Sousetsuka

480 Plan Great Success

I was led to a room. Chief Raie's office. I was offered to sit on the sofa.

"Are you the culprit behind our Griffon's issue? Here to make us indebted to you by taking it back?"

Chief Raie's eyes glinted sharply as if to probe me. I honestly told her that I had zero idea what she was on about.

"Aren't you misunderstanding something here? I simply took a liking to the tea and got curious about its production process, hence my visit here. I understand it's not the best time. But how does that tie to me being the culprit or anything?"

Raie kept staring at me for a while before sighing while apologizing.

"Haa~ I'm sorry about this. I've been getting irritated lately. You don't look like someone who would do that. Will you listen? The Griffon in question you see, it was purposely led to this place after it was wounded. Though it's still a conjecture right now."

(Uh, it suddenly sounds like a shady business? How will this develop... and why am I stuck with another ploy again?)

It was already a mistake to not consider the possibility back then. I thought it was nothing more than a natural disaster.
But opening the lid reveals a scheme someone is cooking. It's such a bother. And now that I've heard all about this, I can't just turn around and say 'bye bye'. In fact, things are developing too fast I don't even have time to react.

"Let me start from the beginning. I'd like to hear someone's opinion on this, and it'll help sort my thoughts. Can I count on you?"

(I don't wanna if I can help it! No, really!)
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
I didn't say that out loud of course. I've learned how to read the air, somewhat.

"Let's see, first, let's talk about Griffons' habitat. There's a mountain far north from here. That's where Griffons usually live. That mountain houses an abundance of wildlife to prey on, it's unthinkable for a lone magic beast there to come all the way here."

"And that led to the crisis this site is facing now?"

I couldn't help interjecting. I'm knee deep in this whole mess by the time Chief Raie brought me to her office.
It's a done deal. The time to get away is long gone. To begin with, I stuck my nose in.
I never even entertained the idea that the issue was never quite simple.

"Yes it does. That Griffon was wounded by someone and driven here. They even prepared a way to make it stay. You can easily tell from the excessive trail of blood leading to this place. Our investigation found it."

"Is there a chance it was just a coincidence. Like things just happened to fall into pieces. Maybe the griffon was engaged in a turf war and lost. That was when it got hurt. Maybe?"

I presented the possibility but she shot it down.

"I had that confirmed first thing first by braving danger. I went close enough to the griffon to see it with my own eyes. Alone by myself."

"Why'd you risk yourself like that? Couldn't you hire some mercenaries or something? Heck, you could have asked them to kill the thing outright."

"The entire area here up to the Griffon's spot is the Waking Grass's production site. Letting mercenaries trample all over this place is akin to destroying this site. Even the slightest change in environment can kill Waking Grass. It was never an option. I had to go alone. This place is pretty much my garden after all."

"And you saw something that made you certain of your conjecture. Which is?"

"The Griffon had obvious bladed weapon wounds on its body. Its hind legs were scorched badly as well. It must have been caught in the mountain at first. It's clear that the griffon was tortured during its captivity before it was released and driven away from its mountain. They kept the assault until it found its way here. Pinpointed inside the woods here at that. I even doubted my eyes at first. I mean there was clearly food left near where the griffon was. A body of a medium sized magic beast. We never have a sighting of magic beast around these parts."

"The cornered griffon went straight to the first food it found huh..."

"Yes, that must be it. And almost immediately after the Griffon chose to stay in those woods, a group of mercenaries came by. They told us they're here to get rid of the magic beast. But we refused their entry. Reason being what I told you. You see, you need a group of 30 experienced mercenaries to take down a griffon that big. And the group that came was exactly around that scale. By that point, it was obvious everything was set up. But we drove them away at the time. 'You guys have barged in a private property without permission. We won't pay you even if you kill the Griffon on your own. We will treat you as criminals if you insist. We will report this incident to the kingdom'. They relented and left afterward. They left swearing like small time thugs too. 'Don't you dare come crying back to us later!'"

"A band of mercenaries who knew the whole picture showed up out of nowhere? Then they insisted on killing the magic beast even though they were told not to? They only left after you threatened them about their payment and calling the authorities? It's so sickeningly obvious someone is pulling the strings..."

None of it seems natural. Everything is leading to a conclusion.

"So it's all a scheme to crush this production site, huh. Letting the mercenaries enter the site will kill the Waking Grass. Them fighting the griffon will make it worse. And even if those mercenaries never got in, the griffon's existence alone would gradually change this site's environment, killing the Waking Grass softly. The person behind everything never shows their face from beginning to end. Yup, it's quite a well formulated plan. Not something I should be impressed of though."

