Ch.419Late-Arriving NPCs. (7)

In this world where we fight monsters every day, there’s no power level scanner, so people have various ways of gauging each other’s strength.

Typically, adventurers judge by looking at the other’s rank, while mages sense and assess the magical power their opponent possesses.

For humans like me who have almost no magical power but increased physical abilities through training alone, there’s no way to judge without fighting. And for races like the spirit folk who have little magical power but strong spirit blessings, you won’t know their strength until you get hit and see what spirits they summon.

That’s why I’m always getting challenged, mostly by martial artists. I have no magical power, I’ve kept my adventurer rank fixed at gold, and now I don’t even have that adventurer status. Those who can vaguely sense magical power look at me with no magic and no weapons and think I’m worthless, so they come at me.

Of course, the women around me have become so strong that even though they’re not mages, they appear as monsters in the eyes of this world’s decent mages, so there aren’t even any mages approaching with hostility anymore. It’s not that mages aren’t thugs, but even thugs value their lives enough to stay away.

But what kind of situation is it when someone attacks even with my woman right beside me? It’s because the opponent is from the [Magic Engineering City].

The people of IT City have higher average levels than people from other cities because there’s a dungeon inside their city. In other words, dungeons are closely intertwined with their lives.

But strangely, despite living in a world with magic, divine power, mana, and spirits, they worship ‘science,’ so they’re reluctant to increase their magical power or train it. Instead, as their levels rise and physical abilities strengthen, they judge others’ strength intuitively by the equipment they wear.

In fact, there was even a sub-quest story about someone born with high magical power who was expelled from their party because their magic grew stronger as they leveled up in the dungeon. Anyway, that’s not the important part. What I’m trying to say is…

“Ray, don’t you like any of these swords?”

“Hmm~ Maybe this sword is the best option? All the others are too soft, and this one at least looks sturdy. Even if it has some strange enchantment like [Wind Riding], I don’t want to develop weird habits using it.”

“…How merciless.”

To the IT City guards—the ones not on the side of Owell the secretary—we might as well be walking around naked with our equipment. Yesterday, Ira had released enough visible magical power to intimidate them, so they didn’t attack, but now it’s just Ray and me, and they can’t sense any magical power, so they picked a fight based solely on our equipment condition.

Seriously, do we have to deal with this harassment every time we come here?

“As I mentioned yesterday, the elders on that side want to cause trouble here. After two people were taken down yesterday, the rest of the guards came to the embankment at night, making a fuss about getting revenge on you. Honestly, I had no way to stop them. It seems…”

“They’ll keep picking fights? Well, fine. We get better equipment out of it, so no complaints.”

*Clank*

“Jack, I’ll take this person’s sword. Mr. Owell, is it okay if I break all the rest?”

“…Yes. Whatever.”

*Snap!*

Equipment rated level 200 or higher snapped in half like toothpicks, and Ray attached the sword she’d chosen to her waist. Hmm. Just +5 reinforcement to durability. Literally a damn sturdy sword. The fire sword I gave her yesterday was rejected for the reason she just mentioned—she didn’t want to develop strange habits. At first, she tried to use it just because I gave it to her, but her expression seemed awkward, so I asked a few more times until she admitted it sheepishly. I wish she’d just tell me these things right away. Giving a gift that actually hinders her—I don’t need such sad stories.

“Well then, I’ll clean this up too.”

Mr. Owell, who until just now had been hurling insults at us along with those guys like yesterday afternoon, now showed genuine annoyance at having to clean up after them, and genuine apology toward us as he called his own guards to remove the three unconscious guards.

Hey, but is it okay for the guards to keep decreasing like this? You’ll only have half your guards left when you return!

“You’ll be coming with us when we return, won’t you? I was planning to properly calculate compensation and hire you as guards then, but perhaps… Were you planning to go to IT City ahead of us or come later?”

“Huh? Is that allowed? I thought the ma—I mean, the magical engineering train was IT City’s latest cultural achievement and outsiders weren’t allowed to ride it or something…”

“Of course not. These idiotic guards keep self-destructing, leaving holes in the chairman’s security detail. We need to hire adventurers from Naty immediately, or we’ll lose face completely.”

If someone were to make an issue of it, the elders could be put on trial for assigning incompetent guards. After saying that much, Mr. Owell seemed conscious of the eyes around us, immediately cleared his throat, and made way for us.

Well, anyway, we’re here to see the chairperson again…

“Tch! Disgusting magic users, disappear from my sight this instant!”

“”…””

When different guards approached her, she suddenly changed and spewed insults at them. Ray and I flinched for a moment, but well, this must be an act too… right? She’s like someone with a split personality, which is a bit scary.

*

“Owell has a rough manner and personality, so I apologize for that.”

