In the deepest part, there was the skeletonized corpse of an adventurer, and a ring as blue as the sea on his finger caught my eye. I pulled the ring from the skeleton and checked it with [Appraisal].
[(A) Ring of Salvation] Blocks one fatal attack. (Cooldown: 30 days)
'Lucky!'
It was an item almost legendary in grade, but the 30-day cooldown left a bit of a regretful feeling.
'I'll use it myself. If I get abilities like [Regeneration] or [Indomitable], I should give it to Yunyun.'
There were no other special items. It didn't seem like any more good items would appear, so I stopped searching and came out. Coming outside, I saw Yunyun collecting the Manticore's tail.
"Huh? Why are you collecting that?"
"I learned in school that Manticore venom is an alchemy material that sells for a high price."
"Oh! Really? Got yourself a side income, huh?"
We stored the Manticore's scorpion tail in the inventory and had lunch a bit away from the nest that smelled foul. The menu was cheeseburgers.
'Maybe this really isn't so bad...'
Yunyun also always said the burgers were delicious, and sometimes ate two when hungry. So she said she looked forward to burger times. We haven't tried pepperoni pizza yet, but if cheeseburgers are this tasty, pizza would surely be delicious too. So I thought I should pick a day, gather people I know, and have a pizza party.
'Does cola not come out?'
We finished our meal, rested a bit, and moved to the Griffin's territory.
"Yunyun, can you use advanced magic now?"
"Yes! I leveled up and can use advanced magic too. I've seen a lot of advanced magic in the Crimson Demon village, so I can utilize it right away in实战."
"Great!"
Arriving at the Griffin territory and looking at the sky, we could see a Griffin flying. Unlike the Manticore, it was a monster with a quite handsome appearance. If the Manticore was a real kaiju-like creature, the Griffin, with its large, beautiful wings and sharp, elegant beak, seemed like a dignified and noble creature, like the king of the sky.
"Wow~! It's cool? Almost a shame to hunt it."
"Indeed. This is my first time seeing a Griffin too."
"Ah! Wait a minute, it seems to be flying towards us!?"
While Yunyun and I were admiring the Griffin, it seemed to have spotted us despite the considerable distance, as it suddenly looked our way and started flying towards us at high speed.
"Yunyun! It's dangerous!"
Swish~!!
I quickly hugged Yunyun and rolled to the side. The place where we were had gouged-out ground as if scratched by the Griffin, and the Griffin had already flown far into the sky.
"I take back saying it's cool!"
"Um..."
"Huh?"
"Your hand... a bit."
Looking at Yunyun whom I was holding, in my haste to hug her, one of my hands was clutching her chest. Yunyun looked at me with a red face, and I panicked and quickly removed my hand.
"Ahem... Sorry, it wasn't on purpose!"
"It's okay..."
Though I felt sorry towards Yunyun, given the situation, I looked up at the sky again. The Griffin was flying in circles in the sky. It seemed to be timing its attack.
"It doesn't seem to be over. Let's attack together when it attacks again, timing it right."
"Understood!"
I took a [Iaido] stance and gathered mana, and Yunyun also aimed her staff and prepared to use advanced magic. The Griffin circled in the sky, then started diving sharply, showing its sharp claws.
"It's coming!"
"Yes!"
The Griffin dove near us, then, perhaps sensing something was off, suddenly veered sharply to the side.
"Damn it! Yunyun!"
Light of Saber!
Yunyun also hurriedly fired magic, but missed. The Griffin flew back up into the sky and began circling again as if wary. We remained in that standoff for 30 minutes. The Griffin, perhaps knowing we were dangerous, only watched warily from the sky and didn't seem to plan on coming down anymore.
"Wow~ There's no way to do this if it's like this."
"What should we do now?"
"Let's hide first! Excuse me for a moment."
I picked up Yunyun again and ran into a nearby dense forest. This time I managed my hands well to not grab the wrong place, but Yunyun's face turned red again.
Stealth!
As soon as we entered the forest, I used [Stealth] and erased Yunyun's and my presence. The Griffin, seeing us enter the forest, began flying above the forest, perhaps looking for us. We went deeper into the forest, hid our bodies under a large rock, caught our breath, and discussed the plan ahead.
"Thinking about it, we could have gone somewhere else in about 30 minutes, but the Griffin stubbornly didn't leave and kept watching warily from the sky. I think there might be something in its nest it needs to protect."
"Then!?"
"I think there might be eggs or chicks? I'll go check and if there's something, I'll grab it and run back here. Yunyun, wait in this forest and ambush it when I give the signal."
Yunyun spoke with a worried face.
"The Griffin is incredibly fast, isn't it dangerous?"
"Don't worry! I'm fast too."
I reassured Yunyun and prepared to move.
"Yunyun, the Griffin is flying above this forest now, so when I move and the Griffin leaves, then you move."
"Understood. Please be careful."
I reduced my weight and used [Stealth] to quietly move towards the mountain with the steep cliff where the Griffin was initially flying. The Griffin, perhaps not having spotted me, was still looking for us above the forest where Yunyun was. I used that gap to go around the back of the mountain and started climbing the cliff to the summit. Thanks to the Kilo Kilo Fruit reducing my weight, it wasn't too difficult.
'Climbing a lot of mountains today...'
Reaching the summit, an incredibly large nest crudely woven from wood began to come into view. Hearing sounds from the nest, I cautiously approached and peeked inside. One adult Griffin was lying fallen. That Griffin's condition was very serious. One wing had patchy, sparse feathers, and one leg had a deep wound, dangling loosely. And, perhaps poisoned, it was lying down, drooling black, moist saliva from its beak, so it probably wouldn't live long.
