Author: Kaburagi Haruka
Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations
Chapter 53: Processing
Author’s note: Warning: contains slightly grotesque imagery.
Can’t quite get back to those heartwarming daily lives yet…
~*~
Waves from the breath attack evaporate even the sides of the cliff.
What didn’t quite evaporate turns to lava, and flows into the river.
Of course it is cooled by the river water, and the lava hardens then and there, but the heat from the lava made the water seethe as it rushed downstream toward where we were.
We were just about to be boiled alive.
If Master’s heat resistance magic hadn’t made it in time, there would probably have been more corpses added to the mix.
“Eir, kneel.”
“Hey uh, Master Rimuru, I meant well.”
“Just kneel.”
“But but, if I didn’t do that, the rocks–“
“Kneel.”
“… I’m very sorry.”
Master, who was so worried about my health just a bit ago, now has horns growing out of his head. Metaphorically of course.
We’re now at the top of the cliff, pulled up here by Yig, rolling on the ground like a catch of migratory fish.
All except Master, who is standing imposingly in front of me.
According to Master, it’s practically a miracle that something called a steam explosion didn’t occur.
He talked about how the river water was abundant, and the water flow something-something, I didn’t really get it.
In that moment, the only thing on my mind was making sure not a single rock made it past me.
To do that, I determined I needed to release the most powerful attack I had. That was really all.
Against the grand hedgehog I rapidly fired logs from my dimensional storage, and I wondered what if I did that with breath attacks?
Taking in a whole lake of water, and letting small bits of it emerge is something I’ve done plenty of until now.
This time instead, I tried to unleash several items all at once.
To release something, it must appear in the few centimeters where the palm of my hand is. If there was some other item in that space, then I normally wouldn’t be able to release or take in anything else.
So I release one, and while that one is still appearing I shift my hand a few centimeters and release another one.
After repeating this ten times, the breaths overlapped and a powerful skill was born.
“Although we can’t do much about it this time, could you maybe let us know about something like that beforehand?”
“This is Yig’s breath. By using what is stored up I unleash a strong attack–like that?”
“Well, I suppose that’s theoretically how it would go.”
“Chief is no longer human… In fact, please spare me, seriously.”
Yig flips over on the ground and shows her belly; a submission pose.
Girls shouldn’t pose like that. It feels immoral for some reason.
“Ah well. In any case, that skill is dangerous, so think carefully about where you use it.”
“Right.”
“Well then, once things have calmed down at the base of the cliff we can go… Actually, it’s dark already so let’s head back for now.”
Even though the boiling hot water is being washed away by the flow of the river, it’s not going to happen instantly.
Plus the hardened lava is still giving off heat, and there are places where the lava is damming up the water and retaining the hot water.
If we were to carelessly go back down there without waiting a while, we might end up steam cooked.
Thanks to that titan zombie and the bone wolves there shouldn’t be anyone coming near here, and the steam and heat should keep any creatures away for a night, so leaving it for a short while shouldn’t have a big effect.
Besides, if we don’t return soon they might really contact the guild.
“Yig, could you fly up and etch the area into your memory from there? We’ll put down some landmarks too, but just in case.”
“Righty-o!”
And so, after marking the area we headed back toward the village.
~*~
Worried about us not returning, we found the village filled with uneasy murmuring.
Upon our sudden return, the cheers were quite intense.
“Goodness, we were worried. And your clothes seem to be in tatters… It must have been a truly fierce battle.”
“Well, you know.”
Master keeps his words vague.
Just as the village chief noticed, after the heat from the breath attack, the hot water, and the steam, the leather water-resistant work clothes we borrowed from Cohen were in an awful state, with charring and burns all over.
We’re probably gonna have to pay for damages on these.
“Kevin! Thank goodness you’re alright… I was worried.”
“Yeah, sorry Cohen. A bunch of stuff happened, ya see.”
“It would seem so. Oh, don’t worry about those clothes. I can just make new ones.”
“You made these?!”
A truth that one side wasn’t really concerned with was revealed.
These clothes are quite well stitched, so I was certain a specialist made them, but it was his own work.
“Anyways, we’ll be telling the details, so you come along too.”
“Right, village chief. We should change locations.”
“I understand. Come to my house. My wife was worried as well.”
“Yeah… sorry about that.”
Coelho dispersed the villagers who came out in worry, and guided us to his home.
~*~
“So you mean to say that a such a titan was living near this village?”
“Yes, and for some reason it died and turned into a zombie. In the area where its miasma spread, the slave merchant’s carriages fell and a large number of people died, and we think that’s where the bone wolves appeared from.”
While being served dinner in the living room, we reported on the days events to Coelho.
His wife was delighted by our safe return and, in an effort to serve even more food, is working hard in the kitchen.
“To think that would happen…”
“We’ve already purified the slaves. There should be no more vessels for the bone wolves, so I don’t think they will appear again. We’ll check on the titan tomorrow morning. There’s stripping of materials to do as well.”
“Tomorrow… Uhh, will it be alright to leave it there?”
Coelho now looks worried.
He’s either worried about the titan turning into a bone wolf, or rezombifying. As the one charged with watching over the village, it’s a natural concern.
“With all that happened, the surrounding environment is in a bit of a state, so we can’t proceed immediately. But I’m sure it’s fine. Besides, the upper half of it is gone, so there’s no chance of it becoming a zombie again.”
“And the chance is becomes a bone wolf is…”
“That’s fine too I think. We haven’t purified the titan, but we’ve done so for the slaves and slave merchants which were the cause.”
