Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 52
The Royal Capital
As the Giant Crow’s last scream echoed throughout the canyon, the Wind Birds still in the sky flew away like spiders scattering.
I guessed that’s a breather, huh? The reason I fought them head-on, without using any illusions, was to warn them.
Monsters tended to be more intelligent than ordinary animals. It would take several days for them to pass through this canyon, so even if I hid using concealment, they might be able to find me while I was eating or sleeping.
So, I showed the monsters the danger of attacking me. Thanks to this, the rock rats that had been trying to take advantage of me or the raven, whichever won, had disappeared.
I used a dismantling knife to rip open the chest of the Giant Crow, its head crushed, and gouge out the magic stone.
The material of this raven was almost worthless. The huge windbreaks could be bought as materials for quill pens, but even so, each one was worth about one small silver coin.
The beak and claws could not be sold either, so the only thing that would bring in decent money was a magic stone, but even though the difficulty level was equivalent to Rank 3, it was only a Rank 2 monster, so an unattributed magic stone with no attributes would not sell for a high price, but it would still bring in about one silver coin.
The Wind Bird had an attribute, but I gave up on collecting it mainly because it was only a small piece of magic stone, might be because it was Rank 1, or perhaps it was proportional to the size of its body.
Still, I picked up a few Wind Birds that fell on the ground because I wanted their meat. The raven’s meat was tough and smelly, so it was not edible, but the Wind Bird’s was a little dry, but edible enough.
I made a fire using Life Magic’s [Fire] and roasted the Wind Bird meat in batches, then wrapped it in a large leaf and put it away in a bag.
I really wanted to use dark magic and had been practicing to do so for a long time, but I wasn’t proficient at manipulating it yet. Because of my total magic value being low right now, I was still not at a stage where I could put it into practical use.
*Charin…
I grasped my empty palm, and when I opened it again, a copper coin spilled out of it.
This was no magic trick, but a clear case of dark magic.
Viro had a bag whose interior had been expanded by dark magic.
Through consideration and experimentation, I had learned that the dark element was not really darkness, but [dark-colored particles], and that it could be transformed into various forms and given certain effects by the thoughts of the magician and precise manipulation of magic power.
The application of such magic was illusory magic and space magic.
The first step of space magic, Heavy, was achieved not by adding or subtracting weight, but by enveloping the substance in a dark magical element and moving the element by itself.
The basis of spatial magic was to wrap a substance with magical elements.
In the case of the internal expansion bag, by fixing dark magical elements inside the bag, a fixed space was created and the bag’s interior was expanded.
The level of dark magic that could produce an expansion bag was Level 4.
My Master told me that the skill Level was necessary because it was a requirement when making magical compositions and to fix the magical element inside the bag and maintain it.
I had used a technique that would absorb the magic power from a magic stone and the owner’s magical power mildly. I did so because the technique to freely put things inside and out of the bag required a certain amount of magical power just to compose the elements.
When I discussed the method I came up with Master, she said it was interesting and worked with me to come up with a magical configuration.
The idea was to make my body itself an extended bag.
The human body always created shadows, even when we were just going about our business as usual. There was darkness in the crevices of our clothes, in our mouths, and even inside our bodies.
Assuming that it was a space of darkness, I thought that by making it a space of extremely small magical elements, and expanding it with magical power, I should be able to achieve the same effect as an extended bag.
By not separating the magical elements and letting my magical elements flow, I eliminated some of the troublesome configurations.
I also eliminated the configuration necessary to fix the entrance and exit by using magic each time to move things in and out of the darkness on the surface of the body.
This made it possible to create a structure that could be used with Level 3 dark magic, but with my Level 2 dark magic, I had to be constantly aware of maintaining the dark space, and with my current total magical power value, I could only create a space that could hold a few coins.
This was why dark magic was still not at the practical stage of experimentation, but there was a reason why I wanted to put the roasted meat in the dark space.
According to the general knowledge of magic, it was not possible to put a living creature in a space expanded by dark magic.
But this was not correct. To be precise, no living creature could live in a space composed of dark magic elements, so if you really put a living creature there, then it would soon die.
