Manowa

Zinray himself did not know the exact path to the hot springs, so Kazane and the others decided to first stop in Conrad Town to gather information on the location of the hot springs.

◎ Conrad Town, The Cookpot - Night

「Oh, that? Yeah, I know of it.」

That was said by the innkeeper Rinrie.

「Really?」

Kazane inquired into the unexpectedly quick answer.

「Yeah, I know of it. A while ago there was a plan to follow Tsuvara"s example and build a similar hot spring town. I remember it well and can a map for you.」

「Okay, may I ask for that favor?」

Kazane took out a parchment for Rinrie to use to draw a map. Rinrie said 「Sure」 and filled in the hot spring"s location.

「Will you also be buying some soup today?」

「Yeah, even without this I would buy it. It was popular among my companions.」

Is that so, is that so, Rinrie said while stirring the soup.

「By the way Rinrie.」

「What is it?」

Rinrie put the soup in a metal container as she listened.

「You said they were planning to make a similar hot spring town but did not make it after all. Why?」

After thinking for a bit Rinrie responded.

「Because it happened a while ago I don"t remember exactly, but I heard monkey monsters or something like that annihilated the investigation party. If I"m not mistaken I heard that some splendid adventurers were called to subjugate the group"s boss.」

「Oh, it is something like that.」

(Monkey monsters, huh. That seemed pretty quick.)

Kazane took notes so she could hear Zinray"s thoughts later.

◎ Near Conrad Town, Golem Cottage

After she finished learning the hot spring"s location and received the soup from Rinrie, Kazane paid the price and left the inn. Then she headed for the cottage she had previously set up that they decided would be their meeting place.

They thought about staying at the inn, but although they would only need 1 more bed for their party since Kazane and Tiara slept in the same bed, there was a large line to enter the town, so based on that it was likely there wouldn"t be enough vacancies. And since there was nothing to criticize about the environment in Kazane"s Cottage, they decided to rest inside it that night.

「Mortal Monkey. That"s what it is.」

After everyone gathered Kazane revealed the information she got from Rinrie and received that answer from Zinray.

「I did not partic.i.p.ate, but a boss Immortal Monkey was subjugated about twenty years ago.」

Sometimes a high level monster called a boss would appear from a group of monsters and lead them. It was like the Berserk Ogre they defeated one month ago.

「Are they strong?」

「Individually they"re not that powerful, but they"re the type to attack in numbers. They also move quickly and their subjugation is considered fairly high rank. Conrad doesn"t attract adventurers of a high level so there could have been a lot of damage if they ignored it. There haven"t been any reports of another Immortal Monkey after the subjugation so we shouldn"t have to worry about that for now.」

「The large groups you spoke of seem scary.」

Yumika said anxiously.

「I dislike melee battles. My specialty is supporting from range with my lightning attacks.」

「Louise-nee and the rest won"t need to go into melee range. Mortal Monkies are beasts so Kazane should notice them before they get close.」

Zinray said, then looked at Kazane.

「Well, I have no experience in group battles, so I am a little anxious about that.」

Should I have been learning ranged magic ... Kazane thought with a little regret.

「Fortunately there are a lot of us. Yukko-nee, was it? That Elder Cat should be perfect for monkey extermination.」

「That"s true. We also have Tatsuyoshi-kun.」

It wouldn"t be fast but Tatsuyoshi-kun could do something like throw stones for a long-range attack.

Since they now had the location of the hot springs and Zinray could guide them to the general area, they decided to go to bed in preparation for tomorrow.

◎ Argo Mountain Range, Hot Spring Area - The Following Noon

「Yosh, that should be good.」

Kazane closed the Golem Maker Creator Mode.

They were in a rocky area halfway up the Argo Mountain Range. Zinray guided them at first, but Kazane smelled sulfur on the way and led them here. Kazane reached the source in an almost straight line, and it wasn"t very time-consuming at all. It was a very convenient nose.

Kazane and the others also found a group of Gray Golems on the way. Kazane successfully surprise attacked and captured the Gray Golems with Tebasaki-san and Tatsuyoshi-kun flawlessly succeeded in removing the Core Stones. In total they obtained six Core Stones.

「Kazane, we"re OK here.」

Yumika"s voice arrived from a little further up the mountain. Yumika and Zinray asked her to use Tatsuyoshi-kun to connect some of the nearby river"s water to the hot spring. Because the temperature of the source was high, it did not seem to possible to enter as it was.

