Ch.104Adventure’s Achievements

“Let’s see. Quest reward of 1000 gold plus crystal sales of 800 gold…”

After returning to Grace Hotel and securing the same room we had stayed in before, we gathered in my and Jessica’s room to tally up our quest results.

Although we had to submit the most valuable Minotaur magic stone to our client, we still made about 1000 gold just from selling the other monsters’ magic stones and loot.

Add to that Hector’s belongings (cash) that we didn’t ship to Peter, which amounted to just under 400 gold, and our total cash income came to over 3000 gold.

Even if we divided it into the party’s common fund, it was an extraordinary income of about 500 gold per person, but the greatest achievement of this quest could be said to be the additional items we brought back.

“So Jessica, do you think you can decipher the Great Sage’s magic formula?”

“Yes. It has many complex elements intertwined, but the design itself isn’t that difficult. With enough time, I should be able to interpret it without any problems.”

“A grand magic spell from a figure recorded in Grantis’s history—I wonder how amazing it will be.”

“Whether I can activate it with my magical power is another question entirely.”

The greatest achievement of this adventure was undoubtedly the grand magic formula we obtained from Anastasia.

If it’s a grand magic spell left by the legendary Great Sage Deidric Asmad to his only wife, it must be something extraordinary enough to turn the magical academia of Grantis upside down.

Though the fact alone that the legendary sage took a monster succubus as his wife would probably be enough to shake up the academic world.

“Where’s the Minotaur’s axe?”

“Mina took it to the blacksmith to melt it down. She said it seems to contain some rare metal.”

“So that’s why she wanted to hand over the magic stone and keep the axe. I thought she wanted to use it herself.”

“Hahaha, even Mina would find that axe too heavy.”

The double-bladed axes that the Minotaur had been swinging, one in each hand, each weighed well over 15 kilograms on one side alone.

Thinking of her eagerly running toward the blacksmith with such axes strapped to her back, the strength of the dwarf race is certainly not ordinary.

With a special weapon like Peter’s cutlass, she might be able to utilize her unique strength and serve as a vanguard.

*Knock knock*

“Will, Jessica. May I come in?”

“Ah, sure, come on in.”

*Door opens*

Phyllis and Seti entered the room with their arms full of clothes.

Mina and Phyllis’s clothes had been torn to shreds during the dungeon battles, and Seti had abandoned her only cloak the other day, so they had gone out to purchase new clothes.

“Oh, are those your new clothes? They suit you well.”

“Thank you.”

“It feels a bit strange to walk around in clothes other than my Guardian uniform after so long. I tried to buy something as similar as possible…”

Phyllis’s new outfit was almost identical to the female Guardian Corps uniform she had been wearing until now—a sleeveless mini-skirt dress with black tights.

Her insistence on matching the shape and color as closely as possible to her previous outfit must be her own particular fashion preference.

Meanwhile, Seti was wearing a thinner gray cloak than before.

The cat-folk’s cloaks were typically made of thick material to maintain body heat when used as blankets, but perhaps she chose a more activity-oriented product since she wouldn’t have to worry about the cold while with us.

“What about Mina’s clothes?”

“We stopped by the blacksmith on the way and handed them to her. She said she’d change after finishing her work since sparks and molten metal might fly during the process.”

“Mina’s been busy ever since we arrived in Riverside. Will she be back in time for dinner?”

“That one would forget to eat if someone didn’t remind her, she gets so absorbed in her work.”

Ever since hearing from Phyllis about the mysterious metal created by fairies, Mina has been devoting herself to discovering its composition.

Even before taking on the Adventurer’s Guild quest, she bought a bunch of metal scraps for reaction experiments but achieved no results. Yet she continues to pour research funds into it without the slightest discouragement, showing the qualities of an excellent mad scientist.

“What should we do starting tomorrow? Should we stay in Riverside until the decoding of the Great Sage’s magic is complete?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary. The interpretation itself doesn’t require any special equipment, but I’ll need some time until a new magic concept comes to mind.”

“Then we could head to the next city as soon as Mina’s research is done. What kind of place is the fifth western city?”

“I’d normally leave that as a surprise for when we arrive… but for the fifth western city, I can’t really do that.”

