“What a fat rat! Wouldn’t it be better to make jerky out of it?”
“Shh, quickly take it outside the manor and burn it. The steward specifically warned us that these rats might carry the plague, so we’re forbidden from eating them.”
Gauss and his companion arrived near the manor just as two servants inside were carrying a sack, exchanging words as they passed by.
He withdrew his gaze, lost in thought.
They followed the caravan and continued deeper into the manor.
The manor was surrounded by tall stone walls. Outside the walls stretched rolling golden wheat fields, while inside was a neat path paved with flat stone slabs, everywhere radiating order and wealth.
Within the manor, they were greeted by an elderly steward dressed in a crisp servant’s uniform.
“Honored adventurers, welcome to Wheat Valley Manor. This estate belongs to the noble Grayrock Baron Hayden Walker. I am Horwen, the steward here.” The old steward’s voice was calm and clear, carrying a perfectly measured respect.
Gauss presented the mission commission documents, catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the caravan merchants negotiating a purchase with the manor’s junior steward.
Yet Horwen did not move; perhaps in his mind, the two bronze-rank adventurers tasked with solving the rat infestation weighed far more than an ordinary transaction, or perhaps he simply wished to resolve this trouble as soon as possible.The baron Horwen mentioned was the lord of Grayrock Town, and the town’s taxes ultimately flowed into this family’s treasury.
No wonder from afar the manor’s neatness and prosperity far exceeded that of a typical village—it was a lord’s private estate.
However, from Gauss’s gathered intelligence, the baron family mostly resided in the bustling Barry City, only occasionally returning to Grayrock Town to inspect their holdings.
“Please follow me.” Horwen led the way, guiding them deeper into the manor.
“Baron Hayden always treats adventurers with great courtesy and specially instructed us to warmly entertain any visiting adventurers. The kitchen has prepared beef meals; please dine first. Starting the mission a bit later is perfectly fine.”
“Much appreciated.”
Gauss exchanged a glance with Aria.
They both understood that the “adventurers” Horwen mentioned referred specifically to professionals like themselves.
Judging by the elite guards standing at the gate, armed with long spears, clad in armor, and wearing serious expressions, ordinary low-level adventurers probably couldn’t even step inside these manor gates.
As they walked, Gauss’s eyes swept over the meticulously trimmed flowerbeds, stone channels flowing with clear water, tall windmill gristmills, and the sturdy stone walls within the manor.
Such a wealthy estate surely had professional guards stationed.
Why then were they commissioning outsiders? A question flickered through Gauss’s mind but he refrained from speaking hastily.
Perhaps some collaboration between the nobility and the adventurer guild? Or maybe for the manor, any problem solvable with gold wasn’t worth deploying their own guards.
They arrived at the central villa.
The two were led into a side hall for their meal. Though a side hall, its luxury far exceeded anything Gauss had seen in this world: exquisitely ornate carvings, a massive mounted deer head on the wall, and a long walnut dining table. Besides them, only a few servants waited quietly nearby, ready to respond at any moment. The life of nobility, glimpsed through a narrow window, was indeed extravagantly indulgent.
Even if the manor’s owner came only a few times a year, the grandeur inside never diminished.
Unfortunately, when the dishes were served, Gauss felt a bit disappointed.
It wasn’t that the taste was bad—in fact, it was quite delicious—but the ingredients were very special, their impressiveness comparable only to his first experience at Firefly Kitchen.
He had expected noble meals to be even better, but it seemed he had overestimated. Serving “insiders” like them naturally meant using rare ingredients, but it still felt somewhat lacking.
After brief pleasantries, Gauss and Aria focused on their meal.
Gauss ate the most.
His Energy Storage Gland talent truly gave him a much larger appetite than usual.
After finishing, Gauss and Horwen moved on to the main topic.
“The cellar is about four kilometers from the manor, located beneath an abandoned church.” Horwen pulled out a map, precisely marking the location.
“At some unknown time, it was occupied by a group of ratfolk. Recently, the number of rats in the manor has surged, probably related to them.”
The mission file also contained exact coordinates, but with the client present, the necessary communication process was unavoidable. Of course, this also had its benefits—at least it earned them a well-cooked hot meal.
