CH 92

Chapter 92 – Preparation And Special Training

“And so, it seems that the leader of this place has been removed from his position as Archbishop and the position of Governor of the Merinard Kingdom.”

“And a saint has been appointed to take his place-nanodesu.”

“Temporary.”

“I see.”

Lime passes on the information she has gathered to Beth and Poizo, who in turn pass it on to me. The reason why Lime leaves the reporting to the two of them is because she is aware of her own poor language skills.

“She is the smartest person in all of us, you know.”

“Lime is always controlling a far greater number of duplicates at the same time than we are-nodesu.”

“Maybe she’s multitasking too much and causing a processing error…”

“Processing error?”

Lime tilted her head at the unfamiliar word. It’s cute.

“Anyway, today’s MVP is Lime.”

“Reward.”

“Reward? Reward, huh? Then if there’s anything I can do, I will do it.”

“Would you like me to be your bed today?”

“Eeh? It’s fine with me, but…”

“It can’t be helped.”

“It can’t be helped-nodesu.”

“Yay!”

Lime bounces happily on the spot. The water bag on her chest also bounces. Kuh, I won’t lose, I won’t lose to it. No, it’s impossible to win. My eyes are drawn to it… I’m so weak.

That night, as expected, I went to bed with my entire body wrapped around Lime, which had increased in volume.

“Um, Lime-san? That’s the delicate part… Wait, hey, you can’t; I said you couldn’t.”

“We’re doing this every night, though?”

“Every night?”

I was shocked by the revelation.

“You usually fall asleep right away, don’t you, Kosuke?”

“How can I sleep with all this going on… Poizo-san?”

“Pyu, pyupyu… nanodesu.”

In the direction of the poorly whistling Poizo comes the cool, refreshing smell that I always smell before going to bed. I always fall right asleep when I smell that because it’s so comforting! So that’s it!

“Kosuke.”

Beth comes up to me with an expression that says, “It can’t be helped.” That’s the kind of look that comes from someone who’s willing to help!

“Be-Beth!”

“Sometimes, you just have to give up.”

“Nooo!”

There are three slime girls around me that I don’t think I could beat even if I stood up straight. And I’m naked and already taken in.

There is nothing I could do about it.

☆★☆

It’s been a week since the shocking night. A week has passed since the slime girls stopped playing tricks on me as if they had learned from that incident. I was protected by them… It’s been a week since I made a shelf in my mind that give and take are important.

I have not been playing around this week. I’ve been making various things that I’ll need, consulting with the girls at times, and working with them to prepare. Yes, I’ve been preparing for the escape.

“Do you have your equipment ready-nodesu?”

“Yes. Everything is in order.”

The swamp iron ore in the sewage tank has done an excellent job. Aside from the quantity, it was a blessing for me that it was a low-quality ore with many different metals mixed in.

It may not be used for normal blacksmithing work, but with my ability, I can extract multiple kinds of mixed metals individually. Iron, copper, silver, gold, lead, zinc, and many others. Some of them I have no use for right now, though. And unfortunately, there was no mithril in the mix. If there was even a little mithril in the mix, I could have alloyed it with copper to make a golem core for communication.

“I wonder if there’s any mithril anywhere. I just need a little bit.”

“It’s difficult. Mithril is a very precious commodity.”

“Maybe in the treasury here?”

“It’s already been looted and taken away by the Holy Kingdom.”

“I will never forgive the Holy Kingdom.”

“Yes, unforgivable.”

This is the one that haunts me when I get here. I asked the slime girls if I could substitute it with another metal, and they told me that mithril was an essential ingredient in the making of high-performance magic tools. Beth, who knows a lot about magic, said that if you want to make a magic tool with the performance I mentioned, you won’t be able to substitute it with any other metal.

So, in order to get in touch with Sylphy and the others, I had to go into the city and get some kind of mithril product. Since I didn’t need that much mithril, I decided that a mithril ring, just a ring without any magic, like an engagement ring or wedding ring, would be good.

