Re:Zero - Jobless Reincarnation: Succubus Sword God? I don't recognize it!

Chapter 577 The Ex Is Always the Best
The northern continent is divided into east and west sides by the Basilante Mountains, a north-south mountain range that breaks through the far north.

The eastern side is covered with snow all year round and is covered with forests. The land is permafrost that never melts, making it difficult to cultivate.

In addition, the area is far from the only passage to the south, the Crimson Dragon's Jaw, and only a few scattered, barren small countries exist on this land.

As for the west side, it is more popular than the east side because it is close to the Kingdom of Asura.

Beneath the snow-capped peaks overlooking the sea lies the renowned Holy Land of Swords. Further east are the Duchy of Nellis, the Kingdom of Lanoa, and, to the far west, the Duchy of Basheland, nestled near the broken mountain peaks.

These three countries, unable to develop proper agriculture, rely heavily on the commodity economy of the Kingdom of Asura for survival. However, while dependent, they also possess core competitive advantages for establishing themselves on the six continents of the world.
—Magic Technology.

Magic Three Kingdoms is different from Asura.

The latter is because the monsters are driven out by the armies of the local nobles in order to ensure the prosperity of the commodity economy, and there are no decent monster-hunting missions in the adventurers' guilds of the country.

However, the former, precisely because of its vast territory and sparse population, and the abundance of monsters, attracted countless adventurers who flocked there to make a living. This led to the extraordinary prosperity of the Adventurers' Guild and the formation of a magical artifact economic chain distinct from Asura's commodity-based economic model.

The Principality of Nellis is skilled in the creation of magical tools.

The Kingdom of Lanoa excels in magic education and knowledge dissemination.

Basherant excels in the research and practical application of magic.

The alliance of the three kingdoms created a virtuous cycle:
Hire adventurers to hunt monsters – monsters produce magic stones, fur, and claws – craft magical tools – export magical tools – the various factions of the three kingdoms divide the spoils – hire adventurers to hunt monsters.

This was an ideal refuge for Ariel, who had lost power in Asura, to lie low, develop, and wait for her comeback.

That's correct in theory.

But reality is even more chilling than the frequent blizzards that arrive in late autumn.

Dirich truly couldn't understand why... why... Princess Ariel had been so sincere and had done everything she could to bet on Boreas, so why, after Boreas's fortunes turned around, did she ultimately choose Gravel?

Princess Ariel was clearly there first!

Damn it
Lord Allen, Princess Ariel clearly supports you so much. How could this happen? Is there some unspeakable reason?
Winter has only just arrived, yet the snow has already blanketed the mountains and fields.

As dusk fell, the sun was nowhere to be seen, and the world was shrouded in a vast, dark expanse.

A lone carriage struggled through the snow and wind, making its way along the snow valley on the western side of the Basilant Mountains.

Dirich was wearing a mottled fur-trimmed leather coat. His once long, black, shoulder-length hair, which matched Alice's maids' XP, had been cut short. His once smooth hair now looked like a dry straw hat on his head, and there were even some bloodstains on the back of his head.

The raging wind and snow poured in through the sealed carriage curtains, hitting his ears, which were already turning purple from the cold. Dilik covered his face with his hands, his struggling expression hidden beneath them.

Woohoo~
Only the rumble of carriage wheels echoed around, mingling with the howling of the wind and snow.

Suddenly someone asked:
“Mr. Dilik, a blizzard is coming. We may need to find a sheltered place to camp tonight and set off early tomorrow morning. Otherwise, if we are delayed, we may freeze to death here before we find the ‘Dark Dragon Scales’.”

Dirich lowered his hand, his face calm and composed, his gaze resolute as he looked at the person beside him:

How much further is it?

Standing next to Dilik was a female adventurer with light brown skin and a dreadlock hairstyle. She was burly, wearing leather armor and steel gauntlets, and looked like a mature warrior.

—Susanna, vice-captain of the Counter Arrow team, a B-rank adventurer group.

Yes, that's the Rudy timeline, where Rudy was the first adventurer team to accept him in the magical Three Kingdoms where he mingled in the swamp.

The members of the Counter Arrows were originally Asuras, whose homeland was located in Milpotts, which was controlled by Notos. They used to survive by hunting monsters in the Red Dragon Mountains on the east side of Milpotts.

However, after the Great Transfer, in order to aid in the reconstruction efforts, the forest on the east side of Milpotz Territory was excessively logged, and the monster gates within were also swept away by the army.

