Chapter 344: Change in Goals also Happen
「What will you do if you meet the king of the pill bugs? 」
「I’m gonna crush it, of course. 」
Hauron unhesitatingly declared in response to Dinosso’s query.
「If the pill bugs hold a personal grudge on you? 」
I asked while peeping from behind Retze.
「Just how many remote villages did they destroy without anyone noticing? They even infested and parasitized unsuspecting humans and ruled over a country, you know. No matter how many of them you manage to crush, they just multiply endlessly. 」
Hauron gritted his teeth as he stared at his tightly clenched fist.
「— What are you staring at? 」
「Ah, no, I just thought you’re so passionate about pill bugs. 」
I could sense a never-before-seen blazing hatred for pill bugs emanating from him.
「What to do now? 」
「Seems like he’s gonna crush the pill bugs to bits even before the peace talks begin, huh. 」
「One’s views become more bigoted as one ages, after all. 」
Dinosso and Butler replied when I consulted them.
「Well, why not explain the situation like normal? Hauron already knows how difficult it is to completely exterminate them. And you know, even if you hide behind me, I’m completely useless as a shield, alright? 」
Retze seemed exasperated.
But this is my safety zone, you know.
「What do you mean? 」
「Currently, the pill bug monsters won’t proactively attack humans. It’s just that they would become aggressive if provoked or attacked first. Today’s goal is to prevent them from counter attacking in case the rocks they hide under were turned over because of carelessness. That’s done by having a face-to-face ‘discussion’ with them.」
Retze explained on my behalf.
「Huh? 」
「It’s fine, they are quite adorable and cute once you get used to them! The key is gloss over the details!! 」
Hauron’s jaw dropped, so Chris grinned and exclaimed.
— With the exception of Retze, Hauron made all of us kneel on the ground. Butler disappeared as soon as he said he’d go look for the pill bugs. He ran away!!!
「Why didn’t you explain that right from the start!? 」
He peered into our ears to check if we’re not really being controlled by the pill bugs then gave us an earful of sermon. Oh, right, it’d be nice if I have an earpick or something.
「That’s absolutely fun — the explanation will get dragged on we did that. 」
. Dinosso said.
「Seeing is believing, after all!! 」
「I want to find them first before Butler finds them. 」
Chris and I replied.
Hauron glared at us.
「Is Jean usually like this? 」
「Well, relatively, yes. 」
Hauron pinched his forehead when he heard Retze’s reply.
「While it’s true that Jean is considerate towards his friends, things usually go awry simply because his interests and views in general are geared differently, skewed even. He’s also easily swayed with the opinions of others, because he tends to get fixated on the idea that ‘this is how things are with the other party, so that’s what I should do too’’. 」
Retze shrugged.
「Sigghhhh… Jean and Chris, go ahead. I can’t calm down if you keep on fidgeting like that. Yes, I’m not good with handling pill bugs, but I’ll do my best. Sorry, I get that you’re doing this for me.」
「Ou! Let’s hurry up and go searching! 」
「Wait here, Valmour! You already know how I’ll react, so you intentionally kept your mouth shut, didn’t you!! 」
Dinosso was about to jump to his feet, but Hauron immediately ordered him to sit down again.
Dinosso, we will never forget your sacrifice!
Leaving behind the deep, hoarse screams behind us, we pushed our way through the trees. Rain doesn’t fall frequently in this place, but it was pretty humid as we went deeper into forest.
In contrast to the bright areas where I frequently hunted bears, this place was dim even though it was daytime. Dark green leaves covered the sky and blocked the sunlight. Gnarled, twisted roots protrude from the ground.Moss hangs from the branches like the long beard of an old man.
「Being lectured by the Grand Sage-sama is such a valuable experience! What about this stone? 」
「Butler already searched over there, there are traces of the rocks being overturned. Let’s move away from this direction. 」
Retze said after Chris overturned one of the stones with his sword.
The pill bugs already memorized all the others except Hauron, so even if they were startled they didn’t do anything.
「Wahahahaha!! It’s my turn to shine!! 」
I used X-Stick to turn the stone over.
「Oh, a red lizard. 」
I pressed it with X-Stick’s tip then quickly grabbed it and tossed it into my pouch.
「That’s strange, the leaves aren’t even burning. Is this place their breeding ground? 」
「Is that a Red Poison Camouflaged Lizard? I had a hard time capturing that back when I was still in my noobie days. It’s very slippery so it’s hard to grab it, right? Ah, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t the Guild collecting them? 」
Chris’s last sentence was directed to Retze.
「Ah, right, the fee for capturing them increased this morning. There’s a lot of cases of rash fever in Erchica, I heard. 」
Retze responded to Chris.
「Rash fever? 」
If I’m not mistaken, Erchica is the kingdom with a halite mine, and it’s located on the outskirts of a region that is in the midst of a war with the Central Plains.
「It’s an illness where you get red rashes that would get even more inflamed even if you don’t scratch it, and it’s accompanied with fever that lasts for ages. Some call it red eczema though it’s technically not, and some even simply call it red rash. It’s highly contagious so it’s troublesome. It’s cured by medicine made from the mucus of red lizards. 」
「The problem is that red lizards are a pain-in-the-neck to catch, and the pay is too cheap despite being so labor intensive. 」
「Then, how about we leave the pill bugs to Noth and we go capture red lizards instead? 」
「Well, I guess we can do that, since there’s also the grass we need too. 」
Retze looked around him as he said that.
I followed Retze’s gaze and discovered that the grass used to lure red lizards also grow around here. Hmmm, I’ve been treating them as weeds, but I guess it’s time for me to properly observe what type of grass is growing in the forest while strolling in the woods. I was only looking for
edible weeds!!
This time, I cheated and used 【Search】so that we can hunt lots of red lizards. X-Stick helped a lot. Itches are annoying and it’s also said that little kids catch it fast.
We continued rummaging around for a while, and we finally returned when we couldn’t lure any more red lizards with the grass. 【Search】could still find some, but it won’t be good if they got exterminated.
「Kyaaaaaahhhhh!! Why the heck are you gonna bring that much!? Do they really have to be that much to make it work!? Of course I’m gonna cry!!!! 」
Hauron, who mistakenly thought that the bag was filled with pill bugs, shrieked even louder than before.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
Thanks for the treat.