0p0 #172 - Small and cute
#172 - Small and cute
“So painful, so painful, so painful!”
On the empty plain, Aqua was howling loudly, waving her arms wildly, tears streaming from her eyes, while on her finger was a small, pitch-black snake.
She had been bitten again.
This was the third time.
Today, the group had once again come to the snowfield, wanting to search for the figure of the fire lizard, but it couldn't be said that they had gained anything, only that they hadn't found a single one.
“A-Aqua… I also want that… so envious!”
Darkness looked at the idiot goddess who was howling in pain, her face filled with incomparable envy and anticipation. Yoyo considerately helped Aqua pull the snake off.
“Hey! We haven’t found a single one!”
Satou Kazuma couldn't help but shout.
For two days, they hadn't caught anything. Even if it was safer compared to snow sprites, not earning any money was just a waste of time.
With this time, it would be better to go and subjugate monsters, or explore the underground city or something.
“Zun Zun…”
“Yeah, I knew it would turn out like this.”
Fire lizards like hot weather, so they can only be caught in the summer, otherwise there wouldn't be such a high price in winter.
The other world also has a buying season.
However, as the saying goes, as long as you keep your mind open, there are always more solutions than problems.
Dora A Zun is about to use technology and ruthlessness!
“Ta-da!”
He conjured a bottle of potion as if by magic.
“What is this…?”
“I guessed that this situation might happen, so I prepared a potion in advance that can attract monsters. It is made from Demon Fragrant Grass (mentioned in chapter 96), which emits a scent that ordinary people can't smell, but monsters like very much.”
“Oh, oh, oh!”
Satou Kazuma's eyes lit up.
As expected, teaming up with Zun Zun was the right choice. In addition to her own strong strength, she can also make high-level magic tools, and is an extremely important wise helper. He was about to be moved to tears.
“Here, just apply a little bit. If you apply too much…”
Before Zun Zun could finish speaking.
Darkness snatched the bottle from his hand, and then poured it all over her head, becoming soaked.
“Darkness!?”
“I am a crusader knight, and my mission is to protect my companions! So, leave things like being bait to me! I will protect you!”
What kind of show are you putting on at this time?
Even if what she said was very imposing, it would be touching in another occasion, but the hearts of everyone at this time were unwavering and even a little amused.
Yoyo was worried.
“Miss Darkness, you can't do that! This is not only a magic potion that attracts monsters, but if you apply a large amount, even creatures other than fire lizards will start attacking you!”
“T-Then that's even more desirable!”
Darkness hugged her shoulders, her face flushed red and panting: “Being, being bitten by small monsters… That, that feeling… must be great!”
See?
With such a vile nature, how can people be moved?
“Hey, is it okay to apply so much?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. At most, it will attract large monsters.”
“What!?”
Satou Kazuma's heart, which had just settled down, was raised again. He was already thinking about whether to use the novice magic water creation to wash off the magic potion on Darkness's body, but wouldn't it be bad to do this in the freezing cold?
Zun Zun didn't care at all.
“Darkness, show us what you can do.”
“Leave it to me!”
She lay down on the snow with great interest, and at the same time seemed to groan in enjoyment. She thought that the cold ice and snow would calm her brain down, but unexpectedly, it was her overloaded brain that melted the snow.
After a while…
A particularly conspicuous creature poked its head out from under the tree trunk. Its whole body was red, and its limbs had yellow and red fur that looked like flames, and the same was true from the top of its head to its tail.
It looked very similar to a little fire dragon.
The difference was that it was very petite, at most the size of two palms.
“Look at that!”
“That’s right, it’s a fire lizard! Kazuma, I’m counting on you!”
“Oh!”
Satou Kazuma snatched the net bag from the reluctant Aqua, and then used his lurking skill to quietly approach Darkness and the fire lizard. He was like a true assassin, suddenly striking at the moment when the target was relaxed—
With a snap.
The net bag fell on Darkness's face.
The disturbed fire lizard froze in place and was not caught.