I couldn't help but admire the twofold scheme executed here.
This site was checkmated the moment they got the griffon touchdown.
I felt a bit angry at the mastermind.

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Not a Fight, It's a One-sided Predation

『Jabuvavavavaaaaaaaa!!!』


The giant crab roared while shooting bubbles out.
Wait do crabs even have a vocal organ? That thought crossed my mind for a second. Really, who cares though.


"Ha! Quite a lively crab we got here! First up, I'll take your leg!"


Her sanpaku eyes opened wide as Red Axe-san raised her axe with a fearless smile.
She's undaunted even when up against a beast ten level higher than her.


"Duryaaaaa!!"


She swung her axe down one of the crab's legs while yelling out something unwomanly.
The crab seemed like it couldn't react to the surprise attack as it didn't make an attempt to defend itself.
But


CLAACLANK!! A sound like a mix of sharp and blunt metal clashing echoed.
The shell cracked a bit yet it didn't even flinch.
That crab's shell had a tinge of metallic brilliance the moment Red Axe-san's attack connected, what was that?

<<Shelled Beast Lv8 Ability [Metallic Shell Guard] an ability to double user's Defensive attribute for a few seconds. Consumes very little mana to activate.>>


"T-this thing's damned hard...!! Felt like hitting a lump of adamantite...!"


Red Axe-san's grimaced, looked like her hands numbed from the impact.
...Cracking the shell of a crab whose DEF shot up to 4600 is an amazing feat in itself though. This woman is pretty extraordinary as well.

...Huh? Isn't the crack getting healed?

<<Master Skill [Revival Claw]. An ability that naturally regenerates parts that are considered [Claws]. In this magic beast's case, all of its legs and scissors are considered claws. It likely can regenerate a cut leg in a matter of minutes. However, this requires a considerable amount of SP the bigger regenerated part is.>>

S-say what!? D-does that mean...!


I can get all the leg meat I want if I go for this crab's legs!


"Fu, fufufu... Wonderful, we're having a crab feast tonight...!"

"K-Kajikawa-san's eyes turned into a total predator's..."

"...Hikaru can only see that crab as an ingredient..."

『Pipi.』


Welp, time to go.
I'm hearing some snide comments sideways, but I pay them no heed.


I closed in on the crab while pretending to use Air Step with Mana Flight.
I got near Red Axe-san in no time.


"! ...I see you're strong enough to know Air Step."

"Yes, well."

"But you saw that yeah? I couldn't even cut one leg even after going all out. You got an idea or what?"

"Yes. I'd like to eat those legs asap."

"...Wha?"

"Ah no, please don't mind me... Let's see, alone would have been tough but it's not a foe we can't defeat if Hyula-san can just keep pressuring it."

"Eh? I mean I got a crack sure, but it got healed right away don't ya see?"

"And that's plenty enough. Though well, I can manage alone somehow if you can't go on anymore."

"Hohou, big talk. Told ya earlier, I don't work well with other. Do whatever you gotta if you wanna."

"Yes, I shall."

"Well then, lemme have another stab!"


She charged in on the crab once we were done talking.
But it's not going the same way she ambushed the crab earlier.

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
『Gevyaijava!!』

"Uoo!?"


The crab used all tens of its legs to assault Red Axe-san with [Mana Claw Farslash].
It also simultaneously deployed Sharp Mana Claw Skill [Mana Claw Barrage] which increase the total amount of attacks, creating a barrage you'd normally see from a shoot 'em up game's boss.


"Dammitallll!!"


Rex Axe-san isn't taking that lying down either. She cut down the barrage with a gigantic mana axe akin to Alma's [Grand Blade].
...That's not a move from normal Axe Art Skill and its upgrade, Roaring Axe Skill. It's too one of a kind.

<<Master Skill [Sky-shattering Axe Strike]. One of obtainable Master Skills from raising Axe Art Skill to Level 10. User's mana forms the shape of a gigantic axe, loading a tremendous mass into user's attacks. However, its activation consumes a huge amount of mana, rendering continuous usage unfeasible.>>

A high powered big move, the so called finisher huh.
Each use seems to consume about 20-30% of her MP. Guess she can only activates that two more times without restoring her MP.


"Dangit, shoulda kill this thing dead with that first strike!"


Even though she was cursing out, she managed to get through the barrage of crab's attack and even closed the distance between them.
She must be trying to hit the main body while Sky-shattering Axe Strike is still active.


"Can't regenerate when you're split in two, can you! Drop deaaad!!"


Red Axe-san swung her axe down the crab's head.
Not even this giant crab can escape unscathed hit by that.


