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n“That’s the fifth one…” Ryouma

nThe rimel birds would find the target from the sky, then I would send the slimes to search the area, and then I would com to confirm their findings and record the location. With everyone working together, we were able to find the tunnel ant nests throughout the plains quickly. All that’s left now is to report our findings and I could technically end the job here, but being able to complete the job so easily kind of leaves me feeling unsatisfied.

nAlthough my job is just to find the nests, since I still have plenty of strength to spare, why don’t I prepare a more detailed report? I think it would be great if I could find out the size of each nest, as well as the number of enemies. If I send the slimes in, I should be able to investigate the nests as well. But if I did that, then they would surely encounter an enemy ant. In that instance, we’re likely to end up fighting them.

nIt wouldn’t be a problem if I could wipe the tunnel ants out, but if there’s a lot of them, some of them might slip through and run away. Especially, since tunnel ants are monsters that can travel underground… “Search.” Ryouma

n“…No good, huh.” Ryouma

nThe flow of mana is too complicated. Probably because the tunnels inside the ant nest are too narrow. I can’t use the spell on anything other than the entrance. If I try to use the spell while visualizing the tunnel and pouring in a lot of mana, I’ll end up using too much mana.

nI continued to worry like that for 5 minutes when I accidentally stepped on the dug out earth, and a clear footprint was left behind.

nHmm? Maybe…

nAlright. Let’s give it a shot.

nI used my search spell once more, but this time I used it with earth-attribute mana. I used the same image I would use when casting Rock or Break Rock and imagined my mana spreading into the ground.

n“Search… Oh!” Ryouma

nIt worked!

nMy mana passed into the ground and spread, reaching places with no earth. Through the wide open empty space that I could sense from the scope of my search spell, I was able to understand the shape of the nest. I’m not detecting any tunnel ants.

nI’m not searching inside the nest, so I can’t tell the exact number of enemies, but I can tell that the ants haven’t been provoked yet. Also from the size of the nest and a tunnel ant, I can give a rough estimate of how many can fit in the nest.

nI made sure to make a rough model of the shape of the nest to ensure that I don’t forget it. It was simple enough with the Rock spell. I also noted down the time the data was procured… Good. From here on, I’ll also search the nests with the earth-attribute Search spell…. Calling it Earth-Attribute Search sure is a mouthful, though. It’s a Search spell, but it doesn’t use neutral-attribute mana. Oh, I know. From now on, I’ll call it Earth Sonar.

n“Alright! Let’s go to the next nest!” Ryouma

nI took the slimes with me and went to the next likely location.

nRight, left… There are many paths I could take, but which one should I go for? Huh?

nOn Eins’ eyes was reflected a smallish cart pulled by a group of 6. Judging from the stature of the 6, they seem to be children. I feel like I’ve seen them before somewhere… Ah! I know! It’s Berk’s group.

n“I should greet them.” Ryouma

n“Hey!” Ryouma

nThe six of them seemed to be taking a break, so I approached them with a loud voice, so as to not scare them.

n“Ryouma? We’ve been bumping into each other a lot lately, haven’t we? …Are those your slimes behind you?” Berk

n“Well, we do live in the same town. These are my metal slimes and iron slimes.” Ryouma

n“As usual you sure have a lot of them…” Wist

nWist-kun’s face was cramping as he said that. I wonder if he’s bad with slimes.

n“So, what’s your business here?” Berk

n“I’m looking for tunnel ant nests. Tamer Guild work. I just happened to see you guys, so I called out… Are you here for the tunnel ants too?” Ryouma

n“We’re here to exterminate them. Sort of.” Martha

n“Our real objective is to acquire the carapace of the tunnel ants… Desu.” Finia

nThese guys should be the half elf, Martha, and the half dwarf, Finia. They came here for the carapace?

n“A member of the senior group entered into apprenticeship as an armor craftsman. He told us that if we brought him materials, he’d make us armor at an affordable price.” Ruth

n“He might say that it’s just for practice, but the senior craftsmen have already acknowledged his abilities! He’s the real deal!” Rumil

nThe two Dog-Man Tribe pair of older brother and sister added.

n“It’s just as Ruth and Rumil said. Ant carapace is lighter than metal and sturdier than leather, so it can be used to make armor and shield. If we can get a lot of materials, we’ll get some discounts, and we can also get paid for the ants that we kill, so I thought of using this chance to get everyone outfitted.” Berk

n“And besides… W-We used to frequently get herbs from these plains… So, it would be nice if it could go back to the way it was sooner…” Wist

n“I see.” Ryouma

nI see their cart has only one tunnel ant corpse, though.

n“But yeah… As you can see, we’re not exactly doing so well.” Berk

n“We just can’t seem to find any tunnel ants…” Wist

n“I guess we really should have gone in the evening.” Ruth

n“That is what the big sister at the guild says… desu.” Finia

n“But the night is dark, and there’s no telling just how many ants will come out during it.” Rumil

n“Yeah. If there’s too many, it’ll be a huge problem…” Berk

nIt seems they took their safety into consideration too…

n“Want me to point you to where the ants are?” Ryouma

nI tried suggesting.

nMy job is to ‘find the nests’. I just need to find them. There’s no need to destroy them too. But approaching a nest means I have to kill the guards watching the entrance, so I could leave the extermination of the guards to them whenever I approach the nest if they want.

