In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 16 (Premium)

by Patora Fuyuhara

  In a flash, an animal leaped out from the shade. We all relaxed when we realized it was just a little deer.

  “Damn it... Got scared for a second...”

  “Ahaha! That scared you? Are you a baby, meathead?”

  “Shut it!”

  Just as Garron and Rose started bickering, the cute little deer in front of us died. It was crushed between the jaws of a massive beast that had leaped out from behind it.

  We could only stare on, shocked and horrified, as the sound of crunching bones and the smell off fresh blood weaved themselves through the air. The little deer’s head fell to the ground with a wet splat.

  The monster, its mouth entirely glazed with blood, looked over at us. It had a lion-like head, a mouth lined with sharp fangs, and a striped body. Its mane was a bloody red, and its eyes were pure gold.

  “A Blood Liger!” Rose identified it in no time at all.

  Blood Liger? Uh... That’s a magic beast that lives in the mountains and, uh... Uhm... Oh geez... Aaah... boss-lady explained this once, right?! Why did I not pay more attention back then?!

  “Groarrrrgh!”

  The Blood Liger roared furiously at us, which was typically not a good sign. We quickly came to our senses and readied ourselves for battle.

  “Get back, it’s—”

  “Haaah!”

  Rose called out, but Garron completely ignored her and charged right at the monster. He slashed downward at it, but it deftly avoided his attack. The Blood Liger quickly followed up with a massive swipe of its paw.

  “Hah... No chance!”

  Garron held up his shield and blocked the monster’s attack. He stood his ground, taking a hit that would have surely sent me flying. I was a little impressed.

  “I said get back!”

  “What?!”

  Rose called out again, just seconds before the Blood Liger released a spew of fire from its mouth.

  “Gwaaaah!”

  Garron was engulfed in flames and forced to fall back. The Blood Liger attempted to pounce on top of Garron, but Dom-san threw his hatchet. His reaction times were incredible.

  The Blood Liger leaped back, just narrowly avoiding the flying hatchet.

  “Keep away from it! Those things can breathe fire, that’s what I was trying to say!”

  Oh, right! They can totally breathe fire! I knew that!

  Surges-san started chanting and wound up casting [Rock Crash], spawning a hefty boulder from nothing above the Blood Liger’s head. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite time it right, and the beast leaped to the side. The boulder shattered against the ground as it made impact.

  “Don’t you have a faster spell?!”

  “I need to focus on incantations to cast! Don’t ask me to do the impossible!”

  Abert thrust his blade toward the Blood Liger as he complained about Surges-san’s abilities. Rose then jumped in from behind and used her whip to grab the monster’s attention.

  “We’ll handle this for now. Go help that brash moron!”

  Surges-san ran over to Garron and started casting Healing magic on him.

  “Ey, lassie! Dinnae swing yer whip around here! I’ll hit ye by accident!”

  Dom-san was about to bring his battleax crashing down on the Blood Liger, but Rose’s whip ended up getting wrapped around him. The situation was really bad. They could not co-operate at all.

  I took out a few pointy bo-shurikens from inside my clothes and tossed them toward the Blood Liger’s head. One of the bo-shurikens embedded in the monster’s eye. I wish I could have taken credit for such a great shot, but it was a pure coincidence...

  “Graaaaaagh!” The one-eyed Blood Liger turned around and charged right at me. But I was not about to let him catch me so easily.

  I jumped up and grabbed a tree branch, then swung around it once and leaped to another. The Blood Liger was chasing after me, but I was leaping from branch to branch with ease. This was my special Sarutobi jutsu, the leaping monkey style.

  Once I was far away from the rest of the party, I stopped on the ground and unsheathed my ninjato blade.

  It wasn’t all that fast, in all honesty. Compared to Moroha-sama, it moved like a slug. I could easily read its movements. So long as I avoided the flames, I was sure I could kill it myself.

  But that was a bad thing. I was told not to stand out, and I definitely could not kill the first major enemy of the quest alone...

