By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 8

Chapter 2 Episode 8: Large-Scale Extermination Request

The next day.

Eliaria was apparently heading back to the mines to practice over everything she learned yesterday.

As for me, Reinbach asked me to accept the monster subjugation request for the mines that was sent to the Adventurer’s Guild today. Eliaria wanted to go with me, but Reinbach and Elise were opposed to that.

What they learned for themselves yesterday was the difference in experience between Eliaria and myself. The large gap in our actual combat abilities, too. On top of it being inefficient in terms of subjugation, there was also the chance the young miss would rely on me too much.

I suppose I did have trouble saying no to her...

And so, I went to the guild, where I was promptly summoned to the guildmaster’s office.

“You’re here, Ryoma.”

“You called for me?”

“It’s nothing much. The duke’s butler came by just now and put in a monster subjugation request for tomorrow. I’d just like to confirm something about that. Did you go to the mines yesterday?”

“I did.”

“Tell me what monsters appeared there. And also the condition of the mines. I’ve asked the butler for this too, but I’d like to gather as much information as possible.”

“I see. I encountered cave mantis, cave bats, and small rats, while Lady Eliaria defeated a slime. There were also metal slimes inside the mines. The mines felt like they had been abandoned for a while; there were weeds everywhere. But the mineshaft I entered felt like it was built properly, and I didn’t hear about loose foundations or cave-ins anywhere else either.”

“Then it sounds like G ranks can take on the job without problem. So there were metal slimes too, huh?”

“Yes. I was acting separately at the time, but they captured it for me as a present. I formed a contract with it.”

“Oh yeah, I heard you collect all kinds of slimes. Something like over a thousand?”

“That is correct. I currently have 728 sticky slimes, 323 poison slimes, 211 acid slimes, 11 cleaner slimes, 3033 scavenger slimes, 2 healing slimes, 1 metal slime, and 1 regular slime for a total of 4310 slimes.”

“That’s way too many.”

The guildmaster must have expected a smaller number, as he had a rather strained smile on his face.

“The scavenger slimes increased to this number in the incident the other day. Because of that, they split several times in a short time and passed 3000. Slimes can practically survive off nothing but water so they’re easy to feed, but if they had been another monster I would have been desperate for food right about now.”

“I see... Oh, that’s right. There’s another request to clean the toilet pits. Please take it if you have the time.”

I didn’t mind that since I hadn’t decided on today’s work yet, but wasn’t it a bit early?

“It’s only been a few days since the last one, though?”

“The last request went unattended for so long, we don’t know when the next one will be fulfilled! ...is apparently what they’re thinking. It also came with a threat to send all the complaints our way if we left it sitting for too long. The public office couldn’t sway the guys in the slum in the end. Several employees were told ‘deal with it,’ but they’re the same guys that have been slacking until now. Their work just can’t live up to yours.”

“I see... Got it. How many are there?”

“Thirty cubicles in total. Can you do them all?”

“My slimes have sped up a lot since last time, so if I use the entire day... there should be less to clean than last time too.”

“Then I entrust them all to you. The guys from the town are a pain.”

“Understood. Oh, what about the procedures for the monster subjugation?”

“It’s fine. You can do the procedures for that after you come back today. There’s no limit to the number of participants, and I’ll put in a word for you.”

“All right, then. Ah, is it possible to buy the monsters from the subjugation tomorrow? I could use any kills that don’t have material use as food for my slimes.”

“If it doesn’t seem like it’s worth any other value or use, go ahead.”

“Thank you very much!”

I rejoiced at the ready agreement I received as I put the guildmaster’s office behind me and headed to the same receptionist lady as last time to go through the job procedures. I figured I shouldn’t call her the receptionist forever, so I asked for her name and found out it was Maylene.

Furthermore, I also found out that 20 completed jobs was the requirement to advance from G rank to F rank, so the 30 toilet pits I cleaned out last time meant I had fulfilled that. Which meant that from today onwards, I would be treated as an F-rank adventurer.

Incidentally, the advancement requirement to E rank was 30 jobs and 1 monster subjugation. The 10 extra jobs from the previous rank plus today’s share would mean I would be an E rank adventurer right after the monster subjugation.

When I asked Maylene whether moving one rank a day was too fast, she answered, “While it certainly seems faster than usual, the monster subjugations up to E rank are all weak monsters that most adults can handle with ease, and the job requests can be completed by anyone. That’s why these ranks are more of an observation period for the guild. We look at the jobs you take, your success rate, and the frequency that you accept them to see who’s more likely to abandon their job or who only takes a job every now and then but makes sure to do it properly. As long as you take it seriously, the requirements are barely an issue. In that regard, you’ve never failed a single job and have received nothing but praise so far, so there’s no issue here.”

So that was that. As I was relieved to hear that I was doing well, I heard a soft mumble just as I was leaving the reception desk.

“Honestly, if only more newcomers were like you... It would be so much more productive if they took on the easy jobs instead of pushing and failing at harder requests...”

Her mutters lingered in my ear.

So it seemed like newbie adventurers normally hated doing odd jobs... Which made sense if they were hot-headed youths. I should take on jobs every now and then to live up to their faith in me.

