The New Gate Volume 16 - Chapter 3 Part 1

Two weeks had pa.s.sed since s.h.i.+n’s party arrived in Romenun, when a sudden event occurred.

s.h.i.+n was engaging in his new daily activity of practicing arts, when a shrill cry reached his ears.

“Hey, s.h.i.+n, that was…”

“Yeah, looks like we have an uninvited guest.”

The cry came from Baomultan. Its shrill voice sounded like it was crying for help.

s.h.i.+n expanded his detection range and found 6 presences around Baomultan.

Of the 6 presences surrounding Baomultan, 3 of them were approaching it, then stepping away, all from different directions. They were probably attacking it while preventing it from focusing on a single target.

s.h.i.+n had access to Romenun’s functions, so he used them to send a message throughout the guild house. Schnee, Tiera, Yuzuha, and Filma, who were training with him, took out their weapons immediately.

A few minutes later, s.h.i.+baid and the others arrived too. Hydro and Oxygen were equipped not with the gear they invented, but what they received from Hecate.

“We don’t know the enemy’s goal. From the icons’ movements, I believe they are attacking Baomultan, but it’s not clear. Don’t attack them out of the blue.”

“I know, I know, let’s go already!”

Tiera’s words reflected everyone else’s feelings as they looked at s.h.i.+n. Tiera was scared of Baomultan during their first encounter, but now it spontaneously approached her.

“Don’t go too close. If they are fighting, Baomultan might attack us too.”

s.h.i.+n said to Tiera as they headed towards the area. The other members had seen Baomultan attack other players, so they would probably be wary.

“Will it attack us too?”

“I can’t say anything yet, unfortunately. I do hope it doesn’t.”

s.h.i.+n also thought he had become friends with Baomultan, so it would hurt emotionally if it attacked them. In that case, regardless of the attackers’ objective, s.h.i.+n thought they deserved at least one good punch.

“Looks like they’re really fighting.”

“I was sure that no normal people would ever come all the way here, but it looks like these people are pretty strong.”

Once they crossed the forest-like cl.u.s.ters of plants, the view became clear. The members who could use 【Far Sight】 already looked at Baomultan and its surroundings.

They saw three people in full body armor, two in robes, and one wearing a cleric garb.

The armored warriors approached Baomultan from the left and right to attract its attention while the two in robes launched fire and lighting spells. The cleric-like member simply held a staff high and did nothing else.

Baomultan was struck by the magic spells and cried, probably because it was in a weakened state. It did not move much, if at all. Its tail and claw attacks struck the armored warriors. However, they protected themselves with their s.h.i.+elds, so they were not blown away and simply retreated a few steps, then resumed the original formation. If the battle continued like that, there was a possibility that Baomultan would be killed by them.

However, there was something unusual about the attackers. They were all affected by poison and paralysis and continued healing themselves, but the recovery speed was clearly too slow.

“Stop the fight!!”.

s.h.i.+n, Filma, and s.h.i.+baid leaped in the air and landed in front of the armored warriors. Kagerou then howled, attracting the attention of the robed spellcasters and the cleric.

s.h.i.+n, Filma, and s.h.i.+baid had their defenseless backs turned towards Baomultan, but they were prepared for the possibility that it attacked them.

“W-what are you people!?”

One of the armored warriors drew his sword and shouted. Only his eyes were visible through the armor and his voice was m.u.f.fled, but it was clear that he was a man.

“We have our own reasons. Why are you people attacking Balt…Baomultan, anyway? This monster doesn’t harm people.”

s.h.i.+n pretended he wasn’t about to say “Baltan” and questioned the man who shouted.

If they had mistakenly thought that the poison covering the area was generated by Baomultan, s.h.i.+n planned to explain the situation.

“People in this land of death?”

“What a powerful presence…we cannot win.”

The other two armored warriors seemed to be shaken. One of them had apparently perceived the strength of s.h.i.+n’s party, as he abandoned the fighting stance and raised his hands.

The spellcasters and the cleric looked left and right, trying to a.s.sess the situation.

“We have no intention to fight. We wish to speak with you.”

