NOVEL WEB Chapter 361
Chapter 361. Biological Limits
Well then, it’s Hero Alexander arriving at the outskirts of the next town just before dawn.
Though I completely relied on Leila, it feels refreshing to be able to save the passenger ship in trouble and greet the morning with a clear mind.
“Hey, Leila, are you tired?”
“I’m fine!”
Leila, freshly transformed into a human and bustling around in the shade while getting dressed, replied with a smile, clenching her fists. …She truly doesn’t appear to be overexerting herself.
“As expected of a dragon, tough as nails…!”
Before I could help but express my admiration, Leila puffed out her chest proudly and said, “Eh heh!” After using her full-power breath attack to drive away the Kraken, she had a rapid escape. She seemed quite exhausted right after, but now she looks perfectly fine. All she did was have a brief rest on a small island we found along the way.
While I was wandering in the shallow waters with my bone spear trying to catch some fish, I was surprised when she suddenly leaped up, saying, “I’m all good now, let’s go!” In fact, that tiny rest was enough for Leila to completely recover.
—By the way, during our break, she didn’t transform into a human, but instead stayed in her dragon form, activating her light attribute self-enhancement magic while rolling around. She claimed that was more efficient. Lying on the moonlit sandy beach, enveloped in phosphorescence, the White Dragon looked so divine that if I were a devout commoner, I might have mistaken her for an angel from heaven.
‘Undoubtedly the strongest being on the surface.’
Ah, well, it’s true that the White Dragon excels in self-enhancement and recovery, but even so, it’s incredible.
I’m so glad to have her as an ally…
“The town’s gate… looks open.”
“Lucky us. Let’s go.”
Re-adjusting my backpack, I steeled myself.
I’ve heard there’s a night elf named Arnaak camping out here, disguised as a fortune teller.
At this rate, we’re going hunting in full force!!!
†††
“Now then, let’s take a look at your palm…”
—A woman fortune teller dressed to the nines and heavily hooded took my hand.
“Hmm. This is…! You possess a very rare fate; it seems you’ve been born with a grand destiny that will shake the world…!”
The fortune teller, Arnaak, feigned surprise quite theatrically.
By the way, according to information pulled from the soul of this lady’s colleague, it’s a customary tactic to exaggerate like this to make clients feel good, lightening their tongues.
“However, I can see many fine vertical lines on your emotional line. You might want to pay more attention to your health…”
“I see, I’ll be careful. By the way, aren’t you going to read your own fortune?”
“Huh?”
“【Holy radiance, come to this hand】”
“――Gyaaaaah!!!”
“There you see, your health fortune looks a lot worse than mine.”
But her palm is completely burnt and unrevealing…
‘Seems like this fortune-telling might not be very reliable.’
Right? Good, next!
†††
“Welcome. Is there anything we can help you with, customer?”
—In another town, at a certain trading company, the receptionist asked me.
“Ah. I’d like to arrange a new ship. I was referred by an acquaintance; is Mr. Fraud available?”
“Please wait a moment.”
The receptionist bowed respectfully and went to fetch someone. It was worth changing into decent clothes instead of my usual garb so I wouldn’t get suspicious looks.
Well, most importantly—
“I have been summoned, Mr. Fraud. I understand you are looking for a ship…?”
Out stepped a dubious-looking handsome man, wringing his hands. His appearance was a perfect match with the intel I had. On his left hand, he wore the same kind of ring I had seen countless times before—poisoned weapon.
“Ah. I just need a little ferry.”
“A ferry… you say?”
“Yes.”
I placed a single ring on the table. The stamped ring used by Virosa, he peered down suspiciously and examined it.
“【Holy radiance, come to this hand】”
“Gahhhh!!!”
“I needed that.”
I unsheathed Adamas and swiftly severed his head.
“—A ferry to take you to the underworld.”
Ah, what a shame, the pristine clothes had blood splattered on them. I tried to be careful, but oh well, on to the next!
†††
“Wh-who the hell are you!? How did you get in!?”
—And in yet another town, at a mafia hideout next to the slums.
Before me, a chubby man and a pale-skinned beauty were tangled up half-naked. The mafia boss of this place and his lover—the night elf spy Trishe.
Both widened their eyes in surprise as I suddenly burst through the rooftop.
“【Let there be light!】”
I unleashed the power of the holy silver spell, but Trishe, with astonishing reaction speed, used the mafia boss as a shield and dodged it. I tried to launch another holy silver spell to close the distance, but Trishe grabbed something from a nearby cupboard and slammed it to the floor—then poof! Smoke filled the room. A smoke screen!
“You little sneak!”
How prepared could she be? Moreover, a loud clanging sound echoed as a bell went off. Was there a trap set up for alarms!?
“Boss! What’s going on!?”
Mafia guards came rushing in from outside. As soon as the door opened, the smoke cleared in an instant. Of course, Trishe and the boss were nowhere to be seen—the cupboard at the back of the bed led to a passage—!?
‘Truly well-prepared.’
Is this really the time to be impressed!?
“What the hell are you?!”
“I’m Hero Alexander, sent by the Holy Church! Trishe is a night elf spy, and I’m here to eliminate her!”
“What the hell are you talking about!”
“That brat’s planning to make a move on the boss’s girl!”
“Take him out!!”
The guards all rushed at me, brandishing swords and knives.
“I’m telling you! I said I’m a hero!!”
“So what of it!!”
“This isn’t the church!!”
Ugh, this is exactly why mafia thugs are such a hassle!
Unlike with Gordon before, I didn’t have detailed intel about the locals, and couldn’t predict escape routes in advance. I couldn’t even provide solid proof that Trishe was a night elf, and the local Holy Church was thin on manpower and lacking veterans, so their movements were sluggish. Plus, given that the night elf was ingratiating herself as the boss’s lover, the guards were tight.
