Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Children and Warriors 

Three weeks later, our party hit rank D. It felt like we were moving up pretty fast, so I finally got around to checking out the specific promotion criteria. 

For an F-ranked adventurer to reach rank E, they needed to successfully complete ten F-rank jobs…or five E-rank jobs in a row. 

For an E-ranked adventurer to reach rank D, it took fifty F-rank jobs, twenty-five E-rank jobs, or ten D-rank jobs in a row. 

That general pattern stayed the same for the higher ranks, although the numbers started getting considerably bigger. 

Demotion was also a possibility for those who messed up repeatedly. Failing five consecutive jobs with a rank lower than your own or ten consecutive jobs at your present rank would knock you down a peg. You couldn’t be demoted by failing tasks at a higher rank than your own, but after five in a row you’d lose the privilege to accept them. 

Jalil and Vizquel had been working diligently to knock out F- and E-rank jobs for us every single day, so we’d managed to get this far in no time at all. Now that we were D-ranked, we finally had access to more profitable C-rank tasks. Those were easy pickings for our party, so we’d probably pull ourselves up to rank C soon enough. 

This might be the right time to cut off our arrangement with Jalil and Vizquel. They didn’t seem to be abducting pets any more, but I wasn’t entirely sure what problems the whole job-swapping thing might cause in the long run. We’d saved up a decent amount of cash at this point, so we had the option of saying our goodbyes to our “business partners” and leaving Rikarisu behind for good. 

After a bit of thought, however, I decided to keep milking them until we made it up to rank C. There didn’t seem to be any issues at the moment, and it was hard to turn my back on such a low-stress money-making system. It wouldn’t hurt to have more money in our wallet before we left. 

At present, our savings amounted to one green ore coin, six iron coins, fourteen scrap iron coins, and thirty-five stone coins…or 1,875 stone coins in total. So…1,875 yen basically. Our entire assets amounted to less than the value of two Asuran large copper coins… 

Okay, cut it out. It doesn’t matter what this would buy us on a different continent. 

Once we hit rank C, we’d say goodbye to Jalil and Vizquel, then promptly leave this city. Seemed like a solid plan to me. 

Not long after reaching this conclusion, I spotted an “interesting” task on the Guild board. 

*** 

B 

TASK: Locate and Defeat Unknown Monster(s) 

REWARD: 5 scrap iron coins (2 iron coins if defeated) 

DETAILS: Find and destroy a specific monster 

LOCATION: Southern Wood (Petrified Forest) 

DURATION: Before the end of the month 

DEADLINE: ASAP 

CLIENT: Belberro the Merchant 

NOTES: A large, slithering creature was spotted deep inside the forest. Please identify it, and destroy it if it’s dangerous. 

*** 

Jalil and I pondered the piece of paper with our hands on our chins. A mystery monster, huh? Talk about a vague job description. There was a chance this thing wasn’t even there. And even if it were, how exactly were we supposed to prove that it was one monster or another? 

Still, two iron coins was a very tempting reward. Especially since we could still get five scrap irons if we chose not to fight the thing. 

“You interested in this one?” 

“Well, the pay’s really good. It does feel kind of fishy though.” 

Jalil nodded in agreement. “Looks like the kind of job where you might get stiffed. I’d think twice if I were you.” 

We’d already experienced something of the sort. Two weeks earlier, we’d accepted an ordinary-looking collection task for Acid Wolves. As usual, we’d hunted down the specified number of monsters and brought back their fangs and tails, only to be informed that the client wanted complete Acid Wolves—as in, their entire bodies. The description hadn’t clarified this at all, but we still ended up having to pay a breach-of-contract fee. Just thinking about it made me feel intensely frustrated. 

It was probably smarter not to take this job if I wanted to avoid a repeat of that disaster…but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from that juicy “reward” line. 

“Two iron coins, though… Hmm. Maybe I could use another learning experience…” 

“Heh. Just don’t blame me if you get burned again.” 

“For a task like this, the breach-of-contract penalty would be based on the five scrap iron coins, right?” 

“Yep, that’s right. The extra money if you kill the thing is just a bonus basically.” 

As Ruijerd tended to get harassed by Nokopara when he entered the Guild, and Eris sometimes had problems with random adventurers approaching her as well, I had the two of them waiting outside. Vizquel never showed up at the guild either. 