“…are you…human?”

The armored warrior who shouted first asked this question to s.h.i.+n.

They were acting as if it was nothing, but the area they were in was a place filled with deadly poison, where normal people would fall to the ground writhing in pain after just breathing the air a little.

Someone who didn’t know s.h.i.+n and the others couldn’t believe any human being would enter such an area without a protective mask or helmet, showing their face like that.

It wasn’t strange for their humanity to be doubted.

“We are. We don’t need to hide our mouths like you because we have an accessory protecting us from the poison. You have some decent equipment, can’t you see that we do too?”

s.h.i.+n noticed that they were wearing medium or possibly inferior Mythology-grade equipment.

In a world where even Legend-grade equipment was treated as national treasures, they were all clad in equipment even superior to that. They were definitely bizarre by this world’s standards.

They were either related to players or were players themselves. Or maybe some special corps skilled enough to be a.s.signed such equipment. These were all plausible options.

“Our equipment is…decent..? No, one look at your equipment is enough to understand. Lower your weapons, everyone. Resisting them would be pointless.”

The man s.h.i.+n spoke with seemed to be the leader: other than the armored man who had already put down his weapon, everyone else lowered theirs.

“Thank you for putting down your weapons. I would like to start our talks immediately…but first, let us offer a safe place to do so. You won’t last long with that equipment.”

The attackers’ HP was gradually decreasing as they talked.

s.h.i.+n knew they couldn’t talk like that, so he took a card out of his item box and materialized it.

What materialized in s.h.i.+n’s hand was a blue rhombus-shaped pendant. He then threw it in a direction away from the lake.

Before hitting the ground, the pendant glowed brightly, revealing a log house after the light dissipated.

“The poison won’t affect us there. Follow me.”

s.h.i.+n went inside the log house first, followed by Schnee and s.h.i.+baid. He asked Filma and Sety to watch over Baomultan via Mind Chat.

The attackers’ leader hesitated a little, then shook his head and entered the log house. The other members quickly followed him, paying attention to Baomultan, Schnee, and the others.

“We’ll be safe here. The poison’s effects are gone, right?”

“I can’t believe it…the poison is really gone.”

The first one to respond to s.h.i.+n’s words was the cleric. The equipment covered everything but the eyes, but the voice revealed that she was a woman.

Once she removed her equipment, since her body did not show any particular features, s.h.i.+n thought that she was probably a Human.

“You’re the healer, don’t remove your equipment first!”

“What’s the use of being suspicious now? If this boy planned to get rid of us, he wouldn’t have led us in here, one skill and we were gone. Am I right?”

The cleric spoke so frankly that even her comrades were at a loss for words. In terms of possibility, something was like that was indeed possible for s.h.i.+n.

“We truly wish to talk with you, can I a.s.sume that you believe us?”

“It would be pointless to do this if you were lying, I suppose. We’d appreciate it if you listened to our circ.u.mstances too.”

“It would be a problem if you didn’t talk, actually.”

s.h.i.+n answered the cleric with a wry laugh. Thanks to their exchange, the other members removed their equipment too.

“Let’s start from introductions. I’m s.h.i.+n, a Human. The Elf is Yuki, the Dragnil s.h.i.+baid. Together with the people outside, we’re all adventurers.”

Sety wasn’t registered with the guild yet, but, since it would be troublesome to explain, s.h.i.+n said they were all adventurers. Incidentally, Yuki was a fake name used by Schnee.

“So we’re in the same business. Let us introduce ourselves too, then. I am Garon, a Dwarf. I’m wearing armor like this now, but my main job is blacksmith.”

Garon removed his helmet and introduced himself while caressing his long beard.

He was about as tall as Tiera, with thick arms and broad shoulders, so he looked wider than he was tall. He was equipping a large round s.h.i.+eld and a mace.

“My name’s Mavlov. I’m a bear Beast, as you can see.”

Mavlov also removed his helmet before introducing himself. He wasn’t as tall as s.h.i.+baid, but he was easily over 2 mel tall. He was the one who suspected the humanity of s.h.i.+n’s party. He was equipping a tower s.h.i.+eld over 1 mel tall and a mace.

