Chapter 39: Now, let’s depart!

As a result of our discussion, it’s been scheduled that we’re going to spend ten days on this request. Two days going there, then about five days for the investigation proper while leaving an extra day just to be sure. At first, we decided to go for seven days, but this time we have one from “Grim”, three from “Fyne” and me, having overall five Mages that can all use Storage Spells. In short, since we can bring in quite a lot of food supplies, we’re able to have a lot more flexibility with our schedule.

Regarding the reward, it’s split between the three parties, not between the participants. Since Urania and I were the only members of our party, we were a bit hesitant to accept it, but both “Grim” and “Fyne” didn’t seem to have any complaints about the division, only saying 「Being partial on the newbies is just natural, so don’t think too much about it and just take it」. Though instead, it’s been decided that I’ll be practicing Magecraft with the members of “Fyne” in the next mock battle-????????????-exchange party. That in itself is no problem, but I’m going to have to be careful that they don’t notice that what I’m really using Magic.

「And with that, this time‘s request will be a collaborative effort of the three of our parties. Do you need reconfirmation on the request details?」 「Not really~ I guess~」 「No problems here, too.」

Since this time the three of our parties are teamed together, it looks like Grimhart will be leading us to some extent. Just like what we were told during the mock battle, even if it’s just temporary or so, in the meantime there’s a need to put someone as the leader.

By the way, I hear that “Grim” and “Fyne” occasionally accept requests together, and it seems that during those times Girmhart is usually the one chosen to be the leader. Well, “Fyne’s” leader is as leisurely as she looks, so if you’re asking for someone that can make prompt decisions, Grimhart is probably the more suitable one.

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「Urania! Don’t move out too much! Look closely at Jarvis and Jessica’s movements!」 「Lil~y, right now we need to focus more on attack than defense~. Ma~tch up with Emily and Arisa, okay~」

Two days after exiting the Eastern gate, we’re fighting against a pack of Growleus. Though I called it a pack, there’s only about eight of them. We have twelve people all in all, so there’s absolutely no problem if we fight them normally, but we’re fighting with only certain members to check our coordination.

Without regarding “Grim” and “Fyne”, our coordination is pretty sloppy, so right now we’re studying under either Grimhart or Audrey’s instruction.

The ones currently fighting in front are Urania, Jarvis, and Jessica, with me, Emily, and Arisa in the rear, six people altogether. And further behind us are Grimhart and Audrey giving instructions to us. Speaking about the Growleus, being about Rank C as a threat, it’s higher ranked than our party, but it seems that they don’t really pose a problem to the other two parties. Still, they did say that it’ll be a bit difficult if there’s more than ten of them.

By the way, the other members are preparing for lunch. They say that we can only eat delicious food during the first two days so we should prepare ourselves and stuff, but the meat and vegetables in my storage are forever fresh, so let alone ten days, we can make delicious food not only after a year but even ten.

「「I ask. For the flame that eliminates impure ones. 「“Burn”」」」

In the end, Emily and my chants overlap, oh, and Arisa’s while we’re at it. Immediately after that, two of the eight Growleus blazed up and three of them die after having holes drilled between their brows. Seeing the sudden decrease of enemies as an opportunity, both Jarvis and Jessica pin down one Growleu each. Urania, who is now fighting one-on-one, slits the Growleu’s neck.

The remaining ones that were being pinned down by the other two were similarly ended by Urania since she’s now able to move freely.

「Woah… What’s with that Magic Power Control…. Although there’s not even a single burn mark other than the hole on their foreheads, the insides are completely burned off…」 「I really thought I’m better when it comes to Fire Spells, though……」 「No, first of all, with your sloppy Magecraft, it’s impossible, you know?」

Emily and Arisa closely examined the Growleu I pierced with “Burn”. Having something you have done being examined so seriously feels really embarrassing.

What I did was extremely simple. Controlling the magical flame produced by “Burn” into a compact size, I burned off only the Growleu’s brain. As a result, I can now use it in rapid-fire mode, but since the firepower itself drops, it has its pros and cons.

By the way, the Magic I used in front of the Guild staff Philip was this exact same “Burn”. Magecraft requires chanting, but naturally, because of the chant, your opponent can guess the spell you’re about to use. To prevent that, it seems that each Mage thinks of their own ways of shortening or changing the chants and stuff. It looks like some even prepare Magic Circles in advance to take over the role of the chant itself.

Hearing that, I made up a Magic Circle with the Spell “Burn” built into it. Specifically speaking, I made a ring with that Magic Circle engraved on it. With this, as long as I point my finger to a target and say 「“Burn”」, I can invoke the Spell “Burn”.

Of course, since what I use is Magic, I can invoke it even without doing that, but I still made sure that will invoke practically the same Spell if it’s actually used by other people. I was a bit uneasy on whether I could make it with 【Dream Fabrication】, but since there wasn’t really any complicated mechanisms needed and such, it was a lot easier than I expected.

「Nevertheless, it’s the first time I ever saw a Magical Tool this small. Is it from some Dungeon?」 「No, I made it myself…」 「Ehh!? You made this……. If you sell this how many thousands…… No, ten thousands……. Y-you’ll get super rich, you know!?」

Arisa overreacted a bit, but a Magical Tool of this level is something you can see just about anywhere, right? After all, if you think about it, this is just about the level of a nice lighter. Besides, it’s something I made with 【Dream Fabrication】 so if it gets even just a bit of a scratch, it’ll end up coming apart like fleeting dream. It’ll be different if it leaves some remains, but putting it for sale as it is now is really scary so I can’t.

「The main point of this practice is our coordination, you know?」 「Ehh~ Isn’t doing this about good enough?」

Though I thought that the second half was already good, but it seems like it’s still not good enough for Grimhart. Good grief, what a strict senior I have. It’d be really nice if we can get good enough to satisfy Grimhart’s standards within these ten days, though.