Chapter 2-11 : Ice Fang Bats Ⅲ (part 1)

 

Thanks to Andre-san and his party members, we arrived at the northern cave without getting lost.

「Whoaa… So this is the cave, huh? It’s pretty big.」(Iris)

Iris-san was amazed, looking at the entrance of the cave, which was about 20 meters wide and 10 meters high.

「It’s surprisingly pretty close to the village. I think we can come here sometimes if we have time. But the problem is can we hunt the Ice Fang Bats or not.」(Kate)

「Even though they’re monsters, they’re not that strong, so I think you’ll be fine. It would be a problem if they attack all at once, but normally they don’t attack people.」(Sarasa)

「Normally, huh…?」(Kate)

「I’ve heard that in the past, some people were found dead with their whole body frozen in a cave.」(Sarasa)

「That’s scary…」(Iris)

「Well, a case like that usually only occurs in the areas where most of the people cultivate fruits. Because the Ice Fang Bats are vermin for those people, they have to annihilate them. There will be no problem if the ones who will annihilate the bats are people who are good at fighting. Incidents like that can only occur if they can’t fight the bats.」(Sarasa)

Listening to my explanation, Andre-san and his friends nodded with tense expressions on their faces.

「O, Ou… We can’t let our guard down then…」(Andre)

「What are you talking about? As Collectors, we shouldn’t let our guard down even for a second during our work!」(Iris)

「Well, you don’t have to worry. As long as we don’t alert them with a wide range magical attack or something, I think we will be just fine. None of you can use such a spell, right?」(Sarasa)

「Store Owner-dono, if we can use such as spell, we would have used it when we fought the bears…」(Iris)

「Haha, fair enough. Alright, let’s get going. Oh, before that…【Air Wall】! 」(Sarasa)

I used wind magic to make a wall of wind to protect us from what will be coming from above.

After that, we stepped inside the cave.

「Hngg! It stinks so much in here!」(Iris)

「Hoeekk…! The smell’s pretty strong too…」(Kate)

The moment we stepped in, Iris-san and Kate-san couldn’t help but complain about the smell.

It’s only natural that this place is super stinky. After all, the floor, the walls, and the ceiling, are covered with ‘that thing’.

「Andre-san, Gil-san, Gray-san, are you guys alー Never mind. You guys seem to have gotten used to this kind of smell.」(Kate)

「Oi, what does that mean!?」(Andre)

Kate-san ignored Andre-san and turned to me with a worried face.

「Store Owner-san, are you okay with this smell?」(Kate)

「It stinks, but it’s nothing compared to some alchemy materials with a very strong smell.」(Sarasa)

「Hee… as expected from an alchemist.」(Kate)

「W, Well… actually, I used a potion that can reduce my sense of smell, so it’s not that smelly for me. Hehe.」(Sarasa)

「Aa! That’s not fair! Can I get one?」(Kate)

「M, Me too!」(Iris)

「These potions are quite expensive. Are you okay with that?」(Sarasa)

「Ugh…」(Kate)

「N, No… We won’t be able to pay our debt….」(Iris)

「Fufu. I’m just kidding. Here. Sniff this potion to use it.」(Sarasa)

I took out a small bottle of potion from my pocket, opened the lid and brought it closer to Iris-san and Kate-san’s faces.

The two brought their noses close to the bottle and took a deep breath.

「How is it now?」(Sarasa)

「Whoa! It’s a lot less stinky than before!」(Iris)

「Yeah, it’s totally different…!」(Kate)

「This is the potion that reduces your ability to smell at a certain level. It can be dangerous if you use it too often, so we usually only use it when needed.」(Sarasa)

The sense of smell is important for an alchemist after all.

For example, I can tell when to add other materials when processing something with alchemy, or I can tell the quality of materials by sniffing them.

「This potion is amazing.」(Kate)

「Well, I can’t always give you for free, so the next time you want to come here, it’s up to you whether to buy it or just bear with the smell.」(Sarasa)

「Hmm… it’s gonna be hard to make a decision…」(Kate)

「If it’s too expensive for us, we don’t have a choice but to bear with the smell then.」(Iris)

「By the way, do you guys want to use it too?」(Sarasa)

I offered Andre-san and his party members the potion.

「No, we’re good.」(Andre)

「Compared to some Collectors who don’t take a bath for months, this is nothing.」(Gil)

「Fortunately, we haven’t met with such Collectors in this village.」(Gray)

Uwahh… So there are some stinky Collectors out there, huh?

I won’t let such Collectors get inside my store.

Maybe I’ll make a sign saying “This store is off-limits to people who rarely take a bath” or something.

I feel sorry for Lorea-chan if those people walk into the store.

「By the way, if you scrape that stuff off the ground, and take them home, you can use them as fertilizer.」(Sarasa)

「I see. Will youー」(Andre)

「ーNo, I won’t buy them. They’re not alchemy materials after all.」(Sarasa)

「Ahh…」(Andre)

「You can sell them to farmers, but I’m not sure if farmers in this village want to buy them.」(Sarasa)

The village mayor has distributed a lot of money to the villagers, so they have quite a lot of money right now, but I don’t think they want to buy fertilizer.

「Hmm. Even though I can’t sell them, maybe I can bring them as a gift for my farmer acquaintances.」(Andre)

「But please be careful. It will ruin the field if you use them too much. Well, if your acquaintances are professional farmers, they should know about that. More importantly, let’s start hunting the bats. Take a look at the ceiling.」(Sarasa)

「The ceiling…? Uwa!」(Iris)

When I pointed upward, Iris-san looked up and raised her voice.

The other members were also surprised, looking at the things that were hanging on the ceiling.

「Seriously…?」(Kate)

「…This is insane…..」(Andre)

Yes, what was hanging on the ceiling were the Ice Fang Bats.

But there were so many of them that we could barely even see the ceiling.

 

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