Chapter 143

Chapter 143 – Bear-san Dives Into The Mine, Part 4

Senya-san placed the whole Iron Golem inside her item bag .

Watching their fight had made me realize that I really wanted a mithril weapon .

I didn’t know if I would be able to use it well, but I still wanted it for situations when I couldn’t use magic or the monstrous strength of my Bear Suit .

The golem would stop if I just destroyed the magic stone in its chest, but that would also render it unusable, so nobody would buy it . Well, I didn’t really care about the magic stone, so destroying it was fine with me .

If I had mithril, I could just pierce the stone and be done with it, or if I had some sort of vibration attack, I might be able to destroy only the magic stone within and leave the body intact . I had seen a lot of such attacks in manga, where they had done no harm to the exterior but had destroyed what was inside . Such unrealistic things could only be found in fantasy worlds .

Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be saying this while being in one myself…

Anyway, I might be able to make vibrations with magic and send them inside the golem’s body .

Well, I didn’t think that it was possible right now, so I decided to put it on hold .

After the Iron Golem’s body was safely in Senya-san’s item bag, we decided to take a short break to check on how everyone was doing, since we would encounter more Iron Golems from now on .

「So, Jade, how deep are we going today?」

Toya-san asked while refreshing himself with a drink .

「Like we usually do, we will go as far as we can without doing the impossible . Maybe those five Iron Golems won’t be around this time . 」

Sadly, I knew that those five were present because of my detection magic .

I had noticed five more reactions, though . It was five people, most likely Idiot Rangers and they were near our tunnel . If we continued down this tunnel, would we cross paths?

The map was still dark, so I didn’t really know where exactly would we meet .

Still, Idiot Rangers were closer to the five Iron Golems than we were, so if we both kept our paces, they would get to the golems before us .

Well, that meant if all went well, the world might get to see its lucky day .

Just as I decided to not let the others know about this, Jade-san spoke to me .

「So, Yuna, after seeing us fight, do you think you could defeat an Iron Golem on your own?」

「Hmm, it might be complicated . 」

「Complicated?」

「As Mel-san said, magic isn’t usable inside caves, so that makes it hard . Also, if I use brute force here and miss, the mine might collapse as a result . I could defeat it if we were fighting out in the open, I think . 」

「I see . 」

Jade-san seemed a bit disappointed .

Well, if they really wanted to get past those five Iron Golems, I could drop the golems in a pit, but we wouldn’t obtain their materials that way .

「If only I had a mithril sword…」

Toya-san joked around .

「You should stop with this joke . It’s not funny . 」

「Yeah, it’s lame, Toya . 」

「I’m not saying it as a joke!」

「Toya, you can say that only after you polish your skills a bit more, okay?」

「Tch!」

His final reaction made them all laugh .

We finished our break and continued moving forward . It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the passage where I had detected Idiot Rangers before .

So, this was where the tunnels linked together . Would it be okay if I went back taking their path? I would be able to complete the map that way .

Any time an Iron Golem appeared, Toya-san and I would block it, while Mel-san covered us with magic .

Senya-san and Jade-san would then use the opening we made to hack it down .

Using this tactic, we had defeated three more Iron Golems .

「Just a bit farther . 」

We were about to arrive at the place where the five Iron Golems were, but Idiot Rangers, who were still ahead of us, should have already encountered them .

I decided to check on them with detection magic .

Huh?

The signal of the five Iron Golems had disappeared .

The last time I had checked, they had still been there, but now they were gone .

Did Idiot Rangers defeat them? I couldn’t detect them either, though .

Were they not on our floor?

Wait, the five Iron Golems might have also went farther down . I finally understood why I couldn’t have detected Idiot Rangers or the first golem before .

Jade-san slowly crept forward and looked at the crevice where the five golems were supposed to be .

「They aren’t here . 」

「Yeah . 」

「There are traces of a fight, though . 」

There were indeed traces of magic and something rampaging about all over the place .

When we were sure that the Iron Golems weren’t here anymore, we entered the wide crevice .

「Babord’s party maybe?」

Babord?

Ah! It was Idiot Red’s name .

He would always be Idiot Red to me, though .