After discussing some details with the steward, they took a short rest before boarding a carriage provided by the manor, heading toward the abandoned church.
“Gentlemen, the church is just ahead along this dirt path.” The coachman stopped the carriage a short distance from the destination, his tone apologetic. “I can only take you this far. If you need a ride back, find me under the big oak tree ahead.”
Seeing the coachman’s hesitant demeanor, they didn’t mind.
They nodded in agreement and let him pull away.
Ratfolk did not pose a particularly lethal threat to them, but for ordinary people, especially a group exceeding seventy ratfolk, it was undoubtedly a terrifying disaster.
Gauss looked at the environment ahead.
Though the afternoon sun blazed fiercely, the area was shrouded in an eerie atmosphere.
The surrounding trees were strangely withered and dead; unseasonal yellow-brown dead leaves thickly blanketed the ground.
Gauss activated Insight Technique, his senses instantly sharpening as information flooded in like a tide.
In the muddy ground to the front-left were tracks resembling those made by rats.
The pale bark of a tree showed gnaw marks from rodents, and near its roots lay several black droppings about the size of fingernails.
“The activity range is quite large,” Gauss whispered. “We’re probably still nearly two hundred meters from the church.”
“It’s the rat swarm,” Aria’s voice sounded muffled through her gas mask, her expression serious. “They fiercely plunder surrounding resources to sustain themselves and their breeding followers.”
They had been fully armored before setting out.
Besides Aria wearing protective gear, Gauss had cast Gauss Field on her.
To avoid alarming the enemy, her giant wolf companion was stationed some distance away on standby.
“That’s right. It looks like they’ve occupied this area for quite some time.” Gauss nodded.
His Insight Technique at level 7 allowed him to fully utilize his perception; he could even judge the rats’ size from their paw prints.
Among the prints were those of giant rats; excluding tails, they were nearly half a meter long, comparable to a small dog! The number of other rats was certainly not small either.
According to the Monster Encyclopedia’s record of ratfolk,
the ratfolk must have run out of sufficient food, so they released their trained rats to forage independently.
This also explained why the manor several kilometers away was infested with rats.
As they spoke, a large rat over thirty centimeters long suddenly darted out from the leaf pile, carrying a stiff bird carcass in its mouth.
It clearly froze when it saw Gauss and Aria blocking its path, confusedly staring at the two uninvited intruders.
“Hey! Hey!”
A sharp voice sounded, not from the rat but from Aria.
Gauss knew she had mastered Animal Communication, a spell enabling simple dialogue with wild animals. She must be trying to gather information, so he stayed silent and waited for the follow-up.
“Hey! Hey!”
“Hey! Hey—hey!”
Aria tried again to communicate.
But the rat showed no reaction, turning to run off with the bird carcass still in its mouth.
“Failed.”
Watching the rat preparing to flee, Gauss fired his one-handed crossbow.
Whizz!
The bolt sliced through the air, precisely pinning the rat to the ground.
After killing the large rat, he turned to Aria.
“Animal Communication doesn’t work with rats?”
“No, the spell can establish contact with most animals, but the degree of response depends on the target’s intelligence. This rat… was like a block of wood—no response at all. This is probably some form of ratfolk modification.” Aria’s tone was grave.
“Then we must be extra cautious.” Gauss warned. “If your protective magic breaks, remember to come to me for a quick refresh. I have ample mana, no need to worry about depletion.”
“...Understood.” Aria paused, glancing into Gauss’s eyes.
She felt he was indeed different from other mages she had met before.
They pressed on toward the church.
The closer they got, the denser the signs of rodent activity became.
A pungent, unpleasant stench filled the air; more and more withered plants appeared.
“Is this deliberate root gnawing or some kind of toxin pollution?” Gauss silently guarded himself.
Though ratfolk were weaker than goblins, their intelligence was far higher.
Excessive vegetation destruction would prematurely expose the nest’s location, which was clearly against their nature.
Finally, after some distance, the abandoned church came into view.
Its pointed roof tiles had peeled away, walls mottled and weathered, bearing the marks of time.
The church’s surroundings were thoroughly covered in rat tracks.
Entrances to dug-out tunnels were everywhere, animal bones gnawed clean lay scattered on the ground, and the soil even seeped an eerie dark green slime.
