When I stepped outside the next morning the sound of rain was overwhelming.
「…it sounds like a real downpour…」
I had been caught in the rain before, but getting soaked the day after eating barbecue and regaining my strength felt unfair. I knew we could not beat nature, yet I had no idea where to vent this frustration.
「──That is some rain!」
As I stood in front of the door at the foot of the stairs, Kainzel-san arrived completely drenched.
Moving into the hut only to be hit by a downpour was terrible luck. I wondered if it leaked. I went back upstairs and handed him a bath towel.
「This time of year we often get rain like this. When I lived on the streets it was always a problem」
I see. Rain must have been an enemy when living outside. Hearing it from someone who lived through it hit hard.
「What will you do today?」
「Hmm… will this stop?」
「Rain like this can last all day, or even longer」
So, this world had something like a rainy season. If this lasted for days my chances of earning money would disappear.
「There is no helping it. Let us train. Ah, please teach me knife work today. I think I will use a knife more often than a machete」
In an emergency I would likely draw a knife first. Learning to use one could only help.
「Understood. Your movements have settled so I will start counterattacking. Be ready because it will hurt」
「I do not mind. Please」
I soon regretted saying that. It hurt. I never imagined being hit could hurt this much. I almost cried.
But pain meant I was alive. Once I died I would not feel anything, so I had to become strong while I could still feel pain.
I clung to the training with everything I had. When I was struck I got back up. When I was swept off my feet I got back up. When my stomach was hit and I nearly vomited I endured and got back up. I kept challenging him until noon.
「…th-thank… you… very much…」
Even if pain proved I was alive it still hurt like hell. I wanted to cry. If Ladarion had not been watching I would have been bawling with snot running down my face.
I crawled toward the bag I had prepared and swallowed a recovery pill.
One pill did not heal me completely but most of the pain faded.
「They sell things like that?」
「This is a special reward from the Great Mage. When you eliminate a thousand goblins you get to draw a lottery」
「So you are not guaranteed to get one again」
「That is right. I really want to save them for emergencies, but I need to survive until that emergency comes. It is an investment」
I had no idea if this world had the concept of investment though.
「It does not heal you completely?」
「No. It is not that convenient. If something would normally take three days to heal this shortens it to about one day」
They should give me beans like the ones that old cat hermit made. This recovery pill was too unreliable.
After lunch I made it free time. Training the body was important, but training the mind was just as important. No ordinary man could win the struggle to survive in this world by being all muscle. I had lived for thirty years in a well-educated society and I needed to use that advantage to master modern tools.
On the tablet I looked for tools I could use, studied different guns and how to handle them, and thought about my plans going forward. There was plenty to think about. I had to make the most of this rainy day.
「Hm? A reward came in?」
The total on the tablet had gone up. It had been fixed for a long time and suddenly started moving.
「From the amount it jumped I guess it is Rondario-san’s team」
I could not tell who killed what. From the size of the jump it was not from one person. Rewards kept coming in.
「So, it is not raining in Mars Town?」
I stepped outside to check. It was still pouring so heavily that I had no desire to go out. Did people like Rondario-san get used to this kind of weather?
The reward kept rising. After one hour they had definitely taken down a hundred goblins. What was going on?
「Goblins move even in heavy rain?」
By evening the flow of rewards stopped. About three hundred thousand yen. That meant they had taken down around two hundred goblins.
「The Expendables really are something」
I had no idea what they were doing, but the fact remained that five people had wiped out two hundred goblins. It made me wonder what all my effort was even for.
「Is something wrong?」
Maybe he did not want to walk back in the rain. Kainzel-san came down the stairs holding his Glock.
「The people I hired seem to be exterminating goblins」
「In this rain?」
Even Kainzel-san found it hard to believe that anyone could hunt goblins in weather like this.
「Yes. They have taken down more than two hundred. The pace has slowed, but it feels like they are still going」
They would hit three hundred soon.
「They might be in the Gosun Underground Tomb」
The Gosun Underground Tomb? Was it run by some skull-faced overlord?
「Long ago there was a large tomb under the old domain capital. I once heard that goblins slipped in through some hole and settled there」
「Do you not clear it out?」
「People filed petitions several times, but in the end they only sealed the passages that connected to the tomb」
Kainzel-san sounded like he had shut off his emotions. It seemed he had been involved in something unpleasant.
「I see. Well, if it is Rondario-san’s group there should not be any problem」
If they were the Expendables, it did not matter if it was above ground or underground. They would steamroll everything.
「Rondario… You mean the third son of House Sarkley?」
「Eh… yes. That is him. You know him?」
「I have never met him, but in the Margrave Koraus territory there are fewer than ten adventurers with the Silver Seal」
「Silver Seal? Is that the adventurer ranking?」
「Yes. At the top is White, then Gold, Silver, Iron, Copper, Wood, and Unranked」
Seven tiers huh. I was treated as a provisional adventurer, so what would that make me? Well, I was not planning to make a living as an adventurer anyway.
「…He is Silver with that level of strength…?」
In a world like this, being told to go exterminate goblins made me want to punch that useless goddess.
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