『Giva!!』


But it's not dumb enough to eat that axe head-on. It activated [Metallic Guard] and put its scissors up to guard against the attack.

A metallic sound echoed as the axe and scissor clashed. The shrill is way more earsplitting than the last one.


"Gugigigigigi....!! Why you....!!"


Her axe sunk deep into the scissor yet far from reaching the main body. That won't kill it.

But, that's good.
That's good!!


The instant the crab undid [Metallic Guard], I took True Explosion Buster hammer out of my Item Screen and went for its left side!
I swoop down on its entire row of legs at their roots from above!!


"Ooryaaaaaaaaa!!!"


Sounds of shells getting crushed one after another.
All five left legs including the scissors were torn apart from its body.


『Gigyavagyaaaaaaa!!?』


The giant crab panicked and let out a shrill seemingly from the pain.
It may be able to double its DEF for several seconds, but that effect is gone immediately after activation.
Which means, severing those legs is more than doable... Though I never imagined I'd get the entire row in one go.


"D-damn, you're unbelievable..."

"That was only possible thanks to Hyula-san forcing this crab to take a defensive action. I couldn't have done it by myself, oh not at all."

"...That sounds like a humble brag to me. Ah, crap! It's regenerating those legs! The hell, the whole thing's good as new!"

"That it is. We can get all the leg meat we want, nice."

"No no, what the hell are you spouting!?"

"Oops, my inner voice leaked out, cough cough... It doesn't look like this crab can regenerate those legs indefinitely. As it stands, we can probably strike it down once it has run out of stamina... Shame."

"...Were you looking at this thing as food from the onset...?"

"Heaven no, it's a fearsome magic beast. Sooo scary, can't believe it can even regenerate, scary~."

"Yeah you ain't fooling anyone, I'm way more afraid of you..."

"Now then, wonder how many more can I get?"

『Gi-givyaaaaaaaaa!!』


The giant crab turned around and ran off at high speed while screaming loudly.


"I-it's fleeing...?"


Oy, hold it. Hold it right there. I haven't had nowhere enough.
More, gimme more! Gimme those legs!


"You ain't going anywheeeeeeeeere!!"

『Pigyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!』


The crab is by no means slow, but I'm simply way faster. No use running away, I'm gonna get right next to you!


『Pigabobubububu...!!』


N-no! It's attempting to go underwater!
That's bad, I dunno if my attack alone is enough to harvest those legs.

Guess I'll use that move. That should get through no matter how high its DEF gets.
I'll aim for its head and get those legs while it's out cold, yep.


I wrap the great hammer's handlebar with a rope made of mana, mixed with plentiful life force and energy.
As the rope is made of my mana, I can expand and contract it at will.

I expand it to around 10 meter long and rev the hammer's explosion combustion engine!

BANG! BOOM! BOOM BOOM!! Sounds of explosions reverberated over and over again.
I kept making minute adjustments to its trajectory through my mana, and spun it round and round with me in the center like doing a hammer throw. The great hammer amassed a massive amount of kinetic energy in the meantime.

Enough power to blow away 30% of a mountain at Monster Mountain Range.
Not even this crab's Metallic Shell boosted 4600 DEF can possibly defend against this move! Have at you!!


"Eat thiiiiiiiis!!!"

『Kabogubiea!!?』


Sure enough, the crab used its def-boosting Skill but my hammer easily crushed both its scissors and hit it right on the forehead.
Yay! That was a clean hit! Alright, it's not even twitching, completely out cold.
All that's left is to pluck off those legs and...


...Huh? Why're my MP and HP fully recovered?
Did I level up? Why?

N-no, it can't be...!?


<<Target, confirmed dead.>>


Aaaaaaah! W-what have I done!
The crab could have regenerated its legs two, three times more too, what a huge waste!
Its gouged body is even sinking down into the ocean, my crab miso, no~!


"Aaah, how could this be...! My leg meat... Crab miso..."

"...You're more concerned about eating than basking in the joy of defeating that monster...?"


Red Axe-san threw me a punchline but I was in a state of shock.
...Well whatever. What's left of those legs are plentiful enough, I'm gonna cook all the crab I want tonight! I'm gonna binge eat!

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479 Staple, Processing and Research Results

I was led to a field of green. Various plants are growing naturally in what looks to be a forest. Yep, it's nothing like your usual field, much less Waking Grass's.
It's hard to believe they have withering issues with how much greenery there is.

"What is this place? I don't see a single Waking Grass anywhere though?"

I had closely observed the blooming leaves inside that teapot. I don't see any plant with those leaves here.

