Nido Tensei Shita Shounen wa S-rank Boukensha Toshite Heion ni Sugosu ~ Zense ga Kenja de Eiyūdatta Boku wa Raisede wa Jimi ni Ikiru ~ - Chapter 14

“So then, to the appearing of an amazing rookie! Cheers!”

“““““Cheers!”””””

After I had burnt down a part of the Forest of Magic Beasts, we had headed back to the adventurers’ guild and started a banquet for some reason.

Or perhaps I should say Ivan-san started it all on his own.

“Wow, you really surprised me! I had no idea you could use such amazing magic!”

Ivan-san said, patting my back with a grin on his face.

“I saw it! You’re amazing! We were desperately fighting the Trap Plants with our axes, and you just cleaned them all up with one spell!”

The adventurers who had been fighting the monsters nearby had just come over too.

“No, well. It wasn’t anything that big. Back in my hometown, that kind of magic was ordinary lawn-mowing magic.”

““““What kind of hometown is that!?””””

The adventurers all shouted in surprise.

They said something similar earlier.

“Well, it’s fine either way! If you’re here, rookie, then, hmm, actually, you’re not a rookie anymore, are ya. Could you tell me your name again?”

“It’s Rex.”

“Rex, if you’re here, there’s no need to fear the expansion of the forest into our lands!”

“We won’t have to do this annoying job any more!”

The adventurers shouted happily.

“Is it really that much of a pain in the ass?”

“Yeah, see, those things aren’t only really hard, they also have really strong life force. Did you know that trees are full of moisture and are thus surprisingly hard to burn?”

Yeah, I knew that. You either had to search for dry branches to burn or let them dry out first, letting the moisture inside them evaporate, otherwise they would just make a lot of smoke if you tried to use them as firewood.

“Furthermore, since there’s so many of them, we’ve got way too much of their materials, so their price is near nothing anyway. That’s why few people ever take the request. And since there’s so few people accepting the request, the forest is also expanding steadily.”

It seems there are a number of reasons as to why the Forest of Magic Beasts is expanding, huh.

“And, then you appeared! With your hellfire magic, you can burn them all to ashes in the blink of an eye be they living wood or monsters! We’re counting on you!”

“I also have high hopes for you!”

Saying so, everyone patted me on the back again.

“Owww, hey, that hurts.”

““““Gahahaha””””

But I’m really glad they accepted me so favourably

And, it was at that moment.

The guild’s door opened, and an adventurer came inside.

I looked over, wondering who it could be, only to see a familiar figure.

“Liliella-san!”

That’s right, it was the girl who had suddenly called me a fake out of nowhere and stormed out of the guild earlier.

She had entered the guild carrying a large bag.

Thinking about it time-wise, she had probably come back to the guild to sell monster materials after going out on an adventure.

“Liliella-saaan!”

I called out to her to try and undo the misunderstanding from earlier.

“…Hmph.”

However, seeing me, Liliella-san turned away towards the reception window.

It seemed like she was still in a bad mood.

“I have to get this misunderstanding sorted out somehow.”

“Oh come now, don’t worry! If you come back with monster materials from monsters you defeated in the Forest, the young lady’ll also understand how strong you are!”

I see, as expected of Ivan-san!

Grown-up adventurers are so composed.

“That’s right! Okay, I’ll do my best then!”

“Yeah! Go for it! We’re celebrating in advance, people!”

“Wait, don’t you just want to party for the sake of partying!”

I take back what I said earlier, he might be a good-for-nothing grown-up after all.

◆ ◆

“Now then, I’ll be adventuring in the Forest of Magic Beasts from today onwards!”

I looked at the request board full of motivation.

“Excuse me, you are Rex-san, right?”

A voice called out to me from behind making me turn around, and standing there was a beautiful woman with long, black hair.

“Umm, yes, but who are you?”

“Forgive me, I’m Mirisha, this town’s adventurers’ guild’s guild chief’s assistant.”

Uwaa, a big shot in the adventurers’ guild!

