NOVEL FROG Chapter 61: Huuunnn….
After our golem fight in the ruined village, Sanae and I continued to explore the area some more. Encountering more of the Meths and facing them in battle. However, unlike the first time when I was messing around with the golems by using weaker attack skills, I held nothing back in fighting the encounters after that and completely decimated the magic resistant golems with ease, more or less.
As for Sanae, she has even more golems added to her roster. At this rate, she could create a squadron full of the various Meths among her summons.
After that, what next? Bugs? Skeletons? I'll have to ask her later. Although, is there really no limit to how many monsters she can capture?
But once we have dealt with the monsters that we encountered, we continued exploring the area, entering each house to see what loot we may find. With that being said, we haven't had much luck so far...
"And this is the last house, right? It's slightly bigger than the rest."
"Maybe it's like the village chief's house or something?"
"Could be. I don't know. Let's just see if there's anything inside."
I took the lead and entered the premises. As soon as I went in, I noticed a chest in the ruined building. Meaning... loot at last!
"Akatsuki, get in here! There's a big chest here!" I called for Sanae.
"Yes. There is indeed a big chest here." She replied, jokingly staring at my boobs.
"I'm talking about that chest over there..."
Putting the jokes aside, we headed over to the treasure chest sitting in the house and stared at it for a moment.
"What are the chances that it's a Mimic?"
"Hmm... I don't know. Attack it and maybe we'll find out."
"This ain't Dark Souls. But, oh well."
I whacked the top of the chest with my staff as Sanae and I then jumped back.
"No response. I guess it's just a chest then."
"Great. Then let's open it!"
Sanae rushed ahead of me and flung the chest open. At that moment, her eyes lit up. A sign that the loot she'd acquired may be good.
"So, what did you get?" I asked her.
"Money!" Sanae answered.
"And...?" I questioned her further.
"And a jar of honey. That's it."
...Huh?
"Wait... That's all?"
"Yup. That's all."
"Seriously?"
Well that's a letdown.
"What did you expect from a village that is in ruins? This place is likely more of a farming spot for EXP than treasure hunting."
"Yeah, you may be right. But still... Kind of a letdown though." I argued, which Sanae overall agreed.
"Yeah... You're right. It kind of is, huh..." She sighed along with me. "But at least I got more monsters to join our merry band!" She then propped up and added with that.
I suppose the real loot is the friends she made along the way, huh?
"Woof! Woof woof!"
""Huh?"" Sanae and I blurted our voices out, hearing the sound of a barking dog coming from the floor above us.
Curious as to what may be up there, we decided to check it out. Climbing up the stairs cautiously until we see a woman in tattered robes collapsed on the ground with a small golem puppy greeting us next to her.
"Errr...."
"Woof! Woof!" The golem puppy barked at us, then headbutted the woman gently as if it was asking us to help her.
Sanae and I looked at each other, as we silently agreed that I'd be the one to approach the woman. Taking one slow step at a time until I was within distance to poke her with my staff as I asked her.
"Umm, are you alright, or... alive, Miss?"
"Huuunnn..."
"Hun...?"
"Huuunnngrrryy..." Said the woman before she fainted.
"Uhhh.... What?"
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Initiating Chain Quest: [The Ruined Village & The Alchemist Pt. 1]
Objective: Give the mysterious woman something to eat and listen to her story afterwards.
Do you accept? [Yes] / [No]
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All of a sudden, Sanae and I received a quest.
I turned and looked back at Sanae, who was just as baffled by the situation we were introduced to all of a sudden. Then she said, "Welp. Looks like this is your job, Mama Yoru."
"Please don't call me that."
"Why? Himeji called you that, didn't she?"
"That's... Argh. Never mind. Take care of the pup while I whip something up for its owner."
"Aye aye, sir!"
And so, I changed into my embarrassing cooking outfit and brought out the portable kitchen to start making a simple butter steamed potato for the starving woman. Meanwhile, Sanae is playing with the golem puppy.
"Who's a good boy? Yes, you are~ Aww yeah. That's right. You're a good boy~!"
"Woof~! Woof~!"
Looks like they are having fun with whatever they are doing.
And it looked like the steamed potatoes are ready. Now I need to cut them open and put a small slice of butter on each of them and my goodness, do they smell good.
So good that I did not notice the woman waking up and standing behind me until her drool hit my shoulder.
"What the...!?"
"That looks good. Can I have one?"
"Umm, yes... I made it for you."
"Oh thank you, dear adventurer!"
The woman lifted her hood, revealing her face with a horrible scar over her right eye, as I gave her a plate with the piping hot butter steamed potato.
"Mmm~! This is delicious! I never knew you could make potatoes so good!"
"Glad to hear that."
"Can I have seconds please? I'll be sure to pay you, dear adventurer."
"Sure."
After some time of cooking more meals for the woman, while Sanae continued to play with her golem puppy, the woman was finally satisfied as we sat down in a circle next.
"Come here, Lily."
"Woof!"
So the pup's name is Lily, huh?
"Ahem. Well uh, first of all... Thank you for helping me out even though we're strangers. My name is Mavis, a travelling alchemist. Nice to meet you, dear adventurers."
"I'm Yoru."
"And I'm Akatsuki."
"We're pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Mavis."
"Ah. You can just call me Mavis. I'm not too familiar with formalities and such."
"Right... So then, Mavis, what were you doing here without any food and water?" I asked her.
"I was researching!"
"You were?"
"Yes! I was researching the Meths and wanted to learn how they work. I took refuge in this house, since it was the only one that was still in liveable conditions. And as I was researching about them, I uhh, got too absorbed in it and forgot to go and hunt for food. Ehe~"
"Don't ehe me, girl."
"Right. Sorry..."
"Ok. So now that you've filled your belly, I assume you will be going back into your research then?"
"That is the plan. However..."
"However, what?" Sanae asked.
"To further my research on the Meths, I actually need their core in order to understand them. And since you, dear adventurers, are already here, I was wondering if I may kindly ask you to please help me collect some of their cores. I'll pay you, of course!"
I looked at Sanae, silently asking her what we should do, as dealing with those golems who are magic resistant isn't good for me as a Magician.
She nodded regardless of that fact, knowing full well that I can handle them even if it would take some time.
"We don't mind. But, just asking, don't you already have a Meth sitting on your lap?"
"Huh? Oh! Do you mean, Lily? Well, yes... Lily is a golem, but she's more a magic puppet rather than a Meth. The difference between them is that Lily requires me to refill her core with my mana in order to keep moving, whereas the cores of Meths can sustain their own mana without ever needing a supplier to keep them moving. That's why I want you to help me collect a good amount of their cores so that I can experiment on them. About fifty would do. So please please please~ Help out me, would you?"
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Chain Quest: [The Ruined Village & The Alchemist Pt. 1]
Objective: Give the mysterious woman something to eat and listen to her story afterwards. (Cleared!)
Reward(s) Received: [2,000 gold], [20 standard HP potions], [20 standard MP potions]
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Initiating Chain Quest: [The Ruined Village & The Alchemist Pt. 2]
Objective: Collect 50 Meth Cores for Mavis.
Do you accept? [Yes] / [No]
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Yes. Sanae and I accepted the quest and proceeded to head out of the house.
"Take care, dear adventurers! Stay safe!"
"Woof~!"
Mavis and Lily waved goodbye to us as we stepped out of the house to begin our Meth bust.
"Let's do this quick, Akatsuki."
"You got it, Yoru."
I have no idea how long this questline will take, so I would like to finish it quickly so that we can continue exploring the rest of the new region later.