“Agarj, wolf beast.”

The final armored warrior, who spoke in a slightly nervous tone, was named Agarj. He held kite s.h.i.+elds on both hands.

Like Mavlov, he was a Beast type that looked like the base animal in human form. He was rather large, though not as much as Mavlov; standing next to Garon, they made him look like he was a child compared to them.

“My name is Risha, I’m a Human like you.”

Risha had the air of a tough, gutsy mother. She looked like nothing would scare her easily.

“Asha, Human.”

“Mesha, Human.”

The last ones to introduce themselves were two young girls, apparently twins. They were a bit taller than Sety and holding staffs taller than themselves.

Apparently they could turn their gear into cards, which they did after removing it.

“So, why were you fighting with Baomultan? As I said before, there’s no need to pick such a dangerous fight, is there?”

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we could avoid it either. At this point I care little about money or honor.”

In other words, they had a reason to engage in such recklessness.

“(Schnee, I can’t tell for sure, aside from the twins, aren’t they all pretty old?)”

s.h.i.+n asked Schnee a question via Mind Chat.

The Human Risha’s white hair and wrinkles clearly showed that she was of advanced age.

Mavlov and Agarj retained an animal-like face and Dwarves like Garon looked old no matter their age, so s.h.i.+n couldn’t tell their actual age.

Their tone, gestures, and atmosphere, however, made s.h.i.+n wonder if they weren’t all pretty old.

“(All the men are, yes. I believe they are more than 70 years old. For short-living species, they are quite advanced in age.)”

Schnee could apparently tell, but refrained to comment on the female member for some reason.

According to Schnee, even if in that world skills and magic potions existed, short-living species could not expect to live very long lives.

“The twins weren’t supposed to come this time.”

“Yes…?”

Mavlov talked while looking at the girls.

“The request we received is a very important one: the existence of a country depends on this. If someone has to die, it would be best for someone old relics like us.”

The eyes of the adults of the group focused on the girls.

In case of emergency, they probably planned for the two of them to escape safely.

“Er…sorry but it doesn’t look like we can do anything about that. Could you get to the point?”

Mavlov’s words seemed to upset the twins, so before the topic derailed further s.h.i.+n brought it back to the original one.

“My apologies. Let me explain now. Our goal is Baomultan’s materials: we need them to craft equipment in order to defeat a certain monster. That’s the request we took.”

“And that certain monster is?”

A name flashed in s.h.i.+n’s mind.

“A monster called Durgin. If you know Baomultan, you’ve probably heard about it as well, yes?”

s.h.i.+n’s prediction turned out to be true. A Durgin other than the one sunk into the lake was apparently up to something.

“Well, more or less. Just to be sure, the extermination request didn’t come just because a Durgin was spotted, right?”

“If that was the case, we wouldn’t have accepted it…”

Garon added that in Durgin’s case, extermination requests would not be posted if it was only spotted and caused no damage.

“Durgin is threatening our country as we speak. That’s why the extermination request was created.”

“Durgin is threatening your country? You mean that it’s going to attack it?”

As far as s.h.i.+n knew, Durgin only attacked players if they entered within a certain radius.

s.h.i.+n initially thought that someone had probably provoked it.

“Exactly. At first it was just flying over the country, but 2 weeks ago it descended, spreading poison in the surroundings. There aren’t any casualties yet, but a growing number of people have been rendered unable to move.”

“Is there a possibility that someone attacked Durgin?”

“I cannot say there isn’t. In that case, however, it would come to attack directly, wouldn’t it?”

Apparently, Durgin had been flying back and forth over the country for one month.

As Garon said, if it wanted to retaliate after being attacked, it wouldn’t do something like that.

“Have you noticed anything else?”

“Nothing that could prove useful. We only came to find Baomultan because we happened to find records about it.”

“Is it a well-known fact that Baomultan is here?”