They naturally lost their jobs.

Three months ago, the group arrived around Yars, hoping to take on a caravan escort mission and travel to the three northern kingdoms to make a living. However, they did not receive the caravan escort mission, but instead received a well-paid bodyguard mission.

It was said that they were escorting a nobleman to the north.

Although Sarah, the archer in the group, disliked nobles and initially opposed accepting the mission, the mission seemed suspicious. The nobles were not escorted by many retainers, which did not seem like a 'travel' as it was claimed, but rather a political escape.

There might be assassins sent by other nobles lying in ambush along the way.

but.
They gave too much.

The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish. This escort job was equivalent to their previous year's revenue.

After much discussion, the group decided to take on the mission.

However, the ferocity and danger of the storm still exceeded their expectations.

Along the way, from the upper jaw of the Red Dragon Mountains to the present Duchy of Basheland, he encountered more than twenty assassination attempts.

They considered giving up the mission several times, but as the payment increased from five Asura gold coins at the beginning to fifty, and now to one hundred, they decided to persevere. There were indeed few lucrative opportunities, and although it was dangerous, adventurers were already doing a life of risk, weren't they?

Just a week ago, when they finally arrived at their destination and were about to settle down, another unexpected setback occurred.

The woman they were escorting, who looked quite 'expensive,' wanted to recruit 'talented people,' but unexpectedly, she kidnapped them instead, demanding that they go to 'Basheland Snow Valley, the Land of Fallen Dragons' to find silver dragon scales as a sign of sincerity in forming an 'alliance.'

This S-rank mission is inhuman! The adventurer's bounty alone is a hundred gold coins!

Why don't we just escort the eggs and complete the mission directly?
Lord Dilik offered a reward of three hundred gold coins for the escort.

If they give up now, the cost of their efforts along the way will be too high. If they can't get other jobs to cut their losses before the winter blizzard season arrives, they'll just have to wait to starve to death this winter.

There's also the issue of reputation. They were newcomers to the three northern kingdoms, and they abandoned their first mission halfway through, which ruined the reputation of the Counter-Arrow.

They've all been escorted here, let's get back to work.
Susanna lifted a corner of the curtain that was nailed in place and looked at the distant mountain outlines in the wind and snow with a worried expression.

"Referring to the map, there should be more."

"I told you from the beginning! We can't take this mission! Susanna! Let's go back! It's too dangerous!" "Sarah! Stop it. Things have come to this point. If we turn back, the blizzard season will come early, and we won't survive."

"."

Across from Dirichk, Sarah, with short blond hair and delicate features, carrying a longbow on her back, took a few heavy breaths, turned her head to look at Dirichk sitting opposite her, and shouted indignantly:
"It's an hour's journey! But that's only an hour on a clear day! Now that a blizzard has suddenly hit, the journey will take at least three hours!"

Dirich raised his hand: "Five hundred gold coins."

Sarah paused, her face contorted for a moment, turning from red to purple, then back to red, before finally unable to bear it any longer and abruptly standing up!
"The disgusting face of nobles! It's utterly repulsive! This is an S-rank mission! We've risked our lives to come here, not because of the bargaining chips you offered, but because we're concerned about the reputation of our adventurer team upon our first arrival in the Northern Territory!"

Dirich's eyes were bloodshot, but his expression remained calm.

“Miss Sarah, first of all, this blizzard was an accident.”

In addition, I had already spent fifty gold coins to inquire with the Adventurers' Guild beforehand. The last time that Snow Valley Silver Dragon appeared was in the forest in the northern part of the Principality of Nellis. According to its hunting habits, it will not return to its cave until next month.

Because of the color of its scales, it was ostracized by the red dragon clan, and was left alone, unable to efficiently hunt monsters or store food for the winter.

There is a period of time before winter each year when it is safe to explore Silver Dragon Snow Valley.

Finally, you should understand that all we need to do is go to the area around its usual haunt and collect the dragon scales it has shed.

Hunting the silver dragon is an S-rank mission; collecting dragon scales is not among the missions already released by the Adventurers' Guild.

"Easy for you to say! Then why didn't you find another adventurer team to take your job? Don't you think we're easy to bully?"

Dilik's face stiffened.

It wasn't that he hadn't contacted other adventurer teams; it's that there simply weren't any more suitable ones.

