By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 11

Chapter 4 Episode 11: Poison Bug Plains

We left the camp early the next morning, and by the time the sun had risen to its highest height, we arrived at our destination: the Poison Bug Plains.

“Is everyone here? Alright! For the next three days, this is where we’re operating. First, like yesterday, everyone needs to prepare to camp! After that, I’ll talk about the rest of our plans. That is all! Get ready!”

The participants scattered. This was the Poison Bug Plains, a sprawling field with shallow hills. After a bit of walking, there were also woods where the trees were just starting to change color, and the refreshing wind carried the scent of grass. It was a peaceful place where no powerful monsters dwelled. The sunlight had also considerably softened as of late, so it felt like a fine place for a picnic.

But what we had to watch out for were the poison bugs. The Poison Bug Fields had its name for a reason, as it was absolutely teeming with poison bugs that bit humans. We had to cover our skin as much as possible, and use bug spray before we entered. For the duration of our time here, we had to keep the bugs away to the greatest extent. If we slacked off on that, it could get ugly.

“I feel kind of itchy.”

“Did a bug bite you?”

“Probably.”

“What? That’s not gonna end well.”

There were already students who got bitten. According to the information I bought in advance, none of the bugs here could kill the average human with one bite, but they would be agonizingly itchy and painful the next morning. And depending on the type of bug and the physical constitution of the person it bit, lethal effects weren’t an impossibility.

“Anyway, I’ve got my sleeping space secured,” I said. As with yesterday, I created it with earth magic. This time I made an elevated floor to keep away from the bugs crawling on the ground, and I covered the windows with wire screens so the flying bugs couldn’t get in. “Now I just need to—Oh, Roche!”

“Need something?”

“I’m going to burn some bug repellent, so I just wanted to say in advance that it’s going to get a little smoky. You were just passing by, so I thought I’d tell you.”

“Is that right? Got it. Also, I was thinking this yesterday too, but that’s quite the thing you’ve built. It’s basically a hut.”

“Hahaha.”

It was true. Everyone else had tents, whereas I constructed a building with sturdy stone walls. To top it off, the floor was elevated, so it also stood taller than all the tents.

“Hm? You get hurt or something?” Roche asked when I took bandages out of my luggage.

“This is bug repellent, actually. I soaked these bandages in the solution and dried it to make it more portable. I made a few types of bug repellent ranging from ointment to aromas, but for large spaces such as buildings, this is best. It doesn’t cost too much, it’s highly effective, and it releases a lot of smoke to make things easy.”

I tore off a meter-long strip of bandage and used magic to burn one of the edges. It was made of cotton, so normally it would all ignite at once, but soaking it in this solution made the fire spread slower, like burning an incense stick. It produced so much smoke that it was hard to see. Once I was sure that a good fire was going, I tossed it through the entrance and shut the door.

I waited about ten minutes for it to finish burning, creating enough bug repellent for the inside of my dwelling. Over the course of those ten minutes, I stuck the rest of the bandages on a metal skewer and ignited them. I stuck them under the elevated floor, fumigating the entire building with smoke. I paid particular attention to the windows and the underside of the entrance.

“That takes care of that!”

“Ryoma, you said you brought more than one type of bug repellent, right?”

“Yes. I have more of this too, and also some medicine in case I get bitten.” I made it while I was studying medicine, so there was quite a lot of it in my Item Box.

“Really?”

“Is there something you’re worried about?”

“Nah, I was just thinking that we might have it easy this time around.”

“I’m sorry, can you tell me what you mean more specifically?”

“So when we hold lessons here, there are always at least a couple students who get bitten and suffer for it. Sometimes they underestimate the bugs, sometimes they don’t repel them right, sometimes they don’t want to spend too much on medicine and run out. There are all sorts of reasons. We’ll be here for three days this time, so I’m expecting a lot of ruckus tomorrow or the next day. That’s why I brought medicine to spare, but we’ll need help handing it out. Good to know we have someone who knows a lot about medicine. If you tell them about the importance of bug repellent and keeping medicine on hand when you’re handing it out, sometimes you get a lot of weirdly passionate and specific questions.”

“Some students ask difficult questions. Got it.”

“Well, I’m sure they don’t mean any harm from it. We can answer some questions, but nothing too specific.”

“Do you refrain from answering when that happens?”