n“…That would help us out for sure, but why would you do that for us?” Berk

n“Hmm… Cause I feel like it.” Ryouma

nAlthough our encounters with each other weren’t exactly very good, they have been working hard. Seeing them like that has made me want to cheer them on. That’s all.

n“What a weird guy… But, fine. If you’re willing to lend us a hand, we’re not one to shy away.” Berk

nBerk then told everyone that break was over.

nI don’t know why, but they seem fired up.

nWith 6 more members in tow, I went back to work.

n“Alright!” Berk

nAfter grouping up with Berk’s party of six, we are now heading to our seventh nest. We defeated a guard just now, which is why Berk was celebrating. Berk and his friends have been fighting proactively all this time, but as for me, I’m just the guy carrying our luggage. He said they wouldn’t shy away from help, so I thought he’d rely on me more, but all they’re really relying on me for is to find the nests. But even that is being done mostly by my monsters, so you could say I’m not really doing anything.

n“Ryouma, the next one is last.” Berk

n“You’re done already?” Ryouma

n“We have enough materials already and our cart is full.” Berk

nThey’ve already loaded their cart with 12 tunnel ant corpses. Although they could still load their cart with more if they just removed the carapace first, a poorly done removal would affect the quality, so the craftsmen advised them not to. I don’t have any experience dismantling tunnel ants either, so I better refrain as well.

nI could store the corpses inside my Item Box, but then I’m not so sure if I’ll be able to get back before it starts to get dark.

n“Alright then.” Ryouma

nWe loaded the tunnel ant we just killed and resumed moving. We didn’t hurry or anything. We just walked leisurely toward our next nest.

nStill, I can’t believe there are so many nests. I guess they really are in their breeding period.

nIt’s common for ant-type monsters to have a queen. But Tunnel Ants don’t seem to care about that and just build nests and breed everywhere. In their case, queens only appear when the infestation is really bad.

n“…It should be around here.” Ryouma

nWhile the 6 adventurers were preparing, I used Earth Sonar to craps the position and size of the nest.

n…?

n“…Berk. I don’t think this nest will do.” Ryouma

n“Is it too big?” Berk

n“The opposite. This one is smaller than everything else so far. The distance from the entrance to the deepest part isn’t long. It’s likely that if we attack, it won’t end with just the guards at the entrance.” Ryouma

nAbout a third of the usual size, I estimate. Although the nest being small also means that there aren’t that many ants inside, considering the performance of Berk’s group until now, the most they can take on is about 3 or 4 at the same time at most.

n“Shall we go for a different nest?” Ryouma

n“About that… Actually, we do want to familiarize ourselves with fighting multiple opponents. Can you give us a sec?” Berk

nBerk and his friends huddled together and talked. After a while…

n“Ryouma, we want to fight. Something like last time might happen again, after all.” Berk

nI see. Well, it should be fine against the tunnel ants.

n“In that case, I’ll be fighting too.” Ryouma

nIf they really can’t handle it, I’ll step in.

n“Are you sure?” Berk

n“Supporting you a little should be fine.” Ryouma

n…This reminds me of my time at my workplace in my past life.

nYou can find people like Berk or my former subordinates wherever you look, but that’s only normal. After all, it’s a given for beginners to be sloppy. There’s no one who’s good from the start. You might find someone good at dealing with things and quick to learn, but no beginner can do a good job right off the bat. The only ones who can do a good work right after employment are those with previous experience from working at another company.

nBecause of that new employees had to be trained by the company, and I myself watched over them for a few years. Unfortunately, I was lacking in leadership and the only thing I could really be proud of was my patience.

nA proper employee could complete about 10 jobs in a day, but a beginner could only do about 1 at most and in some cases even none. My quota for each day would be to complete 10 jobs, and the boss would expect 10 from the new employees, but they obviously couldn’t finish all 10. As a result, I had to complete 19 jobs in total.

nSince they can’t complete their quota, when training them, I start by ensuring that they would at least be able to do that 1 job properly. Once they’re capable of doing that consistently, I increase their load to 2. There’s no point in giving them more work if they can’t even complete a single job, after all. Although 19 jobs is a lot, it’s still better off than 20. The new employees can gradually make their way up to 10.

nIf their work is lacking somewhere, I compensate for it. If they makes a mistake, I point it out. If they have a question, I answer it. No matter how many times they blunder or how many times they ask the same question, I would help them.

n…Berk and the others aren’t that strong yet, and it’s still hard for them to find the nests on their own, but they can kill the tunnel ants in front of them.

nSo I should help them learn fully how to fight against the tunnel ants. There’s a lot they can learn from that. Like the way to move their bodies and how to coordinate. Once they’ve grasped that then we can search for a different enemy or I can start teaching them how to find a nest.

nTo that end, I’ll cover the parts they’re lacking.

nMy subordinates at the time were about three at most and they tended to leave their work unfinished.

n“Ryouma? What’s the matter?” Berk

n“…It’s nothing.” Ryouma

nI was just thinking some unnecessary things. Berk and his friends aren’t my subordinates, so they don’t count. They’re different from them.

nAs I concluded my thoughts, I took out another Iron Slime. I transformed it into a katana and prepared to enter battle.

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