CH 64

As I thought, the quest hasn’t ended yet!

After choosing ‘Yes’, the quest detail—written in blue—showed up. Hmm, what is it now?

▽ You have accepted a serial quest that continues after the Golden Ring quest.

▽ An Armored Insect showed up outside the Graham village. Exterminate it together with Carl.

▽ Reward for quest clearance: Receiving ???’s key from Carl

If the quest is failed: Won’t get ???’s key

Eh.

Eeeeeeeeeeeh?!

Could it be that, by some chance, we’d receive the key to the Sage Tower if we were to clear the quest?!

But why the hell would that be possible?

Wouldn’t we be able to receive the key to the Sage Tower only after clearing the Earth Labyrinth and the Fire Labyrinth?

It was certainly that way in the game, but…

But could it be that it could perhaps be obtained more easily in this world.

Or could it be a quest that appears after clearing some special conditions, just like a hidden method?

If that is the case…

If that is the case, will I be able to return to my original world after clearing this quest?!

Although I was confused with this unexpected development, I pulled on Ar-niisama’s sleeves and made an appeal.

“Ar-niisama. I also want to help with exterminating the Armored Insect!”

Certainly, it was possible to defeat the Armored Insect with the skill [Shell Smash] that Carl-san possessed, but perhaps if that was the case, we might not be able to obtain the [???’s Key].

Besides, even if it wasn’t a quest, defeating an enemy that’s resistant to physical damage is quite hard, so it’s just right for me—a magic user—to help!

“That’s right. I will go too.”

“Me too.”

Ar-niisama and Amanda-san also joined, and Frank-san also followed suit.

“If it’s an Armored Insect, if you’re there, young girl, it wouldn’t be a problem. However, I will also tag along, just for caution’s sake.”

“Although I can’t use magical sword, I will also accompany you.”

The sword that Virna-san’s using is somewhat thin, so I wonder if it could even lay some damage on the Armored Insect. I just hope that the sword won’t break.

“I don’t have interest in anything other than the slimes. I will go and rest in the room first.”

Only one person—Karin-san alone showed no interest and decided to go ahead to the inn’s room.

“Ah, then can you please look after Purun? It might get dangerous for it if we were together during the battle.”

After entering the village, aside from Noir who looked like an ordinary kitten at a first glance and Luan who wouldn’t get away from Frank-san’s head, the slime Purun was in a bad situation no matter how you look at it.

Therefore, Purun was hiding inside the special pouch that was given by Karin-san, that was the same kind as Maximillian Jr.’s.

That’s why as long as I handed the pouch over to Karin-san, it would be safe.

“Sounds good to me. …Young lass.”

“Yes?”

“You’re going to do the slime research together with me, so don’t get hurt.”

…What?

Since when are we going to do the slime research together?

But with such words, Karin-san showed her concern over me, right?

Ehehe. I’m happy.

“I’ll be careful.”

I replied while smiling and slightly grinning at Karin-san. She then huffed and turned away her face before going up to the second floor.

“Oh my, how rare. Karin is being shy.”

Oooooh. Karin-san was displaying her affection to me, which is rare!

Yaaaay—!

Wait, this isn’t the right time and place to be rejoicing like this.

We have to hurry and go to Carl-san’s place.

We rushed after Carl-san, going towards the field that was located to the west from the village.

Upon arriving, there was—

“It’s a Hercules Beetle…”

How weird. The Armored Insect in the game had a rounded form that was similar to the scarabaeid beetle no matter how you look at it, and it didn’t have any big horn.

The color was certainly black, but…

But it wasn’t supposed to be this big. This Armored Insect’s size seemed to be about the size of an elephant.

Moreover, it had three horns. The middle horn was very big and sharp that I felt like it wouldn’t be good if one were to get stabbed by it.

This giant rhinoceros beetle was currently eating the cabbages that were grown in the field with such a great vigour.

“Whoa.”

For the time being, the herbivorous rhinoceros beetle was too absorbed in devouring the tousled cabbages that it completely ignored the villagers who were attacking, trying to drive it away.

Somehow, the villagers’ desperate attacks might only be seen as something slightly annoying to the gigantic rhinoceros beetle.

After all, physical attacks don’t work on it…

But it would be quite dangerous if the Armored Insect were to swing around those huge horns even if it was only thinking of driving away the annoying ‘flies’ around it. If one were to get stroke by it—even only for a bit—it could already send one flying.

Ah, and Carl-san was over there.

Then, he used the [Shell Smash] skill to attack the Armored Insect—

E-eh?

For some reason, it didn’t seem to mind it at all and continued to eat the cabbages…

Could it be that the attack wasn’t effective at all?!