194 - - face of a quagmire

"So, today's distribution of the mud-silver mine..."

The sun had set and the hut was filled with a relaxed after-dinner atmosphere.

The shieldmen, having finished their day's work and shed their thick armor, take chairs by the window, each quietly smoking a pipe.

Sora and Moo, who had been seared with a large pine cone, worked hard like squirrels to peel the berries from the pine needles.

They hand them to Chita, who breaks the shells.

Thor and Yuril are tasting the remaining wine and listening to the details of the story from Chiru.

"How about two here and three there?"

No, that's too much for us. One bag is more than enough.

Even with the help of Moe, who showed them exactly where the mud-silver ore was buried, the majority of the heavy work, such as lifting the mud with the rock piles and carrying the spent mud to the edge of the deposit, was done by Chiru and his team.

In terms of the amount of labor involved, even one large sack is a lot.

"Digging for silver is more work than finding the ore. Consider it a fair share. Besides, this is also a calculation with high hopes."

"Is it still essential to have true silver equipment?"

"If you want to fight corrosive poisons, you have to choose between snakeskin and silver."

There was a strong light in Chiru's eyes as he said it with an open mind.

Thor scratches the bottom of his chin a little and looks back into the eyes that remind him of a bird of prey.

Then he asked a question that had just occurred to him.

"By the way, I didn't see anything today, are buried trees still hard to find?"

"No, you can't dig out buried trees."

"Is that so?"

From the name, it seems certain that it is buried in mud, but apparently not deep enough.

It seems to be so deep in the swamp that it would be extremely difficult to dig it out.

"Then how do we get it?"

"That's what we do, we take it from them. After that."

Chill's sharp gaze moves out the window.

Beyond the lights of the deceiving fire, which flitted about like fireflies, a group of large figures were standing around.

Thor is reminded once again of the other use for the club in his long hand.

"Is that what all this is about?"

"Yes, the spoils of my predecessors."

Chiru taps his toe on the floorboard with a faint smile on the corner of his lips as Thor looks around the hut made of buried wood.

Then he lightly raised the sake cup in his hand.

"No wonder there are only three encampments. One encampment a year is not enough time to build a new one.

"Once a year. Is that what the chatterbox told you?"

When Thor nodded, Chiru frowned exaggeratedly and shook his fist down hard on the table.

He stops just in time to see his sister and Sora and the others happily piling up nuts on the other side of the table.

"......, you've got to be kidding me."

"You said you couldn't afford the manpower, is there any other reason?"

"Their place has the most people. How dare you say they don't have enough!"

Chiru answered as if he was going to throw up, but then, perhaps realizing that he had caught the attention of the people around him, he took a deep breath and regained his calm demeanor.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help but think of the face of that guy who is so carefree with his pretense.

"You dare to say that the Balconians are not cooperating in defeating the Titans?"

"At the moment, the red-tails are the closest to the heroes. Yes, they really don't want more people to go to jail.

Only eight adventurers of the vigorous class are allowed to challenge the abandoned underground prison, a fixed dungeon that leads to a large maze.

It is the exclusive domain of the "Platinum Flame" led by Stratchia.

However, if the number of qualified adventurers is increased by defeating the mud-poison giants, their advantage will be destroyed.

In order to prevent this, they have been refusing to cooperate with us, apparently for some deliberate reason.

However, if they are too reluctant to advance in rank, their adventurer status will be revoked.

The condition for maintaining the status is to participate in the annual slaying of the giants.

Incidentally, last year's promotion was made by Kugase, and the year before last and three years ago by the twins of the Purple-Eyed Tribe, respectively.

Ram Merulla and Licori were A-ranked in Bossalia, so they were certified as Vajrayana.

"I see, so that's how it is."

"But that was only until last month. Thanks to you, this place is a complete mess.

"What do you mean?"

At Thor's question, Chiru turns her attention to her sister Chita for a moment.

Then she slightly lowered her voice.

"You used a relic to seal the ant holes in Bossalia, didn't you? Chita told me."

There is no doubt that Stratchia almost became a human torch to seal the great miasma hole deep underground in Bossalia.

Not knowing how this was connected to the swamp story, Thor silently waited for the rest of the story.

Chiru, however, broke off at that point.

He quietly sipped his sake cup and waited for a response.