This was just a theory, but I thought that the inside of the expansion bag was filled with magical elements instead of atmosphere, and was as close to a vacuum as possible.
There was a hoax that the time was still inside the bag and food would not spoil in the extended bag, but the truth was that the small creatures that spoiled the food – microorganisms according to that knowledge – would be killed off.
However, there was a problem with this reaction of freezed time because fermented products like cheese could not be stored in the same way as cheese stored in containers.
Well, in short, this meat should be consumed or disposed of in about two days before it got wasted.
After putting away the roasted meat, I started walking down the canyon toward the Royal Capital. As expected, the monsters did not attack me after that, since I had done the battle in a showy manner to make an example of them.
The rock rats that had been watching me were probably too preoccupied with the remains of the Wind Bird and the raven to show themselves for a while.
I roasted the meat in batches so that I wouldn’t have to use fire when I encamped.
Bird monsters could only be able to find me when the sun was directly overhead. It was still winter, so camping without fire would normally be considered dangerous, but as I could brighten up my vision with light magic, not having fire was not really a hassle.
It would take a peddler’s wagon about five days to get through this valley, but with my legs and no large baggage, I could get through in about three days if I rushed the journey.
When I slept, I would burn some faint animal repellent wildflowers and meditate in a crevice in the rocks.
I was already able to maintain Concealment even when asleep, so even if the darkness was dangerous for the peddling humans, it was a safe place for me, free of malicious enemies like humans.
On the last day, another raven attacked me, but this time there was no need to make an example of it, so I dealt with it with illusions and poison, keeping me away from any harm.
I thought I was used to camping in dangerous places, but I was still nervous.
I had knowledge, but not enough experience. I was used to walking on flattened paths like those towns or on city streets, but not on uneven terrain or on bad footholds, which made my body unnaturally tense and fatigued.
Until now, I had learned how to walk from Viro, but from now on, I should train myself to understand the terrain even when I would be walking in everyday life.
Fortunately, I had gained [night vision] Level 2, which was beyond the limits of humans, so depending on my training, I should be able to grasp the surroundings as well as a beastman.
After eating the last piece of meat and a simple meal, I resumed my journey to the Royal Capital.
However, there was not much danger once one entered the noble’s territory. In the first place, I didn’t even encounter bandits because I didn’t go through the streets to avoid being seen.
Concealment at Level 3 easily hid me from wild animals.
As expected, there was a fear that monsters above Rank 3 would discover me, but such monsters would rarely be encountered in a noble territory near the center.
“…”
I had encountered a hobgoblin before when passing through the forest, but if it happened once, didn’t that mean it could happen again?
It was about two meters tall. It was stocky, humanoid and wide, its entire body covered in muscle armor, but its head was not humanoid, but shaped like a wild pig.
[Orc] [Subhuman] [Rank 3]
[Magic: 108/110] [Strength: 343/413]
[Total Combat Power: 374 (With Physical Enhancements: 430)]
Maybe this was an orc. They were born warriors, form settlements, and were dangerous monsters that like to attack humans in groups.
I didn’t expect them to appear in a place like this, but with their reduced health, they must be stray monsters that drifted in from somewhere again.
The distance between me and the orc was less than five meters because of the sudden encounter, but the orc had not yet found me, as I was using Concealment.
I instantly applied my full physical strength to speed up my thinking.
This was an opportunity. Compared to my current strength, the opponent was not an overwhelmingly powerful person. However, if I fought for too long, I would be at a disadvantage because of the difference in strength.
So, I would use all my available techniques to deal with him. The battle strategy was assassination… an instant kill using all my strength.
I gathered my thoughts within 3 seconds of spotting the orc, wrapped the pendulum around a tree branch, and leaped up into the tree with the same momentum I had been moving.
[Buu?]
Even though there was no sign of me, the slight breeze of my movement caused the orc to look over, but I was already gone.
I used dark magic to create the shape and sound of a rabbit to hide it in the bushes, and the oak, sensing this by detection, was stable… therefore relaxed.
