abcnovels
Volume 1 - Ch 2.07
Volume 1 - Ch 2.07
Chapter 2: Veil, Part 7
I took the backpack off so that it wouldnt hinder my movements and pulled Durandal out of its sheath. As an emergency I can always use the Copper Sword at my feet, but hopefully it wont come to that.
As the wagon made its way further down the road the Gumi Slime must have finally noticed our presence because it turned towards us and approached with small jumps of its gel-like body.
Okay, stop right here.
Y-Yes!
When the wagon lost enough speed, I quickly jumped off of it and ran past the horses towards the Gumi Slime. Holding Durandal with my left hand, I swung it sideways just like I would a baseball bat. It cuts through the slimes body from the left, makes its way through its insides and then leaves through its right side, but it merged itself right back together. Right, of course. As if the things were ever that simple.
Deliver.. WHOA!!!!
Gumi Slime jumped at me just as I was about to chant the spell that would allow me to use Overwhelm Skill. I waited for the last possible moment and then twisted my body to avoid getting caught in its belly. Looks like chanting Skills while fighting is impossible to pull off after all.
With my next attack I tried cutting him diagonally from above but it jumped to the side just before my blade could reach him, so I dashed after him and repeated the attack just as its body touched the ground, targeting its brain specifically. If gaming logic also applies here, random attacks at its body will only make it put itself together after a second, so the only proper way of dispatching it will be to destroy the brain.
Durandals edge cut through the membrane on the top of its body like it was just a wrapping paper and followed all the way through to its lower parts, spreading it all over the ground like a puddle of water after a rainy day. If my guess was correct, then it should be all over now. Hooray for video game clichs.
The remains of the Gumi Slime slowly melt away and turn into the puff of green smoke, indicating that it has been defeated. When the smoke dissipated, a drop item was left on the ground: some kinda white powder. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Gumi Slime Starch. Ooooookay, I guess? I dont want to rack my brains over how something like that came to be, so Ill just pack it into my backpack and go back to the merchant.
So, from this one encounter there are a few things that I managed to confirm. They are as follows:
1) I can keep using Durandal to fight against the monsters, but I have to keep in mind that depending on the monster type it might not be able to one-shot them, so I need to take that under consideration.
2) Casting spells and Skills in the middle of the battle is insanely difficult, if not borderline impossible, so they can probably only be used with a first, preemptive strike. But what if I ever find myself in a pinch that would require me to use them? Looks like Ill have to practice using them in a fight after all.
Reflecting on the results of the battle in such a way, I have approached the merchants wagon.
I-Is it over already? Did you defeat it?
Yup, its as dead as it can be.
A-Amazing! Not only did you manage to beat such a terrifying monstrosity by yourself, but in such a short time as well!
Sure, whatever you say.
All I did was whacking it a few times with my Durandal, so I dont know if that is really something so praiseworthy. On a side note, I dont even want to think how many times I would have to hit that thing with the Copper Sword to kill it.
Michio-sama, could it be that you are secretly a Mage? Did you use some incredible spell to help you finish the battle in a flash?!
Merchant asked me in an excited manner.
Dont be ridiculous. You clearly saw me fighting this thing with a sword, didnt you?
Part of me wanted to tell him that I am secretly a Sword Mage, but that would be taking things too far.
Oh, right. Now that you mention it, you also took those Bandits from yesterday down by using nothing but your sword.
No shit Sherlock. But its not that I killed them with just a sword because I chose to do so. Its more along the lines of me slaying them with a sword because I didnt know how to use Skills or magic at all. I can bet you that even if my very life depended on it, Id still be unable to make proper use of them.
Yeah. So thats that I guess. Any further questions? No? Good.
I climbed back on the wagon.
Magic has to exist in this world. It has to, since it was in the settings when I was creating my character. So I guess there are magicians here, but are they any different from normal humans?
Oh, is that a Slime Starch, by any chance?
Well, yes. That Gumi Slime left if after I have defeated it.
How about this then? I will buy it off of you for a special price that you wont get anywhere else as a commemoration of your incredible achievement. It will certainly benefit you more than keeping it.
A merchant gave me a business offer. I will give him my answer, but first I have to make a quick Character Reset to reinvest the 63 Bonus Points Ive put into Bonus Weapon 6 into increasing the purchase price by 30%. After my Durandal disappeared I closed the Status screen and got back to talking with the merchant. I just hope he wont find what I just did to be weird enough to start questioning me about it.
Yes, lets do that.
I handed the Slime Starch over to him. Was my Reset done in time? Will I receive that 30% better price?
Thank you very much. To tell you the truth, the Slime Starch is dissolved in water as an ingredient to make alcohol, the so-called Slime Liquor. Its a beverage that many people tend to enjoy.
Hoo?
The normal market price when selling Slime Starch is 40 Nar, but as a special thank you for protecting me and my wagon from harm, I would like to buy it off of you for a special price of ten times that amount, plus an additional 30 % since you are my personal business partner since yesterday. In other words, I want to give you 520 Nar for this Slime Starch, Michio-sama.
Well, in that case I dont think there is any need for me to hesitate, is there? I will gladly accept your offer.
Ten times more than 40 Nar gives 400 Nar, so that 520 must be after applying those 30% from my Bonus Skills, so for a price of redistributing 63 Bonus Points I will receive 5 silver and 20 copper coins. I placed them in the drawstring bag and placed it in the backpack afterwards.
Is it difficult to become a mage?
I asked because I was genuinely curious about that.
I guess you could say that. In order to become a mage you have to eat a special medicine before reaching the age of five, but the only ones who can afford it are nobles and the children of millionaires. Personally I have never saw any mages in these parts for as long as I live.
Really? Wow.
Who knew there was such a ridiculous restriction in order to become a mage? If thats the case then I guess I wont be able to become a mage myself, huh? And here I was hoping I could try using some magic since this is a fantasy setting.
While I was thinking about all those things the wagon continued to go forward at a steady pace, until suddenly the walls of trees came to an end and the walls of the city came into my field of view.
Ohhhh, is that the city of Veil?
That it is indeed.
Its quite big.
Is the length of the wall more than one kilometer? The town must really be pretty big. Of course, it is still small when compared to the modern Japanese cities. Nevertheless, building such a wall in a world like this one must have cost a ton, so this city must be quite rich if they managed to build something like that.
Outside of the walls there were fields spreading all the way into the border with the forest where city residents plowed the earth. The sun was still only about halfway in its journey across the sky, so if we include the time for that battle with the Gumi Slime, the journey from the village to the city took around three hours, so I think I can safely assume that the passage of time is roughly the same here as it is back on earth.