I’m Back in the Other World?

Chapter 82 – Rumors That Can’t be Missed.

Dogaaaaaaan!!!!!

A roaring sound echoes through the pure white world.

The shock raised a huge amount of snow and smoke, using it as cover I freely cast a spell and attack with my sword on the “target”.

However, being used on the unfamiliar snow, the sword cut through the skies, but failed to reach it’s mark, leaving a trail on the snow it hit.

「Kueeeee!! 」

The “Target” raised its strange voice, making its entire body glow with a bachi bachi. 1

「Almost…! 」

I fl.u.s.teredly tried to retreat, but the discharge came faster than that.

Dogooooon!!!

A flash of light was followed by a big explosion, which blew me away with the snow all around me.

「Argh… it’s a S rank monster, indeed. It’s not going to be easy… 」

Due to the improved defensive magic, I did not receive any wound,  I still need to learn how to fight in this unfamiliar place, so as to make sure it doesn’t go like the fight with the dragon. I’ll need to move from place to place. 2

Grasping the sword tightly, I looked at the “target” through the soaring snow.

Just as usual, I was looking through the requests on the adventurer’s guild, when I heard some agitated words from the tea room.

「…… Thunderbird…, saw…… Tesla Mountain…… 」

Hearing that, I instinctively turned towards the voice.

Stretching my sight, I could see a group of people gossiping over while drinking some tea..

I moved from the bulletin board and went to the side of that group.

「Ano, the rumors…… May I ask you for a few more details? 」

The group of adventurers was surprised to hear my voice, and were once again surprised when they saw me, after looking at me for a bit, they started nodding though.

In the past, they would just look at me and say, 「This is not a place for kids」 or 「The receptionist is over there, were you looking for her?」, but as people got used to me here, I no longer heard this kind of thing.

…… Could it be that I’m looking more like an adventurer? Did everyone notice it, but didn’t say anything…? Fufufu, I’m almost 16 now!3 Have I been recognized as an adult?

Oto, I should listen to the story now….

「It’s not an important story though? The Tesla mountain is on a 6 days travel distance, northwest of here, right? I heard that a dangerous Thunderbird has appeared in it. A hunter that was nearby said it, but it’s unusual for Thunderbird to show up so much in the South, isn’t it? I heard from a Merchant on my travels, that the bottom part of it is pretty delicious too?4 Maa, a subjugation request will be sent soon anyway, won’t it?」

「Sou desuka? 5 Thank you very much. 」

By the w
ay, information is sold for money. Adventurers also understand this, so the talk doesn’t usually flow like this. Maa, if the story is near one of the main roads, disclosing the information is compulsory to ensure public safety…. If they’re rumors that haven’t circulated yet though, they are usually exchanged for money.

In that case, why did he tell me this easily?

「It’s a good thing. That it’s Thunderbird…. A request to defeat it won’t come as soon as it becomes well know. I don’t want to consider the trouble of going against such a dangerous monster.」

So, Thunderbird is an S-rank monster by the guild’s ranking. It is a monster usually found to the north, in the country of Soutins6. As the name says, it can call and manipulate lightning, emitting thunder from its body like an electric eel and using it to attack. It is quite a threat by itself, but it fundamentally lives in mountain zones, not really appearing in places near people.7 In other words, it is necessary to laboriously climb the mountain to kill it. And since the air is quite thing in the mountain zones, an adventurer won’t be usually able to exert their full strength in a combat against it.

Due to that, the thunderbird by itself is already considered S-rank, but adventurers treat is as something more troublesome than S-rank..

There are also other reasons that make thunderbird is famous.

That is…… its taste. Especially in winter, Rumors say that the thunderbirds’ fat gets quite juicy. Among gourmets, it’s said to be such a rare ingredient that seeing is almost the same as seeing a phantom, it is a super-high quality food that never goes out to the market.

Such ingredient… The place the monster was seen is not in the top area of the Tesla Mountain, but the in the lower part it….

If there is a request for subjugation, the request’s rank should be S. I cannot accept it in B-rank…. However, there is no request yet. It is a violation to know about it and go after it after the request is issued, but it’s not the case if it’s done before the request comes..

I left the guild hurriedly and went to the general store to buy the appropriate equipment for usage in a snowy mountain.

Please wait, my meal!

After preparing a set of snow mountain equipment and purchasing food, I left Eru with Chiffon-san8 (because Eru doesn’t go out when it’s snowing), rented a wagon, and set out for the Tesla Mountain.

After six days on the shaky wagon, I arrived at a village near the Tesla Mountain just as planned.

When I arrive at the village, I go to an inn and start collecting information first..

I do not know if I can say it was fortunate, but since people are not being able to hunt due to the thunderbird, I was able to meet the hunter who saw Thunderbird.9

In the Hunter’s story, the thunderbird was seen in the lower part of the mountain, around half a day away from the point I could start climbing. However, that was from the perspective of a hunter that’s used to the Snow Mountain, and it’s likely that it would take me more than that…

At the end of the negotiations, I was able to hire the hunter as a guide. He was quite reluctant, so I had to add a condition that he could run away as soon as we find the thunderbird. The fees also raised considerably due to the danger….

I’m no fool, I’m well aware that climbing a snowy mountain on winter without a guide is suicidal. Even if it lives at half a day distance, there is no guarantee that we’ll find the thunderbird, and if that happens, we could end up staying a night in the mountains. And being stranded in the mountains is a disaster I don’t want to expose my eyes to. Even so, the quality of its belly cannot be subst.i.tuted. Eh? Is it strange that an amateur is climbing the mountains for food? To say such a thing is no good….

The departure is tomorrow morning, so I will go back to the inn and save my energy.

What, there is a hot spring in the inn here! And a stall bath! So good, and the hot spring is filled with elegance while providing a look at the mountain filled with snow. It is quite a harmonious place.10

I’ll enter the hot springs right before dinner. It’s a hot spring, I’ll say it three times. Since there are no other guests, it’s quite free.

Although It is not that big, there is still room even if five people enter it. You can even swim if you want, right?. It should be okay to swim, right?. 11

It was refreshing in the hot spring, but dinner was… disappointing for me tongue…. I was thinking it was just like a hot spring inn from j.a.pan, but even if there is a hot spring, the food of this world…. I regretted eating dinner.

After dinner, I rested for a while and went to the hot springs again.

The hot springs during the night give a different experience than when you enter them during the day. The light of the lanterns give a completely different feeling than the day’s sun.

After enjoying the hot water, it is cold milk time! It is a shame that there is no coffee milk or fruit milk. The cold milk doesn’t make a body warmed by the hot springs cold!12 I drink a gla.s.s of milk and went back to my room to sleep, so as to be prepared for tomorrow.