Ch.7Go West

The morning after officially forming a party with Jessica and deciding to adventure together, we began walking westward through the western gate checkpoint of Mothertown.

“We’re walking?!”

“Huh?”

I could understand walking from the forest to Mothertown, but this is the Wild West era, isn’t it?

Trains racing along straight tracks! Cowboys riding horses across vast plains! Various wagons traveling on roads, especially those covered wagons with arched canopies! That’s the romantic image I had!

“Did you really think we’d buy horses to ride? We can’t afford such luxury.”

“Well, horses might be expensive, but what about passenger wagons that travel between cities for a fee—”

“Those are expensive too. The areas outside cities are dangerous zones where monsters appear, so risking your life to transport just one or two people isn’t profitable unless the compensation is worth it. Walking is the adventurer’s basic mode of travel, so you’d better get used to it quickly.”

“Ugh, I guess there’s no helping it…”

I steeled myself again and started walking toward the vast land and hills stretching to the west. The ground, packed down by passing wagons, naturally served as a path rather than a formally maintained road, but thanks to the quality of the boots Jessica recommended, walking was more comfortable than I expected.

By the way, my outfit had been completely replaced with items purchased from the clothing store yesterday: shirt, pants, leather boots, vest, and even a cowboy hat. My original clothes were stored in my bag as spares.

“Did you say our first destination is a city called Oxville?”

“Yes. Cities other than Mothertown are basically built in a straight line extending westward. Oxville is the first city that was built, so it’s also called ‘The First Western City.’ If we’re not delayed by rain or monsters, we should arrive in two days.”

“Looking at the weather now, it doesn’t seem like it will rain… but the sky over there looks somewhat gloomy.”

Looking up at the sky, it was clear and sunny with just a few scattered clouds, but the distant western sky appeared slightly dark and hazy. It didn’t look like storm clouds or fog, but rather like the sky of an industrial city shrouded in black factory smoke.

“That’s because of the black mana that exists thinly throughout Grantis, making distant places appear dark and hazy.”

“Black mana?”

“Think of it as mana in the atmosphere that has harmfully transformed. If you stay in an area affected by black mana for too long, your body will weaken, or in the worst case, you could die. People or animals that die within areas affected by black mana sometimes transform into monsters and come back to life.”

“Yikes, that’s no joke! How long is ‘too long’?”

“For humans and elves, about 6-7 days in a typical environment. Dwarves and beastfolk can endure about twice as long, I’ve heard.”

So basically, the air in this world called Grantis contains toxic elements that can kill humans and animals or turn them into monsters after about a week of exposure. My dream-filled Western fantasy suddenly feels more like a zombie apocalypse waiting to happen.

“You don’t need to worry that much. The area around Mothertown is naturally free from mana corruption, and the cities built by pioneers have special barriers installed that prevent black mana from forming. Just staying in these safe zones for a while quickly purifies the effects of black mana accumulated in your body.”

“So as long as we reach a nearby city before the effects of this black mana appear, there’s no major problem…”

“That’s right. That’s why the New Continent Pioneer Administration is developing by establishing scattered base cities westward to secure the widest possible range of human activity, rather than gradually expanding the outskirts of Mothertown. Installing barriers requires rare materials.”

“Do the natives secure their living areas the same way? Don’t conflicts arise over these rare materials?”

“The natives secure safe zones through methods unique to each race. Their materials apparently don’t overlap with ours, but it’s said that their methods don’t work for races other than their own.”

“So humans, as foreigners, have no choice but to use these barriers…”

Humanity in Grantis arrived as immigrants on the eastern shores of the continent and established a foothold, and as time passed, they faced the need to expand their living area. The most obvious choice would be to gradually expand the outskirts of their established base.

However, the city markers on the map show that despite plenty of undeveloped land remaining around Mothertown and newly built cities, development prioritizes only extending westward. The reason is the toxicity of black mana and the rarity of materials needed to create ‘barriers’—the only solution available to humans to counter it.

Humans can safely move within black mana for about 5 days at most. In this situation, using precious barriers to slightly expand the safe zone around Mothertown would be risky—if the materials run out and no new supply source is found within a 5-day round trip from Mothertown, they’d be trapped.

Therefore, it makes more sense to establish outposts at distances reachable within 5 days one-way, and explore within a 5-day round trip range from each outpost. This approach more quickly expands humanity’s living area while increasing the chances of obtaining additional barrier materials.

“This environment is harsher than I thought. If I hadn’t met Jessica or had declined her invitation to travel together, I might have died within a week without knowing any of this.”

“That wouldn’t happen. Normally, you’d receive education about these matters during identity registration, and F-rank adventurers who haven’t received this education would be stopped at the gate checkpoint and couldn’t leave Mothertown.”

“So I was exempted from that because I’m accompanied by Jessica, a D-rank adventurer?”

“That’s right. If you had declined to travel with me, I would have told you to visit the Pioneer Administration again today for education.”

I suppose it makes sense that in a situation where every pioneer is a valuable human resource, whether adventurer or otherwise, such social safety nets would naturally be in place. Still, traveling with an experienced adventurer is undoubtedly more reassuring. After walking for about 30 minutes, we were about to experience a moment that would make me appreciate this fact anew.

“Will, be careful. Monster.”

