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Chapter 15

“I’m actually more worried about you and your store, seeing how you buy poisonous herbs at such a high price.”

I answered Arleaf’s dad while changing the topic.

“Well, obviously, it’s ‘cause this sorta medicine is a local specialty of our village. Oh, yeah, and don’t you go entering our fields either. I won’t forgive you if you do that.”

This village grows some questionable herbs...

According to Arleaf, it’s some sort of ingredient for anesthesia, but let’s not get too deep into that subject.

‘Hmm? That field? The herbs I saw growing there were not poisonous ones but a kind that is very effective as an antidote.’

Doubts of Veno’s knowledge on medicinal herbs pass through my mind, but it’s likely to be some other field.

“... is that right?”

“It’s just that I post requests for adventurers for the stuff that grows in places a li’l dangerous.”

I don’t really want to know too much about this topic.

Well, with three days and the help of a map, I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the villages and the area around here.

I wonder if I’m running around a little too carelessly.

Actually, I wonder if why Arleaf’s dad is being so hospitable to me is because I’m a regular customer.

Or maybe it’s because I seem like I’m also fond of dangerous meds.

“Aren’t you actually here to stock up? I know some guys who can help you out.”

Ugh. Totally suspicious.

I don’t wanna delve into anything too shady.

I hope Arleaf’s alright.

It sucks how she has to go peddle such dangerous medicine when she’s got such a cute face.

‘They do say that every rose has its thorn.’

Veno, if you could, I’d like you to disagree.

‘Is it not quite the cliché for a hero to fall into such trickery? Humans are but foolish beings after all.’

It’s not that I don’t get you, but I’d like for you to think of Arleaf as just beautiful.

Anyway, I’ll reject her dad’s proposition.

“I don’t really need to, no. I’m just here to complete whatever quest that’s convenient for me.”

“You’re downright cold. You know, if you get wrapped up in our business a little more, you can learn what’s behind that beautiful face of hers.”

“Aren’t you treating your daughter like some kind of public hazard? What’s really going on with her?”

“Can’t tell secrets. Heh heh heh heh.”

With that, I take my pay as is routine by now, and leave the apothecary.

From this point... I head to the tavern to enjoy a late lunch.

As I entered the place, the owner of the tavern was just placing a new bounty list on the wall.

I’d like to go bounty hunting too.

It’s pretty good money if you have proof of the work you did.

It really gets your blood pumping, like fighting a boss. But right now, my priority is to get stronger. It would be foolish for me to plunge myself into something that dangerous.

But like Veno says, even sighting a wanted person is important information, so I should keep an eye out.

With a tankard in one hand, I scan over the bounty list.

“Hmm? Ah, aren’t you... Cohgray of the Swamps?”

What, am I famous already?

Did the proprietress of the inn talk about me?

But rather, Cohgray of the Swamps...

“What is Cohgray of the Swamps?”

“Ah, you’ve been going to the swamp ever since you’ve arrived here, haven’t you? Because you’re Cohray and you go to the swamp every day, you’re Cohgray of the Swamps.”

That’s an awful nickname.

You couldn’t have picked anything cooler for me?

I mean, in fantasy or superhero settings, the characters always have some sort of nickname. So maybe it’s normal for a nickname to come from something so simple.

“...”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Being famous is good. Work gets easier too. Since you’re so familiar with the ins and outs of the swamp, you might get invited by other people to guide them.”

Huh? You mean it might be possible for me to make friends with other adventurers and to be invited for things?

That gets me kinda excited.

I guess it’s fine, but I’m also interested in what the owner of the tavern posted just now.

“Is that a new bounty list?”

“That’s right. They’ve sent this one as a special delivery even to a village like this. Probably means that their country is desperate.”

I had to restrain myself from yelling out after reading what it said.

> Human metamorphosed from a dragon, 30,000,000 lag reward

> Engaged in battle with the joint forces of crusaders from Saint Yggdra and a dragonslayer on the △th day of the ○th month.

> Be wary of its ability to breathe flames like hellfire and to call down thunder.

