Chapter 23
Hahaha, of course… it wouldn’t be caught that easily.
The slime really was a low-level monster.
How nice of it to just explode on its own after I destroyed the core.
The lizard, bleeding, started charging toward me again.
Just then, I felt my dodge skill cooldown reset, so I backed away and fired bullets once more.
And repeated the process.
The lizard grew slower and weaker with each moment, while I could clearly feel my mana running dangerously low.
“Graaaaaah!”
The lizard roared, opening its mouth wide, and a stream of green liquid sprayed out.
Wait—this thing has ranged attacks too?
Startled, I quickly dodged to the side. My dodge skill was still on cooldown, so I had to rely purely on reflexes.
Even though the liquid only grazed my side a little, my leather vest sizzled and burned with a chiik sound.
‘C-c-crazy.’
If that had hit my skin, I didn’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened.
The lizard, furious that I’d dodged its prized ranged attack, pounded the ground and came barreling at me.
But then—
‘…!? There’s no more room to back up?’
Behind me was a seaside cliff.
No wonder I’d been hearing the waves crashing louder and closer for a while now.
If I used my dodge skill again here, I’d plunge straight into the sea.
“Wow, you’re smarter than I thought.”
It had been herding me all this time into a place with no escape.
A human being cornered by a lizard.
This was my last chance.
The lizard opened its mouth, ready to swallow me whole.
I gathered up every last bit of my mana, focusing on drawing the magic circle.
My final split-bullet fired.
Bang!
The bullets flew straight into the lizard’s gaping maw.
At last, its massive body toppled over. Its breath ceased.
“…”
I was utterly exhausted. The fight was nothing like battling slimes—this had drained me completely.
Judging from the battle, I must have gained enough experience to level up.
My level rose from 5 to 6. Up to now, each level-up had boosted my combat power by 10.
This time it rose by 20. As expected, the higher the level, the bigger the jump.
In games, leveling up restored all mana and health.
But here in reality, there was no such thing.
The mana I’d used would only return with time.
“Ugh, my whole body aches.”
Beaten and bruised from rolling around, I rubbed my sore body and looked down at the lizard’s corpse.
I didn’t feel all that guilty.
Back on Earth, lizards didn’t spit acid and attack people. Sure, I’d never seen one as big as a midsize car, but who knew what existed out there.
Anyway, this lizard wasn’t much different from the slimes—it was just another monster.
“Okay, so now what was I supposed to do?”
In the game, killing a lizard automatically dropped its hide into the inventory.
Here, no such thing.
That meant…
“…”
I had to skin it and carry the hide back myself.
What the hell!
Killing it was one thing, but actually peeling the hide off with my own hands? No way.
Sure, some games had that mechanic—slaying a giant monster, then carving materials out of its corpse with a little knife. They called it “harvesting.”
But now I had to actually harvest this lizard hide myself?
As a squeamish modern person, that was a line I couldn’t cross.
Still, I couldn’t just leave the body here either. Because…
“I need that Rainbow Stone…”
To get it, I had to turn in the hide.
“Forget it. Whatever.”
I’d just take the whole body.
Resolving myself, I stuffed the giant lizard corpse into my inventory.
The midsize-car-sized lizard shrank neatly into a single slot.
Even cuter, it got deformed like a chibi animal character.
‘How can they draw a man-eating lizard in such a cutesy way…?’
To show it was dead, its face was marked with a goofy emoticon. (x.x) Exactly that.
Ridiculous.
I stood up, brushed off my hands, and set off back toward the village.
When I reached the checkpoint, that obnoxious holy knight was waiting as if he knew I’d return.
“So you ran away after all. I was worried I’d have to clean up your corpse. See, I told you it was too much for you.”
What nonsense is this?
“I killed it.”
“…?”
I answered while holstering my gun. The knight looked dumbfounded, like a giant question mark had popped over his head.
“I killed the giant lizard.”
“Lies… don’t lie! A frail woman like you? You probably killed some little lizard and mistook it for the giant one.”