In other words, there was no one here to stop me. 

“Well, even if this mystery monster isn’t there, there’s plenty of stuff worth selling in the Petrified Forest. Knowing you three, I bet you could earn enough to cover the breach-of-contract fee. Guess it might be worth a shot.” 

“All right then. Good luck with your jobs, too, Jalil.” 

In retrospect, I’d realize just how lazy my thinking was at this point. A few weeks of battle experience had left me over-confident. Things had gone so smoothly that I’d underestimated the risks; my impatience pushed me toward a big payday. 

With the benefit of hindsight, there were better choices open to me. But at the time, I don’t think I could have made them. 

*** 

The Petrified Forest was a full day’s journey from Rikarisu. It was a place where bone-like trees with jagged branches grew in enormous numbers, and derived its name from their stony appearance. 

The forest stood alongside the main road in that region. Cutting through it offered travelers a shorter route to the next city, but since the wood was home to the dangerous B-rank monsters Executioners and Almond Anacondas, only merchants in a big hurry ever did so—and they always hired multiple skilled bodyguards beforehand. 

Forests in this world were, without exception, dangerous places. But those found on the Demon Continent were particularly perilous. 

Three parties had run into each other just outside this particular wood: the B-ranked party “Super Blazers”; the D-ranked party “Tokurabu Village Toughs”; and finally, the D-ranked party “Dead End.” 

The leaders of these groups came together for a meeting. When adventurer parties bumped into each other in places like this, it was expected that they’d stop to have a quick discussion. It would’ve been nice to skip it, but running into the other groups in the forest itself might be a real nuisance. I’d decided to make an appearance. 

“Okay. So what the hell are you kids doin’ here?” 

The first one to speak was Blaze, the leader of the Super Blazers. There was undisguised irritation in his voice. 

The guy’s face was familiar. He was the pig-man who’d laughed at us on our first day. I’m not trying to be insulting, by the way. He literally had the head of a pig. 

Presumably, he belonged to the same race as that gate guard who’d leered at Eris. Couldn’t quite remember what they were called… I usually just thought of them as “orcs,” to be honest. 

In any case, pig-man’s party was a group of six adventurers from a wide variety of races. To be C-ranked or higher on the Demon Continent, you basically needed to be capable of taking down the more common monsters in your region; I had to assume they were all veterans who’d proven their skill in battle. 

“We’re here for a guild job!” said Kurt, leader of the Tokurabu Toughs, his face somewhat sullen. 

“Same here,” said the leader of Dead End (that being me) with a small nod. 

Blaze reacted to the words of his D-ranked colleagues by clicking his tongue and scratching irritably at his neck. “Ugh. They booked us, huh? Yeah, I had a bad feelin’ about this one…” 

“Uhm…what does booked mean?” Kurt asked hesitantly. 

“Shut it, kid!” This pig apparently had a short temper. 

“Now, now,” I said, sidling up to him with an obsequious smile. “Let’s all take a few deep breaths, okay? We’re sorry for being such clueless newbies, but we’d very much appreciate any explanation you could provide…” 

Blaze spat on the ground, then grudgingly replied. “It means the same request got placed by more than one person. And the guild put both jobs up there without noticing.” 

Ah, right. A double-booking. 

In this case, we had three separate clients who’d posted three separate tasks. The guild must have thought they were distinct jobs, but maybe that wasn’t actually the case. It seemed like something that might happen every now and then. 

Out of curiosity, I asked the others what their specific tasks were. 

Blaze was here to “Slay the White-Fang Cobras that appeared in the Petrified Forest.” 

Kurt was tasked to “Collect the mysterious eggs spotted in the Petrified Forest.” 

And I, of course, was trying to “Locate an unknown monster.” 

“Huh? You’re on a search and locate job? Do they even have those at rank D?” 

Naturally, I’d worked out an answer to Kurt’s question beforehand. “It’s a C-ranked task, actually. They put it up there after you left the guild.” 

“No kidding? Man, I wish we’d gotten that one instead…” 

As the kid muttered to himself, I took a moment to think about the situation we were in. It did feel like there was at least some potential overlap between all three of our tasks. First of all, White-Fang Cobras weren’t native to this forest; but judging from Blaze’s job, at least one had recently been spotted here. That could very well be our “unknown monster,” and it might also be responsible for the “mystery eggs” Kurt was after. 