“I don’t know how well-known it is, but most people know about it in our country. It’s a popular tale. Deep within the mists of death lives a dragon that feeds on poison. If you don’t behave I’m going to leave you in the dragon’s den…parents commonly say this to children to keep them quiet.”

It was a variation of the common “if you don’t behave, ___ will come to get you!” spiel parents would use with unruly kids.

It was used as a fairytale, but the mists of death really existed and the country’s top bra.s.s, as well as the guild’s executives knew about the dragon’s existence. Thus Garon’s party was sent to retrieve its parts.

“Since fighting Durgin without poison resistant equipment would be difficult, I suppose?”

“Even if we try fighting it, the most we can do is resist the poison without dying.”

In the game, poison would gradually decrease HP, but in reality it wouldn’t be so simple.

Weak poison would be one thing, but powerful poison like the one Durgin used would prevent anyone affected from even moving properly.

Durgin scattered the most powerful type of poison: 【High Poison】.

For s.h.i.+n it was a rather common status ailment, but apparently it was being buffed by something, as it took a very long time to heal.

Anyone affected needed to be healed too, so, even if they focused on defense and healing, they could barely keep alive, said Garon.

“How high is Durgin’s level? I’m sure it usually varies a lot.”

“672. If it wasn’t for the poison, I’m sure we could take it down, even if it meant sacrificing our lives…”

The level was not too high.

Garon’s party was equipped with Mythology-grade equipment, and, judging from how they fought, they had good control of their weapons and it didn’t look like they were suffering from penalties because of lacking stats. If all of them were like that, they were quite powerful by this world’s standards. Even in the game era, with the right strategy they could surely win. The problem was, just like Garon said, countering the poison.

“The level is the same as the Durgin I know. But it sounds like its poison was boosted by something. Could it be that it was instigated to attack your country?”

“Ours is a small country with little to no strength, though? I can’t think of anything that could be earned by attacking us.”

The country, Pa.s.sner, was a small kingdom located to the north of Baomultan’s area. When many new countries were founded after the Dusk of Majesty, Pa.s.sner was built in a relatively dangerous area to reduce the appeal of outside forces coming to take it over.

Pa.s.sner was not easily accessible and did not have any particularly interesting specialties. It was so small that there was little distance between the royal family, the n.o.bles, and the common folk and it was ruled in a generally peaceful way. Being close to Baomultan’s area, there were very few powerful monsters in the surroundings, so it was perfect to spend one’s old years, or so Garon explained.

“We were relatively famous adventurers once, but now we’re just a bunch of old geezers. We’re supposed to be Chosen Ones, but we can’t move like we did anymore. This time it’s different, though: we have to do something about Durgin. What do you plan to do with us?”

Garon’s whole body projected intimidation.

His party intended to defeat Baomultan, while s.h.i.+n’s wanted to protect it. s.h.i.+n could clearly feel that Garon’s party would fight if s.h.i.+n and the others stood in their way, even if they knew that they were no match for s.h.i.+n’s party.

“We have our own reasons for not letting you defeat Baomultan.”

s.h.i.+n understood their circ.u.mstances, but had no intention of letting them have their way.

“Is that so. Unfortunately—”

“There is one more thing I would like to confirm, though. Do you mind?”

“…what?”

Garon’s words were interrupted by s.h.i.+n’s question and the Dwarf found himself in an awkward posture. He was probably going to draw his weapon.

“Basically, all you need is a way to counter Durgin’s poison, right? If you had that, you wouldn’t need Baomultan’s materials anymore.”

“That’s right. We took this risky route just because we had no other options.”

s.h.i.+n asked for further confirmation and Garon nodded with conviction in response. Risha probably understood what s.h.i.+n was going to say and looked at him with a serious expression.

“So if I can provide that poison resistant equipment all our problems will be solved, am I right?”

“What are you…no, after all you all were here in this area of deadly poison as if it doesn’t affect you…”

Garon recalled that s.h.i.+n’s party wasn’t constantly healing themselves, nor equipped with any masks or other protection: they were walking in the poison mists as if they were taking a stroll through town.

“I don’t know if it’s okay for us to ask, but…what exactly are you people?”

