Third Outer World Story Series: Pumpkin Sorcerer - Chapter 22
Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter
“Here is all I have to do.”
After cutting a piece of healing grass, which had a distinctive heart-shaped leaf with red veins running through it, from the root, the girl placed it in the pouch on her hip.
With this, the number of healing grass leaves she had collected reached 10. She had successfully achieved her request.
“Even so, I’m glad everything happened without a hitch…”
Now, let’s move on with her introduction.
Her name was Rio. As an adventurer based in Kunukihappy, she received a request from the Adventurers’ Association to collect healing grass leaves today, which brought her to a forest near the town.
Healing grass was a relatively ubiquitous medicinal plant, but it was also a convenient grass that could be used to treat wounds by simply applying the leaves to the wound as they were.
Of course, if it was processed as a medicine, it could be used as a potion for wounds, but it would depend on the technique, so it would be worth collecting extra if there was room.
However, even though it can be found relatively anywhere, this was Rio’s first request, and since she had rarely been to the forest, not to mention the meadows near the town, she was still apprehensive about whether she could succeed in carrying out the request or not.
Her fears were unfounded, though, given that she had securely obtained it.
“Ah, this is not good. This is a request that lasts until I get back. I can’t let my guard down here.”
Regaining her composure, she rose to her feet, and looked around, before turning her feet to head out of the forest.
Snap.
“Hmm?”
But before she could do so, there was a rustling noise as if something moved in the bushes behind her, so she directed her attention that way.
[[[Bububububu…]]]
“Huh?”
There they were: a massive number of giant bees known as Hunting Bees.
Hunting Bees were as large as a person’s face, but they were temperamental and were well-known for the delicious honey that they stored in their hives.
The Hunting Bees in front of Rio, however, were vastly divergent from the bees she was familiar with and were evidently enraged.
“Hieeee…”
[[[Bububububu…]]]
As Rio stepped back, the Hunting Bees moved a little closer to her.
She anxiously struggled to recall the ecology of the Hunting Bee, and all she could recollect was that when it came to fighting a Hunting Bee in a one-on-one fight, she had to be mindful of the fangs in its mouth and the stingers in its tail to ensure that it would crush the opponent’s neck.
And if it was one against many, she would need to…
“Run!”
[[[Bububububu!!]]]
…run away without any hesitation!
Rio then fled away from the scene as swiftly as she could.
————-
“Someone ahhhhhh!?”
Rio simply kept on running. Despite falling over and over and sustaining abrasions all over her body, she continued to run, and then she burst out of the forest screaming for help.
[[[Bububububu!!]]]
Yet, the Hunting Bees, seemingly driven by a delirious fever, darted out of the woods and proceeded to pursue her.
While not knowing why they were so agitated, their conduct was clearly abnormal.
“…Hyulololooo!”
Right before the Hunting Bees caught up with Rio, there was the sound of something falling behind her.
[[[Bun!?]]]
“What!?”
She turned around, startled by the sound, and the Hunting Bees halted their movements to look at the intruder.
What struck their eyes was a strange-looking creature.
Its head reminded one of a pumpkin often sighted in the marketplace with eyes and a mouth, and its body was covered by a cloak that obscured it from view.
But the situation relentlessly progressed in front of the astonished Rio and the Hunting Bees.
“Hyu…”
From within the cloak, some kind of green object emerged.
“…lahooo!!”
Rio’s eyes could not perceive what it was exactly.
All that was clear to her was that the bodies of several Hunting Bees were shattered as the mysterious intruder abruptly appeared in the midst of the swarm of Hunting Bees and simultaneously spun around.
At the moment when the eyes of everyone present apart from the intruder were fixed on the intruder themself, Rio caught sight of it.
“Hmph!”
[[[!?]]]
The magic power emanating from the intruder’s body, which should normally be impossible to behold… has become visible because the concentration of the magic power was too high…
It was as if it were a scene that could only be narrated in a story.
“Hou…”
Rio was powerless to resist the magic power that was being showered over her entire body and eventually lost consciousness.
—————–
“Ugh…”
“You are awake.”
After that, Rio briefly regained consciousness, but because the intruder was in front of her, she was reminded of the immense power of their magic, and so she slipped into unconsciousness again.
And now she was waking up for the second time…
“Huh…?”
“Anyway, I’m on my way to town, so don’t start a rampage…”
When Rio woke up, the first thing she felt was the wind brushing against her face.
The next thing that came into her view was a green field of grass with trees that looked small due to the distance.
“…”
“What?”
That would mean I am now…
“Ehhhhhhhh!!?”
“Whoa!?”
…flying through the air.
“Don’t yell so harshly out of the blue.”
“Eh, ah, ugh!?”
Rio was confused by the lack of connection between the situation at hand and what was going on back and forth.
No, even before that, flying with a single person in one’s arms is a feat that no ordinary sorcerer, let alone a high-ranking adventurer, could pull off.
In other words, this person who is now flying with me in their arms must hold a level of power that is unmatched by a novice adventurer such as myself, not to mention the amount of magic power they possess.
“Since you’re awake, let’s descend to the ground. I would like to inquire a lot of things from you.”
And while Rio was confused, the person who was holding her went down to the ground with her in their arms.
————-
T/N:
This might be somewhat confusing for the readers, but the author tends to use non-linear storytelling in their Outer World Story series. And it’s a bit confusing because I am translating the novel in Third Person POV and the author was writing this in First Person POV. So the words you read are somewhat strange/disconnected. As with the author’s style, they always include multiple POV and many POV shift (this is common in Japanese web novels by the way) and this chapter is speaking from Rio’s POV.