  I had no idea what to do. The enraged Blood Liger shambled toward me, various liquids spewing from its mashed eyeball.

  “I definitely should not kill it alone...”

  My job here is to make sure that everyone else gets to kill it! I took out a tiny bottle of liquid and splashed it over my blade.

  “Grarrrgh!”

  “Hup!” I jumped to the side and nicked the Blood Liger’s shoulder with my weapon, just enough to make a shallow cut. That was all I needed. Now, all I had to do was wait for the poison to take effect.

  The liquid I had applied to my weapon was a toxic extract from one of Eashen’s death frogs. It was a poison that paralyzed the body and slowed down respiration. The more the target moved, the faster they would be affected. It just looked like lethargy at a glance, but it was far more deadly.

  I just had to go back and let the others finish it off.

  Just as I turned, I saw Mew-san appear from the treeline. She jumped down and slashed at the Blood Liger. Her blade struck true, lopping its meaty tail off in a matter of seconds.

  “GYRAAAUUUGH!”

  The Blood Liger turned around, screeching and spewing flames at Mew-san. Abert suddenly appeared from nowhere, jumping in front of Mew-san to block the flames with his shield.

  Not smart, Abert...

  “...O-Ow! Ow!”

  Though he managed to block the flames for a short while, he quickly winced in pain and threw his metal shield to the ground. That much was obvious. What was he expecting to achieve by trying to block something hot with a conductive item?

  Surges-san charged in and cast [Light Arrow] from the rear guard. Three shots rang out, but only one of them landed a hit on the Blood Liger’s head.

  The Blood Liger started to shudder and tremble. I did not know if that was a result of the magic attack making a direct hit, or the poison I had inflicted earlier. One thing was for sure, though. It was growing weaker.

  “Hah!”

  “Eat this!”

  Rose’s whip reached out and wrapped around one of the Blood Liger’s forelegs. At the same time, Dom-san jumped in and dug his battleax deep into the beast’s other foreleg.

  “Grauuugh?!” The Blood Liger’s eye narrowed. I could see the anguish and rage contained within the beast as it wobbled from side to side and fell to the ground.

  Abert, Dom-san, and Mew-san brought their sword, knife, and battleax down upon the monster. I just stood by and watched it happen.

  “Outta the way, idiots!”

  Garron finally caught up with us, running straight toward the Blood Liger. He brought his heavy sword up high above the feline’s head.

  The sheer brute force behind the swing crushed the creature’s skull, shattering it along the muzzle and obliterating its mouth.

  The Blood Liger, well and truly suiting its name at this point, finally stopped moving.

  “That’s what you get, bastard!”

  ...Man, he just stole the kill even though he did not actually do a thing... Geez. He had made another mistake, too.

  “What the hell did you do that for?!”

  “Huh?! Whaddya mean?! I killed it!”

  Rose raised an angered voice toward Garron. I was pretty tired of seeing them fight, but I understood why someone as discerning as Rose would understand his error.

  “A Blood Liger’s incisors are extremely valuable items! You just crushed them into dust, so now they won’t sell for anything at all! You pigheaded oaf, you just cost us a serious score!”

  “Guh...”

  I knew all that. It was not just specific to
Blood Ligers, actually. Any kind of magical beast incisors of that size and sharpness could fetch a pretty penny, but Garron’s reckless attack had smashed these ones to little bits.

  The larger the fang, the higher the value as a crafting ingredient. But if they were broken, then they were useless. Item value was one of the main things an adventurer needed to pay attention to when fighting.

  Mew-san gently eased the remaining teeth fragments out of the Blood Liger’s mouth. She then expertly de-clawed its paws, as well.

  “I’d want the pelt as well, but we can’t bring it with us...”

  “Mm? Why not? If we can sell it off, we’ll help you take it apart.”

  “Lugging around a Blood Liger pelt would put unnecessary strain on the rest of the mission. The scent of its blood would attract other monsters to us as well.” Rose grumbled quietly in response to Abert’s question.

