CH 89

Translator: “Hakou”                             Editor: “Weasalopes”                

The next day, I was riding the Old Lady in the middle of great natural scenery.

Sea of sand is widely extended under the blue sky.

There are countless dunes created by the wind looking like the waves in the sea.

A strong cold wind blows from over the horizon. And the sand pattern changed as if a snake that’s moving forward.

(What a huge desert this is…)

I muttered inside the cockpit.

This place is a desert area in the northeastern part of the Royal Capital. And right now, I and the Old Lady are at the part of the desert which was the closest from the Royal Capital.

I turned the head of the Old Lady so I could look at what’s around us.

(Alright, there’s no one around)

Behind me were a sea of grown trees. .

While in front of me was a sea of sand extending as far as the eye can see.

It seems there are a lot of demon beasts called desert ghosts around this area recently.

As a result, the desert route has been cut off and so the logistics were hindered.

TOP ARTICLES1/5Mercenaries in Apocalypse Volume 1Chapter 29

(Let’s put aside the demon beast extermination for now)

First, let’s do what I really came here for.

And so, I channeled my magic to the vernier on the leg of the Old Lady little by little.

The magic circle in vernier was activated and clouds of sand started to rise because of the wind magic.

「As I thought, speaking of humanoid robots, then it should be the hover movement right!?」

I voiced my burning desires out loud.

It was neither walking or running. It was an action to move forward without moving the feet, but slightly floating with the thrusting force from the vernier.

That was my dream, To hover with a humanoid robot.

(It should be fine. I can control its posture somehow…..)

It was wobbling around unstably at first but… it can hover normally now. This time, I tried leaning forward.

The Old Lady begins to move forward slowly while keeping a slightly lowered posture.

While slightly floating in the air, I tried to keep the balance.

(Let’s go!)

I increased the supply of magic on the vernier.

The Old Lady raised a big cloud of sand in the air and advanced forward. It continued to accelerate, albeit slowly, and eventually, the speed was comparable to that of when Old Lady was running.

(Not yet….!!)

I supplied even more magic. Old Lady now runs at a very high speed as if it draws a line on the desert sand with a ruler.

Sometimes I would hover towards the dunes and fly in the air. But I still managed to land without destroying its posture and advances once again.

I did fail several times and fell but that was also one of the fun.

「Woohooooー!!!」

I unintentionally shouted when doing some dune jumps.

I also did something like skiing, snowboarding or motocross jumping.

From another person’s point of view, I might not seem to fly that high. But it doesn’t matter. It’s enough as long as I enjoy it.

I’ve always wanted to hover like this. However, I held back my desire because wind magic would cause clouds of dust to fly around in the vicinity.

But here, I can do it as much as I want without bothering anyone.

(I wanted to test the speed next, so let’s go as fast as we could!)

I raised the output on the vernier once more and moved as fast as an arrow.

Unlike on the highway, there is no need to worry about causing accidents here.

(Argh! Come on!!)

Because the terrain isn’t completely flat, the speed I can get is limited to a certain extent but, that’s already good enough for me. I felt a sense of fulfillment when I was moving to the utmost of the limit I can control.

I mean, if you had the chance to ride a Knight that can move at a high speed, of course you would want to go as fast as the Knight can go, right?

(It’s very exhilarating!)

I was so immersed in controlling the Old Lady doing dune jumps right now.

Its body was leaning to the side like when you’re riding a snowboard as I drew a large arc, leaving trails of clouds of sand behind.

I then shifted the weight from left to right and sewed through the big dunes.

Sometimes I would jump at the top of the dunes and make 180 turns. What was behind me was S-shaped cloud of dust.

(So coool!!)

I felt ecstatic.

Old Lady rolled a lot of sand as it landed and engulfed inside the clouds of sand. At the next moment, however, it jumps out of the sand cloud and draws an S-shape.

It was a bliss.

(Hm?)

When I looked back, I saw a pillar of sand rising inside the clouds of sand.

And there was more than one. As if chasing after me, those constantly rising and descending pillars are coming this way.

The ascending sand pillars that disappear in the sea of sand look like a water pillar that appeared when a large stone was thrown into a pond.

(They’ve finally shown up huh)

I lift the corners of my mouth.

(To think that they came to me on their own, just what I wished for…)

What appeared just now was definitely a desert ghost.

They had the shape of a sphere about two meters in diameter and covered with protrusions. Just think of it as a balance ball with warts on it.

Desert ghosts will cover their main body with sand. Then, they will sneak inside the sand and rely on sound to navigate their attack.

