CH 43

The sun shone on a plump body, and sweat poured from the sweat glands buried in fat as if it were overflowing.

The wind blowing through this wasteland was dry and dusty, and when it blew sand into this sweat, one could almost hear it crunching with every step.

The president would not allow Rihalzam to take attendants with him, so he had no choice but to hire guards from the adventurer guild at his own expense, and make his way to a remote region.

The guards he hired were people he knew, as he hired them several times before to do shady work. There were three of these delinquent adventurers with him, but since they were used to harass weak opponents in town, they had no knowledge of military arts. They borrowed new magic guns made by Rihalzam with magic boards inserted to change their element.

“Sir Rihalzam, are you sure this is the way?”

Asked Deden, one of the adventurers.

“…It should be.”

Answered an annoyed Rihalzam.

“Nevermind that, you know what to do, right? I went out of my way to change the elements and make that myself!”

Said an irritated Rihalzam.

“Yes sir Rihalzam. Blast that Rust guy from behind right? We’ll burn him to a crisp.”

“Do it right so it attracts monsters and they eat him. I’m sure he’s the one making those old-style magic crystals, so that guy should have a lot of money too. We’ll share the loot evenly, so keep your traps shut.”

Said Rihalzam while glancing back.

“Yes yes, leave it to us.”

Said Deden while shrugging and taking some distance.

“Good grief, all of you are… And it’s so hot! It’s all his fault for coming to a remote region like this.”

Mumbled Rihalzam.

“And that president too. He wanted to save face, so he just had to make it so I have to personally ask that guy to come back, all so it doesn’t stay on the records. Just use the communications device. Give him a small budget and that guy will come back running with tears of joy in his eyes. War hero knight he said. Why does he want to save face so much against some poor new lord of a remote region?”

Rihalzam’s eyes became increasingly glazed, but he would not stop rambling to himself. In fact, his voice only became louder.

In a remote region with so many different kinds of monsters, it was only natural that many species would be sensitive to sound. Sure enough, from the gap between two rocks, a monster with radial teeth that resembled a snake or a vine appeared, drawn by Rihalzam’s loud voice.

Hipopo could stomp it in one step, but this nameless monster actually had a troublesome disposition.

“Hey Deden! It’s a monster!”

“Eh! What’s that tiny thing? No problem. Hey you guys take care of it.”

Deden said to the other two adventurers.

Both had the same kind of magic gun with a magic circuit to alter its element. One of the adventurers took aim and fired.

Once the shot hit, the sound of a loud explosion could be heard.

A ball of fire the size of a fist was fired at the monster, and it exploded into pieces once it was hit.

“Whoo.”

Deden and the others celebrated with their deep voices while the explosion could still be heard.

“Easy right? I wanna do it too.”

Said Deden, and as if granting his wish, or simply being drawn by the sound of the explosion, the same type of snake vine monster started slithering out of every crevice around them.

“I-isn’t this too many?”

Said one of the adventurers with panic in his voice.

“Just shoot!”

Responded Deden loudly. He also started firing, without ever considering taking out the magic board.

“Hey, don’t fire too much.”

Yelled Rihalzam, although the sound of the explosions meant no one heard him.

Many fist-sized flames were being spread around, and the sound of the explosions they made when they hit was not stopping.

Smoke and burned monster fluids were carried by the wind caused by the explosions and splashed into Rihalzam’s face. He began to cough violently, rendering him unable to talk.

Eventually, there were so many snake vine monsters that they covered the ground completely.

Deden and the others continued to fire frantically, until something unexpected happened.

Bofuh.

It was a sound one would not expect to hear coming out of a gun, and it was followed by flames being shot out of it, not from the muzzle, but from the magic circuit. These flames burned only Deden’s eyebrows and the front of his hair.

“Aah! Hot!”

Deden put out the fire burning his hair by slapping it, before rubbing his face.

“Hey Deden! Stop playing and shoot!”

“Yes yes… That’s weird.”

Deden pulled the trigger, but all that happened was a small gust of wind passing by his frizzled bangs.

His magic gun was not responding, and to make matters worse, the other two magic guns that were somehow still operational had completely consumed the magic elements in their new-style magic crystals. They were simply fired too much.

“Sir Rihalzam! Give us some spare magic crystals and a magic gun!”

Frantically yelled one of the adventurers, but he heard the last thing he wanted in response.

“I don’t have any spares!”

Yelled back Rihalzam.

The adventurers looked at each other’s useless magic guns as the snake vine monsters continued creeping towards them.

They all looked at each other and silently nodded, before taking off running in the direction opposite to the snake vine monsters. They were so focused on running that they failed to notice they were headed towards the nest of another monster.

“Hey wait…”

Rihalzam tried to stop them, but it fell on deaf ears. He was left alone, and the snake vine monsters below were finally about to reach him.