Chapter 2-10 : Ice Fang Bats Ⅱ (part 1)
「Howdy, Sarasa-chan!」(Andre)
「Ah, Andre-san, Gil-san, Gray-san! Thank you for coming!」(Sarasa)
When I bowed to them, Andre-san smiled bitterly at me.
「Sarasa-chan, there’s no Collector in this village who doesn’t come after you call them.」(Andre)
「He’s right. Thanks to your potions, we Collectors can work without worry. Also, you’re this village’s hero! There’s no way we won’t respond to your call.」(Gil)
「Umm, you make it sounds like I’m a gang leader or something…」(Sarasa)
They talked as if they came because they were called by the scariest person in this village.
Look at me. I’m a cute little girl. What’s scary about me?
「You’re not scary but you’re definitely the strongest person in this village.」(Gray)
「Gray-san, too. Please stop saying things like that about me. I’m just a normal girl who happens to be able to fight a little, you know?」(Sarasa)
I’m nothing compared to Master.
She can compete with a knight in the royal capital, but me… I would probably be treated like a little child by the knight.
The combat arts trainer at the alchemy school was also very strong.
I’m no match for combat professionals.
When I said that I’m just a normal girl, Andre-san and his party members shook their heads.
「Sarasa-chan, you’re too humble. If you’re just a normal girl, we’re just a bunch of babies who can’t fight then.」(Andre)
「A, Ahaha… But fighting is not Collectors’ job, right?」(Sarasa)
Sometimes Collectors have to fight, but their main job is to collect various materials, not fighting.
Even though there are materials that can only be collected from beasts or monsters, most of the materials are safe to collect.
「Well… Not really. From the general people’s point of view, Being a Collector is a profession where you have to fight, you know?」(Andre)
「Is that so? I know there are many Collectors who can fight, but…」(Sarasa)
「Store Owner-dono, you don’t know perhaps because your standards of fighting are different from us. Not to brag, but as a Collector, I’m quite strong in fighting… Well, after the bears’ attack, I lost my confidence a little though… Haha…」(Iris)
Iris-san dropped her shoulders and laughed bitterly.
Seeing Iris-san being pessimistic like that, Andre-san shook his head.
「No, no. Iris ojou-chan, you fought really well that time.」(Andre)
「Yeah. The way you fought was formidable!」(Gil)
「In terms of the number of bears defeated, our party lost to you and Kate-chan.」(Gray)
「But that was all thanks to everyone, not just our strength. Besides, I could only support you guys from above.」(Kate)
「No, your archery skills were amazing! There are not many people who can shoot arrows as precisely as you.」(Andre)
As Andre-san said, there’s no doubt that Iris-san and Kate-san have fought very effectively.
「Oops, I almost forgot why we’re here. So, Sarasa-chan, why did you call us here?」(Andre)
「Oh right, Andre-san, do you know anything about Ice Fang Bats?」(Sarasa)
「Ice Fang Bats….? Hmm…」(Andre)
Andre-san, Gil-san and Gray-san looked at each other, twisted their heads, and started thinking.
After a moment, Gil-san snapped his fingers and pointed at Andre-san as if he just remembered something.
「Andre, didn’t we hear about this from Drake-san a long time ago?」(Gil)
「Drake-san…? Aah! The story about the monsters that live in the northern cave?」(Andre)
Andre-san clapped his hands right after he remembered about that.
「So do you know about them? I made a poster, but I have only a little information about them.」(Sarasa)
I pointed at the poster I just made on the bulletin board.
Andre-san and the others approached the bulletin board and read the poster.
After that, they nodded deeply several times.
「There’s no doubt about it… We’ve heard about these monsters. Well, we have never hunted them, though.」(Andre)
「Is that so? The Ice Fang Bats’ materials are easy to take out and the quality will not deteriorate even if you don’t process them. I think selling their materials will be profitable, but I wonder why there’s no Collectors selling them to me.」(Sarasa)
After looking at my confused face, Andre-san shook his head and made a bitter expression.
「A long time ago, the guy who went to the town to sell Ice Fang Bats’ materials said that those are useless materials, and he could only sell them really cheaply. Since then, nobody wanted to hunt those bats because the selling price is not worth the effort.」(Andre)
「Eh? What are you talking about? Those are pretty useful materials, you know?」(Sarasa)
「Seriously…?」(Andre)
「Wait a minute… Could it be… the alchemist who bought that Collector’s Ice Fang Bats’ materials is… this guy?」(Sarasa)
As I said that, I pointed at another poster on the bulletin board.
Yes, the poster about the bad alchemy store in South Strugg.
「Aa!」(Andre)
Looking at the poster, Andre-san opened his eyes wide and distorted his mouth.
「I had no idea that that alchemist was a bad guy at that time. Yeah, that Collector most likely sold his materials to this cheater guy. It was the nearest alchemy store from this village after all. I see… so he was deceived by that bastard, huh?」(Andre)
Andre-san’s face looked more and more fierce.
When I raised my hand to calm Andre-san down, Gil-san and Gray-san put their hands on Andre-san’s shoulders.
I hope he doesn’t let out his killing intent aura too much. Lorea-chan will be frightened.
「However, Andre-san, this is only a guess. We don’t know what exactly happened.」(Sarasa)
「Yeah… You’re right.」(Andre)
After listening to my words, Andre-san seemed to have calmed down.
「Sarasa-san, I’m sorry to interrupt, but what kind of monsters are they? I’ve been living in this village for a long time but I’ve never seen them.」(Lorea)
「Yeah, I’m also curious. Can you explain?」(Kate)
「Ah, it’s only natural that Lorea-chan has never seen them because they don’t usually fly to human territory like villages and towns. To put it simply they areーー」(Sarasa)
I began to explain to everyone what kind of monster Ice Fang Bat is.
Ice Fang Bats are bat-type monsters that normally live in caves just like normal bats.
However, they have features that distinguish them from ordinary bats.
Yes, just like their name, they have “ice fangs”.
They can freeze their targets by biting them with their fangs.
But even though they have the ability to kill other creatures, their main food is fruits, so normally they don’t attack humans or animals.
They usually use their fangs to freeze fruits.
They will store the frozen fruits to be used as food in winter.
Therefore, they are basically harmless monsters, but if their population increases too much, it will affect other animals because they will eat all the fruits in the forest.
Because of that, they normally fall into the category of harmful monsters in areas where people cultivate fruits.
Sarasa… your dense protag is leaking… patch it up, please…
She’s not being dense, silly. Sarasa is just being practical and comparing herself to her teachers and Master, which is the RIGHT thing to do. If you learned martial arts, would you compare yourself to a low rank martial artist or a normal person? Obviously not! You would compare yourself to your senior and your instructors and your Master! Don’t be stupid. It’s not dense, it’s common sense!
Unless you want to be not just second-rate but third-rate.
There’s a very good reason why the Chinese here are top class and the other races aren’t, and why China is top class and ahead of everyone else in science and technology. It’s because we have a similar attitude towards grading ourselves.