Chapter 73 (2/2)

From the remaining six, they raised a roar and flames came attacking.

「HAA!」

I raised my fighting spirit.

Pouring ki into my katana, I struck the approaching flames in order to cut it down.

In accordance to my thoughts, the flames were cut down by the ki sent from my katana. Was it the remains of the flames? A faint scorching wind blew my hair, but wasn’t able to burn a single strand of it.

Were they bewildered that their flames were erased? The h.e.l.l Hounds stopped moving as if they were fl.u.s.tered.

Of course, I didn’t overlook that.

Using ki to strengthen my body, I instantly stepped forward and swung my katana.

The flouris.h.i.+ng katana easily cut up the h.e.l.l Hounds as if cutting tofu.

With the number of h.e.l.l Hounds reduced with every swing, on the sixth swing, the amount of moving targets was already reduced to zero.

I vigilantly looked around the area for a short while, but as there was no movements, I finally relaxed my guard and called Graham-san.

「Fuu… Graham-san, it looks like it’s safe to come out already.」

However… For an A ranked monster, eleven of them in addition too, to easily be defeated by a single adventurer… Wouldn’t it be a good idea to reconsider its rank?

Huh? Or could it be that I’m strong…? To cut them that easily, perhaps sacred treasures are way too amazing…?

「……As expected of the dragon slayer huh… To easily defeat A ranked monsters, who would’ve thought… Furthermore, a single Black Dog is ranked A, ya know? There hasn’t been a report of a group of them until now, in the worst case, a group would be over S rank, ya know? To do that alone na… I got no idea whether jou-chan is too strong, or sacred treasures are too strong, but it was the right decision to bring jou-chan along…」

Aah, I was just thinking about that…

As expected, it’s abnormal to defeat them alone ne…

「N-Now then, our goal is right before us, right? Let’s go quickly! Okay?」

Unable to bear Graham-san’s opinion of me for some reason, I purposely spoke in a loud voice and urged us ahead.

Graham-san didn’t say anything further, but after letting out a large sigh, he chose one of the several tunnels, then proceeded ahead.

The tunnels ahead did not have anything in particular, we smoothly continued onwards while the bats and rats, which had settled here, made a racket.

Turning however many corners, we continued through the winding tunnels and eventually met the end.

「Aight, it’s here… Since I’ll be digging the ores, please make sure not to approach, jou-chan. If a helpless situation arises, let me know with a yell.」

After saying that, Graham-san took out various items from the baggage he was carrying and went into his mining preparations.

I separated a slight ways away then stood guard at the path we came from.

A short time later, kan kan, the sounds of something solid began to echo out.

I stood on the opposite side of the path and continued looking out while listening to that.

It’s been approximately three hours since then.

While having lunch midway, Graham-san continued mining.

Well, even though I say lunch, it’s only preserved food since I can’t prepare food here…

Because the mining sounds eventually stopped, I returned to Graham-san to look.

「Ooh, I’ve gotten quite a bit more than I planned, thanks to you. Wait a little, I’ll quickly tidy up.」

Looking at me who returned, Graham-san laughed with a ‘GAHAHA‘ while in a good mood.

However, beside him, there was a mountain of ores that no matter how you look at it, was too many.

「……Those, are you taking them all back?」

I suppose it couldn’t be helped that I unintentionally asked.

Beside Graham-san, were the ores he dug out piled up like a mountain. No matter how I look at it, it’s an amount that can’t be put into a bag.

However, Graham-san, without an appearance of worrying about it, nonchalantly crammed them into a bag.

……Is that bag a magic tool, I wonder…?

The ores were tossed in clearly beyond its maximum capacity.

The ores that were piled up decreased before my eyes. But…

「……Say, does jou-chan’s bag have room to spare?」

He stared towards me with pitiful eyes.

「Well, I have a little bit of room but… You dug too many, you know…」

I let out a sigh and lowered my rucksack.

With the mining completed, we cautiously, yet quickly, walked towards the exit.

On the way, we encountered Goblins and Orcs several times, but I cleared them without any problems and continued.

And thus, when we finally reached the exit, the sun had already set.

Well, the days are short during the current season and we are on a mountain after all ne. It’s inevitable that the days are short.

We decided to also camp at the cave we camped at last night.

Preparing the same way we did last time, we pa.s.sed through the night without incident.

The next day, we descended the mountain underneath the morning sun.

Without being attacked by any beasts on our way back, we smoothly arrived at the town by the foot of the mountain just before noon.

Staying overnight at the town, we travelled towards the Royal Capital after was.h.i.+ng away the fatigue from the morning.

After five days, we returned to the Royal Capital.

「Thanks a lot. It seems I’ll manage one way or another thanks to jou-chan. After this, I’ll enter the compet.i.tion for creating works. Ya really saved me.」

Kindly receiving his grat.i.tude, I left Graham-san’s store and went to report to the Adventurers’ Guild.

Receiving the reward from the guild, after doing some shopping, I returned to my home after a long absence.

「Nya~.」

Just as I opened the front door, I was met with Eru’s greeting.

Eru has her own personal entryway, and because Eru was originally a stray, I didn’t have to worry about a place for her to sleep, but only requested Chiffon-san to take care of her meals.

Was it because it’s been a long time? She started coiling excessively around my feet.

「Yes yes, I’m back, Eru. Please wait a little longer for food ne. ……Wait, you’re surprising dirty ne… Well, since it’s been close to half a month since you’ve taken a bath, it can’t be helped huh… This is perfect. I’ll prepare now so let’s enter the bath together.」

「Ni~.」

「That’s no good. Otherwise, you’ll do without food, you know? Now, I’ll be putting my things away and doing the preparations, so separate a little from me, please. Aah, even if you run, you won’t get any food, okay?」

「Ni~.」

While laughing a little at her reluctant meow, I realized that I have returned home.

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