“Pretty much. You can’t just make up an answer when you don’t know something. When Mimir gets those questions, she looks up the answers when she gets back to town. So she knows more about medicine than the rest of us, and we typically leave those matters to her. She even got her emergency medical work adventurer’s license recently.”

“I think I can guess what that is from the highly specific name, but there’s a license for that?”

“You interested?”

“It’s the first I’m hearing about it, so sure. Do you know how you’d get one of those? And how many types of licenses are there? I’m kind of curious.”

“There are licenses to prove your skill with each type of weapon, with making and disabling traps, with making maps—too many to list off. But to get any of these licenses, you have to apply for one through the guild. Then you go through some training and take a test, and if you pass, you get the license. There are some licenses where you can just take the test right away, but the aforementioned emergency medical work adventurer’s license requires taking some classes at a designated medical guild. If you want more details about that, you ought to ask at the reception desk at the guild.” I never knew that guilds did anything of the sort.

“Are there any particular licenses that are worth getting?” I asked. On Earth, there were licenses that could significantly affect your income or the jobs you could get.

“Well, can’t hurt to take a course on etiquette. You’ll always have to communicate with clients, and from D Rank on, you’ll sometimes be meeting with the managers of big stores. When you’re taking jobs from nobles especially, etiquette is a prerequisite.” That didn’t sound too different from making deals in Japan. “But licenses are just proof that an adventurer has a particular skill. What’s really important is that you learn from the lessons. As long as you do that, you don’t really need the license. Just get a status board made at the church to show you’ve got the necessary skills. Those are granted by the gods, so no human can tamper with them. They’re actually more trustworthy proof than licenses are. Pretty much the most reliable proof you can get.”

“So I should think of licenses as just a bonus that comes along with learning a skill?”

“More or less. If you’ve already got the skills, you don’t need to get the license. Doesn’t hurt to have one, but it’s no big deal if you don’t either. That’s why the guild recommends that new adventurers take lessons, but doesn’t typically recommend that they go for licenses. But sometimes they’ll have some rude adventurers take etiquette courses, for example, and there are also adventurers that collect licenses just for fun.”

“Huh. I actually haven’t taken any classes through the guild, so this is all new to me.”

“So you had more skills than just camping by the time you registered with the guild, I take it?”

“Yes, my grandparents were ex-adventurers, you see.”

“Then you’re probably fine for now, but as you rise through the ranks, jobs are gonna get tougher. When you start feeling like it’s too much for you, don’t feel bad about asking the guild for advice.”

“Got it, thank you!”

I was there as a teacher, but I was learning a lot myself as well.

■ ■ ■

Around an hour later, once everyone had finished setting up camp, we gathered in front of the carriages.

“Now, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do next. First of all, the students are free to rest or gather food like yesterday. However, you should have all accepted some sort of job back in Gimul. You’ve got three days here to complete your jobs, so you’d best get started on them now. Most jobs have time limits. Even if your job won’t take long to complete, you’re responsible for that job once you’ve accepted it, so you need to make sure to get it done. If you fail it, not only will you have to pay a fee, but your rating from the guild will decrease.”

The students tensed up when they heard that.

“This applies even if you get sick or injured. Exemptions can be given depending on the circumstances, but if you’re placing all your bets on that happening, then you’re not cut out to be an adventurer. I’m praying that you can all complete your jobs in the next three days. We also want you to complete those jobs on your own, but you can ask any of the teachers for advice on camping. Our job is to use this opportunity to teach you as many skills as possible. Ask all the questions you want. Might even learn something that helps with your jobs. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir!” the students replied.

“Alright! Next, I have something to tell the teachers. You’re all free to set up camp however you like, but just in case any students need guidance or some sort of emergency comes up, we need five teachers to be here at all times. I think you should remember the times we assigned at our meeting, but I’ll go over them just in case.”

Roche read from a list of times and the teachers who had to watch over the camp during them. My time was 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. I was supposed to be ready to answer questions at all times anyway, so this was just when I had to stay around this area specifically. As long as I could answer questions and solve problems swiftly during that time period, I could sit, lie down, eat, or do whatever else I felt like. Once, I’d had a physically laborious part-time job where new recruits weren’t even allowed to sit during breaks for some reason, so the rules for this seemed relatively lax. But if the veterans were saying it was fine, I had no reason to argue.

“Lastly, everyone’s standing guard at night at the same times as yesterday. Good luck, everyone. That is all! Everyone but the teachers may leave!”

Thus, the camping lessons at the Poison Bug Plains began in earnest.