Yet Another Trouble for 『Soarer』
I was invited to Scarymast's office and got seated on a guest chair.
The room was extremely sober and had nothing else besides the things needed for her job and piles of documents. How stoic can one be.
"Fret not. It's a far safer commission than rushing headlong into a Stampede or trying to reseal an ancient weapon."
Those objects of comparison are way weird.
By ancient weapon she must mean that slime. Which means lolimast must have contacted her... Wonder just how much intel does she get on me.
"Are you aware that 'Hunting Fest' is soon upon this town?"
"Hunting Fest?"
"Mwu, don't you know?"
"I'm sorry, I haven't been here long."
Judging from the name, it must be some sort of a festival where you go hunting.
"Hunting Fest is a festival held twice a year sponsored by this guild. Participants enter the Monster Prairie and compete on how many magic beasts they hunt down over a period of time. The winners are decided by total points acquired from the quality and quantity of beasts they hunted. Those who obtain the highest point in each areas get the best prizes."
So it's kinda like a reverse stampede where we go on an offensive instead.
"The meat and ingredients procured during the fest then get circulated to food stalls extending the festival further after the hunt."
"I see. So, are you asking us to participate in this fest?"
"Indeed. Actually, I only need you Kajikawa to accept this commission. As I told you, it's not that dangerous. Your task is to act as a 'Lifeguard'."
"Lifeguard?"
"Yeah. Each areas in Monster Prairie host magic beasts of differing power levels. The prairie changes color from green to yellow and then red, the closer it is to red areas, the stronger the beasts are. And as you may know, sometimes magic beasts stronger than their designated areas infringe upon lower level areas."
"Ah yeah, we've come across several."
"This phenomenon was not common until a few years ago, but perhaps due to the advent of Demon King, it's been getting more frequent as of late. There exists a high chance magic beasts far more powerful than the areas suggest emerging during the Hunting Fest."
Demon king again. Cut it out already, ya.
Or maybe this anomaly just so happened to overlap with his advent?
"Shouldn't we put a hold on this Hunting Fest if there's that kind of risk abound?"
"Yes, I thought the same and canceled the fest half a year ago, after which a Stampede occurred soon after. Fortunately it was on a manageable scale, however, I don't believe it's a mere coincidence a Stampede that had been absent for several centuries in this area suddenly cropping up right after we canceled the Hunting Fest."
"...So you're saying the fest wasn't simply a festival but a safeguard to curb Monster Prairie Stampedes."
"That's what I suspect. This fest has been going on for several hundreds years, there is no longer way to verify this theory's validity however."
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
I think you should try to preserve that kind of detail.
Guess the festivity itself turns into the main goal over stopping Stampedes after many centuries.
"Your job is to keep a lookout on magic beasts appearing in areas lower leveled than where they're supposed to be in."
"Err, I don't think me alone is enough to watch over that vast prairie..."
"Our staff members will be in charge of green and pea green areas, yours are the yellow and orange ones. The closer an area color is to red, the smaller it gets so you and your flight should manage somehow. According to Ivran, you also have a way to sense faraway magic beasts, don't you?"
"Well, yeah..."
...Dangit Lolimast. You shouldn't have told her.
Wish she could keep this kind of info to herself, it's just gonna bring me trouble.
"I'm not asking you to fight those powerful magic beasts. You'll be given a long distance communicator magic tool you can use to contact guild staff members, we'll take care of the rest."
"What if that magic beast is attacking someone?"
"If the attacked can't handle it, it would be great if you could use your flight and take them to safety. Just don't force yourself, everybody participates fully knowing the risk that comes with it."
"Is that so. Well, I should be able to handle fleeing together with the victim at least, I wouldn't mind rescuing them."
"It's your call whether to rescue or not. That's about the gist of things. Any questions?"
Hmm, I'm still sorting out all this new information, but let's ask a few for now.
"When is this Hunting Fest?"
"Just about a week from now. About time our guild start preparing too."
One week huh, you could say that's soon but also enough time to prepare.
"Are the areas participants compete in decided by their levels?"
"Yeah. Those over Lv50 in red area, over Lv40 orange area, and such. It's only a recommendation and not an absolute rule but even one area higher than the recommended will give you hell, going over is just not worth it."
"How do you judge the points for those who participate as a party?"
"We simply divide the points by the number of party members. Flying solo might net you more but that also comes with higher risks, so most choose to party up unless they're used to solo runs."
Hmph, then Reina and Alma who can cull a stupid amount of magic beasts on their own have quite the advantage, they're definitely gonna be the reigning champions in their respective area.
No, yellow area might be too much for Alma alone.
Umu, I won't be able to participate if I accept this job but I guess that's for the best as I won't stand out.
Well, there's probably people out there who can earn much more points than us, I'm probably just being overconfident here.
If I had to say, I'm more curious about the food stalls post hunt. Wonder how will the food be like in this normally seafood-heavy town.
...Why am I more interested in that than stuff like magic beast materials for my equipment again.
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