For how many years has this silver dragon nested at the foot of Mount Basheland? And for how many years has that damned hunt quest been hanging on the Adventurers' Guild's quest list?

It's not that no one has tried to hunt down this alien red dragon that has broken away from the red dragon clan. In five years, five A-rank adventurer teams and seven B-rank adventurer teams have already perished.

Silver Dragon is very strong; this trip is very risky.

Even so, just two days ago Dilik thought that a generous reward would surely attract brave men.

However, when he tried to hire other adventurer teams, he discovered that those well-known and experienced adventurer teams were already on missions. The tail end of the blizzard season each year is the 'golden period' for adventurers, and everyone has already scheduled their missions.

Abandoning the mission not only incurs a penalty fee, but also damages the reputation of the adventurer team.

An adventurer team that doesn't care about reputation and only wants to get rich overnight is not as reliable as the current B-rank adventurer team, Counter Arrow.

Two vanguard warriors were responsible for the frontal assault, a central archer acted as a diversion, the captain, a fire mage, served as the rearguard, and a healer provided logistical support.

A very harmonious team composition.

At least we've worked together all along, so we all know each other well.

Now, Dilik is exhausted by all the changes he has experienced, and he sees everyone as someone who is coveting his princess.

If only Lord Allen could descend from the sky like he did two years ago, I could entrust the princess to him with complete peace of mind.
Forget about midfielders and midfielders; we're better off without them.
They killed all those damned kidnappers with a single slash each!
Dilik thought about the past, feeling uneasy, and remained silent.

Seeing Dilik's expression, Sarah lost her temper and sat back down in the carriage.

Just then, the gloomy fire magician who had been staring out the carriage window suddenly changed his expression and stood up:
"Warning! There's a monster behind us! It's coming for us!!"

There was only one carriage in the snow valley, so they couldn't hide their tracks at all. Seeing this, the magician had no intention of hiding and simply pulled open the carriage curtain and threw a fireball out!
A sudden gust of wind rushed into Dilik's collar, chilling him to the bone. He jumped up with a start and looked behind him.

Countless tiny, blood-red lanterns illuminated the snow and wind behind them, stretching across the mountains and fields as far as the eye could see.

The gloomy, snowy atmosphere was momentarily obscured by the fireball spell, allowing him to make out the outlines of the monsters.

—The B-rank monster Rasta Bear, not just one, but a group, was unknowingly surrounded by monsters approaching with the wind and snow.

"At least a hundred of them!! Damn it!! Shouldn't they be mating at this time? The blizzard must have disrupted their routine! We can't fight them head-on! Run!!"

Sarah and I will hold them off from a distance! Patrice, drive! Use wind magic to increase speed! Susanna, protect the monsters that break through our lines on the flanks! Make sure these beasts don't crash the carriage!

May great flames descend upon this place, and may the fierce inferno burn everything away! Great Fireball!

A fireball with a diameter of 1.5 meters was instantly cast in front of the man's wand, but before it could be activated, a blizzard shrank its size by a third.

"whispering sound!"

The man gritted his teeth, and seeing the bear pack behind him come within range, he threw the weapon.

boom!
The fireball pierced a scorched trench in the ground, instantly blasting away the three polar bears, each the size of a carriage, that were charging at the front!

The fire tracks were instantly covered by the swirling snow. Two polar bears charged out from behind their companion's corpse. One was shot down by Sarah's bow, but the other managed to block the arrow's momentum with its thick fur.

The five-centimeter-deep wound further fueled its ferocity. It lunged forward, leaping high into the air, and slammed itself onto the carriage!
"Patrice! Susanna!"

A gust of wind suddenly rose up on the right side of the carriage, the wheels swirling up a handful of snow, and with a swift movement, the carriage narrowly escaped the white bear's claws.

Susanna planted her foot firmly on the carriage, extended her broadsword out the window, and gripped the hilt tightly with both hands!

Sarah, petite in stature, leaped and hung in the corner of the carriage in a flash. While drawing her bow and nocking an arrow, she also had time to stretch her leg to support Susanna's body, and then flung an arrow out of the window next to Dilik.

Susanna, using the momentum of the carriage, had already swung her sword under the belly of the polar bear that had missed its target!
"Hey!"

"puff!"

Outside the left car window, Susanna cleaved the white bear in half with a single slash.

Outside the right-hand window, a polar bear, which was maneuvering around using the rocks in the valley ten meters away, was shot through the head by an arrow!
(End of this chapter)