“If you say so, then I suppose it’s fine…”
“Rest assured, we’re not planning on leaving immediately either. Our break is for one week, and the dispatch took one day, so if we calculate in the return trip we’ll be staying here another two days to see how things turned out.”‘
Coelho’s expression doesn’t lighten up, so Master proposes a compromise.
However, his dissatisfaction didn’t seem to fade.
“If possible I’d prefer to have you here a week… no, a month to make sure all is well, but I’m sure that’s asking a bit too much.”
“Sorry, but I have my own circumstances as well. I am an academy student after all.”
“No, I know. The original request is to defeat the bone wolves. You’ve already completed that, so defeating the titan zombie and anything else is outside the request. Asking any more of you is my own selfishness… But–“
“I think that’s a natural consideration as the one in charge of the village. I’ll report to the guild about the titan, so how about filing a new request for hiring short-term guards?”
“That’s, I’m embarrassed to admit, a bit of a financial issue…”
He wipes the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief while confessing.
A small village like this should have significant difficulty raising funds to hire adventurers, especially blue rank ones.
Furthermore, if they’re hiring guards for a few weeks, it’s hard to imagine they can wring out enough for that.
“I see… In that case, how about this? Tomorrow we’ll go and remove materials from the titan’s corpse. But considering its size, I’m sure there will be things we can’t carry. We’ll donate those materials to the village.”
“Would… would you be fine with that?!”
Though it is a titan, its lower half is all that’s left.
Plus because it’s a human shaped monster, at most the materials we can take are probably its bones.
But that’s not all there is.
Just like dragons, they say titans are known to store up treasures.
The existence of a titan zombie means it lived nearby when it was alive. It’s very likely that it had ancient treasures stored up there.
Passing along that information alone would be enough to bring a mountain of adventurers calling.
Of course there will be some in half-belief, but if there are titan bone materials to prove it, there’s no room left for doubt.
“We won’t be leaving anything of great value. But having them should serve as proof. You should be able to bring in a rush of adventurers looking for profit. This village will become a base for their search, and they’ll be scrambling to take on the guard role.”
“I see… That is certainly a possibility. I will consider your advice.”
“It’s a bit crafty of a method. But there’s value in it for them as well, so as long as you’re generous I think they’ll get on board.”
“Goodness, I’ve misjudged you. Sir Kevin is supposed to be the one winning fame. I didn’t realize he had such capable staff along with him.”
“This guy ain’t my staff.”
Kevin, who was chewing on some fried meat, objected with an unpleasant look.
Rather than being a staff member, he’s more of the mastermind type, so I totally understand.
“Hahaha, of course. He’s not your staff, he’s a party member. Truly, Sir Kevin is a a righteous one.”
“That ain’t what I mean either.”
“And humble as well!”
This seems like the kind of mood where a new anecdote will be added to Kevin’s legend.
All I could do is stuff my face to make sure I stay out of it.
~*~
The night passed without an attack, and we welcomed the morning.
First thing in the morning we leave the village, and arrive at the titan as quick as possible.
We had Yig scout ahead to make sure the hot water has left the bottom of the ravine before heading down to the river.
“Yeah, looks like the heat is gone. Well then, let’s hurry and take this thing apart. Something this huge is probably going to take a while.”
“Except all that’s left is the bottom half. What do we even take?”
“First the bones I’d say? Like, the femur could be good material for a weapon, don’t you think?”
“Ewww, I can’t say I’m a fan of taking something human-shaped apart.”
“Amy, no whining. This is the bread and butter of adventurers.”
Because all that’s left is the bottom half, the number of bones we can take is also limited.
We take out only the femur; which is the longest and thickest bone in a human body; the tibia, the fibula, and then the ilium which gives shape to the pelvis, and the kneecaps.
We also take one metatarsal to hand to the village, and then bury everything remaining.
Just burial alone already protects significantly against turning undead.
The flesh is absorbed by the earth and, though I don’t know if its related, the soul returns to the earth as well. And then from the earth it’s taken in by the World Tree and once again is given life.
According to the World Tree Faith, all are born from the World Tree, all return to the World Tree.
Master offers a prayer for the buried titan, and I process the gigantic bones we’re carrying back. If we take them as is, with flesh an other stuff still attached, it would be pretty gross.
Titan bones are naturally huge, and hard.
Considering the smaller bones which made up its arms were enough to collapse part of the cliff, the legs are sure to be even more capable.
“Kevin wanna try making a spear with this?”
“Hm, a spear… Not really my taste.”
The long and thick shape of the femur made me think of a spear, thus my suggestion.
For someone strong like Kevin, I’m sure he can make use of centrifugal force for his attacks to put plenty of power behind them. But then the femur is more than fifty centimeters thick, so it needs processing. In its current state it’s not really something you can hold.
“A spear… interesting. Yig has a sword, Eir an axe. And if we give Kevin a spear, it should bring a nice balance to things.”
“I’m the shield y’know? It’s hard to balance with long weapons.”
“These bones are surprisingly light. At a spear’s size I think your axe would actually be heavier.”
“Plus if you’re stopping enemies, having some range could be effective. I think it’ll help me feel safer.”
“There’s a compatibility issue with a shield here.”
A shield to bring in enemies as close as possible, but needing to keep distance with a spear does sound like they might not be good together.
But it should be plenty effective as a blocker to stop enemies from reaching our back line.
“In that case… How about we combine it with this bone to make it a halberd?”
“A halberd huh. I could… probably use that.”
“Then that’s the plan. Except finding a smith to process these seems like it could be difficult.”
While talking about all that, we finished our last job in this village.