Risha, who had been quiet during the conversation, finally joined in. s.h.i.+n turned towards her, thinking that she probably didn’t like the fact that he offered to give them equipment all of a sudden.

“We’re suspicious, is that what you mean to say?”

“More than suspicious, you’re incomprehensible. Your equipment is so full of magic power that it’s giving me the chills just by looking at it. But you’re wearing it as if it was completely normal. Are you sure you aren’t monsters?”

Risha, the party’s cleric, seemed especially sensitive in regards to magic power. She could probably tell what grade s.h.i.+n and the others’ equipment was too.

“Risha! Why do you address them with such disrespect?”

“Don’t stop me, Mavlov. We don’t have time to waste chatting like this. We can’t stay here leisurely reading each other’s intentions, can we?”

Mavlov tried to appease Risha, but she wouldn’t listen.

Durgin could be attacking the country as they spoke. If they returned to find the kingdom in ruins it would all be pointless.

“You’re right. Let us reveal our ident.i.ties then. We are Schnee Raizar’s party members. I’m the blacksmith of the group.”

While talking with Garon, s.h.i.+n and the others had discussed this plan via Mind Chat, and finally put it into action. When in trouble, go with Schnee Raizar.

“Schnee…Raizar?”

“Haven’t you heard the name before?”

“Of course we have. I did wonder if it was really her, but since you spoke first…”

Apparently, they had seen Schnee once, but many years ago.

Since she was introduced not as Schnee, but Yuki, and s.h.i.+n spoke for the party, they thought she just resembled Schnee.

Schnee was not using her camouflage this time.

Female Elves, however, all had beautiful features and usually had long hair. Silver hair and blue eyes was a common combination, so there were many similar-looking Elves.

“Allow me to introduce myself again. My name is Schnee Raizar. Let me talk from now on.”

“Y-yes.”

“Wait just a moment. What proof do you have that you’re the real one?”

Garon was intimated by Schnee’s smile, so Risha stepped forward in his stead.

“You’re being disrespectful again…”

“The fate of the country is at stake! Don’t go all gaga just because she’s pretty!”

Garon tried to stop Risha again, but she retorted sharply. Her eyes were serious, clearly expressing that she didn’t tolerate lying.

“Proof…well, if you can use 【Appraisal】 you could try removing my camouflage, if you think I am using one.”

“You’re stronger than us, though. Even if you showed camouflaged fake stats, we wouldn’t see through them.”

It was an effective method if the user’s stats were superior to the target, but if the user was inferior the result would be like Risha said.

“Mmgh…what about her guild card?”

“It’s just issued as a placeholder, so I wouldn’t call it proof.”

“So…how about we materialize Tsuki no Hokora?”

Tsuki no Hokora was cla.s.sified as “Whereabouts: Unknown” officially. In this world, Tsuki no Hokora was known as Schnee Raizar’s shop, so they thought it could work as proof.

“I’ve heard about Tsuki no Hokora, but I’ve never seen it with my own eyes. If you had a good fake, I’m not sure I could tell.”

“Even if you say that…”

Since Risha had never seen the real Tsuki no Hokora, she couldn’t be sure that whatever s.h.i.+n materialized was real or fake.

Thinking about it, proving one’s ident.i.ty in a situation like this was rather difficult. The guild card too, even if it couldn’t be used you could present someone else’s card to fake your ident.i.ty.

Showing proof of ident.i.ty was more complicated than expected.

“…I have a proposal, can I speak?”

s.h.i.+n’s party was wondering what else they could do, when Agarj, who had kept quiet the whole time after introducing himself, raised a hand.

“Please. Any method would be welcome.”

“Let me tell you one thing first, don’t misunderstand. Could you let me smell her?”

“Smell?”

Agarj was a wolf-type Beast, so his sense of smell was probably very sharp. s.h.i.+n didn’t see how it could be useful in this instance, though.

“Let me explain. Before I joined Garon’s party, I used to be in Falnido. It was just a short while, but I stood on the frontlines with the First King, Girard. I don’t know if you remember, but it was when Lord Girard and Lady Raizar fought together.”