"This is a Waking Grass field. We're promoting their growth while leaving them grow in the wilds. One time we did make an attempt to create an exclusive zone for Waking Grass alone but it didn't go well. We know it has to do with environments and surrounding states, but nobody has been able to determine what those are precisely. It's what makes this plant so interesting."

(As someone who'd just lump it up as fantasy. The research on this thing sounds like a huge pain in the arse.)

"Look over here. We've confirmed that this little tree here is important to Waking Grass.. And near the root... there it is. Here, have a bite. It's tasty."

She casually plucked a Waking Grass's leaf and handed it to me. The plant looks like a Poaceae with three centimeter-long leaves.
I followed Chief Raie's instruction, she didn't even bother to hide her mischievous face, and bit on the leaf.

"...I don't get it... It's tasteless? Like there's not even a grassy flavor when I chew on this... How?"

This grass is full of mysteries. The chief seemed satisfied at my reaction and spoke.

"Yep, all the mysteries around this plant is what makes it so interesting. How about it, interested in researching Waking Grass with me?"

"No, I don't think so. I just wanted to know how is such a good tea grown. I'm not suited for difficult riddle solving."

"My, that's a shame. Next will be, there. To the site where we process the plucked leaves into tea leaves."

There's a huge stove in the corner of a building, on top of it is an iron plate, and further top are the processed Waking Grass leaves.

"Oh you are you already done with the hand crumpling? And here I was thinking of letting our guest watch."

A lone lanky man with a sharp gaze quietly standing in front of the stove murmured to reply chief Raie.

"One more left. You can watch."

The man seems to be the perfect worker. He put the finished leaves away in a rack before placing a new iron plate on the stove.
He then just tossed unprocessed Waking Grass leaves on it and started moving both his hands on the plate like drawing circles.
The leaves gradually got rolled up.
It was over so fast like I was watching a magic trick.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
The worker put the finished leaves on another rack and left the place.

"Once these leaves sleep for a week, they're ready for the market. See? Interesting right?

"It's been quite a shock. No really. I had no idea that tea required so much hard work. You could readily tell looking at the field and workplace. And isn't this worker really good at this stuff? Almost got me thinking you could ask for a higher price even."

"My, thank you. But we managed to lower the price after we learned how to mass produce this tea. We worked really hard to make that happen. It's the fruit of our research. But that will have to wait until we could solve the issue at hands. Ha~, there's this griffon near a nearby woods, you see."

(Here comes Griffon! A staple monster! Griffon right after Chimera huh!)

"Can you tell me more about that? I might be able to lend you a hand."

"...What are you talking about? Are you really here just to observe our site? What's your goal?"

She got wary of me for some reason. Her droopy eyes turned narrow as she dubiously looked at me.

(...What the heck? I don't get it... Isn't all you need to do drive that griffon away, or not...?)

The mood earlier got blown away as tension ran in the air, meanwhile I found myself unable to grasp the situation here.

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Seconds

30 minutes has elapsed since magic beasts started their assault.
Most of the sharks have been exterminated. Several seemingly lost the will to fight and ran away. They're precious ingredients, cough, I mean exp too~.

The three whale beasts were all decimated by the redhaired barbarian, Hyumlassa by herself.
It took her longer to carve the mats out of them and storing away in her Item bag than the fighting.
Though she left one whale unattended, probably over capacity. Well it's gonna be fodder for other fish at least.

And so I went around retrieving the sharks Alma and Reina defeated.
Apparently their fangs and stuff are worth something too, not just their fins, these will go towards our party funds.
Once I was done, I carried Alma and Reina back on deck while pretending to use Air Step.


"Good work you two. Couldn't believe my eyes when both of you started running on water."

"I tried borrowing water elemental spirits' power and it turned out nicely. I can fight without restraints on the sea."

<I get why those earth spirits were grumbling 'These folks are bad news' now...>

<She moved so so fast all over the place, almost worked myself to death...>

<Got lotsa mana though. Yummy.>

"Huh, does mana have flavors?"

<Sure does~. Mana from old geezers tastes so bad it ain't motivating, but neechan's so fresh and tasty.>

<Wait no, hey you quit talking to us without a contract. How'd that even work...>

<Scary~. This old man's scary~.>


It's thanks to Menu-san's translation feature.
And don't call me old man. I'm still 25.


"Fufufu, I've been learning more and more interesting ninja gear the more I level up my Ninjutsu Skill. I've got lotsa new Skill Abilities to use too."

"And did you use any besides Water Spider?"

"...Everything was over so fast, I didn't get the chance."


