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The Otherworld Conquest Method of a Reincarnated Porter Chapter 179

To the Demonic Dragon Mountain Range 2

「It’s up ahead.」

With Elmefiora leading the way, we keep walking for a while and reach an open area. It looks like a grassland. There’s vegetation about 50cm high.

「Be careful, not only high-ranked rabbits but also monsters from the sky will attack you here.」

「So, what should we do?」

「I want you to defeat any monsters that come near while I collect the medicinal herbs. You don’t have to kill them, it’s enough as long as you can buy me some time.」

「「「…..」」」

We fall into silence as we listen to Frederie and Elmefiora’s conversation.

In the grassland spreading out in front of us, the grass and trees are swaying gently in the wind, but there’s an indescribable eerie atmosphere in the air. Most likely, a powerful monster is lurking there.

Drat, I have a bad feeling about this and I can’t stop sweating. It’s a bit too dangerous, isn’t it? But thinking about Elmefiora, I can’t afford to back down there.

「Sei, you take up your shield and protect Elmefiora. We’ll surround you on all sides and fight to keep the enemies away.」

「Yeah…」

If Frederie and the others are going to protect me and Elmefiora, then there’s nothing more reassuring. There’s no room for doubt about their abilities.

「However, if I judge that we won’t be able to protect you, we’ll take the liberty to retreat. The job we accepted is to accompany you gather medicinal herbs, not to serve as your guards, after all.」

「Yeah, that’s fine.」

Geeh, seriously?

I see, so that’s why they didn’t protect Elmefiora in the battle against the goats. Damn it, it looks like I can’t rely on them completely. I’ll also have to be constantly on the alert and take part in the battle. If possible, I would rather wait here, though.

「Umm, Sei-kun, you’re a porter, so you don’t have to push yourself. You can wait here…」

「No need to worry. I’ve been to the demonic dragon mountain range many times, after all. I’ll definitely protect you, Elmefiora-san.」

「Sei-kun…」

Shoot, I end up getting carried away.

However, staying here alone is similarly dangerous. In that case, the best thing to do here is to act cool and do her a favor. Besides, maybe I’m just worrying too much. There’s also the chance that we’ll be able to collect the medicinal herbs surprisingly easily.

「Alright, are you ready? Everyone, crouch. There might be a monster that’s good at detecting magical energy. As much as possible, we’ll go at it without using magic until we get into battle.」

Frederie and the others unsheathe their red iron swords and start to move while maintaining their combat readiness.

I see, I guess mithril equipment is disadvantageous in a situation like this. When you channel magical energy into mithril equipment, its attack and defense power increases, but when you don’t channel magical energy into it, it is incredibly fragile. That’s probably why most adventurers wear red iron equipment. Well, I’m a porter and can keep all sorts of equipment in my storage, so if I can use it well, I think I’ll be fine.

I take out an iron shield and stand close to Elmefiora.

「…..」

Everyone is silent as we step into the grassland, concealing our presence all the while.

Not good, I’m crazy nervous.

I start walking while making full use of my presence detection and magical energy perception skills. I don’t think there are any presence of enemies nearby, but I can’t let my guard down. There may be a type of monster that can hide their presence. Besides, I feel like there’s a powerful monster somewhere. Well, they’re probably everywhere in this forest, so it’s only natural that there are, though.

「…..」

We keep walking for a while, but we still haven’t encountered any enemies. However, Elmefiora is unable to find any medicinal herbs, so we have no choice but to continue further in.

Everyone is silent, but their steps are slowing down. They probably don’t want to go any further.

「Elmefiora, any further is…」

「Ah, there it is, yellow silk grass.」

Just as Frederie stops walking and decides to retreat, Elmefiora seems to have found the medicinal herb.

The moment everyone relaxes their mind in relief, Jocon on the left releases his magical energy and leaps out.

Clang!

A metallic sound rings out, and when I look over, I see Jocon exchanging blows with a monster with his sword.

Appraisal!

 

Head-hunting Vorpal Rabbit, Rank 41

 

It’s a large rabbit, about two meters long, with sharp claws extending from its hands, and it is calm as it blocks Jocon’s red iron sword. Its slanted red eyes are radiating murderous intent, and although I can’t read its expression, it appears to be angry. I wonder if it identified us as foreign enemies invading its territory.

Clang, clang, clang!

「Kuh, this guy, it’s fast!」

Jocon and the rabbit are exchanging blows, but he can do nothing but defend himself against the rabbit’s series of attacks. Not good, it’s an agility-type monster, which I’m not good against.

「Haaah!」

Rogyra joins the fight from the side, closing in on the rabbit at high speed with instant step and unleashing a sideways slash at it.

A red horizontal slash runs across the rabbit’s stomach, causing it to bleed. He then unleashes a follow-up thrust attack, but the rabbit escapes to its rear with a swift movement.

「Alright, just like this, let’s retreat…」

「Not yet, I haven’t gotten enough medicinal herbs yet.」

「But…」

「Please, just a bit more, I only need a bit more, so…」

「Tch, other monsters might come over. Hurry up.」

Frederie is about to decide to retreat, but it seems we haven’t gotten enough medicinal herbs yet. This is yellow silk grass, huh. I guess I’ll look for it, too.

Jocon and Rogyra start fighting the rabbit, making a violent metallic sound echo through the area. With such a fierce battle, the monsters nearby should have noticed our presence, too. It should be fine if I use my magical energy too.