“N-nice to m-meet you, I’m Rex. Um, how might I help you?”

“Actually, there’s a request we’d quite like you to accept. Could you please listen to what we have to say?”

“A request?”

“Yes.”

A direct request from the guild chief’s assistant?

Putting whether I’ll accept it or not aside, I guess I can listen to what she has to say.

“All right then. I can’t say for sure whether I’ll accept it until I’ve heard the contents, but if that’s all right with you, then I’ll listen.”

“Yes, that will be all right. Decide whether you want to accept it based on your strength and circumstances. The guild won’t force you to do it.”

◆ ◆

We sat down in chairs, facing each other.

I could feel the other adventurers around us glancing at us wondering what was going on.

“So, about the request.”

“I’ll get straight to the point then. We would like you to stop the forest’s expansion.”

“You’d like me to stop the forest’s expansion?”

I had heard something similar the day before.

“I heard from other adventurers. That you can use incredible flame magic. They said you burnt a part of the forest to nothingness in an instant.”

“Well, it’s not that incredible though, the magic.”

“How humble. We had guild staff confirm it, and they reported a part of the forest having disappeared. Apparently an unbelievable amount of land was freed up.”

That really is an overstatement, isn’t it though?

“And since you’ve received the usual baptism, I assume you already know about the forest.”

“Umm, about how the forest is steadily expanding?”

“Yes, we are also working jointly with other countries to stop its expansion, but our opponents are a huge group of monsters, after all. We never have enough people, and so, the forest expands bit by bit.”

Mirisha-san frowned in frustration.

“To be honest, we had all prepared ourselves for Hexi to also sink into the forest. But, then you appeared. We were all overjoyed at this blessing.”

What does she mean?

“It’s quite simple. We want you to burn down the forest’s outskirts with your magic. The reward will be paid for the area of forest burnt down. One silver coin for every square meter. And since the subjugation reward for Trap Plants is five copper coins, you’ll get at least double the rewards in the end.”

“Double!? Is it all right for you to pay that much!?”

“We don’t mind. Rather, since both the time and effort going into it for us will be significantly shortened, even double is too little. Regrettably, the rewards supplied to us by the country aren’t infinite, but we’ll still note it in your Rank assessment.”

So instead of rewards, it’ll be easier to raise my adventurer rank, huh.

I guess that makes sense.

“Are there any conditions for burning down the forest?”

“Let’s see, we’d like you to burn it down matching its perimeter, if possible. Let’s say, and this is an extreme example, if the forest became crescent-shaped instead. Since there wouldn’t be many materials in the tips compared to elsewhere, people would ignore them, and the monsters there would start multiplying again and make the forest long and thin.”

Mirisha-san used her hands to describe how the trees would grow in an arc.

“In the worst case, towns might be surrounded by the monsters multiplying like this. So, we’d like you to burn the forest down all around, and make it shrink bit by bit.”

I see, so it wouldn’t be good for the adventurers if the forest had a warped shape.

“The guild can provide a carriage for getting to places far away from the town. We’ll negotiate for the country to take at least half of the carriage fee in case of requests from neighbouring countries.”

Hmm, the rewards sound good and the guild will remember it, so I guess there’s no reason to refuse.

But if it takes away my freedom…

“Erm, I’ll still be able to take other requests while I’ve taken this one, right?”

“Yes, as long as you regularly burn down the forest, we don’t mind you accepting other requests.”

“And if I want to go to a different town?”

“That is also part of your freedom, of course. But if possible, if you could burn down some of the forest before leaving, we would be grateful.”

So they want me to burn the forest down while adventuring.

Since my freedom’s not being threatened, I guess I’ll help them out a little.

“All right. I accept the request.”

“Thank you very much! Then, please report to the staff at the reception window when you burn down the forest! We’ll have someone go to confirm it right away when you do!”

Mirisha-san sighed in relief.

She must’ve really wanted me to accept it.

◆ ◆

“So then, what request should I take?”