Reina looked a bit disappointed for missing her chance to test those abilities.
Don't get so down now, you'd wish you could stop using them sooner or later.


Oh, the redhaired babari-san's back.
Maybe I could abbreviate that? Like red baba, cough cough, Red Axe-san, yep.


"Good work! You ladies are pretty darned good for someones so young!"

"You too~. The way you easily dissected those super big whales was awesome!"

"Those whales got chopped up just from the swings of your axe."

"Haha! Those things are only big for show!"


She's pretty friendly. High communication power.
Same goes for Reina and Alma for taking that on and even reciprocating her.


"Whoops, almost forgot. I'm Hyumlassa, a solo adventurer. Just call me Hyula."

"My name's Reinamiure. Reina in short."

"Almatina. Call me Alma."

"Oh can I ask why Hyula-san is flying solo? With how strong you are, I bet any party would want you in."

"Well, I'm sure you can tell from the way I fought. I lost sight of everything but my enemy whenever I got heated up in battle. I'm super bad at coordinating with other people."

"Or maybe it's because you can deal with most enemy alone anyway?"

"Ah, that sure contributes too. I got way strong lately, been having a hard time finding anything to have a serious match with. Even those whales were barely passable as a warm-up."


That was a warm-up to her huh.
If the hot uncle's party we saw at Monster Prairie excels at coordination, then this person is like a specialist in personal combat.
Guess adventurers each have their own way to tackle this issue.


"You two a duo? You worked pretty good together."

"More like we're members of the same party."

"Our leader's, over there."


Asked by Red Axe-san, the two pointed at me.
And now Red Axe-san is staring at me dubiously. Please don't look at me with those eyes.


"...Leader? You?"

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kajikawa Hikaru, I serve as the leader as well as a bag holder of [Tomorrow of Hope] party. And this one is our newest animal, Hiyoko."

『Pi.』

"Uh, aren't you just doing chores then? Wait, are you telling me that chick is a party member too...?"

"You're telling me. These girls have grown so strong, I barely get any chance to go out and fight lately hahahaha."

""No no no."" 『Pii pii pii.』


Alma, Reina and Hiyoko waved their hands while speaking in unison.
I mean, where is the lie though? You saw what happened here, I left the other members to take care of those beasts for leveling's sake.


"Sorry to say, but you don't look strong at all. How are you the leader?"

"Ah, Hyula-san. He's just hiding his true nature."

"Hikaru is our leader as well as manager because he's the best fit for the roles... Not to say he's not the strongest member in our party however."

"...Hmmm. Hey you. Why don't we have a spar--"


Before Red Axe-san could finish her word, a gush of water sprout up like a volcano from the lone whale body.
The wave created from that shook the whole ship. I was sure a submarine volcano had erupted or something but apparently not.
I sensed overwhelming life force and mana from below the whale body. But it's not the whale's. The scale's on a whole different level.


"W-what is that thing...!?"

"A giant, crab...?"

"...Haa, well I'll be damned...!"


Alma and Reina were dumbfounded, Red Axe-san put on a fearless smile while wiping her cold sweat and locking her sight at the thing that came out of the water sprout.
It's a giant crab. It's nearly twice as big as the whale.
...I'm almost too scared to look at its Status.

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >

Magic Beast: Oceans Gigant Crab

Lv 74

State: Hungry (Extreme)

[Attributes]
HP (Health): 2512/2512
MP (Mana): 1651/1774
SP (Stamina): 68/998

STR (Strength): 1712
ATK (Attack): 1712
DEF (Defense): 2341
AGI (Agility): 878
INT (Intelligence): 612
DEX (Dexterity): 347
PER (Perception): 1200
RES (Resistance): 999
LUK (Luck): 134

[Skills]
Magic Beast Level 8, Martial Arts Level 10, Ultimate Martial Arts Level 7, Shelled Beast Level 8, Claw Arts Level 10, Sharp Claw Arts Level 7

[Master Skills]
Aura Mitigation
Revival Claw



Whao. It's even stronger than the worm we fought on that dungeon's final floor.
Its DEF is stupidly high. Twice as sturdy as Worm in term of numerical value alone.
And then there's the size. You can hit it all you want with your highest powered move, but it's not gonna put a dent unless it's got the scale to match.


"W-we're retreating full speed aheaaaaaad!!"

"Raise Saint Veil's output to maximum! We're done for if that thing caught on to us!"

"Run while it's feeding on that whaaaaaaale!!"


The sailors got into a huge panic after the giant crab's appearance.
The crab is focusing on eating the whale now but I'm not sure if that's quite enough. Doesn't look promising judging from its current Stamina.
It probably won't have enough to fill its stomach even if we throw it the rest of the whales.