Mithril products are very expensive, but it seems that mithril rings are widely available, as they are not so difficult to process. They are often used for engagement rings for noblemen.

Another thing I can think of is the Cross of Light, which is an Adelian talisman, or rather symbol. It’s not a cross, but a disembodied cross, if I may say so. It is the symbol of the Adel religion. As the name suggests, it is supposed to symbolize the light brought by the main god Adel.

This symbol is also available in the cheapest iron, the most common silver, the most expensive gold, and the highest grade mithril. These are sold in Adelian church facilities.

“I wouldn’t want to get too close to it.”

“But it is guaranteed-nodesu.”

“You’ll have to pay a lot of money for it.”

“Required money?”

“Well, there’s plenty of fake empire currency available.”

Beth had procured some real empire currency for me a few days ago, and I had used the gold and silver I had on hand to forge something that looked exactly the same.

The imperial currency is a very simple bar-shaped metal coin that looks a bit like a large mahjong dotted piece. However, since it is made of gold and silver, it is very heavy. There are several types of gold and silver coins depending on their weight, and the weight of the coin is visually represented by the hole drilled in the coin.

Five bars of gold with one hole and one bar of gold with five holes weigh the same. If you scrape them off, the scales don’t balance, and it’s obvious. And the value of such coins decreases.

Is this kind of money called “weighing money”? No, this is a measuring coin because it expresses the quantity by the number of holes drilled under a certain quality…? But in the end, it is a weighing coin because it is weighed in the market. I’m not sure! Well, I guess it doesn’t matter either way. Yeah. It doesn’t matter as long as it can be used.

“And then, equipment?”

“Yes, equipment.”

I’m an ex-mercenary who came from the battlefields of the Holy Kingdom and the Empire in the East. I’ve come all the way to the Merinard Kingdom in search of a place to serve as an officer or to earn a living. Fortunately, there is an actual rebellion going on in the Merinard Kingdom, and it should not be surprising that a mercenary with quick ears would have drifted here in search of a battlefield.

And you know what? If you want to call yourself a mercenary, you need to have typical mercenary equipment.

“First of all, a sword.”

“It’s a good choice.”

It’s a slightly wide shortsword. A two-handed sword? A greatsword, you ask? That’s cool. But I’m more of a hands-on kind of guy.

The total length of the sword, including the hilt, is a little shorter than my arm. A sword that’s too long isn’t very handy. I made it in my smithing facility, so I think it’s of good quality.

“Next is the shield.”

“It’s ordinary-nodesu.”

“Ordinary and simple. It’s perfect.”

It is a circular shield made of wood and leather with metal reinforced edges, which could be found anywhere. There’s not much else to say about it, except that it can hold two throwing knives on the back of the shield. Oh, and it has a belt so I can carry it on my back.

“And the spear.”

“Is it your main weapon?”

“Yeah.”

After all, the spear is a convenient weapon. It can attack the enemy from a distance and can also be thrown. It’s really wonderful. It is one of mankind’s oldest hunting tools and weapons. I’ve never seen an actual battlefield, but I’ve heard that spears were used more often than swords and katana on the battlefield.

In fact, it’s quite easy to use. I think this is more suitable for me than a sword.

“You still lack confidence-nodesu.”

“No, it’s just you girls are too strong…”

“Lime, strong.”

It’s not good to call myself a mercenary if I can’t actually handle a sword or a spear. So, in the past few days, I’ve been practicing martial arts with the slime girls. I was reluctant to point a serious weapon at them, but they are slimes. They can’t take a slash or a thrust at all. In a way, they were the ideal training partners.

And they are strong. Sharp attacks came at me from unexpected angles. I get knocked down; I get rolled over; I get knocked down again. It’s very painful…

“There’s healing magic, though.”

“We can all use it.”

“I’m the only one who can give you medicine, though-nodesu?”

“I want you to take it easy, take it in moderation.”

“Are we not?”

“Aren’t we in for it?”

There was no such thing.

