Checking the Sewers

  While eating my breakfast, I asked Milka,

  “What are Shia, Luchila and Serulis doing?”


  “Miss Shia and Sister Serulis said they were going to the Adventurers Guild!”


  “I see. And Luchila?”


  “Luchila is taking a walk with Lord Gerberga in the garden.”


  “Of course. Walking is important.”


  And then I wondered. It would be good to give Luchila and Milka an education.

  It would be best if I could do it myself, but I was too busy.

  And so I should hire a private teacher. But I didn’t know anyone.

  I would have to ask Goran to introduce me to one later.

  When breakfast was finished and everything had been cleaned up, I decided to go out.

  “Milka, I’ll be out for a while.”


  “Yes, sir! Will you be here for lunch?”


  “Hmm? Oh, I’ll eat out. But I’ll be back for dinner.”


  “Got it!”


  As I headed for the door, Grulf came bounding after me.

  “Groof-groof!”


  “Are you coming too?”


  “Groof.”


  As he seemed to really want to come, I decided to take Grulf with me.

  Luchila and Lord Gerberga were in the garden.

  “Good morning.”


  “Good morning, Mister Locke!”


  “Cluck-cluck.”


  Lord Gerberga clucked happily.

  “I’m going out. So take care of Lord Gerberga.”


  “Understood!”


  “Cluck.”


  “If the mansion is attacked, you should use the secret passage to go to Eric.”


  “I know!”


  The mansion was protected with defense magic.

  That being said, it was never absolute.

  There now existed items that allowed monsters to break through the divine barrier.

  So you could never be too careful.

  “I wonder if it would be possible to……make a barrier that nullifies items that nullifies the divine barrier……”


  “I doubt it.”


  Luchila answered seriously.

  Luchila was an Illusionist. He was also a Sorcerer. And a pretty good one at that.

  “I suppose so.”


  “Yes. But I will try to think of a way too.”


  “Thank you.”


  So saying, I left the mansion.

  “Groof-groof.”


  Grulf barked happily.

  “Are you really that happy to have come with me, Grulf?”


  “Grr?”


  “We’ll be going back to the sewers today.”


  “Grr!!!”


  Grulf shuddered.

  Perhaps he was traumatized after nearly drowning.

  “If you want, you can stay at the mansion with Luchila and Milka.”


  “Grr!”


  Grulf’s tail pointed straight up. He was not scared of any sewers.

  That’s what he was saying.

  “I see. Well, don’t push yourself too hard.”


  “Grr.”


  I decided to make an appearance at the guild first.

  I wanted to check the quest board.

  As I looked, Grulf started to rub against my body.

  Grulf was very big, and so he drew a lot of attention.

  Perhaps all the stares he was getting was making him nervous.

  “I see that there are demon rat quests up……”


  There were always demon rat quests. They came from the city.

  In fact, you didn’t even need to accept these quests to do them.

  You just hunted demon rats and brought in the magic stones and then you could collect your reward.

  On the other hand, I didn’t see any goblin requests.

  “At least it’s peaceful.”


  I decided to look for Ario and Josh. But I didn’t find them.

  Either they had already accepted a quest and left or they would come later.

  Or maybe this was their day off.

  Ario and Josh had killed many rats with us yesterday.

  It was probably better that they took time to rest.

  “Alright, let’s go. Grulf.”


  “Groof.”


  And so Grulf and I headed for the sewers.

  When we got to the entrance, it was even quieter than yesterday.

  “Grulf. Do you sense any rats?”


  “Grr?”


  It looked like he didn’t know.

  “We have to check and see if they aren’t multiplying again.”


  “Groof.”


  There had not been much time between Milka coming to the mansion and the sudden increase in demon rats.

  If they were still increasing at that pace, it was possible there were several hundred here already.

  And that was more than we could afford to ignore.

  It was possible that they would start attacking citizens.

  “I’m depending on your nose, Grulf.”


  “Grr!”


  Grulf was ready. He started to sniff around enthusiastically.

  “Groof!”


  “Over there?”


  Grulf began to run and so I followed him.

  We found two demon rats which I quickly dispatched.

  “I guess I should put the bodies in my bag……”


  But how would I deal with the bodies?

  I couldn’t burn them in the garden anymore.

  “I guess I could bring them to the guild, since it is only a few.”


  It would not be enough for them to consider raising my rank.

  After that, I continued to search the sewers with Grulf, but we only found about ten rats.

  That was normal. So they had not multiplied much at all. That was a relief.

  “Well, let’s go then.”


  “Groof-groof!”


  When we exited the sewer together, the sun was its highest point.

  “Ah, it’s lunch time. We should go and have something to eat.”


  “Groof!”


  “Anything you want to eat?”


  “Grrr?”


  Grulf pondered on this question.

  “Well, let’s start walking towards the food stalls for now.”


  “Groof.”


  “Let me know if you see something you want to eat.”


  “Groof!”


  Grulf wagged his tail vigorously.