Kuro no Maou

Chapter 27 – First Quest!

Quest: Collection of Rixei grass.

Reward: 5000 silver per bag.

Deadline: the first week of the month of Distant Thunder.

Client: Irz Village tool shop owner Kische.

Details: Required to enter the Fairy Garden and collect a prescribed amount of Rixei grass in bags. The party which brings more than three bags will receive one potion set compounded from Rixei grass.

“And so, here I am in the fairy garden!”

Wearing the clothes and carrying the items bought yesterday I have come to the location of my first quest.

Our current location is in front of Lily’s home.

“It doesn’t feel like an adventure.”

It can’t be helped because the herbs I need grow in the Fairy Garden.

I left the hut in the early morning, went to village, accepted the quest, and returned back. Truly a splendid double effort it is.

Well, I decided to take the quest knowing I had to take the trip. Alright then, lets go and collect the rixei grass.

“Yeah!”

The one who responded to my voice is of course my reliable buddy Lily.

For her to accompany with me on this quest, I completed her adventurer registration.

I thought of doing this while talking to her yesterday, well, let’s put this talk aside.

And thus the rookie adventurer team of a human and a fairy pushed their way into the the Fairy Garden!

A few hours ago, I came to Irz village wasting two hours to accept a quest.

There is a reason I decided to accept the collection quest to “Harvest Rixei Grass“ used to make potions.

The plant is also used by Lily to make her effective medicine, so getting paid to collect the raw material and also collect the raw material for the medicine was killing two birds with one stone.

It’s different from the other quests because Lily and I can handle it easily on our own, and the Fairy Garden is also close to home.

I thought of this as an opportunity to become familiar with the geography of Fairy Garden, which also happens to be my neighborhood, and as for the quest to harvest the medicinal plant, we can easily look while walking.

“Where does the Rixei grass grow?”

“Umm......, over there!”

I leave guiding us completely in Lily’s hands.

Well, it is good to have someone who knows the place, but it feels weird that I was doing nothing, just accompanying Lily......If a monster appears I will fight it.

I walked following the steps of the fairy in a forest with various green trees, through which the sunlight shined on the ground...... it feels like a very much fantastical situation.

The forest has a relaxing effect, and it also makes the mood peaceful.

“At this rate, it feels like this quest will turn into a pleasant hiking trip.”

“There is something......”

The mood that makes me feel like singing is blown away in an instant due to a suspicious presence.

Lily also seems to have noticed and her catches her breath.

However holding your breath is not going to stop you from being easily discovered with such a shining body.

There are various suspicious presences in our surroundings. I try to look out from the bushes and there was a monster.

“I have seen that dinosaur somewhere.”

In front of my eyes was a small dinosaur with sharp claws and was walking on two legs.

I say small, but it is taller than a person. It was obvious by looking at its heinous fangs which can bite a person’s head like a fruit, that it is a carnivore.

It’s appearance is just like a deinonychus I once saw in a book as a child. [TL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinonychus%5D

“It’s a dagger raptor.”

“That’s what it’s called?”

“Yeah.”

I remember seeing that name in the monster subjugation list at the guild. I see......so it’s this fellow.

If I am not mistaken it has the strength of rank 1, the same as a goblin. But individually, this guys strength is overwhelmingly superior.

Even within the same rank the difference in strength can be quite a lot.

The raptors in this world have dinosaur-istic names, have long claws and sharp fangs that remind me of knives and daggers. From what I see it looks like a dinosaur from my imagination.

The single dagger raptor has not sensed us yet, and restlessly moves his head right and left.

At first glance it appears full of openings...

“He’s inviting us.”

“Yup.”

I have a body that fought desperately through many mobility experiments. Though I can’t understand a monster’s words I can understand their intentions. That experience through the hell was not just for show.

Lily has also noticed that this raptor is a decoy.

They are waiting for the moment our attention changes toward him, so the other raptors in the surroundings can start attacking.

But now that we know that much we have no intention to keep on glaring at it.

“Lily, you shoot at him. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Understood.”

We leap out of bushes with Lily in front.

The raptor decoy immediately turns towards us taking and takes an offensive posture, but...

“Eeiii!”

Contrary to that cute shout, Lily’s laser beam pierces through the middle of the raptor’s forehead.

The raptor dies instantly in a flash without having the time to swing its claws.

Lily’s work is only till here, now the rest is――

“My turn!”

The moment we leapt out in offensive, the raptors hiding in the surroundings start to attack at once.

Two rush at me from my each side, one from my back, it might have thought about capturing me from behind, but if I know their moves, it’s easy to exterminate them. I quickly turn around and raise the black baton in my hand.

“Buckshot.”

The magic I supplied is amplified by the baton, due to it the bullets formed have more density than normal.

Firing buckshot only takes a moment, and the black curtain of bullets intercepts four raptors at once.

If I had fired the buckshot without the use of baton, it wouldn’t have become a sure kill with one shot.

Although small, the raptors have the appearance of a dinosaur and were being protected by their hard scales and skins. They display incomparable defensive power when compared to goblins.

The bullets were higher power than normal, smashed the scales, and mercilessly drilled through the skin.

However due to using the baton I got from the magician’s treasure box, officially named ”Black Barista・Replica” my power has doubled. The bullets fired on my both sides at the same time, driving the raptors near the verge of death and eventually killing them.

There is one left, a single raptor now in front of me as I have turned back.

During the gap when I fired the bullets, it took the shortest distance and ran up to me. It is still trying to attack me with its claws but I’m out of their range.

“Pierce ‘Cursed Hatchet – “Tsujigiri” ’ .”

The black hatchet comes out from my shadow in an instant. I take in in my hands and dash out forward to finish the raptor.

Though a raptor has hard solid scales and skin, in front of this cursed hatchet, it gets split in two halves without any resistance.

The body of the raptor falls on the ground with a thud.

“Nh, the rest retreated, huh?”

When they saw their six friends go down in an instant, they concluded that they were no match for me and I felt the surrounding presences of raptors fade rapidly.

It won’t be a problem to fight them, but I don’t like to take the initiative and I won’t pursue them.

In the first place our purpose for coming here was to harvest the medicinal herbs. If I fight with the monsters, there would be no end.

“Now then, we have already repelled them successfully, shall we move forward? Ah wait, let’s take back the proof of killing them.”

I don’t remember how much reward is given for a single raptor, but it might be able to reward me with gold.

The report of a suppression can be proved by taking a part of that particular monster as an identifier.

For a goblin the ears are popular and for the raptors it is the claws and fangs.

For proof you require a symmetrical pair of the large left and right claws or fangs.

I chose to collect the claws because they would be faster to cut off with the cursed hatchet.