Chapter 49: Seaside Town and the Squid Problem

It happened while we were asking for an assessment of the subjugated Kraken.

“Excuse me, Rex-san. I have something I’d like to discuss regarding the assessment, so could you please come to the private room over there?”

Since the content was related to the assessment, we obediently headed to the private room.

“Oh, I was waiting for you.”

There were already multiple people in the private room, and they called for us to enter. However, I felt a slight surprise at the appearance of one of them.

“Aren’t you Ronzen-san?”

Yes, the person there was Ronzen, the fisherman we met the other day.

“Oh, yeah, I’m Ronzen. And also the Guild Master who manages the Adventurer’s Guild of this Fizio Town.”

Ronzen smirked.

“Then saying you were a fisherman was a lie?”

Why go to the trouble of saying such a thing!?

“No no, being a fisherman isn’t a lie. This town is a port town, you see. The person responsible for the organization is required to be someone well-versed in sea jobs like ships and fishing. Well, as a measure against collusion and corruption, there’s a rule that someone who has retired from active duty takes the position of chief, though.”

So Ronzen is a former fisherman?

“So, what business does the Guild Master have with us? We should have asked for an assessment of the subjugated Kraken.”

Saying that, I asked Ronzen the reason for calling us out. Although, to tell the truth, I had a vague idea about the content of their talk.

“Could it be about the other Krakens?”

“You knew!?”

Not only Ronzen, but the other people with him also showed expressions of surprise.

“Yes. Because the Kraken we subjugated this time was still a Kraken child that hadn’t become an adult yet.”

“”””A child!?””””

Huh? They hadn’t realized that?

“Normally, Krakens crush the ships they catch before eating the humans and food inside. It’s probably like cracking open a shellfish before eating the contents. But the Kraken the other day swung the military battleship around without eating it and threw it at the port. That’s an act often done by Kraken children whose constricting power is still weak and can’t destroy ships by themselves.”

Actually, the small boat I made as a fishing lure was perfectly destroyed. The reason it couldn’t destroy the battleship this time was probably because it was a large ship the military made with their prestige at stake, and it used Ancient Plant materials harder than iron. Well, an adult Kraken would still crush it, though.

“Krakens had such a nature…”

Ronzen stared at me with a surprised face.

“I’m curious where on earth you obtained such knowledge, but well, let’s put that aside for now.”

Ronzen pulled himself together and faced us.

“Normally, the fact that there isn’t just one Kraken is a classified matter. If it leaks to the outside that there are multiple of them, there’s a danger that ships coming for trade from outside towns to this Inner Sea town will disappear. If that happens, the sea routes of the Inner Sea will be completely paralyzed.”

True, for a shipping town, that’s something they want to avoid.

“Well, well-informed merchants seem to have sensed it, and dare to change to land routes from towns on the way to transport goods, though.”

“Nevertheless, we don’t know when it will be exposed that multiple Krakens exist. We had to solve this problem immediately, and everyone was at their wits’ end.”

“In the midst of that, you came to this town. You, who can defeat a Kraken.”

Following Ronzen’s words, the people who had been silent until now began to participate in the conversation.

“Or rather, who exactly are you all? Are you distinguished people of this town?”

“Well, in the sense of being distinguished people, you’re not wrong, but not of this town.”

At Ronzen’s words, everyone nodded.

“We are the chiefs of the Adventurer’s Guilds of towns adjacent to the Inner Sea in each nation.”

Surprisingly, everyone was a Guild Master of an Adventurer’s Guild.

“Why are important people from the Adventurer’s Guilds here again?”

Moreover, all of them are Guild Masters from different countries.

“Originally, we came here invited to the launching ceremony of the newest state-of-the-art battleship made by this country’s military. Kraken extermination is a common problem for us, after all.”

“And if possible, we wanted to see the scene of the Kraken being subjugated, but the result was that mess.”

Ah, it easily became a Kraken’s toy, after all.

“Honestly, we were disappointed, but fortunately that led to meeting you, so life is connected by strange fates.”

“Now, let’s return to the topic. We want you to subjugate the Krakens in the Inner Sea. The reward is the full amount of the Kraken subjugation reward offered by each town’s guild.”

Hmmm, the Kraken subjugation reward in this town is 1500 coins, and there are 5 people here now including Ronzen. In other words, including this reward I haven’t received yet, it’s 7500 gold coins.

“I want to confirm something.”

“What is it?”

“The Kraken subjugation reward recruited by the guild is the amount per head, right? Considering that multiple Krakens existing is top secret, I can think of it that way, right?”

“A-Ah…”

Ronzen dropped his shoulders as if asked something he didn’t want to be asked.

“If the number of subjugated Krakens exceeds the number for all towns, will we receive subjugation rewards for the excess Krakens?”

This was the point I was worried about. Being asked to do a job is fine, but I don’t want to be used unfairly by having the contract details fudged. That would be a repeat of my previous life.

“…I don’t want to think there are more, but in that case, we plan to pay additional rewards.”

Hmm, if they’ll properly pay the reward, I guess there’s no problem accepting it.

“Understood. We will accept that request.”

“”””Ooh!””””

“Thank you for accepting.”

Ronzen held out his hand to me.

“Please save your thanks until after we fulfill the request.”

I also held out my hand, and we shook hands firmly. Now, shall we fulfill the request?

◆

“So, what are you going to do now?”

Liliela asked me when I came to the port.

“First, I’ll investigate how many Krakens there are between the Inner Sea and the river mouth.”

If I don’t know the total number of enemies, I won’t really know if I annihilated them or not.

“How are you going to investigate such a wide area!?”

“It’s simple. I just have to go above the Inner Sea with flight magic and check for Kraken reactions with detection magic while going to the river mouth.”