When we handed over Gor’s body (?) to IT City Chairman Tork Bigman and talked about her, this was his response. It seems that rather than having a split personality, that harsh side is also part of who she is. Ugh, honestly, it hurts a little every time she curses at us. I don’t even have magical power.

Looking carefully at the fragments of Gor we handed over, he talked a bit about Ms. Owell. She usually works as his secretary, but due to her position as trade manager, she handles most business with external cities, which is why other elders want to control her. In other words, she’s also playing the role of a double agent, which has inevitably made her personality quite rough. Hmm. Is that really okay? The job stress must be no joke.

“Hahaha! Do you think she might betray me?”

“Well, I didn’t put it that bluntly. But it’s not completely impossible, is it?”

“There’s no possibility of that!”

“You’re quite definitive about that?”

Ray tilted her head curiously at the chairman’s answer, and the chairman patted his ample belly and replied with a broad smile.

“I already have three children, with another one on the way. If she were to betray me, it wouldn’t be because she dislikes me, but to protect the children. If that’s the reason, I would understand even if I got stabbed in the back.”

“”Ah.””

We nodded when he finished by asking us to keep their relationship secret, as it was confidential even in IT City.

My goodness, so they had that kind of relationship… Wait. With your size and that secretary? Ms. Owell was even smaller than Ray! You’re at least two heads taller than me?!! How does that work?!!

“So, um, how do you manage your bedroom activities…?”

“*Cough*?!!”

I was only thinking it, but Ray actually asked out loud, making me choke and stare with eyes as big as saucers. The chairman laughed even louder than before and started whispering in her ear. Wait a minute!! What are you talking about?!! And why are you answering that?!!!

“Heh, hehe…! I-I see! W-wow, IT City is amazing…!!”

“Hahaha! How about it, interested? You’re clearly in that kind of relationship with Jack there, right? When we arrive in IT City, I could give you a couple of—”

“Stop that crazy talk!! More importantly!! What about Gor?!!”

I shouted loud enough to strain my voice, separating the two of them. The chairman looked at me as if amused, and Ray’s blue eyes… stop sparkling!!! What on earth did you hear?!!

“Hahaha! Right, I haven’t properly checked it with my equipment, but this is no ordinary [Mime Golem], is it?”

“What do you mean by not ordinary?”

“Just look at this material. It’s high-strength magical stone from a [Mime Golem], but it also has high-strength coating. This material feels like… slime. No, [Ultra-acidic Slime]? They mixed in something incredible; the materials would have been quite expensive even in the Empire where this creature’s hunting grounds are. And furthermore…”

Incredibly, just by touching it with his fingers, he started correctly identifying Gor’s material as having absorbed ultra-acidic slime. He continued to explain that various monster materials seemed to have been combined, eventually tilting his head and wondering if spirit arts were mixed in too. It was somewhat reassuring that he hadn’t noticed it had also consumed a demon’s core—

“Hmm?! This is demonic? My goodness, who from ‘outside’ had such an ingenious idea…!”

“Y-you can tell that?”

“*Gulp!*”

How on earth?! After correctly guessing that Gor had eaten a core from one of the Seven Deadly Sins of Wrath, he noticed our anxious reactions and answered with a hearty laugh while looking at me with a broad smile.

“Well, when IT City captures demons trying to crawl in from outside, we extract their cores and I use them as materials. But I’ve never seen such high-quality demon materials before, so I’m curious how you captured and processed it.”

That reason is more horrifying than I expected?

He’s saying demons have infiltrated IT City and ended up becoming materials? Given that the guards’ level is around 300 with level 200+ equipment, they could probably easily catch demons below level 300. Are they really doing that? This content wasn’t even in the game, so I was a bit surprised, but decided to ask him the most important question.

“So, do you think Gor can be restored?”

“Well. If you’re asking whether it’s possible or not, it is possible. However…”

“Is there another problem?! If you need anything, please tell me! I’ll do whatever…!!”

When he trailed off, Ray raised her voice anxiously, but he shook his head and continued.

“Even if restored, this golem won’t be able to regain its previous abilities. The destruction of its core is too significant, and we don’t have such high-quality demon materials even in IT City. As I said yesterday, it would be better to melt these fragments, mix them with Behemoth materials, and make a new one. However…”

“”However?””

Stop building suspense so frighteningly!! Even I became anxious and asked simultaneously with Ray, and he finally spoke as if it were truly difficult to say.

“Tsk. If Behemoth materials are added, there’s no core that can operate it flexibly. The original combination ratio was such a perfect golden ratio. Certainly, even with a core worth 1 billion cans from our city, it wouldn’t bring out even 30% of the golem’s performance that you knew…”

*Thud!*

“What about this?!”

“This is a Behemoth core, though its magical power is completely drained.”

The man who had been calmly calculating while examining Gor’s fragments finally widened his eyes like saucers when he saw the core Ray held out.