Kujonin Chapter 96

Kujonin
Author: Hanabokuro
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The next day I woke Merumo up early and left the inn. When we left it, Alfred-san and Savoy were waiting.
It appears that they had received an extremely large reception party after they had persuaded the King last night.
"Are you leaving?"
"Yeah, we still have work left, so."
"Work, is it…? Hm, if that's the case we can't stop you…"
"Alfred-san. Do you know of any heroes besides Garcisan?"
He's an official of the Central Government, so I was thinking he'd surely have a large network and also be knowledgeable about the affairs of the world.
"Are you looking for heroes?"
"Well, sort of."
I scratched my face as I said so.
"The hero of the Ruginia Alliance is Garcia, and only him. I've heard there's a hero in a country to the far east. I don't know the details, but my elder sister, Margaret, should likely know of it. It would be good if you visited my elder sister if you happen to be in the area."
"Got it."
"Aah, that's right. Take this with you."
Alfred-san handed me an envelope. It seems there's a letter inside.
"Please hand this over to my elder sister. I've written regarding what your compensation should be once the tollways are completed."
"Ah, roger that."
"Well then, another time. I've worked a bit too hard, so…"
So saying, Alfred-san entered the inn with Savoy attending to him.
"Yes, see you another time."
I stretched out my Achilles tendon in front of the inn, did my preliminary exercises, and began running.
Merumo also followed me frantically.
Once we left Nokking Hill, the castle-town city the guards called out to me, but when I showed them my Adventurer's Card, they let me pa.s.s without trouble.
Merumo's rank is high so it seems that they thought I was her servant or something, but Merumo denied it vehemently. It doesn't matter, so hurry up and come on.
I ran in a way to avoid running into monsters, but Merumo directly fought them.
You could say that Merumo's fighting style is intense or something; I'm not sure if she's thinking of them as blood bags that spout monster blood or something, but anyway, she recklessly beat them with a club, becoming bathed in the blood splatters. When I decided to have them dismantled at Gnomefield, I stuffed the monster corpses in the item bag.
"Should I use Cleanup on you?"
I asked Merumo.
"No, I was thinking of defeating another few before reaching Gnomefield, so I'll ask you to after that."
"I'd like to return as soon as possible, okay? Don't get involved with the monsters too much."
"Understood."
Merumo said as much, but it seems like she can't not-strike any monsters that enter her eyes.
"Are you some super battler or something? I'm confiscating your club. I'm giving you a wood stick in exchange."
I took the club from Merumo and handed her a stick that had fallen to the ground."
"No way…"
"Don't give me, 'No way!' Even though you weren't like this on the way over, why are you killing monsters to this degree on the way back?"
"President was pulling the carriage on the way over, so I thought it would be bad if I became a hindrance."
"So, what? You thought it was okay to be a hindrance on the way back?"
"… Teehee."
Merumo laughed to avoid answering.
"Don't 'teehee' me!"
Without even being troubled by my scolding, Merumo began swinging the stick, defeating an ostrich like monster pa.s.sing by with one strike.
"Hey! Don't defeat monsters while I'm talking to you!"
Just what kind of training has Ayl given her?
I took recovery medicine out of my item bag and cured the bird monster.
"But come one~"
"Listen up. No matter how much we call ourselves exterminators, each and every plot of land has it's own ecosystem, so we can't excessively or recklessly kill monsters."
"I understand! But during this time, Seth's is probably raising his level."
"What? Merumo, are you viewing Seth as a rival?"
"I don't want to lose to someone who entered at the same time as me."
Merumo swung the wooden stick as she spoke.
How unexpected. Well, I do know that having a rival can be beneficial, but I feel like we're a different type of company. Ayl, Velsa, and I are the type who do our own things, so we don't care too much about the matters of others, but people like Merumo are probably the average."
"You know, Merumo."
"What is it?"
"For example, Ayl has the Swordsmanship Skill and can create small craters on the ground, right?"
"Yes, Ayl-san's swordsmanship is amazing!"
"But you see,"
I strayed from the road, entered the wasteland, and struck the ground with all my strength.
A small crater appeared.
"See?"
I told Merumo as I showed it to her.
"It's not 'See?'! What are you doing!?"
"Basically, you don't necessarily need the Swordsmanship Skill to make a small crater of this degree. Whether you use swordsmanship or just hit it, the result's the same. For our company, it's better results can be attained through all sorts of different methods. It's better to have more options. Because in that case, if anyone fails, someone else's method might do better."
"I see, I see."
Merumo nodded.
"It would be a plus for our company if you didn't focus only on becoming physically strong, but also developed your own personal talents."
"I see! Then, how should I go about making a crater?"
"So you don't understand?"
"Eh!? Wasn't that what we were talking about?"
"Yeah, no; it was about how you don't have to get physically stronger than you are."
"It's fine if we're not strong!?"
Merumo tilted her head.
"No, I mean it's not like we have to make a ton of craters, right?"
