kscans

Chapter 134 - The Ravaged Farm and the Earth Dragon's Cave

"We don't know much about the ecology of the Earth Dragon monster,"

Myra said. The full-scale subjugation was set to begin tomorrow, but for now, the members of Levante were patrolling the area. If the enemy attacked us head-on, we could just fight back, but we had to lure out and strike a foe that lurked underground, with no idea of its numbers or strength. For starters, we were heading towards a large hole we had seen from the watchtower to assess the damage.

"Just to confirm, an Earth Dragon is a mole, right? Not a worm?"

"A worm..."

Mizuki made a disgusted face.

"What? Are you scared of worms, Mizuki?"

"Who isn't? Besides, when they're monsters, they're always huge."

"It'd be just as bad if they stayed the same size but got stronger. Remember those bee monsters? If hundreds of them attacked us at their original size, we'd be wiped out in an instant."

"If the premise is hundreds of them, we'd be wiped out either way!"

She had a point. But then again, if the Big Hoppers had attacked at the size of normal grasshoppers, I wonder if we could have handled them as well.

"...Could we get back to the topic of Earth Dragons?"

Myra asked. Mizuki and I both nodded.

"There are mole monsters and worm monsters, but we call the moles Earth Dragons. Worm monsters are just called Worms. The way this farm has been ravaged, it's definitely a mole."

I didn't know about Worms, but generally, earthworms enrich the soil, and moles prey on those earthworms.

"Monsters live on mana, right? But they said the Earth Dragon only ravages the farm."

They said the monsters don't initiate attacks on people. I wondered if they were acting with some purpose.

"If we just hunt down and kill all the Earth Dragons, will that count as completing the request?"

"You weren't told?"

Myra asked, and I nodded.

"Well, Cyril just told me to wipe them all out, but we don't know how many there are, and there's no way to confirm it."

"That's true. Confirmation would be difficult. If we miss one and it escapes underground, we might have to wait here for months for the monster to attack again."

"I'd hate that..."

Indeed, letting one escape would be the worst-case scenario. We couldn't just claim we'd annihilated them when a monster was still out there somewhere. We wouldn't know if it had fled or was just waiting to attack again. The thought of being stuck at this settlement indefinitely was something I wanted to avoid.

"By the way, what was that about falling for a prostitute on Longhorn Street?"

Myra asked. How could she not hear our discussion about the quest from atop the tower, but hear something like that?

"It's a misunderstanding. I think this will also be difficult to confirm, but it's a misunderstanding."

As I was trying to explain myself to Myra, Famu shot me a look.

"Master, you once said that you fall in love with every woman who talks to you."

"Famu! I was hoping you'd keep that a secret between us..."

I especially didn't want her saying that in front of Myra and the others. I hung my head in defeat. Was she still mad about me telling everyone how she went wild on her period during dinner with Mo?

"M-My apologies. It was something I should have kept between the two of us."

Sensing my distress, Famu hurriedly apologized.

"Um... please don't leave me out of the loop,"

Myra said to Famu and me.

"...In my original world, I was a social outcast. No woman ever spoke to me. Especially not girls Mizuki's age or pretty ones; they treated me like trash. So when I came to this world, and Cecily and Aira were kind to me, I got carried away. Just them talking to me made me happy. You can't blame me for falling for them, can you?!"

"..."

Besides Myra, Cecily and Aira had also been listening in. All eyes now turned to Mizuki.

"W-What? It's true, but it's not true!"

The stray bullet hit Mizuki, and she scrambled for an answer, but it wasn't much of an excuse.

"If it weren't for that false groper incident, Mizuki wouldn't have spoken to me, let alone even looked at me."

"That's also true, but it's not true! Mash, please, forgive me already!"

Mizuki once again made a nonsensical excuse and apologized. Seeing her flustered state, Myra let out a heavy sigh.

"Is it really true that no woman ever spoke to you? I find that very hard to believe..."

Like Famu, Myra was also skeptical.

"Big sister, I thought the same thing. But Master is not lying."

Before I could answer, Famu replied to Myra's doubt.

"Hey! You could have left a little room for doubt there!"

"I didn't think revealing the truth would hurt you, Master. I'm sorry..."

Famu apologized for her statement of fact. Her apology, and especially that last comment, stung the most, but I decided to keep quiet.


We reached the location of a hole that the Earth Dragon had recently dug. The surrounding crops were destroyed, and a hole, large enough for a person to pass through if they stooped, led down into the earth. The Earth Dragon that dug this must have been about the size of a large dog.

"It's big. If we crawl into this hole and follow it, will we find the Earth Dragon?"

"I wouldn't recommend it. If we encounter the monster, we won't be able to fight or retreat."

"...You've got a point."