「I can’t think of any other reason for this . 」

「So, they managed to defeat those five Iron Golems, huh . 」

「Their personalities are the worst, but they do have skill . 」

So, it seemed that Idiot Rangers had defeated the five Iron Golems .

The lucky day hadn’t come, huh .

Ugh, how disappointing .

「Jade, what will we do?」

Mel-san asked while keeping her eye on surroundings .

「Babord opened a path for us, so we should keep going . Getting even a little bit more information would be great, after all . 」

「We just have to make sure Babord doesn’t find out . 」

Senya-san agreed with Jade-san .

「I don’t like troublesome things, but as adventurers, our only choice is to keep going . 」

「If they complain about it, we’ll just have to go back, right?」

What? There wasn’t a single mention of them fighting together .

Well, I also didn’t want to fight together with Idiot Rangers .

We continued on our way, and as I had expected, we descended a slope .

The map changed, and Idiot Rangers appeared again . There was another signal next to them; signal of a Mithril Golem .

We already had difficulties dealing with Iron Golems, so wasn’t it impossible to take down a Mithril Golem?

When we reached the end of the slope, we began to hear sounds of a fight .

「Fuck, it’s so hard!」

「Magic isn’t working!」

「Engai, do something!」

「That’s impossible!」

Idiot Rangers were fighting in a large tunnel .

Idiot Red was hacking at the Mithril Golem with his sword, but it was bouncing off .

Idiot Blue was stabbing it with his spear, but it was bouncing off .

Idiot Green was attacking it with a giant hammer, but it was bouncing off .

Idiot Black was launching earth magic at it, but it was bouncing off .

Idiot White was using wind magic, but it was also bouncing off .

Hmm… Yeah, it was completely impossible .

Even though the crevice was quite large, fighting underground was still disadvantageous .

How could a Mithril Golem, with its absolute defense, even be defeated?

It wasn’t like Idiot Ranger’s level was low; compared to Deborane, who was rank D, they seemed to have great movements and cooperated well as a party, but they still couldn’t damage it .

Even though they knew that, Idiot Rangers continued to fight it, and after a while, Idiot Red finally noticed us .

「What did you guys came here for!?」

「We just came to watch . We also thought that if you were done in, we would defeat it in your place, you see . 」

「Don’t joke with me! There is no way that my great self would be done in! You bastards won’t get a turn . Just go back and sleep! If you stay here to watch the fight for any longer, I will have you pay the watcher’s fee!」

He said while pointing his sword at us .

「Not to mention that you came here with your pet!」

The pet he was talking about was me, right?

Should I summon Swaying Bear and attack him from behind?

Swaying Bear could be more terrifying than a real bear, you know?

「Okay, we will go back . If you die, I will tell the guild about this, so don’t worry . 」

「We won’t die!」

Idiot Red turned back around and rushed at the Mithril Golem .

Personally, I would have liked to watch the fight for a bit longer, but it seemed like Idiot Red would be a pain if we did so, so we decided to leave .

A Mithril Golem, huh?

I wanted its materials . Was it the only one, though?

I believed it was impossible for them to defeat it, but it would still be bad if Idiot Rangers got the kill .

I would be able to make a dozen swords if I managed to claim the whole golem .

「They can’t defeat it . 」

「Yep, impossible . 」

「What was it, though?」

「Well, it’s clearly harder than an Iron Golem . 」

「I don’t want to acknowledge that there is something harder than an Iron Golem . 」

「Even Babord’s mithril sword didn’t seem to cut it . 」

「Is it possible that he isn’t skilled enough?」

「His personality is the worst, but he is skilled enough to wield a mithril sword . 」

「Babord couldn’t cut it even though he is strong . 」

「Wouldn’t it have been better if we helped him then?」

「He wouldn’t accept our help, and he doesn’t want to be saved . 」

「Exactly . If he had asked for help, we would have helped him, but since he didn’t ask, we didn’t help . It’s the unspoken adventurers’ rule . 」

「Yeah, splitting materials and request fees becomes really troublesome when helping someone, after all . That’s not the case when you save someone, whose life is in danger, of course . 」

「If you saved Babord, he would only complain about it after . 」

I didn’t completely understand what they were talking about, but still somewhat got what they meant .