"…. Of course! Isn't that obvious? We're an extermination company."
Duh? Merumo gave me that kind of look.
"You little … in other words, if Merumo raises her skill that can control monsters, a crater can be created by controlling monsters that can use earth magic, right? The result is the same."
"Aah, I see!"
The ostrich-like monster came to and, rising unsteadily to its feet, it ran off.
"Ah, that's right, Merumo, you seem to be stimulated when you see blood, but are you also no good with the image of it?"
"Image?"
"I understand how you a.s.sociate seeing blood with life. But are you also no good with imagining the blood vessels of the bird monster that's running right now and thinking about the blood flowing within?"
I asked as I pointed at the ostrich-like monster running away.
"Blood vessels?"
Eh? Does she not know about blood vessels?
"Ooh, seriously? You dismantle monsters a lot, right?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Right, that's the case. You also cook."
But she doesn't know about blood vessels despite that?
"We'll chase after that monster."
"Okay."
We chased after the ostrich-like monster.
The ostrich like monster returned to its own nest, and within the nest were chicks. They were chicks that hadn't grown feathers in yet.
I saw them with the Search Skill, but Merumo looked at the chicks like like they were some rare thing.
I approached the nest and said,
"Merumo, do you know why blood spurts?"
"Why is spurts … why does it?"
Ignoring the parent bird's attack, I picked up a chick, spread out a wing that hadn't had its feathers grown in fully, and held it to the sun's light.
The blood vessels inside the wing were apparent when the sun hit it.
The chick was crying, Gii, gii, but I'm just going to have it cooperate for a bit.
"I think you've seen them when dismantling monsters, but these red lines are blood vessels. Blood will spurt when you cut them."
"Right."
"And so, around your chest is the heart(shinzou), an organ that acts like a pump sending blood through the blood vessels through your entire body."
"The 'heart,' is it?"
"That's right. I think you can tell if you place your hand on your chest, but the heart will continue to send out blood until you're dead."
"All the way until death?"
"That's right. Where the blood vessels are thick, the blood flows at a speed much faster than when I seriously run."
I've heard it can reach speeds of 200 kilometers per hour. Although I don't know if it's true.
"Eh!? Really!?"
I nodded at her.
"So? Does imagining that get you over-excited?"
"It won't!"
"Alright, then try touching it a little!"
I handed the chick I had to Merumo.
The chick's heart was pulsating quickly like an alarm bell.
"oooOOO! This is blood flowing!"
"Try feeling the parent bird's as well!"
"Okay!"
I grabbed the ostrich-like monster that's been poking me and handed it to Merumo.
"ooOOO! President!"
"What!?"
"I got a weird Skill all of a sudden!"
"Eh!?"
"Med ical Examination?"
"The Medical Examination Skill!?"
When I also felt the monster's pulse and imagined the blood vessels, the Medical Examination Skill appeared.
My level has been considerably raised since I last took a skill, so I have about 40 skill points saved up.
I immediately put points in the Medical Examination Skill, raising the skill level to 5.
It was an unexpected gain. It's a skill that can be used in the future when we have illnesses or diseases, so let's do it.
To test it out I tried using it on the ostrich-like monster, and it's skeleton, internal organs, and insides were all laid bare.
What will happen if I try it on a human?
"President! You're face looks like you're up to s.e.xual hara.s.sment!"
Merumo said when she looked at me.
"Wh,what are you saying!? G,give it a rest and let me try Medical Examination on you!"
"No! When we return, I'm going to tell Ayl-san and Velssan!"
"Stop that!"
Merumo ran towards the road.
"Wait, wait, if I chase after you now, I'll just look like a dirty old man, wouldn't I!?"
"President is a dirty old man!"
Merumo, who got onto the road, ran towards Gnomefield with all her might.
I also ran. With everything I had.
Pa.s.sing Merumo, I intend to get there first and give Ayl and the others an explanation.
When I approached Gnomefield, the ground was wet. It seems like it was just after the rain, but there wasn't a single puddle. As expected of Garcisan's work.
Merumo breaths sound like she's so tired she's going to die, but I can feel that she's going to run to her last breath.
Pa.s.sing the inn and the church, I headed towards the site of the plantation.
Exiting the village's houses, in front of me were two windmills spinning in the wide, burnt out plantation.
One of the windmills was the large half barrel arranged vertically. The other windmill was a large bladed windmill.
My company employees and Garcisan's household were gathered under the large bladed windmill.
It looks like they tried all sorts of things.
"Aah, welcome back!"
"Welcome back!"
Ayl and Cynthia waved their hands at us.
"I'm back!"
I also wave my hand, approaching them.
"We're back! Listen to this~ President, he was …"
Coming up from behind me, Merumo complained.
"No, it's a misunderstanding! Listen to me,"
While Merumo and I told our stories, our three company employees were astounded, and Garcisan's household laughed.
I noted that Cynthia and Ashley-san laughed the same way.