Let’s do the giant beetles

I tell Merlara I would love to take on the giant beetles. My fire magic should make quick work of those bugs.

The local adventurers give us directions and then we are off. Merlara to the east, Roland and I to the west.

Our trip there is a pretty easy one. Basically, we need to follow the river into the forest up until we come to a small lake. Once there, we need to find a hollow log and go left from there. Then we’ll reach a cave and that is where the dragon-beetles have their nest.

It takes us a bit of time to get to the lake. At first, we don’t quite find the hollow log. Turns out it was on the other side of the lake. Figures. Then we press on and come across a hill. At the base of the hill is a hole resembling a cave entrance. When we look inside, we see a lot of large beetles. Found them.

Rather than jump inside and get swarmed, I suggest Roland that we make use of my Glyphs. The entrance is big enough for me to place them to my left and right on the ground while still having enough room in the center to walk without triggering them.

Roland waits outside while I place my glyphs. First a couple outside, then some on the entrance. Since beetles are known to scale walls, I also place some Glyphs there.

I keep placing more until I am almost out of mana. Then I wait inside their cave until one of them comes close.

While looking around I notice it’s not just beetles in here. There are also grubs. Big ones too. I guess we’ll have to take those out as well, if not it’ll be only a matter of time until they got new beetles. Then again, if we leave them, we can come back in a few months to do this quest all over again and get paid a second time.

Then suddenly, one of the beetles starts screeching. I guess he must have noticed my scent. The other beetles start screeching too and they all start running in my direction. Crap, I need to go.

I run back out of the cave and behind me I already hear the Glyphs activating while a warmth follows closely behind me. Once outside I search for Roland, who already has his sword and shield ready. I run past him, so he can tank the many beetles closing in on me. Then I turn around and draw my sword.

A large plume of black smoke is coming from the cave, joined by the foul stench of burned beetle. Shortly after drawing my sword, a couple beetles start coming out. Roland heads out to meet them, uses his shield to keep them off him and slashes at them with his sword. He succeeds in cracking their shells, but they keep moving. Perhaps it is better to attack their softer spots, like their bellies.

Since Roland is so close to the entrance, it doesn’t take long for some of the bugs to crawl all over him and start gnawing at his armor. Since his plate mail is made of iron, it is quite impossible for them to bite through it, so he’s safe. I then take advantage of their distraction to slice a couple off him.

A few of them change their attention to me, but I can cut them down before they reach me. There was this one time where I’m being flanked by two of them. Luckily, I have my [Dual Slash]. When I activate this skill, the bugs and Roland move slower for a moment, while I move just as fast as I usually do. First, I slash my sword at the head of the beetle to my right. Then I pierce the belly of the beetle to my left. A few bits of yellow beetle guts spill out, but it doesn’t seem too bad. Then, when my skill ends and everyone moves normal again, those spurts of beetle guts splash all over my armor. Yuk.

A couple beetles later, I had a few more splashes of yellow beetle guts all over me. Roland has it even worse. But at least they have stopped. I guess we got them all.

“Think that’s it?” Roland asks.

“Well, I did see a couple of grubs in the cave.” I say. “But Roland, think about it. If we were to leave those grubs alive, then a few months later we can come back here and do this quest all over again and be paid a second time.”

“I guess.” Roland says. “But it would also give the Gryphon Knights a reputation as a guild that only does half work. I think it would be better if we avoid that.”

“Yeah. I guess.” I sigh. Looks like Roland want to become rich the hard way.

Roland and I work our way back into the cave. We need to dig through a lot of dead beetles and the stench is unbearable. But eventually we get inside and start cutting up the grubs. These are even worse than the beetles. Several are the times when me slashing a grub resulted in its blood splattering on my hair and on my face. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve gagged.

When we are done, Roland holds out his fist and says, “Good job, Mia.”

I smile, give him a fist bump and reply, “Deus vult.”

On our way back, we come across the lake again. That’s where Roland suggests for us to take a bath and get ourselves cleaned up.

“And allow you a chance to stare at me while I’m in the nude?” I ask. “I’ve already replenished some mana. I can easily give you a [Fire Cone] to the face if you look.”

Roland takes off his helmet and checks out my figure.