By that time, I was flying further up from the tree branch.
Instead of my usual black knife made of magical steel, I pulled out a thin knife strapped to my boot in midair.
The slim knife, the only one left after Sera gave it to me, was a mass-produced knife made of steel, but it had a thick blade and excellent penetrating power.
The orc’s entire body was covered in muscle armor, but that was only on the premise that it had been physically strengthened. Distracted and surprised, I had put all his weight on the flaccid orc’s neck from above and drove the slender blade down to the base.
[Buooo!!!]
Before the orc could understand that it had been attacked because of the sudden intense pain, I let go of the knife, disappeared around the blind spot, and again stabbed the black knife into the neck on the opposite side.
The orc’s strength value decreased quickly, but the black blade was stopped midway by the muscle. I let go of the knife again, which was caught in the muscle, and pulled out the knife Feld had given me from my waist.
It was a spare knife that I had been using only for dismantling, but it was a pretty good one, and in fact, its simple attack power was comparable to that of the black dagger.
She moved behind the orc and swung the steel knife wide, believing that it would surely look back.
“–[Thrust]–!”
And just as the orc had finally sensed that it had been attacked and turned around, the Combat Art of my dagger penetrated the orc’s eyeballs to the brain’s marrow.
***
After two weeks of encountering the orcs, I finally arrived at the Kingdom of Cleydale, the Royal Capital.
I did not retrieve any particular materials from the orcs, only the magic stone.
That woman seemed to think that orc meat was a high-quality material, but in fact, the meat of carnivorous monsters had an unpleasant smell and could not be sold.
It was sometimes used as a substitute for pork at inexpensive food stalls, but humanoid meat was not something the average person would reach for unless he or she was in a good mood.
I lined up at the gate for the public in the Royal Capital and entered the building. Even though it was the most heavily guarded area in the country, it was still a human enterprise, so it was easy to enter the city as long as you were a child and had an Adventurer’s Guild tag.
It’s just–
“Your tag is very damaged. You should go to the guild and get it replaced.”
The metal tag was so damaged from my training and battles that the gatekeeper told me so.
It was mid-winter when I left my master’s place, but it was almost springtime, and it had been a year since I escaped from the orphanage, and in six months I would be nine years old.
I’d been trying to avoid being identified as much as possible, but running around all the time was inhibiting my activities, so even if I updated my tag at Royal Capital, there would still be more occasions when I could easily fool them.
The streets of the Royal Capital were even more prosperous than Dandol, which was considered a big city.
“…?”
As I walked along the streets of the Royal Capital, looking at such a crowded city, I felt a slightly unpleasant gaze.
There was the usual curious look, but it was different. That said, it couldn’t have been someone from the Thieves’ Guild or a liaison to the Assassins’ Guild.
In this town, which was said to be the safest in the kingdom, there would be no professionals who would make such a foolish attempt to mess with me. If that was the case, I thought that this look was a foolish thug targeting travelers and children to make some extra money.
I could have left it alone, but… I was afraid that it’d bring too much trouble.
I could choose to appeal to the guards, but I hadn’t been attacked yet, and I didn’t know if they would take me, a free man, seriously.
Well, it might be just the right person to get information about the city.
As I moved away from the main street and toward the backstreets, some unwanted stares followed me.
Three or four, maybe? Considering the messiness of their footsteps, I guessed they were not hoodlums, but rather the juvenile delinquents of the city.
After passing through a drinking area, I headed for a less crowded place, and when the place was completely deserted, I heard footsteps running towards me.
I knew it was the four of them… all boys in their mid to late teens. They approached me with a smirk on their faces as they stopped, and just as the boy, who seemed to be the leader, pulled out a small iron knife as if to show off his strength…
“You guys! What are you doing there?”
Another voice echoed from the back alley entrance, and the silhouette of a tall, stocky, familiar man emerged.
This voice…
“…Feld?”
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Also check out my other novels: Reincarnated into a Game as the Hero’s Friend, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, and A Girl Who Was Told “You Have No Talent” Turned Out To Be A Talented Monster