But of course, there was also a possibility that our mysteries were completely unrelated to the cobras. It was a little hasty to assume we’d been triple-booked. 

“Still, I wonder how this happened?” 

“How should I know, kid? It just works out that way sometimes.” 

Hmm. Well, I guess it would. It’s not like the guild has all their tasks filed neatly in a computer or anything. 

“All right then. What are we going to do about it?” 

“Nothing. Whoever finds the monsters first wins.” 

“What?!” shouted Kurt. “So what happens to our task if you get there first?” 

“Huh? Oh, your eggs or whatever? I mean, we’ll smash ’em if we see ’em. Can’t have White-Fang Cobras hatchin’ all over the place, can we?” Blaze said with a smirk. 

“Come on, Rudeus, say something! If they kill all the monsters, we’ll both fail our jobs!” 

Kurt was turning to me for support. He did have a point. If Blaze’s party happened to kill our “unknown” monster, we wouldn’t get the chance to track it down or fight it… 

Wait a second. We basically just need to locate and identify it, right? 

I felt like reporting that the White-Fang Cobras had been here might be enough to satisfy our client. And to hedge our bets, we could always hunt down some random monsters here before we left. A big enough loot haul ought to cover the 20% breach-of-contract fee. 

“Well, we don’t know for sure that this was a triple-booking. There might be something other than the White-Fang Cobras here as well.” 

Blaze grimaced. “So? You want to look around together, is that it? You expect us to be your babysitters?” 

“Who the hell wants your help anyway?!” said Kurt, his face flushed with anger. 

“Oh please. You’re obviously hopin’ we’ll protect you, right? This forest’s pretty damn tough for a bunch of D-rankers.” 

Ah. Now I get why he’s so cranky. Blaze didn’t like the idea of a pair of low-ranked groups following his party around like a string of poop trailing after a goldfish. Perfectly understandable. It would only make their lives harder after all. 

Of course, I didn’t want to travel with them, either. It wasn’t a good idea to let anyone see Ruijerd fighting with his spear. They might realize he really was a Superd when they saw how strong he was. 

Fortunately, Kurt had already given me an easy out here. 

“Okay, I’ve heard about enough of this. Dead End doesn’t need babysitters either, thank you very much. We’ll be working on our own.” 

I promptly turned and left the leaders’ conference without waiting for a response to my declaration. 

*** 

My party had been waiting for me a little distance away. 

“So what’s going on?” asked Eris, her voice betraying some impatience. 

“Looks like we’re all here to do the same job, more or less.” 

“Oh. What happens now? Does somebody back down?” 

“No, of course not. We’ll all go for it and see who finds the monsters first.” 

“Oh yeah? Sounds like a decent challenge!” 

Well, she certainly seemed enthusiastic at least. I felt like Eris had been getting sick of our hunting missions lately. Those jobs weren’t exactly adventures after all…more like manual labor. This probably seemed like a nice change of pace. 

As the three of us were speaking, Blaze and Kurt brought the little leaders’ meeting to a close. Kurt said a few words to his two companions, and they all set off into the forest together; the Super Blazers headed in as well, moving in a different direction. 

“So what’s the plan?” asked Eris. 

“Hmm, let’s see,” I said. “Ruijerd can search the area for enemies, as always. We’ll just move around and investigate until we single out this mystery monster.” 

It seemed like a simple enough proposal to me, but Ruijerd shook his head gravely. “Hold on, Rudeus.” 

“What’s the matter?” 

“I’m worried about those three children.” 

What children…? Oh, he means the Tokurabu Toughs. 

“They’re not strong enough to survive in this forest.” 

“So what you’re saying is…” 

“We should help them.” 

I really shouldn’t have been surprised. 

“Well, Ruijerd…if we stick too close to them, there’s a chance they’ll realize you really are a Superd.” 

“I don’t care.” 

Yeah? Well, I do! “Okay, but it’s going to cause us all kinds of problems if people realize who you are.” 

“What, then? Are you telling me to stand back and let them die?” 

“That’s not what I’m saying. Let’s just follow them from a distance and help them out if they get in trouble.” 

I couldn’t hope to talk him out of this one. We’d just have to adjust our objectives. Those two iron coins probably weren’t going to happen, but we could earn ourselves some serious gratitude at least. 

