Ikazuchi managed to keep himself busy during the time since he returned to the guild. Everyone had gradually grown accustomed to his daily training that took place earlier in the morning. Some people attempted to follow his training only to give up after a few days. Others challenged him to duels due to what they saw. Naturally, Ikazuchi accepted the challenges and overwhelmed each of his opponents. Mages and Adventurers were defeated as Ikazuchi continued to establish himself within the guild. His reputation rapidly went from unknown to well-respected as the amount of challenges decreased. It only took several days for the daily challengers to be reduced to the other adventurers who hoped to learn from his techniques.

Ikazuchi spent most of his time outside of training and dueling at the forge. He could have taken it easy after successfully crafting Breaker, but he didn’t do so. After spending two years focused on blacksmithing, it had become a part of his daily routine that he generally wouldn’t ignore unless necessary. Plus, the various guild members welcomed the addition of a skilled blacksmith. He actively took requests from the guild members as long as they provided the materials in order to craft items that they needed. When his crafting skills were considered on top of his strength, it could be said that Ikazuchi had improved his reputation even further.

Other than when he was occupied with those things, Ikazuchi would try to find an appropriate request for himself in order to earn more money. On this particular day, he was more determined than usual to do so. Recently, he had come across a particular set of armor that he bought without hesitation. This caused his funding to run low, so he hoped to recoup some of his losses as soon as possible.

It was at that time that a somewhat familiar person entered into the area where the guild handled requests. Ikazuchi didn’t immediately notice who it was, but they directly approached him after entering. “Excuse me!” Ikazuchi’s attention immediately turned from the various request forms to the person who spoke. “Do you remember me?” The woman asked without waiting for a response after seeing that she got his attention.

‘Who is she?’ Ikazuchi was naturally confused for a moment, but he was able to quickly recall due to the information he gained after looking at her. ‘Ah, her…’ Ikazuchi’s expression shifted resulting in the woman’s face noticeably relaxing in response. “I do, what brings you here today?”

She couldn’t help but look somewhat excited as she heard his response. “That’s great! Actually, it’s a continuation of the former request. Everything was okay for a while, but the wall leading to the sewers broke the other day and it looked like even bigger rats than before broke in as we were renovating the location.” Ikazuchi couldn’t help but notice the fear and disgust that was revealed from her expression. ‘I think she said she hated rats last time…’ He couldn’t help but sigh slightly as he recalled his previous experience and understood her somewhat. “I assume you can discuss the payment?”

Word Count: 520

“Ah, of course! The problem is slightly different compared to before, so I hope you can understand that the reward will be less.” Ikazuchi raised a brow at this, but responded positively. “That’s fine, it’s normal to offer a reward that matches the job.” Based on his experience, he knew the reward would still be decent. Otherwise, it would be impossible to recruit anyone to suffer in the sewers as him and Xerxes had. Part of him wasn’t sure that he would be willing to do it for any price if he didn’t need jewels.

“After the last time, there were still a few rats that would occasionally appear on the property. On their own, they didn’t pose an issue like the infestation of the past. The problem started when those few started to mutate for some reason.” The woman visibly shook with disgust as she seemed to be recalling their appearance. Ikazuchi saw this and sighed before commenting. “And? How is this related to my payment?”

“I’m getting to that, I promise.” She took a deep breath before getting back on topic. “There aren’t as many, but they are more threatening individually. We think they got into one of the ingredients we recently moved in there and that caused this issue.” Ikazuchi couldn’t help but wonder about what ingredient could cause such a thing, but he doubted the woman would share that information. He was about to ask her to get to the point, but she finally did just before he spoke. “They are a problem on their own, but we want you to preemptively take care of them before they can breed and produce another swarm.”

Ikazuchi wanted to sigh with relief when he finally heard the reason for the reduction in his pay. “So, you want me to take care of the mutated ones and take care of any that may have started breeding since we were there last?” The woman couldn’t help but look somewhat excited after hearing that he understood. “That’s right!” Ikazuchi stared at her for a moment before finally commenting once more. “Okay, if that’s true then I can understand the decrease in the reward.” He paused for a moment before adding a sentence that made the woman’s heart seemingly skip a beat. “If it isn’t true, you know that your boss will regret trying to cheat us, right?”

The woman froze in response to his words while Ikazuchi directly headed towards the exit without caring for this fact. It was only when he reached the doorway that he turned to look at the woman with a slight smile and spoke to her. “Will you be accompanying me or staying here?” She finally overcame her shock and responded to him after hearing this. “I-I’m coming!”

After saying that, she quickly approached him and the two left the guild hall together. He talked to her slightly more compared to their previous encounter during this time, but it was mainly in response to her talkative nature. As for anything he was curious about, he knew that he wouldn’t receive answers. The woman simply engaged in idle chatter in order to avoid the nervousness she felt due to Ikazuchi’s threat. It was like this that they eventually arrived at the building that Ikazuchi was familiar with.

