Chapter 5 - The First Job
When Mercedes entered the Half Moon Pet Shop, she found that the shop was surprisingly clean. There were various baby animals inside the glass cases, which were cuter than she had expected. All of them were about the size of an adult cat or dog, with the largest one was about the size of a large breed dog from Earth. They were perfectly adorable in their size, but it still made her wonder if they were really babies. However, as you might expect, all of the animals they handled were categorized as monsters.
The black puppy with distinctive red eyes was listed as a Hellhound, and the puppy with three heads in the glass case next to it seemed to be a Cerberus. The one with two heads and a snake-like tail was an Orthrus. The one that looked like a normal puppy except for its dark green color was a Cù Sìth.
I've heard all of these names before in myths, but even these scary monsters are adorable when they're babies. It seems that many Seekers use these pets as companions when exploring.
Mercedes left the shop while considering the idea of keeping a pet if she had money to spare.
My next destination, Stark Dungeon, is located 36 kilometers away from the capital. The walking speed of a vampire is not much different from that of a human, around 7 kilometers per hour. The receptionist said it would take about five hours to get there on foot, so that calculation matched.
The speed of horse-drawn carriage is around 10 kilometers per hour, which means it will take around three and a half hours to get there. It may seem slow, but that's just how it is if it's not an express carriage. The round trip will take more than six hours even if I take a carriage, and it will be noon by the time I return.
Thus, Mercedes decided to just run there. After leaving the city, she did some light stretching to loosen up her body and checked the direction on the map. Then she put the map away, kicked the ground as hard as she could, and started to run.
Mercedes accelerated as if disappearing from the spot, creating a gust of wind behind her. The scenery flowed backwards at high speed, and she jumped over the rocks and trees that occasionally appeared in her path. When there were many obstacles, she activated Befreien to float and then launched herself forward.
Enjoying the feeling of being the protagonist of an action game, Mercedes maintained maximum speed as she headed towards the dungeon. Her current speed was roughly 1,150 kilometers per hour. If she went any faster than this, a tremendous impact would bounce back at her, causing unnecessary damage.
This is probably what they call a sound barrier.
Mercedes didn’t have a way to overcome it without risk, so this was her current speed limit. Nevertheless, going over 1,000 kilometers per hour was already more than enough. Only 120 seconds or two minutes after she departed, Mercedes had arrived at her destination, the Stark Dungeon. If she could have reduced the time lost due to obstacles, she might have been able to come faster, but for now, you could say that it was a good record.
“Now then....” (Mercedes)
Standing in front of the dungeon entrance, Mercedes looked around her surroundings.
This grassland seems to be a nice place to take a nap.... On second thought, if I actually try take a nap in a place like this, I'd probably get some bugs on me, so it probably wouldn't be that nice after all.
I can see what looks like a village a little distance away, but it’s probably just a rest area for the Seekers. The book said that resting spots like that were built near the dungeon and that you could take a break while conquering it.
Mercedes, who had not shed even a single sweat, didn't feel any need to go there at the moment. Instead, she focused her attention on the dungeon entrance.
It feels out of place to see a stone entrance standing alone in the middle of the grassland, but I guess that's just how dungeons are. Only the entrance is exposed to the outside, while the dungeon itself goes deeper underground.
Finished inspecting the entrance, Mercedes took out the mapping parchment and pen that the receptionist gave her, and stepped inside. The interior was also made entirely of stone, which really gave out a dungeon vibe. As she walked deeper, Mercedes could hear her footsteps echoing eerily. There was no light source. The surroundings was only dimly illuminated by the light coming from the entrance. The moment she turned a corner, it would be completely dark.
This is bad. Even vampires cannot see anything in total darkness. Our eyes are designed to be able to see in places with little light, not to see through darkness. I should bring a lantern next time.
Left with no choice, Mercedes turned back and snapped off some sturdy looking branches from a tree outside before re-entering the dungeon. She crossed two branches and pulled the branch in her left hand quickly to create frictional heat. It didn't work well at first, but after a few tries, the tree branch got hot and eventually it started to catch fire.
"Okay, let's go." (Mercedes)
I have a light source now. It probably won't last very long, but I should be able to explore the dungeon until I run out of branches. Even so, exploring while mapping with a fire in one hand is surprisingly tricky.
Mercedes made the burning tree branch float with gravity magic and started drawing a map.
I can't say it's very efficient. If I buy a lantern, I should get one that I can hang on my arm.
While Mercedes was drawing a map, the tree branch was about to burn out even though not much time had passed. Mercedes threw it on the ground, and as she put out the fire by stepping on it with her shoe, she wondered what to do.
"This is not good...." (Mercedes)
Mercedes felt the need to change the way she explored. In the darkness, she closed her eyes in deep thought, but couldn't think of a good way to do it.
If only I could use fire attribute magic, I wouldn't have to worry about light sources, but unfortunately, my attribute is earth. Oh well, there's no point in asking for something that doesn't exist.
"Speaking of attribute...." (Mercedes)
I remember that it was written on my guild card. My first attribute was earth and the second was wind. It's a stroke of luck that I was able to know my attributes without intending to. I wonder if I can do something with this wind attribute. I've never used wind magic before, but now that I know it's one of my attribute, I feel like I can grasp something.
While Mercedes was thinking about this, she heard the sound of stones falling from somewhere far away. The hearing of a vampire was much better than that of a human. If she concentrated, she could pick up even the smallest sounds. Suddenly, a brilliant idea crossed Mercedes' mind.