Still, was it really a good idea to thoughtlessly jump to the rescue here? If we had to protect those kids from a monster attack, the odds of them realizing Ruijerd’s true identity got that much higher. I didn’t want to believe that they’d cling to their prejudices about a man who’d just saved their lives, but Dead End had a special place in the minds of people on this continent. It was hard to know how things might play out. 

If worst came to worst, maybe we could intimidate them into joining up with us, like we did with Jalil and Vizquel… 

For now, our party set off after Kurt and his friends. 

As he watched the Tokurabu Village Toughs stride boldly along into the depths of the Petrified Forest, Ruijerd furrowed his brow. 

“What’s the matter?” I said. 

“Is this the first time they’ve set foot inside a forest?” 

“Uh, I can’t say that I know… Why do you ask?” 

“They’re being far too careless.” 

Sure enough, Kurt and his friends soon found themselves face-to-face with an Executioner whose approach they evidently hadn’t noticed. 

The Executioner was a type of humanoid monster—the zombified remains of someone who’d been an adventurer in life. For some reason, they were equipped with enormous swords and suits of thick plate armor. The sheer weight of their equipment meant they couldn’t move too quickly, but they were extremely sturdy, and wielded their weapon with surprising finesse. You usually only encountered one Executioner at a time, and they weren’t unusually large—and yet they were still B-rank monsters. That was proof enough of their sheer power. 

Just to add insult to injury, their equipment dissolved into thin air when they died, so you couldn’t get much profit out of beating one. 

“They need our help!” 

“No, not yet,” I said, just as Ruijerd was tensing to leap forward. 

“Why not?!” 

“They’re not backed into a corner yet.” 

That Executioner was swifter than you’d expect from its appearance, but it wasn’t fast enough to keep up with these kids when they were running for their lives. Little by little, they were gaining some distance from their pursuer. 

But then, just as it seemed like they were going to give it the slip…their luck ran out. 

A group of Almond Anacondas was waiting for them in the direction they’d been fleeing. 

These snake-monsters traveled in groups of three to five; they took their name from the distinctive almond-like pattern on their bodies, which were typically about three meters long. Their fangs were full of deadly venom, and they moved with great agility. Due to their toughness and their tendency to attack in numbers, they were also classified as B-rank monsters. 

Kurt and company were trapped between the two best-known and most-feared inhabitants of the Petrified Forest. I could see their expressions wavering between smiles of disbelief and outright terror. They’d probably assumed that if they ran into either of these notoriously dangerous monsters, they could simply run away. And, to be fair, it almost worked with the Executioner. 

In the end, however, they hadn’t sufficiently considered what might go wrong. This place was just too dangerous for them; they really should have recognized that and steered clear of it. Not that I didn’t sympathize with their eagerness to push themselves. 

“We should go! Now!” 

“No, wait just a little longer…” 

Once again, I held Ruijerd back. We wanted to wait until they were really on the ropes. The worse things got before we showed up, the deeper their gratitude would be. 

I’ll let those things knock them around so I can heal them with my magic afterward. Heheheh. Perfect… 

“Ah!” shouted Eris. 

The bird-like boy flew through the air…in two separate pieces. 

It had only taken one blow. He’d failed to sidestep the Executioner’s attack, and the monster’s sword had cut him clean in half. 

My wicked smile froze on my face. I’d misread the situation completely. Those kids were in terrible danger from the very start. I was the one being thoughtless, not Ruijerd. 

“I told you!” shouted Ruijerd, his voice full of frustration. 

As he and Eris jumped forward out of cover, I quickly fired off a Stone Cannon at the Executioner. 

My attack struck home with enough force to obliterate a Stone Treant, but somehow, the thing stayed on its feet. 

For a moment, I thought its armor was unbelievably strong. Then I noticed that its upper right arm was missing. I’d been so flustered that I misaimed my spell. 

Picking up its enormous sword with its left hand, the thing immediately began running in my direction. From a distance, it had seemed fairly slow, but now that it was sprinting toward me I realized that it was abnormally quick given its clumsy appearance. 

I stayed calm and created a patch of muddy bog directly in the Executioner’s path. One of its legs plunged into my trap, sending it toppling forward. I promptly summoned up an enormous rock immediately above the monster and sent it slamming to the ground. 

