So, Iâve completed all the preparations! Take a look at this, itâs the magic armor armed with special equipment!
In its hand was a large-sized fishing rod, made of magic steel! It was naturally enhanced for durability and such. The reel had a built-in motor for automatic winding!
The fishing line was made of magic steel wire, handwoven using the [Steel Thread Creation] skill! Itâs also reinforced for durability!
Iâve switched out the leg components for a special type with a large caterpillar track to ensure it wouldnât lose strength when reeling in. And to help with the heavy lifting, Iâve added two additional high-capacity batteries to its back!
As a bonus, Iâve wrapped steel wire around the torso of the magic armor to get Norn to assist me! â¦Yeah, I might have gone a bit overboard with this.
Well, at first, I did consider making a rod out of bamboo or something, but when I reverse-engineered it based on the size of the head I saw earlier, the magic beast was probably around 6 meters or so.
With a size like that, bamboo wouldnât cut it for reeling it in. Plus, the magic armor required quite a bit of power, and if it turned into a pulling contest, it might break. I had to consider durability and various factors, and this was the result.
And even with the magic armor, it was still iffy whether I could reel it in, so I added the wire for Norn to help us out.
By the way, I quickly completed the equipment while hiding it from Lily and the others in that shady spot over there.
âWell then, letâs give it a try.â
âDo your thing.â
âGood luck.â
â¦It seemed like the two of them just stopped thinking altogether. I feel kinda bad.
Now, letâs focus and get back to turtle fishing. For bait⦠I might as well use some of the tons of Goblins I have in [Storage]. Theyâre not edible for humans, but among magic beasts, they might be considered a delicacy, probably.
So, letâs cast it right away! Hyup! Splash! â¦That was a loud splash. Is this really okay? â¦Well, whatever, letâs not worry about it and wait for it to bite.
â¦â¦â¦
â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦
â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦
Oh, itâs here! Itâs biting! Time to reel! Wait⦠the reel is not turning at all! No, at first, I was able to reel it in properly, but then it suddenly stopped⦠Aaah, itâs pulling hard! Am I going to lose? If I keep going like this, it might pull me in!?
Alright, activate the caterpillar track, move! If I can just up in one goooâ¦!
Screeeeeeeeeeech! Screech, screech, screech, screech!!!
It started well, but then it became a deadlock, and slowly but surely, I was being dragged inâ¦! Aaah, Norn! Nooorrn! Help! Heeelp!!!!
â¦
â¦â¦
â¦â¦â¦
Afterward, with Nornâs help, I managed to slowly pull it up, and when the front half of the large turtle monster emerged on land, Arisa attempted to decapitate it but only managed to inflict minor wounds.
Norn latched onto its neck to prevent it from retracting, and my magic armor quickly switched to a Halberd, striking the neck multiple times until it successfully severed its head. We somehow secured the victory.
ââ¦We somehow beat it, huh?â
âRather than beating it, itâs more like⦠we fished it maybeâ¦?â
âWe successfully eliminated it, so itâs a victory!â
ââ¦Yeah, youâre right.â
Hey, Arisa? Can you stop sulking just because you couldnât contribute much?
âI⦠didnât do anythingâ¦â
See, even the one who couldnât contribute even more than you is sulking now! Geez!
As I comforted the sulking Lily, the presence of several people and commotion approached from the direction of the town.
Oh no!! Did the sound of the caterpillar treads on the modified magic armor reach all the way to the town!? Thatâs bad!
I hastily stored the magic armor in [Storage] and used earth magic to quickly even out the disturbed ground, erasing any evidence of the incident. With some effort, we managed to conceal the situation from the people who had rushed to the scene.
Phew, that was close.
You might wonder why I needed to hide it. Well, itâs not like I want to draw attention to myself, so thereâs no need to show off to everyone, right? As long as I confirm the extermination at the guild, there shouldnât be any issues.
By the way, the people who arrived were a few staff members from the Adventurerâs Guild and a group of adventurers. It turned out they were a party led by Rad and Nell, the adventurers I saved during the Goblin Legion incident.
They had coincidentally returned to the guild to discuss something with the guild staff when they heard that a party was heading out to deal with the large magic beast, which turned out to be us. They offered to assist the guild staff as a way to repay their debt of gratitude or something like that.
I didnât dislike people who are honorable like that, but it does make things a bit complicated. Not that I feel guilty, but I do have a lot of secretsâ¦
âWith all said, itâs quite impressive that you managed to defeat such a large magic beastâ¦â
âIt was tough, but we made it, somehow.â
ââ¦Looking around, it doesnât seem like you used any large-scale magic or anything, so how exactly did youâ¦? Oh, itâs not like Iâm prying for an answer, so you donât have to tell me. In fact, please donât. Itâs just idle curiosity. Besides, adventurers should keep their trump cards hidden.â
âYouâre right.â
Yeah, I never intended to spill the details from the beginning. The guild staff members behind Radâs group looked awfully interested in the details, but Iâm pretending not to notice.
â¦I guess they probably wanted to gather information on what kind of skills I have, which could make it easier to recommend stagnating quests and such. Lily mentioned something like that before.
Knowing about unique skills could apparently lead to troublesome quest recommendations or peculiar nominated quests.
The guildâs regulations stipulated that only adventurers with at least a C-rank were eligible for nominated quests. However, if you had unique skills, you could occasionally receive special exceptions and be personally requested for a job.
By the way, declining a nominated request didnât affect your quest completion rate, but it could impact your internal evaluation by the Adventurerâs Guild.
Hmm⦠Iâm not sure if I want to deal with all that hassle. Maybe Iâm fine just staying as a D-rank adventurer forever? It didnât seem like being a D rank had any particular disadvantages. Okay, Iâm technically still an E-rank.
To advance to C-rank or higher, you need to accumulate achievements and then take a promotion exam. Itâs not just about combat skills; they assess various aspects like other skills and your personality.
However, similar to my earlier thoughts, some adventurers choose not to take the promotion exam even if they have the skills because they want to avoid being nominated for jobs.
So, while contemplating these matters, I was comforting Lily, who was still a bit sulky, and attempting to escape the reality of dealing with the corpse of the large magic beast. I failed⦠Maybe I should have just stored it along with the magic armorâ¦
â¦Seriously, what do I do with this thing?1