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

The sun shines down on his fat body. Sweat is pouring out from the sweat glands buried in the flabby fat.

The dry, dusty wind blowing through the wasteland makes sand in his sweat, and you can almost hear the crunching sound with every step he takes.

Riharzam, who was not allowed to have an escort by the head of the association, had no choice but to hire an escort at his own expense from the Adventurers' Guild, and had started to enter the frontier.

He hired a group of well-known adventurers from the Adventurers' Guild. He had hired them for some shady business on several occasions.

Three such thuggish adventurers. However, these three adventurers, who usually beat up weak opponents on the streets, naturally lacked any martial arts skills. Riharzam lent them a new magic gun of his own making, with a magic circuit that changes its properties.

"Are you sure you want to go this way, Mr. Riharzam? Deden, one of the adventurers, asks Riharzam.

Riharzam responds with an air of boredom, "......Yes, that's what I thought.

"You know better than that, don't you?　It comes with a magic circuit that changes its properties, and I made it myself!" Riharzam says irritably.

"I know, Riharzam's husband. I know, I know, Riharzam's husband.　I'm going to burn you to a crisp."

"Get on with it. We'll lure the bodies out so the monsters can eat them. And that son of a b*tc* must have a lot of money. I'm sure he's the one making the old magic crystal stones. We'll split it up. Riharzam glares at him.

"Hey, hey. Deden shrugs his shoulders and moves away as if to run away.

"They're all the same. Oh, it's hot. It's his fault we're in the middle of nowhere," mutters Rehalzam.

"And the head of the association is the head of the association. He's a fool if he wants us to call the bastard back and tell him verbally so that there won't be a record of it. Just send it over the comms device. I'll give you a little extra money and tell him to come back. That's all it would take for that son of a b*tc* to come back crying. What's with the knight of war heroes. You're out of your mind if you're worried about face when you're dealing with such an upstart poor lord in the middle of nowhere! Riharzam's eyes are becoming clearer and clearer. He can't stop mumbling to himself.

In fact, he is getting louder and louder.

In a remote area where monsters are abundant, there are many species that are sensitive to sound.

A radially toothed monster, which looks like a snake or ivy, appears just in time in response to Riharzam's loud voice from a crevice in the rocks.

The nameless serpentine ivy monster, which could crush a hippopotamus with a single stomp, actually had some troublesome characteristics.

"Hey, Deden!　Monster!"

"Heh!　Oh, yeah. It's easy, easy, easy for such a little guy. Hey, you guys, let's go get 'em," Deden says to his friends.

One of Deden's friends, who is also loaned a magic gun, holds up the gun and shoots with the attribute-changing magic circuit in it.

The bullet lands. And then there is an explosion, echoing in his gut.

A fist-sized mass of flame is shot out from the magic gun, hitting the monster with such force that it explodes like a bullet.

The wreckage of the monster is blown to pieces.

"Yay!" the loud cheers of Deden and the others overshadow the sound of the explosion.

"That was easy, wasn't it?　I wanted to do it myself," said Deden.

The sound of explosions echoed all around the area, and one by one, snake ivy monsters crawled out of the rocks one after another, slithering, slithering, slithering.

"Oh, aren't there too many of them?" Deden's companion spoke to Deden impatiently.

"Just keep shooting!" Deden responds loudly. Naturally, Deden pulls the trigger without even thinking about unplugging the magic circuit.

Rehalzam shouts to the adventurers, "Hey, don't shoot too much! But his voice is muffled by the sound of the explosion, and does not reach them.

Flames the size of fists are scattered in large quantities.

The sound of the explosions that rise with each impact echoes incessantly.

The blast is accompanied by smoke and wind mixed with the burnt bodily fluids of the snake ivy monster, which blows into Rehalzam's face. Riharzam chokes and is unable to speak.

Meanwhile, the snake-ivy monster finally boils out of the ground, covering the whole area.

Deden and the others desperately shoot their magic guns.

And then something strange happens.

Bohh!

There's a sound not unlike a gun like that, and flames burst from Deden's magic gun. Not from the muzzle, but from the part where the magic circuit is inserted. In an instant, the flames burn only Deden's eyebrows and bangs.

"Ouch!　It's hot!"

Deden's hair is falling to the ground. Deden manages to put out the flickering, smoldering flames in the ends of his hair by tapping them with the palm of his hand.

Deden rubs his ugly, upturned face frantically.

"Hey, Deden!　Riharzam yells at Deden, "Stop playing around and take the shot!

"Yes, yes. Deden pulls the trigger. But all that happens is that his curly bangs blow in the wind.

Deden's magic gun is completely unresponsive.

Furthermore, the two magic guns that were still working somehow run out of magic elements in the new magic crystal stone. Too much shooting.

"Rehalzam's husband!　Give me a replacement magic stone and a magic gun!" Deden's companion calls desperately.

But the answer was terrible.

"There is no replacement! Riharzam.

The adventurers look at each other's useless magic guns in turn. Meanwhile, the serpent ivy monsters are crawling about.

The adventurers nod silently to each other. Then they run off at once in the opposite direction from the snake ivy monsters. They have no idea that there is another monster's lair ahead.

Riharzam's voice of warning never reaches the adventurers: "Hey, wait ......! Riharzam is left alone. At last, the serpent ivy monster is approaching at his feet.