Agarj’s sense of smell was apparently unusually keen even among other wolf-type Beasts: he said that he remembered Schnee’s smell and could use it to verify her ident.i.ty.

“I just need to smell her weapon. I remember well the smell of Lord Girard’s Swift Fang. It’s still in my memory, though, so I don’t know if it can count as proof.”

“No, that is enough. Your nose can be trusted. I have no doubts.”

Agarj said the last words apologetically, but Mavlov, standing next to him, spoke with confidence. They were bear and wolf, but both being Beasts, Mavlov too knew that such senses could be trusted.

“Yes, his nose has saved us plenty of times already. If he says you are the real one, I will believe it.”

After Mavlov, Garon nodded too. At the same time, Asha and Mesha were nodding too.

“Well, I do know that I’m asking for a lot. I’m not going to doubt the words of a comrade.”

Everyone looked at Risha, who raised both hands in surrender.

“How close should I come?”

“1 mel will be enough.”

Agarj then walked up to 1 mel from Schnee and smelled the air. He didn’t need to put his nose next to the weapon, apparently.

Schnee’s current main weapon was『Blue Moon』, but she didn’t use it at the time, so she took out the weapon she had used then from the item box.

“There’s no mistake, she’s the real one.”

Agarj confidently stated that it was the same smell he felt when he was fighting behind Girard.

“You have a really good memory, though.”

“People like Lord Girard and Lady Raizar have particular smells.”

It wasn’t about being strong or weak, but it felt like a majestic and powerful aura, together with the smell, pa.s.sed through one’s whole body. Various people perceived it differently, but Agarj said that was the impression he got.

Schnee added that the Beasts’ sharp sense of smell allowed them to tell how strong someone was by their smell, which could have influenced it as well.

“Now that we have verified that I am the real one, can we proceed?”

“Yes, of course. You said you could offer us poison resistant equipment?”

“Yes. If you are experienced adventurers, you surely know about Chosen Ones. He is an advanced Chosen One and a skilled blacksmith capable of forging even Mythology-grade gear. He can craft equipment with higher poison resistance than what you could make with Baomultan’s parts.”

“I suppose as much.”

Schnee’s explanation of the difference between them shocked the group, with the exception of Garon. Maybe because most Dwarves were well versed in smithing, he had already figured out that s.h.i.+n was a blacksmith.

“You are a blacksmith too?”

“Yes, I crafted most of their equipment too. I can’t even compare with your skills, though. You crafted the gear you are all wearing, yes?”

Garon spoke with confidence while looking at s.h.i.+n. He could tell that s.h.i.+n made their equipment.

s.h.i.+n wondered for a second if he was being tricked in admitting it, but Garon’s eyes were completely serious. He was apparently sure to be right.

“If you can craft something like that, it’s no wonder that you could create gear superior to what I could do with Baomultan’s materials.”

“Are we settled, then?”

“…there’s something I want to ask.”

This time, the spellcaster twins raised their hands.

“Why do you help us? I don’t think you need to go so far.”

“It would be easy for you to chase us away. That would be enough to protect Baomultan.”

The two girls were encouraged to speak, and did so in a very frank tone.

“Well, you see. Looking at your fight, I could tell right away that you were putting your lives at stake. Then I heard about your reasons. I thought we could help. That’s pretty much why we offered to help. Well, I’m also curious about Durgin’s behavior, to be honest. To put it simply, we’re sticking our nose in your business.”

To help or not help others. s.h.i.+n did not have a clear basis to choose between these two options. In the end, it mostly depended on what he felt and what he thought. He didn’t think he wanted to help anyone he saw in need.

“Can you accept my reasons?”

s.h.i.+n’s words might sound too casual for the party that would receive his help. The twins’ expression, in fact, was still clouded.

“That’s reason enough to help others.”

The first one to nod to s.h.i.+n’s words was Mavlov.

“We have done similar things in the past. This time we’re going to be helped instead of being the ones helping. That’s all there is to it.”

“That’s right. Haha, now that you put it that way, you’ve really hit the nail on the head.”