I put the iron shield into my storage, take out a mithril shield, and channel some magical energy into it.

「Damn it, looks like there’s another one in the back, Brai, I’ll join the battle too. Whether to serve as their guard or retreat, you can act according to your own judgement.」

「Roger.」

Fredeire also goes off towards the rabbits.

As before, Elmefiora is desperately searching around for medicinal herbs. I also try to look for them while keeping an eye on the surrounding area, but I just can’t seem to find them.

Buzzzzzzz.

Not good, this buzzing sound. I have a bad feeling about this.

「Elmefiora, Sei, get ready to retreat.」

When I hear Brai’s voice, I look into the sky, to see a swarm of mad bees beginning to circle around there.

Appraisal!

 

Mad Bee, Rank 33

 

Not only is their rank high, there are too many of them. It’s not realistic to fight them.

I start to channel magical energy into my shield. It’s time to retreat.

「Ah, there it is, over there!」

Elmefiora seems to have found the medicinal herb.

The direction she is pointing is directly below where the bees are circling around. Are you serious? As expected, I don’t have the guts to go there.

「No, let go!」

「No can do, we have to retreat.」

Brai grabs Elmefiora, who is trying to head towards the medicinal herbs, and is trying to retreat.

That’s a natural decision. We can just come here again after some time, after all.

「Please, I don’t have much time. Let go!」

「…..」

Elmefiora refuses to back down.

As expected, it seems like she has some kind of situation.

Damn it, it’s too dangerous to stay here like this. And I absolutely don’t want to come back here again.

I take out one strength restorative medicine from my storage and throw it into my mouth. If it’s just me, I should be able to manage one way or another, even if I take some damage.

「Sei!」

「Sei-kun!」

With the voices of the two behind me, I use instant step and jump out directly under the swarm of bees.

The yellow silk grass is…over there.

As soon as I catch sight of the medicinal herb I’m after, I feel the swarm of bees closing in.

No good, I won’t make it in time. The attack is coming!

「Oraaa!」

Bashing them with my magical energy-imbued mithril shield, I knock down the approaching bees and push my way forward, toying with them with zigzag movements so they can’t lock their target on me.

I got it! I skillfully slip through the bees’ attacks and pull out the yellow silk grass I am after from the ground. There is another one nearby, so I take it too. With this many, it should be enough…

「Ugh.」

Thud thud thud.

I feel an impact on my back.

Damn it, it seems I’ve been hit by the bees’ stinger attacks.

Two of them hit me through my armor so they don’t do any damage, but one is aimed at the gap in my armor and causes me excruciating pain.

I crush the strength restorative medicine in my mouth and swallow it. Then, swinging my shield around, I start running in the direction of Elmefiora and Brai.

「I got the yellow silk grass. Run!」

Urged by Brai, Elmefiora begins to run back the way we came.

It seems Frederie and the others have also decided to retreat.

I continue running while serving as the rear guard. The dreadful buzzing of bees is echoing behind me. Holy shit, just how many of them are there? If I group up with my comrades now, I’ll end up taking these bees with me. But staying here is not an option.

At that moment, I sense a tremendous amount of magical energy in the sky above me.

This, is it Elmefiora’s magic? If so, I can be at ease…

Slash! Slash slash! Slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash!

Blades of wind with tremendous firepower are generated, chopping up the bees one after the other.

Yay, with this, I’m saved.

Slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash!

「Ouch!」

The blades of wind rain down on me, too.

Elmefiora-san, to think you’d attack me as well… W, well, it’s an emergency, so I guess it can’t be helped. The demonic dragon armor I’m wearing gives me wind magic resistance, so it’s not that big of a deal, though.

Still, that’s incredibly powerful wind magic. Err, it has that much firepower, so if I wasn’t wearing armor with wind resistance, I might have ended up on the verge of death, you know?

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

「Huh?」

Along with a loud buzzing sound, I sense powerful magical energy in the sky above and look up.

There, I see a giant dragonfly hovering in the air, unleashing wind magic and mowing down the bees one after another.

Appraisal!

 

Six-winged Gluttonous Demon Dragonfly, Rank 77

 

「Geehh?!」

Crap, I’m going to die.

So the user of wind magic is not Elmefiora, but this dragonfly, huh.

What should I do? Fighting is not an option. I have no choice but to run away.

I hide my presence and blend in with the bee corpses so as not to attract its attention. Then, without looking back, I slowly move towards Elmefiora and the others.

「…..」

It’ll be fine, right? Well, even if it fires wind magic at me, my armor should be able to withstand it. What to do if it uses earth magic or something… At any rate, there’s no point in thinking about that. Erasing my sound and presence, I somehow manage to get out of the grassland and return alive to where Elmefiora is.

When I look back for one last time, I see the dragonfly munching on the bee it has killed. I feel like our eyes meet, but it seems to be engrossed in its meal and shows no signs of attacking us.

「Sei, you did well make it out alive.」

「Sei-kun, thank you so much.」

「Well, this much is nothing. More importantly, let’s hurry on.」

The truth is, thinking that I was going to die, I was so close to peeing my pants, but I can’t help but act cool in front of a beautiful woman.

At any rate, we’ve managed to find the yellow silk grass safely. All that’s left is the propagating magic moss and the magic polypore.

We start walking towards the next medicinal herb gathering spot.