“Stand By Me”

The [Holy Explosion] is the most powerful magic in [Sacred Magic] at the moment.

In terms of sheer attack power, [Dark Implosion] is probably the highest magic Rare has, but since the enemy seems to be undead, [Sacred Magic] would likely deal more damage.

I thought one shot of [Sacred Smite] would be enough, but my estimate was off. It seems like the player has heavily invested in VIT and STR, resulting in a high LP.

Despite appearing physical, they use [Undead] skills. Whether it's a physical build or a magic class, they engage in close combat, have high LP – where is this character's build headed?

However, it did cause some trouble.

As usual, it's mostly the result of Rare's carelessness, but it's also true that this player had an unconventional build.

In summary, the responsibility of Rare can be considered practically nil.

"…But well, maybe I should avoid acting alone from now on…"

"I think that's a good idea. It was nerve-wracking."

Mare, who had been watching the whole situation closely, nodded.

Acting alone might lead to situations like this, where kindness is forced upon you. Even if I continue to use Mare's body to explore, it would be better to bring Kerry and others as party members. Unlike Rare, everyone has jobs, so they can't be free anytime.

It seems that when a body is returned to a familiar and the original owner takes possession of that body, there is a slight lag.

It seems that it is not possible to switch seamlessly during a battle.

This was discovered when I received the items from the Tankman. This lag is important, because until now, the only time I had paid attention to this was when I had achieved my goal of returning the spirit.

This time, the Goblin Mummy enemy was cautious, keeping its distance and giving us the time to do that.

When an enemy is cautious, whether to reset the situation by keeping a distance or to continue attacking without giving us time depends on the person's personality. It just went well because we were lucky.

In any case, that's why we struggled.

Returning the spirit to the main body, activating [Camouflage] on the main body, instructing Mare to shout the skill name in the friend chat, and summoning the main body as the target using [Summon].

And quietly casting magic using the [Magic Link] of the [Demonic Eyes].

This method creates a considerable lag from the declaration of the activation key to the actual activation, so if not done well, it might be seen as suspicious. However, it's a useful trick when you need to turn the tables in an emergency.

Since the activation key can now be freely set, it's possible to pretend it's a normal conversation and perform it, a high-level technique. It's a move that takes advantage of what was done to me when facing Lyra in Hugelcup in the past.

"The problem is the high difficulty of suddenly starting a conversation during a mission. It's an advanced technique, but there's no help for it. It's impossible for me, but a noble young lady like Mare should be able to handle it well."

"…What do you think a noble is…? It's impossible."

That is a future task, the result of the battle.

I'll have Mare release a bird to the city, and also summon Ominous-kun to explore the forest.

There are many big goblins, but it seems like they're all dead.

There are other players here and there, but I can see they're confused.

The goblin mummy just now, Bamb, was undoubtedly the boss of this area.

The reason the dominion of the area did not transfer to Rare is probably because of the presence of other players.

It is believed that taking control is possible even if not all within the range is controlled by a single force, but it is unclear exactly what percentage of the area needs to be controlled.

If it is a simple number, it would be absolutely impossible to dominate if we include the usual insects and small animals, and if we are thinking in terms of strength ratios, then Rare's main body could have gained control if it came here.

It might be the case that some dedicated AI determines the distinction between enemies and allies for certain magic and skills each time.

However, this time, I don't particularly mind since dominating this forest is not the goal.

On the contrary, if we were to dominate it, that goblin mummy would probably relentlessly target us.

Considering he went to the trouble of building a log house and living here, it's clear he has a strong attachment to this forest.

"Wasn't it simply because his body was too big to live in the city? With that size, even a mansion for a lord wouldn't be comfortable."

"Yeah, that's right. Or rather, I wouldn't let it into a house in the first place."

If that's the reason, now that he's shrunk, he could probably live in the lord's mansion.

Hopefully when he respawns, he will be grateful to Rare and live peacefully in the city.

There may come a time when we will offer him some kind of cooperation again.

