Manowa

Chapter 352 – Encountering a Carriage on the Road That's Being Attacked by Monsters Has Beauty of Style, So Let's Give Up

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After spending the night at Kazane Magic Hot Spring Town (provisional), Kazane and the others took a hot spring bath early in the morning, ate breakfast, then started heading to Trade City Uumin.

The monetary value of the large communal bath's renovation was unclear.

Even if someone in Kazane and the others' original world wanted to make a similar thing with glass processing, it would require advanced technology and a huge amount of money.
A reasonable level of glassmaking technology existed in this world, but building such a building wasn't possible, and Crystallization was a characteristic Skill that only a small fraction of monsters like Crystal Dragons could use.
In other words, the crystal open air bath was a building that would normally be impossible to build.

On top of that, Kazane had also used several technologies copied from their original world, so unfortunately, Makka couldn't possibly transfer enough money to cover the cost at the present point.
In Louise's estimation, it was at a level where the construction costs for the entire city would surely disappear, causing an impasse that was putting the cart before the horse.
Makka's intention was to give money to the source owner for now, since she had yet to sign a contract, but the situation had far exceeded her expectations.
In other words, one of the things that Maberit, the court architect and muscular Dark Elf woman in Hyvern Dukedom, was concerned about had occurred.

Though in the first place, the large public bath was built by Kazane; in short, she was the owner.
Also, considering that Kazane was currently the feudal lord, it could be said that she had simply renovated her own property, but at the same time, it was also the moment where Kazane's position as feudal lord, which had originally been temporary so they could borrow her name, became unshakeable.

Kazane was now in a position like she had impounded the entire city, which owed her a debt that couldn't be repaid.
Therefore, it would be very troublesome if she gave up the feudal lord position, as there was no way any other aristocrat would want a city that was in so much debt.

To be conscientious about it, Makka summoned an appraiser from the Guild to measure its value, so it shouldn't be long before that fact was confirmed.

In this way, Kazane won again.
In some way.

◎ Lindo Kingdom, Uumin Highway

And Kazane, who had suddenly obtained Kazane Magic Hot Spring Town (provisional) at a level that was hopeless to wrangle out of, continued her journey without really understanding such circumstances.
As for money, for now, Kazane had received the maximum amount of money that Makka had expected, so she was beaming happily.

「I don't smell sea water.」

「Because we're still inland.」

Kazane muttered while looking outside, and Jinrai in the coachman's seat so replied.
While Lindo Kingdom was a maritime nation, they had only just crossed the border with Minshiana, so they were still in a mountainous area rather than near the sea.

「Talking about seas, Tsuvara also has a coastline.」

「Can people swim in that sea?」

「Yes.
There's also a private beach for the royal family.
Salt yakisoubaa, which can only be eaten in that area, is delicious.」

(Salt yakisoubaa… shio yakisoba?)

Kazane instantly saw through the identity of familiar-sounding food.
She had keen insight.

「Kazane, I wonder why it's pronounced strangely like that?」

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Yumika said from the side.
Yumika also had keen insight.
There was a special bargain sale for keen insight.

「Probably because such a development is expected, right? I feel like Tatsuyoshi-kun might have thought it up.」

「Well, with that physique, he seems like he'd be fond of that kind of junk.」

The image of a sweating Tatsuyoshi wearing swim trunks and a straw hat while frying shio yakisoba on an iron plate passed through Kazane's head.

(Ah, that might suit him)

Kazane became a little solemn after thinking about that, but she suddenly sensed something with『Dog's Sense of Smell』.

「Hmm? Jinrai-san, something's happening ahead.」

「Mm.
Like that over there that just came into sight?」

At the moment, Hippomaru-kun was running at 80km/h.
They could see the scene in front of them at almost the same time that Kazane smelled it.

「What is that?」

Yumika opened her eyes wide as she looked ahead and asked that.
She could see something, but it was still far away.

「It's a battle.
Looks like a caravan.
It has escorts, but they're at a disadvantage…nn?」

「What is it?」

After Tiara asked that, Kazane said「No, later」and gave instructions to Jinrai.

「The opponents are Land Octopuses.
There are about 70.
Half of the escorts are already dead.」

The tone of Kazane's voice lowered.

「Again? This has been frequent recently.」

Jinrai tutted.
Kazane and the others had certainly often encountered groups of monsters up until now, but it seemed that didn't just apply to Kazane's group.
They heard at places like the Adventurers Guild that such a tendency seemed to be getting stronger just of late.
In addition, the cause was that the magical power river flowing in the sky was being stimulated…… at least, that's what they said, but it seemed the truth was still unclear.

「There's still a group gathered in the back.
This isn't a situation where we can hold back, so let's blow them away with『Crawling Lightning』.
Me, the Flame Power, and the Lightning Sphere will go first.」

After Kazane's words, Tiara and Louise started summoning.