> It is believed to be a Fire Dragon or Thunder Dragon.

> The dragonslayer weakened the dragon by placing a curse on the dragon to transform it into human.

> Right as the dragonslayer was about to finish it off, the dragon used cunning magics to flee.

> This dragon is hiding in the form of a human, aiming to recover strength, and extremely dangerous.

> We request neighboring nations to aid in the suppression of this dragon.

> The dragonslayer is in hot pursuit. We wish for any helpful information regarding this matter!

There’s no facial composite or description about appearance on the wanted poster.

But judging by the traits and skills, that’s got to be Veno.

Funnily enough, they called their own Forced Possession Summoning a curse.

‘It is natural for humans to falsify things so that it sounds better, is it not?’

“A dragon that dangerous is hiding in one of the countries next door, eh? Even then... that reward would really strain the coffers. An eager adventurer looking to get rich quick would go searching for this, eh? Too bad he’s not here.”

For some reason, the owner exasperatedly grumbled.

‘I cannot believe they released a wanted bulletin in a mere three days. You ought to be real careful of this, aye?’

With the reward being a whole 30 million lag, isn’t that actually a monumental amount?

Arms and armor are expensive, but even then, it doesn’t cost that much.

Killing a dragon weakened and in the form a human pays 30 million... any adventurer blinded by greed will definitely get wind of this and come looking.

... yikes.

They still don’t know what kind of dragon Veno is exactly, but if they knew that he’s a Poison Dragon, they might suspect me, a Poison-Wielder.

We’ve got to try our best to peacefully and quietly release this spell.

‘It is possible that they could have magic that can detect our whereabouts. You ought to tread forward carefully.’

Whose fault do you think it is that I’m in this predicament? is what I wanted to say, but I guess it’s not entirely Veno’s fault.

We’re the victims here, having been forcefully brought together by those bastards.

Because of all that, I was feeling pretty anxious. I played it cool, finished my meal, and headed back to the inn.

Back at the inn, I look around in my room.

It’s my fourth day in this alternate world... for some reason, coming back to this room already calms me down. It’s beginning to feel like my home.

Do people usually get this attached just by staying for a few nights?

When I look over at my mixing machine in the corner, I really do mistake this room as my own.

Even though I keep telling myself to be ready to escape at any given moment... well, no point in kicking myself over it.

I check my status to see what I’ve accomplished with the past three days.

> Kogure Yukihisa

> Poison-Wielder

> Level 17

> Acquired skills: Spirit Link, Poison Absorption, Poison Release, Synthesize Poison, Detect Poison, Poison Enchantment, Hunting Sense, Hunting Mastery I, Aiming Shot, Trap Mastery I, Call Fungus

No other skills were added from what I remember.

However, there are more poisons I can make by Synthesize Poison.

Like Moderate Paralysis and Moderate Anesthesia.

That, and also Weak Acid, Weak Silencing Poison, and Weak Hallucinogen.

By applying the poison to my bolts with Poison Enchantment, I know that Paralysis and Hallucinogen have an effect.

Paralysis is as the name suggests, it numbs my target.

It makes them sluggish, numb, and prevents them from moving.

It takes some time for the poison to kick in and it doesn’t change with condensed poison either.

The other one is the hallucinogen. It kicks in almost immediately, making the target dizzy and hallucinate. The hallucination scares them and—depending on the monster—causes them to run away or go berserk.

Veno thinks it’s stupid ‘cause you can’t tailor it to do anything specifically.

Besides balls of poison, I can also make poisonous mist with Poison Release now.

If I release it upwind, it should spread pretty far, but I have yet to test it out.

It’d be dangerous if I carelessly use it though; it might even spread to the village.

Right now, I’ve been meaning to try out my Weak Mollifying Poison. It softens up the hide or scales of a monster’s protective layer.

Unfortunately, as it is, it doesn’t do anything even if you dump it right on them.

Furthermore, it doesn’t cope well with heat. One of its weak points is that it disappears once it heats up.

I don’t have enough levels to condense it either, so it seems like it’s out of my reach at the moment.

