Chapter 74: Gigant Worm 1

“I’m a skilled doctor from the kingdom. Please allow me to treat the King.”

Disguised as a doctor, I spoke to the soldiers guarding the gate of the Royal Palace. The two soldiers scrutinized me and they begin to consult with each in a soft voice.

“He’s suspicious. What do you think?”

“We can’t just make a judgement here. Let’s inform the Minister for the time being.”

Then one of the soldiers said, “Wait here for a moment”, he spread his wings and quickly flew inside the Royal palace. I turned my eyes to Erna and Hasan behind me.

“It will be fine Shinichi. I’m sure it will work.”

“I’ll help you as a guild representative so it will be fine.”

Both of them seem to think that this strategy will work. As for me, I somehow feel uneasy. I don’t have enough knowledge or skills to show that I’m a doctor in the first place. If I am to be asked for a specialized knowledge, I don’t have answer to that.

I sighed and looked up at the towering Royal Palace in front of me. The huge stones are tightly combined so that there are no gaps. As if it’s drawn with a ruler, it creates a beautiful triangular pyramid. The walls reflect light like a polished mirror and it is clear that it is a structure built with advanced technology. It is a magnificent pyramid that truly symbolized the power of this kingdom.

Right then, with the sound of flapping wings, a man descended from the sky in front of me. He wore a white robe and a beret on his head. He is probably the minister that the soldier talked about.

“Are you the doctor from the kingdom? How did you get inside the kingdom?”

“I summoned him. He has a good reputation in the kingdom.”

Before I was able to answer the question, Hasan, who is standing behind me already replied to him. The minister clicked his tongue when he saw Hasan.

“You guys from the Guild again huh. Why don’t you stop associating with those wingless guys?”

“I can’t do that. Whether it’s humans or beastmen, they have many things that are better than us. Whether they have wings or none, I think it is nonsense to judge them.”

“Stop joking. Well, never mind. Since you, as the guild representative trust him, I’ll deem that he is not someone who wants to harm the King. However, if anything happens, he’ll be executed immediately. Understood!?”

“I know.”

When the minister ordered the soldier to let us “pass through”, he opened the gate straightforwardly. As soon as we entered the premises with Hasan in the lead, I asked him a question.

“I know winged men hates humans and beastmen, but… why?”

“Because you guys don’t have wings. We are said to be a race that has been given wings by God. Perhaps because of that, this kingdom has long tended to look down on other races. However, in reality, we lose to Dragoneuts in power and we can’t even do a thing to the elves’ magic. We are indebted to the dwarves for these knowledge and technology. So to protect our pride, winged men were particularly indifferent to humans and beastmen. I’m sure it’s because of the insecurity that you guys may not be lower than us.”

“I see… it’s not that I don’t understand.”

Mankind are creatures who like to be special. They would want to be above others. Winged men has a strong sense of such feeling. As we walked around the area, I then saw the entrance to the Royal Palace. With a flapping sound, a woman landed in front of us.

“Welcome to the Royal Palace. Let me guide you to His Majesty.”

The woman is in an Arabian outfit with her face covered with a cloth. Only her eyes are barely visible. Her eyes had eye shadow painted on it and it is kind of alluring. Following the guidance of the woman, we stepped inside the Royal Palace. When I open my third eye, I can see the back of the woman walking in front of me. Her hips is above average and her legs are slender. It’s really an eye candy. Mufufu.

“Shinichi?”

Hearing Erna’s voice, I hurriedly closed my third eye. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, Erna appears to have sharp intuition in odd area…

“This is His Majesty’s room. Any rude remarks and you’ll be executed immediately. Please mind your manners.”

The woman opened the door and invited us in. In the center of the large room is a large bed with a canopy. Due to the thin curtains, I can’t see the face of King lying on the bed. There were four other knights in the room. Their eyes are observing us.

“Your Majesty, a doctor from the kingdom who is reputed to be skilled came to see you.”

When the woman called out through the curtain and a voice replied from behind.

“A human doctor huh… If I can be freed from this pain, I won’t complain no matter who the person is. Cure my illness quickly.”

“Understood.”