After picking up the sound of the Old Lady, several pillars of sand about 10 meters high appeared. It seems there’s not only one of them.

(Nice, it just became more convenient for me)

I took a shooting stance with Old Lady’s rifle.

「Fire!」

I shoot the sand pillar behind me while drawing an arc. The aim is far off making clouds of sand rise behind the sand pillar.

(This is difficult….)

The difficulty is quite high.

I kept shooting while changing my pattern to circling, S-shaped course.

I didn’t stop and kept shooting to avoid their attacks. Because I think that as long as I keep moving at high speed, the desert ghost won’t be able to catch my exact position.

(A hit!)

A light arrow magic missile went through the center of the sand column. And something shaped like a balancing ball with thorns could be seen inside the splattering sand.

(Damn, this is so fun!)

As I thought, it can only rise far behind me. It can’t keep up with the moving speed of the Old Lady. It was as I predicted, as long as I keep moving like this, they won’t be able to hit me. However, my action also has its flaws, because moving in curves to avoid getting hit by the sand pillar like this makes it harder to shoot them down.

(But I think that’s what makes this more interesting)

It’s been a while since I did a challenging shooting action like this.

(It also serves as the rifle’s experiment)

The greater the amount of magic poured into the rifle’s magic circle, the more powerful light magic missile it launches. However, this has its drawbacks: the greater the magic is, the longer the time it needs between casts. This was the so-called cooling time.

(Conversely speaking, just how much cooling time can be shortened if the magic is suppressed?)

I want to verify that. My magic gradually diminished as I fired rapidly. And the result was better than I expected.

(Full auto!)

Wasn’t what I was going for, but when I suppressed the magic supply to the limit, I could shoot almost 10 shots per second.

(Though, it’s not really suitable for battle)

There was probably something wrong with the way I shoot because the recoil is big despite the low attack power.

(Well, even this much is a precious data)

I nodded to myself inside the cockpit. I enjoyed this high difficulty first-person shooting until all of the sand pillars disappeared.

(Haa….. It was fun)

I wiped my sweat and gulped down a drink that’s similar to a sports drink. Also, my breathing was still rough.

(There were quite a lot huh)

I think there were roughly twenty of them.

A lot of them must have gathered here because of the loud sound I made from the fight.

I took a short break after that.

During that time, there’s no sign of any sand pillar. It seems that all of the desert ghosts around here have been exterminated.

「Alright, let’s do our best again then, shall we?」

I said and decided to give it my all once again. What’s left now is the cleaning-up work.

I took a large bag made of canvas from a gap in the Old Lady armor. It was the one that the herbivorous mechanic made for me before.

Then I began to put the remains of the ghost desert inside it with the Old Lady.

(It just like a thick rubber ball)

The desert ghost resembled a balance ball to the touch.

It’s very unlikely that the Knight themselves will collect the carcass, or the so-called drop items from the demon beast.

The collection team, locals, or the adventurers that took the request are the ones that will do it. That’s how it usually is.

(But I guess it would be dangerous for them to do that here, in the desert)

According to what the vice guild master said, as long as there wasn’t any valuable drop item, it’s okay to abandon the collection process if it proves to be dangerous.

And desert ghost drops aren’t that valuable.

(I was told that I could just leave it but…. It just doesn’t feel right to me)

Maybe because I used to live in poverty, I decided to pick it up.

(Well, it proves that I’ve defeated it so, there’s no harm in it I guess)

I don’t think the vice guild master will doubt me even if I only provide a verbal report on it but, I wanted to show some proof myself.

(Besides, using a Knight is safer than doing it myself)

A strong, cold wind is blowing outside.

Even if there is no demon beast around, doing collection work in this environment will be difficult.

While having such thoughts, I wandered around with my Old Lady, looking for the drop items buried in the sand.

***

「I’m backー!」

I returned to the Royal Capital with the Old Lady around sunset.

The appearance of the Old Lady carrying an inflated bag full of drop items on her shoulder is like Santa Claus or a thief.

「Did you really bring it?」

The herbivorous mechanic who came to the eastern gate to pick me up was stunned.

He muttered something like, 「It isn’t worth the trouble to bring it back you know?」.

I probably ended up bringing home something that’s equivalent to garbage.

(Now that you mention it, I’ve never seen this item before)

I glanced at the warty balance ball inside the bag.

(I wonder if it would sell if I put it up for sale at the merchant guild?)

When I thought about it that far, a sudden idea hit me.

(Is this the so-called knowledge cheat!?)

I was disappointed.

