Chapter 382 - Chapter 1: The Engrio Royal Capital
For some reason, I ended up having to do rat extermination in the Engrio Royal Capital.
King Seldic seemed curious about the Black-Purple gear that Beatrix and I were wearing and asked various questions. When I said it was made for rat extermination, he told me to definitely do it.
Rat extermination in Engrio is apparently a job for those of low status. It's just like us when we first started monster extermination; they deal with three types: rats, foxes, and bats around the Royal Capital. When I went to the office to hear the explanation, there was one elderly foreman and about thirty young men and women in their teens. Many were from orphanages.
"We start with rats first. We set leftover food as bait and fire arrows to defeat them. Once they gain some experience with rats, they move on to foxes in the nearby forests, and then bats."
"We use magic. Lately, that's faster," Beatrix replied. Currently, Lyudmila is the bait-scatterer, and either I or Beatrix is in charge of the extermination. When both of us go on an expedition like this time, Angelica-san freezes them with Ice Cube before she commutes.
"What kind of magic is it?"
"Ice Cube or Holy Over Flow, I suppose."
"Over Flow... that is high-level holy magic. To use it against rats..."
He was quite surprised. The execution squad is looking at Beatrix and me with strange eyes. Certainly, one doesn't usually use high-level magic against rats.
The foreman says that those who are good at handling weapons or who have learned mid-level magic are recommended for the light infantry. This is the same in the rural direct territories; those who want to become soldiers in the direct army all start with exterminating weak monsters. In a sense, it also serves as a measure for those in financial distress. In other words, those doing rat extermination cannot use magic.
"With the method Lord Seldic thought of, everyone gets a salary. In exchange, there is a quota, and if you fall below it, it's deducted from your salary."
When I asked about the salary amount, the reply for those only doing rats was ten silver coins. It's enough to not have trouble eating, but honestly, it's cheap. When we, who have learned high-level magic, do it in Nakanohara, we exterminate about one hundred and sixty rats in eight sessions a month, which earns us four gold coins. The necessary expense is only the oil for burning the carcasses, which is about two silver coins a month. Even after subtracting the ten percent commission and dividing it among the three of us—Lyudmila, who scatters bait almost every day, and those who participate in the extermination—it comes to more than one gold coin per person. It's double that of the Engrio rat exterminators. Though, in the beginning, it was about seventy rats with three people, so it would be about the same. Instead, the other companions had main jobs, and I was earning profit from making scrolls and doing foxes and boars from a fairly early stage.
"What is the quota?"
"Three hundred rats a month. This is the same regardless of how many people participate."
I can't help but feel sympathetic. Given the size of the town and the breadth of the underground, plus the number of people, this number is quite harsh without magic. Don't they spend quite a long time lurking underground?
"For some reason, rats keep springing up no matter how many you kill, so if you divide the work, achieving the quota itself isn't that difficult."
I only noticed it when the foreman said it. For foxes and boars, once you defeat a certain number, it takes time for the next ones to appear. This is the same for other magic beast-type monsters. The exceptions are humanoid monsters like Orcs, and among magic beasts, the rats living in the town's underground are the sole exception. What on earth does this mean?
When I asked Eleanor-sama, she tilted her head and thought, but said she didn't know. Apparently, she only just noticed. She probably didn't pay much attention to things like rat extermination. Nakanohara is likely the only place where the private sector does it; in other towns, including the Royal Capital, the guards should be doing it on a small scale. Surely, the results would be around thirty or forty rats a month.
"Compared to when the Class of 175 started, has the size of the rats changed?"
"It's the same. The insects they eat haven't decreased drastically either."
In this regard, I am properly checking the things Adolf-san taught me in the early days.
"It might be worth researching. Since I don't think they spring up inexhaustibly, their lifespan might not be long in exchange for a very fast breeding speed. Beatrix. Since we're at it, please catch a few. Let's take them back and investigate how frequently they give birth to pups."
"Then, catch some for my country's investigation as well. My country will conduct its own investigation and tell you the results. If Medioland holds the Council of Lords again next year, we could have those attending the session announce it."
"Understood. I shall request that. In exchange, since Jeanne and the others are doing rat extermination as a profession, we will take wages. The extermination reward is ten copper coins per rat. Since we're capturing them unharmed, how about double?"
"Very well. Capture ten each of males and females in a healthy state for both countries. If you do that, I'll make the reward one gold coin."
Male and female? I don't know the sex of a rat...
The Engrio side selected five people. They are all those who have been doing rat extermination for over a year, are familiar with the underground passages, and know well the places where rats gather. They are those who will soon be transferred to fox extermination, and while they cannot use magic, their skill with the bow is apparently certain. They are, so to speak, a veteran scout quintet. Three males and two females.
In contrast, there are four of us. Beatrix, Will, Bonnie, and me. With one vanguard, one scout, one mage, and one priest, the formation is well-balanced. Four females.
"Engrio and Sertoria—limited to this mission, though the countries are different, the objective is the same. Since both have a certain amount of experience in rat extermination, you are to cooperate while learning from each other's good points and brilliantly achieve His Majesty's request."
It's a battle before the King, so to speak. When the foreman enthusiastically gave the opening greeting, the Engrio quintet all replied energetically in unison.
"That's amazing. A mission, a mission. It sounds cool. Let's say that from now on too."
"Umu. Compared to just rat extermination, it has a good ring to it."
"What should we call it? Mission: Rat Extermination?"
"This time it's capture... no, we're luring them with bait and capturing them, so it's a trap, so to speak. How about Mission: Entrap 9, since there are nine of us?"
"That's great! Let's go with that."
In contrast, because the three of them said such lighthearted things, the foreman glared at them. The quintet looked down, their shoulders shaking. Some were coughing, "Gho-gho."