Ugh, this guy’s driving me nuts.
I pulled the lizard from my inventory and dropped it right there.
Thud! The heavy body landed.
“…”
His face twisted up as he stared at the corpse.
“You can clear the checkpoint now.”
Smirking, I put the lizard back into my inventory.
He looked mentally broken, but that wasn’t my problem. He could pick up his own shattered pride.
Waving brightly, I left him behind. From behind me, I heard him mutter:
“Could it be true… the Goddess’s Hero has appeared?”
His awestruck voice faded as I entered the village.
First stop: report completion to Belinda. Then the leather workshop.
The big clock in Fountain Square read just past six. I worried she might have gone home, but luckily Belinda was still there. Maybe working overtime.
“I’m back, Belinda.”
When I entered, she was just sitting, having finished packing up. She must’ve been waiting for me.
“Oh, I was worried. You’re safe! Did you complete the task?”
“…Yes.”
I nearly burst into tears. She always teased me about my name, her gacha rates were horrendous (okay, not her fault, but still)—so I’d often been annoyed at her.
But after dealing with that smug holy knight, Belinda looked like an angel.
She’d even stayed past work hours, waiting for me. How kind was that?
“It was a really strong enemy. I had to wring out every drop of mana to beat it.”
“You worked so hard.”
She gave me a little thumbs-up and handed me the quest reward.
As always: a Hakion Mercenary Token and a bit of money.
The Rainbow Stone would come from the leather workshop.
“You should head home too. You couldn’t even leave work because of me…”
“Hehe, then I’ll see you again. Mr. Su-per. Ul-ti-mate. Rain.”
Even with her drawing out each syllable of my name, she still looked lovely. Compared to that holy knight, this was nothing.
“Yes, see you later, Belinda.”
Dragging my feet, I headed toward the marketplace.
Thankfully, the shops were still open.
I pushed open the leather workshop door with a squeak.
“Welcome! How can I help you?”
Inside was a friendly-looking young man, about my age.
Since the shop was called “Tenor’s Leather Workshop,” I figured this must be Tenor himself.
“Ah, I…”
“Oh! You must be the new hero everyone’s talking about!”
“Ah, yes.”
This village really had no secrets. He recognized me immediately.
“So, what brings you to my shop?”
“I came across some decent leather and wanted to sell it.”
One Rainbow Stone, please.
I opened my inventory and plopped down the (x.x) lizard. The shop filled up instantly.
“…”
Tenor stared at the massive corpse in shock.
The awkward silence pressed down as heavily as the lizard’s body filled the shop.
“Didn’t you say… leather?”
“Ha… hahaha…”
I could only give a sheepish laugh.
It was leather, technically. He’d just have to skin it himself.
“Since I’m not a tanner, I was worried I might ruin it if I tried. So I brought the whole thing.”
I decided to brazenly lie.
“Haha, you just didn’t want to do the gross skinning, huh?”
But he saw right through me.
“…Guess you caught me.”
“My father told me some adventurers are like that.”
Tenor smiled warmly.
His face looked oddly familiar… like I’d seen him more recently than just in the game.
Too lazy to think on it, I just made small talk with him.
He explained his family had worked as tanners and leather artisans on this island for generations.
“Well then, I’ll skin it and take the hide myself. Will this price do?”
He set a Rainbow Stone on the counter with a clack.
“Yes, of course!”
I nodded eagerly, happiness flooding my face.
Before he could change his mind, I quickly pocketed the gem.
Amused by how desperate I looked, Tenor chuckled and then said something unexpected:
“Then come back tomorrow morning.”
“Huh? Why?”
Wasn’t the deal finished?
When I blinked at him in confusion, he gave an awkward smile.
“I only paid for the leather. I can’t just waste the rest of this huge body. The meat, bones, and poison sacs are all useful. You’ll have to take them.”
“…Huh?”
I couldn’t help but make a dumb noise.
What kind of unexpected jackpot was this? Something you’d never see in the game.