I nodded at Myra's words.

"We just need to blast a fireball in there."

Before I could stop her, Cecily launched a fire magic fireball into the hole. The fireball hit the ground where the hole bent and fizzled out. I hurriedly took my weapon out of my storage. Famu and Mizuki followed suit. But there was no reaction from deep within the hole.

"I guess the monster isn't in this hole?"

As Mizuki tried to peek inside, Cecily was preparing to shoot another fireball next to her, so I stopped her. That reckless girl.

"Are there other holes?"

Myra asked. I nodded.

"From the watchtower, I could see other places that were dug up. Let's go check them out."

Just as we started walking, Cecily's body suddenly sank into the ground.

"Huh?"

It seemed the hole had been covered only at the surface, like a pitfall trap. I instinctively grabbed the hand she thrust out for something to hold onto. But I couldn't support her weight and was dragged down into the ground with her. I tried to brace my arms to stop our fall, but the surrounding walls were also brittle, crumbling into dirt wherever I touched. The hole was deeper than I imagined, and we slid for a long time along with the cascading earth. Then, we were thrown out into a pitch-black space.

"Ouch..."

Cecily groaned. It seemed I had landed on top of her. I didn't have any pain from bruises, but I must have scraped myself up in various places while sliding down, because my arms and legs were stinging.
I moved off of her, took a lantern from my storage, and lit it.

"Are you okay?"

"Why am I the one on the bottom?! Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

She was right, but she was the one who fell first, and there hadn't been enough space to switch places. She took my hand and stood up. She probably had some bruises, but she seemed to be okay too. I brushed the dirt off her robe. The illuminated space was a cave, large enough for a person to stand and walk in. I shone the light where we had fallen, but the path we should have come through was blocked by dirt and rock.

"Famu!"

I shouted, but no reply came. Next to me, Cecily called out Aira's name, but there was no answer for her either.

"How do we get back?"

She poked at the spot we fell from with the tip of her staff, and a large amount of dirt came pouring down.

"Watch out!"

We both jumped back. I checked to see if the hole had cleared, but it seemed to be completely blocked now. We looked at each other.

"Should we wait for Famu and the others here, or should we explore this cavern..."

"Is the fire okay?"

Cecily asked. She was probably worried about the amount of oxygen in the cavern or the possibility of gas buildup.

"Hmm? You mean the air? At this point, it's a little late for that. Besides, we can't do anything without light."

"No, I mean the remaining fuel."

"It should last for about half a day. I have a spare in my storage too."

"It felt like we were falling for a long time. If we fell more than ten meters, I think it would take a while for the people at the farm to dig us out, even if we asked them."

"I agree. We came here to help this settlement, and now I don't even know what we're doing here."

I couldn't help but laugh at my own expense.

"I... I'm sorry. I was careless."

I hadn't intended to blame Cecily, but she looked dejected.

"For now, let's explore this cavern."

She nodded at my words. I took a corn cob from my storage and left it as a landmark. The cavern stretched out like a mine tunnel, with a path extending both in front of and behind us. We didn't know which direction was which.

"I feel like the path behind us is heading upwards,"

she said. I turned the corn cob to point that way, and we started walking.


I walked in front with the lantern, and Cecily followed behind. The path was wide enough for us to walk side-by-side, but there was a chance we could encounter a monster. After walking for a while, the path started to slope downwards.

"...What!"

Cecily snapped.

"Don't get mad all of a sudden. I didn't say anything..."

"I know what you're thinking, Mash!"

she retorted.

"If you say so."

I shrugged my shoulders theatrically. We kept walking. The path twisted and turned, but there were no forks or dead ends. There was no sign of monsters either. I began to think we should turn back.

"So, is it true?"

Cecily asked.

"Is what true?"

"What you were talking about before we fell in the hole, about how no one ever talked to you in your original world."

"The thing Famu spilled? Yeah, it's true. And you know, the first person who was kind to me in this world was you, Cecily."

"Huh?"

"You saved me when I was injured and being attacked by goblins, remember?"

"Oh, you mean when Mizuki defeated all of them? Anyone would have done the same in that situation."

She must have forgotten, because there was a slight pause before she answered.

"Maybe so for you, but for me, the one who was saved, it was something special."

"...That's ridiculous,"

Cecily muttered.

"It's special to me,"

I repeated. She grabbed the hem of my clothes.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just... it's dark, and I don't want to get separated..."

After that, we walked on in silence through the cave. Eventually, we reached a dead end. There was a vertical hole extending up into the ceiling. It curved along the way, so no light leaked through, and we couldn't tell if it led to the surface. It was barely wide enough for a person to pass through, but the surrounding ground was loose. When I tried to get a handhold to climb, the wall crumbled away, making it seem impossible to ascend.