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Volume 3 Chapter 22

Half a year later (A year since parting with the dukes family.)

Half a year has pa.s.sed since subjugating the elder treant. Since then the seasons have changed, and now, the weather has gotten warm.

During this time, Gimuru has greatly changed, and has become more bustling than ever. This change was brought about by the opening of the previously mentioned new town and arena. As a result, workers coming in from other cities have increased, and the various different guilds have been buzzing with work.

But such things mattered little to me, and instead Ive been focusing on raising my rank and furthering my training.

Looks like another job done. [Ryouma]

Im currently a months distance away from Gimuru in Mt. Surure, exterminating the nest of a magical beast known as karifu monkey. The karifu monkey has an inclination to mob and run away to trees when attacked, making it a troublesome opponent.

But with this, my training has finally reached a place where I only need to put in a little more effort before I can finally rest. As a part of that, Ive been promoted to D Rank, and after this request, Ill be a C Rank.

I stored the corpses of the karifu monkeys into my Dimension Home. Then I cut off their right ears as trophy to serve as proof of the jobs success. As for the rest of the corpses, I fed it to my slimes.

The slimes feasted on the karifu monkeys, and when the b.l.o.o.d.y slimes wanted to split, I let them, and then I contracted them. Ive been hunting a lot lately, so the b.l.o.o.d.y slimes now number four.

After that, I rested for a bit, and then I descended the mountain. Theres a cliff until the foot of the mountain, but itd take too long to use a different route. So I climbed straight down the cliff instead.

Rock Climbing [Ryouma]

I activated my original earth magic, Rock Climbing.

Thanks to this past year of training my Magic Manipulation, Im now able to wrap my limbs in magic power to use Create Block to create footholds for my limbs, allowing me to climb up and down cliffs such as these.

This technique of wrapping ones limbs in magic power to use techniques is known as magic battle technique. This battle technique was originally used with offensive magic, but its now an obsolete ability.

Magic battle technique requires a high level of Magic Manipulation to use. Moreover, with the invention of the magic weapons that allows its wielders to demonstrate a similar effect to that of battle techniques without any training, the people practicing the technique greatly fell. And eventually, people forgot about it.

But its not just that though, as theres also the danger in using it that caused it to become obsolete. Magic battle technique is an extremely delicate skill. Every pract.i.tioner must take care not to lose his focus. Otherwise, if a hole is perforated through the film of magic power due to lack of concentration, then the pract.i.tioner will get hurt. If his limbs are clad in fire magic, then hell find himself burned. If electricity, then hell get electrocuted.

I thought up this skill when I remembered a light novel from my previous life. I tried that out during practice, and I was able to somehow form a shape. After practicing for a while, I managed to resurrect a forgotten technique.

Eventually Id love to be able to pull this off alongside Qigong, but for now its impossible. Its certainly difficult to fire off magic while controlling ki, but its definitely not impossible. So for now, Ill make it my goal to be able to cast magic while using qigong.

Magic battle techniques are really quite useful though. Not only can I wrap it around my limbs, but even around my weapons. And with this, I have more tools to deal with the undead than ever.

I thought those things to myself as I descended Mt. Surure. When I reached the foot of the mountain, I went to the nearest town, and reported my success to the guild there.

Ive finished this request. Please confirm. [Ryouma]

I handed a sack full of karifu monkey ears to the guild counter.

Understood Ive confirmed it. With this the requests conditions have been fulfilled. Amazing, to actually be able to kill off over 80 karifu monkeys by yourself. Theres been a lot of them lately, so even D Rank parties couldnt subjugate them all. Thank you for taking care of it.

Moreover, due to having fulfilled the promotion conditions for C Rank with the completion of this request; Takebayas.h.i.+-sama, from now on, you are a C Rank Adventurer. [Guild Receptionist]

After receiving my reward and C Rank guild card, I thanked the receptionist, and left the guild.

Then I headed for the countrys westernmost city, Teressa.

Im feeling good after completing the karifu monkey request, and getting promoted, so Im just dropping by there to have a little bit of fun. But my main objective this time is to go the maze known as the Town of Departed Spirits. Its what you would call a dungeon.

In this world, there are three kinds of dungeon. The man-made, the G.o.d-made, and the magic-made. Each of these dungeons have their own respective features.

The man-made dungeons are, as the name implies, made by men. A relic of history. There are also those that were constructed by adventurers and soldiers for the sake of training. There are, however, few cases where people came out rich from these type of dungeons.

The G.o.d-made dungeons are also similar in that as the name implies they are made by G.o.ds. Theres nothing in this world that could threaten the destruction of the world, but when there is a threat that the humans cant contest or something that threatens humanitys extinction, Gayn would create a dungeon such as this to serve as mans relief. The people who step into this dungeon can find in it divine armaments or great power. Then with the help of that power, humanity can fight off the threat.

