LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 37
Well, today was important.
Because today was the day I would tackle the large-scale subjugation request I had chosen.
“······.”
Suddenly, I remembered the moment from yesterday when I selected the request.
A fleeting thought crossed my mind······.
‘······Get a grip. You’ve already held her hand once.’
That was just a completely natural physical reaction that occurred the moment my guard was down.
“Where are we doing the request today?”
“First, we’ll go straight down this path···.”
I saw Serelin and the hero going over the details of the request together.
Even I could tell that the two matched well. Not just Serelin, but also Ariya and Rapirie.
“······.”
“Rui, what’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“You look like you’re angry about something.”
“Not at all.”
“Really…?”
Anyway, I needed to focus from now on.
I had to emphasize the necessity of new companions without a moment’s pause.
“Okay, as I explained yesterday, let me reiterate.”
Soon, the hero’s explanation of the request followed.
“To start, the target is Raskus. It’s a magical creature that resembles a rat. Currently, they are forming a swarm of over five hundred at the center of the forest.”
“Even if it’s a magical creature… Just hearing about Raskus gives me chills all over.”
“But it’s not like it’s small, so I think we’ll be fine? If it were smaller, your arrows wouldn’t hit it properly either.”
“No, size isn’t the problem···.”
“Their nests are in holes in the ground and tree trunks. They seem to be able to climb trees really well. For now, I asked to protect the forest as much as possible, but it seems the Adventurer’s Guild has almost given up on preserving the forest.”
“That does seem like a problem that hasn’t been solved for a long time…”
Raskus is a magical creature, known for its tenacious breeding abilities.
If even one or two of them escape, they can form a swarm again just like before, and while many adventurers and even the guild attempted to launch subjugation missions, they ultimately failed.
‘The hero party will succeed, but they’ll have to work really hard for it.’
It’s when they’re drenched in sweat and their bodies and minds are weary that they’ll truly feel the need for the witch heroine.
I had prepared accordingly, so unlike before, I wouldn’t be getting an easy success this time.
‘Now that I think about it, judging by Rapirie’s reaction, it must be a pretty grotesque creature…’
I had never seen Raskus in person since they never appeared around the village I lived in.
Even in the original story, it was only briefly mentioned, so I didn’t know its specific weaknesses or characteristics.
‘Well, it should be fine.’
If you take away that breeding ability, Raskus is considered weak enough that even the lowest level adventurers could deal with it.
“Okay, shall we go?”
“Let’s set off!”
Looking at the four of them starting off cheerfully, I couldn’t help but crack a sly smile.
Today, the hero party would move exactly as I planned.
Like puppets on the strings of a puppeteer.
.
.
.
“Yikes!! H-Hero!!”
“Uh, Rui?!”
“C-Could you get this thing off me…!”
Slash!
The hero hastily grabbed my robe and cut down the Raskus that was thrashing around on me.
Thanks to that, I managed to stop the tears that were welling up in my eyes.
‘What an ugly creature!!’
Raskus.
They looked extremely filthy and hideous.
*
There was a troublesome rodent from my past life.
It was called Nutria, and Raskus looked a bit like that.
What did I mean by that? It was all about the size.
“Eek.”
I quickly took out a magical tool from the Space of Space and threw it at the Raskus charging at me.
It seemed to be a failed experiment, as the tool exploded upon collision with Raskus.
Thus, I caught one Raskus.
‘A rodent…?! This size is no longer just a rodent!’
It was a giant rodent, almost dog-sized. Isn’t this more like a rebellion or chaos level than just a rodent?
“Rui! Is there a way to make my running speed faster…? ”
“Die, die…!”
Serelin seemed to say something, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to respond.
Since it had come to this, I focused all my energy on throwing my failed experiments and eradicating all the Raskus around.
“Hmm.”
Ultimately, Serelin turned around and began destroying a nearby Raskus nest.
“Phew…”
Having smashed all the roughly ten nests in the vicinity, I took a moment to check on my party members.
Rapirie was making skewers out of the Raskus with wind magic-enhanced arrows while also picking off the ones roaming on the ground with her bow and dagger.
Serelin was thoroughly destroying the area with her sword in a more spacious spot.
As for the hero… he was similar to Serelin, just a tad tidier in style.
The most surprising was Ariya.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re running off to!”
With a completely unfazed expression, she was not only pummeling Raskus but also spreading holy water around and using her holy powers to suffocate them.
‘You’re fighting way too well.’
I realized I had forgotten, but the four of them had already lived this way for a year before joining me.
Since they had been taking requests from the Adventurer’s Guild and various groups, one of those would definitely include Raskus.
Thus, they knew the counterstrikes better and weren’t particularly afraid because they understood the creature’s weakness.
‘I’m the one falling behind.’
It was shocking.
Honestly, I felt sorry for Ariya, but I still thought I would have taken down more of them than her.
Yet, Ariya was even ahead of Serelin and the hero… ultimately, I was the last.
“Rui, behind you!”
“Eh.”
Was it because my mind was exhausted? I ended up missing a Raskus that was charging at me.
Fortunately, it didn’t try to bite my robe or charge at me.
