Volume 2 Chapter 23 Frog! Frog! Frog!
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Under my command, the carriage began to move.
As expected, the speed of the carriage was impressively fast, and we arrived at the Indra Plain, which would have taken about 2 hours on foot, in less than 30 minutes.
After that, we reached the Lazarm marsh about an hour after setting off.
When we arrived near the entrance of the Lazarm marsh, we began working to turn the supply cart we had connected as a mobile base into a hunting base.
The work went smoothly, so we finished an early lunch to refuel.
After that, I set off into the depths of the marsh with the hunting team.
For a while, as we walked along the water’s edge, Scout Milly signaled for us to stop.
When I focused in the direction Milly was pointing, I noticed a green frog the size of a puppy croaking near the grassy water’s edge.
Milly whispered instructions to everyone in a soft voice.
”Listen, that giant toad is calling its buddies with its croak, so we need to leave at least one alive. That way, we can catch all the giant toads around here. Its attacks are just body slams and aren’t very scary, plus we can hunt a lot of them. Just be careful because they might show up from behind, so Kent and Talia, keep your guard up while fighting. I’m planning to fight as a rearguard this time too, but we can’t rule out the chance of a surprise attack.”
Everyone nodded in response to Milly’s instructions.
”Alright, here I go.”
Milly picked up a small stone that had fallen on the ground and threw it at the giant toad.
Bam.
As the stone hit the giant toad, it seemed to realize Milly was there and began to let out a loud croak.
Ribbit, ribbit!
As if responding to the croak, the area by the water and the deeper grass began to shake, and many giant toads jumped out.
”Everyone, let’s go!”
We positioned ourselves for combat and charged at the giant toads that had just appeared, starting our battle.
Thud.
The first attack on a giant toad was a knife thrown by Milly.
The knife struck the giant toad right between its eyes, ending its life in a single blow and turning it into a black mist.
”Lady Miriallia, amazing! I’ll do my best too!”
Ines, after seeing Milly’s attack, swung her 2-handed axe down powerfully, splitting the giant toad right in front of her in half.
Let’s just keep quiet about the fact that her maid dress flipped up and her white panties were completely visible.
”I’m not going to let Ines have all the cool moments! I’m in too, Feria!”
Seeing Ines’s attack, Feria seemed to have her pride as a senior Maid Warrior ignited, as she readied her Twin Battle Axes and charged toward the group of giant toads huddled together.
Then, she began to dance around, attacking one after the other with her axes, swiftly taking down the giant toads.
However, I couldn’t help but get distracted by how her chest swayed with each strike.
I was left staring at the vanguard Maid Warriors, feeling a bit flustered.
”Sir Kent! Watch out!”
When I turned around, I saw Annabella, fully armored, blocking the charge of a giant toad with her large shield.
It seemed that while I was mesmerized by the Maid Warriors, a new giant toad had appeared behind me, attracted by the cries.
Annabella noticed it and warned me, using her own body to shield me from the attack.
”Annabella, I’m sorry, and thank you for saving me.”
”Sir Kent, this is a hunting ground, so please stay alert.”
”Yeah, you’re right. My bad.”
After Annabella’s reminder, I regained my focus and thrust the Hard Horn Beast’s spear with all my strength towards the giant toad that had attacked her.
Thud!
My spear pierced through the giant toad’s body.
”Sir Kent, well done!”
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit!
The call of the giant toad echoed again, signaling its allies.
”Lord Kent, it seems new ones are coming from the marsh. I will move to the front too.”
Aurelia drew her sword and moved towards the marsh where new enemies had appeared.
Suddenly, a giant toad jumped out of the water with a splash and attacked Aurelia.
”Watch out! Aurelia, behind you!”
Noticing my warning, Aurelia swiftly turned around and slashed through the giant toad’s body.
The giant toad that had attacked Aurelia was split in mid-air and turned into a black mist.
”Lord Kent, thank you! That was a close one.”
”Still more are coming, so let’s stay alert.”
It had only been about 5 minutes since the battle started, yet we had already taken down over ten giant toads.
However, it seemed that there were still a lot of them around here.
Our rearguard Lina couldn’t use her usual fireball due to the thick trees in the marsh, so she was taking out the giant toads trying to sneak up with her more agile Fire Arrow.