  This tattooed, busty woman certainly knew a lot about handling wildlife. She was probably a hunter or poacher before she decided to become an adventurer. I felt a little bad, since I could have used the rucksack I had received from the grand duke to safely store the pelt without any issues...

  “Just bury the pelt, aye? We kin git it on our way back!”

  Dom-san shrugged and spoke pretty matter-of-factly, prompting Mew-san and Rose to start skinning the creature. Nobody wanted to get in their way, so we all stood back and watched.

  “Can we harvest it for food?”

  “Sure. You enjoy the taste of old boots?”

  Abert asked another question, which resulted in a dry response from Rose. The meat of a carnivore typically tasted pretty bad. It was usually stringy, too. There were rare exceptions, of course. Dragon meat actually tasted incredible... But it was not as if I got to eat that regularly or anything.

  Abert and I looked on as the two girls harvested the Blood Liger, while Dom-san, Surges-san, and Garron sat down nearby. Once the two finished, we buried the pelt and skin beneath a large tree a bit away from the corpse.

  Dom-san carried the teeth fragments and the claws. Once the mission was over, we all agreed to split whatever the materials sold for.

  “Let’s carry on. Nightfall is soon, we need to reach the base of the mountain by then.”

  Abert was right. It was dangerous to travel in the wilderness at night. Monster attacks intensified under the cover of darkness, and it was easier to get lost in low light.

  We quietly continued on toward the foot of the mountain. We kept on going, taking out small creatures that got in our way. Eventually, we came to a sudden stop as a shrill, bird-like chirping resounded all around us.

  “What is that?! A monster?!”

  “It’s a Horolo Bird. It’s a magical beast, but not one that’ll be a threat. It tries to scare predators away with its noises...” Mew-san spoke casually while continuing to walk ahead. That was enough for us all to calm down, and we carried on after her. Rose quickly caught up to Mew-san and began engaging her in conversation.

  “You sure know a lot about magic beasts.”

  “I was born in Mismede, in a village close to the Sea of Trees.”

  “Ahhh, makes sense. I used to work at the hunter’s association up in the imperium, so I know about the kinds of magic beasts you find up that way... Can’t say I know all that much about southern ones, though.”

  That made sense. Rose’s knowledge about magical beasts made more sense now that I knew for sure she was a former hunter. I wondered why she changed her career path.

  “You’re from the east, right? I’m assuming based on your clothes.”

  “Huh?”

  Rose turned around and threw a question my way. She probably thought it would be easier to talk to me and Mew-san since we were the only girls.

  “Y-Yeah! I was born in Eashen.”

  “Eashen, eh? You sure have traveled quite far... Isn’t the grand duke of Brunhild from Eashen as well? Is that why you came here?”

  “Ah... Y-Yes. That is why!”

  I sounded a little bit stilted, but I was not exactly a great liar.

  The grand duke was not actually from Eashen, but that was a pretty common rumor at this point.

  Brunhild was formed when the grand duke received a plot of land from Belfast and Regulus, and brought in the ninja clan headed by Tsubaki. After that the Elite Four of Takeda came in with their men as well, so Brunhild was almost completely founded by the Eashenese people.

  The architecture and food of Brunhild were also somewhat Eashen-like, which contributed to the misunderstanding. That did raise the question of where the grand duke actually came from, though. I wondered if it was Yulong, but I did not believe he would let his homeland decay like that.

  “Ah...”

  “Something wrong?”

  Mew-san, who had been leading us, suddenly came to a stop. Rose stopped too. The cat ears atop Mew-san’s head started twitching.

  “Water flow... We’re near a river.”

  “A river?” Rose turned and had Surges-san check the map.

  “There’s a river on the map, yeah. If we move along it upward, we’ll reach the mountain’s base.”

  Surges-san looked over the map before speaking to Rose. We all had a copy of the island map, but Surges-san had the most detailed one available. The pricier the map, the better the information.

  Heh... But the map on my smartphone was actually a lot more accurate! It even showed our location in relation to everything else. I could not use it, though. We eventually reached the river and started heading upstream.

