Chapter 15

I woke up to the sound of the bell today. I endured the usual high energy and ate a good meal before heading to the guild.

I decided to check the F-rank extermination and elimination requests.

Hmm? What’s the difference between an extermination request and an elimination request?

Since I didn’t see Sally today, I asked a nearby receptionist. I apologize for being casual, but...

"Excuse me, I have a question."

"Yes, what is it?"

"What’s the difference between an extermination request and an elimination request? They both involve slaying monsters, right?"

How do they distinguish between them? By the strength of the monster? However, there didn’t seem to be a particular bias towards one or the other based on the request rank.

"Yes, basically, an extermination request doesn’t require you to accept it. You can slay any monster, and it doesn’t matter if some time has passed since you killed it. This is mainly for monsters that tend to cause more damage when their numbers increase."

Indeed, I remember seeing that extermination requests don’t require acceptance. That was a blind spot.

"An elimination request, on the other hand, is a type of monster-slaying request that requires you to accept it. The location of the monster is specified, and it doesn’t count if you’ve already slain it before. These are usually for monsters that require immediate attention or requests from outside the guild. Naturally, the reward is higher for elimination requests compared to extermination requests for the same level of monster."

If there’s an elimination request, I’ll do that; otherwise, I’ll do an extermination request, I guess.

"Even if I slay a monster at a location specified in an elimination request, it won’t count as completing the request, right?"

After all, if the monster is gone, it should be fine, right?

"Yes, it won’t count. There’s no way to verify if it’s true. If you accept the request, your guild card can determine if you’ve completed it, but without acceptance, it only shows when you killed the monster. The ancient magical device that the guild card is based on could determine where the monster was killed, but unfortunately, the guild card can’t do that."

So, the reason elimination requests require acceptance is that the guild card can’t determine if a previously killed monster was the target of the request due to its incomplete function.

This function could be useful for interrogations, I wonder.

For example, if you accept a request to "say what you think" and observe the guild card while questioning someone.

It might not be useful for making someone talk, but it could be for verifying the truth of what they say. But that’s not my concern. I don’t plan to be interrogated.

"I understand. I’ll go check the requests."

"Yes, have a good day."

I checked the requests again. There were no F-rank elimination requests. Perhaps it’s because they can’t entrust urgent requests to F-rank adventurers.

Instead, there were extermination requests for Green Wolves and Big Mouths. I completed these when I was G-rank and received the reward, but does the rank matter?

Since you can only accept requests up to your rank, it might be fine for requests that don’t require acceptance.

It would be interesting to report killing monsters from C-rank extermination requests, but there’s no need to take unnecessary risks.

Even if I climbed ranks quickly using such methods, it might not be a good thing.

Even if I have high stats due to magic, I’m still a novice adventurer with no experience. Some requests require such experience.

I’ll take it step by step...!

So, I decided to enter the forest without accepting any requests, only doing extermination requests.

I’ll show the power of my magic barrage!

Although I don’t really want to encounter situations where the barrage is necessary.

Today, I’ll push deep into the forest without gathering herbs. After running for 10 minutes at the increased speed from my level-up, I finally encountered my first monster, a Green Dog.

I equipped my gear from my item box and deliberately missed the vital spot with a rock spear to check its power while I had the chance.

The rock spear pierced the Green Dog’s torso more deeply than before and shattered, but the Green Dog seemed to have a fatal wound and was only twitching its legs.

The Green Dog died while I was watching, so I stored it in my item box and continued on.

Monsters like Green Dogs have magic stones inside their bodies, but I’ve never seen one. Usually, I just throw the entire body into my item box.

Magic stones don’t usually circulate in regular stores; small ones are crushed and used like batteries in magical devices, while large ones are processed. I don’t feel like disassembling a Green Dog just to see one. I haven’t had a chance to use this sword yet. I want to, but it seems wasteful.

While thinking about this, I encountered a group of five Green Dogs. I immediately killed them with five rock spears. My INT hasn’t increased much, but the Green Dogs are dying easily. The staff has made it easier to aim, and this is very convenient. Thanks to this, I haven’t needed to use my sword.

Just as I was about to start skinning them, I noticed a large number of reactions on the left side of my touchpad. I turned left and saw the Green Dogs. How many? I don’t know. I don’t feel like counting. How can I escape...? If I use fireballs, it might start a forest fire...

There are a lot, but if they don’t keep spawning, they are finite. I should reduce their numbers first.