“Mmmh, I don’t know. If the rest of you is just as cute as your face, it might actually be worth it.”

I can’t believe this guy! On the other hand, if he had said he had no interest to take any peeks at me, I’d feel insulted. I am definitely pretty enough to turn some heads.

“Don’t worry. I was just joking. I’ll keep my back to you.” Roland then says.

“Yeah, you better.”

I first help Roland take off the largest pieces of his plate mail. Those are the most difficult to take off since the straps are hard to reach. Once the plate mail is off, I let him take care of the chain mail underneath himself. I’ve got my own armor to strip out of now.

I do make sure to keep my eyes on Roland, though. If he dares take a peek at me, I need to be ready to give him instant punishment. But Roland is true to his word and doesn’t turn around to stare at my gorgeous body. I’m sure he wants to. Which straight guy wouldn’t want to see a babe like me in all her glory?

But even when he is completely nude himself, he moves over to the lake while keeping his back at me. I follow into the water after him and start washing my hair. Hmm, Roland actually has kind of a nice body. So many muscles. I guess plate mail like that requires a fit body like that. Hmm, if only Darx could have muscles like that. At least Darx has a cuter butt.

After washing our bodies, Roland and I grab pieces of our armor and clean the beetle juice off it. At some point however, Roland turns a little too far and glances at my front.

“Oh, sorry.” He quickly apologizes and turns his head away from me.

Not sure whether that was by accident or on purpose, but I kinda have been checking him out this whole time. To make certain he wasn’t acting like a pervert, of course. No other reason. So yeah, fine, I’ll let him have this one.

Since I have the fewest armor pieces, I am done cleaning my armor first. I put my underwear on first and then help cleaning the rest of Roland’s armor. My armor can dry in the meantime. Eventually we get everything cleaned up and get dressed.

When we get back to the village inn, we show our quest givers a couple of beetle shells we brought back.

“After killing the beetles, we went into the cave and took care of the grubs as well.” Roland says. “But there’s always a chance we missed a few. You might want to send in a few people to double check. Otherwise, some grubs we missed might grow into beetles and start mating.”

“What about Merlara?” I ask the villagers. “Has she come back already?”

“No, not yet.” The villagers say. “You two returned first.”

“Looks like Merlara couldn’t handle the frogs.” I smirk at Roland. “Shall we go help her?”

Just then the inn’s front door swings open and Merlara comes walking in, dragging a huge cut-off frog leg with her.

“Somebody ordered frog legs?” Merlara asks the villagers. “I left you a field of them and more. Better go and collect it, before it attracts wolves.”

“Pfft, showoff.” I mumble.

The villagers take her advice and send their own adventurers, together with some people and a few carts out to collect the dead frogs. Merlara then comes to us and asks us how we did with the beetles.

“We finished faster than you.” I tell her. “My magic came in real handy there. It’s like I was the perfect woman for the job.”

Roland then shows Merlara the beetle shells and Merlara asks, “That’s it?”

“Nah, there’s more. We just brought these to prove we’ve done the job.” Roland says.

Merlara sighs as if he said something wrong. She then lifts the visor of her helmet and looks at both of us directly.

“You didn’t think maybe the alchemist guild might be interested in these beetle shells for their potions? Or maybe the dwarves of the crafter’s guild? As far as we know, those beetle shells can provide us with a decent pay if we bring them back to Riledo.”

Roland lowers his gaze and says, “Tomorrow, I’ll ask to borrow a cart and go back to collect them.”

“Wait, what about the frog meat?” I ask Merlara. “You told the villagers to just go and get it without paying you first.”

“Yes, you’re right. I absolutely look like I can carry a dozen giant frogs all by myself.” Merlara says sarcastically. “Besides, it’s not like the meat has a chance to spoil or to attract monsters. Best to negotiate prices first and leave it out there as looooong as possible.”

When she is finally done being sarcastic, she says, “I’ll try and talk them into providing us with free meals and sleeping arrangements in return for such a large supply of fresh meat.”

Then Merlara puts her mask back into her helmet. There she goes again, thinking she’s so great and telling us what we should have done. I can’t deal with her right now. I’m heading to where Mimizu is. I want to see how Craig and Leonora are doing.