With that decided, I headed for today’s job.

■ ■ ■

The next day.

The second round of toilet pit cleaning ended without issue, after which I turned in early for the night and woke with time to spare today. The time was 5 in the morning.

After I finished all my morning routines, I still had time to spare. It didn’t take much time for a man to prepare in the morning anyway. I spent the time feeding my slimes before leisurely heading out of the inn to the Adventurer’s Guild. A huge crowd of adventurers were gathered in front of the guild, along with several horse carriages on the road.

“There’s a lot more than I expected...”

All the carriages in front of the guild were for transporting the adventurers to the subjugation request. I had heard I could get a free ride if I arrived at the guild before 8, but I hadn’t imagined there would be this many people.

If it was too crowded, perhaps I should run there as a morning jog instead? The official meetup time was in front of the mines at 11 or so...

Just as I was pondering what to do, a voice called from far away.

“Hey! Ryoma!”

“Huh? Ah, Jeff!”

The one who had called me was Jeff. Upon further inspection, Leipin and Sher were with him too.

“Good morning, Jeff, Leipin, Sher.”

“Yo, morning.”

“Good morning, Ryoma.”

“Greetings, Ryoma. So you took on this job too.”

“Yes, did everyone here take it too?”

“We were nominated by the old man. The request this time should be a safe G rank one, but we’re participating just in case some large monster appears. Miya and Asagi are coming too. Though they’ve gone ahead.”

“There’ve been large jobs like this before, but the participant numbers this time are especially great...”

“That can’t be helped. The monsters in the mines are all easy targets, even for G rankers. The job request came from the lord of the domain himself, so the reward is already decent to begin with, but there’s even a bonus reward for bringing the monster corpses back. For low ranked adventurers, there’s no better time to earn money than this.”

“But I wonder who would even want to pay for these monster corpses? From what I saw on the confirmed monster list, they’re all small fry with no harvestable parts.”

“The number of monsters from a subjugation like this is way more than you would need for research, too. It only seems to be beneficial for us, so I must admit I am most curious.”

“No, they’re not being used for anything impressive. They’re just to feed familiars.”

“Ryoma, do you know something?”

“Well yes, I’m the one buying the monster corpses.”

“Oh my! So the one buying them was you, Ryoma. If you’re using them to feed your slimes, everything makes sense. There are... quite a few in your possession, after all...”

“What do you normally do to feed them?”

“They seem like they’d cost a ton to feed. I’ve heard some familiars cost a fortune to keep.”

While we were chatting, a new carriage arrived. Since it was already here, I decided to ride on the carriage with the three of them.

Several hours later.

The carriage arrived safely. The driver told us to check in at the temporary reception set up at the entrance of the mines, so we went to do that before waiting. Once it reached 11, everyone was told to gather in the square.

“The number of participants today is 264! Subjugations take place in parties of 6, for safety! No fighting over kills! Anyone who isn’t assigned to a party, come this way to check your assigned squads! And finally... earn as much as you can today!”

Everyone cheered at the guildmaster’s simple instructions to begin work before gathering into groups and heading into the mines.

...Wait, was that it? I shouldn’t be standing around. Which party was I in?

I checked the squad list to see that I was with Jeff, Miya, Welanna, Mizelia, and Cilia. It was comforting to be with people I knew already, but had the guildmaster done that intentionally? At any rate, I had to find them...

I looked around to see five people walking my way with Welanna in the lead.

“Welanna, everyone. I look forward to working with you today.”

“Same here, Ryoma.”

“Let’s do this, nya.”

“Let’s work hard today.”

“I’ll be sure to lead you properly, as the more experienced adventurer.”

“That’s impossible for you, Mizelia. We saw each other just earlier, but hey again.”

“Wha— Hey, Jeff! Isn’t that a bit rude?!”

“You might have the skills, but you’re too hasty.”

“What was that?!”

“What are you two on about... Ryoma, ignore those two. Now, time for combat checks. Ryoma, what’s your weapon? Cave bats and small rats should be easy, but have you fought cave mantises before?”

“I’ve fought them before. I normally use a bow and arrow, but I can use daggers and martial arts too. The rest of the time I use magic.”

“Then Ryoma, please focus on using your magic to attack the airborne enemies. Since no one else in our party can use attack magic.”

“It’s not that we can’t use it at all, nya! It’s just that beastkin have less magical energy, so you can’t really rely on our magic, nya. Though Cilia has more magical energy than the average beastkin...”

“Unfortunately, I can only use healing magic.”

“Mizelia and I are terrible at magic in general. We’ve given up on everything but the neutral spells for enhancement and hardening!”

“Don’t lump me together with you, I excel in enhancement and hardening!”

“That’s just a different way of saying the same thing, nya... So what element do you use, Ryoma?”

“All of them, but I mostly use earth.”

“All elements! That’s rare, nya.”

“There’s more variation in your fighting that way. By earth, you mean Earth Needle?”

“Earth Needle and Rock Bullet. Out of the other elements, the only things I can really use inside a mine would be Ice Arrow and Stun Arrow, I guess.”

“That’s more than enough. All right, let’s go!”

Thus the subjugation began.