  Walking by the river had its perks, but also its downsides. Magical beasts were living beings as well, so they would eventually need to drink water. That meant there was a slightly higher chance of running into one by a fresh water source. But one of the pros was that it was a clear area, which meant we would have a good line of sight against any enemies in the area.

  We kept on walking along the riverside, without encountering a single magical beast at all. I was surprised at our luck.

  The sun sank before we reached the base of the mountain, so we decided to make camp a little bit away from the riverside. We picked up some dried branches and leaves, before setting up a small campfire.

  “Where are you headed? It’s dangerous to go alone.”

  I tried to sneak away from the fireside, but Rose caught me out.

  “J-Just going to, uh... take care of some business.”

  “Ohh... I get it. Stay safe!”

  Rose smiled and waved me off as I headed deeper into the woodland.

  I was not actually going to use the bathroom, I was going to eat. But once I saw what meal was in my rucksack, there was no way I was going to eat it in front of the others. I climbed up to the top of a tree and took it out of my bag.

  “...If I ate this in front of the others, Grand Duke... they would suspect me immediately.”

  The right half of the ornate bowl I’d taken out was filled with rice. The left half was filled with thick cully, which smelled really nice and spicy... There was also a lovely fukujinzuke relish atop it... I couldn’t mistake this dish at all. It was a hefty serving of delicious cully rice.

  Our grand duke was certainly a strange guy, giving me something so good.

  “Ah... This tastes so good!”

  Cully rice was a masterwork of mealtime deliciousness. But I had implied to Rose that I was relieving myself, so I could not sit back and enjoy it leisurely.

  That being said, it was actually pretty nice just wolfing it down as fast as I could... It was truly delicious, after all.

  I finished eating and drank from my water bottle, then sent an update to the grand duke. No issues so far... Sent...

  It wasn’t like there were not any small issues, though... The Blood Liger fight honestly gave me some cause for concern. They kept getting in the way of each other, after all.

  I was not exactly expecting stellar teamwork from such a ramshackle party, but being able to adapt was a valuable skill for adventurers to have. I c
ould not say for sure that it meant they would fail, but it was not exactly promising.

  I decided to hurry back to prevent any strange suspicions or misunderstandings.

  My tummy was well and truly filled. I headed back to the campfire and lay down on the grass a little bit away from the others.

  All the others were eating the food they had brought. In terms of travel provisions, adventurers usually brought dried meats, smoked fish, legumes, and dried fruit since they kept well. But this was a short mission, so there was some bread and fresh fruit as well.

  “Mm...? I smell cully...”

  “I don’t smell anything. I guess you’re just missing food from your homeland. Anyone would if they had to eat bread this gross.”

  Mew-san started sniffing the air. Her nose twitched. Rose tapped her on the shoulder and grinned.

  Mew-san turned her head and stared me down. I pretended like I did not notice. Beastpeople had strong noses... I was worried she had exposed me. I looked over at the others and found Dom-san was stirring a pot of meat and veggie soup. He even had some alcohol with him.

  Abert walked over to the dwarf and folded his arms.

  “Really? Drinking? What if we’re attacked in the night?”

  “Divven be a fool, laddie! Booze is jus’ water tae a dwarf. Ye gonna banish me drink frum me?”

  Abert just sighed and shut his mouth. Dwarves were certainly heavy drinkers, but I knew another short person who could drink them all under the table.

  That girl was surprisingly adept at staying sober even if she looked drunk to outsiders. I had a strange feeling that she was capable of controlling her sobriety, but I had no way of proving it. Either way, she had beaten several dwarves in a drinking contest once and it left me terrified of her power.

  She managed all that despite looking like a girl far younger than me... The grand duke’s family was made up of strange, scary people.

  Abert turned from Dom-san and started to address everyone else.

  “We need to keep the fire going all night. How’re we gonna handle the rota?”

  I covertly checked my smartphone for the time. It was around eight o’clock at night. It would be about nine hours until sun-up.