*KA-BOOOOOOM!!*

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Your level has increased. You have gone from Lv.11 to Lv.16.

You have earned a total of 1.5 Aether Points.

Due to the Blessing: "Champion of Alvatria", an additional 1.5 Aether Points were earned.

You have acquired the title: [Arachnid Slayer].

Acquired skill: [Dexterity Lv.1].

Skill: [Dexterity Lv.1] has been integrated into skill: [Dexterity Lv.50 (Max)].

"Yup. It's dead." - Karion

"WOHOOO!!!"

The subjugation party consisting of city guards and adventurers let out a victory roar as they discovered the remains of the Kodokumo Emperor splattered over the tunnel walls.

This went way better than we expected. After we returned from Plain Island, which included peeling off a clingy half-angel child from Mira as we prepared to leave, I went straight to the Union Master's office. There I told him I might have a unique plan to weaken the Kodokumo Emperor who had moved into the sewers. The overgrown badaboomb fruits that I grabbed from the Devitree incident.

...Alright, so I didn't expect the fruit to insta-kill the giant spider in one BOOM. I was anticipating that the blast would harm it past the 60% mark of the HP gauge. Now I understand why Blot was so agreeable to never messing or "testing" us again. He must be seeing me as some crazy demon by now.

"You see now?" - Mira

"Sorta..." - Garami

The other members of the subjugation party told me we could relax while they cleaned up the mess I had made. During that time, Mira came up to me and told me off with a smug..., okay, not a "smug" face. More like the face a mother would have when a child finally learned the hard way that ___ (insert valuable life lesson here).

"Garami, that was one incredibly stupid, yet amazing plan you had! You may have saved many lives with this crazy scheme of yours!" - Karion

And now it's the Union Master who's starting a conversation with me! What am I, the most sought-after girl at the prom? ......Ugh, the prom... That word is sending disgust throughout my whole body...

"Hey, are you alright? You look a little pale there." - Alf

"No worries..." - Garami

"If so, please tell me this: where did you obtain such a dangerous plant?" - Karion

Ah, so he did ask about that. No wonder, considering how much of a threat it could be if one detonated inside the city.

"They were a byproduct from the Devitree incident. The culprits tried to grow some after they had experimented on the Devitrees." - Alf

"Hmm, I've read the reports, but I'd never guessed you three had harvested some of their work. Nor that you had created your Guild." - Karion

"Well, you know what they say. One thing leads to another." - Mira

The Union Master seemed not to comprehend our answers, but he shrugged his shoulders and returned to supervising the clean-up operation. Phew. Glad he didn't grill us for more information. I mean, there are some half-truths in the "official" version of the story.

Right before we left Plain Island, Blot called on us to give us a more proper explanation. First, the "culprits" used as the incident's scapegoats are a bunch of unnamed pirates that Blot's organization had stolen-, *cough*, commandeered the grey goo from. The reason why Blot's group even found those seadogs was because they were destroying ecosystems with their rapid-growth monsters. The Nequitas organization (Blot's place) worked on making the stuff safer! I see no fault in pushing the blame for this incidence on those scurvy-infested searats.

To actually "stabilize" the grey goo, the Nequitas organization required a boatload of aether, so they dried up various Trial Grounds nearby that people didn't visit, mostly because they were too busy getting the country back into shape with the return of the great lake. That explains why the place we visited had 0 juice left!

However, when Blot's workers left, they let some barrels filled with the goo slip out their hands and into Alf's secret fishing spot. That explains the unnatural growth rate of the sea life there. The reason why those things turned "unstable" was because the goo wasn't properly administrated to the wildlife. It seems that only those Stella Moles, for some weird reason, know how to properly use that stuff. Even Blot was flabbergasted over that point.

As for why Mira and I came into the picture, it all started when Blot heard about our plans to go to the dried-out Trial Ground and tricked Alf into following us. That caused us to catch on to the goo-incident, which made us start following Blot's tracks...

Which was all part of Blot's stupid plan! He wanted to test us! More specifically, he wished to hire us to join the Nequitas organization. This "test" was to see whether we had the necessary deduction abilities to join. I have no clue why he wished that from us though. But after he witnessed my badaboomb plan, he changed his mind. For some reason, people from Solomar seem to have some sort of trauma regarding the fruit, every single one of them! Even Mira is still a little pale from the last explosion that took the Kodokumo Emperor's life.

Despite everything, we ended up leaving the island with a good relationship with daddy bearman and Firis, along with the Guild certificate item. Regarding Firis and the moles, since all the blame was pushed onto the pirates who first owned the goo, Blot weaved a story that said the moles were forced to do as the "pirates" told them to.

Forced or not, the moles are now being "punished" for assisting the "pirates" by having to work at daddy bearman's farm. This also allows Firis to play with them out in the open now instead of hiding the moles from various jerks who want the moles' talent in gardening. Or for some more nefarious reasons. Those guys are a rare breed of animals after all.

"Hey, Garami? Snap out of it! We're back at the Union Hall." - Mira

...? Oh, right. When did we return?

"Whatever happened down in the sewers, it must have been bad. Are you feeling alright?" - Alf

Ugh...that blasted p-word...dances should be forbidden by law...

