Ant Road

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The passenger carriage moved down the road, and through the forest.

Behind it, I followed on my horse with the Adventurer party that was hired to guard it. Their destination was Suelbur, which was the town that was the closest to the elf forest.

After crossing the border and entering Lusnatos, I then left Mujider while tagging along with this passenger carriage as it departed.
I just told the Adventurers that I wanted to follow them, and they said that they would be glad to have me.

“Stop!”

The Adventurer in the lead raised his hand, and the carriage driver pulled on the reins. The caravan stopped. And so I moved forward in order to ask about what had happened.

“What…”

But before I could finish, the situation became clear to me. Up ahead on the road, there was a wagon with a broken wheel. The Adventurers were currently talking to a few men, who appeared to be the owners of the wagon. They seemed to know each other, so there was no worry of them being bandits.

I dismounted from Mulze, and tied him to the carriage so that I could help guard our surroundings. Apparently, the Adventurers had offered to help with repairs. The passengers also got out. Some helped, and some watched.

In the countryside, these passenger carriages were strongly connected with the land. And so if someone you knew was in trouble, you could not just ignore them. And so none of the passengers complained.
It was possible that Suelbur would become my base of operations for quite some time. And so I had no issue with waiting here either.

“Something is coming!”

While I was waiting, I heard a voice rise up from the opposite side that I was guarding. When I turned to look, I saw that something hidden was moving loudly through the bushes. And when it came out and revealed itself, I saw that it was an ant that was the size of a large dog.

We had encountered them a number of times on our way here. They were called Killer Ants, and had hard shells and great strength. Their mandibles were especially dangerous.
However, they were weak at the joints, which were easy to target. Their shells were also not as tough as those of a Sand Scorpion. And so they were only Rank E, which was not very high. However, that was only when they were alone.

“Surround it!”
“Leave it to us!”

Two of the Adventurers, and one man from the broken wagon picked up a sword and headed towards the ant. As it seemed like they could handle it, I turned away to keep watch of the rest of the area. It wasn’t just soldiers and Adventurers who could fight. Anyone who had reason to leave towns and cities regularly usually had some means of defending themselves.

“Staying in your spot. I see you’re used to this.”

Said one of the Adventurers, who was keeping watch nearby. Even after showing my C-Rank Adventurers plate, these Adventurers looked at me with great skepticism due to my leg. Wonderful.
Yes, they had not heard any rumors about Rokuidol. It had been worth traveling out here after all.

“You should also praise me for not talking unnecessarily.”

“Well said.”

They were fighting on the other side. This was no time to lower one’s guard. As I carefully scanned the area, I saw something move in the bushes nearby. And so I unsheathed my sword and watched as a Killer Ant crawled out. There were two.

As they were ants, they could be incredibly dangerous in large groups. And while that did not usually happen, once in battle, they would scatter a sour scent into the air. And that scent was supposed to call their comrades. These ones had probably been lured in that way.

“You take the other one!”
“Aye!”

And so we split up. I was sure that someone else would come to support us, but I wasn’t going to wait.

As the Killer Ant moved towards me, I raised Mine Breaker into the air.
The mandibles snapped wildly as it lunged. And I was aiming to hit it right between them.

“Hahh!”

After charging it with all my magic energy, I slammed down with Mine Breaker. And like that, the Killer Ant’s head was cleaved in half.

When it came to their attacks, you needed to be wary of their bites, and the acid released from their tails. However, they were not much of a threat when alone.
And as they spread more of their scent the longer they fought, it was best to kill them swiftly.

I moved to help with the other one, and saw that the Adventurers had been headed towards me, but frantically changed directions.
As they didn’t know my capability, they must have assumed that I would need help first. Well, I had just joined, and so this kind of confusion was inevitable.

I went around to the side of the other Killer Ant, who was fighting the Adventurer head on. As it moved so much it was hard to target it. Still, I swung down with my sword anyway. However, this time, the magic energy was kept at a minimum.
The blade slid over the shell and towards the joints.

“Arghh!”

While using my weight, and charging it with magic, I cut through the joint between head and torso.
The Killer Ant twitched and then stopped moving.

“Not bad. I would hardly believe you have a prosthetic leg.”

We then went about carving the Killer Ants. Aside from the magic stones, the mandibles, carapace and acid sacs could be used for materials. The outer shells were especially light, which made them a popular material for armor. Apparently, it was one of the special products in this region.

They must have carved up a great deal of Killer Ants. The local Adventurers went about it with great speed and efficiency.

“Woah. Amazing!”

I clapped. The Adventurer who had been working had a far away look in his eyes.

“You’ll become decent enough as well, once you carve a hundred of them.”

“What kind of training is that?”

I felt tired just thinking about it.

“This region is famous for its Killer Ant materials. And so the Guild manages them, so their numbers do not increase or decrease too much. Sometimes, that means requests to exterminate nests.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“No, we fight numbers with numbers. It’s like a festival of soldiers, mercenaries, and Adventurers. However, those soldiers and mercenaries won’t carve the ants. And so it’s the work of low-ranking Adventurers to move the bodies out of the way and carve them up.”

“Ah… I see. That sounds rough.”

“Being freed of that work is like the first goal of low-ranking Adventurers in these parts.”

“Indeed. And these quests that include all Adventurers…is it…”

“Aye. Forced quest.”

Hmm. Forced. So if I work in Suelbur, I will likely get involved. Well, surely they wouldn’t give me carving duty if I’m C-Rank, but perhaps I should be ready.

“Repairs are finished!”

Someone shouted, and the Killer Ant materials were loaded onto a horse. While they wanted to put them on the carriage, the passengers would not enjoy having to sit with freshly carved materials.

The wagon with the repaired wheel departed, and the carriage and horses followed after it.
We would go together to the next village, which was today’s destination.

Along the way, there were many monsters. Though, the only ones that attacked were weak goblins and these hopping F-Rank bug creatures called Rapid Hoppers.

They were about thirty centimeters, with long legs. And they had piercing mouths that sucked blood. The way they hopped around on their big legs reminded me of some kind of cricket.
It was easy to kill them by swatting them out of the air when they jumped. However, as they were disgusting, I wished they would just stay away.

Still, there were much more monsters here than other main roads I had traveled down. And I had not seen anyone enter the forest. From what I heard, there were no powerful monsters in the forest that was near the road. However, it was best to be safe.

The closer to the frontier, the richer the nature, and the stronger the monsters. It felt as if they were saying that this was their land, and they were denying the expansion of human territories.

Next Chapter

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Bonus chapter courtesy of Photo. Thank you!

Ossan Boukensha no Jimichi na Isekai Tabi