Vast grasslands stretched to the horizon. The clear sky is pleasantly sky blue. The unicorn continued to move along the leveled path.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had an adventure. Why did you choose the southern frontier anyway?”
“It’s because the rewards are good. You were also enthusiastic when Bud told about it, right?”
“Yes, but I never thought it’s too far away. It’s already been two days since we left Mana.”
Erna is grumbling. Currently, me and Erna are the ones who received the request introduced by Bud. The client is a man named Krypton, who lives in the southern frontier town called “Bowl”. The request is to defeat the cockatrice. It’s such a simple job of killing a monster.
By the way, the cockatrice is a large magical beast resembling a chicken with serpent tail. It is said that it has the power to petrify anyone who makes eye contact to it. It is unclear whether it is a skill or a racial trait though.
“Don’t say that. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to relax and kill monster once in a while.”
“I’m glad it’s just the two of us, but I’m tired of seeing the scenery. Even if you look over there, it’s grassland. If you look here, it’s grassland. There’s nothing but grassland here.”
It seems like she’s angry at the length of the journey. In fact, we can fly on our own and we have the ability to reach the destination in just a few hours. However, the reason why I dared to ride a unicorn is to solve the lack of exercise by doing horseback riding. Perhaps because I hadn’t ridden much, I was starting to gain fat on my body. This is why I had decided to travel with the unicorns. It made our travel time longer though.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, I think Pegasus is good too.”
“When you say Pegasus, do you mean a horse with wings?”
“That’s right. It’s a magical beast that lives north of Sanargia. It has a nice silver coat and it can fly.”
“If it’s that convenient, I think it’s going to be popular as a ride. I’ve never heard of it though.”
“Pegasus is rarer and more difficult to handle compared to unicorns. It has a lot of pride so it’s extremely difficult to tame. Shinichi can handle that by turning it into your familiar though.”
It’s not like I wouldn’t consider it if she really wanted a Pegasus, but Erna overlooked one important thing. That’s right. All the magical beasts that become my familiars turned black in color. If she’s expecting a shiny silver fur, I have no choice but to say that it’s not possible.
“I can get you a black Pegasus.”
“……Ugh. Right.”
Realizing this, Erna seemed to have given up on Pegasus. The unicorns seemed relieved.
“I wonder if Pero and the others are doing well.”
“It’s Shinichi who told them to act separately. Besides, if it’s those three, there will be no problem.”
Me and Erna are on a request for the southern frontier. Pero, Freya and Liz had taken on another request and were sent to the northern frontier of the kingdom.
“They said it’s snowing in the north. They may be struggling with an unfamiliar environment.”
“There’s no point in worrying about it here you know. Why don’t you trust your comrades more?”
Erna is right. I should know the abilities of the three of them well. There was no need to be anxious.
“Well, the city is in sight, let’s hurry up.”
Seeing a building that looked like a city on the horizon, me and Erna made the horses run faster.
◇◇◇
“Here’s Bowl huh. It’s smaller than Mana.”
We entered Bowl, the city in the southern frontier. While looking at the rows of houses, we muttered our impressions of the city. Although Mana is in a remote area, it is one of the largest cities in the kingdom due to the large dungeon. Compared to that, Bowl is still small in scale. However, I felt that time here passed at a leisurely pace which is unique to the countryside. I don’t dislike this atmosphere.
As we walk along the quaint cobblestone streets, cats pass by without hesitation. Elderly people with bent backs were having fun chatting with each other and children were running barefoot out of the front door.
“It’s a nice city. It’s quiet and I kind of feel relieved.”
“Right. It makes me feel strangely nostalgic.”
When we asked a resident about Krypton, who was the client, he pointed us to the manor in the center of the city.
“Is this the client’s house?”
“I think so. Krypton seems to be the lord of Bowl City.”
In front of the gate, me and Erna looked up at the lord’s manor. It was a small manor in a small lot. It was hard to believe that he is a noble. It’s like the image of a poor aristocrat is instilled in me even before I meet him.
We entered the premises for the time being and knocked on the door of the manor.
“Yes. Who is it?”
The front door is slightly opened, and a young man answers through the gap. We informed him that we accepted his request, and the door quickly swung open.
“Thank you for coming! Well, come in, come in. I want to talk to you about the details so let’s go inside!”
A black man in men’s clothing invites us inside the manor with a smile. The interior of the manor had a calmer atmosphere than it looked from the outside. The floor and ceiling gave a retro impression as if it had been built for a long time. It’s not flashy, but it looks comfortable to live in. We were led to the waiting room and we sat down on the sofa.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Krypton, the Lord of Bowl City.”
“My name is Shinichi Tanaka. I’m the leader of a party in Mana called Homeless.”
“Oh!, that Homeless party huh. I’ve been hearing rumors about you guys for a long time! Oops, I’m sorry, let me get you some tea!”
Krypton got up from his seat and took two cups and a pot from a desk in the corner of the room. And he, the lord of the manor, pours the tea into the cup.
