Chapter 196
The Long-Necked Monster
Translator : PolterGlast
Departing from Biodasdal
and heading southeast for about two hours. Since we also stopped by the
southeastern forest on the way to gather Great Lemons, it took
considerably longer than planned, but the large river Sophie-san had
mentioned finally came into view.
"Graham-san, it's that river, right?"
"What a huge
river! It certainly wouldn't be strange if a large monster was in this
river!"
"No. It is a
large river, but as expected, I don't think there's a monster with a neck alone
measuring several meters."
"Why not! Since
there are eyewitness reports, isn't it normal to think it's there? Can't you
sense the presence of a monster like that?"
"Hmm... I've
been searching for a while now, but there's no reaction like that. Or rather,
if it were a large reaction, I would be able to sense it even from Biodasdal.
Judging from this, even if it does exist, it shouldn't be a strong
monster."
If it's a case where
being underwater masks its presence, there is a possibility it exists as an
exception. There were no large rivers near Furo Village, and the Demon
King's Army had no aquatic monsters, so that area is unclear. However,
unless the water is considerably deep, I think that possibility is also low.
"Ehh! So it's
confirmed to be a weak monster, then!"
"If that's the
case, I at least want it to actually exist. Even if they are weak, giant
monsters hold a certain romance, after all."
"True. We went
out of our way to accept this request, so I want to find it before going
home."
We walked around
along the river, searching for any signs of a large monster. If it was a
monster that big, I thought we would find it without having to look too
closely, but... about two hours have passed since we started searching. We have
been walking continuously, but we haven't been able to confirm the existence of
the monster.
"There's
absolutely nothing here! It's just the occasional Sludge Slime and fish
monster attacking us!"
"Could it have
been a false report? It seems there were multiple reports of sightings,
though."
"I think it's
too early to give up. We still have time, so let's take it easy and keep
searching."
Even though I said
that, the thought that it might not be here was growing to about fifty percent
in my mind too. Well, chatting while walking along the river is fun, so I don't
mind even if it isn't here.
Amidst all this,
just as the three of us fully shifted our focus to idle chatter—I sensed an
anomaly. The water's surface, which had been calm until now, suddenly began to
sway violently.
"Keep your eyes
on the river. Something is coming out."
"No way! Does
that mean the long-necked monster was really here!?"
"I don't know,
but I think it's a considerably large monster."
Replying like that,
we stared intently at the river, waiting patiently for something to appear. And
in the next moment—something long and slender burst out from the center of the
river.
"Whoa! A really
long neck actually came out!"
"The rumors
were true! It's thin, but the length is incredible!"
"—No, wait a
minute. What's coming out of the water doesn't seem to be a neck."
It looked like a
neck for a second, but the object sticking out doesn't have a face. I can also
see suction cup-like things attached to it, so it's probably something like a
tentacle.
"You're right! It's
not a face, but... a leg?"
"I've heard
that mollusks have legs like that. Could it perhaps be the leg of a giant
mollusk?"
"That
possibility is high. For now, should we try pulling it up a bit?"
"Eh!? Can you
even do that?"
"I think I can
if I use magic. I don't know if it's okay to kill it, so let's try pulling it
out of the river first."
"If you can, I
want to see! I wonder what kind of monster it is!"
With that decided, I
moved to pull the monster in the river up. As expected, there would be no way to
deal with it if it escaped back into the river, so I closed the distance
instantly while its tentacle was still exposed.
By freezing the
surface with Ice Magic, I was able to run across the river. Arriving
near the tentacle, I grabbed it as it tried to retract into the river and
yanked it up with all my might.
"Whoa! It's
insanely hu—wait, it's not!?"
"Huh? It's
smaller than I imagined."
The monster I pulled
up was large in a sense, but it was at most about three meters in size. Only
the several tentacles growing out of it were long; the main body itself wasn't
that big. It was a rather disappointing monster.
It didn't have fangs
growing out, nor did it try to attack us with its roughly ten tentacles. Its
aggressiveness seemed low, so this wasn't a dangerous monster.
"It didn't
trigger any reactions either; well, I suppose reality is just like this."
"And here I was
expecting something like a Dragon!"
"The unknown is
precisely what makes it exciting. ...But, with this, the request is
complete."
"Right. Let's
head back to report to Sophie-san."
Reality is often
like this. I got to experience the thrill of the request, and the idle chatter
along the way was fun.
Besides, my tension went up when I saw the tentacle. The result was a bit disappointing, but I think it was an extremely interesting request. While making the report this time, I'll make sure to convey my proper thanks to Sophie-san as well.
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