Golden Experience

Chapter 34: “How to Prove You Aren’t Just Warming That Seat”

While Kerry scouted out the city, Riley patrolled the great forest. There shouldn’t be any monster in the forest that Rare’s group wasn’t aware of, so while they had their pick of owl monsters, Riley was told that if she saw any other flying monster that seemed strong, she should bring it back unharmed. Whenever it didn’t seem necessary to jack into Kerry’s vision, Rare would instead jack into Riley’s to observe what was going on in the forest.

Rare used the queen’s chambers to do this, where she, naturally, sat on a throne. After having the engineers process a rock into the vague shape of a throne, she spread a bunch of pelts from large monsters they’d hunted over it until it wasn’t uncomfortable to sit on anymore. The seat portion was rounded while the back portion leaned back slightly, which helped distribute body weight since there was more contact with the throne’s surface area. It was modeled after the driver’s seat in a car from yesteryear to be comfortable even when used for long periods of time.

Recently, she had even been simply sleeping on the throne whenever she logged out.

Right next to the throne was Sugaru’s bed, which was basically where she produced ants. As soon as they were born, they were taught how to access their inventories, as well as friend chat if they were commanders, then assigned to squads.

In general, as ant nests grew, they would expand their living areas. That meant they had to obtain more supplies in order to support all the ants in the nest. As far as Rare’s group went, since they didn’t have any larvae or pupae, it was easier to manage than real ants would be, but that also meant that as the scale of their operations increased, they had to turn the entire area of the great forest into their hunting grounds in order to keep up with the number of mouths to feed. That was why they had aggressively taken over the forest.

Since they were managing it like a giant farm, some of the monsters and wild animals were actually more populous than before. Then again, those monsters probably didn’t realize that they were being raised in that manner.

<Boss, I’m back.>

While she was jacked into Riley’s vision and hearing and vicariously enjoying her exploration of the forest, Kerry contacted her via friend chat. After her normal vision and hearing returned, she saw that Kerry was back in the queen’s chamber. She was wearing a full set of Rabbit Leather Armor.

“Haha, what’s with that armor? Nah, it doesn’t look weird. You do look like a proper sellsword, at least.”

“I’m so sorry. I used our funds to buy this crummy armor…”

“Well, you earned the money yourself while blending in, didn’t you? You say ‘our funds,’ but I don’t really mind at all. In the first place, we don’t really need that much money anyway. As long as we have one high-quality sample, we can now use it to produce our own better version.”

Rare’s group had taken over the mine that supplied the city’s metal stores; the same was true for fuel and raw materials like coal and lumber. The great forest was also the only place where monsters could be hunted for high-quality pelts, and silk from caterpillar-type monsters could be gathered. With a sample in hand, it was actually harder for them to produce an inferior copy compared to what was sold in the city.

They did allow the city’s lumberjacks to cut down trees on the edge of the forest. Due to that, Rare’s subordinates and the monsters being raised never appeared there, so the citizens probably considered that area the edge of monster territory. In any case, trees with lower-quality wood grew dense all around the edges, and even if they chopped down enough wood to supply the entire city, all the trees would grow back in about ten days. Because of this irregular growth cycle, the city could never process all the felled trees fast enough, which might explain the formation of peat and coal layers underground.

“Boss, as you heard, there’s a ‘server-wided event’ or something, but…”

“Ahh, that’s right… What should we do about that?”

Kerry and uh… that “Wayne” player were talking about it, and Rare was also interested in the event. In games like these, events were usually very involved, so she wondered where exactly they’d hold it and how it would operate. She first needed to learn more details before she could decide whether to participate or not. Plus, either way, Rare herself would probably be disinclined to make an appearance. Since they had the opportunity, she wanted to have Kerry join in, as Wayne suggested, but she wasn’t sure if that was even possible in the first place.

“Anyway, I need to check the official site for news…”

<Boss, there’s something kinda weird happening in the forest.>

That was from Riley. “Kinda weird” was way too vague to use in a report, but Riley wouldn’t have said anything unless it was important.

<‘Weird,’ you say… In what way exactly?>

<I keep finding Goblin bodies, the ones we left alive. I know the new ants are using some for practice, but I think there are way too many. Plus, I sense something different that we haven’t seen before…>

Riley herself didn’t sound so sure of the situation. Based on her report, it could have possibly been her mistake in judgment.

Rare looked at Sugaru sitting next to her. She had instructed Sugaru to get updates from the same area, and the ants accompanying Riley should have given a similar report. However, they apparently didn’t have anything notable to say since she was shaking her head.

However, they had near complete control of the forest, and in the central region where Riley’s group was at present, the ants’ surveillance net should have been able to catch any possible intruders. There were ants monitoring land routes, the air space, and the underground.

<Boss! Report from a different patrol squad! An army of bones suddenly appeared! They are near W-18!> Sugaru messaged in a panic.

“Bones? Do you mean skeletons? What do you mean by ‘suddenly’? Any losses?”

<Our forces have not lost anyone yet. They are next to the goblin farm, and some of the goblins who went to scout were killed.>

She wasn’t sure how to interpret that. W-18 was just east of the center of the forest. Sugaru said they were near the goblin farm, but was there anything else in that area? Thinking on it further, it would be faster to just have someone verify the situation. Luckily, Riley’s group was close. She could jack into Riley’s vision and hearing.

<Riley, an ‘army of bones’ or something has apparently appeared out of nowhere. I’m sorry, but please lead your group there and scout the situation. It’s in W-18.>

<Understood.>

<Also, if you find any goblin corpses, the enemy may have already occupied that location. We don’t know their stealth capabilities, so keep your guard up.>

<Okay, got it.>

“Sugaru, is there any particular reason this army would be attracted to the goblin farm?”

<The goblins sometimes go to a place to scavenge for weapons, but I do not know why the bones might be interested in them…>

“Weapons? Ahh, I remember now, they did have some rusty swords… This being a game, nothing felt off about it, and goblins weren’t strong enough to crack the ants’ carapaces, so I didn’t pay it much mind. But the operative question is, where did they get them?”

<We also did not think much of it or consider any details… Near the farm, there are many places where discarded weapons and armor are buried…>

The patrols stayed away from the farms since the goblins seemed to reproduce much more slowly when they were also worried about the ants, but Rare’s group should have investigated the area more thoroughly. The underground tunnels also extended below the farms, but if the engineers never mentioned it, that meant all this equipment was probably buried near the surface.

The reason Sugaru would not have reported it was probably because even if they excavated all the weapons and armor, they were inferior to what Rare’s group could produce themselves, so there was no point in bothering with them. It seemed she wasn’t concerned about farm livestock playing around with trash. It’s true; even if she had brought up the topic, without an irregular scenario like what was happening now, Rare also wouldn’t have thought it worthy of attention.

“Well, it’s fine. If there are a bunch of forgotten armaments buried somewhere, that means it would stand to reason that the original owners of said armaments are probably buried nearby. We may not know exactly who they are, but I believe I know what they are. I’ll wait for Riley’s report to confirm before I make an appearance. If they’re really undead, though, then I should be the most suitable person to be the host.”

This would be a great opportunity to try out that new [Necromancy] skill.

^[1]: The original chapter title is “?????????????” which translates more literally to “An easy XXX for not just polishing a chair with your butt.” This could be a reference to a line by Arbeo Pippiniden in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, but it basically makes sense on its own so I’m not sure if it’s intended to be a reference.