Vol. 1 - Ch. 86 - Canardial

With the presence of Riyad-senpai (?), we easily received the material fetch quest and some storage bags from the receptionist without stirring things up too much. For the night, we lodged into the explorer-specialized inn and took action to complete our mission while the sky was still ink-black.

Riyad-senpai was carrying himself with his signature style— a bamboo basket on his back, while Coco was carrying a knapsack that had the Create Map magic tool that we had developed back at the geography club.

Last night was honestly a bit too plain— for so much traveling to another major city. I wanted to dive into the local cuisine at the dining hall affiliated with the inn, but Riyad-senpai apparently spied something fishy and stopped us. So our dinner was the emergency portable ration tablets that we were carrying.

I didn’t think this had anything to do with me but I was feeling that stabbing presence more than anything. I had already captured the sign of a somewhat capable-ish stalker group following us after we left the association. So there wasn't any other option in this sort of situation except quietly staying put.

The hollering of the receptionist had done a number on us, I guess...

Who knew what kind of intention they had for following us, but a wise man knows not to entangle himself in danger.

“The time is ripe, so let’s set out for the forest. This season usually brings in plenty of strong monsters that you otherwise wouldn’t need to be vigilant for. So keep your wits about you.”

Senpai advised as he girded himself.

“The Dunce Tiger, who are out there taking care of their cubs, and the Linew in their mating season seems to be the first target we should be careful of in this Nyapu Forest. Are we going to cross the ridgeline?”

The question came from Coco, who utilized his wealth of knowledge here.

Recently, he had managed to come out of his shell of shyness. Well, he still had a lot to work on, but the community life in the cramped dorm along with serving as the president of the Geography Club put him in an inevitable arena of communication that he couldn’t shirk away.

He was gaining his foothold with increasing confidence.

The students of Class A were all hard workers. Coco himself had been diving into multiple activities ranging from independent life in the dorm, training in the Hill Road Club, doing tasks for the Geography Research Club, handling explorer quests, and attending the sophisticated lectures of the Academy. It would have been strange if he wasn’t at least able to hold his ground after being exposed to such an environment. Who cared about the trifling gaze of others when your eyes were looking straight ahead?

I also kept asking him about all sorts of things that I still didn’t know, like what monsters relate to what among other things, and his impressive knowledge bank was truly an amazing one that I seriously commended him for. All the students of Class A similarly acknowledge that none among us could best him in this aspect.

Honestly, ‘amazing’ wasn’t enough to describe it and probably no word was enough to do so. It was truly vexing.

“Heh~, I didn’t know you had such a keen insight for such stuff. Did you take the time to investigate that? Also to your question, we’re not going to cross the ridgeline. I presume you already noticed the danger of the Wyverns flying around in the area hunting for food due to the season?”

The ridgeline Coco spoke of was the line connecting the peaks along the mountain range on the map. It kind of looked like a wavy line drawn on paper that started from the base of a mountain, but it basically connected the peaks of the mountains with the rolling hills. He probably wanted to ask if our task involved crossing that ridgeline.

“He’s the walking database that knows everything from a monster’s habitat to their distribution level in this kingdom, Senpai. You know, he’s from that Canardial family who compiled the ‘Canardial’s Monster Encyclopedia.’”

Senpai directed his question at Coco, but I couldn’t help myself from answering. It was just a pity that he still hadn’t gained enough confidence to be proud of his knowledge bank when facing strangers.

“Oho, that explains things then. Hmm, I sure got a bargain for bagging an excellent monster navigator for a mere 60,000 rea.”

Senpai teasingly said to Coco.

“...Practical experience triumphs over desk knowledge... I want to confirm as much as possible with my own two eyes, for knowledge tends to change often. So I’m really glad to receive this chance. Please accept my gratitude.”ÚpTodated novels on no(v)el()bin(.)com

Coco, while still meek in tone, answered.

The Canardial apparently also had some restricted journals and records, which couldn’t be taken outside of the premises due to their forbidden nature. I was planning to take the excuse of hanging out with his family and see if I could take a peek at them one of these days for sure.

Speaking of which, the Canardial used to be a Count family — a peerage holder without a territory so to speak — for their efforts in compiling the monster encyclopedia that took them over 30 years, and even held an anti-monster strategical post in the past for a long time.

However, following their loss in the political strife that happened around 100 years ago, a part of that restricted research fell into the hands of the enemy which pushed them out of their peak to the bottom of the barrel at Baron rank and their post was transferred to handling the royal family’s managed territory at a remote frontier region. The pompous bunch at the top must have had dung in their minds to leave a family so enthusiastic about their research at the fringes for over a century.

Oh, right. Where was I... Yeah. We only dealt with the bare minimum of monsters that we would have otherwise taken a long time to avoid due to Coco’s knowledge and my extensive use of scouting magic. It would have been unwise to increase our burden with materials when we were still en route to our destination.

Oh, right. Al was also following us, though his presence was so thin that I almost forgot about him. He also helped out in his own way— producing water with his water magic for Coco to wash his hands with.

Though he was uncharacteristically down today, perhaps because he sensed how thin his presence was.

“Truly, I’m glad to have you with us, Al. A water mage honestly solves one of our biggest headaches— water. We would have to either carry additional weight with us in the form of water or have to take a detour to procure some on the way in explorations like this.

I bet a water mage with such formidable stamina like you would receive hundreds of party applications in a jiffy if you look for one in association, unlike someone who is just a sitting duck with his sword.”

Said the ever-so-kind Riyad-senpai who took the helm in this situation. Truly not a gap in this capable person’s consciousness, even when working in the group.

Senpai’s encouraging words, along with Al himself being a bomb of optimism, quickly brought him back to his cheery self.

But Senpai was right. A water mage who was also a capable warrior was a hard find. Al had kind of become the butt of our teasing but in a different party, he might as well be a goose that laid golden eggs.

The rest of our journey was also uneventful, and we reached our destination — the waterfall — by evening.

◆◆◆

Our destination appeared immediately after we arrived at the heart of the forest. The trees suddenly gave way to clear land and presented the marvel of the Lipupu-Nyapu Waterfall before our eyes. With a depth of around 100 meters, this enchanting waterfall gracefully held still waters on the gently tiered cliff that looked like a staircase creating a fantastical scene.

A spring of approximately 15m in diameter circled the base of the waterfall. The water was carving its way out of the spring and into several small water streams that vanished into the forest.

“Great. I was fully ready to arrive here by tomorrow, and maybe even in the dead of night. I think this is my first time arriving here this early when the sun is still on the horizon. Honestly, Coco-kun’s expertise truly shocked me. But Allen, what’s with your foul scouting magic? I’m sure you didn’t know about scouting magic on our first field trip, right?”

“Yeah, I just learned it recently. The sight of Senpai unhesitatingly pushing through the forest in the dim light had intrigued me. I just happen to have a mentor whose specialty turned out to be scouting magic so I learned from him.”

Senpai seemed truly astonished as he rubbed his forehead.

“You’re telling me you learned scouting magic and have become accurate in a mere few months? The sky truly is the limit for you, huh?...

Alright, let’s set up our tents here. We can collect the moss tomorrow morning as well, so for now, I just want to take a rest. My stomach is rumbling after all that walking.”

“Ah, I’m also hungry. Senpai, you said we could catch fish in the spring, right? But we don’t have any fishing tools, though...”

“Haha, well I thought since it would be just the two of us, we would chase the school of fishes to one end and then use our body-strengthening magic to capture them... Yeah, don’t comment since I know how inefficient it is. But our labor is cut short with Al-kun here.”

Senpai expressed what his idea was earlier and burst out into laughter.