Chapter 303 - Chapter 17: Northeastern Forest Monster Extermination
In mid-April, I went to the Eastern Corps with Bonnie and was welcomed with open arms.
I could more or less guess the reason.
"Hahaha, glad you came! You can make that magic water, right?"
"The medicine for athlete's foot?"
"That's the one. We're counting on you, comrade-in-arms!"
Everyone was slapping my shoulders. Since most of them were middle-aged men, I had expected this. Treating me as a comrade-in-arms even before I participated in the monster extermination meant they wanted me to cure their athlete's foot for free.
Apparently, Eleanor-sama had told Roberts-sama and Gladys-sama beforehand that since I had reached the Advanced rank, they should actively use me for experimental subjects.
"Actually, the talk was about experimental treatment for those who bring diseases back from the battlefield, but our place seems to have a lot of... well, that," the director of the clinic said with a laugh.
It seems it's a way for these middle-aged men to hide their embarrassment about showing weakness.
The clinic director is a stray priest who uses Advanced magic. He can perform Consecration for Holy Water and use Advanced recovery magic. He seemed to have his own thoughts on the Church's stance regarding war and monster extermination. When the Marcelo Company teamed up with the Eastern Plains Jaegers to establish a collective attack tactic against monsters using Holy Water and magic circles, he reportedly threw away his position as a Bishop to join as a mercenary in response to the Eastern Corps' call.
"What's the actual situation?"
"Hmm. At first, I thought it was a curse. It occurs more frequently here than elsewhere. However, the symptoms are occasionally seen in villages and towns too. Generally, it's said to be caused by 'bad energy,' and while there are medicinal herbs, in cases of strong symptoms, they often can't be saved. The Elves also say it's a disease, not a curse."
The cause isn't well understood. Grown men traveling to and from the battlefield suddenly suffer convulsions so strong their backs arch, and in the worst cases, they die. It's not limited to the battlefield; among hunters, it's said that bad energy enters through wounds. The cause likely isn't in the Eastern Forest itself, but rather the wounds sustained on the battlefield. The Eastern Corps originally established a fortress at the entrance of the Northeastern Forest to block the Demon Lord's army, but now that the Demon Lord has been subjugated, they hunt the monsters that spawn in the Northeastern Forest far more than in any other forest. In any case, their numbers are vast, and not everyone wears light equipment. There must be many injuries.
"We'll sink boards with magic circles drawn on them to the bottom of two water tanks. Please fill them with water using [Water]. One will be left as is. That alone will have an effect, but for the other tank, we'll turn it into Holy Water. We'll have them wash their bodies with that water after returning and see the difference in effectiveness."
The highlight this time is this experiment. Instead of combining it with [Holy], I'll try combining [Anti-Sepsis] with Holy Water. It would be better to have them soak in a bathtub filled with magic water for about half an hour every day, but there are just too many people. We had the soldiers divided into groups: one group to bathe in Beginner-level magic water and another group to just wash with it.
Athlete's foot is technically outside the experiment, but since the washing water uses Advanced magic, even just washing should be effective.
"Then let's use two large barrels. For the Holy Water, we have several barrels we keep filled regularly, so let's use one of those."
Being a former Bishop, he had prepared properly, and the arrangements for the disease countermeasures were settled smoothly.
The problem was the monster extermination.
Since we had to test the new tactics Eleanor-sama had devised, I had a meeting with Roberts-sama.
"I heard we're going to use Jeanne's magic to herd bears, boars, and the like into one spot and wipe them out in one go."
"Will it be alright?"
I mentioned that before, when we set out a pot, bears came swarming out and we all had to run away.
"It would be impossible with a small unit. we'll form a proper organization and settle it all at once."
Roberts-sama must have something in mind. It seems the number of monsters has increased because those that crossed the river during the six-month war have settled down. Some have even started appearing in the plains, making things difficult for hunters.
"We've been planning the operation since we knew Jeanne was coming. Various bugs are swarming, so first, please gather them with Fireflies."
According to Gladys-sama, the plan is to gradually reduce the monsters by type in stages. First, the bugs. Specifically, they're targeting things like ants, cockroaches, and moths—the ones that serve as food for frogs and spiders.
Bugs... not exactly pleasant opponents.
Wouldn't it be better to just gather a lot of frogs and let them eat the bugs?
"You caught on well. If we gather them in one spot and leave them for a while, mantises and spiders should gather along with the frogs. We'll let them handle the cleanup to some extent," Roberts-sama said, looking as relaxed as ever.
I never thought we'd have a repeat of that previous incident, but bug attacks are hard to predict, and they strike suddenly from trees or shadows. It seems the Eastern Plains Jaegers, who scout monster movements even more than the Eastern Corps, suffer many casualties.
"Since we have Bishop Catherine's barrier, could you stay inside it for one night?"
Of all things, I ended up with the most unpleasant role.
Departure was at night. Since it's always decided that I come around the full moon, we set out under the moonlight.
