Volume 3, Chapter 7 – Slimes and Calamity

“What a disaster…”

Yisi, sitting sideways on the carriage, murmured in agreement, unconsciously swinging her dangling legs.

Beside them, another male member of the Flame Conquerors snorted coldly.

“It’s all because of that Flame Giant from a few days ago spreading calamity. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have come out here to hunt slimes.”

“Wait, a Flame Giant?” Catching the keyword, Yisi immediately perked up. She sat up straight and pressed for more information. “What does it have to do with spreading calamity?”

The handsome Ainos was the one who answered.

“Miss Yisi may not know this, but as an adventurer from Antonio City, I was fortunate enough to have witnessed the Flame Giant’s appearance. Although it’s called a giant, its form was no different from a slime. If I were to describe it, its body was several times larger than the giant flame slime we just fought.”

Pausing with lingering fear, Ainos continued.

“After the Flame Giant successively ravaged Hermion City and the Antonio Forest, and finally evaporated Antonio Lake, a strange disease appeared in Antonio City. Anyone who contracts this disease will die within three days at most. At first, they develop a high fever, then their whole body swells up. For some, it takes less than half a day before they start bleeding from all seven orifices and die while vomiting blood.”

“Other than Winterbloom Grass, only magic potions have any effect. The people from the Church said this was a calamity brought by the Flame Giant. The day after the Church reached this conclusion, the Count posted a notice at the Adventurer’s Guild, offering a high reward for hunting slimes. It’s said that this measure is to be implemented throughout the entire domain to curb the spread of the calamity.”

“That’s all a trick by the Church. The way I see it, this has nothing to do with a calamity brought by the Flame Giant; they’re two completely different things. Didn’t the rats in the backstreets say so? Long before the Flame Giant even appeared, some of the vagrants in the backstreets were already calamity-clad. It’s just that the calamity broke out after the Flame Giant disappeared, and the Church couldn’t contain it, so they shifted the blame onto the Flame Giant.”

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Lala curled her lip, dismissing the theory that the Flame Giant caused the calamity.

Yisi fell silent.

The words ‘Calamity Affliction’ were not unfamiliar to her. Mary’s high fever last night was a symptom of it, and Yisi had already suspected that Mary had been infected by the slime girl. Now it seemed that ‘Calamity Affliction’ wasn’t just a representation of one’s luck stat, as the name might imply, but a virulent infectious disease that had been misnamed.

The next thing to consider was the relationship between the Calamity Affliction status and the Flame Giant.

If it was an infectious disease, Yisi couldn’t connect it to the Flame Giant at all. What kind of bacteria or virus could survive the high temperatures of a Flame Giant? That temperature was infinitely close to magma. Considering the fact that the Church had mislabeled the Fallen, Yisi was more inclined to believe Lala’s words over the Church’s explanation.

That is, the Flame Giant had no connection to the calamity.

Of course, even after reaching this conclusion, Yisi wasn’t going to pretend nothing had happened.

When I investigate the Flame Giant later, I should pay some attention to the origin of this calamity. It would be troublesome if Mary or Camilla got infected in the middle of the night.

Lala’s words caused Ainos’s expression to darken.

“Miss Yisi will probably see the effects of the calamity in the coming days. Those people in our group who were swallowed by the giant slimes, although they survived because the slimes didn’t have time to digest them, they won’t be able to go much further. It’s been like this these past few days. Anyone who comes into contact with a slime becomes infected with the calamity and dies in less than a day.”

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“Ugh.”

Is this guy serious?

Yisi stopped swinging her legs, her eyebrows rising in a strange arc. At the same time, she opened her Omniscient Map and began to search for people with the ‘Calamity Affliction’ effect in their status bar—there were five in total.

“Let me just ask, the calamity doesn’t spread from person to person, right?”

“Is Miss Yisi referring to infection? I don’t think so. Previously, someone in our guild was infected with the calamity and stayed in the guild hall for two days before leaving, but no one else showed the same symptoms. It’s said that only those who have had contact with slimes get infected.”

“I see. That’s good.”

Yisi instantly felt the sensation of viruses swimming in her nose disappear. If it wasn’t transmitted from person to person, then it was manageable.

“Sigh, I wonder when days like these will end. I’d rather take on a big job than hunt slimes. Something like an earth dragon or a swamp python. The reason I became an adventurer was for the thrill.”

Lala let out a long sigh, drawing a scoff from the other man next to her.

“Give it a rest. Earth dragons and swamp pythons are monsters over level 30. You wouldn’t even be a mouthful for them. Instead of indulging in unrealistic fantasies, you’d be better off trying to catch a humanoid slime. Isn’t there a notice on the board? If you subjugate a humanoid slime, you get a reward of five gold coins. That’s five gold coins! How many quests would we have to do to earn that much?”

“Kuro, don’t get carried away. Humanoid slimes are hunters more cunning than humans. Their subjugation difficulty is at least Mithril-rank. We’d just be throwing our lives away if we found one.”

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Ainos lectured his companion in a serious tone. The man just shrugged noncommittally.

Not dwelling on this for too long, Ainos shifted the topic back to Yisi’s earlier performance.

“Speaking of which, Miss Yisi, your actions earlier—rescuing three of our companions regardless of the danger, and then knocking the magic core down with your spear—were truly perfect. Your fluid movements put even me to shame. If it weren’t for your selfless act making me, someone who wants to be a knight, feel ashamed, I wouldn’t have used my ultimate move at the end. Thank you, Miss Yisi, for helping me understand the sacrifice mentioned in the knight’s code.”

No… that couldn’t be called selfless at all.

While Yisi was trying to choose her words, Ainos continued on his own.

“But when you threw the spear at the end, you didn’t hit the magic core from that distance. Could it be that you’re not skilled with a spear, Miss Yisi?”

“Master must not have wanted to hit it.”

Mary, who was driving the carriage, retorted from behind Yisi.

Ainos rubbed his nose sheepishly.

“Uh, I know this is impolite, but may I ask what your level is, Miss Yisi?”

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“I’m only—”

“Master is two levels higher than Miss Camilla~”

“T-two levels higher than the great spellcaster!?”

Unable to suppress it, Ainos and all the adventurers around who heard Mary’s answer gasped. Ainos, in particular, had his attitude of treating her as a peer completely vanish, and he even started to stutter.

“A-as expected of Miss Camilla’s sister. I was rude earlier…”

“No… Please don’t worry about it, Mr. Ainos.”

Watching Ainos slowly slow down and fall behind the carriage, Yisi gave a wry smile and reached back to playfully mess up Mary’s hair a couple of times. The strength she had publicly revealed was indeed two levels higher than Camilla’s, but to this group of adventurers, “I’m only level 10” and “I’m two levels higher than Camilla” were two completely different concepts.

She tapped Mary on the head, causing Mary to cover her head with a teary-eyed look.

“Master, that hurt.”

“This is your punishment for misspeaking.”

After rubbing Mary’s cheeks, Yisi slipped into the carriage.