By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 14

Chapter 2 Episode 14: Monster Subjugation at the Mines, Day 2

Continuing on from yesterday, today was another monster subjugation day.

I had said I wanted to be independent last night, so I wanted to do what I could right now.

First, I had to secure the basic living necessities. Clothes I could always buy in town, and now I had the mines, so accommodation was fine too. For food, I’d find a new hunting ground and buy whatever I was missing. But in order to buy food, I needed money.

At present, I had the 700 small golds from that bandit bounty, as well as 40 medium golds from the bandits belongings. I also had the money I had made working until now, so I was fine for the time being. If anything, it was a frivolous amount of money, but of course it would vanish if I used it thoughtlessly.

Well, if I took the guild’s 30 pit toilet cleaning jobs at 3 medium silvers that would be 3000 sutes, more than enough to live off for 30 days. I would make more than enough by selling iron ingots and waterproof fabric to Serge on top of that. That’s why I wasn’t troubled for money, but to say I was living easy wasn’t quite right either...

Imagining a future with a life of just this was depressing. Especially since the toilet cleaning could be left to the scavenger slimes now, leaving me nothing to do. If I lived comfortably with that as my source of income, then I would have left the duke’s family for nothing.

Should I look for other sources of income outside of being an adventurer? Hmm... There could be something to cause me to cease being an adventurer one day, too.

I had lived the three years between coming to this world and meeting Reinhart without spending a single sute, so at worst, I only needed to make as much as needed to live. If I were to treat the fortune I had right now as an emergency fund... 100 sute a day. I wanted to save for retirement, but if I could make at least that much a day it should be plenty.

“Ryoma. Hey, you listening?”

Oops, my bad. I was lost in my thoughts...

“Sorry, I was thinking. What did you say?”

“Thinking in the middle of a battle would be dangerous... Is what I would like to say, but...”

“You’re defeating the monsters easily without even thinking about it...”

“You haven’t left any for us.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. My body was moving unconsciously...”

“That’s fine, but could you stop muttering to yourself while you’re calmly ending one monster after another, nya? It’s a little scary to watch.”

“I apologize for that...”

I guess I was thinking out loud...

“Based on your mutterings, you’re being troubled by money? Something about living costs?”

“Actually...”

“Everyone!! Gather at the mine entrance!!”

Just as I was about to explain the circumstances, a man came rushing over in a huge panic. Did something urgent happen?

“What happened?!”

“A goblin village was established in one of the mineshafts. And it’s a fairly large one, too. Thankfully no one was killed, but several G rankers were injured.”

“A goblin village, huh? What a pain. If we don’t put a stop to it quickly, their numbers will increase very quickly.”

“I still have to warn the others, so please head to the entrance first!”

The man said as he ran off.

■ ■ ■

A large number of adventurers had already gathered at the mine entrance. After waiting for a short while, the guildmaster appeared on the podium that was prepared.

“I’m sure most of you have heard already, but I’ll explain once more! Just now, we found a mineshaft with goblins living inside, leading to a village nearby! Thus, we will now begin a goblin extermination! The scale will be medium sized! There are roughly 500 goblins or so! Parties will be formed out of D rank adventurers and above, to keep damage to a minimum! Gather in your ranks and follow any further orders!!”

The guildmaster cut off there and called me out.

“Also... Ryoma, are you there?”

“I’m over here.”

“You’re currently F rank, but your abilities are above E rank. You’ve also fulfilled the conditions to advance to E rank with the job request this time. It’s a little early, but you’ll be participating as an E ranker this time.”

“I understand.”

“Anyone with a problem with that?”

No one objected to the guildmaster’s words. The events of yesterday must have still been fresh in their minds.

“All right, everyone get ready! Anyone lacking supplies or necessities, come to me! I’ll help prepare whatever I can! Once you’ve prepared, gather in your respective ranks and beat the plan into your heads!”

Once we gathered in our ranks and a woman named Ploria was selected as the E Rank leader, we began our meeting with her in charge.

“I will now explain the outline of the plan this time... Our job is to take the F and G rank adventurers along and prevent the goblins from running away, defeating any that are missed by the others.”

She used a large map to explain the plan.

“First, the problematic mineshaft and village will be flanked on all sides by A, B, C and D ranked adventurers before charging in. They’ll exterminate most of the goblins, but there will most likely be some missed due to the large numbers. That is where we’ll come in, waiting by the areas where the encirclement is deliberately weaker to drive them in a single direction and finish them off. Furthermore, we’ll have the inexperienced F and G ranked adventurers with us. Because of that, we’ll want to be as safe as possible in our actions. If you have a suggestion towards how to accomplish that, I ask that you raise your hand.”