"That thing's gonna come to feed on us once it's done with that whale."

"W-we're all gonna die if we can't outrun it!"

"Yea. I'mma bring it down before it's got its stamina back."


Well well, I'm finally getting a chance to use [That].
Dunno if it's gonna work on something that big and sturdy but well, you never know unless you try.
...Gotta be ready to Fast Travel away with everybody if it didn't work.


"...Hee. You put on a wholly new look on your face when it comes down to it eh, nothing like the dainty face earlier. Oh so scary."


I don't wanna hear that from you.


"But I ain't gonna let ya snatch all the glory. Go ahead and take it down before I did if you can!!"


Red Axe-san ran off in the sky using Air Step toward the giant crab. Don't push yourself now.
Well then, guess I can't let her one up me.
...Wonder what's the best way to cook that crab, fufufufu.

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478 To Be Believed or Not

The three guards kept glaring at me and the introduction letter.
Proving that they won't believe me even with a definite identification.

"That's gotta be a fake anyway. Give it to us if not. We'll check it out."

I gave my rejection to that. I mean, I don't trust them either.
There's no guarantee these men will believe what's written anyway.

"Please think about this calmly. With all of you being so jumpy, can you even make a sound judgment? Judging from the way you speak, I can tell none of you is the manager's acquaintance. Even me and my amateur eyes can see you're not in the right mind right now."

"Bastard! Give it a rest already! We don't care if we hafta beat you up, don't you see?"

"The fact that you could readily throw that threat out shows that you're not acting coherently right now, no? Don't you realize that? Are you sure your word comes from a calm mind?"

"Shut up! Just shut your trap! Get the hell away! You're an eyesore! Get lost!"

They must have been quite pent-up to be driven this much due to the attitudes of all the people that came here before me.
Then, the door behind these men opened up and a woman's face peeked out of it.

"You guys! Please don't yell so loud! Who can say how will that affect the grass! This is no time to experiment on that you know!? Go and tend to the seedlings! You can leave your post here. That task is more important!"

"Chief!?", the three yelled at once as they turned around. Looks like these three are just subordinates.

The woman called chief has waist-length wavy blond hair, and a stern tone despite her sleepy-looking droopy eyes which she's using to observe me.

"You three may go to the field now. I'll talk to him."

The woman tied her long hair into a ponytail as she walked up to me.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
"Chief! This guy must be another sham like those arseholes! He must be! You don't have to deal with him!"

That's some hysterical accusation. Wonder how bad it was for them to call those people arseholes?

"Settle down. You've all been working here for a long time now, I don't have to remind you what will happen if you're this high-strung when you get in the field, do I? I'm sure you can control your emotions. Take the reins. Pull yourselves together."

Looks like this Waking Grass is way more delicate than I ever imagined if this chief's word were to be believed.
It also shows how good this site if they can manage to reliably produce and supply the grass.

The three men finally calmed themselves despite still glaring at me. They took a deep breath and straightened themselves up before going away.

"Let's start over. I'm the supervisor of this site. My name is Raie. Welcome, thank you for coming."

"You're quite trusting unlike those three, aren't you. Oops, almost forgot the letter."

If this Raie is really the supervisor, the letter should smooth things over.

"...Hmm, my? ...Fufu, I see, I get it now. Do come on in. Let's start with a field trip. I'll be your guide. Thankfully we're not in a busy period right now."

"Aren't you having issues with many of the grass withering? Are you sure you can do that? Also, am I right to assume Raie-san is the manager's acquaintance?"

"That's right, I suppose he's more like my master? Just like you, I took a liking to Waking Grass tea thanks to him and found my calling by working here."

"No, I'm not his pupil or anything though?"

"Oh why not? Like me, aren't you here because of the impact Waking Grass left on you? Then you're the same as me. This much service is nothing if it means having people like you potentially work on this site in the future."

Chief Raie looked elated after reading the introduction letter and offered to guide me around this Waking Grass's production site.

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Aren't They Enough For This

Bang, bang, sounds of something hitting the ship hard resounded alongside a shaking each time.
The shark magic beasts encircling the ship are hurling themselves at the ship.


"O-oy, things ain't looking hot! The ship's gonna turn full of holes!"

"This ship's underside has been made especially sturdy but it's not gonna last if this keeps up! We gotta fight back!"

"Dear passengers, are any of you of Combat Job!? Please lend us your strength!"


Don't phrase it like you're looking for a doctor.
Aah~, this is becoming quite a ruckus. I suppose it's inevitable when the whole thing looks like a scene in a disaster movie.