By this point, Ruijerd and Eris had already eliminated all of the Almond Anacondas. 

In the aftermath of the battle, a trembling, pale-faced Kurt approached me to express his gratitude. 

“ Huff, huff… Th-thanks, man… huff, huff… seriously. Y-you guys are…really strong, huh…?” 

The Executioner lay squashed under a giant boulder; the Almond Anacondas had all been neatly decapitated. No sweat, really. We’d win that fight every time. 

And yet, we’d failed to protect these kids. 

“That’s okay… I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner.” 

Kurt was looking at me with something like admiration in his eyes. My chest aching with guilt, I looked away from his face. 

My eyes found the body of the beaked, bird-like boy who’d been cut in half. What was his name again? Gablin? He wouldn’t have died if I’d just kept things simple. 

Ruijerd strode up and grabbed me by the front of my robe, his face twisted with anger. “That was your fault,” he said, gesturing at the corpse with his chin. 

The words stabbed ruthlessly at my heart. “Yeah. You’re right…” 

“We could have saved all three of them!” 

Yes. I know. I know! I didn’t want it to turn out this way either, okay? I was bursting with shame and misery. This wasn’t what I wanted. Not at all. I regretted my actions. I’d learned my lesson. So why did he have to keep rubbing my nose in it? 

“Look, I’m trying my hardest, okay? I just wanted to get us the best possible outcome from that situation! Why do you have to be so tough on me?!” 

“Because the boy died!” 

Ruijerd’s retort was simple, but painfully on-target. 

“Gah…” There really wasn’t anything I could say. I may as well have killed the kid myself. 

Eris wasn’t jumping to my defense this time, either. She was staring at Gablin’s corpse…probably trying to process her own feelings about all this. 

There were no excuses left to offer. I’d failed completely. People’s lives were on the line, and I’d held us back too long out of sheer self-interest. 

“H-hey, c’mon. Don’t start fighting now.” In the end, it was Kurt who stepped in to intercede. 

“This doesn’t concern you,” snapped Ruijerd. “It’s between me and him.” 

Somewhat surprisingly, the boy didn’t back down in the face of this dismissal. “Yeah, but I can tell what happened. You guys saw us fighting and argued about whether to help us out, right?!” 

Nope. It wasn’t even an argument. I left you out to dry all by myself. 

“I know you’re all strong, but there was still a risk something could have gone wrong. And you didn’t have any reason to help us anyway!” 

The anger in Ruijerd’s eyes blazed even hotter than before. “No reason was necessary! Adults have a duty to protect children!” 

“We’re not children!” Kurt fired back. “We’re adventurers! Rudeus made the call any leader should have!” 

“Hm…” Ruijerd fell silent for a moment, but I couldn’t say I agreed with Kurt’s assessment. “Still…one of your friends died, boy.” 

“Yeah, I know! I’m not blind! And the three of us wanted to stay together to the end! But you know what? We knew death was a possibility! Any adventurer’s prepared to face that risk—young or old!” 

My chest throbbed painfully at those words. Personally, I wasn’t remotely prepared to stare death in the face. I’d seen the whole adventurer thing as nothing but an easy means of earning money. 

“I’m grateful that you stepped in to save us, but it was our job to keep ourselves safe. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me! I’m the one who took this task and got us in over our heads!” 

Kurt’s argument had the stubborn righteousness of a kid who didn’t really understand the way the world worked. But it was also earnest and heartfelt. This sort of passion was something I’d been lacking lately. In my obsession with earning money and climbing the Guild ranks, I’d started looking at our tasks as nothing more than “quests” in some video game. 

“I’m sorry…Kurt, wasn’t it? I was wrong to treat you as a child. It seems you are a warrior in your own right.” 

Apparently, something in the boy’s tirade had struck home for Ruijerd; he lowered me to the ground with a brief apology. 

Not that I deserved it this time. “Don’t apologize, please. None of this changes the fact that I made an awful mistake.” 

“No, that was no mistake. You were only trying to respect their pride as warriors. I was overly eager to intervene.” 

“Uh…” Nothing of the sort even crossed my mind actually. Sorry. 

“I was too hasty with those criminals as well. I’ll have to be more careful in the future…” 

Ruijerd seemed to have neatly wrapped things up for himself. But I didn’t find his conclusions too convincing. I was going to give my mistakes today some serious thought later. I needed to identify exactly where I’d gone wrong, and make sure this never happened again. 