But on top of that, the G.o.d-made dungeons only appear in dangerous situations. It also disappears after being explored once, so finding one is a rare privilege.

The last one, the magic-made dungeons. Unlike the other dungeons, these ones arent made by any person in particular, but rather, are a natural occurrence after magic power naturally acc.u.mulates in one area. There are plenty of magical beasts within these dungeons. And although it is the most dangerous type, it is also the most profitable large magic jewels and magic ores can be collected from here.

The dungeon I will be going to this time around, the Town of Departed Spirits, is a naturally formed dungeon by magic. A magic-made dungeon so to speak. As the name implies, its inhabited by zombies, skeletons, races with no actual body, and lots of undead-type magical beasts. Its supposedly the execution site of criminals in the past.

Once I arrive, Im gonna go ahead and defeat a bunch of undead-type magical beasts. Then along the way, Im going to pick up an herb known as Everlasting Darkness. This herb is needed in order to concoct an insect repellant that could keep the leech and other pests living in the Great Forest of Shurus. After I concoct that insect repellant, Ill have completed my preparations to go into the forest.

It sure feels great knowing that Im almost done with my preparations In all sorts of ways In all sorts

My training has progressed quite favorably, but there were also a lot of things that happened before my coming fight. It might be because of those things that I started acquiring new skills. For example, from the time I started learning that magic battle technique I used a while ago, Ive learned Elixir Concoction, Construction Magic, Chantless Casting, Torture, a.s.sa.s.sination, Cursed Song, The Power of Life or Death As for why I learned skills like this, well

Elixir Concoction is probably because I was mixing my potion making with my alchemy when I was making medicine for my medicine slimes.

I investigated a bit after that, and I found out that there are times when either a new skill, a synthesized skill, or a transformed skill/magic could be made after fulfilling some conditions. When a synthesized skill has been made, it will show up in the status board.

The construction magic is the magic that I used to build my store. The Create Block, Pavement, Circle Saw etc. And according to the magic G.o.d, Fer Noevir, the four magic types: architecture, molding, woodworking, and painting are included there.

Chantless Casting is, as the name implies, the ability to cast spell without chanting anything. I learned this thanks to the rimel birds and the wind slimes.

The rimel birds cant talk, and the slimes dont even have vocal chords. So why are they able to use magic? When I thought that to myself, I started researching in order to find an answer. And from my research, I discovered that as long as one has the right image, attribute, and enough magic power, then its possible to cast magic without any chants.

When I tried it out at first, the magic casted was weaker than the ones casted with chants. But after continued practice with the rimel bird and wind slimes as a model, I eventually managed to cast low-level elementary magic without any decrease in its power.

Now, about the 'Torture' skill. Once upon a time, while I was walking by myself in the mountains, some bandits came out, and tried to kidnap me. They probably thought Id be easy pickings since I look eleven on the outside Although Im actually already twelve.

Anyway, I managed to beat them up, and one of the bandits let slip that they were planning to kidnap me. From that I deduced that they had already kidnapped some other children.

So I went ahead and asked them where their hideout was, but they wouldnt talk. Because of that, I had no choice but to hurt them while using healing magic until I managed to make them T-A-L-K. It was then that I learned the Torture skill.

I headed to the hideout of the bandits afterwards, and after a bit of work, I learned a.s.sa.s.sination. I went back to Gimuru, and I asked Fei-san and Li Ling-san about it, and apparently, the a.s.sa.s.sination skill is something that can be learned after having learned Covert Arts, Hidden Weapons, Short Sword Arts, Fundoujutsu, and Throwing Arts.

But I already had those skills since way before, so why didnt it activate? Apparently I was missing the last piece of the puzzle, experience in a.s.sa.s.sinating a human. Of course, not just once or twice too.

Ive dealt with magical beasts plenty of times, but Ive never had much experience with human opponents. But all that changed when I started travelling, and started beating up lots of bandits.

And then during that time when I had to save the children, well it was important, so I let the slimes go wild outside the bandits hideout, while I had the earth slimes dig a tunnel under the ground with earth magic. Then I sneaked through that tunnel, and rescued the kids. After which, I b.u.mped into the bandit boss by chance, so I captured him, and got rid of his followers. Thats probably the reason why I acquired this skill.

Li Ling-san and Fei-san congratulated me after I finished telling my story. Now, the boss is finally a first rate a.s.sa.s.sin, they said. Apparently, getting experience as an a.s.sa.s.sin is proof of being a first rate a.s.sa.s.sin, and is something worth celebrating.