At least, it is an order that I should train to the extent that I can call myself a mercenary and not be suspected. They said that if not, I wouldn’t be able to protect myself, and they couldn’t let me out because it would be too dangerous.

The thoughtfulness of the strict but kind slime girls was deeply felt. Physically.

“You’re moving in mysterious ways…”

“Hahahaha! I’m not going to be beaten up forever either!”

“But once I know the trick, it’s a piece of cake.”

“Uboah!”

Using command actions, I could pretend to step forward and slide backward, slide forward while thrusting, surprise attack using double jumps, and assault using my own running ability plus command action dashes… It only worked at first, and I was quickly dealt with.

“I think that charge is not bad for initial kill-nodesu.”

“If you use it finely, it’s not bad for evasion or for attacking. You just need to adjust your timing slightly.”

“But it doesn’t work on us?”

“I don’t think it’s fair to get all worked up and try to overpower you.”

If my sliding movement shifts the distance between us, I can attack with a wider distance range. As if to illustrate this point, the mucus tentacle spear flies at me. I can’t do anything about it, and my whole body is struck down, and I’m blown away. It hurt so much.

As a result of being rolled and blasted like that for another week or so, my hand-to-hand combat skills have skyrocketed. No, there’s no indication of that on my status screen or skills screen, though…

No change in achievements either. I got some combat training, but I didn’t kill anything, so no level increase. It seems like there should be an achievement for living underground for more than a few days or something. It would be a great help if I could get night vision with it, but apparently, things don’t work that way.

“Then there’s my trump card.”

“The one that makes the most noise-nodesu.”

“Yeah.”

I took out of my inventory a long gun with a large banana-shaped magazine. It is probably the most famous assault rifle in the world, using 7.62×39mm steel shells. This is an improved version of it.

It is highly productive, robust, and powerful. I chose this rifle because I might have to go head-to-head with an enemy in armor. If it was a handgun, it might be blocked by armor made of steel plates.

Eh? Isn’t it difficult to operate a double-barreled gun because of the cost? That’s true. If it’s used by dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people, even with my production power, I can’t keep up with the ammunition production.

But if it’s just me, it’s a different story. I can manage to get enough ammunition for one person. If that’s the case, it’s only natural to focus on performance, power, robustness, and ease of use.

It should have a large number of rounds, be able to fire multiple rounds, have a magazine for easy reloading, and have the power to penetrate armor.

At any rate, the Guinness World Record for the “most widely used military gun in the world” is no mean feat. The fact that it has the performance to be chosen by so many soldiers makes it a Guinness record.

Incidentally, gunpowder could not be made from untreated sewage, but as a result of trial and error with Poizo, it was possible to produce a large amount of gunpowder from half-treated sewage.

Naturally, I also made a good number of hand grenades and the like. No matter how many I have in hand, I’m never in trouble.

“It’s incredibly powerful, isn’t it?”

“It’s my trump card.”

“It doesn’t work on Lime and the others, though?”

“There’s almost nothing that works on you girls…”

I smiled back at Lime, who was swaying.

The only thing that works for them is magic and fire. If I could blow them up with explosives, it might give me a chance, but I would be no match for them if I had only physical means of attack.

“It’s been a little over two weeks since I was brought here… and I’m finally ready.”

“So you’re going tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’m going to the city.”

I nodded in response to Beth’s words.

“Be careful, you know. If Kosuke gets caught, there’s nothing we can do-nodesu.”

“Of course.”

“I don’t want any souvenirs.”

“Really? I can get you something, you know?”

“I just want you to come back in time.”

“Right.”

“That would be the best.”

Lime said sweetly, tilting her head, and Beth and Poizo nodded in agreement.

“Leave it to me.”

With the three of them saying that, I can’t afford to screw up.

Whatever it is, it’s tomorrow. I will be in the city of Merinesburg tomorrow. I want to get whatever mithril products I can find and come back safely. And if possible, I’ll find out what’s been going on. I’ll try not to overdo it. That’s about it.

It all starts tomorrow.