Chapter 40: Poisonous Fish Seem to be Delicious

Author’s Note:

This is today’s second chapter.

It’s sort of like an apology for any trouble I’ve caused with the recent revisions to the setting, I suppose?

It’s been 2 days since the Goblin subjugation.

We’ve come to the guild to look for a commission, but it’s not for the money. At the moment our pockets are full, after all.

After selling off all of the Hobgoblin Horns, looted equipment, and the materials from the Beetles, we gained around 30,000 Gorudo. Considering the fact that they were materials from small fries, you could say they were sold a bit on the expensive side. Furthermore, some of the Hobgoblins’ equipment included weak magic items, so those were particularily expensive.

On top of all that, we received quite the bonus for our participation in the subjugation. The standard participation reward was 30,000 Gorudo, with any bonuses[E1] amounting to ~40,000 Gorudo. Fran’s special bonus was another 300,000 Gorudo on top of that.

Adding the cash we gained from selling the raw materials, our total income was ~400,000 Gorudo. Or, it would have been, but because we treated everyone to drinks, it decreased by 100,000. Because the other Adventurers got a nice bonus out of the subjugation, they ended up turning up in the morning to thank us.

Anyways, today’s request will be for the sake of gaining experience. As a consequence of our irregular rank ups, we have insufficient experience in completing ‘normal’ requests. In fact, the only one would have been the commission for collecting Heal Grass.

Therefore, we decided to look for a normal request.

『The only commissions Fran can take as a Rank D are marked C, D or E Rank.』

We’re no longer eligable for easy G and F Rank commissions. They wouldn’t have been bad commissions to accumulate experience…

『Harvesting, escorting, patrolling the highway, and assisting in construction with magic, huh.』

「Subjugation commissions: good.」

Assuredly the most convenient requests for us are subjugation commissions, but the bulletin board doesn’t have any of our Rank. Are they popular?

『How about asking Ms. Nell?』

「Nn.」

Luckily the lineup to the reception desk was also barren.

「Nell.」

「Oh, Fran. Good day[M1].」

「Good day.」

「About the recent Goblin subjugation, you played quite an important part in it, didn’t you?」

「Well.」

「You even ended up defeating a demon. Waa~, isn’t that amazing~? You’re cute, strong and lovely!」

「Thank you.」

「Kyaaaan! An embarrassed Fran is also cute~!」

W-When did they get so close? Unbeknownst to me who is with Fran almost 24/7, did they get together at some point? Just where the heck…?

「No subjugation commissions?」

「Ah, right now there are none, huh~ Well, to begin with, the recent Goblin stampede was an abnormal case, right? Usually, Demonic Beasts seldom appear so easily.」

Of course. If hoards of Demonic Beasts appeared in the vicinity of the town resulting in subjugation commissions being emitted every day, then the daily lives of normal citizens wouldn’t be possible after all.

Still… It appears that the number of Demonic Beasts in the vicinity of Aressa is even less than we thought.

「Understood.」

「Ah, wait a moment. It’s not a subjugation commission, but there is a request that you’ll certainly encounter Demonic Beasts in, is that ok?」

「Where?」

「Mh~ Wait….This one.」

Hm? Investigation of the ecology of the Poisonous Swamp? ‘It’s possible that Demonic Beasts have settled in the swamp[M2] situated near the Forest of Starvation. Verification of their existence is needed before starting the reclamation project’?

「The area mentioned is a troublesome swamp that poisonous gas spills out of occasionally; the gas causes poison damage to any peddlers going through it.」

It seems because of that, there’re plans to fill up the poisonous swamp… But before sending in the workers, it’s necessary to investigate whether or not there’s any danger. It’s especially so since there are rumors of Demonic Beasts living there, so this investigation appears to have maximum priority.

「A subjugation party would usually be sent out, but…」

「Defeating them all: OK?」

Fran, that’s a death flag!

『Fran, that’s no good.』

「? Don’t defeat?」

『No, I don’t mean that part, but…』

「It’s no problem if you defeat them. Rather, doing so would cut down on the labor.」

「Nn.」

It’s no use. I’ll just have to carefully pay attention.

「While you’re at it, why not take this commission as well?」

「Medical plant harvesting?」

「Right. It’s a herb called New Moon Grass, and it’s quite rare. It doesn’t grow close to the town, but if it’s close to the poisonous swamp then I think you should able to find it.」

「Understood. I’ll take it.」

「Thanks. I pray for your good luck. Let’s meet again in the baths?」

「Nn.」

Now I see, so it was in the inn’s bath! Well, that’s good. Proactively wanting to interact with others besides me, that is.

『According to the map… The swamp’s a little ways away from where we met Randell.』

「Nn.」

『If we depart now, I get the impression that we’ll return… Probably the day after tomorrow?』

A sleeping bag, blanket, and cookware is all we brought. With that, our camping preparations were complete.

◇◆◇

「That?」

『Looks like it.』

Around 100 meters worth of wetlands can be seen ahead of us.

We barely noticed any time passing since we left the town.

On the way here, the only enemies we met were Black Bugs and Giant Centipedes. I suppose because we having smashed their den, we didn’t encounter a single Goblin.

In regards to any Demonic Beasts that leave a Dungeon prior to its defeat, after a few days their link to the Dungeon is severed. Because of that, even when the dungeon ‘died’, the Demonic Beast that left the Goblin Den didn’t end up getting exterminated. Instead, they continued living on the outside.

