Chapter 83

The Failure Alchemist of the Royal Capital

Strange Escort Targets #

Mutterings of Marc and Letia (´艸`)

They were able to safely defeat the beastified Direwolf, and Letia was stuffing the corpse into her magic bag one by one.

“I wonder if this subspecies sells well?”

Letia seems interested in the price of rare materials.

“The fur is magnificent, and anyway, it’s a rare subspecies so there may be nobles who want to have it stuffed as a trophy.”

“I see.”

As Marc responds, Letia smiles in a satisfied yet reserved way.

Oh, Letia has a cut on her arm.

“You’re injured, let me heal you.”

I took a potion bottle out of my pouch.

“No, it’s fine to leave a small wound like this.”

“No, I want to try an experiment, so please indulge me.”

Stopping the protesting Letia, I opened the potion bottle. Then, I tilted the open bottle over my upward-facing palm.

“…Huh? Why are you wasting it…”

Letia’s scolding voice trailed off midway.

That’s because instead of spilling out, the potion was floating in a ball over my palm.

“………”

The three of us were dumbstruck.

Moving a little away from Letia… I put some distance between myself and Letia, who should be healed. Then,

“Go, potion bullet!”

I threw the ball of potion targeting Letia’s injured arm!

With a splashing sound, the potion that struck Letia’s arm cleanly healed the wound.

“Whaaaat?!”
“What is this potion bullet thing, I’ve never heard of that!”

Marc, who had witnessed the whole thing, looked dumbfounded.

“It’s a collaboration between potions and water magic. Now I can heal from a distance during battle, just like healing magic!”

Satisfied that my experiment worked, I puffed out my flat chest proudly.

“The alchemist who’s supposed to be my escort is crazy,” Letia muttered.

“If you’re going to say that, there’s an even crazier escort target fighting on the front lines!”

I lightly pointed my hammer at Rin with one hand.

“Of course she’s strong, she’s a dwarf!”

“You’re the crazy one!” “No, you are!” We started arguing as Marc and Letia watched.

“Hey Marc.”

“Yeah? What is it Letia?”

“Isn’t this more of an increase in combat power than an escort mission?”

“We’re A-rank adventurers being accompanied by a vicious hammer girl and some sort of rear support who’s a healer or mage or alchemist…”

“We might as well register them as adventurers and form a party with them…”

“Yeah…”

“And someday with this lineup, take down a dragon.” “And have them make a Dragon Buster and Dragon Scale Mail from the materials.”

“…Marc, the order is a little off there. You need the Dragon Buster to defeat the dragon.”

“Ah, you’re right.”

“…Well, let’s pack that up and get going.”

Saying that, the two of them nodded at each other and stepped in to mediate our argument.

After our argument ended, we started riding horses and holy beasts again along the highway.

In the lead was Marc, then Rin, me, and Letia guarding the rear. Then I noticed something yellow on Rin’s shoulder in front of me. To put it simply, it was an old little yellow man wearing a triangular hat. His rich beard was magnificent. He seemed to be whispering secretly into Rin’s ear from her shoulder.

“…Rin, that yellow person…” “Ah, you can see him? This is an earth fairy.” “Whaaaat?!”

The two in front and behind me naturally couldn’t see such a thing and were looking around perplexed.

“Stop. There’s supposed to be a cave up ahead with some good stuff we can gather.”

Saying that, she pointed off the highway into the forest. Everyone stopped their horses and holy beasts and gathered around.

“I want to take a little detour if that’s okay.”

Rin had an air that she’d go by herself even if told no.

“Alright alright. This time it’s an escort for gathering materials after all. We just have to guard you to your destination without complaint.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Marc and Letia gave their permission. Then they started whispering to each other.

“Hey Letia.”

“What?”

“Fairies really exist?”

“Who knows. But if these irregular girls are all gathering, I guess they must.”

“…I see.”

Unlike the composed Letia, Marc felt like he may have gotten tangled up with some troublesome girls.

When entering the forest, Marc and Letia dismounted their horses and decided to lead them by the reins as they walked. Marc at the front swung his halberd to cut down the low brush and vegetation, making a path to walk through. Rin and I remained mounted on our holy beasts.

Of course, since it was a forest, we did encounter some magical beasts, but only minor ones like evil boars and their superior devil boars. Nothing too difficult to handle. Yeah, they were no match for our excessive combat power. I’d freeze them in place with ice magic, then the three vanguards would nimbly take them out (one by smashing their heads in).

Eventually, the forest opened up to reveal a cavern entirely covered in ice, with icicles hanging in layers from the ceiling.

The little yellow man on Rin’s shoulder nodded at the sight of it.

“Yup, this is the place.”

Monsters could be lurking inside the cavern. Marc took out a magic tool called a Cantera from his magic bag and went ahead, using its light to illuminate the area while cautiously proceeding. If the situation didn’t require caution, the Cantera’s light would reflect intricately off the hanging icicles, walls, ceiling, and floor, making for a fantastical scene. Fortunately, the cavern was just a straight path with no branching paths to get lost.

…However, at the deepest point was a massive ice golem.

Golems are originally huge humanoid monsters made of earth or rock. Most have a magic core somewhere in their body that must be shattered to defeat them for good, as they can regenerate endlessly otherwise. But this one was an ice variant of the golem species. Um, was there anyone with fire magic? The floor was also frozen over, so attackers may have trouble keeping their footing.

…Hey Rin, you didn’t happen to mean the “good stuff” in here was the golem, did you?