"...So you're not planning on hiding the storage magic?"
"Yes. If we hide this, we will have almost no ability to bring back materials, and our earnings will drop drastically. That means we won't be able to earn much from the regular rewards as novice hunters." (Marcella)
"…………" (Everyone)
Everyone was convinced by Marcella's explanation.
No matter how high your offensive power was, as a rookie hunter who could not accept high-ranking extermination requests, you were useless if you did not have the ability to bring back the prey you hunt.
They understood that.
I understood that, but...
"...You'll be targeted. Whether it's in the sense of solicitation or kidnapping..."
"What, now… Until now, that's never happened? And now we're alive, right? ...So that's what I mean... Besides, you think you could kidnap three mages who could use chantless magic to instantly kill an opponent with a single blow, and sell them off? Even if you gag them or crush their throats, there's no point in chanting magic. I'll keep pretending to be a cat until the deal is done, and then I'll catch everyone at the transaction site in one fell swoop." (Marcella)
"…………" (Everyone)
It's not like there's a magical collar that made it impossible for them to resist their master, or slave magic that engraved a slave crest on them, or anything convenient like that. Counterattacks were possible in an instant with chantless magic.
"So not only can you use chant-free magic, you can also use chantless magic... I guess it can be used..."
The leader slumped his shoulders in disappointment.
The two female mages from the Goddess's Heroes, who had intended to look after the rookie young magician for a while so that she wouldn't die too soon, also slumped their shoulders in disappointment.
They had thought they would look after him, but they found out that the person they were going to look after was far superior to them...
Moreover, the other party were minors.
They were extremely depressed.
"Anyway, it achieved everything I wanted to achieve... no, it achieved even more than that. This concludes today's joint orders, so let's go home." (Marcella)
The members of Winter Castle and Goddess' Heroes nodded weakly in response to Marcella's words...
"What the heck is this?!"
The foreman of the slaughterhouse let out a loud cry when he saw the six orcs and four ogres piled onto the floor.
That's not surprising.
A storage magic with an insanely large capacity.
And there was a trio of young girls who seemed to have almost no fighting ability, except that one of them was a user of storage magic.
While protecting those three, there was simply no way the two parties could hunt down all the orcs and ogres together...
"Oh, so you guys hunted this many by yourself?"
The storage magic was surprising, but it seemed the sheer number of orcs and ogres had a bigger impact on him.
If you hunted three orcs, you got more meat than you could carry, so it's normal to fight once and then go home.
Therefore, for a moment, he probably misunderstood that there was this much prey in one battle.
"…Ah, I see! They all appeared at the same time! If there’s someone with a crazy amount of storage, they can carry everything back even if they fight multiple battles, so there’s no problem! Aaah~! When you have someone with storage, common sense goes for a walk! You fought three orcs twice, and two ogres twice... However, you brought along a young apprentice and does something reckless... No, maybe you were trying to show off your good side since you had apprentices. You idiot, if you try to look cool and impress a cute girl, you'll probably die! You guys are free to die if you want, but don't drag these girls who have the potential to grow into beautiful women into this!"
They had been acquainted for a long time. The chief was familiar with the capabilities of the Winter Castle and the Goddess' Hero.
So, he knew that four consecutive battles, including one against ogres, would exceed the joint party's tolerance limits.
This time, it was just luck. It's only natural to conclude so.
"…………" (Everyone)
After he reprimanded Winter Castle and the Goddess' Hero, and repeatedly told things like "you're cute" and "you'll grow up to be a beautiful woman," Wonder Trio were left feeling down and blushing, and in a mess.
Even a fairly high-ranking hunter would usually be unable to stand up to the person in charge (boss) of the slaughterhouse.
At worst, even the guild master could be affected.
This was not surprising, as the boss of a butchery was often a retired hunter, be it a senior who took care of them when they were just starting out, an instructor during their training, or a former high-ranking hunter who saved them from peril in the forest.
It's the same pattern as that guy at the purchasing counter.
"Hmm, that's a good way to start. You guys have really improved your skills..."
And the chief said this while looking at the cut of the ogre.
The chief, who had never seen a cut made by high-pressure water mixed with silicon carbide, assumed that the cut had been made by a swordsman with a raised skills, and that the hole made by the rock javelin had been made by a spearman...
The dismantling yard manager's eye for this was completely flawed.
"…………" (Everyone)
And the members of the Winter Castle and the Goddess' Heroes looked down with slightly red faces.
Even if they were praised for something they didn't do, they just feel embarrassed and didn't feel happy or anything.
However, even if they tried to correct the chief's misunderstanding, if they explained it poorly, they would be committing the biggest taboo for a hunter: leaking secrets of other hunters that they had learned in the course of work.
Of course, secrets also include fighting styles, special skills, and weaknesses.
This was only natural, as leaks of such information could mean the difference between life and death in human-to-human combat.
...Especially for female hunters who were easily targeted by illegal slave hunters or unscrupulous men...
So even if they wanted to correct the mistake, they couldn't.
Even if there was a risk of being attacked just for the storage magic that she had no intention of hiding, what was the point in specifically advising her to "attack from the front, because you'll be counterattacked with offensive magic, it's better to use a surprise attack or a flanking move"?
"…………" (Everyone)
And so, an uncomfortable moment passed for all the Hunters...
"...Is it really okay to do this without getting a share of the extermination reward? You guys defeated all four ogres... Or rather, it would have been tough for just us to take on four ogres. At best, we could have had several people seriously injured, at worst, we could have had fatalities, and at worst, we could have been wiped out. And yet, you didn't get a share..."
"For a Hunter, a contract is absolute."
The Wonder Trio interrupted their opponent and insisted that, as per the original agreement, all of the rewards from the subjugation should go to Winter Castle and the Goddess' Hero, refusing to back down.
It seemed that the Winter Castle and the Goddess' Hero felt sorry about this, but that didn't mean that the Wonder Trio had made zero profits, of course.
They had made a proper promise that "After the two parties had collected as many materials as they could carry home, we would then strip them of their own materials", so most of the materials from the orcs and ogres ended up becoming the property of the Wonder Trio.
Of course, they didn't actually cut it up on site, but rather distributed the money according to the self-reporting of "We can probably carry this much of this part home", but out of six orcs and four ogres, seven men and two women, how much could they carry back from the forest to town?
Yes. In reality, most of the profits from the sale went to Wonder Trio.
It was a cowardly easy money and a total profit...
"Then, until Adele and the others arrive, we'll use this town as my base to take on various requests, become more familiar with the situation here than everyone at Crimson Vow, and then we'll be able to take the lead in our activities!" (Marcella)
"Ohhh!!" (Other 2)
In this way, the Wonder Trio steadily accumulated points needed for promotion...
Author's Note
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