Having finished talking to Mirisha-san, I was now examining the requests I could take for the Forest of Magic Beasts.

“Oho, you’re taking a request right away?”

Ivan-san called out to me.

He looked a little pale though.

“Ivan-san, you look a little pale, is everything all right?”

“…I drank a bit too much.”

Ah, it’s because everyone stayed up late drinking yesterday.

“If you’re accepting a request, I’ll give you a tip.”

“A tip?”

“Right. A tip on how to move in the Forest of Magic Beasts: Ignore plant-type monsters.”

“Ignore them!?”

Huh? But isn’t the Forest of Magic Beasts supposed to be all monsters?

Won’t I be beaten up if I ignore them?

“Listen, plant-type monsters don’t walk, yes? Well, there are ones that do, but they’re not that fast, so if you run, you can escape from them. See, since everything around you is an enemy, it’s better if you have less of them to fight with. If you want to fight, target animal-type monsters. And try to fight in clearings or places with few trees.”

I see, that makes sense.

And fighting in more open space where there are fewer trees is also the obvious choice.

“And, now for the most important bit. If you think you’re in danger, get out of the forest immediately. People who can’t do that die quick. So practise entering and leaving first to get yourself familiar with withdrawing.”

Uwaa, amazing.

These feel like a veteran adventurer’s tactics.

It must be a lesson that had been passed down in this town since ancient times.

“Got it! Thank you very much for telling me all this, Ivan-san!”

“Yeah, now take care!”

Having listened to Ivan-san’s advice, I decided to choose a request for subjugating Forest Wolves, which were beast-type monsters.

Apparently they kept attacking a nearby village’s livestock, but whenever the villagers or adventurers went to chase them away, they immediately ran off into the forest.

Since the forest was too dangerous for adventurers of C-Rank and below to enter, they seemed to be in quite the pickle.

“I did vermin extermination back home too, so I’ll take this request.”

◆ ◆

Having accepted the request, I immediately went to the forest.

“I guess I’ll fulfil the request from Mirisha-san for now. Flame Inferno!!”

I burnt down the forest’s outskirts easily with Flame Inferno.

“Now then, let’s go!”

Trap Plants immediately began attacking me as I entered the forest.

Unperturbed, I cut off their branches with my broadsword.

“Oops, I wasn’t supposed to act like they were real enemies, was I.”

Recalling Ivan-san’s advice, I proceeded onwards while only cutting off the branches of the Trap Plants that attacked me, not stopping for a moment while doing so.

“This really is easy. And since they can’t come after me, all I have to do is take away their means of attacking me.”

As expected of advice from a skilled adventurer!

◆ ◆

“What the hell’s this!?”

My name is Ivan.

I’m an adventurer who works based out of the town of Hexi.

Since I had gone a bit overboard during the rookie’s reception, I now had a hangover, but I somehow managed to overcome it and had just arrived at the Forest of Magic Beasts to work.

Well, it’s not that early any more either, so I don’t think I’ll be going in too far.

And, as we went to enter the forest, a bizarre sight greeted us.

“The Trap Plants’ branches have been cut off?”

For some reason, the Trap Plants’ branches had all been cleanly cut off.

Moreover, there was a whole row of Trap Plants stretching off into the forest.

Trap Plants were monsters that used their branches as weapons, so if they didn’t have branches, they couldn’t attack.

I’m kinda grateful for this, but…

“Who the hell went to all this trouble!?”

I recalled a certain rookie’s face at my companion’s words, …but that kid was a magic user.

“That guy would’ve burnt trap plants like this to ashes.”

Usually, people proceeded through the forest while avoiding the plant-type monsters’ attacks, not fighting them.

I wonder what kind of weirdo they are, to go to the trouble of cutting off all the branches.

“Well, I’m grateful though. Let’s use this path until we get to our destination.”

Thanks to it, we were able to smoothly pass through deep into the forest.

And I felt that the Trap Plants along the way, stripped naked of their branches, made for quite a sorry sight.