'Looks like wounds from the Manticore. Was it revenge for its mate being attacked, not just a territory dispute?'
I could understand why the Manticore and Griffin fought so fiercely by looking at the nest. I climbed into the nest, cleanly beheaded the injured Griffin with one strike to end its suffering, and set the nest on fire. This way, the enraged Griffin would likely aggro onto me more effectively.
'I feel... a bit sorry.'
Perhaps because the nest was entirely dry wood, once the fire started, it quickly spread throughout the entire nest. The Griffin flying above Yunyun's forest seemed to have noticed something was wrong with its nest, as I could see it hurriedly flying towards the nest.
I prepared to climb down the cliff and run towards the forest where Yunyun was hiding.
Keeeeeek~~!
As expected, the Griffin circled around the nest, letting out an angry cry.
"Hey~! Over here~~!!"
When I shouted towards the Griffin, the Griffin seemed to have spotted me and flew over at high speed. I reduced my weight as much as possible with the Kilo Kilo Fruit and ran towards the forest where Yunyun was at my maximum speed. The Griffin, not to be outdone, began chasing me at a frantic pace. While running, I glanced back. The Griffin was catching up at an even faster speed, but as both our speeds were so fast, I soon reached the forest where Yunyun was hiding.
"Yunyun~! Now!!"
Yunyun, hiding in the forest, fired advanced magic at the Griffin in sync with my signal.
Light of Saber!!
The Griffin, perhaps due to anger, had narrowed vision and couldn't dodge Yunyun's magic, taking a direct hit.
Keeeeeek~~!!!
The Griffin, hit by Yunyun's Light of Saber, crashed to the ground, unable to overcome its momentum, rolled several times, and only stopped after hitting a tree with a loud sound. I slowly approached the Griffin to check its condition; it showed no movement, perhaps instant death.
"May you be reborn in a good place in the next life."
I offered a short prayer for its soul. Then Yunyun, hearing that, asked curiously.
"You offer prayers for the Griffin too?"
"Both are monsters, but with the Griffin, there's a feeling of hunting an animal that lives in harmony with nature, so I feel a bit sorry."
"I, I don't really get it."
Yunyun tilted her head, seemingly not understanding. Here, I could feel the difference between Earth and the Konosuba world. On Earth, with many animals going extinct due to environmental destruction, even animals threatening people are considered precious life, but in Konosuba, with many plants and animals still thriving, anything threatening people is just classified as a monster and targeted for extermination. Explaining this to Yunyun seemed somewhat complicated, and it wasn't really necessary for Yunyun, living in the Konosuba world, to know, so I decided to let it go.
"Anyway, let's head back now."
"Yes."
We returned to the Axel Town guild. Entering the guild, we saw Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin having dinner.
"Hey~ Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin."
"Ah, Cassian, Yunyun! Just back from a quest?"
"Yeah, we need to eat too, so we'll join you."
Then Aqua sighed and said.
"I want to take quests like Cassian and Yunyun too. Part-time work is too hard!"
"Can't be helped! Some Demon King general or something came, so there are no easy quests. Otherwise, go hunt Giant Toads or something."
"Let's stop with the frogs!" "Let's stop with the frogs!"
Aqua and Megumin simultaneously held their heads with dark expressions, looking pained.
"Why are they like this?"
"Ah, these two have frog trauma. They got grabbed head-first and covered in slime."
"Ahem..."
But Darkness wasn't visible, so I asked Kazuma.
"Where's Darkness?"
"Darkness said there were no quests, so she went home for a while to do muscle training."
"I see?"
Now that Kazuma and Megumin were firing Explosion magic once a day at the castle where Verdia resided, it seemed only a few days remained before the pissed-off Verdia would come looking for Axel Town.
"Yunyun, let's have dinner too. Order some food. I'll go report the quest completion and come back."
"Yes! Understood."
I got up from the seat and went to the guild reception, where Luna greeted me happily.
"Welcome, Cassian."
"Hello, Luna. I'm here to report completion of the Manticore and Griffin subjugation quest and also to sell the cut Manticore tail."
I handed my adventurer card to Luna, and as the Manticore tail was large, I placed it next to the guild reception counter.
"As expected of you, Cassian! Such a difficult quest, yet you completed it so quickly."
"Not at all."
"The reward for completing the Manticore and Griffin subjugation quest is 4 million Eris. As for the Manticore tail, we need to check the amount of venom, so it will take some time."
"Ah~ I see. Then please take care of it once it's confirmed. Also, these are adventurer cards I collected from corpses found in the Manticore nest."
I gave Luna the adventurer cards I collected from the Manticore nest. Luna took the cards I collected and checked them with a dark expression.
"Thank you for collecting the cards. I've confirmed them."
"Were any of them people you knew?"
"No, they seem to be adventurers from other towns. Our town is a beginner adventurer town, so almost no one takes high-difficulty quests like Manticores."
"I see."
Luna hesitated for a moment, then with a red face, said.
"A-and, um, are you free tomorrow? Lately, with the Demon King general's activities, quests have decreased, so I have some free time now. If it's okay with you, I'd like to treat you to dinner tomorrow evening..."
"Of course! I'm free tomorrow evening."
Luna smiled brightly when I accepted. My heart also fluttered at that smile.
"That's a relief. You've seemed busy lately, so I was worried you might refuse."
"I was actually thinking of taking a day off after taking quests for a while."
"Then let's meet at the guild tomorrow evening. I'll treat you to something delicious."
"Understood. Then I'll see you at the guild tomorrow evening."
Having made that promise with Luna, I returned to the table where Kazuma and the others were.