Slash!
“Rui, are you alright?”
Just like when the subjugation began, the hero saved me once more.
“Thank you…”
I meant it sincerely.
To be honest, having faced off against vampires and large spiders, I thought Raskus would be a piece of cake.
‘But to think I’d be scared of a rat.’
It was like hating green peppers after becoming this body.
No, it’s not that I hate green peppers.
“Well, it should be fine now. There aren’t any visible ones.”
“Really…?”
“Uh, uh-huh.”
Still clinging to the hero, I looked up at him and asked.
It seemed my tear ducts, sealed during the last ambush, had opened again as my eyes felt moist.
“S-So you can relax now.”
“······Then I’m okay.”
“······??”
All the Raskus have been subjugated? Then it’s my turn now.
Quickly escaping from the hero’s arms, I pulled out the master key.
“Detection.”
I used a simple magic I devised to find any Raskus that might be hiding.
Then I felt something similar to the corpses of Raskus responding beneath the ground.
“There are still some remaining beneath the ground.”
“Really? Then······.”
“I’ll be over there, so let me know when you’ve caught them all.”
I pointed to a low tree.
“Uh, okay······.”
I tried hard to ignore the hero’s gaze and climbed up the tree while struggling.
“Phew····· Huh?”
I definitely ran up the tree to hide from the Raskus that were supposed to pop out of the ground, but why was there something staring at me from the branches?
[Nests are in holes in the ground and tree trunks. They seem to be able to climb trees really well.]
“······.”
Gulp.
In the end, I could only rely on the protective barrier of my robe and tremble without saying a word.
My savior who rescued me was none other than Rapirie, who was finally looking in my direction with a sigh.
“Phew, Rui! You can come down now····· Huh?”
“······,”
“······.”
Can you save me?
I sent her my unspoken plea, and she shot an arrow with a cold gaze, killing the Raskus above me.
Finally done with the subjugation.
I ended the detection over the forest area to signal the closure of the subjugation mission.
“There are no more. Not a single one.”
“Phew~! It’s over···.”
“It was harder than when we dealt with the Eastern Village···.”
Everyone was scattered about, exhausted from catching Raskus.
It was a bit different from what I had imagined, but in the end, they had exhausted themselves as I intended.
‘······Just as planned.’
“Everyone.”
“Uh…?”
“I’m sorry for not being able to fight properly in this subjugation request.”
The operation remained the same, but I made a slight adjustment.
I simply made it my fault that things had ended up like this.
“If I had learned combat magic… if I at least hadn’t been scared of Raskus… I would have been able to assist even a little more…”
Also, it’s important to mention my mistake first.
“Uh, um···.”
Then, they would be hesitant to point out my faults.
Although I had to be careful to walk the thin line here.
‘If I’m not careful, it could lead to expulsion.’
Ha! You’re useless. You’re expelled from my party.
That kind of response from the hero could arise.
While it didn’t seem like the kind of thing a usually cheerful and simple-minded hero would say, it was still a possibility to consider.
But something felt off about the hero party’s reaction.
‘Here, they should have been reassuring or showing some degree of sympathy.’
But everyone was making odd expressions.
At that moment, it was Serelin who spoke up to me.
“Um… Rui?”
“Yeah?”
“You seem to have forgotten, but you actually came in under the condition that you wouldn’t participate in the combat, right?”
“·········Oh.”
“So really, we’re not unhappy about you not helping···.”
“Oh, um. I see?”
“Exactly. So we’ve actually been super grateful so far.”
“Me too.”
Something’s strange.
It’s true that I joined under such terms, but…
‘······Hmm?’
I don’t really get it.
How did it end up like this?
“Rui. What we’re saying is that you shouldn’t overexert yourself.”
“Oh······.”
“Exactly. You’ve already been a tremendous help back at Alphares. To be frank, even if you were in the lab until the Northern Region, no one would mind.”
With Rapirie’s words, all party members nodded in agreement.
It was pretty awkward for me to respond to this. Even if I tried to explain the need for mass firepower here, they wouldn’t know about the witch heroine, and it would sound like I’m just saying I want to provide the firepower myself.
“······Thank you for your consideration.”
“What’s this? It’s nothing to be grateful for.”
So in the end, I concluded the subjugation request by simply expressing my gratitude.
‘······Still, it wasn’t a total failure.’
Outwardly, I didn’t show it, but I thought they’d be considering firepower to some extent in their hearts.
After all, the reason they were looking to hire a mage before I even joined was precisely that.
Recalling this point, I returned to the village with the four of them.
And a week later, when we arrived at a village.
“Y-You! Hero! Where is the hero?!”
A man rushed into the inn where the hero party was staying.
“What’s going on?”
The hero asked with a serious expression while comfortably seated and reading a swordsmanship textbook.
Breathless, the man conveyed a single word.
“From the North… the fire giant…!”
“The fire giant…?”
Upon hearing those words, I sprung to my feet.
‘Here it comes.’
The fire giant is ‘her’ power.
It’s the newly incoming heroine, the witch who rules all fire as she wishes.
The Witch of Living Flames, Niabella.
Finally, the moment to meet her was approaching.