai was an academy instructor as well as an adventurer, his manner was polite.

"There were so many we simply counted by the shovelful — twelve thousand. Thank you for looking after the city's appearance even as an academy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instructor. We've been tearing our hair out sending request after request to the guild that never got resolved. This is a tremendous relief. I expect the mayor will send a commendation through the guild."

"Aw, it was nothing. We just took the request."

Rai waved it off with a show of modesty and stood. Still not full, Aslan grabbed a piece of bread, stuck it in his mouth, and followed. Zeroa and Cindy trailed after them.

They opened the guild door, and Craosa bellowed.

Aslan grimaced at the embarrassing epithet, but Zeroa smiled and bowed in every direction.

A report that they'd wiped out rats in the tens of thousands had already reached the guild. From the guild's perspective, it had been a headache of a request — adventurers wouldn't take it no matter how many times it came in. Having it handled so thoroughly that rats wouldn't even come up for a while was cause for celebration.

The proof of the hunt had already been reported by the management office, so the receptionist converted it to cash immediately.

One gold and twenty silver. More than a laborer earned in a month, but Aslan, raised in a wealthy noble house, looked disappointed that all that suffering had only paid this much.

"This would originally be enough merit to reach D1, but advancing from E to D requires a promotion exam. The next exam is scheduled in two weeks. Would you like to apply?"

"No, we're fine."

Now that they had a rank that could enter the dungeon, there was no need to go higher. When Rai declined, the receptionist nodded with a faintly disappointed look.

Rai handed all the reward money to Cindy and told her to use it to prepare for the dungeon.

"How far down are you planning to go?"

Cindy asked, needing to determine supplies based on the difficulty and duration of the expedition. Rai answered.

"Floor forty."

"...In three days?"

"Why, you think we can't?"

At Rai's confident smile, Cindy closed her mouth.

This was a man who'd boldly declared he'd kill two thousand and then blown past that target by a mile. If he said he'd do it, he just might.

Cindy recalled how Craosa had called them magnificent the moment he laid eyes on them, and set off to prepare the supplies.