Yuril, who usually seems to know what is going on and casually tells me what is going on, just tilts his head as if he is troubled.

The man of the Midoriwa tribe, who had been silently glaring at us with needle-like eyes, nodded his head deeply, as if he sensed something in the state of Thor and the others.

"...... you really don't seem to know."

"It would be great if you could tell us."

"It's interesting that only the parties involved are out of the loop, but that's OK. You know that the border town is named after a hero.

The Boundary City, of which Dadaan is the mayor, is called Dadaan's City.

It is a token of recognition of his rule over the land as a reward for conquering the labyrinth and sealing the great miasma.

"But why is only one named?　Where have all the names of those who fought with us disappeared?"

"I guess you could say that."

"The answer is simple. The person who used the relic to seal the noxious gas hole is the one who is the true hero.

"I see. ....... So..."

The "lamp of greed-eaters" used by Straccia was said to have been cultivated for years in the Temple of Liberation.

I guess they can't provide replacements like that.

This means that the opportunity has come for the relics to be raised by other temples.

At the same time, Thor realized the true reason for the enthusiastic reception he had received here.

"Because me and Sola have no way to seal the miasma..."

Yes. As far as I know, there is no border town named after a Central Chinese."

"I am surprised. I didn't know that was the case."

Euril's ear tips stand up in surprise, but it is obvious that his behavior is different from what he has said and done in the past.

Admiring his unexpected acting skill, Thor puts Chiru's story in perspective.

"Until now, the number of times we had to exterminate Titans had been limited by the Balconians, who didn't want to increase the number of Kongo class members, but I guess that situation has changed.

"As for the talkers, they probably want to buy time at all costs now. That's why they don't want our heroes to go anywhere else. The same is probably true for the sororgum. They've already sent two of their own beast eyes. For now, I would say that they are the closest to the heroes.

"That would be ......."

"Well, here's a suggestion. I'm not going to stand here and watch you ruffle your feathers. What do you say?　Why don't you team up with us and slay the giants?"

That's your main point? What are the odds?

We have seven men. You have three, maybe four, eleven. I'd say it's a tough call.

When Thor furrowed his brow, Chiru continued to speak as if to raise his spirits.

"But, Hero, the way you fought. With that strange technique, I don't think it's too much to ask.

"Maybe he's just buying it."

"I don't mind a man with a good sense of humility. The distribution of the proof of our defeat of the Titans..."

Once there, Chiru drains his cup and exhales slowly.

"How about alternating between this one and that one?"

"I think the numbers don't match."

Four is enough. If we add Chita, there will be exactly five of us.

It was the most tempting offer ever.

But Thor, who had also emptied his cup, quietly shook his head.

"I can't give you an answer right away. Give me some time to think about it."

In his mind's eye, he saw the red-haired maiden who had ordered him to wash his head.

As far as promises go, that one comes first.

"Well, a prudent man is not so bad. I expect a good answer."

Chiru said this happily, but there was not a trace of a smile in his hawk-like eyes.

The next morning, Chita, looking up at the cloudy sky, tugged at the cord hanging from the roof.

The green flag that lifted up with a gentle tug seemed to signal that fog would appear from noon onward.

It seems that the encampment of the Storm Peak Alliance, located near the center of this swamp, uses to detect the occurrence of miasma before it occurs, and then notifies other encampments with flags.

In return, they receive snake skins and spider silk.

The plan was to stay one more day, but the fog made it impossible to move.

Thor and the others thanked them politely and left the encampment of the Storm Peak Alliance after breakfast.

For some reason, Chita was with them.

According to our conversation, it is usual for them to take the flying dragon to the entrance of the swamp and then return home for the day.

But this time, since Thor and his friends were coming, they stayed overnight at the encampment.

We leave the swamp before noon and arrive at the fortress ruins without incident.

We saw a huge shadow crouching at a considerable distance from Garudo's wagon, which had already arrived.

I hear it lift its head and sniff its nose, as if it had noticed Chita's presence.

The rider nodded happily, but then suddenly turned around and spoke to us in his usual slow, drawn-out manner.

"Well, you know... My brother said a lot of things, and they are all true, but not all..."

To Thor, who was puzzled by the sudden talk, the rider became a little serious and held out his hand to the flying dragon in the distance.

Then he asked me a question as if it was nothing.

Do you really want to see it?