So, I took out a mana recovery potion from my item box, opened it, and drank it. I could open it with a mental image.

I started firing rock spears with all my mana. The Green Dogs fell one by one, but more kept coming.

／Tette-rei／ ／Tette-rei／ ／Tette-rei／ The level-up fanfare kept ringing in my head.

While continuously firing, I used the touchpad to find obstacles and retreated. However, the sheer number was overwhelming, and a few Green Dogs that avoided the rock spears appeared. While dealing with them, the others closed the distance. This repeated, and the distance closed significantly.

The density of Green Dogs seemed to have decreased, but there were still many. The distance was down to about 2 meters. It was originally about five times that.

Suddenly, one of the Green Dogs lunged at my face. I instinctively thrust my sword with my right hand.

There was a sensation of the sword piercing the Green Dog’s neck. It was my first time using a sword, but it went in surprisingly easily. I pulled it out without hesitation and raised it to a high guard.

I continued firing rock spears at full power. The momentum didn’t seem to wane.

— I can do this, I thought, despite the slightly slower fanfare and the barking of the Green Dogs forming the BGM.

I stopped retreating and stood my ground. I stopped using rock spears to kill approaching enemies and instead aimed to reduce their numbers by firing straight into the crowd.

I slashed two approaching Green Dogs at once. The increased level of my rock spears had improved their penetration, and now they could skewer two Green Dogs at once.

My sword skills had also improved significantly. Thanks to the skill and increased strength and agility, the sword that initially lost momentum after killing one Green Dog could now cut through three without losing its edge. The relentless barrage of powerful rock spears and the sword had turned the initially hopeless battle into one with some breathing room.

As the bodies piled up, I gradually retreated while continuously slashing the Green Dogs. I knocked down a Green Dog from the left with my shield and stabbed it with my sword, then swung it to the right to cut two Green Dogs in half.

Suddenly, the attacks stopped. I looked in the direction the pack had come from, but it was just a continuous line of Green Dog corpses. The touchpad showed no more biological reactions except for mine.

I had won against the pack of Green Dogs.

Now, I had to clean up. I needed to collect these. I stepped on the Green Dog corpses lightly and stored them in my item box. While storing them, I checked my status. I didn’t remember how many times the fanfare had played, as I was in a trance.

Name: Suzumiyah Kaede

Age/Race/Gender: 21/Human/Male

Level: 17

HP: 631/631

MP: 755/9112

STR: 90

INT: 148

AGI: 112

DEX: 124

Skills: Information Manipulation Analysis (Hidden), Complete Foreign Language Mastery (Hidden), Magical Aptitude (Hidden), Martial Arts Aptitude (Hidden), Otherworlder (Hidden), All-Elemental Affinity (Hidden), Fire Magic 3, Earth Magic 3, Water Magic 3, Pressure Magic 1, Perception Magic 4, Healing Magic 2, Swordsmanship 2

The skill levels haven’t increased, but the status improvements from the level-ups are significant. My magic levels will increase with development, so it’s not a problem if they don’t increase with levels. Probably.

The MP was quite low, but the battle, which felt eternal, lasted only about three minutes. If I hadn’t noticed and run out of MP, it could have been dangerous.

But it was a fruitful three minutes.

The cleanup was done. There were 513 Green Dogs.

Considering the battle lasted about three minutes, I was killing about 200 per minute, or 3.5 per second.

I should have been firing about 14 rock spears per second, so it seems I was killing one with every four spears, even without considering sword strikes.

I might have wasted spears on already dead ones. This is something to work on.

I’m quite exhausted, so I decided to head back instead of going deeper.

Looking at my hands, I realized I was covered in blood.

Of course, even if my clothes don’t get dirty easily, being splattered with blood is inevitable.

I can’t go back like this. I should find a river and wash up.

Then I realized, I can use water magic.

I rinsed my equipment lightly with water and stored it in my item box. Since the item box doesn’t age items, it’s better to leave it to experts than to clean it myself. I don’t plan to clean my staff, as it doesn’t seem to need it.

So, I used a hose-like water magic to wash myself. It’s like a shower coming from 30 cm above my head.

I washed my body and clothes thoroughly. The clothes in this world can be cleaned this way and dry quickly.

I finished the shower. My clothes are still wet, but they’ll dry on the way back.

Running back to town, I noticed my speed had increased significantly. The scenery was flying by much faster than before.

I reached the gate in about 10 minutes. The guard checking my guild card didn’t look surprised, so I probably don’t look strange.

Eain! I’m back!