The most hair-raising sight was the gray-black clearing in front of the church.
Looking closely, it wasn’t a clearing at all but a moving “carpet” made up of hundreds of rats!
They pressed tightly together, their gray-black fur forming a chilling wave.
Among them, several giant rats nearly seventy centimeters long stood out, squatting like leaders within the swarm, their blood-red eyes flashing with ferocity.
Suddenly, Gauss’s heart skipped a beat, a prickling sensation of being watched from the shadows stabbing at him!
He narrowed his eyes slightly, his sharp gaze following the feeling to a broken stained-glass window high on the church.
A flash of fleeting scarlet light vanished into the shadows.
Have they been spotted?
“We’ve been discovered.” Aria spoke as well.
Her perception was equally sharp.
“Of course.” Gauss tightened his grip on the Bone Staff. “With this many spies, sneaking in silently is almost impossible.”
“Prepare to attack!”
Since stealth was futile, there was only one path left—frontal assault!!
He raised his staff, the tip pointing toward the densest part of the rat swarm, shouting low.
“Fire Bolt!”
The air at the staff tip began to warp, fiery orange-red energy rapidly coalescing. After a brief chant, it formed a flame arrow roughly the length of a forearm.
The arrow’s core blazed white-hot, its edges flickering with red-hot flames, with tiny sparks flying off.
This was a cantrip Gauss had recently mastered, unexpectedly proving useful so soon.
Whoosh—!
The fire arrow shot from the bow, trailing a dazzling orange streak, accurately striking the rat swarm!
Boom!
The arrow hammered into a giant rat, instantly exploding! Scorching flames and flying sparks erupted like sparks dropped into hot oil, instantly igniting the surrounding crowded rats.
The dry fur became excellent fuel, and the flames spread with astonishing speed.
“Hey! Hey—!!!”
The deathly silent church ruins were instantly drowned by piercing, agonized screams. The stench of burning flesh and singed hair filled the air.
“Giant Rat killed *1”
“Total monster kills: 369”
A new entry unlocked in the Monster Encyclopedia.
As expected, giant rats were considered a separate species in the encyclopedia.
Gauss nodded.
Counting these giant rats, the total monsters involved in this mission probably approached a hundred!
A substantial order indeed.
Watching the flames spread rapidly through the dense rat swarm, triggering chain reactions,
Many small rats rolled and screamed in the blaze. Gauss felt deeply satisfied.
Choosing Fire Bolt was the right call.
Though less powerful than a level 1 Magic Missile, it was even more effective against these clustered weak monsters.
A classic truth: many weak flames burn longer and more widely.
Seeing the excellent effect of Fire Bolt, Gauss didn’t pause his actions at all.
His Bone Staff repeatedly pointed at the densest areas of the rat swarm.
One blazing orange-red arrow after another screamed forth, trailing hot tails, piercing into the rolling black carpet.
The prompt sound confirming giant rat kills rang out repeatedly.
Before facing the ratfolk client, he didn’t mind clearing their pawns early.
Beside him, Aria began throwing Molotov cocktails.
Her strong, sturdy arms arced powerfully, hurling lit bottles toward areas the flames hadn’t reached yet.
Bang! Smash!
The shattering bottles mingled with the rising flames’ “whoosh” sounds, the oil spreading the fire rapidly.
The surrounding vegetation had long since been destroyed by the rats, reduced to barren scorched earth, which made Aria’s throwing easy and worry-free.
In moments, the church ruins’ surroundings turned into a fire zone.
Numerous small rats were engulfed in flames, their desperate “hey hey” screams echoing.
Only the large, more resilient giant rats used their thick fur and fierce instincts to charge out of the fire.
They rolled frantically on the ground, smothering flames with mud-covered bodies.
Those pairs of blood-red eyes glared fiercely, burning with pain and fury, fixating on the arsonist—Gauss.
Meanwhile, deep inside the church, a dark entrance led to a damp cellar.
Amid the sharp, urgent squeals of the rat tide moving like a carpet,
More than ten ratfolk appeared, taller and more agile than average, wearing armor, wielding rusty but still sharp weapons, and leapt atop the backs of giant rats.