The woman opened the curtain and then turned to face us. This means that I may start with the treatment. I then took out the cooking utensils from the bangle. I chopped the golden mushroom and process it to make it easier to eat. Making a weakened sick person eat the raw mushroom is equivalent to torture after all. Once the mushroom soup is ready, I hand it over to the woman by my side. The security system here is not lax so I can’t feed him directly. The woman who received it approached the King lying on the bed and offered him the bowl of soup.

“Oh, nice aroma. This is not bad.”

After lifting his skinny body, the King took the bowl. No matter how I look, his appearance is like an old man. Moreover, he is quite old. Deep wrinkles were engraved on his face and his cheeks were thin. He has a tall nose and his physiognomy resembles a goblin. If I didn’t know he is the King, I might have subdued him by mistake.

The King who took a sip on the soup opened his eyes.

“Ohhh! My strength is surging! This supreme soup can really help me!”

The king throws the spoon and begins to drink directly from the bowl. He drank it in a blink of an eye. After putting another cup, I offered the bowl. The King drank three glasses of soup in no time.

“I’m satisfied. The doctor over there, receive your reward, say whatever you want.”

Unlike before, the King’s face was now full of energy. The brilliance returned to his eyes and his skinny body was stretched with muscles as if they were rejuvenated. It’s such a rapid change that makes me wonder if the one in front of me is a different person.

“Then, I want Your Majesty to read this letter.”

I hand over the letter from King Rogas to the King of winged men. The King immediately begins to read the letter.

“…You are a messenger from the kingdom huh. So your wish is that you want a strength to counter the empire?”

The King had an unkind smile.

“Yes. The three kingdom have already said that they will send reinforcements. If possible, I would like to have some troops from the Holy Kingdom as well.”

“Hoh-, those three kingdoms had sent their soldiers? In that case, I will also send them.”

I was relieved at those words but King added, “But there are conditions”.

“We need food and weapons to send out our troops. However, we are not ready for that. If we can resolve this early, I promise to send troops to the kingdom.”

“The time frame is?”

“One month. You can ask the general for more details. I’m looking forward to the results.”

The King then drive us out of the room.

◇

“Gigant worm huh…”

I heard from the general in the Royal Palace that the provisions of the troops in this kingdom are made from a magical beast called a gigant worm. It also seems that the fangs from the Gigant Worm can be used as weapons. Going back to the conversation a while ago, the King’s condition is for us to hunt a gigant worm. After returning to the guild, we were worried about the difficulty of the condition.

“Gigant worm’s meat is resistant to dryness and it swells many times when it contains water. Besides, its meat quality is not bad and it is the best preserved food here.”

“That’s good to hear. But, do you know where they are?”

“…………”

Hasan stopped talking. In other words, he also doesn’t know where they can be found. It’s ridiculous to hunt a magical beast that we don’t even know where they can be found in this vast desert. Moreover, those gigant worm are submerged deep underground and it seems that they only appear occasionally on the ground.

“But, have you ever defeated a gigant worm in the past? How did you do it?”

“I think it’s like a mass attack from the sky. Worms sometimes appear near the city, but in such cases, a thousand people with confidence in their skills gather to drive them away. If we’re lucky, we can kill it.”

“Does you mean that you can’t get rid of it for sure even with a thousand people…? How much of a monster is it then.”

“Hahaha-, you’ll know once you see it. It’s such a ridiculous monster.”

Hasan made a dry laugh. I somehow guessed what he wanted to say from his appearance. It seems that the condition set by the King is impossible to be met. However, I am a man who wants to do it more when it is said to be impossible. Somehow I want to “surprise” that King.

“Erna, can you do it?”

“Of course, I’ll blow away any monster with my magic.”

Erna, who sits next to me, is motivated as she holds her staff. Hasan will also probably help. The three of us will find a Gigant Worm and kill it.

“The problem is how to find it…”

“…There is only one way, but would you like to try it? It may be pretty dangerous though.”

“If there is no other way, there will be no choice but to do it. Tell me.”

“Okay, then I’ll explain—“

When I heard from Hasan how to do it, I immediately decided to put it into practice. The content is certainly dangerous but it seems that the probability that a gigant worm will appear is quite high.

If so, it cannot be put aside.

　◇

“When it comes, I’ll take Erna up into the sky. I want Shinichi to attract it as it is.”

“Got it. Now then, I’ll be dripping blood so the two of you should step back.”

