Volume 7 - CH 2

Chapter 2 – Large Army of Monsters and the Resumption of the Exploration

After the vindictive wolf trigger is switched on, the insect monsters and the frenzy monkey are also switched on, and the area around the barrier is filled with monsters above, to the left, right, front, and back.

There is no problem with the frenzy monkey. Even the insect monsters can be managed if we are patient. But not the small insects that follow the insect monsters. They invade the small gap between the rubber boats and stick to the barrier in large numbers.

Many wriggling, oozing insects have attached themselves to the barriers on both sides, and Girasole is no longer visible.

“I can’t do this. It’s too disgusting.”

“What are we going to do even if you say you can’t? I think the only way is to reduce the number of insects.”

“Don’t worry; I have an idea. Ines will attack with flame magic right in front of us. Girasole, can you hear me? Ines will now unleash her flame magic, so please focus your attacks on that spot at the right time.”

“I understand. But what are you going to do?”

“After blowing away the trees around the target, I will summon the Hideaway there.”

I responded to Alessia-san’s words, and she took care of the rest. I thought it might be okay to summon the Lutto, but the bigger, the better to get away from the insects. Ferry is indeed overkill, isn’t it?

“Then a ranged attack would be better. You all heard me, attack on count zero.”

With Alessia-san’s count, everyone’s ranged attacks were fired. With a tremendous roar, trees and monsters were blown away, and a cloud of smoke rose up. Then, I immediately summoned the Hideaway.

I had expected to see the Hideaway tilted like a wooden boat when the smoke cleared, but instead, the Hideaway appeared, sitting normally with a flat bottom. A happy miscalculation, but before buying a boat, I’d better check out the other things as well as the facilities.

The Hideaway, which I thought was a happy miscalculation and sat normally, also had its drawbacks. The place to board the ship is more than 2 meters higher. …What am I going to do? I think I can jump over because my level is higher now… but it would be bad if I fail.

In the end, another attack blew away the monsters, and in the meantime, Ines gave me a piggyback ride to the Hideaway.

After scattering the monsters several times, we all climbed aboard the Hideaway, and then I repatriated the rubber boat. I should have summoned the Hideaway quickly when the vindictive wolf’s trigger switched on. …Well, what matters is the result, isn’t it?

“Thanks for your help, Wataru-san. I feel safer on a larger ship. It’s easier for us to coordinate with each other.”

“Haha, yes, that’s true. Well, the view is terrible.”

Alessia-san is right; just having a bigger ship makes a big difference.

“The view certainly isn’t great.”

“I hate it.”

“It’s disgusting.”

Ilma-san, Carla-san, and Claretta-san seemed to agree with me. All of the other ladies don’t seem too happy either, as we move more than two meters higher, high enough to see the frenzy monkeys and vindictive wolves as they jump at us.

As a result, the monsters in the view from the sundeck are almost all insects that can fly. Too creepy. This makes it hard to take a bath; I don’t want to take a bath while looking at the insects. I move to the dining room to take a break and have a light meal.　

“It’s strange how many times I’ve experienced that I can eat slowly even though we are surrounded by such a large number of monsters.”

“Alessia is right. Normally, we have to take turns eating while dealing with a large number of monsters.”

The ship summoning was very well received. The other members of Girasole nodded in agreement with Alessia-san and Dorothea-san’s conversation. As expected of a skill given to me by Creator God-sama.

“So what should we do now?”

“Well… we can’t do anything unless we reduce the number of monsters, so we’ll just have to keep reducing them day by day. They are all weak monsters, so we can cut down a large number of them from inside the barrier, and if we do it steadily, we can get by.”

Well, I guess Alessia-san is right. Even with the rubber boat, we have killed countless monsters in a few hours. We haven’t gotten any materials or magic stones at all, though.

“Yes, there are other ways; well, it would be a wild move, but let’s say it’s possible to repeatedly use the rubber boat and proceed while blowing away all the obstacles in front of us, including the monsters.”

I don’t want to pick that one, if possible.

“Ah, it’s not impossible to do that either. But it would take a little longer to advance, and it would be less stressful to destroy them on the Hideaway.”

Stress, huh…? Good thing Alessia-san agrees with me. I don’t want to go on with the insects all over me.

“Master. May I have a word?”

“Hmm? Sure. What’s wrong?”

“Can’t we just wait until the monsters calm down?”

It would be helpful if the monsters would calm down as Ines said, but I thought they wouldn’t calm down until the intruder was removed from the forest or killed? Wasn’t that a rare thing to hear?

“They said the monsters won’t settle down until the intruders are removed from the Demon Forest.”

Thinking about it, I began to feel that the dark elves weren’t here either. If the trigger is switched on, the dark elves will have no choice but to flee or be wiped out, but how can they stay in the Demon Forest? But there are traces of people here… I wonder what’s really going on?

“I know that. But we’ve been doing battle so far, defending and such, right? But with Master’s ship summoning, so if we don’t show ourselves, we don’t have to fight, won’t they just give up?”

“Hmm? …I think there are barrier masters in the Kingdom of Jerah, so I’m sure they’re trying not to fight as well.”

“Wataru-san, your assumption is wrong. If you are attacked endlessly by a large number of monsters, no matter how many excellent barrier masters you have, you won’t be able to withstand it. Wataru-san’s ability is extraordinary. …I think Ines’ idea is worth a try too.”

…I’ve reaffirmed the excellence of ship summoning. It got high praise from Alessia-san as well. That’s great, ship summoning.

“Hmm, well, let’s give Ines’ idea a try. How long shall we wait and see?”

“…I don’t know, maybe ten days?”