Several people raised their hands at that and gave their suggestions. Following them, I also offered the method I used in the forest.

“Ryoma, was it. Do you have something?”

“Yes, a method to deal with many goblins at once. If we use earth magic to dig a deep hole between the nest and our location, I can put my acid slime familiars inside. Then...”

From my Item Box, I took out a long pole with a knife attached at the end like a scythe.

“We can use weapons like these to drop the goblins into the hole, and let the acid do the rest. Goblins in the distance can be dealt with through magic or arrows. With this method, the goblins are powerless once they’ve fallen in. Not many can climb out, and those that try can be pushed back in with spears or other weapons. We have to keep an eye out for goblin archers and mages, but otherwise even inexperienced people can fight safely.”

“I see... and the slimes needed to accomplish that would be...”

“I can prepare them all.”

The others seemed to deem it a suggestion worth considering. They had questions about it, so we worked out the details as I answered them until we ultimately decided to go with a plan based on my idea.

“Now, please move to your positions quickly.”

With that quiet order, we all began the task we were assigned.

My role was to take several adventurers who could use earth magic to the ambush point first and dig a hole.

“Looking at it like this, it’s a lot deeper than expected.”

“The goblins shouldn’t be able to climb out of this.”

The designated location had cliffs on both sides of the path like a valley, so we’d have visibility if they tried to run to the sides. There, we would dig a pit 4 meters long, 50 meters wide, and 3 meters deep to narrow their escape.

“Create Block!”

“That spell is amazing.”

“It’s a combination of Rock and Break Rock! It’s very efficient.”

“Can I try it too?”

“Of course!”

With an emphasis on efficiency, I occasionally taught magic as we began digging a pit with holes scattered about the bottom, leading to small caverns. By hiding the core of the acid slimes, the danger of them being knocked into goblin bodies and weapons would be reduced. Acid slimes could extend their bodies and expel acid through the holes, melting the goblins that fell in.

Once the hole was prepared, simply placing the acid slimes in them was enough to create a highly acidic pool of digestive fluids.

“Hey, can I throw this in as a test?”

“I want to see the effect.”

“Sure.”

With that, the adventurer threw a small rat’s corpse into the pool.

The skin of the corpse immediately began to disintegrate until the bone was exposed before sinking out of sight.

“...Nasty...”

“Were acid slimes always this dangerous...?”

“Normally if they spit on you, you’d get away with just your skin burned off. But if you get submerged like this with no escape, you’ll eventually dissolve down to your bones. Melted prey becomes nutrients that make it easier to produce more digestive fluids, so if the plan goes well the volume will steadily increase as time passes. Though once it reaches a certain point I’ll give them the order to stop.”

“I never want to fall in that...”

“Excuse me! Where should I place the supplies?”

Oh, it looks like the separate party with the supplies had arrived. They had gathered long sticks from the nearby trees and piles of bladed forelegs from the cave mantises defeated by adventurers from yesterday and today.

While the cave mantises’ blades weren’t sharp, they were durable and well suited for tripping up and striking goblins, so they had been put forth as a suggestion. I gave an order to my sticky slimes to produce a hardening solution to attach the blades to the sticks.

On top of that, I used the earth we dug up from the pit to create a handrail to the side of the hole so that we didn’t fall in accidentally. I also created some platforms for archers and magicians to gain a height advantage and make it easier for them to fire long distance, thus concluding our preparations.

Since the platform was eye-catching, I put up some physical damage barriers with barrier magic. The problem with these barriers was how magic would fly right past, so I made sure to warn everyone of that.

With that reported to the leader, my job was done.

“Final checks! F and G rank adventurers, stay by the pit and use the scythes to deal with goblins, E rank adventurers stay on both sides of the pit for close combat, driving them safely towards the pit while making sure the F and G rankers are safe. Archers and magicians prioritize any goblin archers and mages as soon as they’re spotted.”

Acknowledgments of the leader’s orders could be heard from every direction.

“And now, everyone should rest up until the plan commences.”

With everything prepared, all that was left was to wait for the time to come. Other than the adventurers placed on watch, everyone began to rest. However, I was left free just like yesterday. I guess I could check over my slimes and weapons once more.

“Excuse me! Do you have a moment right now?!”

“Huh?”

I turned around to look at who suddenly called...

“Ah, I remember you guys from yesterday...”

And saw the six kids standing there.