When I saw that the two of them have moved back, I cut my arm with the bull king knife. Fresh blood drips from the wound and makes a ball on the sand. Currently, we are about three hours walk from the city. Our purpose is to subdue a gigant worm. The method is simple. We need to attract its favourite food, the desert sharks, with them as a bait, it will attract the gigant worm and make it appear.

However, this operation requires a decoy. As we have to wait for the worms to come out, the decoy would be chased by the desert sharks. I was confident in my physical strength so I took on the role of being the decoy.

Attracted by the smell of blood, a dorsal fin emerged from the sand. It swims in the sand at a tremendous speed and it sensitively approaches the source of the odor. Then, when it jumps out of the sand, it opens its large mouth with sharp fangs and aimed at me.

“Humph!”

While avoiding the desert shark’s jaw, I cut it off. The shark cut into two rolled on the sand.

【Analysis Result: Desert shark: A shark that lives in the desert. It has a ferocious personality and is sensitive to the smell of blood. They often act alone, but when they find a prey, their friends join one after another: Rarity (D): Overall Ability (C)】

【Status】 Name: Desert Shark Race: Desert Shark Magic Attribute: Earth Magic: Rock Arrow Skills: Fang Strengthening (Intermediate), Smell Strengthening (Advanced), Sand Swimming (Intermediate) Evolution: Does not meet the conditions <Requirements: Fang King (Beginner), Sand Swimming (Special Grade), Self-Recovery (Special Grade)>

Its status is average. I’m a little curious about sand swimming, but I don’t think it’s necessary because I already have the Sand Walking skill.

Then, in less than ten seconds, several sharks appeared in sight. Perhaps they sniffed the blood of the shark I killed. I grabbed the shark’s corpse rolling on the ground and I decided to leave the place. Five sharks are chasing me from behind.

“Shinichi!”

Looking up to the voice, Erna, held by Hasan, was flying above me. It is about 15m high at most. That’s probably the limit for Erna, who is afraid of heights. Then a change has come to my feet running on the sand. It suddenly became easier to run.

【Status】 Name: Shinichi Tanaka Age: 17 years old (56 years old) Race: Homeless (King) <High Dragoneut | Vampire> Occupation: Adventurer Magic Attribute: No Attribute Magic:  Restoration Space, Isolation Space Skills: Familiar Creation, Familiar Summoning, Dragon Transformation, Skill Picking, Race Picking, King’s Vessel ▹Special: Stealth, Danger Detection, Sense of Touch Enhancement(New), Taste Enhancement, Eyesight Enhancement, Hearing Enhancement, Smell Enhancement, Super Sensation, Shock Absorption, Hardening, Plant manipulation, Leadership, Indomitable Spirit, Small Dragon Breath, Separation, Intimidation, Division(↑), Sand Walking(↑) ▹Advanced: Enemy Search, Theft, Digestion Enhancement, Flight, Paralyzing Eye ▹Intermediate: Analysis, Life or Death Technique, Master of War, Limit Breakthrough, Underwater Adaptation, Dragon Beheading Slash, Fist King Technique, Metal Manipulation ▹Beginner: Universal Thread, Self-recovery, Familiar Strengthening

It appears that the Sand Walking skill has become a special grade. After that, the division had reached a special grade before I knew it. I think I’ve improved my skills because my clone is still out.

I further increased the speed of my leg but I kept the speed in such a way that the desert sharks wouldn’t be shaken off. I used the search enemy just in case, and I also activated the limit breakthrough. This will allow me to respond quickly in case the gigant worm appears.

“Uh-, what’s with this reaction?”

A large red dot appeared on the enemy search screen in my sight. It is rapidly and steadily approaching from behind.

“Guooooooooooooooooooooo!”

An explosion occurred far behind. No, it’s not an explosion. Something huge came out of the ground. The cry made the air vibrate and it even made my body quiver.

It stretches its body high up in the sky in such momentum and then it dives back into the sand again while forming an arch. Its width is about 20m by eye measurement. The total length is unknown. There were no eyes on the head, and in that huge hole, sharp fangs were densely grown in a circle. It’s like a living gigantic excavator. Such a monster was chasing from behind with tremendous momentum.

My danger prediction skill sounded like a siren. The gigant worm appears to be a monster beyond my imagination!

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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