Perhaps because they didn't have to deal with the bugs themselves, the middle-aged men of the corps gave us a grand send-off.
"We're counting on you! Blast 'em with Advanced [Holy]!"
"You can't eat bugs, so bury 'em all!"
"Don't kill the expensive ones! The ones to kill are the ants, ants! And the cockroaches!"
I wonder if they're misunderstanding something. Just like getting rid of rats in town, Serena and Renata both said that bugs that have overpopulated will ruin the forest, so they need to be exterminated.
"Those guys are mercenaries. Unlike us regular soldiers, if there's no profit, their earnings are poor. Bear with them. In exchange, if you kill a lot of bugs, they'll help you out in various ways."
I met the three I had formed a quartet with for the first time in a while. One had become a bowl-user. Roberts-sama had gone out of his way to call them in.
Those deploying with me were the three from the quartet, a mage for digging holes, and Bonnie.
"Um, my earnings will also be poor if it's only things that don't bring in profit."
"Now that you mention it, you were a monster hunter. I'd completely forgotten since we hadn't met in a while."
Don't forget that.
"We'll do it here. Before Jeanne arrived, the spirits moved the trees to create a clearing. Since there are no trees around, magic should hit easily."
In the moonlight, I could see the dark patches. Little Serena had given power to about a hundred trees, and the Alex brothers had moved them. Their destination would be the forest Little Serena is creating.
We landed in the middle of the clearing.
Once we secured a safe spot by deploying a simple barrier, the experiment began.
"Has anything changed since you became an Advanced mage?"
"I need to confirm that. The light has become stronger and the temperature has risen, but I don't know how effective it is against monsters. So, I'll try using Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels separately."
With the barrier in the center of the clearing, I placed Beginner and Intermediate magic circles in two of the four directions, floated an Advanced Firefly in one direction, and dumped five buckets' worth of leftovers brought in a bowl in the remaining direction to start the experiment.
First, I tried it for an hour.
"The Intermediate one gathers them best. On the other hand, they don't gather at the Advanced one."
At the Intermediate magic circle, mantises, spiders, and centipedes were pouncing on and preying upon the gathered moths.
I dialed down the output of the useless Advanced Firefly and moved it over the leftovers.
They were there, swarming in disgusting numbers. These were the walking types like ants and cockroaches. I almost felt like vomiting. It's still mid-April. It gets chilly at night. I wonder how many will come out when summer arrives.
As I kept it lit, moths were drawn in. Along with them, mantises and others moved as well. After that, it went exactly as expected. It became a battle between the ant swarms and the others.
Less than two hours after setting it up, before the light faded, I slipped out of the barrier, approached on the bowl, and finished them off all at once by releasing [Over-flow].
I repeated this until dawn, and by the time a mountain of corpses had formed, I ended the [Light].
However, as the Intermediate mage who came as the hole-digger worked hard to dig a hole, bugs gathered to scavenge the corpses without learning their lesson. Fortunately, none were flying, so while digging the hole on the bowl, the large ones were taken down by the bandits and Bonnie's Holy Water arrows, and the small targets like ants and centipedes were taken down by my [Over-flow].
They kept welling up one after another. Especially the ants. There was no end to it, and no rest. The arrows ran out, but we couldn't retrieve them. Since it's a four-day, three-night schedule, we have to deploy at night two more times. I'm hungry too. In the end, we decided to let our allies kill the bugs that came to scavenge the corpses during the day and returned to base.
After returning, I washed my body with magic water, did laundry, ate, and went to sleep.
We deployed in the middle of the night, had the quartet manipulate the Fireflies to gather the surrounding bugs in one spot, and killed them with [Over-flow]. After repeating this several times, we returned.
After doing this for three consecutive nights, when we returned on the morning of the fourth day, the middle-aged men were preparing for departure.
"Are you going to clean up the bugs? There are still many, so please be careful."
Archers or magic soldiers might be fine, but infantry in heavy armor would likely struggle against the agile bugs.
"Ah, yeah. We're going to places where there are no bugs. Because you guys lured them away so well. We're going to places where the bug count has decreased to hunt magical beasts."
Does that mean we were the decoys?
"As expected of a decoy-attribute mage. Thanks to you, we can safely target profitable bears and wolves. No, really, you were a big help."
With a "See ya," they went off carrying their spears.
"Somehow, it was a dud again this time, wasn't it?"
Bonnie, let's work hard next time.
The Northeastern Forest expedition in April was a dud in terms of profit, but it was successful as an experiment. This was because using the Intermediate magic circle for [Light] was effective for luring bugs.
In the clearing where we did the bug extermination, magic soldiers dug a large hole, drove in the iron rods for lightning protection from Fenrir that were used at the Eastern Plains Paratroop Jaeger base, and hung several Intermediate [Light] magic circles, which drew in moths. Next, the bugs that eat moths gathered. While they were preying on each other, we attacked on the bowl and killed the bugs. More bugs gathered at the carcasses. We killed them all together. Finally, we filled the hole.