Still, there was definitely a part of me that was thinking, Nice! Good thing he got the wrong idea! At least I got away with it. 

I wanted to smack myself in the face. 

*** 

Kurt and his friend told us they planned to carry their fallen comrade back to town. We escorted them back as far as the entrance to the forest. I’d expected Ruijerd to insist we guard them all the way to Rikarisu, but he shook his head at the suggestion. He’d recognized Kurt and his friends as warriors. That changed things. 

“They may not make it back safely with their party reduced in size. But they have resolved themselves to face that risk.” 

Kurt had said as much, yes. But there was something deeply melancholic about his posture as he walked away from us. It was so obvious that Eris impulsively ran up to him and said, “Good luck out there!” 

She didn’t speak his language, of course, but Kurt clearly sensed the meaning of her words from the expression on her face. “Thank you,” he said. “Uhm…is this how you do it?” 

“Huh?!” 

The boy took Eris’s hand, leaned forward, and kissed it near the knuckle of her thumb. With one last, bright smile, he turned and walked off once again. 

Eris had frozen up completely. I wasn’t sure what to do, either. 

Suddenly, she spun around to look at me, then began vigorously rubbing the top of her hand against the edge of her armor. “No, no! You’ve got it all wrong!” 

Was that actual panic on her face? I mean, the kid did kiss her, but she had gloves on. It didn’t seem like anything to get that worked up about. 

“I… I won’t even use this anymore!” 

Eris ripped off her glove and tossed it into the forest. What a waste of perfectly good leather. Ruijerd and I scolded her simultaneously: “Don’t throw away your equipment!” “Those things cost money, you know!” 

I really wished my mind hadn’t gone straight to the “money” thing again. 

“Oh, shut up!” shouted Eris, stomping her feet against the ground with tears in her eyes. 

This was the first time in a while I’d seen her like this. Was I missing something? Did a kiss on the hand mean something specific around here or what? 

“Rudeus! Here!” 

At this point, she pushed her hand in front of my face. I licked it reflexively. 

Eris’s face went red at once. Approximately one half-second later, she punched me. 

This was a real punch, too. I barely stayed conscious, and for a moment, I thought she’d snapped my neck. This girl just might be a world champ someday. I collapsed backward in a clumsy heap. 

Hmm. Wonder what was I supposed to do there…? 

As I looked up at her from the ground, Eris stared at the spot where I’d licked her, then briefly touched it with her tongue as well. 

Instantly flushing bright red, she then scrubbed her hand forcefully against her clothes. 

“S-sorry about that, Rudeus. But you can’t lick me, all right?!” 

It was all pretty adorable, so I forgave her on the spot. 

This hadn’t been a good day overall, but I wasn’t feeling quite as miserable anymore. 

*** 

As we made our way deeper into the forest, I found myself thinking about Ruijerd. 

He was a man with an absolute moral code, and he loved “children”. Those were the fundamental facts I was working with till this moment; but that conversation earlier suggested that “warrior” was also something of a keyword for him. 

“Ruijerd, what’s your definition of a warrior?” I asked. 

His response was instant. “Warriors are those who protect children and fight for the sake of their comrades.” 

That explained so much actually. His outbursts of anger made more sense now. Ruijerd wasn’t lashing out at random; he just expected “warriors” to conduct themselves with dignity. 

His most basic set of rules seemed to be something along these lines: 

A warrior must never harm a child. 

A warrior is obligated to protect children. 

A warrior must never forsake a comrade. 

A warrior is obligated to protect his comrades. 

Based on these, he’d positively identified that petnapper as a “villain” rather than a “warrior” the moment he kicked me. And when the other two pleaded for their lives instead of seeking to avenge their fallen comrade, he’d contemptuously placed them in the “villain” category as well. 

The thing with Kurt was somewhat similar. At first, he’d viewed those three as children. So when I sat back and allowed one of them to die, that made me a villain in his eyes. But then that sharp exchange of words with Kurt changed his perspective. He’d reclassified those three as “warriors” rather than children. That made my actions easy to forgive; if anything, he seemed more upset at himself for having failed to categorize them correctly from the start. 

It was a little hard to tell exactly where he drew the line between “children” and “warriors”, though. I got the sense he still considered Eris to be a child, but I wasn’t sure where he placed me these days. 