“Ka-Kazuma, did you do it on purpose? I didn’t expect you to have such a hobby. I don’t hate it, I can play with you when we get back, but it’s better to catch fire lizards now.”
“Huh?”
Satou Kazuma looked at his hand.
He was very sure that he had aimed at the fire lizard just now, but how could it fall on Darkness's face…
“Wait, Darkness, didn’t you just use the taunt skill?”
“…”
“As expected, is that so? I knew it! What the hell are you thinking in your head!”
Satou Kazuma cursed.
However, thanks to Darkness's use of the taunt skill, the fire lizard did not run away immediately, and he quickly struck again. This time he successfully caught the fire lizard.
“We finally caught it!”
Satou Kazuma sighed.
The moment when the emptiness of the two-day search was filled was really great!
After that, the group used this method—using Darkness as bait, waiting for the fire lizard to appear, and caught five or six in half a day.
“Seriously, if you have such a potion, Zun Zun, you should have taken it out earlier, causing us to waste so much time.”
Satou Kazuma complained about Zun Zun.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to take it out, but taking it out might cause unpleasant consequences. Well, it’s about time.”
Zun Zun's words made his heart skip a beat.
“Kazuma, you know why animals hibernate, right? That’s because food is scarce and they have to rely on hibernation to get through the winter. So, what would happen if they smelled a piece of juicy meat while hibernating?”
As if in response to this sentence.
In Satou Kazuma's constantly widening mouth, an ear-piercing chirping sound came from the snowfield. Countless small animals with glowing eyes squatted on the snowfield or dry tree trunks.
“N-Not good! Darkness, she…!”
“Don’t worry, Kazuma.”
“How can I not worry at this time!?”
“Those little animals won’t move… No, they don’t dare to act rashly.”
Zun Zun stopped him who was anxious to go forward.
“The natural world is strictly hierarchical. Generally speaking, larger animals have the advantage, so the instincts of these small animals will tell them that this is very likely to be a trap, and they will not rush up blindly.”
“What, is that so.”
Satou Kazuma breathed a sigh of relief.
But he quickly realized something was wrong.
“Wait, if that’s the case, what’s the deal with the fire lizards? Why were they attracted? Yunyun, you only said that small animals wouldn’t dare to rush up, right? What about larger animals? … … Why are you turning your head away? Why aren’t you looking at me when you talk? Yunyun? Hey, Yunyun!”
This question was quickly answered.
“Ah, ah…! Kazuma, Yunyun, please! How should I put this, it hurts! They’re pulling my hair, please chase them away, or use Light of Saber…!”
The animals, similar in size to the fire lizards, were constantly tearing at Darkness. Because her armor was too heavy to take off, she struggled and screamed.
But there was no time to worry about her.
Many small animals appeared around the plain, surrounding the group. Their faint green light looked very dangerous.
Aqua shivered.
“Kazuma, do, do they see us as food?”
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Kazuma Sato didn't respond to her.
Indeed, the natural world is strictly hierarchical. From an objective point of view, large size equates to power.
But there are exceptions.
That is when there are too many small animals, too many to count.
Ants can kill an elephant, that is a typical example.
“That may be true, but Yunyun, your potion is attracting too many monsters! It feels like all the monsters on the plain are gathering here! Can't you lower the quality of the potion a little!?”
“I refuse! Red Demon Clan products are guaranteed to be high-quality! It is absolutely impossible for me to create trash!”
“Only by flexibly changing the bottom line can you be a truly good magical item craftsman!”
Kazuma Sato shouted.
Megumin and Yunyun also faced the surroundings.
“This is bad, we are completely surrounded!”
“Yunyun and Kazuma, now is not the time to argue, let's get through the crisis in front of us first!”
“I, I will help too!”
Saying this, the group quickly faced the small animals that were constantly shrinking the encirclement. Thunder rumbled constantly on the empty snowfield.
— — — —
“Ha… ha… Fi, finally… is it over?”
Kazuma Sato collapsed to the ground, panting.
He didn't know how long he had been fighting, only that he quickly ran out of arrows in his quiver. He used his short sword to fight the constantly surrounding small animals. Even his level had increased by two, the intensity of the battle was unimaginable.