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「And after『Crawling Lightning』has attacked, Tatsuo will rout any enemies that approach the carriage.
After that, Louise-san and I will start treating the injured.
Everyone else, counterattack while prioritizing the defense of the caravan.
Please take care of us!」

Kazane's words were answered by all the members of the party, and their intervention in the battle began.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Slightly before Kazane and the others discovered the battle between the monsters and the caravan.

「Fuhiiiiiii」

The merchant Moldoa Reiban, the organizer of the caravan, was trembling with fear at the sudden attack.
As a merchant, he had experienced monster attacks during caravan travel several times.
Even just recently, he encountered Ogres who ran away after the turmoil at Winlard City, but this time felt even more dangerous.

Currently, Moldoa and the other were on their way back to Uumin City after going to Winlard City.
However, on the way back, there was a sudden attack by monsters.

(Tho, those are…
Land Octopuses, aren't they? Why are so many in a place like this?!)

Moldoa was astonished by the sight before his eyes.
That probably couldn't be helped.
Currently in front of Moldoa and the others were monsters called Land Octopuses.
They were ugly creatures that lived on land and moved with eight limp legs.

Weapons didn't work well on their flexible bodies, and they were dangerous monsters; even a single one was quite capable of turning the tables on novice adventurers.

For their peculiar features, in addition to their eight freely moving legs, Land Octopuses had camouflage to blend into the surrounding scenery and superhuman strength beyond their appearance.
And the fact that they were known to act in groups made them even more troublesome.

Dozens of them were now surrounding the caravan.
It seemed the monsters had been lying in wait to ambush while camouflaged like the ground.

By all rights, since highways were installed with stones called Tormana Stones that monsters loathed, there should be almost no monsters lying in wait to ambush near a highway.
However, due to the drastic change of Mortal Monkey territory several months ago, the habitat distribution of the monsters in the depths of the forest had changed, and it seemed that recently, many monsters would appear on the road like this.
Moldoa's group were unluckily on the receiving end of one such change.

「Damn it, I'm paying you guys.
Do something about this, adventurers!」

After Moldoa yelled that, the adventurers shouted back「We are!」but they were outnumbered.
The caravan had hired two parties with 11 escort adventurers in total, but that number had already fallen to seven.

「Gu…
Gyaa!」

Together with that scream, an unpleasant crack was heard, and one of the adventurers collapsed with his neck still wrapped by a tentacle.
Seeing that, Moldoa screamed.

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「Damn, we won't last much longer, Leader.」

「It can't be helped.
I'll use that.
Cover me!」

With a sidelong glance at Moldoa as he screamed and fainted, the man called Leader, Zacks of the party『Zacks Raven』, gave an order.
Then he stepped back and took a bottle of black liquid out of his Mysterious Bag.

(I don't want to rely on this, but…)

It was a liquid with an ominous air.
As a matter of fact, he'd heard that there were various side effects.
But right now, he had no choice but to use it to live.
So resolving himself, Zacks drained the『Black Potion』in one gulp.

「Ku, oooooooooh!!」

Then Zacks shouted.
It was like an intensely burning black flame was racing through his entire body.
And he understood that his arm was changing.
That probably made them feel a sense of danger from Zacks; two Land Octopuses jumped over the adventurers towards Zacks.

「Nuisancesss!」

However, Zacks forcibly swung his sword horizontally and mowed them down.
His arm was dyed black, and the blade of the sword he was holding had a black aura.
And unlike before, Zacks' sword killed two Land Octopus with a single blow.

「As expected of Leader!」

One of the adventurers cheered.
Zacks smiled in response and said the standard line「Let's go, guys!」as he went to counterattack.

The power of the Black Potion was tremendous.
The first sword slash was already overkill, but his leg strength had increased, and he could clearly see the enemies' attacks.
In the blink of an eye, he succeeded in killing five other Land Octopuses.

「Hah, hah!」

Zacks roughly caught his breath.
Then, with a loud scream to rouse his fighting spirit, he killed one more.
But alas, the difference in numbers could not be broken just because a single person improved his strength.
Even with Zacks' strenuous effort, the situation improved only slightly.

(Damn, it's useless? We were able to push them back a little, but even that was immediately ruined.
At this rate, won't we be in the belly of those monsters within a few minutes?)

So thinking, Zacks looked back at the caravan.
The situation was already decided.
Thinking that in that case, sticking around to get annihilated was meaningless, the idea of using the caravan as a decoy to try and escape crossed his mind.

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Certainly, the contract would be broken, but it was a matter of life.
They were escorting for money, and with the situation already over, throwing away himself and his companions to protect the caravan was meaningless.

(I wish there were slaves that could be used as decoys.)

He was a little uneasy about only having the merchants as bait, but just when Zacks decided that there was no choice but to give the order to retreat, he heard it.

He heard thunder echoing from the direction of Minshiana.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King, Liberator

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 38

Health: 152+20

Magic Power: 340+520

Strength: 72+45

Agility: 78+39

Endurance: 43+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 51

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』『Rabbit Speed』『Flare Mirage』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King's Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv2』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey's Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』

Yumika:「La, Land Octopus?」

Kazane:「Yep, octopus.
I wonder if they can be eaten?」