So my ideal plan was to sneak in with magic and take them by surprise, but…!
“Get out of my way!!!”
I activated my protective spell to the max and braced against the guards’ attacks. I intended to quickly take down the low-level thugs and chase after Trishe, but thugs kept spilling in one after another after hearing the alarm!
“Die already!”
“I’ll smash your face in!”
“Don’t think you can come back alive!”
Taking hits from swords, knives, claws, and fangs, the protective spell made a racket. I’m just going easy on them, yet they’re coming at me with the intent to kill, these guys… while the night elf is trying to make her getaway…!!
“――Enough already! You termites that fester in society, don’t overstep your bounds!!”
“What did you just say!!”
“How dare you!”
“I’ll kill you!”
“That’s my line, you idiot!!”
If it comes to that, I’ll wipe you all out for real, you bastards!!!!
—In the end, after thoroughly half-killing several guards as a warning, they finally lost their will to fight.
I jumped into a hidden passage and chased after Trishe, breaking through the various traps with my protective spells. With the support of Barbara waiting outside the mansion, I managed to race through the slums and successfully take down Trishe.
Since the local Holy Church wasn’t all that reliable, I bound the mafia boss and dragged him through town before delivering him alongside Trishe’s head to the lord’s mansion. As a collaborator of the dark elements.
The boss claimed his innocence—saying he was completely unaware that Trishe was a night elf, but who knows.
‘If he genuinely didn’t realize even after getting intimate with a woman, he must be a real dimwit…’
Well, that does stretch credibility a bit.
Though Trishe must have been quite bold to reveal her identity even while being the boss’s lover…
In any case, mafia bosses usually have some shady connections with local authorities, but since I publicized the betrayal all over town, it’s not like he’ll get away without punishment.
The thugs apparently weren’t keen on protecting the boss either, even after they spat on their alliance. Still, I took the precaution of intimidating a few of their lieutenants since there might be fools pondering retaliation against the Holy Church.
“If you guys pull anything next time… For protecting a night elf, I’ll turn all of you into cinders.”
When I displayed my strength by easily folding the treasure sword that the boss had worn with my bare hands, they looked thoroughly shaken. Just to be safe, I also told the local Holy Church personnel, “If anything comes up, I’ll be back!” so unless someone’s really reckless, I’d like to think they won’t act rashly…
‘This time, it was a bit forceful, but…’
Maybe I should have invested more time in surveillance and investigation, but it’s a hard balance…
†††
—By the time the hunting was over, the sun was already high in the sky, so I decided to have lunch at the port with Leila.
I’d heard from the townsfolk that there was a good restaurant nearby. As expected of the rumored great place, I enjoyed the delicious seafood from the lake at a reasonable price. After the big brawl in the slum, I was starving, so this was a delight…
And after leaving the restaurant, fully satisfied, as we strolled around—
“Man, what a mess…”
“We’re in big trouble…”
“Geez, this is bad…”
Some sailors on the pier were clutching their heads in distress.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh, Hero!”
When I called out, the sailors pointed to a ship in front of them with pitiful expressions.
“Actually, our ship has been infested by Fluke Bugs…”
“Fluke Bugs?”
“Yeah. They’re pests that turn ships into a maze of holes. They even live in the sea, and they’re called ‘sea termites’—the bane of sailors.”
“Oh, and what an unpleasant name that sounds…!”
At a glance, the ship didn’t seem too damaged, but it looked like the bottom was being eroded.
“We’d like to repair it, but it’s bad news if the bugs spread to other ships, so we can’t put it in the dock until we get rid of them…”
“We were late in noticing and can’t tell how much has been consumed.”
“If this goes on, we’ll have to sink it… and we can’t even head out to fish either. The landlady will be in trouble, so what do we do…?”
From what I heard, they apparently supplied fish to the restaurant we had enjoyed earlier. They ventured into relatively deep waters that other sailors tended to avoid, bringing back delicious fish, and without their catch, the restaurant’s quality wouldn’t be maintained.
Even these fearless sailors wouldn’t think of setting sail on a bug-riddled ship.
“Alright, I get it; all we need is to completely get rid of those Fluke Bugs, right?”
I rolled up my sleeves and jumped onto the ship.
“I’ll lend a hand…!”
That fish was delicious!
I couldn’t turn a blind eye to these sailors’ plight…!
“Hero, are you really going to do this for us?”
“That depends on whether magic works! O mighty gods of light, bear witness!!”
Fluke Bugs, I don’t know what they are, but being called ‘sea termites’ makes them humanity’s enemies, right!? Probably.
No, they better be!!
Extinct!!
“【Holy radiance, come to this hand――!!】”
I unleashed my holy silver spell with all my might.
Silver light wrapped around the fishing boat,—
With a sound of crackling, something burst from various parts of the ship, and smoke began to rise. I felt a definite response.
“Alright, I’ve exterminated the pests! This ship is spotless, I assure you!”
“Oh…!”
The sailors’ eyes sparkled with hope.
“Thank you so much! Hero!!”
“Hah, this is nothing—”
Just as I hopped off the ship onto the pier—
Huh—? Suddenly, everything went dark before my eyes…
“Huh…?”
My knees gave way, and with a thud, I collapsed.
“—Alex? Alex!!?”
Leila’s panicking voice echoed at a distance.
I noticed I had crumpled onto the pier, being supported by Leila.
…Huh? What happened to me…?
‘Ah.’
It seemed Antendeixis realized something.
‘You, you’ve been in human form this whole time without taking a break, haven’t you…?’
…Ah.