Chapter 14 – First monster extermination!
“The capital is already so far away!”
I heard Elysia’s voice from over my head.
It’s been half a day since we left the capital on the back of Hell White towards Tialus.
Hell White was the name of the horse we bought yesterday.
It was a mix between a normal horse and a bicorn.
“Alec-sama, are you okay not looking at the capital?”
Who knows what could happen if I turned my head in this situation.
Elysia and I are currently both sitting on Hell White. Me at the front and Elysia at the back.
That’s why everytime Hell White sways a bit, the soft things behind my head could cause all kinds of wrong things. Not to mention how our legs are in constant close contact already…..
Anyhow, I already seriously regret not buying a carriage, or at least two horses, for the trip.
However, if we take the ease of using 《Teleport》 into consideration, this is the best choice.
Also, I can store most of our luggage in my 《Pandora’s Box》 , so there is no real need for a carriage either.
Both Elysia and I are wearing simple black robes, so even bandits might not attack us, since it should be clear that we are not nobles or members of the imperial family.
I speak to distract myself from my embarrassment.
“T-the capital is something I’ve seen a lot already…..rather than that, even though this is our first time on a horse, we managed to get on it okay.”
“I used to ride a donkey quite a bit. Also, this horse seems to be quite a calm one.”
“The stable master said it’s quite temperamental though.”
Hell White did not show any discomfort from us touching it.
“Even so, it’s strange that they let us through the gate so easily.”
“No one saw us off at the palace either. I guess that means they don’t care if we get caught by bandits.”
“If they knew what you could do with your magic they wouldn’t be saying that I think, Alec-sama.”
“They would be so scared that they would try to kill me instead…. Well, it’s possible some are already planning on it.”
“To kill you, Alec-sama? But you didn’t do anything wrong.”
I nodded.
“As someone from a monastery, you must be aware of the Order of the Most Holy Church, right?”
“I know of them. It’s a sect that espouses the supremacy of the God of Light within the Luxian Church.”
Originally, the God of Darkness was worshiped the same as all the other elemental gods. God that brought misfortune was still a god.
However, gradually the God of Darkness came to be hated and people stopped considering it a god at all.
On the other hand, the God of Light that brought blessings to the people underwent a huge rise in popularity and started to be considered the supreme god.
They gained more and more followers throughout the years after that, and now there are quite a few people in the highest echelons of the Luxian Church that openly belong to the Order of the Most Holy Church.
“They openly hold demons and people with Dark Crests in contempt.”
“That’s right. Not all of them are that bad, but there are also radicals among them that conspire to exterminate everyone with a Dark Crest.”
“So those people would aim for Your Highness?”
“It’s a possibility.”
Rather, it’s something that happened once last time around.
While I was a student at the magic academy, one of the students that belonged to the Order of the Most Holy Church tried.
However, the incident was swept under the rug and the student in question wasn’t even punished.
Fearing for my life, I could only seclude myself in the palace after that.
“That could be problematic. We need to be vigilant then.”
“Indeed, since there is a possibility that people from the Order could be wherever we go, but….we also have 《Teleport》.”
After making sure there aren’t anyone at our destination, I could 《Teleport》 there with Hell White in tow.
I’ve already tested it a few times, so Hell White got used to it by now.
“I think….we could take our time a bit more though.”
Elysia said with a mildly dissatisfied tone.
I don’t know if I can hold out in that case.
I haven’t been able to use it too many times thus far, since there were a lot of people around the capital, but depending on the place, I think I will be able to cut down on our travel distance considerably.
“Today’s planned destination is the town of Lucion.”
It’s a two day distance on foot, but at this pace we should get there by afternoon.
While I was thinking about that, voices from further ahead could be heard.
“Call the guards! It’s a monster!!”
Taking a good look at them, it seems they were peasants running towards us.
“Did some goblins appear or something? ….no, that’s-”
Chasing after the peasants was a huge snake five times a person’s height.
“So it’s a Death Snake.”
It’s among the highest class of monsters that tend to appear near the capital. There are records of a single one eradicating an entire small village by itself.
“What will we do, Alec-sama?”
“You seem to be quite calm, Elysia.”
“I’ve fought undead snakes of that size from time to time at the church.”
“So you’ve fought something scarier already…. First, I will attack it with Dark Magic. If I fail to take it down, then you also attack it with your sword, Elysia.”
“Understood.”
We got down from Hell White and started walking by the running peasants in the direction of the Death Snake.
“H-hey, you two.”
“Leave this to us and run!”
Saying that I raised my hand in front of me.
“──《Shadow Cutter》!”
I shot a compressed blade of Dark mana at the Death Snake. It’s a spell I made by copying the mechanics of 《Wind Cutter》.
A Death Snake’s skin is thick and said to be as hard as steel.
One hit will most likely not be──
“It worked!”
The Death Snake just slumped down after the attack cut into it.
“That was excellently done, Alec-sama!”
“Ah, thank you.”
…..I was able to take it down like it was nothing, but I heard that even adventurers tend to fight for a while before they manage to bring one of these down.
We walked closer to it, but it showed no signs of trying to move. It was totally dead.
“It’s really huge from up close….”
This was my first time fighting a monster. I felt a bit bad after seeing its flowing red blood, but it wasn’t something that could be left alone or it would attack the people living nearby.
“What should we do with this one, Alec-sama?”
“Its skin and fangs would sell for a lot. Its meat tastes bad and also somewhat poisonous, so I think it would be better to not touch it.”
“In that case, please let me do the dismantling.”
“You can do that?”
“I can dismantle livestock and everything…..really everything.”
“T-then by all means.”
Then, Elysia started dismantling the Death Snake with assured movements.
I used Water Magic to wash away the blood and Wind Magic to dry it with.
Meanwhile, the peasants came back.
“Thank you very much for that. You really saved us there.”
“This is for you as a sign of our thanks.”
Everyone left us some kind of fruit and left.
I tried protesting that it’s fine, but they still left them.
In that case, let’s just gratefully accept them.
With the dismantling done, we packed up the snake skin onto Hell White and left the place.
“We can get good money for a Death Snake’s skin. This will be a good income already. Also….we got this much fruit as well.”
“Let’s savor those later. Apples are delicious if you bake them a bit first.”
“Hnn, I look forward to that one.”
“Since it’s something we got as a sign of gratitude, it will taste even better.”
Like that we resumed our trek towards the nearest town, Lucion.
No need to rush the TL. I for one is more interested in quality than quantity!