Most adventurers weren’t heroes, and they wouldn’t save someone for free . For instance, they hadn’t accepted this request because people were troubled for not being able to mine anymore, but because it was a paying job . It was normal to do things for money rather than for free .

That was why they didn’t want to help Idiot Rangers, who hadn’t asked for help either .

They might have had a chance to defeat it if they had worked together, but they had thrown that opportunity away .

The same thing had happened in the game as well . The less people in the party, the more loot for each member .

So, if they said that there was no helping it, they were probably right .

I also wanted to monopolize the Mithril Golem .

In the end, we decided to leave and go back to the inn for the day, and since I wanted to complete the map, I asked Jade-san’s party if we could take Idiot Rangers’ path on our way back, and they agreed .

When we came back to the inn, we first got something to eat .

「So, Jade, what will we do?」

「Do about what?」

「This golem . It didn’t seem like Babord’s party could defeat it at all . 」

「I can’t cut it, either . 」

「Even if I had a mithril sword, it would still be impossible . 」

We all ignored Toya-san’s remark .

「If Babord’s party somehow manages to defeat it, the request will be completed, but if defeating it seems impossible, we should contact the guild . 」

「There is no helping it, huh . 」

「It’s frustrating, but yeah . 」

A way to defeat the Mithril Golem, huh?

I could defeat it by digging a pit under it and using brute force, but that wouldn’t work in the mine, since the tunnels might collapse in the process .

Underground, I couldn’t defeat it even with my Bear Cheat .

Burying the last boss wouldn’t work since it wouldn’t die of suffocation, and as long as it wasn’t defeated, other golems wouldn’t stop spawning .

Well, we weren’t even sure if killing it would stop the other golems from spawning .

If I defeated the Mithril Golem, but the golems kept popping up, would the witch Eleanora even return Princess Fina to me?

As I was enjoying my tea after a day’s work, the inn entrance suddenly became noisy .

「Fuck, as if we could defeat something like that!」

「Magic didn’t work at all!」

「It’s way too hard!」

「I don’t have a smudge of magical power left . 」

「I’m hungry, so let’s just eat!」

Idiot Rangers entered the inn .

They survived, it seemed .

「Babord, you came back alive!」

Jade-san thoughts were similar to mine .

「As if I would die!」

「And, did you defeat it?」

Just by hearing their rant and seeing the looks on their faces, he should have known the answer, but Jade-san asked anyway .

「Because you bastards came, I lost my concentration, so I decided to let it live this time . 」

Which one let the other live, I wondered…

「I’m really sorry about that . I didn’t think that someone as skilled as you, Babord, would have lost his concentration just by having us arrive at your battle, after all . 」

「Tch!」

When someone retorted like that, you could do nothing but stay silent .

If he had argued more, people would have thought that his rank must have been low .

「Well, leaving the jokes aside, what really happened back there?」

「It was just impossible . Physical attack and magic didn’t work at all . Well, it might have had a bit of an effect, but our stamina and magic ran out long before its magic stone depleted . 」

「I knew it . It was impossible, huh . 」

「If you want to have go at it, you should prepare yourselves well . 」

「Will you stop trying to defeat it?」

「It isn’t worth it . Rather than wasting my time with it, I prefer making a profit by defeating Iron Golems . So, until the soldiers come, we decided to try and earn as much as we can from Iron Golems . What about you guys? You watched our fight, right?」

「We will also pass on it . There is no way we could defeat it . I was honestly hoping that you guys would be able to defeat it, but…」

「Well, excuse me for disappointing you . 」

Babord sat down close to us .

「Thanks for telling us . Waitress! A beer for Babord on my tab!」

「Just one, huh!」

「If you have a way to defeat it, I will treat you to more . 」

「If I had something like that, I would have gone and defeated it myself without telling you . 」

Babord and Jade-san both laughed .

I didn’t really know if they were on good terms or not .

I had later heard that after all of this, they all drank into the night together .

Me? I had went back to my room to sleep, of course .

Author’s note:

As you guys expected, Mithril golem made an appearance! w