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So, I’ve completed all the preparations! Take a look at this, it’s the magic armor armed with special equipment!

In its hand was a large-sized fishing rod, made of magic steel! It was naturally enhanced for durability and such. The reel had a built-in motor for automatic winding!

The fishing line was made of magic steel wire, handwoven using the [Steel Thread Creation] skill! It’s also reinforced for durability!

I’ve switched out the leg components for a special type with a large caterpillar track to ensure it wouldn’t lose strength when reeling in. And to help with the heavy lifting, I’ve added two additional high-capacity batteries to its back!

As a bonus, I’ve wrapped steel wire around the torso of the magic armor to get Norn to assist me! …Yeah, I might have gone a bit overboard with this.

Well, at first, I did consider making a rod out of bamboo or something, but when I reverse-engineered it based on the size of the head I saw earlier, the magic beast was probably around 6 meters or so.

With a size like that, bamboo wouldn’t cut it for reeling it in. Plus, the magic armor required quite a bit of power, and if it turned into a pulling contest, it might break. I had to consider durability and various factors, and this was the result.

And even with the magic armor, it was still iffy whether I could reel it in, so I added the wire for Norn to help us out.

By the way, I quickly completed the equipment while hiding it from Lily and the others in that shady spot over there.

“Well then, let’s give it a try.”
“Do your thing.”
“Good luck.”

…It seemed like the two of them just stopped thinking altogether. I feel kinda bad.

Now, let’s focus and get back to turtle fishing. For bait… I might as well use some of the tons of Goblins I have in [Storage]. They’re not edible for humans, but among magic beasts, they might be considered a delicacy, probably.

So, let’s cast it right away! Hyup! Splash! …That was a loud splash. Is this really okay? …Well, whatever, let’s not worry about it and wait for it to bite.

………

……………

……………………

Oh, it’s here! It’s biting! Time to reel! Wait… the reel is not turning at all! No, at first, I was able to reel it in properly, but then it suddenly stopped… Aaah, it’s pulling hard! Am I going to lose? If I keep going like this, it might pull me in!?

Alright, activate the caterpillar track, move! If I can just up in one gooo…!

Screeeeeeeeeeech! Screech, screech, screech, screech!!!

It started well, but then it became a deadlock, and slowly but surely, I was being dragged in…! Aaah, Norn! Nooorrn! Help! Heeelp!!!!

…

……

………

Afterward, with Norn’s help, I managed to slowly pull it up, and when the front half of the large turtle monster emerged on land, Arisa attempted to decapitate it but only managed to inflict minor wounds.

Norn latched onto its neck to prevent it from retracting, and my magic armor quickly switched to a Halberd, striking the neck multiple times until it successfully severed its head. We somehow secured the victory.

“…We somehow beat it, huh?”
“Rather than beating it, it’s more like… we fished it maybe…?”
“We successfully eliminated it, so it’s a victory!”
“…Yeah, you’re right.”

Hey, Arisa? Can you stop sulking just because you couldn’t contribute much?

“I… didn’t do anything…”

See, even the one who couldn’t contribute even more than you is sulking now! Geez!

As I comforted the sulking Lily, the presence of several people and commotion approached from the direction of the town.

Oh no!! Did the sound of the caterpillar treads on the modified magic armor reach all the way to the town!? That’s bad!

I hastily stored the magic armor in [Storage] and used earth magic to quickly even out the disturbed ground, erasing any evidence of the incident. With some effort, we managed to conceal the situation from the people who had rushed to the scene.

Phew, that was close.

You might wonder why I needed to hide it. Well, it’s not like I want to draw attention to myself, so there’s no need to show off to everyone, right? As long as I confirm the extermination at the guild, there shouldn’t be any issues.

By the way, the people who arrived were a few staff members from the Adventurer’s Guild and a group of adventurers. It turned out they were a party led by Rad and Nell, the adventurers I saved during the Goblin Legion incident.

They had coincidentally returned to the guild to discuss something with the guild staff when they heard that a party was heading out to deal with the large magic beast, which turned out to be us. They offered to assist the guild staff as a way to repay their debt of gratitude or something like that.

I didn’t dislike people who are honorable like that, but it does make things a bit complicated. Not that I feel guilty, but I do have a lot of secrets…

“With all said, it’s quite impressive that you managed to defeat such a large magic beast…”
“It was tough, but we made it, somehow.”
“…Looking around, it doesn’t seem like you used any large-scale magic or anything, so how exactly did you…? Oh, it’s not like I’m prying for an answer, so you don’t have to tell me. In fact, please don’t. It’s just idle curiosity. Besides, adventurers should keep their trump cards hidden.”
“You’re right.”

Yeah, I never intended to spill the details from the beginning. The guild staff members behind Rad’s group looked awfully interested in the details, but I’m pretending not to notice.

…I guess they probably wanted to gather information on what kind of skills I have, which could make it easier to recommend stagnating quests and such. Lily mentioned something like that before.

Knowing about unique skills could apparently lead to troublesome quest recommendations or peculiar nominated quests.

The guild’s regulations stipulated that only adventurers with at least a C-rank were eligible for nominated quests. However, if you had unique skills, you could occasionally receive special exceptions and be personally requested for a job.

By the way, declining a nominated request didn’t affect your quest completion rate, but it could impact your internal evaluation by the Adventurer’s Guild.

Hmm… I’m not sure if I want to deal with all that hassle. Maybe I’m fine just staying as a D-rank adventurer forever? It didn’t seem like being a D rank had any particular disadvantages. Okay, I’m technically still an E-rank.

To advance to C-rank or higher, you need to accumulate achievements and then take a promotion exam. It’s not just about combat skills; they assess various aspects like other skills and your personality.

However, similar to my earlier thoughts, some adventurers choose not to take the promotion exam even if they have the skills because they want to avoid being nominated for jobs.

So, while contemplating these matters, I was comforting Lily, who was still a bit sulky, and attempting to escape the reality of dealing with the corpse of the large magic beast. I failed… Maybe I should have just stored it along with the magic armor…

…Seriously, what do I do with this thing?¹

1. Silva: Cook it!