As for the kids I saved, they were taken in by the nearest village. The bandit boss fessed up where they were selling the children, so I spared his life, and handed him over to the guards of a big town along with the information. A few days later, I heard that the guards managed to also catch the illegal slave merchant that was buying the slaves.

Next is the Cursed Song skill. The Cursed Song is the resulting skill from the synthetization of musical performance (instrument) and singing, brought about by dark magic and Chantless Casting. When I saw the nightmare rimel bird, Einz, attack mentally with its cries, I thought to try singing a gloomy song from my previous life while casting Depression, a powerful magic that causes fear and anxiety, without chanting.

The bandits who heard my song were all affected. Depression was originally supposed to be a target spell, unable to hit more than one target at the same time, yet somehow it affected everyone.

So I investigated a bit, and I found out that I had lost the skills musical performance (instrument) and singing, and had gained the skill Cursed Song.

Next is The Power of Life or Death skill. I have no idea why its name is so exaggerated, I just held back. Thats all really. I just captured some bandits alive to get information from, and then during my free time, I went to the church in Gimuru and trained with the kids, and then all of the sudden I learned this skill.

Im happy to see that Ive learned a new skill, so of course Im not mad. But couldnt it have been worded in a more peaceful manner? [Ryouma]

There are a lot of things to think about, but Ive definitely learned a lot within this past year. Dont misunderstand though, training wasnt the only thing Ive done.

Just a few days ago, our branch stores increased by three. If you include the one in Renauph, there are now four branch stores. Karla-san left the three stores under the care of Caulkins-san, Tony-san, and Robelia-san.

I talked to Karla-san about them, and surprisingly, it turned out that Caulkins-san was actually the best when it came to handling money. We were worried about him because we heard that he once lost all of his money, but from the looks of things, that failure has actually turned him for the better. And now, hes not only good at management, but also really devoted when it comes to handling money.

Now, as for the last store, I left it to a man I was introduced to by Serge-san. His name is Falzen. Ive met him several times before, but most likely because of his travels, his skins tanned. And despite being Serge-sans age, he looks much older. He used to be a peddler, but because of his wounds he couldnt continue, and so he dropped by Serges for help.

As a slave magic pract.i.tioner, he had his slave demons pull his cart as he would travel to dangerous regions crawling with magical beasts with his group to sell his goods. But as bad luck would have it, his group was attacked by a herd of magical beasts. Then immediately after, they were attacked by a group of bandits. Falzen-san and his slave demons were greatly fatigued from the ceaseless fighting, yet somehow someway they managed to repel the bandits. At the last moment, however, one of the bandits nocked an arrow as revenge, and poor Falzen took an arrow to the knee.

Reminds me of a certain guard, I thought. But I guess stuff like that is common occurrence in this world. And even the man himself said that hes lucky just to keep his life.

With a long history of trade and slave magic under his belt, Falzen-san is no doubt one of the best employees I could ask for.

Also, since he went out of business, a part of his guards that escorted his group also went out of business. And just like him, they dropped by the town in search of a new job. When I heard that, I quickly went out to look for them. And after much discussion, I was able to hire them too.

During their series of unfortunate mishaps, the merchant group that Falzen-san traveled with, suffered a considerable amount of casualty, leading to a reduction in the carts within the group. With the number of people and carts to be escorted, reduced. The group decided to let go of some of the guards.

I a.s.signed half of the newly employed guards to Falzen-sans shop. The other half I sent over to Caulkins-san. When I later got back to the Gimuru, I contacted the different branches to see how they were doing. And fortunately, they were all doing well.

After thats just various stuff. In general, when Im in Gimuru, Im resting. When Im out, Im either working or training. During my travels I would focus in my training, and when Im in Gimuru, I would hang around the town, and talk with the people. I would also spend my days researching as my hobby.

As a result, I started to take requests from Gimuru less and less But some time later, I realized that amongst the adventurers that I would meet in the town, there are some who would refer to me as Cleaner. Moreover, theyve been increasing.

After I asked about it, it turned out that it was the nickname of a peculiar adventurer with abilities that put him above the rest. News of such an aspiring newcomer has even made its way to the nearby towns.

They got the name cleaner from that time when I cleaned the latrine pits. From that time when I cleaned up all those ruffians when I opened my store. From my recent actions when I would frequently deal with the bandits on the road, arresting them, and handing them to the guards. And from the fact that whenever I would hunt monsters, the only thing that would be left are the trophies (as evidence that I finished the mission) and the parts that can sell. But for everything else, nothing. Not even the bones would remain.

I was a bit embarra.s.sed when I first heard it, but lately, Ive gotten used to it. Well, like this, I feel like I can continue with my training smoothly. The slimes are doing great too. Yeah, lets keep going like this from now on.

... Alright, now lets speed up our pace so we can get to Teressa faster!