“Ah, I see it too.”

A carnivorous animal resembling a black panther slowly emerged from the shadow of a large rock about 50 meters away.

Even setting aside my preconceptions about big cats as an Earthling, it had an incredibly intimidating appearance. I guess this confirms that there’s no such thing as only weak mobs appearing near the starting town like in games.

“When fighting monsters, the basic approach is to not allow them to get close and to take them down from a distance. Understand?”

“Got it. If one of those things bites me, it could tear off a limb…”

I drew the revolver from my holster. No matter how confident I might be in my quick draw, it’s still less effective than shooting with proper preparation.

“Let’s attack first. Stone Bullet!”

“OK!”

*Bang bang!*

As Jessica chanted her spell while holding a magic book in one hand, a mound of earth rose from the ground at her feet, instantly hardening into a solid rock before shooting toward the black panther with terrifying force. Following it, two white magic bullets fired from my revolver flew toward the panther’s forehead.

“GRAAWR!”

“It dodged?!”

Surprisingly, the black panther easily avoided both magic bullets and the stone bullet by leaping sideways. I had noticed during test firing at the gun shop that magic bullets were much slower than gunpowder bullets, but I never expected a mere beast to be able to dodge bullets.

But there was no time to be dumbfounded. The black panther, now fully hostile after our initial attack, began rapidly closing the distance in a zigzag pattern. I thought it would be pointless to hastily shoot from a distance at something capable of dodging bullets, so I intended to let it come closer, but Jessica seemed to think I was panicking at the approaching monster.

“Ignite!”

The moment Jessica chanted a new spell, flames erupted right in front of the charging panther. It was just a small flame that flared up momentarily without any apparent destructive power. Perhaps true to its name, the spell was meant for ignition rather than attack? But it was enough to startle the black panther, which still possessed animal instincts despite being a monster.

“MEOW?!”

“Now!”

*Bang bang bang bang!*

I emptied the remaining four magic bullets at the black panther, which had lost its momentum after being startled by the flames and leaping backward. The distance was about 20 meters. No matter how slow magic bullets might be compared to gunpowder bullets, there was no way it could dodge at this close range, especially with all four legs suspended in the air.

“GYAAAK-!!”

One bullet to the face, one to the nape, and two to the left shoulder. Small flashes of light appeared where the magic bullets hit. The black panther collapsed as if knocked down after being hit by four bullets while airborne, but surprisingly, it wasn’t dead yet and was struggling to get back on its feet.

“Tch, not dying even after that—truly a monster.”

I quickly pulled out the cylinder to the side, then without removing the bullets, placed my left thumb on the center. The inscription on the back of the cylinder glowed white, then the light faded as it was absorbed into the six bullets. In less than a second, six magic bullets were reloaded. Truly the technology of another world—this part is quite convenient.

“Stone Bullet!”

*Thwack*

But there was no need for my reloaded revolver to fire another shot.

Jessica’s rotating high-speed rock bullet hit the black panther’s nape—exactly where I had shot earlier—and this time created a large hole as it passed through to the other side. The black panther, having received a fatal wound, appeared to have died instantly as it didn’t move at all.

“…Did we get it?”

In response to my cautious question, Jessica nodded, then approached the fallen black panther and drew the survival knife fixed to the bottom of her backpack, stabbing it into the chest area.

“It’s not bleeding?”

“Most monsters have black mana accumulated in their bodies instead of blood. And in the hearts of such monsters…”

After cutting open the chest area, Jessica inserted her knife deep into where the monster’s heart would be and extracted a dark purple gem-like object about the size of my thumb.

“A mana crystal forms—a crystallized residue of remaining mana. It’s a useful material that trades well, so if you collect them, you can exchange them for money when we reach a city.”

“Do we just leave the remaining corpse like this? Won’t it come back to life again due to black mana?”

“Animal or human corpses left outdoors are gradually decomposed by black mana, and some of them transform into monsters. Monster corpses don’t come back to life, and after removing the mana crystal, they dissipate like mist, so you basically can’t harvest materials like hide or bones.”

“When you say ‘basically,’ does that mean there are ways to obtain materials?”

“It’s possible with specialized techniques and equipment, but that’s irrelevant to adventurers, so it’s cleaner and easier to just extract the mana crystal.”

It seems that harvesting monster hides, bones, and other materials is the domain of professional hunters who make monster hunting their livelihood. I wonder if there’s demand for monster meat as well? Since their blood is replaced by black mana, it probably can’t be obtained in the first place.

“…Wait, didn’t the deer and monkey monsters we met yesterday bleed red blood?”

“Those weren’t monsters, just wild animals. They don’t form mana crystals in their hearts, and you can obtain their hide or meat without special measures. But I’m not skilled at that kind of work, and more importantly, safely bringing you to Mothertown was the priority, so I left them alone.”

It seems the carnivorous deer and long-nailed monkey I thought were monsters fall into the category of ‘just wild animals.’ Surely horses, cows, and pigs don’t also bare sharp fangs and try to devour people?

In any case, my first battle as an adventurer ended in victory without any damage, despite being somewhat surprised by the enemy’s quick movements and toughness.

Victory over 1 black panther!

Will’s party obtained 1 mana crystal.

It’s unclear how much experience Will gained.