Eventually, it must have gotten impatient, because the salamander let out a cry and swung its long tail. When it did, the mucus that had been attached to its tail flew everywhere.
“Oh, shoot! Everyone, look out!” Dece shouted.
“Eek!” Julia screamed.
The highly acidic mucus rained down and struck the adventurers. It stuck to Dece’s shield, Iuno’s breastplate, the back of Febral’s vestments, and Julia’s long skirt, hissing and releasing an unpleasant smell as it dissolved the cloth and metal.
“Salamander mucus will melt flesh, too! Strip off any equipment it got on!” Febral shouted as he pulled off his top.
When they heard that, Dece dropped his shield and Julia stripped off her skirt, continuing to run with her underwear showing.
“Hold on, it got my breastplate!” Iuno shouted.
“Well, hurry up and take it off! If you don’t, forget your breasts, you’ll be showing your bare ribs instead!” Dece shouted.
“Urgh…”
With Dece shouting at her, Iuno stripped off her breastplate and shirt, going topless. She did her best to cover herself with her right arm while holding her short sword ready in her left, but she was turning bright red from embarrassment.
“Iuno, just go already! Mr. Kigurumi, are you all right?”
Once Dece confirmed that Iuno had started running, he looked over to Little Musashibo to find its face was covered in mucus.
“H-Hey! What’re you doing?! Take off that kigurumi already!”
“…”
Despite Dece’s worries, Little Musashibo shook his head back and forth. On a closer look, while he did have mucus on him, there was no sign of any melting.
“…Hold on, is your kigurumi acid resistant?” Dece asked.
“…” (Little Musashibo gave him a thumbs-up.)
Allow me to explain. For Little Musashibo’s “skin,” his well-paid creator had used his wages liberally, having nothing else to spend them on, and so it was made of special, high-quality, bladeproof, bulletproof, cold-resistant, heat-resistant, acid-resistant fibers.
For a moment, Dece was struck dumb. “Ha ha ha…! Okay, in another ten seconds, we’ll run, too. Get ready… Three, two, one.”
On the count of one, both of them turned on their heels and ran off. The salamander gave chase. However, perhaps due to the size of its massive body, it wasn’t very fast.
Just as they were thinking We may be able to escape!…the salamander swung its tail once more. Because it did it while running this time, the mucus splattered all over in random directions.
“Ugh!” Iuno howled.
“Iuno!” Dece shouted.
The mucus didn’t hit Dece or Musashi, but unfortunately it did graze Iuno’s leg. Iuno crouched down, holding her leg tight. It looked like she couldn’t move through the extreme pain. At this rate, it was going to catch up to them. That was when…
“…!” (Little Musashibo ran forward.)
“Uwah!” Iuno yelped.
…Little Musashibo lifted her up in his arms, throwing her into the wicker basket on his back. Then, with Iuno still in the basket, Little Musashibo ran off with slow, easy steps. Iuno poked her head out of the basket, looking at Little Musashibo’s face in profile as he ran.
“Uh, um… Thanks.”
“…” (Little Musashibo gave her a thumbs-up.)
Then, just in the nick of time, Dece and Little Musashibo ran through a narrow hole.
Having made the difficult escape from the salamander and returned to the surface, the adventurers made their report to the guild. While they hadn’t succeeded in slaying the salamander, their sighting report was deemed valid, and they were paid a hefty sum for it. It sounded like a subjugation force would be dispatched to deal with that salamander soon. Regardless, the quest was now complete.
With their reward in hand, the party set out to divide the spoils among themselves. However, for whatever reason, Little Musashibo made no attempt to take any for himself. Dece was at a loss for what to do.
“That’s not fair, we owe you for saving Iuno! Please, take your reward,” Dece pleaded.
“…” (Little Musashibo silently shook his head.)
“Are you really, really sure you don’t want any?”
“…” (Little Musashibo nodded. Then he waved, “Goodbye.”)
Little Musashibo walked away from the party with slow, easy footsteps. Julia and Iuno, who had already changed into fresh clothes, watched that man (?) go with bewildered looks on their faces.
“I wonder, what was that person (?) really?” Julia asked.
“Don’t ask me,” Iuno said. “Was that thing even a person?”
“I’ll bet there was a little fairy insiiiide…” Julia teased.
“I doubt it,” Iuno said. “But, if there was… I’m sure…”
I’m sure it was a good fairy, thought Iuno.
Little Musashibo departed, leaving behind only a mystery. Was the mage right, and was he a fairy?
And thus, another urban legend was born in the capital.
Within the large communal bath inside Parnam Castle…
In here there was the torso of a large-sized Little Musashibo soaking in a tub, Souma who was washing the acid and mud off of it, and Liscia who was watching him with a cold look in her eyes.
“…Is it just my imagination, or is it even bigger than when I saw it last time?” she demanded.
“That was a prototype,” he explained. “I used it as a model when I sent out the job request to craftsmen in the castle town.”
“Ah! Don’t tell me the ‘Kigurumi Adventurer’ they’re talking about all over town is…”
“Yeah, it’s probably this guy… Wait, Liscia? Why the scary look?”
“First the mannequin, now this! Are you trying to convince people that Parnam is the demon capital?!” she shouted.
“Ow, that hurts…! Wait, whoa!”
When Liscia threw a bucket at him, Souma ended up diving, clothes still on, into a cold water bath. While in the water, Souma thought back on everything Little Musashibo had experienced today.
I never would have imagined there was a giant creature like that under the capital. I’m glad we were able to find it before damage reports started to come in, but I put Iuno and her friends in danger…
He had optimistically assumed that even novice adventurers ought to be able to handle the wild animals living in there, so he had messed up and set the difficulty level too low. It had nearly meant adventurers dying needlessly on a quest that he himself had set. The reason he hadn’t taken the reward at the end was that he felt it was the least he could do after the trouble he’d caused Iuno and the others.
…Though the biggest reason was that it would be wrong to accept the reward for a quest he set himself.
Regardless, I really do have to reflect on what happened today. Though…
“Uh, um… Thanks,” Iuno had said.
When he recalled Iuno’s face when she shyly said that as Little Musashibo carried her, the corners of Souma’s mouth naturally rose a little.
…The adventure itself was fun. I hope I’ll get the chance to do it again.
That was what Souma thought as he sat there soaking in the dirty water.
Copyright
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1
by Dojyomaru
Translated by Sean McCann
Edited by Emily Sorensen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.