“Can you tell if it’s a Kraken with pinpoint accuracy using detection magic!?”

“Yes, I just have to check only reactions showing strong power from among the creatures living in the Inner Sea.”

If I wanted to investigate in detail, there are specialized magics too, but this time it’s just subjugation, so I don’t need to investigate that finely.

“That being the case, I will investigate from the sky, but what will you do, Liliela?”

I confirm Liliela’s movements.

“I hate the sky, so I’ll look for work I can take in the town.”

“Kyuu!”

It seems Liliela and Fluffy hate flying in the sky.

“Understood. Then I’m off.”

“Yes, take care.”

◆

Coming to the deepest part of the Inner Sea with flight magic, I immediately ran detection magic.

“…Two nearby, huh.”

I confirmed two Krakens in the deepest part. And one near each town on the Inner Sea except Fizio Town, and I feel one in the center. Probably, they are making places with lots of food their respective territories. Places normally abundant in fish, and places where they can eat shelled food put out by humans.

Then moving along the Inner Sea, I moved to the river mouth.

“Hmmm, there don’t seem to be any Krakens on the way to the river mouth.”

Or rather, the narrow river part is shallower than the main body of the Inner Sea, so it seems Krakens don’t recognize it as territory. Well, even so, it seems to be over ten meters deep, though.

“Well, I guess I know the number of Krakens now. Even so, they can go out to the sea even if they don’t make it their territory.”

Then it wouldn’t be strange if they went out to the outer sea which is wider and has abundant food. Or is there some reason they don’t want to go out?

“Well, that’s irrelevant now.”

Then shall I return to town… no, before that, I’ll go there. To prepare the tools necessary for Kraken extermination, I returned to the Royal Capital once with Gate.

◆

“Well then, I will now begin Kraken extermination!”

We came to the port again to exterminate Krakens.

“”””Oooooh!””””

Since it’s the second subjugation, the surrounding fishermen and sailors raised cheers.

“We’re counting on you.”

Furthermore, this time Ronzen and the Guild Masters of each town were also there.

“Yes, leave it to me. …By the way.”

I looked around at the surrounding fishermen.

“Wasn’t the presence of Krakens top secret?”

Somehow everyone is accepting Kraken extermination normally.

“Ah, most of the guys working in the sea around here know about it. We’re keeping it a secret from outsiders and those working on land.”

I see, the target of top secret was different.

“So, how are you going to defeat them?”

“First, about Krakens, I confirmed 7 in total.”

“7!? There were that many!?”

Knowing there were more Krakens than expected, everyone at the port raised voices of surprise.

“Fortunately, I couldn’t confirm any Kraken figures until reaching the river mouth, so if we subjugate the Krakens in this Inner Sea, I think the problem will be solved.”

Well, it’s not impossible that Kraken children might come from the outer sea again, though.

“C-Can you defeat that many Krakens!?”

“Yes, it’s okay. Please don’t worry.”

I answered with a smile to the Guild Master who asked worriedly.

“Specifically, how are you going to defeat them?”

Right, explanation is important. I explained the outline of Kraken extermination to the Guild Masters.

“In the first place. Fighting underwater monsters is troublesome because injured opponents escape into the water.”

Well, if that happens, I could just use magic or magic items that attack underwater enemies, but still, it doesn’t change the fact that fighting an opponent who can move freely underwater is troublesome.

“So, first I’ll eliminate the water and drag the opponent onto land.”

“””””Hah?”””””

“Well, proof is better than argument, let’s actually try it.”

Floating into the sky with flight magic, I came to the center of the Inner Sea. Then I grasped the position of the Kraken in the center with detection magic, and released magic towards it.

“High Microburst!”

Magic that generates a localized and high-speed downdraft towards the sea surface explodes. Even though localized, wind in a range of nearly 3km is slammed down at high speed, and the Inner Sea’s seawater is blown away to the surroundings all at once and dances up into the air. Looking at the sea surface below, the sea had temporarily dried up due to the disappearance of seawater. And on the seabed, there was the figure of the Kraken blown away to the sea surface by the High Microburst.

“Alright, next!”

I took out a huge stake from my magic bag and threw it at the Kraken.

“Go! Elder Plant Stake!”

As the name suggests, a huge stake made of Elder Plant flies towards the Kraken. Yes, the reason I returned to the Royal Capital once was to go further to the Demon Beast Forest from there and fell Elder Plants to be used as material.

The Kraken struggled trying to escape, but its huge body, which ended up being washed ashore on artificially created land, couldn’t move well due to its own weight. And the stake that flew at high speed pierced the Kraken’s body. A little later, surrounding seawater flowed into the empty area, and furthermore, scattered seawater became rain and returned to the Inner Sea.

And I pulled the rope connected to the stake made of Elder Plant, recovering the Kraken along with the stake.

“Now, shall I collect the remaining Krakens?”

I subjugated Krakens one after another with the same method. And I subjugated all Krakens. Fufufu, without water, even a Kraken is nothing to fear.

“Alright, Kraken extermination complete!”

Having returned to the port, I lined up the Krakens in an open space.

Yup, these Krakens really are smaller than the Krakens I know.

“Well, it’s like this.”

And turning around, I reported to the Guild Masters who were waiting on the spot.

“……”

However, the Guild Masters just trembled and said nothing. Huh? Did something happen? Could it be my explanation wasn’t enough?

“Well, not just Krakens, for exterminating harmful beasts, if you can just grasp the exact location and number with detection magic, the rest is just hitting them with attacks. Once you grasp the trick of eliminating escape routes, extermination isn’t that difficult, you know.”

“””””No, that trick isn’t normal!!”””””

Huuh? Straaange. I even demonstrated it properly. It’s a piece of cake if you just drain a little seawater from the sea, you know?