Word Count: 550
Total Word Count: 1,070

Like before, the woman’s employer greeted him at the door. “Ah, it’s you again! That’s great, now I know there won’t be any problems!” The man offered to shake hands as he spoke. Ikazuchi naturally accepted the handshake with a business smile. He felt odd being welcomed by the man after him and Xerxes took the stolen goods for themselves. Still, he couldn’t let any awkwardness show as he responded. “I have heard all about your problem already, and I should be able to take care of it for you.”

The man nodded in response to that before asking a question. “Is there anything that we need to discuss before you get to work?” Ikazuchi shook his head slightly before looking towards the woman who accompanied him to the building. “I discussed everything with her, so there isn’t any need to do so again.” Ikazuchi turned and headed towards the entrance at this point. “I’ll be out after cleaning things up again.” Without looking back or waiting for a response Ikazuchi entered the building and shut the door behind himself.

After entering the building Ikazuchi drew his swords and scanned the surroundings. ‘Now, let’s find these rats…’ He knew where he would enter the sewers at, but he felt that he should properly explore the building and ensure that none of the mutated rats remained. He was pleasantly surprised by the state of the building that had been mostly renovated during the time since he last visited.

In particular, he was thankful for the lack of swarming rats compared to last time. The sheer amount of them had ensured that both Xerxes and himself were covered in far more blood than he wished for. In general, Ikazuchi wasn’t someone who liked blood. He was indifferent to it, until it belonged to diseased rats. His expression slightly distorted due to disgust as he made his way towards what seemed to be a storeroom.

There were shelves, barrels, and bags that had various plants and unrecognizable items in the room that he entered. If there weren’t various claw and bite marks spread throughout the room. Seeing the room, he suddenly doubted that either of the people outside knew what caused the mutations. It seemed that a little bit of everything had become food for the rodents, so it could even be a combination that they were unaware of.

Ikazuchi couldn’t help but sigh at the circumstances and he turned his gaze towards the location where various scratch marks converged. They led towards a wall between two sacks where a hole that was roughly two one meter in diameter was. ‘It is definitely bigger…’ Seeing that there wasn’t an actual rat in the room, he left after observing the traces it left behind.

Word Count: 460
Total Word Count: 1,530

After Ikazuchi left the storeroom, he moved through the various rooms as he followed the various traces left behind. He could only imagine the size of the rats that he would see as he cleared each room along the way to the area where they sealed the sewer. He also noted that the building’s renovations were less complete as he moved deeper. By the time he reached the hole to the sewers, he could even see traces of the blood having been sloppily cleaned up. ‘Great…’

His attention was directed at the broken stone slab that he and Xerxes had previously installed. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the fact that he would have to search through the sewers once more. Part of him hoped that he could at least see the rats before going, but it didn’t seem that luck was on his side today. He steeled himself for the disgusting sewer as he marched into the area as if he were going to war.

He wasn’t surprised to see that the corpses of the rats killed previously weren’t there any longer. They had likely become meals for the rats that remained, particularly the mutant ones. A bit of dread emerged as he thought about what kind of grotesque monster the rats would have become after the cannibalism and mutations. That feeling only grew stronger as there weren’t any of the smaller rats that he had seen previously.

He continued to roam around as he searched for various traces in the sewer that may lead him towards the rats that seemed to be too big to miss. Each second seemed to feel longer and longer as he searched. He followed many trails only to be met with dead ends or half eaten carcasses belonging to smaller rats. ‘This looks… fresh.’ His disgust grew as he understood that the mutant rats were actively hunting those who hadn’t mutated.

Ikazuchi spent hours roaming around before he finally saw a shadow rapidly move down a path. “You’re not getting away…” He couldn’t help but mutter this as he dashed down the path in pursuit. The sewers felt like a labyrinth during this time, so he did his best not to lose it as he went down a different path than before. Ahead of him he saw what seemed like a large open area built into the sewer from his position.

Immediately after he entered, he was greeted by several large mutant rats who assaulted him in an organized manner. It seemed that their intelligence had improved due to their mutations. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong target. Ikazuchi had arrived in their nest due to the pursuit, and he didn’t hesitate to unleash a slaughter that would vent all of his feelings.

It wasn’t long before he killed them all, including the pregnant ones who were hidden. Only then did his frustrations lessen. He also happened to come across various pieces of gear that likely belonged to those the owner of the building sent before him. Ikazuchi was aware that the man believed anything in here to be his property, so he intentionally took it to the location where he and Xerxes collected the previous items and prepared it to be collected later and sold for a profit. After that, Ikazuchi immediately left and sealed the path back into the sewer. After that, he only stopped long enough to receive his reward before making his way back to the Guild Hall to clean up.

Word Count: 580
Total Word Count: 2,110

OOC: Quest Completed