"That's nice. It's the first battle for Entrap Nine. Do your best."
Eleanor-sama said, and the mission began.
The underground passages of the Engrio Royal Capital are, in short, sewers. They draw in water from the river flowing west of the town from the northwest and let it flow out to the southwest. It's a method found in every country; they draw water from an aqueduct sourced from ponds or lakes in the nearby hills, circulate the sewers under the town, and let it flow into the river. The structure is the same, only the scale is different. In that case, the methods we've devised in Nakanohara should be usable.
First, as for bait, they apparently use leftovers from the dining halls.
"We use chicken carcasses. We tie those roasted with magic or a torch to a rope and hang them," Beatrix explains.
"Chicken carcasses? You use those scrawny things? Do they really gather?"
"Since we're at it, let's try it. If it's chicken carcasses, they're at the dining halls, so if we go around a few places, it should be fine."
A girl from the quintet agreed.
Leftovers are, after all, smelly. Especially in the summer. As girls, they must be concerned.
However, they were for a fee. Unavoidably, the Class of 175 pays the money. The price is low, so it's not a big deal.
"Do you always buy them?"
"In exchange for getting them for free, we eat dinner there. Lately, we've been getting a week's worth at once, so about three times a week, I guess. Can't you negotiate like that?"
"No need. We live in a dormitory, so breakfast and dinner are provided. Besides, with our status, we won't be taken seriously."
"I-I see. Sorry."
I didn't expect such an answer. Surely, the fact that the chicken carcasses cost money was also because they were being taken advantage of.
"I heard from Lord Seldic. You guys are also from an orphanage, right?"
"That's right. All four of us."
"I heard Sertoria has no status differences."
"W-Well, yeah."
"Must be nice."
It was when one of the girls said that.
"Hey. Watch your mouth. What if someone hears you?"
"It's fine. We're the only ones who enter a place like this. Nobles and commoners don't come to the sewers."
While saying so, she glanced at us.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. But you know, in my experience, saying things like that could get you treated as a traitor."
"You have experience?"
"Well, yeah. Just between us, for certain reasons, I have connections with serfs in Regnentes. They never utter a word that could be seen as envying Sertoria or criticizing their own country's system."
"I see... yeah, you're right..."
The girl became dejected. The boy who warned her sighed and lightly patted the girl's shoulder.
"But if we work hard and get results, we'll be appointed as knights, right?"
"Right. But after doing this for a year and not being able to use magic, becoming a scout is the best we can hope for. Well, we can become commoners. This is also thanks to Lord Seldic, though."
Magic, huh... Looking at Beatrix, she is nodding.
"Well, whatever. Let's hurry up and catch twenty rats."
When Beatrix called out, they seemed to have regained their spirits and said they would do their best.
We enter through a vertical shaft in an area that hadn't been exterminated for the past few days. When I set Fireflies adrift for light, they were quite surprised.
"W-What is that glowing thing? Magic?"
Without going into details, I only told them that there are things like this.
After all, the opponents cannot use magic. There was a sense of forcing them to accept it, but they still understood and told me to illuminate the joints between the walls and the passages.
"We set bait in the middle of the rats' paths and wait, then fire arrows to defeat them all at once when they come out. We repeat that many times."
The boy who seemed to be the leader explained. Will has an air of nobility, and I am a Bishop. He is explaining to Beatrix and Bonnie, who look like commoners.
However, I didn't know there were rats' paths. Apparently, because rats pass through corners, they leave droppings and urine in the gaps between the walls and the passages. If there are many fresh ones, they apparently set bait there.
"How do you do it in Sertoria?"
"Twice a week, a companion sets bait every morning before dawn. After dawn, companions take turns patrolling and defeating them with magic. We set it in five places, and since there are an average of four rats per place, that's twenty. It's done in an hour."
"The same place? Is that why the number that gathers in one place is small?"
"Hmm. The scale is completely different. The Engrio Royal Capital is much wider."
"I see."
Nakanohara has five thousand people. Compared to that, the Engrio Royal Capital apparently has more than twenty thousand people living just in the main part with sewers. Simply put, it's four times as many. Just walking is a lot of work.
After that, we exchanged information on things like bait types and setting methods, but everything was different.
We won't progress with just talk. I had them teach me how to distinguish rats' paths and cast Sense Living to investigate. I see, there are indeed many. It was the same in Nakanohara, but if you look even at those hiding, there are countless numbers.
"A-As expected of a Bishop. You use high-level magic right away."
The quintet is surprised. Normally, one wouldn't use high-level magic for rat extermination.
When I told them the approximate locations, they said it was inside the pipes. It's the same everywhere.
However, we were able to identify the pipes they were entering and exiting to some extent. Immediately, Beatrix roasts the chicken carcasses with fire magic. From experience, roasted chicken carcasses are the easiest. Even in a bucket, they aren't that heavy. Since we brought one each, we set all nine buckets' worth.
Assuming the approach route, we set barriers around the decoy to force the rats to gather in a narrow space. We just have to freeze them all together with Ice Cube and put them into a state of suspended animation.
"How many will come out?"
"With leftovers, if you wait an hour, a little less than ten will come."
Do that many gather?
"However, it's during the sunrise or sunset hours. Since the sun has risen completely now, there might be fewer."
"Heh, it changes by the time of day."
"You didn't know?"
Things are really not going in our favor.
In the end, eight gathered, so Beatrix knocked them all out.
"It's because roasting the chicken carcasses makes the scent stronger. I didn't notice. Thank you. From now on, we'll use this too."
"Can you get them?"
"I'll talk to the foreman and have him negotiate. The foreman is a Knight, so he has influence with commoner dining halls."
"Ehem!" Beatrix puffed out her chest.