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The first day was spent touring Marquina, as instructed by the employer. The next day, we gathered again to get down to work.

“Here, please take this!”

What Amy handed over was the Teleportation Stone we used just yesterday.

“Where are we going this time?”

“First, we need to head to the distant swamp for the first ingredient!”

“What’s in there?”

“A-Rank Monster Drake!”

A pretty common name. We quickly followed Amy, who used the Teleportation Stone first. She tossed it on the ground, creating a glowing Magic Circle.

When we arrived…

“Huh?”

A massive shadow loomed before us. Looking up, I saw a giant green dinosaur-like monster sniffing us with its nostrils flaring.

Hey, no matter how urgent we are, why set the coordinates right in front of a monster?

“Uh, huh? Why is it here? I thought it used to be deeper inside?”

Even the person was clueless. Sigh.

-Kraaaaaang──────!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Drake roared, recognizing us as enemies.

Was it even necessary to say it? We were veterans who had gone through our fair share of hardships. Even though we teleported right in front of the monster thanks to Amy’s blunder, we were calm and collected without any specific commands.

“Don’t kill it! We need to capture it alive!”

Before I knew it, Amy had peeked out from behind a tree, head sticking out, shouting. She sure had a lot of demands. What a nuisance.

The Drake shot a fireball from its mouth. Riche countered with a similar fireball, while Luna dashed forward to sever the tendons in the Drake’s legs.

Consequently, the Drake, which had short forearms like a Tyrannosaurus, tumbled forward.

-Thunk!

With its face smashed into the ground, the Drake opened its mouth, gathering flames for a final attempt. However, that attack couldn’t proceed.

A blood magic rope sprang up from the ground, binding the Drake’s snout.

The Drake lay down, repeatedly slapping its tail against the ground. With its leg tendons cut, it couldn’t move, and its tiny arms prevented it from rising.

The capture was quickly wrapped up.

“Wow, wow! Amazing!”

Only then did Amy, who had been hiding in the trees, dash over. Teleporting someone right in front of a monster and then running away herself? It was infuriating, so I casually slapped her.

“Ouch!”

“Do you know why you got hit?”

“Yes…”

If we hadn’t been there, it would have been annihilation. Generally, teleporting someone right in front of a monster gives you no time to strategize before everyone is done for. If you consider it in terms of life, that slap was a cheap price to pay.

“So, what do we need from this guy?”

“Oh! Wait a moment!”

When I asked what we needed, Amy opened her bag and pulled out a notebook covered in leather. I wondered how much she’d read; the leather was tattered.

“Here it is! We need… the tears of the Drake!”

“The tears from its eyes?”

“Yes!”

Is that really an ingredient…?

“How do we make it cry?”

“I… don’t know! You just have to make it cry by any means possible!”

So that’s the case? Torturing it was my specialty. First, I took out my sword and sliced off one of the Drake’s arms.

-────────────!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Drake screamed in pain. The sound was so loud it rang in my ears. But the problem was that, despite the noise, it didn’t shed a single tear.

“I guess this isn’t enough after all?”

Then I should try another method. I retrieved an item from my Inventory and sprinkled it in the Drake’s eyes.

“What’s that?”

“Salt.”

“Why…?”

“Osmotic effect.”

In fact, the eyes always retain some moisture. Osmosis refers to the phenomenon where water moves from an area of low concentration to one of high concentration.

It’s like when you sprinkle salt on fish and moisture oozes out. So, I thought that by sprinkling salt on its eyes, the tears would flow out… but…

“It’s not working.”

“Did you really think that would work…?”

Well, I might as well try, right? To be honest, even without osmosis, just getting salt in your eyes must sting like crazy, yet there was no reaction at all.

“Gross, it’s gross.”

“The Drake hardly ever cries!”

“Why is it so unnecessarily tough?”

If it were a human, ripping out nostril hair would have them crying buckets.

“That’s why it’s a precious ingredient!”

That’s true. If it were easy to get, it wouldn’t be a precious ingredient, and we wouldn’t be requesting help.

“So, now what?”

“Hmm… I don’t know?”

Should I tell it a sad story or something? While I was brainstorming methods with Amy…

“Luke, could you come here for a moment?”

“Why?”

“I think Yui discovered something!”

Luna, who had vanished earlier, returned and said that, so I followed her. After all, the Drake couldn’t move anyway.

After moving a bit, Riche greeted us.

“Did you come?”

“What is it that everyone is gathered for?”

“See for yourself.”

As Riche and Yui stepped aside, what came into view was…

“…an egg?”

There was a large egg sitting there.

“Ah! So that’s why it left its original location to come here. It must have been protecting its egg!”

“Monsters lay eggs too?”

“Depends on the monster. I guess the Drake lays eggs?”

Oh, I see.

But staring at the egg gave me a good idea.

“This should definitely make it cry!”

“What? How?”

“Let’s just take it with us.”

When we returned to where the Drake was with the egg, it let out a roar upon seeing me holding it.

-Kraaaaaaaaaaang──────!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the best reaction I’d seen so far.

“Watch closely, Amy. I’m going to show you how to make the Drake cry.”

I took out firewood and a huge iron plate I had stowed previously. Originally, I would have used a pot for cooking, but the egg was way too big for that.

“Riche, can you light a fire?”

“Got it.”

As the fire ignited, I oiled the pan, and the Drake, realizing what I was trying to do, began to lash out.