"Shall we give it a try?" (Mercedes)
Now that Mercedes had found out about her wind attribute, she had a feeling.... no, she was certain that she was be able to sense the power of the wind more strongly than before. Mercedes took a deep breath as she gathered magical power in her throat and visualized sound. After that, she imagined the sound coming from her mouth traveling through the air, running through the dungeon like wind, and reflecting back.
"────!" (Mercedes)
Mercedes emitted sound waves that inaudible to the human ear while concentrating all of her senses on her ears. By measuring the direction of the returning sound waves and the time it took for the sound to return, she was able to visualize the structure of the dungeon. Then after creating a map in her head, she quickly lit a fire and drew it on the parchment. Of course, Mercedes couldn't see the whole dungeon in one go, but it certainly did make things much easier for her. If she repeated this several times, she would be able to draw a complete picture of the dungeon.
*****
Thirty minutes had passed since then and Mercedes had succeeded in drawing a nearly perfect map by repeatedly emitting sound waves as she moved from one place to another. Mercedes had also found the stairs leading to the next floor, but she decided to not go down there until she finished mapping the first floor.
Mercedes emitted a sound wave that would likely be the last on the first floor. Then as it bounced back, she detected the presence of something big approaching her. Together with the sound of footsteps echoing, what appeared was a bipedal mole-like creature about two meters tall with a scar on its left eye, baring its fangs to intimidate Mercedes.
I don’t think it came to have a friendly talk....
For Mercedes, who was only about 130 cm tall, this monster was so big that she had to look up at it. Moreover, in her previous life, she was just an ordinary Japanese who lived in peace and had only seen animals much larger than herself in a place where safety was guaranteed, such as a zoo. Normally, one would feel threatened by such a creature, but Mercedes was surprisingly calm.
"This is indeed a fantasy world. When I decided to become a Seeker, I knew that I would have to fight monsters at some point." (Mercedes)
Mercedes threw the burning tree branch, which was a valuable source of light, to the floor. She also threw the map she was drawing behind her and then took a stance to fight the mole with her bare hands. But even though she was in some kind of fighting stance, Mercedes was a novice with no experience in martial arts at all. She only knew something that even a novice would know, like turning her shoulder towards her opponent to reduce the surface area to be targeted. In other words, this stance was mostly just a formality and had almost no meaning.
To defeat the mole, Mercedes couldn't rely on the techniques that she didn't have, so she had no choice but fight with only her physical specs. However, there was still a meaning in doing this. If she could fight with her bare-bones martial arts techniques, that would be a proof that the past few years had not been meaningless.
"Come on, I'll test my strength on you." (Mercede)
"Goruruaaa!"
The giant mole barked as if responding to the provocation. Watching the claws being swung down with a strangely calm feeling, Mercedes grabbed them to stop the attack. From there, it turned into a contest of strength. The mole was unable to move its arm at all. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't break free from Mercedes's slender fingers.
Mercedes, on the other hand, looked at the mole with a composed look on her face as she strengthened her grip, cracking the claws she was holding. Then, with a light pull, she lowered her hand, forcing the mole into a kneeling position before her.
“Goraaa!”
The mole attacked Mercedes with its free arm, but she also caught it with ease. Next it opened its mouth and bit into Mercedes' shoulder. In response to that, Mercedes tensed her shoulders and took the bite. The result was.... let alone her flesh, the mole's fangs couldn't even penetrate Mercedes' skin.
No matter how much strength the mole put into its jaws, it felt like it was biting into iron and it couldn't seem to break it. From there, Mercedes understood the difference in strength between herself and her opponent. Thinking that anything more would just be bullying the weak, she decided to finish him off.
For a moment, Mercedes' arm stops in hesitation. No matter how ferocious the monster, a life was a life. There was no way she wouldn't hesitate to take it. But that was all. As if shaking off her weakness, Mercedes drove a knee kick into the mole's defenseless stomach.
The mole's abdomen was crushed with such force that he spat out blood from its mouth as it let go of Mercedes' shoulder. At the same time, Mercedes removed her right hand from the mole and clenched her fist. The sound of bones creaking echoed dully, and blood vessels bulged out of her arm.
*punch*
The floor cracked as Mercedes stomped on it, and the mole's body flew into the air, leaving a trail of blood. The mole's body smashed the wall and was sent flying to the opposite passageway, then smashed the wall once more, and continued on to the opposite passageway, before finally stopped when it hit the third wall. The mole collapsed and completely stopped moving.
"Is it dead? No, I killed it...." (Mercedes)
Mercedes, realizing this fact, quietly closed her eyes and offered a silent prayer. Then, looking at her slightly trembling hands, she couldn't help but smiled.
Thank goodness....
Mercedes was slightly shaken by the fact that she had just killed a living creature, but at the same time, she also felt relieved that there was still a little humanity left in her cold heart.
"In the near future, I'm sure I'll get used to killing and won't feel anything...." (Mercedes)
Mercedes laughed mockingly at herself and wiped the sweat from her face.
This is what it means to live in this world.
This is what it means to kill.
One day, my heart will go numb, and what's left of my humanity will fade away.
But this is what I have decided.
I have no intention of turning back on the path I've chosen.
Forward, just keep moving forward.
I have no intention of stopping.
My life goes on.
Finished mapping the first floor of the dungeon, Mercedes walked down the stairs to the second floor without resting.