What a shame, I think it would be effective if used on massages or in a diet program.

(Maybe I should just build the prototype myself and sold it directly at some brothels someday)

But as I keep thinking about it, I started to feel that this someday is too unreliable.

And so, I got home but I immediately went out again. This time is to do some nightlife stuff.

(I already got tired from work today so, let’s do something light instead, shall we?)

I felt a bit sluggish because I got too excited from doing stuff like hovering and shooting this afternoon. It was to the extent that I feel like having someone take care of me while I do nothing in the bath was good enough for today.

(Now that I think about it, I never use the bath at home huh)

I went to a brothel every day so there was no need to use the bath at home.

As I could have someone wash the entire corner of my body, doing it myself became too troublesome for me.

(I think the last I used it was when I did a modification on Cool-san)

As I was thinking that it was already a long time ago, I entered a side street that’s even narrower than the red-light district main street. This is my destination today.

(Ohh… This place is as crowded as always huh)

Commonly known as “Ippon Yokocho”.

Unlike the large stores by the main street, small shops that run by individuals were lined up in a narrow street like this. While I went along with the crowd of people in here, I took a look at the women outside the stores.

(I think I will look for a girl that doesn’t look too young)

I was in such mood today.

Then, just as I was thinking about that, I saw a woman in her mid-thirties who wore something like a Japanese traditional attire.

She had the atmosphere of someone who waited for her husband to come home from work.

(Alright, let’s go with this place)

I decided and pushed through the crowd.

「Welcome～」

While showing a smile, she let me pass through to the bathroom in the back.

「I will wash your body now, okay?」

She said as she began to wash my body gently using the shower and whipped towel. Of course, we were both naked right now.

「I will start washing your fingers too now」

(I wonder why she bothers to declare her course of action each and every time)

I looked at her while having such question in my mind, but somehow she looked troubled now.

「Please show me your middle finger」

She whispered in my ear.

(Eh?)

I unintentionally looked at my left hand and saw that she grabbed my palm with both hands and invited my finger inside her.

Moreover, she moved my hand up and down slowly. It seems that this is what she meant by washing my fingers.

(Ohhh….. This feels great)

She washed my fingers one by one as she held her voice down so as not to leak it out.

Then I noticed that my finger was slightly bent.

(What’s this?)

Wondering what was happening, I activated my devil eye.

And what I saw was that my fingers are guided into her yellow glowing area which was close to the front.

(What, she’s totally enjoying it aren’t she?)

I was worried for a second because she’s letting out a pained voice but, it seems that it was needless anxiety.

(It sure is great to be able to enjoy the job you’re doing)

“Now that I think about it, I was like that too right now”, I thought as I recalled the happiness I attained so far.

Probably because she’s turned on, she stopped rubbing my body with a towel. Then, she started rubbing me with her slippery scrubbing brush that had a very soft section.

It was certain that she washed me with her soft scrubbing brush but whether it really became clean or not is questionable.

After she finished washing me, I relaxed myself inside the warm bathtub.

Meanwhile, she took a shower and left the bathroom after saying, “I will get ready”.

After getting out of the bath, she was already waiting in a white yukata and began wiping my whole body with a towel. This also feels good.

「Please lie down here」

She guided me to a simple bed and gave me a massage.

(Now this, is what I really want for today)

She got some skills in her and before I knew it, the muscles that were tensed up became loosened.

(It feels soo goood～)

I feel like I’m going to fall asleep at this rate.

(Ohh…)

I was curious as to what was this good feeling I felt so I opened my eyes and looked at my crotch. There, she buried her face on it and worked on a no-hand massage.

The way she uses her tongue is wonderful. Her expression is also wonderful.

The gentle tracing on every corner of her body is filled with the compassion of a mother towards her child.

And lastly, she turned the other way and went on top of me.

She rolled up her white yukata and a large white peach entered my view. The taste of those thicc white peaches is so delicious that I feel like melting away.

Moreover, she does all the moving. I can just stay still and do nothing while enjoying this feeling.

(Being a passive guy once in a while is not bad either)

We didn’t compete to decide who’s winning or losing. I can feel it inside me, the fact that she took great care of me, as her customer.

And so, I let out that feeling inside her without holding back.

(Ahh～ I feel like my fatigue is washed away)

I cracked my shoulder and my neck, making a snapping sound.

I was wobbling the entire time as I headed home. With this, it seems that I can sleep more comfortably than ever.

(I’ll do my best to, tomorrow)

I happily walked towards my home where my spirit beasts are waiting for me, as if I was going home where my beautiful wife is waiting for me.