"For the time being, wanna try shooting them from a range with magic?"

"...The sea surface is surprisingly far from here. I might not hit."


Alma buffed Stone Bullets by making them spin and shot at the sharks while saying that.
However, just as she predicted, the sharks easily dodged her spell.


"Hm, how about shooting from a window below the deck?"

"That will take too long. I'll get close and finish them quickly."

"Eh? ...O-oy Alma!?"

"Alma-san!?"


Once she confirmed her ranged attacks weren't hitting, Alma suddenly jumped off the deck.
Ah, hey! Hold your horses, Alma-san! Stop! Argh no, I'm too late!
Fighting marine-based magic beasts in the water is way too reckless! These things are all nearly Lv40, you know!? It's suicidal!


"【Grand Blade】."


Alma's black sword turned many times bigger as she fell.
She then kept swinging it around, mowing down several shark beasts in the process.
The problem would come after she splashed down. She's gonna get minced up by the sharks underwater if she does nothing!

I was preparing to rescue Alma with Mana Flight before it came to that.
But then, something odd happened instead.


Once Alma touched down the water surface, she started sprinting like she was on hard ground.


...Wha? Eh, what's going on.
Is she water walking by rapidly alternating taking a step forward with her legs before the other leg sinks down? There ain't no way. What about gravity.

<<Nay. Through the use of Spirit Magic Skill Lv2 [Mini Nymph], Almatina has summoned and commandeered water elemental spirits to keep her from sinking by feeding them mana.>>

...Ah! Right, her Spirit Magic Skill is Lv2 now. The new spirits she can summon are water elemental huh.
I guess that should let her fight like she's on solid ground... I'm not one to speak, but she's really extraordinary.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >

"She's running on the water..."

"I-it's incredible. Had no idea Spirit Magic lets you do that."

"I'm heading off too!"

"Eh, o-oy! But you can't use Spirit Magic!?"

"It's fine!"


What is!? Are you confident in your swimming skill or something? That's still way too reckless against these sea beasts!
Despite my warning, Reina dived down. As expected of a Foolhardy. Jumping before thinking!
...Wait, what is it now? There's board-like gimmicks attached on Reina's soles, when did that happen? What are those things?

<<Those are gear projected by Ninjutsu Skill [Ninja Gear Projection], [Water Spider]. This Ninja gear allows one to slide on water surface, the usage of Mana Control affords an even bigger freedom.>>

...Our party's girls might fit in as women of the sea. Though they're not exactly swimming there.
Both Alma and Reina easily got rid of the shark magic beasts. They're deploying [Extended Mana Blade], [Mana Blade Farslash] as well as offensive spells to eliminate the sharks underwater without issues.
...Am I even needed here? These two are more than enough, aren't they.

<<...The three large magic beasts giving commands from a distance are above Level 50. Presently, Almatina as well as Reinamiure may have a hard time against them.>>

Ah right there's still three big ones left. Those whale like things.
Think they're around 15 meter long? Most attacks aside from Alma's Grand Blade aren't gonna work well on something that gigantic.
But then she'd risk running low on mana like that time with worm and sinking.


...Hm?


"Well dang, those ladies are pretty good. Can't let these younglings do all the work, I'mma take on those big guys!"


Someone spoke next to me.


Looking in the direction, I saw a slightly brawny tall woman with red long wavy hair and healthy-looking tan, staring down the whale magic beasts while shouldering a huge axe.

...When did she get there. I mean, she sure got some incredible mana and life force. She's even stronger than the long blond young man from that Anti-Demon Army unit.
I took a peek at her Status, Lv64. Age 30... Excuse me. Her base Strength alone is above 1100.
Her Agility and Intelligence are less than half, but all other Attributes are nearly at 1000.
What's up with this true blue fighter. She's among the top five strongest humans I've ever come across to.

Her axe has +650 ATK and is enchanted with +400 Agility to complement her weak point.

The woman's name is [Hyumlassa]. Judging from all the magic beasts in her Kill Log, she should be a Rank A adventurer that's about to be promoted to Rank S. I had no idea this woman was among the passengers.


"Here I gooo! Been a while since I last tasted whale meat, can't wait!"


She used a combination of air walking ability [Air Step] and [Quick Step] to zero in on the whales in no time.
She's fast. Can't believe that's just from Quick Step, not Ground Shrink. The Attribute from her equipment may have helped but I'm impressed she managed to move that fast without Mana and Energy Control.

While I was staring in wonder, the whales shot out water sprays, no, water bullets at the red-haired woman.
Not just bullets. There were also laser-like compressed water and blades of water flying toward her. What is this, STG?
Is she gonna be alright. Won't she get shot down?