To avoid any lingering grudges from this incident, I won't let Mare meet him at that time.

"That's right. Let's create a shortcut."

To quickly come here, teleportation is the only option, but in that case, Rare's main body can't come. Temporarily closing the mercenaries' union in Rifure is not impossible, but the disadvantages are too significant. No matter which city we perform it in, it will likely cause a big commotion.

Leaving Mare there, I used [Summon] to move to the volcano with Uluru as the target and placed several rock golems there under my control. It used to be a desolate land with rocks as far as the eye could see, but now it looked like an ordinary volcano with the mountain's surface exposed. Marion must have taken quite a number of golems with her. Other than Uluru, who looks like a part of the mountain, there were only newly born small ones.

But this is convenient in its own way.

Although they're small, not as much as dwarves, I returned the small golems to the forest using [Summon] and placed them at the edge of the burnt square where the boss was. I'd like to reinforce them just in case, but if I do that, they might grow into giants. There's no choice but to leave them as they are.

I activated [Plant Magic], turned the burnt square into a green area in one breath, and returned it to its appearance before the battle.

"Now, let's pick up the boss's corpse and head back. It might be useful for something."

Come to think of it, a long time ago, I stored the corpse of a knight in my inventory in La Colinne.

After that, when I met the knight again in La Colinne, he was strangely dressed in shabby clothes. That's natural because the armor is with the corpse. Eventually, when I have time, I'll need to organize my inventory.

I don't feel inclined to dismantle or mess around with human or mummy corpses, but it's okay to use them as materials for suitable undead. Whether I can turn a mummy corpse into undead materials is unclear. In fact, just the term "mummy corpse" is powerful enough to give me a headache.

"By the way, the fall of Neuschloss was the cause of the minor clash between Pearl and Shape. There didn't seem to be any collaborators, and it appears to have happened by chance."

From the reconnaissance from above, there were no players exhibiting suspicious behavior. Every party was either cautious of corpses or driven by greed to strip them.

Even that goblin mummy didn't go out of its way to proclaim itself as a player. Currently, there might be no need to consider players from the monster side cooperating with non-monster players. When you think about it, cases like Rare and Lyra, each having influence at the national level, are exceptional. Even if a mere soldier cooperates, the impact might be limited, and if one plans to cooperate in the game, it's more rational to start with a closely related race.

Even if they have gained some influence, at most, they can create a staged race for the 'Pump and Dump' scheme.

As Lyra said, maybe it's pointless to worry about it.

"Now then, for a test run with the naginata, it was a satisfying result. In fact, the performance is a bit too good to use. I was planning to make several more of the same, but let's use a weaker metal for those. Using magical superalloys will make them even heavier, so I wonder what to do. Liebe Great Forest only produces iron and copper besides these."

"This city has developed a lot thanks to Your Majesty's help. The immediate area can only satisfy low-ranked mercenaries, but in Your Majesty's opinion, it will be connected to the whole continent in a pseudo way, won't it?

If that is the case, why not have that man Gustav's company deal in middle-grade weapons and the like? I think there is enough demand for it.

You could make a naginata by casting what you can get there."

Mare had a point.

Even if we don't have to cast it down, if there is a route to get the armor, we could purchase that material.

"…Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's quickly assign someone to handle that and make arrangements.

Or perhaps, in the safety area being constructed around the royal capital, we can build a post town—though Carknight materials may become the main focus. Then, let's also have a post town constructed in the safety area around La Colinne, and you can pick suitable materials there."

I haven't checked the progress of constructing the post town near the royal capital, but even if it's not yet complete, we'll have them proceed concurrently.

This, too, will have to be left to Gustav. If he wants to become a noble, he needs to learn how to use people more than he does now.

The construction of post towns, including those near the royal capital and La Colinne, is all entrusted to Gustav. I had given the orders through Kerry.

Once they are on track, considering the positional relationship, the next one should be constructed near Erntal. I don't mean to sound like I'm ingratiating myself, but it should end up being helpful to Blanc.