And so, the moment the Dungeon got shut down all the Hobgoblins got annihilated, but the regular Goblins who had already left the dungeon should have still been roaming around here…

I guess most scattered or ran way. Even while camping, we weren’t attacked even once. Needless to say, we were extremely bored.

「Smells like poison…」

『Abnormal State Resistance is set, alongside Poison Breath and Poison Absorption. There’re no problems.』

「No Demonic Beasts?」

『Seems so. Yet, if they’re lurking deep in the swamp it’s possible that we won’t be able to sense them.』

「Attacking with magic.」

『Wait, wait! If you blow it up imprudently, then poison will end up scattered all over the place.』

The end goal of the commission is to reduce the damage coming from the poisonous swamp, so what are you thinking, trying to amplify it…?

『A way to minimize the collateral damage…』

「Fill it with Soil Magic.」

『The swamp is too big. Soil pollution is also a concern.』

Hmmm… Maybe I should try leaving Fran behind and scanning the area by myself?

「Store the swamp.」

『?』

「Dimensional Storage: absorb swamp water. Like that: Demonic Beast left bare.」

『G-Genius? Indeed, that’s a good idea.』

They wanted to reclaim the swamp anyways, so there shouldn’t be any problem. If they’re a group of people with high awareness, then they might be noisy about environmental problems or destruction of nature, but… I don’t want to hear it! Even after coming to a different world, I don’t want to care about stuff like that! That’s only to be expected, right?

『Then, I’ll be storing the swamp’s water.』

「Nn.」

This will also be a good experiment. Currently, my Dimensional Storage’s limit still isn’t in sight. Adding up all the harvested Demonic Beast materials, it should currently contain about half of a 25ⅿ pool.

So, let’s see how much swamp water it can take. It’s quite a large swamp, and its depth also seems to be considerable, so… Its Volume must be quite immentse.

『Alright! Harvesting: start!』

*Zuzuzuzuzu― ―*

Slowly, the water level drops.

『It… It won’t stop.』

Eh? Far from the limit being reached, the swamp’s water is already decreased by half and the storage still isn’t getting close to full.

『… I ended up harvesting it all.』

「More space?」

『Yeah. My guess is that it’s not even half-filled.』

I think that around five 25 meter pools[M3] worth got absorbed, so… Dimensional Storage is incredible.

「Lots of Demonic Beasts.」

『Hee, those?』

「Fish.」

Appearance wise, they look like cow-sized Catfish.

Race ：Madness Fish ：Demonic Fish ：Demonic Beast Lv7

HP ：100 MP ：32

STR ：33 END ：39 AGI ：38

INT ：10 MGC ：22 DEX ：17

Skills:

Stealth Lv3, Presence Perception Lv3, Poison Secretion Lv4, Poison Resistance Lv7, Tunneling Lv3, Water Magic Lv2, Poisonous Fangs[E2]

Description:

A troublesome Demonic Beast that produces poison from its skin to kill other aquatic creatures and defend itself. Throughout history, there have been Villages that were annihilated when one appeared in its water source. Its staple food is a peculiar seaweed that grows even in contaminated waters. Its body is exceedingly delicious. Because it is naturally endowed with Poison Resistance, its body contains no poison. Threat level E.

Magic stone location: Head, interior of the brain.

Weak. Going by its status, it’s a small fry. Still, with poison related abilities and the ability to hide beneath the water’s surface, it’d be quite a nuisance. Well, it was no trouble for us though.

There were 5 of them total, but they were easily dispatched and Dismantled on the spot. The muddy poisonous fish scales, poison glands and poison fangs were stripped off immediately.

The body appears as though it’d be delicious, and from the bones a Dashi[M4] could be made. Fish dishes can now be added to our cooking repertoire.

『With this, the commission is complete. Next is collecting medical plants, so let’s finish it quick and return.』

Author note:

I’ve been informed that when clicking on an author’s name, some couldn’t get to the author’s page and see the activity report. So… Authors shouldn’t use pen names?

When I go to look at the activity reports of others, I just click on the Author’s name and go to their page, where their activity report can usually be seen, but…

Is there some where that isn’t the case?

I haven’t mastered Narou’s functions by any means, so right now I don’t know what to do. I’m sorry.

That being the case, in the afterword of the next chapter I will include a detailed record. I also have been considering adding settings and other such things to the data in Chapter 0.

[E1] It wasn’t directly mentioned, but I’m pretty sure most (if not all) of the ‘bonuses’ being talked about here is from the Demon’s materials.

[M1] Nell used ‘konichiwa’, so it can be assumed that Fran came to the adventure guild after 10AM. That’s pretty late considering the fact that commissions are usually posted first thing in the morning.

[M2] Numa = lake/pond/bog/swamp, aka ‘a body of water’. I’m going with ‘swamp’ since no one makes reclamation projects for a lake, and also because the water quantity is about 2,500㎥, which is a bit low for a lake.

[M3] 5 × 974㎥ = 4,970㎥ = 1,312,935Gallons

[E2] 毒牙 (@ the Footnote) ≠ 毒の牙 (‘Poison Fang’ in previous chapters). The former doesn’t have a level, so I figure it’s more of a Passive skill. That being the case, its name will be ‘Poisonous Fangs’.

[M4] Japanese soup stock. Google it for images.