By the Grace of the Gods: Volume 2

by Roy

  “Yeah, that’s right. Whaddabout it?”

  “I received a letter of introduction from the Adventurer’s Guild guildmaster. He told me to come here and show you this.”

  “Worgan? Now ain’t that odd... You’re a newbie, right? We’re not a cheap place, though our quality is guaranteed. You have cash?”

  “Yes, I don’t know the value of weapons, but I can pay up to 30 small golds.”

  “That’s more than enough, then. What didya use until now?”

  “I normally use a bow and arrow, but maneuverability inside the mines is a bit...”

  “I see... In that case, you can use a dagger like you mentioned, or a short spear or single-handed sword would be good.”

  “Then I’ll take two daggers, and do you have any throwing knives?”

  Even though I had a throwing weapon mastery skill, I had only used rocks until now. This was a good chance to stock up.

  “It’s 1 small gold for 10. They’re expensive but good. If you retrieve them afterward and maintain them, they’ll last a while.”

  “Then I’d like to purchase 10 throwing knives and two daggers, please.”

  “One dagger is 2 small golds, so two and 10 knives makes 5 small golds. And you needed armor too, right?”

  “Yes, the easier it is to move around in, the better. What kinds do you have?”

  “If you want mobility, it’s leather you’re after. Monster leather is more sturdy than your run of the mill metal armor, too. There are full-body armors out there that have been enchanted with magic to move as smoothly as leather... but those aren’t in circulation here, and we don’t stock ’em either.”

  “Then I shall take the monster leather armor.”

  “Gotcha. However, I’ve only got two that would fit your build. If you want something else adjusted, it’ll take a day or more. So which will it be? Wanna see them all?”

  I had to use it tomorrow, so I needed to buy it today.

  “I’m going to the mines tomorrow, so just the armors I can buy today please.”

  “Aight, then.”

  The man went around the back and brought out two armors.

  “These two are the monster leather armors. One is made from the skin of a grell frog. It’s bendy and easy to move in, and is sturdy enough in its own right. It’ll cost you 4 medium silvers.”

  The texture was like rubber. Frogskin, huh...

  “The other armor is made from the hard skin of a lizard. This one’s pricier and will cost you 5 small golds.”

  “That’s a rather big difference in price.”

  “It’s a matter of materials. The hard lizard lives in the wastelands and are rarely spotted. On top of that, they have an ability similar to the neutral spell Physical Enhancement, so they’re quite difficult to hunt. Your average weapons can’t cut them, and magic often ends up damaging the skin. I’ve lowered the price quite a lot already, y’know?”

  Physical Enhancement wrapped the skin with magic energy, raising defense and making it harder to wound the body. Monsters that could use it would surely be difficult to hunt.

  “To defeat it properly, you need both luck and skill. But the leather’s light and can harden if you pass magic energy through it. It enhances durability while keeping the flexibility of the leather, so it’s light and easy to move around in. It’s even sturdier than regular leather. That’s why it’s popular among magicians that don’t have as much physical energy. However... this one was made from the leftover leather of another armor, so there wasn’t enough material to go around. I could only make one the size of a child like you. That’s why adult adventurers can’t wear it, but at the same time kiddie adventurers like you don’t have the coin. I don’t have the material to amend the size either. And so, it’s remained unsold for two years now. If you have the money, I’d be most grateful if you bought this one. The quality of this one is definitely better.”

  Indeed, based on his description this one did seem substantially better. The guildmaster personally recommended this store, so he should be trustworthy...

  “I understand, I’ll take the hard lizard armor.”

  “Much thanks. Your weapons and armor come to a total of 10 small golds.”

  I took my coin bag out of my Item Box and paid for the purchase, which the man confirmed before handing me the daggers, knife, and armor to put away.

  “Thank you very much. I didn’t introduce myself earlier, but I’m Ryoma Takebayashi. I’ll be back again if I ever need something.”

  “Right. I’m the owner, Darson Digger. That armor will last you long if you maintain it well and avoid being reckless. Once you outgrow it, come back to buy another. I’ll give you a discount next time.”

  I thanked him for his words and returned to the inn.

  ■　■　■

  The next day.

  We set out for the abandoned mines early in the morning, rattling along in the carriage. The path gradually grew bumpier, but the weather was pleasant and we should be arriving soon, since it was roughly three hours’ travel from the town...

  “...”

  I wonder why? Eliaria seemed to be acting strangely. She was sitting beside me, but she hadn’t spoken much since breakfast, seemingly deep in thought.

  “My Lady, are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  At least she didn’t appear to be sick... maybe she was nervous?

  “Is it possible that you haven’t fought with monsters before... and this is your first time?”

  “That’s not true. I wouldn’t say I’ve had a lot of experience, but...”

  “Then you should relax a little, Elia.”

  “Grandfather...”

  “That’s right, you won’t sound convincing at all if you don’t calm down a little.”

  “Not you too, Mother...”

  “Hahaha, it’s been a while since the last time, after all. We’ll be arriving soon. Shall we go over what we’re doing today?”

  Figuring it would be more distracting than doing nothing, Reinhart began to speak.

