The Frontier Alchemist ~ I Can't Go Back to That Job After You Made My Budget Zero

"I didn't expect this far......" I mutter to myself as I look out over the wasteland from the top of Hippopo.

We are only a few minutes into what is generally called the frontier, but it is exactly as I had heard it would be.

Almost the only living plants and animals are monsters. I had thought that the rumors were exaggerated.

Well, as a matter of fact, there are many creatures and plants in the wasteland in front of us that we have never seen before, and we are not sure if they are really monsters or not. But for the moment, animals and plants alike attacked me whenever I approached them.

Even now, there is one shadow that crawls up to my feet. One of Hippopo's feet quickly steps on the wriggling shade.

Boom.

A cloud of dust.

"Thank you, Hippopo. Hippopotamuses are sensitive to hostility, so that helps.

Hippopotamus flicks his ears and tail. Hippopo moves his foot away and there is a flattened shadow of the previous one.

It looks like a snake or ivy, it's hard to say. At one end of the wriggling body, there seemed to be a tooth-like growth radiating from the other end.

"I wonder what this is. Let's just collect it for now. It might be a material for something," I put it away in my backpack. I put them in my backpack. I am afraid to use my bare hands, so I put on a pair of collecting gloves. The surface is a little slippery, so I put it in a small waterproof cloth bag.

"Well, well, well. But the reason why it's such a wasteland is because normal creatures are defeated by monsters, right? Hmm. Well, if there are a lot of monsters like this that we've never seen before, it's going to be fun to study them. According to the map, we should be able to see a watering hole soon. Past there, we'll be close to where Kaline and the others are," I mutter to Hippopo as I sit on top of him, looking at the simplified map I got from him.

I pat Hippopo's neck as he shakes his head lightly in agreement.

"Oh, there it is. Let's take a break. Now, I wonder if there are different types of monsters at the watering hole.

With one hand behind my back and the other tucked into my backpack, I approach the pond-sized waterhole.

"Boom!" And then a warning call from Hippopo.

Something breaks the surface of the pond in front of me and jumps out.

I tilt my head back. It passes by my face.

It reflects the sunlight, leaving a white afterimage in my eyes.

A baby lizard?

As I turn to take a closer look, I hear another warning cry from the hippopotamus.

I hear it and this time I crouch down in place.

The surface of the pond is broken again, and this time a tentacle-like object is thrust out in a straight line.

The tentacle shoots out of the pond, passes over my head, and wraps around the white lizard that is still in the air.

"Pgjahhh!" A small scream is heard.

I look up to see a white lizard being mauled into the wilderness, its legs entangled in the tentacles.

The white lizard is being dragged toward the pond. A white lizard resisting desperately.

At first glance, I thought the lizard was a child because of its round body parts and its eyes that were dull and large compared to its face.

The white lizard seems to have run out of energy and is dragged past me. At that moment, my eyes meet those dull eyes.

They stare into my eyes.

Looking at them, I feel as if they are asking me to help them.

No matter how much he looks like a child, he's obviously a monster. And just because they look like children doesn't mean they really are. It could be that they are trying to look like that in order to catch their enemies off guard!　In any case, if monsters are fighting each other, it is nature's way of making the law of the jungle the law of the jungle. ...... Oh, God!　You make me feel sorry for you!

I shout with a shaken heart.

"Hippopo, please!"

"Bumo!" A hippopotamus passes by me at high speed.

The earth shakes with each stomping attack.

What I saw was not a white lizard about to be dragged into the pond, but a tentacle wrapped around its leg.

Tentacles that had been shredded by Hippopo's blow. The tentacles shredded by Hippopo's blow. They spray purple liquid and retreat into the pond.

A limp-looking white lizard is left behind.