“Umm… huff… huff… New sensation… This is a new sensation… Amazing.”
Darkness, with a red face, blurted out such foolish words. She had just been crying with pain and itching, but now she seemed very satisfied.
Seriously, she should just get married.
Kazuma Sato sighed slightly.
Although today was full of disasters, at least they caught a few fire lizards. In this way, the high reward could alleviate their immediate needs.
“By the way, Kazuma.”
“What is it?”
“Did you put the fire lizards together?”
“Yeah… what’s wrong?”
“Fire lizards can emit a lot of heat. It doesn't matter if you put one or two together, but if you gather too many…”
As if to tell him the result.
Kazuma Sato suddenly burst into flames, literally, he burst into flames.
“Wah, ah, ah—! Wh, what’s going on!?”
“It’s the ignition point! The phenomenon of fire caused by fully exposing flammable materials to a hot surface!”
“It doesn’t matter what that is, hurry, put out the fire!”
He wailed in panic.
Megumin immediately said: “If we use advanced water magic to put out the fire…”
“No! Using water in winter will take away the fire lizard's temperature. If it dies, all our efforts will be in vain! Use snow to cool it down! Kazuma, quickly roll around in the snow!”
Yunyun shouted loudly.
But Kazuma Sato lost his mind from being burned by the fire. He just beat at the flames in place, but it didn't work at all.
In the end, Yunyun kicked him down and, together with the other four, buried him in the snow, successfully extinguishing the fire.
Of course, it also successfully extinguished Kazuma Sato's life, allowing him to meet the goddess Eris.
“…Poor Kazuma, may there be no fire lizards in heaven, ah… damn it, Aqua!”
“What, what? Don’t worry, Kazuma won’t die. I’ll cast resurrection magic on him now, and he’ll be resurrected soon.”
Aqua's eyes were filled with pure stupidity.
Even so, it must be said that her identity as a goddess is genuine.
The rule of this world is that each person can only be resurrected once, and reincarnated people don't even have the chance to be resurrected. However, Kazuma Sato has already been resurrected twice in just half a month.
It must be a headache for the goddess Eris to process his resurrection documents.
Megumin and Yunyun went to collect branches.
Because the cage was burned by the fire lizards, they needed to re-weave the cage and pack them separately.
Darkness and Yunyun stayed here to protect Aqua, preventing her from being attacked by monsters while she resurrected Kazuma Sato.
Before long, Kazuma Sato opened his eyes.
He looked at the group with a hopeless expression.
Yunyun smiled and comforted him: “It’s okay, Kazuma, small ones are also cute.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Kazuma Sato didn't understand, but when he slowly got up and felt the biting cold wind sweeping in, he realized that his clothes had been burned to ashes in the self-combustion just now.
That small one…
He looked down, his face turning green.
In the end, Yunyun lent him her cloak, saying that it was a gift from her since she had known him for so long, and hoped that he would accept it as a souvenir.
It's definitely not because she dislikes him, definitely not!
Back at the guild.
At the cost of Kazuma Sato's death, Yunyun and the others caught four fire lizards.
As for why it was four instead of five, it was because five is not… ahem, it was because one of the fire lizards took the opportunity to escape.
Did you think they suffered so much and would earn a little money to comfort themselves?
No!
Instead, they were questioned by the Kingdom Prosecutor Sena for causing a commotion in the snowfield!
“You guys, can’t you be content without causing trouble? You’ve already cleared your names!”
“That’s not the case, we just…!”
Kazuma Sato had unspeakable suffering.
Sena exerted her stubbornness of not listening to people, she scrutinized the group and said: “Sure enough, you guys are the ones who caused the trouble in the dungeon!”
“…What?”
“It’s the Kiel Dungeon near the town. I heard that a large number of mysterious monsters have emerged there. What tricks did you play there!?”
“That’s not true! I’ve never been there! …Hey, believe me!”
Kazuma Sato shouted like this, but it was met with Sena's even more suspicious gaze.