  “First, the place we’re heading to is called the North Gimul Mine. As its name implies, it’s a mine located to the north of Gimul Town, and it’s been abandoned already. Now, what is our goal there?”

  “To investigate the mines. We need to gather information before we can put out a cleanup request at the Adventurer’s Guild. And it’ll also be practice for me.”

  “That’s correct. Normally we’d be able to reference the regular patrol reports from the public office, but... after the investigation the other day, we found they’d been dipping their hands into the funds for the northern mines too. The reports won’t be as reliable. That’s why we’ll be going through several mineshafts to gather information on the monsters we see inside, then use that to make a request for the Adventurer’s Guild.”

  It was unclear how many monsters there would be inside the entirety of the north mines, but eliminating them all would be a large job spanning over several days. That’s why today was both practice and a simple investigation.

  The reports from the public office weren’t reliable, but there had been no sightings of high rank monsters discovered. It would be good practice for a child.

  I swayed with the carriage as I looked between the nervous Eliaria and blue sky outside the window.

  Chapter 2 Episode 4: Abandoned Mine Investigation

  “Everyone ready?”

  ““Yes!””

  We immediately got to work investigating once we arrived at our destination. Right now, we were in front of the entrance of one of the mineshafts. However, the ground was covered in tall grass and the exposed rock around the mineshaft was covered in crawling ivy... It must have been a long time since any humans were here.

  Eliaria entered the mineshaft with the four usual escorts. The other escorts had come along as well, but they were apparently going to hunt monsters down a different shaft to us.

  Furthermore, Reinhart and Elise were going to investig
ate as a pair, while Reinbach would be on his own.

  When I asked if that was all right, Jill answered.

  “Don’t worry. The three of them used to travel as adventurers. Lord Reinbach has even received medals for his service in the squabbles of neighboring kingdoms. Monsters lurking in an abandoned mine so close to town won’t even scratch him.”

  “They don’t actually need us to escort them. The three of them like walking where they want to go and prefer to look after themselves. They have everything they need if Sebas is with them. We didn’t follow them into town, yeah?”

  “Unlike most high nobility, the young miss’s family doesn’t like exaggerated formalities. They’ll hire brazen fellows like us as long as we’re capable of working, and tell us to talk to them normally if we’re not in public or before other nobles.”

  Apparently, the three of them were fairly strong at swords or magic too. I could understand that, but was that really fine? Yeah, I guess it must be.

  “We’ll do our best too, Ryoma!”

  Eliaria usually wore a simple dress made of fabric that even I could tell was high quality, but she was in a shirt and pants today for easier movement. She had what was probably monster leather armor on top of that, and was brimming with motivation.

  Did her nerves ease a little?

  As we were talking, I noticed Elise waving at us from the entrance of another shaft a distance away. Did Eliaria’s voice reach her? After we returned her wave, she gave one more big wave before entering the mineshaft with Reinhart.

  Once we saw her off, we also headed inside the mine. Zeph led the way, followed by Jill and Hughes, then Eliaria and I. Camil and my slimes brought up the rear.

  We formed a line and walked, but the inside of the shaft was dark. A dozen or so steps in from the entrance and the whole area near the entrance was dark.

  “Tch, looks like there aren’t any shaft lamps after all.”

  “Maybe they took them all to use in the east mines?”

  “They should have kept them installed until the mine was officially declared abandoned... but based on how it looked outside, the management had been sloppy. If they reused the facilities from here, they’d be able to keep down costs of the east mines for a bit.”

  “And then they pocketed the extra cash, I see.”

  “That’s the logical conclusion...”

  “No matter the truth, it is easy to suspect them. Such is the fate of someone who has betrayed the trust of another. Please be careful, young miss. Light.”

  Jill wrapped up the conversation and casted a ball of light with basic light magic.

  The ball of light hovered above our heads and lit the mineshaft. It didn’t reach all the way to the back, but it was enough to see around us.

  “Young miss, young master. Please watch where you step. While there won’t be any here for obvious reasons, labyrinths and the like can have traps. Spotting them is the role of scouts like me. Today is just a practice, but you must always take care not to step out in front of us.”

  “Okay!”

  “Got it.”

  We continued walking until something came into view in front of us, at which point Zeph ordered us to stop. I took a closer look, and...

  “A bug?”

  It was a praying mantis-like bug. However, its body was the same size as me — absurdly large for a mantis. It was no doubt a monster.

  ...If that was a normal insect instead of a monster, people who hated bugs would find this world hell.

  “Do you see it, young master? That’s an insect type monster called a cave mantis. It uses its raptorial forelegs to dig holes or find caves and mineshafts to live in.”

  “Tch! How annoying...”

  “Is it strong?”

  “It’s not strong. Its forelegs aren’t exactly sharp and its carapace is soft, so the miners who spot them can beat them up with their pickaxes to eradicate them. But they reproduce fast so there’s a high possibility there’ll be many of them, including the occasional advanced species, the blade mantis. They look similar to the cave mantis, so it’s hard to tell them apart.”