Should I ask him? Or would that be a mistake? 

“There’s a battle taking place up ahead,” Ruijerd announced, interrupting my internal debate. 

“Oh. Is it that other party? The Super Blazers?” 

“That’s right.” 

Apparently that pig-man had found himself some trouble. I wasn’t sure exactly what sort of sight Ruijerd’s third eye offered him, but he could apparently use it from underneath a headband—and well enough to pick out one adventurer from another. 

Talk about convenient. I want one too. 

“You think we should help them?” I asked. 

“That’s not necessary,” he replied. 

Hmm. Well, they’re B-ranked adventurers after all. I guess he’d classify them as warriors from the start… 

We moved a bit deeper into the forest and came upon a single enormous snake coiled in a clearing. Four corpses lay scattered around it. 

“…Huh?” Uhm, these gentlemen appear to be dead… So that’s what he meant by “not necessary,” huh? 

I didn’t see Blaze’s body among them though. Had he managed to escape? 

“It was a party of six, right? Where’d the other two go?” 

“They’re dead.” 

A total wipe? Damn. Rest in pieces. 

“Okay, so what is that thing?” The snake that had killed Blaze and company was…very, very large. 

“A Red-Hood Cobra.” 

Its body was so thick that Eris and I couldn’t have wrapped our arms around it fingertip to fingertip. It had to be ten meters long. And its “neck” area was flatter and wider than the rest of its body. I could see two distinct bulges halfway down the monster’s trunk. One of those was presumably a great big lump of pork. 

Weren’t we looking for white cobras, though? 

“I wouldn’t have expected to find one in this forest,” continued Ruijerd. “Let alone such a huge specimen.” 

“They don’t usually live here then?” 

“No. But one does spawn every once in a while.” 

Red-Hoods were apparently a more powerful variant of White-Fang Cobra. Not only were they larger in size, they were also far more agile. Their scales were tough and resistant to fire magic; their fangs were enormous and full of deadly venom. It wasn’t clear what a White-Fang had to eat to mutate into one of these, but on occasion, you’d find one where they lived. 

White-Fang Cobras were B-ranked monsters, but the Red-Hood Cobra was an A-rank—and for good reason. They could wipe out a typical B-ranked party in mere seconds. 

At the moment, this one was occupied with his current meal, and didn’t seem to have noticed us. It was just getting started on its third adventurer of the day. 

“We can take this thing, right?” said Eris, confidently unsheathing her sword. 

“Shall we attack it?” Ruijerd asked me. 

“…Is it okay for me to make the call?” 

“Who else would?” 

“I leave it in your hands.” 

Apparently it was up to me. I took a moment to think it through. 

Our task today was to discover, identify, and possibly defeat the “unknown monster” lurking in this forest. 

First of all, it seemed obvious that the monster in question was either this Red-Hood Cobra, or the White-Fangs that were also spotted here. Neither was native to this forest. We’d probably get credit for completing the job if we headed back now and reported what we’d seen. 

However, if we killed it our reward would increase to two iron coins. It’d be nice to beat the thing if we could. But keeping ourselves alive was also kind of important. I’d just seen someone die right before my eyes. Failure would mean death; I didn’t want to put us in unnecessary danger. 

As I hesitated with my decision, Ruijerd broke the silence. “I could defeat it by myself, if you prefer.” 

“Could you really kill that thing on your own, Ruijerd?” 

“Yes. I’m more than enough for this job.” 

Wow. Talk about a reassuring line. I’m sure the King of Fighters reference was unintentional. 

“Can you take it on while also protecting Eris?” 

“Not a problem. We’ll fight the same way we always do.” 

Ruijerd didn’t seem remotely intimidated, even in the face of an A-ranked enemy. Based on that alone, I felt like we’d probably be all right. 

“Let’s do it then.” 

*** 

I would attack with magic from a distance while Eris and Ruijerd fought the monster at close range, same as always. So I started things off the way I always did—with a Stone Cannon. 

We were up against an A-ranked enemy this time, so I tweaked the spell slightly to increase its power. The projectile I created was a hollow, wedge-shaped rock, filled with concentrated fire magic that would cause it to explode on impact. I fired it off at supersonic speed, expecting to see it slam into the snake’s side with an ear-splitting boom. 

