Chapter 83: Fishing for Tubifex worms

The procedure to leave the town ended smoothly.

When we dropped by the Adventurers Guild and told them that we were planning to go to the forest to hunt for food supply, we were given preferential treatment during the procedure to leave the town. Incidentally, this approach was also based on Carol’s investigation.

If we wanted to leave the town regularly, we would apparently have to wait for 7 hours.

Probably because the monster herd was coming from the northwest and the valley road in the south was blocked.

Not only were there carriages, there were a lot of people riding on horses as well.

For the time being, we aimed for the forest in the southeast.

It is one of the few forests in Dakyat and is inhabited by many bird-type monsters.

In other words, it would be easy for Marina to practice her Wind Bow.

The forest was about 1 and a half hour walk away so we left Fuyun in the stable and set off on foot.

Along the way, I saw birds flying in the sky and tried asking Marina if she was able to shoot them.

“Easily.”

She said as she readied the bow.

Then, she drew the bowstring, shot a wind arrow and shot another arrow a second later.

The wind arrow flew in a straight line directly towards the bird and just as I thought it would hit the bird squarely, the bird performed a sharp turn and dodged it.

However  — the arrow that was shot a second later collided with the first arrow, changing that arrow’s trajectory and causing it to hit the escaping bird.

” …… Ha?”

I raised an astonished voice.

The bird spun as it fell downwards and crashed onto the ground.

It was already dead.

Haru, Carol and I all gave out astonished voices.

What she displayed was even more amazing than her street performance.

” … Marina, have you shot before?”

“Of course. Something as easy as this is simple for me who have reached the peak of great magic.”

……… Impossible.

Even though just hitting the initial arrow with the arrow she shot after was difficult enough, but to affect the initial arrow so that it will hit the escaping bird, is it really possible?

She has already surpassed the realm of Archery if she is capable of reading the escape direction of the bird.

Furthermore, the only time Marina used the Wind Bow before was yesterday night when she shot towards the sky.

Today should have been her first real practice.

So this is the power of the Street Performer bestowed by the Gods huh?

“Even so, as expected, my level won’t rise huh? Ichino. Next time, I’ll shoot their wings so could you strike the falling birds with magic?

“You can do such a thing too?”

“Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do.”

No, that’s usually impossible.

I also usually proceed with the notion that anything is achievable or can be achieved in the future.

But I don’t feel like I am capable of performing such a feat.

“Regardless of whether it’s Ichino-sama or Marina-san, I am aware of the fact that Lost People (TL: Transferred/reincarnated people) possess unique abilities but I feel like you all are detached from my common sense.”

Carol spoke in a slightly weary tone.

It looks like in Carol’s eyes, she also considers me to be a world-staggering human being similar to Marina.

At that moment — Haru’s tail stood up.

“Master, I smell movements in the earth … I fear that the Tubifex worms are coming up. Let’s evacuate for now.”

“Eh? The Tubifex worms are coming?”

Why is there a need to run?

Indeed, now, my 「Presence Detection」 had caught it.

The presence seemed like it was heading towards the bird that had fallen directly in front of us.

It was slightly away from where we were.

Very well, I’ll bombard it with spells if it appears.

I had that thought.

“Master! I understand master’s strength but we must evacuate this place first!”

However, Haru asked me to escape with an alarmed voice.

Then — a mere few seconds later — ‘that’ appeared.

“It’s like a giant snake.”

Marina muttered.

I also thought so. It felt like it would be angered if we called it an earthworm.

Just the size of the face was 5 meters tall. I could not even come close to comprehending the total length of it.

However, according to my Presence Detection, it’s center was probably within the ground.

Being unable to predict the size of the monster was the bottleneck for the 「Presence Detection」 skill.

It was a gray-coloured instead of a pink-coloured earthworm.

“Why’s that called a Tubifex worm?”

“This area is called the Ferrite Grasslands and in the past, it was called Ferrite Earthworm (Feruito mimizu) but it was apparently shortened to Tubifex worm(Ito mimizu).”

Uwa, the magic of words appeared. (TL: Misunderstandings due to words/language/speech)

” … Tubifex worms cannot see. They are monsters that look for and devour dying prey by detecting the lowering of body temperature.”

So it eats dead monsters and people by perceiving lowering body temperature huh?

“I wonder if I could defeat it by changing to magic-specialized jobs and shooting it with magic.”

“Tubifex worms are monsters that do not eat healthy creatures and enrich the soil so I think that it’s better to leave it this way.”

“Is that so, I see.”

A beneficial insect or rather a beneficial monster huh?

Just as Haru said, after 10 minutes, the Tubifex worm changed direction in the hole and return into the ground. Just as I thought if it would leave behind a large hole, the hole was closed using other soil.

“I understand how it digs but how does it seal the hole?”

“Using it’s excrement.”

Haru quickly finished her sentence. She was pinching her nose.

Excrement huh …. hmm.

It’s true that my sense of smell is not as sensitive as Haru but it was slightly smelly.

Even though the excrement of earthworms should normally be odorless.

“Evacuate! Let’s go to the forest!”

All members agreed to my opinion.