Ch.200Investigation Continues

Through my adventures, I’ve learned that there are three main ways outlaws in Grantis survive the black mana.

First is visiting the Cotton Tail Trading Post.

While this method is only available to outlaws operating near the Cotton Tail Trading Post, it’s considered the most reliable and safe solution for outlaws.

Second is secretly using the barrier towers in western cities or small outposts.

A typical example would be clinging to the outer walls of a city far from the entrance in the middle of the night, purifying the black mana, and then fleeing.

This method is mainly used by minor offenders, and I’ve heard that sheriff’s offices tend to turn a blind eye rather than risk a shootout near the city while attempting to arrest them.

Third is securing a safe zone exclusively for outlaws by using a device called a “counterfeit barrier tower.”

While counterfeit barrier towers purify black mana and prevent monster approaches like regular barrier towers, they have fatally flawed effective ranges that are pitifully small, poor effects, and worst of all, they gradually consume the installed mana core.

For this reason, the New Continent Development Headquarters has classified these counterfeit barrier towers as Class 1 illegal items, prohibiting their production and distribution. Violators face a minimum of 5 years imprisonment regardless of license grade.

The laws prohibiting private operation or sale of mana cores were apparently created because of these counterfeit barrier towers.

“So the mana cores used in counterfeit barrier towers are secretly sold to outlaws by someone?”

“Not necessarily. I’ve heard that adventurers who obtain mana cores might be ambushed by outlaws and have them stolen, or skilled outlaws might challenge dungeons themselves to obtain them.”

“Hmm… though these guys didn’t seem skilled enough for that.”

*Click*

While Seti and I dug a hole to bury the bodies as Jessica explained, Mina went around with a camera taking pictures of the dead outlaws’ faces.

This was to submit as evidence in case there were bounties on them.

It was something we purchased after regretting not receiving a bounty in Riverside due to insufficient evidence, and we’re finally putting it to use.

The Black Heart Gang extermination operation was led by the Northern Fortress guards, and the bounty targets we handed over to the Westpoint Trading Post had live capture conditions, so there was no need to take pictures.

There were eight outlaw corpses scattered around.

We confirmed they were all outlaws before killing them.

If we had mistakenly killed adventurers who were exploring unmapped areas, it could have caused various problems.

But all eight were desperados who didn’t hesitate to kill, and they fought to the last man before falling to white mana bullets.

They were insignificant in both skill and numbers compared to the Black Heart Gang, who also possessed counterfeit barrier towers.

“Will, Jessica. I’ve scouted the surroundings.”

“Thanks for your hard work, Phyllis. How’s the situation?”

“I found no traces of other outlaws or dark elves. No signs of large-scale logging or fires either.”

“We’re still quite far from our target point, so we can’t be certain… but it seems unlikely we’ll find a dark elf base around here.”

“I agree. Given dark elf habits, they wouldn’t leave outlaws settled near their base.”

To dark elves, both adventurers and outlaws are just humans, not subjects for negotiation or coexistence.

I don’t know how long these outlaws had set up their counterfeit barrier tower here, but rather than being lucky enough to avoid detection, it’s more likely that there simply isn’t a dark elf base in this area.

“When dawn breaks tomorrow, let’s scout all the way to our originally planned point, and if we find nothing, head to the next location.”

“Don’t we need to return to the city?”

“The reason we had to return to Moon Lake was because of the black mana. If we purify the black mana with the counterfeit barrier tower and cut across to the next point, it’s much more beneficial in terms of both time and distance.”

“You’re right. We still have plenty of food, and the outlaws had stockpiled quite a bit as well.”

The outlaws’ camp had three wooden barrels full of smoked meat.

Loading just those onto the wagon would be more than enough to last until we return to Moon Lake via the second point.

“Now that’s decided, let’s bury them quickly and prepare camp.”

“I feel somewhat uncomfortable using the campsite of people we killed… but I suppose it’s necessary for safety.”

“It’s better to get used to it, Phyllis. We’ll increasingly fight outlaws in the future, and if we turn away from usable resources or tools out of discomfort, we might find ourselves in an irreversible crisis.”

“Hmm… I’ll take that to heart.”

After cleaning up the outlaws’ camp, we spent the night taking turns standing watch in pairs.

It wasn’t that we didn’t trust Phyllis’s report about the absence of dark elves or other outlaws, but we were still uneasy about spending the night at a campsite previously used by outlaws.

In the end, not even a mouse approached our camp until sunrise, so our worries proved unfounded, but I don’t think our efforts to dispel that slight anxiety were meaningless.

The next day.

After breakfast, we loaded as many valuable items as possible from the outlaws’ camp into our wagon and set out to investigate around our original destination, the 250km point.

If we don’t find traces of dark elves there, we plan to move to our second destination, 280km northwest of Moon Lake.

“What do you think? Can you operate the counterfeit barrier tower with mana supply?”

“Hmm~ The mana consumption is so high that with mana supply alone, we could only run it for about an hour. If we need to use it, I’ll have to take out the artifact and connect it directly.”

“Hearing that makes me realize again just how amazing that artifact is…”

“It’s no exaggeration to call it a portable ley line. If this were a miniature version of a real barrier tower rather than a counterfeit, I think we could travel anywhere in Grantis, which gives me a new appreciation.”

“I wonder if it’s impossible to figure out the barrier tower’s blueprints or formulas? Jessica, now that you’re a senior magician, can’t you access confidential materials?”

Jessica shook her head with a regretful expression at Mina’s curious inquiry.

“Even though I’ve obtained senior magician qualifications, I can’t access just any materials. Especially formulas related to barrier towers are stored in places where access is prohibited to anyone not directly involved, regardless of license grade.”

“Then how did outlaws create these counterfeit barrier towers? Was there an insider spy?”

“Remember when I told you about the Third Western City’s barrier tower being destroyed once? Some fragments of the destroyed tower’s circuits were leaked, and that’s how they were made. But since they couldn’t properly recreate the barrier tower’s formula and forcibly cobbled together something with similar effects, they ended up with this crude device that consumes mana cores while having terribly reduced range and effectiveness.”

“Eh~ So analyzing this counterfeit barrier tower won’t help recreate a real one.”

“Unfortunately, that’s likely the case. But if you’re curious, we can take it apart after rescuing Phyllis’s sister.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“We’d have to submit it to the Development Branch Office when we return to the city anyway. To reduce cargo weight, we could just break the counterfeit barrier tower and recover only the mana core, saying that’s all we brought back.”

I wondered if that was really okay, but if Jessica says it’s fine, then it must be.

Thinking this while driving the wagon diligently, we soon arrived at our destination, the 250km point. We spent about an hour looking for traces of dark elves or caves that might be mythril mines.

But as expected, we found no traces in this area, and we had to conclude that there was no dark elf base here.

“As expected, or should I say unfortunately? It seems we need to move to our second destination.”

“I’ve calculated the direct route there. We need to go about 150km in the west-southwest direction, at 8 o’clock.”

“If we can maintain our current speed, we should arrive tomorrow afternoon… but there’s a possibility we’ll need to detour if the forest gets dense, so let’s aim to cover about half the distance today.”

“Got it. Mina, I’m counting on you for navigation.”

“Heheng~ Leave it to me.”

I tried to shake off lingering doubts about whether a dark elf base might be hidden here that we failed to find.

We set off in our covered wagon toward our second destination.

Farewell, unnamed eight outlaws.

We’ll gratefully use your counterfeit barrier tower for Phyllis’s family reunion and our travel safety.