The details were different, but they too did similar things in the past. Garon agreed to Mavlov’s words and laughed heartily. Agarj too nodded silently, while Risha emitted a small sigh.

“No one has any objections, yes? Please, tell us more.”

Garon and the others were finally convinced and asked to go on with the conversation.

“I’m the party’s blacksmith, so let me talk now. Well, it’s just as I said before, though. We can offer you poison resistant equipment. But in exchange, let Baomultan go. I would also like to observe that Durgin, so I ask you to let us come with you to your country.”

Equipment with resistance to multiple status ailments was incredibly rare in this world.

Equipment with a single resistance, like what was necessary in this case, was not so uncommon.

It was relatively rare nevertheless, but after seeing the resolve of Garon’s party, s.h.i.+n wouldn’t hold anything back.

He did add the second request off the top of his head, but he was naturally serious about it.

s.h.i.+n was sure Durgin wouldn’t attack human dwellings without reason, and since he was involved with Baomultan right as an incident involving Durgin happened, he felt that he would end up having to deal with it even if he chose to do nothing this time.

“We have nothing to lose in this offer. Are you really sure, though? This is more than just doing us a favor.”

“Well, I’m not doing it completely out of the good in my heart anyway. Durgin and Baomultan share a connection, after all. If something had happened, gathering information about it will be valuable for us too.”

s.h.i.+n replied that it was reason enough for them.

Garon’s party probably did not know about the Durgin’s remains in the lake.

Was there a connection with the Durgin threatening their country? That’s all s.h.i.+n wanted to know. He hoped there wasn’t.

“Information, I see. That could be valuable indeed. I apologize for derailing the topic. So, when could you give us the poison resistant gear? It pains me to push you like this, but we want to return to our country as soon as possible.”

“I have the gear ready. You just need to equip it, if there are any adjustments to be done I’ll take care of them.”

s.h.i.+n then pulled out from his pocket -actually from the item box- a series of cards.

When facing an enemy that inflicted specific status ailments, it was essential to be prepared to prevent them. s.h.i.+n’s item box was filled with various such gear, from prototypes to complete items.

Garon’s party, however, was at a loss for words.

“Equipment in card form, I see…it wouldn’t surprise me if you had an item box, but to see you pull them out so casually…”

“Considering the place we are, I prepared all sorts of things, you see. Rather than that, try them on and let me know if anything feels strange. You’re in a hurry, aren’t you?”

“That’s right, this is no time to fret over the details.”

The other members nodded to Garon’s words too.

The men changed on the spot, while the women used another room.

“—incredible. I’ve used equipment that adjusted itself to your size before, but it never fit so perfectly.”

“Indeed, this isn’t inferior to our current equipment.”

Agarj and Mavlov talked while lightly moving their bodies.

Garon changed too, but his expression looked sour.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“No, nothing…nothing at all. It’s simply perfect, I don’t know what to say.”

s.h.i.+n asked the Dwarf if he had any concerns, but his reply was in line with Agarj and Mavlov.

After a while, the party’s ladies returned, wearing s.h.i.+n’s equipment. They did not have any problems either.

“Let’s head to Pa.s.sner immediately then. We made you spend time talking, after all.”

Durgin could attack Pa.s.sner at any time, so they decided to leave right away. s.h.i.+n thought that, being Schnee Raizar’s party, they had some leeway to do things out of the norm, so he materialized their modified carriage.

There was no guarantee that Durgin wouldn’t attack places other than Pa.s.sner, and since Baomultan was weak, he asked s.h.i.+baid, Tiera, and Kagerou to stay back.

Baomultan understood that they had stopped the attackers, so it didn’t do anything when they came out again. s.h.i.+n looked at it lying on the ground, stroked by Tiera, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“If anything happens, let us know immediately.”

“Understood.”

The carriage would be pulled by Yuzuha. After making sure all members of Garon’s party were on, they left quickly.

“Is this carriage floating?”

“It doesn’t vibrate at all, does it. Is this a smithing technique too?”

Agarj and the others were surprised by the utter lack of vibration as the carriage moved.