Jessica took out a map from her pouch, spread it out, and pointed to a spot about 60 kilometers west of Riverside.

To the left of the small symbol indicating a city was a hatched area that couldn’t be found anywhere else on the map.

“This hatched area is a toxic swamp spanning dozens of kilometers. The fifth western city, Atelier, was built as a base to bypass this swamp.”

“Atelier… workshop?”

“Yes. True to its name, this city is home to alchemists and potion makers who use materials gathered from the swamp to create antidotes and various potions. You could say it’s a city of alchemy established to safely cross the toxic swampland.”

“I know about this swamp. They said it appears after traveling west from my village for about 2-3 days.”

“That means Seti’s village must be closer to this Riverside. If we knew the location, I’d like to visit.”

Even if the cat-folk village doesn’t accept pioneers, they surely wouldn’t turn away Seti, who is from there.

Moreover, Seti has obtained the Strike Falcon’s guiding feather, a token of a blessed warrior—wouldn’t everyone be happy if she returned home?

Frankly, I also wanted to visit as her companion and pay my respects to Seti’s parents.

“Setting aside pioneers, what about elves or dwarves? Even if they’re different races, there should be some exchange between native inhabitants.”

“I don’t know. During my time there, no other races ever visited the village.”

“Officially, there’s no record of elves or dwarves participating in the Riverside front, so there shouldn’t be any reason for hostility…”

*THUMP THUMP THUMP*

“Huh?”

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by a thumping sound. Was someone running down the hotel corridor?

Grace Hotel was quite an upscale establishment, so I wondered what kind of guest would behave so rudely… just as our room door burst open and that “rude guest” rushed in.

“I DID IT!!!”

“Whoa, Mina!?”

“What? What happened?”

“I did it! I really did it!! Yippee!!!”

With a flushed face, Mina ran in and, despite Jessica and Seti being present, threw her arms around my neck and started jumping up and down.

When I heard some room doors opening due to the commotion, Jessica poked her head out to apologize to the other guests before closing our door.

“Calm down, Mina. You’re startling everyone.”

“Oops… sorry. I got too excited. Ehehe~”

“Why are you so excited? What did you do?”

“Hee, heeheeheehee! Ta-da~~~!”

Still trembling with excitement, Mina released her arms from my neck and opened her tightly clenched fist.

In her palm gleamed a silver metal fragment that looked like chewed gum.

“I did it! I found it! The Fairy Queen’s Silver Bell!”

“What!?”

“So this is…”

“Yes! It’s the metal from the Minotaur’s axe mixed with the extract from those poisonous mushrooms! The magical conductivity, durability, chemical reactions—it’s completely identical to the component Will gave me!”

The mysterious metal that makes up the main component of the Earth Destroyer Revolver.

This unidentified material, whose very existence in Grantis was unknown, had now been perfectly recreated by Mina’s hands.

“So now can we use this to modify my revolver?”

“Ah~ I used up almost all of it trying to find the right combination ratio, and this is all I managed to save. But now that I know the formula, we just need to get more materials.”

“We can get poisonous mushrooms from an apothecary, so we just need to identify the metal and where to obtain it.”

“Ohohoho~ Actually, I’ve already finished that investigation too! Just as Phyllis mentioned in her story, this metal is related to the fairy folk. It’s a metal occasionally found in the ‘Corcas Mountains’ where fairies are said to have lived long ago.”

“Corcas Mountains? Where is that?”

“Hmm~ In terms of pioneer cities, it would be north of the fifth western city? It’s not too far from the city, and there are dwarves living there too, so we might be able to get their help.”

North of the fifth western city!

The source of the special alloy material was much closer than I had thought.

And if we could get cooperation from dwarf miners, it would be easier to obtain enough quantity needed for upgrading the revolver.

“That works out perfectly. In Atelier, the city of alchemy, we should easily be able to get those poisonous mushrooms too.”

“So we’ll prepare the mushroom extract in that city and then head to the dwarf mines in the Corcas Mountains… Wait, what’s the name of that metal anyway?”

“Oh man, this really surprised me too. It seems the dwarves living near the Corcas Mountains named it after the Fairy Queen—”

The name of the metal that came out of Mina’s mouth hit me like a slap to the back of my head.

“—Titanium, they call it. If I’d known from the beginning, I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble.”