But it was already too late.

“Your child is sizzling~”

As I cracked the egg, a sizzling sound erupted from the iron plate, reminiscent of an egg frying.

Upon seeing its child being cooked to a golden brown, the Drake went wild. However, all it could manage was to redden its eyes and flare its nostrils.

As time passed, the fully cooked egg was taken, and I took a huge bite.

“Yum~ absolutely delicious.”

Honestly, it wasn’t. However, eating it with exaggerated enthusiasm made the Drake, watching its unborn child get devoured, burst into tears.

The tears shed by the Drake were collected in the little flask in Amy’s hand.

“Kaw kaw kaw. Cry more, just cry~”

*

After the Drake, we moved to various locations.

If we’d traveled by cart, it would have taken months instead of a day, but thankfully, with the Teleportation Stones, we could visit all the places in a single day.

Though moving was easy, it didn’t make the actual work any simpler.

The materials after that were only those that I considered to be on par with the Drake’s tears. They were not only hard but also incredibly annoying to gather.

I was told we needed a plant called Mandragora, so we teleported to an island in the middle of the ocean only to encounter a Manticore, a monster with the body of a lion, the head of a human, a scorpion’s tail, and bat wings.

By coincidence, after killing the Manticore and searching for the Mandragora, it lulled me to sleep with its eerie cries and ran away. Naturally, I was immune to that, so I chased and caught it like a madman.

Next, I was told we needed a fin from a Ghost Shark dwelling deep in the sea, and before I knew it, I was submerged in water, soaking wet and in big trouble.

‘Seriously, they’re treating me like a dog.’

And there was more. After getting pushed around so much, I checked my stats and found out I had leveled up by 5.

I was getting increasingly irritated, and I almost considered just killing everything and forging a recommendation letter to take back instead. While I contemplated that…

“This is the last ingredient!”

Since it was said to be the last, I decided to stick it out. Lucky me.

“Let’s see… it’s Steel Ore!”

“Where’s that, a mountain?”

“Oh, no! This isn’t an island; it’s an abandoned mine a few kilometers away from Marquina! It used to be a dwarven mine but has been deserted since monsters started appearing!”

Another monster, huh? Still, since it was the last, I had to endure. I’m a rational person, I couldn’t just get mad over trivial things.

I broke the last Teleportation Stone I’d received. When we arrived, however, there was no abandoned mine to be found.

“What is this?”

“Not sure…?”

“If you don’t know, then who does?”

“Um, this is strange…? I’m sure when I came here years ago there was definitely something like this…”

“When was that?”

“Three years ago!”

Three years ago is way too long ago! And she looks so young now; how old was she three years ago?!

In the place labeled as the last destination, a massive tower made of steel awaited us.

What on earth is this?

“Luke, is this maybe…?”

Luna cautiously spoke up. Could it be some Demon or a specific type of Demon? I wasn’t sure, but I thought it probably wasn’t.

“Would any Demon or specific type of Demon go through such trouble?”

Honestly, those kinds of Demons and Mana beings wouldn’t occupy their time with such tedious tasks.

Moreover, like Mana beings, their intellect often diminishes, making them capable of nothing but overestimating their own power.

The others seemed to agree with me, thinking my answer was logical.

“Huh? But looking closely, this tower is made from Steel Ore, right?”

“Really? Then let’s sneak one out.”

I drew my Greatsword and struck the tower hard.

-Clunk.

“What?”

Suddenly, the entrance of the tower opened, and mechanical Golems emerged. The Golems clearly recognized us as enemies.

“”······.””

“Hey, why are you looking at me like that? We came here to obtain this after all.”

Why are they giving me that look?

Since we were already in this situation, we might as well kill them. We immediately entered combat. The Steel Golems had simple movements. They simply lifted their steel arms to block and extended them to attack.

However, perhaps due to their toughness, their attack and defense were quite substantial. In terms of attack power and defense, each could rival an A-Rank Monster.

And even though they were ridiculously strong, they didn’t give any experience since they weren’t living beings.

“What is this nonsense?”

“What purpose did they serve?”

“Beats me.”

Maybe they were preparing for war.

“What should we do? Should we go inside and check it out?”

“Why on earth would we?”

I couldn’t grasp why anyone would voluntarily step into a place filled with traps and monsters, helping the enemy. If it were a game, I’d be going “Wow, what great new content!” but what is this? This is reality.

I pulled out my Magical Power Bomb that I had bought yesterday. The Magical Power Bomb was empty inside and needed to be filled, but that wasn’t a problem. I had Wind and Fire Wraps.

“Luna, Riche. Split it up and fill it with Magical Power.”

“Okay.”

“Got it.”

It seemed one would not be enough, so I prepared a total of 10 by taking 5 each.

“This isn’t just for Amy; it goes for Riche and Yui too, so listen carefully.”

Luna had experience from when we raided the Vampire Mansion, so she should know.

“You can just destroy things like that from the outside.”

As I said that, the bombs left my hands, slowly floating toward the tower. Then…

-Bang─! Bang─! Bang─!

An insane explosion ensued, exactly like before. Thanks to the combo of wind and fire, the flames grew fiercer.

It seemed the tower, which appeared impervious to all attacks, began to lean like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The difference from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, however, was that rather than stopping halfway, it crumbled and fell down entirely.

No matter how well-built the tower was, if its base crumbles, it becomes meaningless.

 

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