”Kent, I still have plenty of magic left, so I’ll keep going. Gather, magic element! Become flames and pierce the enemy, ‘Fire Arrow’! Hyahaa, burn to ashes!!!”
What is this, it’s scary.
Lina seemed possessed by something different as she shot flame arrows one after another, completely incinerating the giant toads.
Talia, who was watching next to me, shuddered and commented.
”Has Lady Lina awakened to something else? I feel a bit frightened.”
”Oh, no. I agree with you, Talia.”
As I watched Lina cackling while roasting the giant toads, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she resembled an evil witch.
After about 30 minutes of fighting, during which the calls of the frogs kept summoning more allies, I hunted a few giant toads myself and took a few hits, but luckily thanks to Golerg’s high-quality armor, we were able to wipe out the giant toads in the area with almost no injuries.
There were ‘frog tongues’ as spoils of war and the bodies of frogs scattered around, so when I gathered them, there were 58 in total.
I heard that this time’s quest doesn’t have a completion reward but gives 5 copper coins for each giant toad, so I secured an income of 2 hundred 90 copper coins just from this battle.
It seems that one copper coin is worth about 100 yen, so the total gain from this fight is 29 thousand yen.
For a beginner monster hunter, that’s a great start.
After finishing gathering the materials, we took a short break to prepare our equipment and then set off deeper into the marsh, looking for where there might be more giant toads.
* * *
As we ventured further in, we encountered a clearing in the marsh with more than a hundred giant toads gathered together.
”Lina, can you support Talia?”
A swarm of giant toads was trying to surround Talia.
Everyone in the vanguard was similarly fighting against the giant toad army, so the only ones who could rescue Talia were me and Lina in the rearguard.
”Leave it to me, I’ll clear out the giant toads around Talia with a fireball, so be careful. And Talia, don’t move!”
”L-Lady Lina! Are you going to do it near me? Stop! Please don’t!”
Ignoring Talia’s pleas, Lina began to chant.
”O gathered magic element! Turn into fire and burn the enemies to ashes, ‘fireball’!”
A massive fireball struck the group of giant toads in front of Talia.
Doom!
The impact of the fireball spread out, engulfing the group of giant toads that was trying to surround Talia.
”Lady Lina! I’m scorched! My hair is a bit singed! Oh no, what have you done!”
Talia is covered in mud from the impact of the explosion, but it seems her burnt hair is what matters more to her.
With Talia’s low defense, it wouldn’t have been surprising if she got seriously hurt surrounded by the giant toads, so I felt relieved.
But it seems she’s more upset about her prized hair being singed.
”Talia, we’re in the middle of a battle right now. Keep quiet. I’ll listen to you after it’s over.”
I silenced Talia and gave instructions to Lina to support the other teammates.
”Lina, can you still cast fireball?”
”Uh, yeah. I’m fine. I still have magic left.”
”Then blow away those giant toads in a group like before. If we don’t reduce their numbers, the vanguard is going to get surrounded.”
”Got it, I’ll take care of the group.”
Following my instructions, Lina started firing fireballs at the group of giant toads behind the ones the vanguard was fighting.
I was glad I brought Lina.
Without area magic, we would have been pushed back by the group.
”Milly, can you handle the enemies in front of the vanguard?”
I asked Milly while piercing through a giant toad trying to sneak up behind the vanguard.
”Well, it’s going to take a little time. But since Lina has started supporting us, it should be fine. By the way, Aurelia is a bit injured, so let’s switch her out and let Talia heal her.”
”Aurelia, fall back and get Talia’s healing. I’ll step forward in the meantime!”
I gave instructions to Aurelia and ran over to where she was fighting.
Fortunately, I can handle the attacks from a giant toad without taking damage, so I can take Aurelia’s place in the vanguard.
”Lord Kent, I’ll be back soon!”
Aurelia stepped back to get to Talia.
With just me left, I readied my shield and spear to face the giant toad.
”Here we go! Kent-style ‘Spear Arts: Turtle Shell Thrust’!”
I tried shouting a technique name like a typical “chuunibyou,” but it’s basically just pushing the shield forward with a guard thrust.
The giant toad that took the spear to the belly vanished into a black mist.
──[Spearsmanship I] Skill has been unlocked.
Oh, the skill has been unlocked.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply