Chapter 312

In the end, nothing was learned about the attitude of the border guards in Casapisti, even after entering the town of Gagapoa to gauge the atmosphere.

Thus, it was decided to shift focus and quickly handle the business in this country.

To that end, instead of the usual leisurely flight, Tatsuro had Jeanne fly at high speed using Wind Magic to create a wind barrier, heading straight toward Banramonte.

Thanks to this, they arrived in less than a day at Banratesimo, the town closest to Banramonte Mountain—though still a fair distance away.

Stepping outside, Tatsuro and the others felt the cool air brush their cheeks as they walked toward Banratesimo.

The town had two gates, just like the previous one. Avoiding the Noble’s Private Gate, they joined the line, but since there weren’t many people entering the town, they reached the gate without much waiting.

“You’ve been to Gagapoa before, haven’t you? Do you need an explanation?”

“I understand the rules for each district clearly.”

“Very well. Then please wear this and proceed.”

The identification they carried bore the mark of the previous town, indicating their visit to Gagapoa. The middle-aged guard, noting this, offered an explanation, which Tatsuro declined.

They received a colored cord plate signifying their status and started to enter—when the guard suddenly called out to them.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot to mention…”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Actually, I was asked to tell any adventurers of Rank 4 or higher to stop by the Adventurer’s Guild. If you have the time, please do so.”

“Alright, understood. Is that all?”

Tatsuro sent a glance implying, Is there anything else? The guard replied, “That’s all,” so Tatsuro moved forward with the foot he’d already stepped out with.

The town they entered had a different overall layout, but the scenery of the Lower-Class Citizen District was not much different from Gagapoa’s.

Standing still at the entrance would cause an obstruction, so the group moved to an open area.

“They asked us to stop by the Adventurer’s Guild. What do you think? Should we go?”

“It doesn’t seem mandatory, but ignoring it feels a bit unsettling.”

“Then we go, yes?”

“Yeah. Let’s at least check it out.”

With that decided, they headed to the Adventurer’s Guild, located near the entrance, as was typical in other towns.

Upon entering, a male insectoid with four eyes arranged vertically in pairs looked at them, moving only the two left eyes, and gave a slight bow.

{Eek!? He’s got four eyes, Tatsuro!}

{Staring too much is rude. He seems to be an insectoid human.}

This was Ai’s first time seeing an insectoid, so she was a bit startled.

In this part of Casapisti, insectoids were surprisingly common, but they were a race rarely seen in Heldamdo or Libelhight.

This particular insectoid male had four arms, two legs, and four eyes, but otherwise, his form was mostly human-like.

It’s said that insectoids descended from insects typically have six limbs, but for those descended from spiders, like this man, the number of limbs decreased through evolution.

Ai was slightly nervous, but Tatsuro approached confidently.

Upon closer inspection, the man’s cheeks appeared somewhat gaunt.

“Is there something you need?”

“Yes. The guard at the gate told us that adventurers of Rank 4 or higher should stop by here.”

“I see. May I see your identification?”

“Here you go.”

Sensing no hostility, Tatsuro straightforwardly showed his Guild Card, which served as identification.

The insectoid man was first surprised by the unexpectedly high rank and then doubly shocked to learn that Tatsuro had a debt owed to the guild, his four eyes widening in astonishment.

Quickly regaining his composure, he looked at Tatsuro with resolute eyes and said:

“There’s something we’d like to discuss in the Guild Master’s office on the second floor. Would you be willing to hear us out?”

“Is this the kind of dangerous talk where once I hear it, there’s no turning back?”

“If you promise not to speak of it to others, you’re free to decline after hearing it. What do you say?”

“Let me consult with my group.”

“Of course. Please let me know once you’ve decided.”

Stepping away from the insectoid receptionist, Tatsuro and the others sat in chairs in a corner space to discuss.

“So, what do we do?”

“They said we could decline, so it’s probably a request, right?”

“It seems so. And the ‘don’t tell anyone’ part makes it a bit suspicious.”

“True. But it’s also intriguing.”

“Then let’s hear them out. If it’s just about keeping quiet, that’s easy enough, right?”

“Yeah. It might even connect to the reason behind the border guards’ behavior. Shall we at least listen?”

Jeanne and Amaterasu weren’t present, but they gave their approval. Tsukuyomi, inside the coat, flashed brightly, indicating no objections.

Ai and the others nodded in agreement, so Tatsuro decided to hear the proposal.

“Can we hear what you have to say?”

“…Then please follow me.”

The insectoid man stood, using the lower pair of his four arms to push off the counter, and led the way to the stairs to the second floor, ensuring Tatsuro and the others followed.

The interior of the Adventurer’s Guild seemed universally consistent, as the Guild Master’s office was in the same location as in other guilds they’d visited.

The insectoid man knocked with his upper right hand, and upon receiving a response, opened the door with his lower right hand.

“Guild Master, I’ve brought an adventurer of Individual Rank 6.”

“What, Rank 6? Let them in.”

“Yes. Please enter.”

Urged by the insectoid man, they entered the room, where a battle elf in his apparent forties, with black hair, a lean but muscular build, and both eyes closed, stood from his desk and moved toward a sofa, gesturing for them to sit.

Tatsuro and the others sat without hesitation, and the Guild Master sat across from them, still with his eyes closed.

“Nice to meet you all. I am Ippolito Bertone, the Guild Master of the Banratesimo branch of the Adventurer’s Guild.”

As Ippolito introduced himself, Tatsuro and the others took turns introducing themselves, occasionally glancing at his perpetually closed eyes.

“You seem curious about my eyes.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Due to an initial skill, I lost all my eyesight. And when I open my eyes—it looks like this”

“““““—!”””””

“—so I keep them closed. It tends to startle people, like yourselves, who see it for the first time.”

For about two seconds, he opened his eyes, revealing not empty sockets or darkened eyeballs, but a dense, black substance packed within.

“It’s hard to believe you can’t see anything when your movements suggest otherwise.”

“Indeed. While I cannot see, I can observe. These eyes are a consequence of a skill called All-Seeing Domain, which sacrifices my eyesight but allows me to observe everything within a 360-degree range, as if using high-level Magic Vision and Ki Vision simultaneously. I can also discern patterns or text on objects by sensing differences in their composition.”

“That explains it. I’m convinced.”

This skill, he explained, allowed him to adjust the range from five meters with his eyes closed to twenty-five meters with them open.

The drawback was that expanding the range burdened his brain, and while the 360-degree field of vision made ambushes from behind as clear as those from the front, anything beyond the effective range was completely invisible.

For a normal person, even with a narrower field of vision, they might see someone waving fifty meters away, but for Ippolito, it was as if nothing existed.

“So, about this matter you wanted to discuss—can you tell us?”

“Yes. First, I must ask that you agree not to speak of this to anyone, whether you accept the request or not.”

“Of course, that’s fine. I’m not one to blab anyway.”

“Then I’ll explain. —Currently, this country is facing an unprecedented crisis.”

“An unprecedented crisis? That sounds serious.”

“Yes. It all began when multiple subspecies of Shubelg Fungus were discovered in the forest along the path to Banramonte.”

“Shubelg Fungus… You mean the caterpillar-like monsters, not Imomu, right?”

Tatsuro recalled that in Obsul, the salt town they first visited in this world, a saltworker named Gaz had mentioned that the formal name for Imomu was Shubelg Fungus. He tilted his head, wondering what a mere subspecies of such a weak monster could do.

But it wasn’t that Shubelg Fungus.

“No, not the larval form, but the adult Shubelg Fungus, considered a type of insectoid dragon.”

“The adult form!?”

“The adult form!?”

That sounds kind of cool! Tatsuro and Ai thought, though they knew it was inappropriate, unable to hide their curiosity.

“Even the regular species is strong enough to hunt lower-class dragons, but the subspecies have enhanced flight speed and strength.”

“Multiple of those? That does sound dangerous.”

Still, Tatsuro and the others thought that as long as they stayed cautious, they could handle dozens of them.

But the real issue wasn’t the Shubelg Fungus.

“Indeed, but if that were all, the Adventurer’s Guild staff and the country’s soldiers could have dealt with it. However, when we sent staff to scout the forest to determine their numbers, every single one contracted a mysterious illness and died.”

“A mysterious illness… What were the symptoms?”

“At first, they seemed fine upon returning, but gradually, black spots appeared on their bodies. Eventually, their entire bodies turned black, like charcoal, and they died.”

“So it wasn’t an immediate death, but you couldn’t cure it or figure out what it was during that time?”

The term “mysterious illness” made it clear that its nature was unknown.

Tatsuro wondered why, with the Adventurer’s Guild’s connections, they hadn’t uncovered anything.

“It’s similar to Magical Power but distinctly different—an eerie energy that lodges in the body, corroding it from within and turning it black. The blackened parts gradually lose biological function, leading to death. By channeling Ki or Magical Power through their bodies, victims could slow the progression to some extent, but eventually, their reserves would deplete, and the blackening would resume. No treatment has been found…That’s all we know.”

“Is it a skill of the Shubelg Fungus, or is there something wrong with the forest?”

“It’s not certain, but it’s said that tiny particles, like dust detected through expanded Detection Magic, are floating throughout the forest. While the Shubelg Fungus subspecies are numerous and strong, it’s unlikely they could sustain a skill over such a wide area without rest. So, we believe this might be some kind of natural phenomenon.”

“One last question—does this illness spread from person to person?”

If it was contagious, Tatsuro decided they’d end the conversation, abandon the mountain, and leave the country immediately.

He couldn’t risk keeping Ai and the others near such a pathogen.

But Ippolito’s answer was “No.”

“We tested it with captured wild monsters, animals, and even death-row prisoners kept for such purposes, but there were no signs of transmission. For convenience, we call it Black Fungus. In the final experiment, we even grafted infected tissue onto another person’s body, but there was no reaction—it didn’t take hold.”

Tatsuro and Ai’s faces twitched at the casual mention of human experimentation, but they were slightly relieved to know it wasn’t contagious.

“So, what exactly is the request for us?”

“Ideally, we’d like you to investigate the cause so we can handle this if it happens again. At the very least, eradicate the pathogen. If that’s not possible, we ask that you exterminate all the Shubelg Fungus subspecies.”

“You’re telling us to just waltz into a place teeming with a mysterious, 100% fatal pathogen?”

With Leah’s All-Seeing Eye, they might uncover something, and worst case, they could burn the entire forest to eliminate the cause.

But the Shubelg Fungus was right in the heart of this pathogen-ridden area.

Tatsuro glared, slightly angry, at the idea of being sent into such an unknown, deadly situation with so little information.

“Oh, no, I apologize for the misunderstanding. There is a way to enter the forest without contracting the illness. The problem is that dealing with the Shubelg Fungus while in that state is too difficult for ordinary adventurers.”

“Is that so? What’s the method?”

“You must continuously emit Magical Power or Ki around your body without any gaps, or use a barrier-type skill to completely seal yourself off. Those are the two methods. We’ve tested this multiple times, so it’s certain.”

“Magical Power or Ki… Would Dragon Force work?”

“Oh! You possess abundant Dragon Force? Impressive! In fact, Dragon Force would be even safer, as its energy quality is entirely different. We’ve tested it with people who have even a small amount of Dragon Force, and it’s confirmed.”

“I see… Hmm.”

The preventive measure was akin to acting before a bathtub’s water drained completely after pulling the plug.

For an ordinary person, managing Magical Power or Ki wasn’t that precise, and they’d likely run out quickly.

Fighting multiple powerful monsters on top of that would indeed be tough, even for high-ranking adventurers.

However, for Tatsuro and Ai, as long as they stayed together, they could continuously supply Magical Power to Cardina and the others while recovering faster than they expended it, so it wasn’t an issue.

For Leah, though, relying on Ki or Magical Power was impossible—despite her high level and combat ability, her reserves and recovery speed weren’t exceptional.

But with Dragon Force, the situation changed.

Leah now possessed a vast amount of Dragon Force, which would last a considerable time.

This fulfilled the conditions for the entire party to operate in the forest.

Moreover, Tatsuro and the others were confident they could handle dozens of mid-tier dragon-level opponents with ease.

With that in mind, Tatsuro calmly began discussing with the group whether to accept the request.