Is that so? How can we know? No one has tried it before.

“Then, let’s stay on the Hideaway for about ten days. We’ll see what happens and think about it.”

After having decided on a plan for the future, we ate our meal and returned to our room.

It’s a little late to say this, but even if the monsters withdraw in 10 days, if we resume the exploration of the Demon Forest and the trigger switches on again, do we have to wait another ten days? How many years would it take to explore the Demon Forest?

Well, we can try at first; maybe we’ll find out something unexpected. If not, then we’ll destroy the monsters.

When it gets dark, we don’t turn on the lights and spend time flirting in the pitch dark. With the lights on, it seemed unlikely that the insect monsters would retreat, right?

The next day, I sneak a look outside and find that the scene is as unpleasant as ever. There’s nothing much to do except at night, so I decided to cook up some dried-up shark fins. I hope it’s a success.

…I look at my notes on how to cook shark fins… and see that I am missing some ingredients. I didn’t think too much about it because I was looking at how to prepare the shark’s fin itself, but in my notes, I see the names of Shaoxingjiu and oyster sauce.

There wasn’t any Shaoxing wine or oyster sauce on the ferry, was there? If I bought a luxury liner, I would be able to get Shaoxing wine at a Chinese restaurant, but would I be able to get oyster sauce?　

Let’s wait until we get the luxury liner to cook the shark’s fin. I’m afraid to try a difficult dish when I don’t even have all the ingredients. Well, we can’t watch DVDs because they will be repatriated when the ferry is repatriated, so what should we do?

I can’t think of anything special to do, so I spend an uneventful time cooking, playing Reversi and Jenga. If we could have at least taken a bath, I could have seen Girasole in their bathing suits…

I sometimes peek outside and see insect monsters and small bugs clinging to the barriers and attacking them. I suppressed my disgust and looked at it carefully. The insect monsters clinging to the bottom are sometimes eaten by vindictive wolves… Wolves eat insects… If the insects are wiped out like this, it will be a great help.

It was midnight on the fourth day of our stay on the Hideaway, fighting boredom. Marina-san came to wake me up. I wonder if there has been any progress. Leaving Rimu, who was sound asleep, the four of us headed for the dining room, rubbing our sleepy eyes.

Fuu-chan is on top of Marina-san’s head. Rimu falls asleep immediately, but I wonder if Fuu-chan can handle being up at night.

“I’m sorry, Wataru-san, it’s the middle of the night. But the monsters are retreating, so I thought we should all check in and discuss the matter.”

“I’m interested too, so it’s okay. Thank you, Alessia-san.”

After saying that, I sneak a peek at the outside. …I can’t see it. It’s completely dark in the forest in the middle of the night. It was pointless to get up. Well, it’s not a total waste of time because we have a discussion to have.

I think about it while listening to the observation reports of Marina-san, Ilma-san, and Felicia, who have good night vision. I can’t confirm the vindictive wolves and frenzy monkeys from here, but I hear that the insect monsters were sticking to the barrier without gaps, but now the gaps have increased, and they are flying away one after another.

“It seems to be settling down surprisingly quickly. Shall we resume our exploration when the sun rises?”

“I think it would be better to wait until the monsters have dispersed, so I think it would be better to start the exploration tomorrow.”

Alessia-san answered my question. The majority of the monsters had gathered, so it would take some time for them to disperse.

It would take time because they are not all dispersing at the same time. Marina-san, Ilma-san, and Felicia also observed seriously and looked for the cause of the calm down.

According to Marina-san, Ilma-san, and Felicia, they don’t know how the insects are feeling from the looks on their faces. …I don’t know either. But maybe we can find out something, so I ask them to continue their observation.

As the sun rose, I could see outside. By that time, most of the insect monsters had flown away, and only a few remained.

“Well, I can see now, but I can’t understand a thing when I look at the insect monsters.”

“Well… how about everyone else?”

The other girls shook their heads at Alessia-san’s words… and, in the end, couldn’t understand anything? …It’s a shame because if it wasn’t an insect, at least we might have learned something.

After all the insects had flown away, I asked Marina-san to go check on the frenzy monkey and the vindictive wolf.

Marina-san bent down and quickly approached the edge of the ship, and peeked outside. Immediately she moves to another spot and peeks outside. Well, it’s a very sophisticated move, but Fuu-chan on the top of her head makes me feel nervous.

Besides, even if Marina-san only has her eyes out over the edge of the ship, Fuu-chan is still in full view, isn’t she? Is it okay for slime to be visible? Should I ask her? Since Marina-san circled the ship and came back, walking normally. I assume it is safe and ask her.

“Um, Marina-san, during the scouting, Fuu-chan was in full view from the outside. Is it safe?”

“…..”

After being startled by my question, a long silence ensues…

“Um, Marina-san?”

“T-the monsters were gone. I can feel the presence in the distance, but I think we are safe now.”

“I-I see. Then let’s discuss it over breakfast. …But I didn’t understand anything, so I don’t really have anything to tell you.”

That reaction, she completely forgot that Fuu-chan was on top of her head. Her face is reddening. Well, it can’t be helped. I don’t feel any discomfort since it’s normal for me to have Rimu on my head.

So, putting Fuu-chan’s matter aside for the moment, we all headed for the dining room. We get out some ready-made food from the pantry ship, put it on the table, and have breakfast.

Since we didn’t learn anything new, we decided to start our exploration tomorrow. After taking a nap today, we decided to take a bath. I’m looking forward to it.

After taking a nap, we enjoy a bath with a lot of drinks. We’ve bathed together so many times, but I never get tired of it. I’ll try my best to take a bath with a completely naked Girasole someday.