Gather Divine Coins and Gacha! - Chapter 313

 "Hup!"

I swung my tail at the goblin's head, and it seemed to have landed a good hit, causing it to stumble slightly.

Shif immediately followed up with an attack, sealing the victory.

Well, the goblin probably didn’t feel like it was a match to begin with...

"Not bad, huh!"

Looking down, I saw the bodies of four goblins lying on the ground. Two of them had been taken down after I hit them with my tail.

Today, the apprentice adventurers had a day off. On days when they enter the forest, I refrain from hunting even when I'm not leading them, in case I cause any unintended disturbances. But today, I had no such worries and was conducting a practical test for the "Snake’s Tail" near the edge of the forest.

After several battles, I realized that my tail attack works well enough against goblins and wolves. It’s not strong enough to take them down in one blow, but it can at least stop them in their tracks for a moment.

Though hitting wolves is tricky because they’re fast, a sweep of the tail after charging into a pack using the "Crimson Bee's Sting" can act as a good deterrent. With a reach of nearly three meters, I can create enough space for Akame and the others to react, even if we’re caught off guard.

My control over the tail is still sloppy, and I haven’t fully tapped into its potential. But I can even grab branches with it. Once I master it, I might be able to pull off some interesting maneuvers.

I’d like to experiment a bit more, but… one pack of wolves and two groups of goblins... the numbers seem sufficient for now.

"Hup!"

I fired off a signal spell to call in the retrieval team. They should arrive soon, but in the meantime, I decided to do a bit more work.

"Hmph…!"

Focusing on controlling my tail, I wrapped it around the legs of the dead goblin. Then, dragging the body along, I gathered them all into one spot.

It’s less like "Snake’s Tail" and more like an issue with "Floating Ball," but the tail has enough strength to lift quite a bit of weight. However, while riding on the "Floating Ball," it can’t lift anything. It can still drag things, though.

A bit farther away, there were wolf and goblin corpses scattered about. I should clean those up too.

Up until now, whenever I defeated monsters outside, I would leave the bodies where they fell until the soldiers I called in for backup could retrieve them. I’m still leaving the retrieval to them, but I feel like I’ve leveled up a bit as a person.

◇

I’ve always relied on the soldiers to collect the bodies of defeated monsters, and the money from selling them has been their payment for the trouble. Monsters from the outskirts of the forest don’t fetch a lot, but it’s enough to cover the cost of drinks for the day, and they’ve always been happy with that. Lately, this has been especially true.

Recently, news of the high buyback price for Holy Coins spread among the adventurers, thanks to the branch chief. As a result, more people started selling to the lord, and some adventurers made a decent fortune.

Those adventurers, in turn, began investing in weapons and armor. Naturally, this created more work for craftsmen, and adventurers who gather materials saw an uptick in demand. Even though the profits from selling materials weren’t as high as Holy Coin sales, it still put some extra money into adventurers' pockets, which they spent on food and drinks, creating a mini adventurer bubble in the capital.

Since this surge was triggered by the Holy Coin buybacks, there’s concern the bubble might burst, or that greed could lead adventurers to venture too far into the forest. But Liesel and the others seem to have that under control.

The problem is that there aren’t enough craftsmen.

As the rainy season approaches, more requests for equipment maintenance will come in. Some adventurers will order new gear, but not all will. If there’s a delay in processing these requests, it could affect the security of the territory.

"So, what do we do?"

After returning from the hunt, I took a shower and went to the office where everyone was gathered. There, I was briefed on the current situation in the capital. Well, if we don’t have enough manpower, we’ll just have to bring it in from outside, right?

"You were planning to go to Zelkis at the end of the month, right? I want you to go there earlier," Seriana suggested.

It was a reasonable plan, but…

"That’s fine, but… weren’t their craftsmen supposed to come here during the rainy season? If we call them over now, won’t their adventurers be left in a bind…?"

If we force them to come too early, it might cause friction with Zelkis… What’s the plan?

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Sera・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】・【Floating Ball】【Shadow Sword】【Crimson Bee's Sting】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danlem’s Thread】【Snake’s Tail】・3 cards

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・38 cards

Eizen・【】・【Green Fang】・5 cards

Alec・【】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horn】・2 cards