"Hahahaha! Those ain't nowhere near enough, you blockheads!"


The redhead swung her axe while fearlessly laughing out loud.
The barrage of water got slashed down in just one swing of her axe. My goodness, scary.


"You're first!!"


She spun around as she crashed down on one of the whales.
The whales kept shooting more water her way but all of their attacks got erased by the spinning axe, leaving her unscathed.

One whale got cut in two just like that in the meantime.
She must have expanded her range with Extended Mana Blade the moment her axe hit the whale. No wonder even that big thing got sliced up real nicely.
This woman is incredible. You can really tell she's well adapted to combat with how smoothly and effortlessly she fights. The very picture of a veteran.


"Who's up neeext? Those with a death wish, come at me!"


Scary. She's a battle maniac. Even the whales look like they're faltering.
She should do just fine on her own. Welp, time to collect some shark fins, I mean shark bodies below.

...Huh? Wait, I'm really not needed here, am I? She's more than capable enough by herself.

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477 Cry Inducing

I like the tea, hence why I'm going this far for it.
All I need to do is getting rid of that monster at the tea plantation site and all is right.
Afterward, no more production issues, and the tea should go back to its normal price.
I'm trying to resolve a mess for my own sake for once.

(Feeling thankful for this power only for occasions like this, I'm so selfish.)

Eliminating a monster or two is a simple matter with brute force.
I made my way through the route the store manager taught me.
I got to the gate and surprised the gatekeepers yet again with Second Class Pass like always.
My destination is the Waking Grass's production site. I dashed off in high spirits, in Accelerated state of course.

＝＝　　～～　＝＝　～～

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >

The route ordinarily takes half a day with a carriage at high speed. But for me that distance did not even last a moment.
I got no time to lose. I gotta get the price back to normalcy as soon as possible.
The time I experienced running in Accelerated World was about four hours. And yet the moment I undid Acceleration, not even one second had elapsed in real world. I have zero idea how this power is even supposed to work, let alone housed in a human body.

(Really, what about theory of relativity? Einstein must be rolling in his grave.)

Not just Einstein, this phenomenon would have bewildered any scientists. Simply waving it away as a 'fantasy' is too easy.
Yet, there's no way to decipher this power, so all I can do is leave it be. I simply lack experience and data to get an answer. In fact, I don't really care about getting to the bottom of this power.
I've decided to stop being antsy about it.

I have more important stuff to attend to.
Like these three men who seem to be safe guarding the building where Waking Grass is being produced.
I undid Acceleration and spoke to them.

"Hello, excuse me, is this the production site for Waking Grass?"

"Who the heck are you? No, we're not selling you Waking Grass! How many of you lot are gonna keep coming anyway, dammit! Every single one of you is trying to make a profit buying directly! Fools, the lot of you! We keep telling y'all it's an emergency yet you keep coming back with that dumb face of yours!"

One of the men told me off all of a sudden. Talk about unreasonable. I never uttered the word 'sell'. In fact, I haven't even stated my business. Getting shouted right off the bat, I couldn't react quickly enough to even deny him.

"All of 'em make a fuss cause we won't sell, saying they can pay or whatever! That's what you're gonna tell me next, ain't it!? Huuh!?"

These men must see a lot of people who did exactly that. Doesn't seem like he's willing to even give me an ear.
The other two guards approached thanks to the man's yell.

"You foolishly think you can get Waking Grass for cheap here, don't you? Believing you can make a killing by selling them high at town."

"Oy, you brat! Don't tell me you're here to steal 'em!? Let me tell ya, this tea is nothing more than weed if amateurs plucked 'em. Lots of our Waking Grass withered because of dumbarses like you. These grass are already dwindling as is, we can't have you brats make it worse. Forget jailtime, we're gonna personally send you to the afterlife!"

These guards' reactions tell me all I need to know about the situation here. Things are really bad.
Bad enough to resort to death threat.

"Err, I've come here to visit the production site. Also, I'm thinking of lending a hand if possible."

Apparently it's past the expiration date to get them believe that reasoning.

"We already got one thief who used the same excuse! You must be one of 'em!"

It's clear now they won't believe whatever I say.
These men are too high strung. All the people that came before me must be some serious criminals.
I took the letter of introduction from my magic bag in an attempt to persuade them. But I only showed them, and kept the letter with me.

"This is a letter of introduction written by the manager of 'Aromatic Dream'. His acquaintance is in charge of this site. If he is to be believed, this letter should afford me entry. Does it ring a bell?"

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