Me and Erna looked at each other.
“I’m sorry I surprised you. In fact, the Krypton family can’t afford to hire a maid right now. I guess I was just as poor as I looked.”
The color of the tea offered to me was pale as I could see. I guess he is reusing tea leaves. It’s mostly hot water, I guess.
“You seem young, but is there a reason why you are a lord at that age?”
“My father passed away two years ago so I took over. Even I, never thought I’d be the Lord at the age of 20.”
He put his mouth on his teacup with a wry smile. It seems to be quite a struggle.
“Now let’s move on to the request. What I want to ask you to do is to kill the cockatrice that is blocking the way.”
“We’ve already heard about the cockatrice but, what do you mean by blocking the way?”
“Let me tell you from the start. First of all, this city is said to be the largest cotton producer in the kingdom. After all, it accounts for 50% of the total domestic product. The harvested cotton is transported to a city on the eastern frontier where it is made into cloth by the artisans who live there. Then it is transported throughout the kingdom. But five years ago, the cockatrice began to settle on the road to the east so we were unable to deliver cotton from then on.”
“Huh? That’s strange. Since this is the southern frontier, why not go east via the royal capital? Is there any reason to go to the trouble of eliminating the cockatrice?”
“Please look at this.”
Krypton said, bringing a piece of paper from the cupboard in his room. As soon as it was spread out on the table, I knew it was a map. A map of the kingdom to be precise.
“The kingdom centered on the royal capital has a high mountain range to the east, and the eastern frontier is on the other side of the mountain range. It is difficult to reach it even if you go through the royal capital. In other words, we can’t go to the eastern frontier unless we get rid of the cockatrice.”
As he said, on the east side of the royal capital, a long mountain range stands tall like a wall. There are only two ways to get from the royal capital to the eastern frontier: from the north or from the south.
In reality, there is a route from the north, but it is out of the question because as business man, taking that option takes too much time and money. The conclusion drawn by the citizens of Bowl was that the only route was from the south.
But why did they leave it unattended for five years? The cockatrice could have been defeated by other adventurer.
“My father hired a number of adventurers to help eliminate the cockatrice. However, no matter how many times he sent them out, they never returned. In the end, my father who accompanied them to find out the truth, never returned as well.”
“If no one is coming back, how did you know it was caused by a cockatrice?”
“There is one resident who was lucky enough to escape, and it seems that miraculously, he was not found because it was late at night. I have heard from his testimony that it was quite large.”
Night huh. I guess it’s because of the bird’s eye problem since it’s still a chicken. However, with a serpent tail, it can still probably see even in the dark. Because it is equipped with an infrared sensing organ, it can know the body temperature of its target.
“We will be paid, right? We are not doing charity you see.”
“Of course. If you defeat it, I’ll pay you properly.”
“Alright. We’ll leave at night then.”
Me and Erna decided to wait for the night at the lord’s mansion.
◇◇◇
An hour unicorn’s ride away from Bowl.
We came to a valley flanked by sheer cliffs. The road continues like a snake. We proceed to our destination while slowing down our movements. Ten minutes after entering the valley, we saw something huge standing in the way. Me and Erna dismounted from the unicorns and get into a fighting stance.
“That’s a cockatrice huh…… It’s bigger than I expected.”
It has white feathers and a bright red chicken crown growing from the head. A red snake tail was moving in the buttocks, and with its tongue sticking out, it looks wary of its surroundings. It’s indeed a humongous chicken. It’s about 15 meters tall and about 20 meters long. It is currently sleeping in the nest. When I scanned around the target, I can see human-shaped rocks lying everywhere. It seems that it really petrified those who see it. We decided to hide in the rocks and observe it first.
“Isn’t it bigger than we thought?”
“I thought so too. Bud said it was about five meters at most.”
“Let’s check it out with Shinichi’s analysis skill first. We’ll fight after that.”
For the time being, I took a look at the abilities of the cockatrice with my analysis skill.
| 【Analysis Result: Heresy cockatrice: It is a variant of a cockatrice. It exceeds the standard cockatrice in both size and ability. It uses the rays of light emitted from both eyes to lure and petrify its target. Rarity: A, Overall Ability: C】 |
| 【Status】 Name: Heresy Cockatrice Specie: Heresy Cockatrice Magic Attribute: Earth Magic: Rock Bullet, Rock Armor Skills: Fang King Technique (Special), Claw King Technique(Advanced), Vocal Cord Enhancement (Advanced), Presence Detection(Advanced), Steel Stomach (Intermediate), Intimidation (Intermediate), Paralyzing Eye (Intermediate), Petrification Eye (Improved)(Intermediate), 2UP Evolution: Conditions are not met < Evolution Conditions: Fang King Technique(Special Grade), Claw King Technique(Special Grade), Vocal Cord Enhancement (Special Grade) > |
There are many points that bothers me, but this is all I can say,
There’s 2UP! What a delicious enemy!
I breathed heavily as I got excited.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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