Volume 1 - CH 16.3

Chapter 1-16 : Critical Situation Ⅱ (part 3)

「…Guess I’ll go kill that monster myself and use its body as a material for alchemy~」(Sarasa)

「「「…..Eeehh!?」」」

Iris-san, Kate-san, and Lorea-chan simultaneously looked at me with shocked expressions.

「No, no, no! Store Owner-san, have you lost your mind!? Why can you say that as if it’s not a big deal!?」(Kate)

Kate-san violently waved her hands as she made an expression like “Is she stupid or what!?”, but I just tilted my head.

「Eh?」(Sarasa)

Lorea-chan on the other hand, made a worried face that she looked to be on the verge of tears.

「She’s right! I don’t want someone to get hurt… especially you, Sarasa-san!」(Lorea)

Lorea-chan didn’t want the worst case scenario where the Hellfire Grizzly would invade this village and hurt many villagers to happen, but at the same time, she also worried about me.

She is very kind.

I’m happy that she is worried about me, but this problem is really not a big deal to begin with.

「Guys, chillー You don’t have to worry.」(Sarasa)

「Store Owner-dono, could it be… you’re really strong?」(Iris)

「I’m nothing compared to my master, and to call myself ‘strong’ is somewhat embarrassing… But if there’s only one Hellfire Grizzly, I think I can handle it.」(Sarasa)

One thing I need to think about is how I will kill it.

I can use magic, but since I recently practiced my sword skills, should I try to kill it with a sword?

But…

Considering I want to make use of its body parts as materials, I have to think carefully about how I will kill it.

If I stab it in the heart, I won’t be able to use its heart as a material.

If I crush its head, I won’t be able to use its eyeballs and brain.

Hmm….

I can make several cuts on its body and wait until it dies of blood loss.

It’s not a bad method if I want to use its body parts as materials, but it’s a bad idea if I want to use its meat as a food ingredient because it will make the meat taste bad.

If I cut off its neck, it will die in a short time, but the quality of its fur will drop.

It’s difficult to kill it with all of its body parts still in good condition.

Looks like I need to give up on one of them.

After I explained about that to the three girls, their shocked faces gradually changed to dumbfounded ones.

「E, Everyone…?」(Sarasa)

「Ummm…. I heard rumors saying that alchemists are strong. So it was true, huh?」(Iris)

「Ah, no, not really. Every alchemist is different from one another, you now? There are also alchemists who don’t have any fighting ability.」(Sarasa)

Alchemists must have the ability to control their magical power to a certain level.

They can use a powerful magic attack if they are good at controlling their magical power.

However, it’s up to the alchemist themselves when it comes to fighting ability.

Moreover, we rarely learned about offensive magic at alchemist school.

On the other hand, there was a curriculum for fighting using weapons, but people didn’t put much effort into it.

It would be enough as long as you could protect yourself so that you didn’t give much trouble to your bodyguard if you hired one when you went into a forest to collect materials.

「It’s not that I want to brag, but I was quite strong among the students of the same grade when I was at school.」(Sarasa)

「I, I see… Well, that’s impressive, but Store Owner-dono, I think going to fight that monster alone is…」(Iris)

「Ah, you’re right. I can’t bring back the Hellfire Grizzly’s big corpse if I go alone…」(Sarasa)

「That’s not what I mean though…」(Iris)

I don’t think I can do it alone even if I use body strengthening because the size of its giant body is way too big compared to my small body.

I can use the backpack from Master, but I would have to cut the corpse into pieces, and I don’t want my precious backpack to get stained with blood.

「If you want to bring someone to help you with that, I will go with you!」(Iris)

「Eh? But, Iris-san, you still need to get some rest!」(Sarasa)

「No, I’m okay! I will just help you carry the bear’s corpse after all.」(Iris)

「But…」(Sarasa)

I looked at Kate-san, hoping that she would stop Iris-san.

She then nodded at me and made a face as if saying “Got it!”.

Nice!

As expected from a person like Kate-san.

I’m glad that she understands what to do.

I can’t take a person who just recovered from terrible injuries to the forest after all.

「I will go with you too! You can leave it to us!」(Kate)

「Eehh!?」(Sarasa)

No! That’s not what I mean!

I want you to stop her!

Haahh… I thought she understood…

When I was thinking ‘What should I say?’, Lorea-chan spoke to me, still with a worried face.

「Sarasa-san… are you really sure you’re going to be alright…? If something happens to you, I will….」(Lorea)

Seeing her still worrying about me, I nodded vigorously.

「Of course I’ll be fine! Don’t worry, Lorea-chan! A monster of that level means nothing to me! It’s just a little cute bear in my eyes!」(Sarasa)

「A little… cute bear, huh…? Haha…」(Iris)

「Ah….」(Sarasa)

Iris-san looked down with a gloomy face.

I tried not to make Lorea-chan worried, but it looks like that my words hurt Iris-san’s pride.

「Aaー S, Store Owner-san, would you prefer if we don’t go with you?」(Kate)

「Ah, no, I still need someone to help me carry the bear’s corpse, but Iris-san… Hmm…. How about we go tomorrow? Iris-san, I will let you go with us tomorrow, but you have to rest for today! Alright, let’s go to your bedroom! Hurry, hurry~」(Sarasa)

「Eh? Ehh?」(Iris)

I forcibly took Iris-san, who was still depressed, to her bed while Kate-san and Lorea-chan were just watching with bitter smiles on their faces.

After that, I started making preparations for tomorrow’s hunt.