Apparently, when they did this near the swamp, they were even able to catch frogs. Dried frogs can be used for medicine, so they sell for a high price.
"With the cooperation of the spirits, we moved trees in several places to create plazas, and we've set bug extermination traps using [Light] magic circles there. They're getting caught quite well, which has made things easier. My thanks."
When I came to the Eastern Corps fortress to handle the May expedition, Roberts-sama thanked me.
"Then, is it magical beast hunting this time?"
"That's right. We're finally going to test the [Light] experiment proposed by my mother."
This time, it seems to be a joint operation between three units: the Eastern Corps, the Eastern Plains Paratroop Jaegers, and the Nakanohara Light Infantry Corps. That's not all. Harris-sama is participating specially as my dedicated support. If push comes to shove, the plan is to drive them away with light enhanced by [Holy Lance]. That's how serious they are.
The soldiers of the corps usually hunt monsters in shifts, but this time they're going to tackle it with everyone, and then everyone will take a break on the weekend. Of course, a grand banquet is planned.
"We can't allow any more damage to the plains. We'll reduce the numbers to some extent with this operation."
Roberts-sama explained the operation. The commanders of each unit were also present.
According to the arrangements, first, the human area of the Northeastern Forest... the area west of the westernmost river will be divided into many small regions, and for each region, we'll use illumination devices with Advanced [Light] magic circles on bowls to herd the magical beasts into one spot. There, we'll wipe them out.
I wonder if it will really go that smoothly.
"We'll just have to manage it somehow. According to the Dwarves, there's almost no magical power welling up from the Silver Mine anymore. After that, once the magical power that has leaked out and accumulated in the forest thins out, the transformation of animals into magical beasts should become the same as in a normal forest. Jeanne, you're working with the Dryad on the regeneration of the black trees, right? If we don't hunt the magical beasts along with that, they'll never decrease."
"Aren't you going to build a fence along the river?"
"Even for construction, there are just too many magical beasts. The price for leaving it alone for over half a year during the war has come due."
It seems quite serious. However, green trees grow to the west of the river. There are many normal animals too. If possible, I want to reduce only the magical beasts. The point is to somehow prevent them from crossing the river.
"Um, excuse me, may I say something?"
I just said what was on my mind.
I went to the river on the bowl operated by the quartet. When Bonnie's fire arrow went up, a single bolt of lightning magic shot up far across the river.
"[Light]!"
I produced three Fireflies.
"[Holy Lance]! [Holy Lance]! [Holy Lance]! ..."
After having Harris-sama fire off about five shots, I had two members of the quartet fly the Fireflies.
One on each side of the bowl. And I held one. Like that, we illuminated the opposite bank where the black trees grew from above the river.
If they're coming from across the river, we just have to make them think something unpleasant will happen if they get close to the river. I asked for a message to be sent through Renata to inform Demon Race Number Six of our intent to illuminate the other side of the river.
He said the magical beasts of the Black Forest don't taste good, but even so, if they come over here, the already precious food supply would become scarce. Surely, around where the lightning shot up, a Fenrir or something must be waiting. Let's have them exterminated.
Since going to the opposite bank would be a border violation, I illuminated horizontally from near the surface of the water in the middle of the river. That would surely reach further back.
First, with a splashing sound, a large frog climbed onto land and began to hop away.
Rustling sounds came from the forest. They must be fleeing in a panic.
"Hmph. So this is the power of Light magic. Not bad."
As usual, the Elf Prince is haughty. Or should I say he's improved enough to at least offer praise?
This time, he participated under the pretext of spectating the Advanced [Light]. Instead of silver armor, he wore light brown and light green clothes that seemed woven from tree bark or some kind of fiber, and he held a wooden bow.
Regardless of his way of speaking, he's useful because he has good night vision.
"How is it?"
"Yeah, they're fleeing. They seem to dislike it quite a bit."
We gradually headed north along the river.
There's no barrier, but the Paratroop Jaegers can use [Mute], [Camouflage], and [Magic Reflection]. The Elf Prince is also here. If we do this for two hours, we can just dig a hole in a cliff by the river and rest. If we head north as far as we can by dawn and drive the magical beasts away from the vicinity of the eastern bank of the river, it should have some effect.
We can't kill them, but we can drive them away. I don't know what kind of power the one the Ancient Priestess used had, but there's no doubt she illuminated from the sky with Fireflies. In other words, the Priestess also had a mage supporting her.
Wait? If I recall, the First King series isn't Holy magic. And there's Dark magic, which is the polar opposite... Five Priestesses... Light magic, Dark magic, Holy magic, Elemental magic, and other magic...
When I looked it up at the mountain, magic was said to be of five types. There were five Ancient Priestesses. Perhaps the five Priestesses were specialists in each type of magic. If so, one of the five would be Dark...
"This is bad, put out the Fireflies quickly!"
While I was lost in thought, the Elf Prince suddenly shouted.
"Damn! Did it come for the light? It's a Black Dragon!"
Eh? What did he just...