Rayos and Phasis fell asleep.
However, Phasis’s snoring was so loud that Rayos detached from his body and couldn’t plan for tomorrow.
“Fei… he’s so loud, groaning away because he can sleep in a bed.”
Rayos floated out into the night town.
“A brothel… is this it!”
He had separated from Phasis and asked the residents of the slums for general directions. The payment was the cheapest currency in the Tartarus Kingdom: one tine.
“Hey, mister! Come on in~♡”
“I’ll give you a special service~~♡ How about it? (wink)”
The level of the touts was decent.
Rayos phased through the building’s ceiling and boldly peeked into the playroom.
Beds creaked and groaned.
There, a girl skillfully made sounds to please her customer.
It was acting! The customer thought he was making the girl feel good with his “weapon,” but that wasn’t the case.
“The length of men’s weapons in this country doesn’t matter. But I’m curious about the depth of women’s holes.”
Come to think of it, for the past few days, it had only been women who could be called girls.
Whether he could make McGillis’s new body’s “weapon” reach climax depended on his technique.
Thus, Rayos thought as he watched the customer’s sex.
He then peered into other playrooms.
He nodded, rating the brothel’s level (inviting to visit, might come again, not worth visiting) by his own criteria.
The night was long.
Rayos went to peek into other brothels as well.
And he assigned them levels.
“The information was slightly different…”
Rayos thought the slum residents had given him false information.
Once he realized this, his motivation waned.
He returned to the inn where Phasis’s snoring was still loud.
Until morning, he stayed on the roof, idly watching the pedestrians walking the night streets.
As the sky began to lighten.
Rayos possessed his body and got out of bed.
He lightly moved his body to loosen it after rigor mortis.
“…Hm? Oh, good morning. You’re up early as usual.”
Sensing Phasis moving nearby, he opened his eyes.
It was natural for Rayos to be up early. Astral bodies don’t need sleep.
All he had to do was enter his body when morning came. Being early was natural.
“Good morning.”
Rayos urged Phasis to get ready.
Phasis seemed to be planning on going to the Adventurer’s Guild’s Referral Office after breakfast.
“I’m going to earn a ton of money♪”
“Ooh…”
Phasis seemed uninterested, preoccupied with the thought of defeating McGillis (Rayos). Getting ready was quick because they were lightly equipped.
The two of them, while waiting for breakfast, discussed what kind of quests they should take. Rayos, who had already decided on a subjugation quest, asked directly.
“To earn money quickly, we’ll hunt a large monster.”
“N-no, that’s… Just because you take a quest, it doesn’t mean you’ll encounter a large one, you know.”
Phasis, facing the danger to his own life, found himself speaking to McGillis in the same tone he used for “Suiheki.” He then hastily switched to polite language, realizing it was even worse and breaking out in a cold sweat, fearing he might be killed.
“Is that so? You don’t encounter them often.”
“Yes, that’s right. So, shouldn’t we aim for smaller ones?”
Relieved inwardly, Phasis suggested to McGillis that they hunt small monsters.
Knock, knock.
“Good morning. I’ve brought your breakfast.”
Room service.
They accepted the breakfast and quickly ate it.
If they left it on the table, it would be collected with the spare key.
“Now, let’s go out and succeed in our quest!”
“Yes.”
Rayos tore a request form for subjugating small monsters from the bulletin board at the adventurer’s referral office, accepted the quest at the counter, and hurried to one of the hunting grounds.
“Wait! Please wait!”
Even with his stride advantage, Phasis couldn’t keep up with McGillis.
“You’re slow. So slow. What if someone else hunts the monster? Train regularly.”
“…No way. *Gasp* *Gasp* Ugh.”
The bread from breakfast was sloshing in his stomach, and he felt nausea rising from the back of his throat.
McGillis’s words to endure it, and the smell of his vomit, made him more likely to be targeted by monsters. To ensure his own safety, he followed while covering his mouth with his hand.
Upon reaching the hunting ground, they took a moment.
Then, hearing McGillis whisper, “It’s a monster,” they entered combat readiness. The sound of their heartbeats pounded loudly in their ears.
“…Kiki.”
A small monster (shaped like a rat) approached.
“Shh!”
“Gii!?”
“We got it.”
McGillis’s lunge and follow-up strike.
The monster attempted to evade, but before it could counterattack, it turned into a small magic stone (magic sand).
Small monsters have no other materials. Collecting the tiny magic stone was troublesome.
Due to their minuscule size, many adventurers lose them.
Magic stones have a property of adhering to each other like magnets.
If you have a magic stone, collection is easy.
At first, you really had to concentrate, putting your face close to the ground to search for the tiny, grain-of-sand sized magic stone.
Once found, put it in the material bag.
If you bring the bag close to the ground where the monster was defeated, the magic stone will try to stick to the others in the bag, making collection easier.
“Finding it is a hassle~~ Ah, there it is.”
“That’s good.”
“Alright, let’s go to the next one, Fei.”
McGillis continued hunting monsters while dragging Phasis along.
◇◇◇◇◇
Adventurers who accepted quests at the referral office after McGillis’s party exited through the town gate.
“Are there people who left earlier than us?”
“Are they super confident, or just incredibly foolish? lol”
To avoid the pointless depletion of the town’s fighting strength, the Adventurer’s Guild had commissioned high-ranking adventurers to provide amulets of “Rock Class” and “Stone Class.”
Normally, McGillis, being Stone Class, should have been part of this temporary party or another one.
However, he had subtly declined such rescue measures at the counter.
His stated reason was:
“I want to challenge myself and see how far I can get♪”
“A boy, isn’t he,” the receptionist remarked to her colleague in the break room.
“Cease your idle chatter. This is no longer within the town.”
” “We apologize.” ”
Led by high-ranking adventurers, they approached small monsters near the gate. The low-ranking adventurers were made to attack while high-ranking adventurers acted as decoys and tanks.
They were taught to fear monsters but not to become complacent.
The high-ranking adventurers continued to give instructions mixed with insults.
“Can you even hit it with attacks like that, looking so timid?! Step in more! You, attack more actively! You haven’t participated in the attacks at all!”
” “Y-yes!” ”
” “I-I’m sorry!” ”
The low-ranking adventurers, facing real combat against monsters, even if small, fought to overcome their fear and the guilt of killing living beings.
One monster was beaten to death.
The next monster was defeated with reduced numbers.
Once everyone became accustomed to it, they were allowed to experience one-on-one combat while the tank provided support.
They would not prevent any injuries other than severe ones.
” ” ” “W-what!?” ”
“This is a trial you must pass. If you run away here, you’ll never be able to fight monsters again.”
” ” ” “……” ”
“Don’t worry. I’m watching over you. I will definitely block any attacks that would kill you. Do you understand?”
” ” ” “Yes!” ”
“Very well. Then, let’s go.”
They headed towards the hunting grounds where McGillis and his party had gone.