"Do you need a glass of water?" - Mira

"I'm fine. No worries..." - Garami

"When you are visually paler than you already have, that is a big request to ask people." - Alf

Grr, I got no comeback...

"But you are the Guild Master now, so I will heed your command." - Alf

"Especially since you worked up so much courage to ask us to join your little Guild~." - Mira

S-shut up! Things are more embarrassing to do than to plan them out!

"While we are on the subject of the Guild, what are our future directives?" - Alf

"That's to create our Guild Home~!" - Mira

Yeah, we decided it back when Mira and I first grouped up and planned this Guild project. Some "facilities" in a Dungeon can work as a Guild Home, so our next goal is to-

"Alright then. Where is the nearest real estate agent?" - Alf

"Hold it!" - Garami

"Ah, you don't need to worry yourself about that part. Our brave and clever GM has that under control." - Mira

"...Is it something troublesome if it got known to people? Like the strange part of the System Messages I received whenever my levels went up while I worked with you?" - Alf

"Alf, you're allowed to be the brains in this organization." - Garami

"Please leave it as the 'common sense'. I do not want to be overworked half-to-death yet again." - Alf

"Fine." - Garami

That's the main reason why we wanted him in the Guild in the first place.

"In that case, is there something else I should be looking into? There is the case where you asked Blot for a Magic Stone in exchange for our Guild signing a freelancer contract with Blot's organization, and you also specified the spider monster's Magic Stone for a possible reward if things went all right with today's quest, so I guess those stones are important." - Alf

...Crap. This guy seriously is the common-sense director. Or maybe the leader of the detective division?

"Yup, we need those stones. If Blot is true to his word, and if the spider's Magic Stone survived the explosion, we should only need 1 more." - Mira

"You went straight out and told him... But she's right. Except that we also need a location that won't bother people." - Garami

"It seems that you're not referring to someplace inside the city." - Alf

"Seriously, how did you end up being an anti-workaholic with those smarts?" - Mira

"It is BECAUSE I ended up as an 'anti-workaholic' that I obtained these smarts." - Alf

"And they're right. I wish to settle in an area that people do not visit so often. Monsters aren't a problem. It's quite the opposite. They would be gladly welcomed." - Garami

"Hmm, those are some curious requirements..., but I will leave the selection of the location to you two then. Meanwhile, I will try to look for this 3rd Magic Stone that you require." - Alf

Since Blot said it would take a week or so from today before he could arrive with the Magic Stone he promised, we decided that the Guild could take a week's worth of free time. It's kinda weird that the first job our Guild has is to have fun, but that's what our group is. You can't fight the inevitable.

"What are your plans then?" Mira asked me after Alf had left the building. Hmm...

"Alchemy." - Garami

"Say what?" - Mira

"Alchemy. It turns out I have a talent for it, so I've been thinking about taking it for a while now." - Garami

"Alchemy...alchemy... Right, that magical mumbo-jumbo to turn some items into one new and different one?" - Mira

"The same one." - Garami

"...Can you make gold with it as well?" - Mira

"Don't even go there. And I am taking it mostly because Necromancy has its roots in alchemy, so learning about the latter will be useful for comprehending the former better." - Garami

"That does sound useful... Okidoki. I'll leave the difficult crafting stuff to you. In the meanwhile, I'll see if there are some quests posted that will give us a chance to acquire lots of fresh corpses for the necro part of your studies." - Mira

"Is that alright?" - Garami

"Hey, I'm a warrior. We're only good for the battlefield. And besides, adventurer parties normally do take a break after a fierce adventure." - Mira

"Hmm? It wasn't that bad?" - Garami

"Seeing those gigantic plants from hell was stressing enough." - Mira

For some reason, I doubt she is referring to the Devitrees.

Anyway, we decided to split up too for the week. If something happens, we can just meet up at the Union Hall anyway.

Following that, I went to the magic item shop and bought some beginner alchemy goods, and returned to my room at the inn. The Alchemist class costs...11 AP. Expensive, but I luckily have enough thanks to the gigantic leap in levels thanks to exploding the giant spider to kingdom come. Just that wouldn't have been enough, but luckily, some of my skills have gone up enough levels to just give me the necessary amount of AP that I needed.

Wow, I need to learn how to save those points. The skills and classes at the higher tiers are incredibly expensive.

I opened up the mat I'd bought from the magic shop and placed it on the floor. The mat had a magic circle written on it, the "Alchemy Circle". It consisted of one huge ring, with three rings placed at different locations at the border of the main one. The idea is to add different items to the circles at the border, one item per circle and no more, then activate the alchemy-type skill. If things go well, you will get a fancy new item at the center of the main circle.

It sounds easy on paper, but let's do some simple testing first. The "three material circle" is the lowest that comes for alchemy, but my current skills are at Lv.1. I can't even use three items at the same time with this! So first, let's take some milk, some cocoa powder, and...go!

*Vmmmm...ding!*

Hmm, this truly is easy, at least for me. The result was a cup of chocolate milk at the center of the circle...without a container. Only the milk and powder were taken from the two containers at the material circles, and since I hadn't prepared anything for the result in the main circle...

"Yeah. Testing is always good." - Garami

But first, let's do some mopping. And to think I escaped cleaning up after myself in the sewers, only to have to do it in my room to escape getting chewed on by the inn owner... Karma's a bitch.