While it doesn’t take all that much time to create, I made quite a bit of it, so I gathered it in a bucket. I took some of the inedibly tough meat that they sell here in this village and marinated it for a bit in this mollifying poison.

I plan to borrow the inn’s kitchen tonight for this experiment in poisoned steak grilling.

Putting all this poison talk behind us, I’ve gained the skill Hunting Mastery.

Thanks to Veno and his advice, I earned this skill by practicing with my crossbow.

Well, I’m pretty familiar with how the crossbow works now as well.

Maybe because of that, I also have Aiming Shot... I focus on aiming and the bolt strikes with a little more power.

This definitely seems like an active skill.

This skill uses a bit of mana.

I thought a good way to fight a monster would be to dig a hole in the swamp, trap it, and kill. When I tried that out, I gained Trap Mastery.

Did I try that out today? Once the poison kicks in, they quickly die.

The condensed poison made with Poison Release seems to work well enough.

Ah, obviously, I haven’t poisoned any human beings yet.

Actually, I’ve been fighting monsters deep in the swamp upfront and it was kinda tough.

I retreated many times thanks to Veno warning me.

Some monsters don’t care about the pools of poison and they charge straight in for me. I don’t think I’d be able to fight ones that can shoot me with magic.

I still don’t feel like I’ve fully mastered the crossbow.

That’s why I use traps to fight.

Just in case I need them, I tend to store up my spoils with storage magic... but Veno almost always deliciously feasts on them.

I’ve still got a lot to work on, but it’s going pretty well, eh?

As well, I tried theorizing the difference between Masteries and poison creation.

You can practice your Masteries but I can create poisons without practice.

This is the difference between something gained from training and something that’s inborn.

Veno had said before: no matter how hard a snake works, a venomous bite is not something that can be learned.

Since it’s something I’m inherently capable of, it has nothing to do with hard work.

It’s likely something to do with me being a Poison-Wielder that I can wield poison.

Not only is it convenient, it’s nothing to scoff at either.

‘Surprisingly, you have grown accustomed to it.’

Well, yeah. I was originally a basic code monkey. I thought I’d hate a job as physically demanding as an adventurer.

I didn’t think I’d be as good as I am.

With that said though, there are still many monsters that are above me and levelling in the dungeon and fighting monsters there seems tough.

Not only because of that, I also have people hunting me down, so I want to get stronger... I realize that it’s considerably difficult fighting alone.

Veno’s protection has helped me out a lot, but when I encounter a bunch of monsters together, I still have to withdraw.

A real-life example would be the pack of Zombie Dogs. My poison ineffective against them, so I had no hope of beating them head-on.

I’m not strong; there are limits to what I can do alone.

Even with me power levelling, it’s rough to fight in the pools of poison.

Hmm... it might be dangerous, but should I be a little braver and join a party?

They even call me Cohgray of the Swamps. It shouldn’t be weird for me to find some adventuring buddies, fight monsters in the area, and to take a tiny share of the experience.

It’s just that I’m 26 years old and I somehow feel like I should be an experienced adventure already. I worry that others will refuse to join me because of that.

Arleaf’s dad is probably... I dare say, in his thirties.

And he’s got a daughter that old already.

I’m afraid marriageable age here is different than the one in Japan.

I don’t think I look that old, but... well, whatever.

I think I’ll head to the swamp after a quick rest.

Since I’m going to the swamp again today, I suddenly I realized that I have to dry my robe in the shade.

“There’s mold on it... what’s worse, there’s even mushrooms growing...”

I didn’t realize that there were mushrooms with red caps growing on the lining of my robe!

It’s only been three days since I got it from Veno!

I didn’t think it’d grow mold that quickly.

It’s a huge shock to me, but... that can only mean that I’m filthy.

‘It is because you do not often air it out, is it not?’

I know.

It’s because I jump into swamp water so much and hanging it out to dry is a pain.

I’m also often in a damp place. It doesn’t matter how much of a Poison-Wielder I am, my clothes won’t be resistant to poison too, eh?