「Roger, I will prepare it.」

That said, Kazane activated Golem Maker.

It was mostly the same as the usual cottage, but this time part of the interior was changed to resemble an outdoor bath. Then she prepared a water pa.s.sage from the source and the river and used Tebasaki-san to adjust the flow to the appropriate levels.

「Really convenient.」

Louise admired as usual.

(Being able to use Insight for adjustments is nice)

Kazane was deeply moved by how quickly she could make fine adjustments thanks to the『Insight』she gained from the Elder Cat.

「How is it, did it go well?」

Zinray descended along the riverside with Yumika and Tatsuyoshi and asked Kazane.

「No problems. Tiara, how"s the water temperature?」

「It"s not bad. I could enter this one immediately.」

Tiara checked the temperature of the stored water by touching it.

「Zinray-kun, shall we enter together?」

「Please go ahead.」

Zinray flatly refused Louise"s bad-natured question.

(Muuu ... ...)

Kazane"s gaze was painful. It was like being watched by his grandchild, so experiencing Kazane"s chilly gaze made Zinray turn his face away a little. By the way, Kazane was impressed with the finished bath and was not thinking of anything in particular, so Zinray was overthinking it. It seems his『night practice』being pointed out was having lingering effects.

In addition, Zinray intended to treat Yumika as a disciple, but the impression from the surroundings was that of parent and child.

「Well, before that, are we going Core Stone hunting once again?」

Once Yumika pointed it out, Louise replied「Now that you mention, that was the plan.」

「The water we drew from the river will still be clean and we"ll take a bath after we"ve returned.」

Louise replied「Yes」after Kazane spoke. While Tiara was charmed by the hair on the back of Kazane"s head, Hippo-kun cruelly separated them from the hot spring cottage.

They attacked three more groups of Gray Golems and harvested 14 more Core Stones. They now possessed 20 Core Stones in all. The designated request was for 15, but they were told they would get a bonus if they got more, so they decided to hunt again tomorrow and return the day after that.

However, Kazane"s expression changed on the way back to the hot spring cottage.

◎ Argo Mountains, Forest Near Hot Spring Cottage

「Something"s there.」

Kazane muttered while stopping Hippo-kun.

「Is it Mortal Monkies?」

Kazane nodded at Yumika"s question.「She still says it before me」Tiara said while shivering, but Kazane and Yumika ignored her.

「It feels like they"re surrounding the cottage. Perhaps they have reasonably good noses and noticed our smell in that place.」

「How many?」

「About 50?」

There"s a lot ... murmured Zinray.

「I do not want to fight near the cottage for the time being.」

Tiara and Louise nodded at Kazane"s words.

「Are you going to summon it?」

Kazane nodded at Zinray"s words and pulled out the Childstone.

「Because I used a lot of magical power today I"ll be completely out if I summon Yukko-nee. Tatsuyoshi-kun can still move for a while.」

「It"s fine, we"ll lure them another way. Tiarsama, how about four Flame Knights?」

「That will be my limit for today, but there is no problem.」

With the plus correction from the Purifying Coffin, Tiara could summon that many.

「Confine the enemies with Flame Knights and attack with Louise-nee"s Thunderstorm. I will guard the two of them, so Yumika and Kazane, use hit and run tactics.」

「I understand.」

「Ok. Tear them apart until they reach this place.」

「Ara, you"ll diligently avoid them?」

Louise replied. He wasn"t feeling like avoiding anything. [TL: Louise"s sentence can mean both Ward Off and Avoid, so she"s making a joke and this second line clarifies that he will ward them off]

「Well then, let"s get started.」

Zinray said while grabbing his favorite dragonbone spear.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Silver Breastplate, Silver Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Carapace Bull Trousers, Berserk Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Spirit Summoning Ring

Level : 22

Health: 77

Magic Power: 132+300

Strength: 33

Agility: 27

Endurance: 17

Wisdom : 34

Dexterity : 20

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』

Skill : 『Goblin Language』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog"s Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv2』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Second Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Second Chapter』 『Air Jump』 『Killing Leg』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Insight』 『Cheat Death』

Kazane:「Yumika"s spear is a silver spear named Silky, Zinray-san"s dragonbone spear, Tiara"s rapier is Knightcall, Louise"s staff is called Thunderclap, Zinray-san"s is the same name.」

Yumika:「What"s with all this suddenly?」

Kazane:「Unfortunately it seem I will forget, so I"m thinking I"ll take notes.」