  “Blade mantises have sharper forelegs than the cave mantis, so if you let your guard down and miss the blade mantis among them you could end up injured. Always take caution.”

  Jill added to Zeph’s warning about the blade mantis. In that case...

  “How do you tell them apart?”

  “The blade mantis is a little bigger. Though not by much, mind you. The only thing that can help you tell them apart quicker is experience. We just so happen to have a cave mantis over there. I’ll pull it over here, so take a close look.”

  Zeph said, approaching the cave mantis alone, then returning as soon as he was noticed. Then, he blocked the attacks of the cave mantis with a small shield where Elia and I could see.

  “That is a cave mantis. Its forelegs can attack at a fairly rapid speed, so watch out.”

  “Young miss, try defeating it with magic while Zeph’s tanking the attacks.”

  “Don’t use fire magic. There’s nowhere for the smoke to go inside a cave.”

  “I understand...”

  “Ready anytime, young miss!”

  “Then... Ice Arrow! Ah! Ice Arrow!”

  The first Ice Arrow she launched had been evaded, but the second one she sent immediately after that finished the cave mantis off.

  “Your magic activation speed is a pass, but you have to take more care with your accuracy.”

  “I understand...”

  After that, we walked for another two minutes to find more cave mantises. This time there were four.

  “What should we do... I was thinking of letting Ryoma have a turn, but is four too many at once?”

  Since that was directed at me, I answered that I’d try.

  “Be careful.”

  I nodded and drew the two daggers at my waist, activating the neutral magic Physical Hardening. When I ran at the cave mantis, one of them turned my way and raised its right foreleg.

  Before it could swing it down, I used my left leg to kick the right foreleg supporting the cave mantis’s balance and broke it. The cave mantis lost its balance and collapsed. I crushed its head under my feet and turned to the second one approaching.

  The second mantis had swung its left foreleg up, so I waited for the right timing when it swung down to turn my body 90 degrees. Avoiding its attack by a hair’s breadth, I used my right dagger to slice through its joints, then my left dagger to send its head flying as I turned my body back.

  Behind it was the third one. I adjusted my left dagger from an underhand grip to an overhand one, spinning my body anti-clockwise. Evading with my right arm, I closed in. Then dropped its head with my left arm.

  “Kyah!”

  The fourth one cried out, swiping its left foreleg out horizontally. It was aimed at my head, but I was moving closer so it missed. All that was left was to parry with my right dagger, then cut off its limbs with my left. Next came the right foreleg. In the same way, I blocked with my left arm and cut it off with my right. The cave mantis had no way of resisting once it lost both its forelegs, making it easy to behead.

  ...There was no particular problem. There wasn’t even a scratch on my daggers.

  I confirmed that they had been finished off completely before returning.

  “Good work. Looks like you have no trouble with close combat. Young miss, insect type monsters can be tenacious, so never let your guard down unless you’ve twisted its neck or trampled its head like Ryoma.”

  “I understand.”

  “It was a good choice to guard yourself with hardening magic. A cave mantis’s attacks would be no problem at all with a hardened body.”

  “That’s amazing, Ryoma.”

  I was used to insect type monsters from the green caterpillars in the Forest of Gana, after all. They were weak monsters that had a lot of vitality. Having to catch them for slime food meant that I grew unwittingly used to them.

  Once we had fin
ished our first battles, we continued down the mineshaft path. Ten minutes later, I was walking in the lead with Eliaria behind me, fighting the monsters we encountered.

  The only monster in our way was the cave mantis. Rather than practice, it was more like a monotonous pest extermination, so Jill and the other agreed it wouldn’t be a problem for me to do so, but... the more we progressed, the more the number of cave mantises increased. On top of there being four to five of them at once, there was a shorter interval between them. This wasn’t a big deal for me.

  “Oof.”

  Cave mantises were really weak.

  But it was a different matter for the young miss. With her ice magic, she could aim at enemies in the distance and weaken them, lowering their numbers. While it was helpful for me to have support, the continuous battles were a strain on her stamina. The amount of magic energy she used each time was gradually increasing.

  I’m sure the four at the back would protect her if it came to it, but...

  “Playing Clay!”

  “?!”

  The foot the mantis stepped out with suddenly sunk, knocking it off balance and making it easy to finish off.

  “How about a break?” I suggested.

  “Here’s some jerky. Eating a little will help you feel better.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  The break was accepted easily.

  We were still wary of the depths of the mineshaft that could contain unseen monsters, but we sat down to rest ourselves. It was bright enough with the Light spell, and there was air ventilation coming from somewhere too. That’s why it didn’t feel suffocating at all. It was a little humid, but it was good enough to rest in.

  “Are you okay, Miss?”

  “Thank you for thinking about me. My physical and magical energy are still fine. But I do feel like I’m getting more tired than usual.”

  “It’s a common thing, being more tired fighting in a place you’re not familiar with. Especially in places like this, where you can’t tell that time’s passing. There’s nothing you can do but get used to it — that’s what practice is for. How are you holding up by the way, Ryoma?”

  Camil gave his advice before turning to me, but it was already a familiar environment to me.