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He lashed out at her with a cornered expression. Erica was bewildered at that, but she still objected.

“I won’t know unless I try, right?!”
“You can’t, you idiot!!”
“Are you telling me to call it impossible before even trying?! I’m different from who you give up before trying!!”
“Don’t act strong just because you improved a little!! You can’t even regret it if you die!!”
“It’s still a hundred times better than rotting away in regrets!! Ms. Illya!!”

I guess I should call that tit for tat…

She pushed her registration card toward me in the heat of the moment. I naturally accepted it and started processing the commission.

“Are…Are you for real?!”
“I am.”

I answered with a customer-service smile and his expression twisted as if he chewed on a bitter bug and glared at me.

“Are you intending to get her killed?!”
“Of course not. I said that I would help her as the branch’s receptionist.”

I answered while meeting his gaze.

“I’m only fulfilling my promise.”

What about you? I implied with my gaze.

“Kh…!!”

Since he didn’t answer, I couldn’t stop processing the commissio.

A long silence continued. As the gazes from the hall focused on our silent group, I was the first one to move after completing the registration.

“I have registered the commission. Ms. Erica, here is your registration card and the commission paper.”
“Ah, yes.”

Erica, who was acting dumbfounded like it was someone else’s problem, reacted to my words.

“…I’ll go too.” Serge muttered that. He didn’t meet my and Erica’s gaze and spoke once more, “I’ll go on that subjugation too.”

When I looked at Erica, she understood my gaze, glanced at Serge, then closed her eyes and pondered.

“I’m fine with it.”

She opened her eyes after a few seconds and agreed to it.

“However, don’t get involved.”
“……Fine.”

Erica accepted the conditions and Serge handed over the registration card. However, that alone was not enough. Without accepting the offered registration card, I added a condition.

“In the unlikely event that something happens, there is a possibility that you alone may not be able to handle it. If you agree to have others accompany you, then I will accept an additional registration.”
“Wha…”
“And one more.”

I continued without giving him time to argue back.

“Please note that if there are other enemies aside from her in the subjugation target’s sensing range, there is a possibility that it will behave differently, so I will have to ask you to stand by outside of that range. Will you accept these two conditions?”

You’re a hindrance so don’t get in the way.

He probably interpreted it like that, but I also had a promise to fulfill with Erica so I couldn’t concede on this.

The silence continued for some time while our gazes focused on each other.

However, it got resolved with him giving in.

“…Got it. I’ll accept those conditions.”

He turned back and his party members were gathered there.

They silently nodded and passed him their registration cards, then he turned around and presented them with his own included.

His eyes were full of hostility toward me. I’m not doing this to gain your fondness so whatever. I finished processing them and returned them back.

“Ms. Erica, I’ll explain the outline of the strategy so please stand by. As for the rest, please commence the subjugation commission once you join up with Ms. Erica.”

As I answered administratively, the rest of the members dragged Serge away as he glared at me in annoyance.

Erica’s anxiety came back with full force now that he left and she was alone here, and she broke down even harder than when he first arrived here.

“W-W-W-What should I do…! What do I do!!”
“It will be okay, please calm down.”

She slowly drank the cocoa I gave her while muttering so.

The relaxing effect that I amplified served its purpose and she calmed down, after which I started to explain the strategy.

“You’re aware that Azi Ogre’s lower body is covered in hard scales, right?”
“Y-Yes.”
“The scales Azi Ogres have are the hardened outermost layer of the skin, but when new keratin is generated, they have a tendency to shed those scales like molting.”

Unlike the molting that normal reptiles did, this type of molting only got rid of the injured scales and could send an appropriate amount of magic power to harden the keratin once more.

“It’s meaningless to target the lower body, is what you’re trying to say…?”
“As long as there are scales there.”

Of course, if you could deliver an attack that was stronger than its scales, there would be no problem, but that was beyond her current self.

“However, it has one flaw.”
“A flaw?”
“Yes. Azi Ogres boast of high vitality, but that also means that the blood and magic flow in their body is fast. That means that paralysis and poisoning, be it for magic power or the nervous system, would spread fast.”

Moreover, perhaps it’s due to being protected by hard scales, but they had a really low bad status resistance despite being in a forest.

“Moreover… Or rather, this is the most important part—once they suffer from paralysis, their body mistakes it for their entire lower body scales being destroyed and gets rid of all of it.”
“Huh…?!”

Her shock was similar to one that people displayed when they saw hope.

“Once its magic power stagnates, the hardening of its scales will also slow down. Please chop off its lower body during that opening.”
“Chop off… Oh!”

She seemed to have figured it out so I smiled back.

A subjugation commission I had her take previously regarding Rondo Boigas. Though they were only about two-thirds of Azi Ogre’s lower body, having faced many snake monsters she had learned of a way to accurately cut off their twisty bodies.

And when it came to chopping using weight, there was nothing more handy than a two-handed axe.

Having joined the Mercenary Guild due to the course of events, she had assumed that she never had combat ability. As a result, she became an archer and started compounding to provide rear support. But her aptitude was Two-Handed Axe.

Moreover, albeit of the lowest level, she held the Genius skill.

It was a talent she would never notice had she lived as a simple village girl. That’s why, the reason why I chose Guula Azi Ogre, in the end, was because I just happened to find it while searching for a compatible target for her.

I had discovered it with Clairvoyance even before the report came, so I was just choosing the subjugation targets to prepare her for it before that report reached us. The timber gathering commission was to teach her the basics of wielding an axe, and Rondo Boigas were her practice partners.

“Azi Ogres have a habit of trying to eat the food they spot, so feed it a poisoned bait, shoot paralyzing arrows to put it to sleep, and approach it, and once the poison circulates and its scales come off, you cut it off. That would be the safest way to do it. But I leave that to you.”
“O-Okay!”

Having seen hope, Erica’s cheeks loosened despite still being bewildered.

She tried to play out various scenarios in her head, but then she suddenly looked at me and asked.

“I took other commissions aside from the Rondo Boiga ones several times… but what was the purpose of those subjugations?”

It was an exp-farming based on your skill level—I can’t say that, can I?

“It was to get you used to close-quarter combat and to the axe, as well as to give you some confidence. And the Rondo Red Ape was for simulating the battle once you cut off its lower half.”

Despite this world having a game-like system, there were no game-like patterns.

Boss monsters weren’t furnished with special attack motions, while monsters of similar physiques and techniques would only use the same kind of attacks.

Azi Ogre which had lost its lower half would be no different from a big monkey with no legs.

Whether it uses trees to approach or attacks using just its arm strength, you could get the same kind of experience battling with a Rondo Red Ape.

When they have lower bodies, they tend to use complicated movements such as swinging their lower bodies while using their arms as legs, or attacking with their upper bodies while sneaking up from behind with their tails and twisting them around you. As such, I aimed to restrict its movements first.

No matter how big it was, if its lower body was removed, it would be possible to attack its head.

While I was going over my plan, I belatedly noticed that Erica was stiffened.

“…Is something wrong?”
“Um… Will Azi Ogre… still be alive after cutting off its lower body…?”
“Yes. Please consider that it’s alive unless you don’t crush its head.”
“Whaaaaa——————?!”

I didn’t think that it would take her another half a day to recover from this shock.