“Wha—” 

But to my surprise, the Red-Hood Cobra twisted itself around and evaded my bullet. 

This wasn’t just a coincidence. That thing had dodged the spell. It had spotted the projectile in the air and reacted quickly enough to evade it. The stone exploded harmlessly somewhere off in the distance. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” 

Our preemptive attack had been a failure, but our special attack squad wasn’t about to stop. Ruijerd charged forward in the lead, with Eris trailing off to the side. This wasn’t our usual formation; up until now, Eris had mostly been the one out in front. 

“Hissss!” 

“…Hmph!” Ruijerd led off with a typical thrust, stabbing at the snake’s head with his trident. The Red-Hood Cobra swayed to avoid the attack, then tried biting him on the rebound. Its fangs were big enough to punch a gaping hole right through a man, but Ruijerd deflected them with a casual swipe of his spear. 

In the meantime, Eris had circled around to the rear of the cobra. She took a big swing at its tail with her sword. The blow struck home, but didn’t cut all the way through the snake. Its scales, or perhaps its muscles, were clearly tough. 

“Hisssss!” Just as the Red-Hood’s attention turned to Eris, both she and Ruijerd jumped back to a safer distance. Without missing a beat, I fired off another spell at it. We’d worked out this sequence beforehand. It was pretty typical of our combat style as a party. 

“What, again?!” 

Unfortunately, the Red-Hood Cobra dodged my spell a second time. I’d sharpened the tip of my stone projectile to increase its speed, but to no avail; the bullet soared past the snake’s flank and into the forest, knocking down a few trees as it went. Once again, the monster had reacted after spotting the projectile in mid-air. 

It wasn’t the end of the world though. I didn’t really need to hit it. 

Our frontliners attacked in waves. Ruijerd persistently targeted its brain and vital organs; Eris darted in to chop at its tail, keeping the thing distracted. And every now and then, I fired off a potentially deadly spell. 

The pattern was a simple one, but it wasn’t easy to deal with. If the monster had focused its attacks on Eris, it could have potentially broken through our lines. But Ruijerd was so masterful at drawing “aggro” that the Red-Hood Cobra was forced to ignore both her and myself. 

Ruijerd and I weren’t landing any hits, but over time, the snake grew fatigued. Its movements began slowing. 

And in the end, one of my Stone Cannon spells finally struck home. 

*** 

By the time we finished processing the Red-Hood Cobra’s body, the sun had already set. We were having a snake-meat feast for dinner tonight, naturally. 

I didn’t know which specific parts of this thing were valuable, so we just ripped out its fangs, then stripped off its skin and rolled it up like a carpet. We’d found the eggs that Kurt’s party had been looking for nearby, but they were so large it seemed impossible to carry them. I thought over our options for a while before deciding to smash the things. Deliberately allowing monsters to spawn was a no-no around here after all. 

As for Blaze and company…we relieved them of anything that looked valuable, then burned and buried their bodies. If we’d just left them lying there, would they have turned into Executioners eventually? I didn’t entirely understand this whole “reviving as a zombie” phenomenon to be honest. 

Gotta say, though, that red snake was really something… 

I found myself thinking back on the battle we’d just fought—specifically, about the way that cobra had avoided my magic. 

It had dodged my spells. Numerous times in fact. Until that direct hit at the very end, I never really even grazed the thing. 

Come to think of it, the Executioner earlier today had probably done something similar. I’d targeted my first spell at its chest, but it only lost part of one arm. Maybe I needed to assume that monsters ranked B or higher were capable of avoiding magic. 

That red snake was ranked A of course. It had actually avoided Ruijerd’s spear thrusts too…but that was probably because he was holding back. If he really wanted to, I was sure he could have killed it instantly. 

Interesting that it never dodged Eris’s sword though. Maybe it felt that wasn’t necessary, given how much less dangerous she was. 

In any case…this world really was chock-full of terrifying threats. Even some humans could supposedly ward off magical attacks, and now I’d run into monsters that could dodge a mid-air bullet. At this rate, I had to assume S-ranked monsters may be capable of shrugging off a Stone Cannon strike without a scratch. 

Now there’s a scary thought… I’ve gotta make a mental note to keep my distance from dangerous places. 

One way or another, we’d managed to complete our task. 

As it turned out, it would be the last one we ever finished in the city of Rikarisu.