CH 58

The road from Izel fort towards the royal capital was mostly just us going straight ahead.

To me who had spent most of my time being in the Izel fort, everything that I saw was a wonder.

The scenery that appeared was similar to the areas one could see in Britain’s countryside… at least that’s how I felt. I actually had never been there, so I could only guess.

“Hmhmhm… I haven’t seen a slime, not even once! This trip is boring!”

But apparently, Karin-san didn’t like this kind of relaxing trip. She has always been making a complain for quite a while.

“Ars Kingdom’s main road is safe. Karin also knows this, right?”

There was no incident of any monster coming to attack in the middle of the journey. There were stone pillars embedded with magic circles in the main road, which had the effect of repelling monsters who weren’t that strong.

Slimes were obviously also repelled, so Karin-san tried to go astray from the main road when she saw an opening.

But she was immediately stopped by Amanda-san.

“That stone pillar is the one that repelled the monsters, huhh…? Then, if it were to be destroyed…”

“We’re not the only ones passing by this road, okay? If we were to go near a village somewhere, there will be slimes there, so please endure for a little bit more.”

Amanda-san was exasperated. Karin-san replied by yelling, “I have to wait that long?!”

“Good grief… The child here, Yuuri-chan, was obediently riding on the horse, but why is it that Karin who’s acting wilful? In the first place, you’re an elf so you are the oldest here, right?”

Eh…?

Karin-san is even older than Frank-san?!

Eeeeeeeh?!!

“Hum hum. I’m the oldest here, so everyone should show some respect for me. Then, we shall have a little break and search for slimes—”

“Rather than dilly dallying here, we should just go quickly and then return quickly. That reminds me, the village after this has a good sake1. We should go there quickly and have some drink, don’t you think?”

As Frank-san laughed out loud, Virna-san who heard the word ‘sake’ had her ears and tail swaying.

…Does Virna-san like sake?

“That’s right. If we move a little bit more, the Graham Village will be there, so shall we take our time there? I think there are slimes near the village. The slimes might have gotten some kind of effects after the Monster Flood.”

“What did you say?! If that’s the case, we should quickly go there!”

Hearing Ar-niisama’s words, Karin-san kicked her horse’s stomach as it started to run.

Oooh. Karin-san was exceptionally great at riding horses, huh?

“W-wait, Karin. Wait for a moment!”

Amanda-san was flustered and quickly chased after her. But right ahead, Karin-san stopped her horse.

Then, Amanda-san who caught up with her quickly dismounted her horse and prepared her sword.

W-what’s going on?!

“Giant Rat!”

“Oi oi, are you serious? Moreover, it’s a mutant, isn’t it?”

Hearing Amanda-san’s voice, Frank-san and Virna-san hurriedly joined together.

Only Ar-niisama was distancing himself and stopped his horse at that spot.

Certainly, there was a giant rat monster in the middle of the road.

Its size was around half my size, so it was considerably large. Moreover, it was standing on its two legs.

Giant Rat, huh? How nostalgic.

Giant Rats are monsters that appear at a place a bit further from the initial village, and are a bit hard to defeat for beginners.

But since it sometimes gave a rare drop called as [The Gold Ring], it became a perfect method of raising money during the early days.

I heard from the guild master, Cecilia-san that back in the early days when Elysia Online’s service had just started, it was the reason why its hunting ground was really crowded.

In the first place, it was a monster that appeared at the same spot after it disappeared for a while once defeated, so there were many people who remained at the same place to wait for it to respawn.

Although when I first started the game, there weren’t that many beginners, so I could hunt the Giant Rat to my heart’s content.

The Giant Rat that I knew was light brown in colour, but the Giant Rat standing in the middle of the road was a mutant, so its colour was black.

“Yuuri, want to try using ‘Cure’?”

Ar-niisama asked, but I already had too many subjugated monsters, and as expected the Giant Rat is… ah, it’s not cute, so I don’t want it.

As I shook my head, Frank-san also turned away and said, “I don’t need it.”

“I have no interest in monsters other than slimes!”

Ah, yup. Karin-san was as usual.

Right-?

“Amanda, do you want to try?”

Amanda-san readied a stance with her sword.

Could it be possible for the rare drop [The Gold Ring] to appear after the Giant Rat was defeated?!

I was excited.

“This kind of monster can’t even be called as my enemy! There’s no need for me to use my magic sword.”

Amanda-san’s red hair fluttered.

The next moment, the Giant Rat was split into half.

Whoa. As expected of Amanda-san!

“…Oh my?”

As Amanda-san gazed at her feet, she bent down to the ground and picked up something.

C-could it be—!

“This is… A ring?”

Oooooooooohhh!

The rare drop, the gold ring appeared—!

Amazing, amazing!

It’s the same gold ring in the game!

Awesomeeeeeee!

“There seems to be a name written. Let see… From Mary to Carl…?”

“Eh? Is it someone’s property?”

“It seems so.”

Eeeeh?

But the gold ring is supposed to be a rare drop, one that we can sell for money…

Eh? What’s going on?!

It’s not a rare drop, but someone else’s lost item? It seems like a quest—

▽A quest has appeared.

▽Do you want to accept this quest?

▽　　　　▽

Yes　　　No

Wait a minute!

A semi-transparent window appeared in front of my eyes, and this is—

Q… Quest?!