I'm back in Fretia. In the meantime, my immediate goal is to make a weapon for Ix. But iron ore is hard to come by... let's gather information.

I gathered information from the Adventurer's Guild and was able to get it right away.

There are places where you can get a lot of iron ore. However, goblins and monkies have built a fort on that road, and we are having trouble getting our hands on valuable iron ore, especially the dwarves. Quests have also been issued. Do you wish to accept them?

Mmm. This is the process of capturing the fort. I hope it's an efficient way to get at the iron ore.

I accept!

Thank you. This is Quest.

Requested Quest "Conquer King Kong's Fortress": difficulty C+.
Reward: the iron weapon you wanted, 10,000g
Conquer the fort built by King Kong and the Goblins. Any number of players

That's subtly challenging... and you're fighting King Kong. Well, it's an enemy we'll have to fight at some point. Let's be patient and fight for the iron ore. The rewards aren't bad either. But we've got Hephaistos, right? I want a weapon of love fire and I'm torn.

We'll have to attack them anyway. It's probably dangerous to go for a spur-of-the-moment attack, so let's gather information and make a solid plan for the challenge.

We need to summon today's summons before we can check King Kong's fort. So when I arrived at the Beast Demon Guild, there were a lot of players there.

Apparently, they were summoning quickly with the items they got from the event. Luke and the others were there too.

Luke is Kobold... you... how much.

Tyrol is a penguin. He's not mofo, but he's happy.

'Oh, Mr. Tact!'

'Thanks for the event!　Lots of points for leveling up, thanks to you!

That's good to hear. I didn't level up. The other people I was with thanked me for being there. And the ones that weren't, they're going to complain.

"Mr. Tact, you got to the capsule, right?　What was that all about?

Everyone is poised to listen to Luke's question.

'Unfortunately, it's not public,'

When I say that, Rikyuu and Raiden catch me.

''So, that means we exchanged them, right?''

Go to hell. You're gonna find out sooner or later.

'Yes, it is, but it's a very sensitive subject. When you're ready to talk about it, I'll tell you and you'll back off, won't you?　If you're going to force me to listen to him, I'll be there for you.

I say, and they back off.

'What. Tell me.

f*ck you!

Do you want to die?

The two of them rush to stop the player who was trying to forcefully ask them out. The two of them know my true nature, you know. I'm sorry for the two of them, but when I think of Ix, I have no choice but to scare them somewhat to shut them up. I'll apologize to both of them later.

''Hahaha... is Tact-san about to be summoned?''

Yeah.

'What attributes are you testing?　Oh, or are you summoning a list?

You're a snake with ice and a list of summonses.

Oh, you're going for Hydra with a composite summoning?

'It's obvious, isn't it? Oh, by the way, it was a promise of identification.

"Oh, I forgot!

I summon the summons and the players identify them. And when I summoned the list, they seemed to be able to summon it successfully. I also got to identify Tyrol's penguin while I was at it.

After that, everyone around me was talking about my ice summoning.

'I knew it was a mermaid!

Penguin!

'Of course it's the Ice Spirit from the event!

Otters!

"Ice Dragon Newt!

Seals!

It's a mess... by the way, it looks like Tyrol was a penguin with ice.

Well, there were a lot of opinions, but there's always the possibility of failure... Anyway, I went inside the Beast Demon Guild and asked if Nephi-san was there, and it seems that Aura-san was there just in time. It's a relief.

''What is it that you want to discuss with me?

Have you found a new sub-race?

So Aura is right, but I can't talk about it here.

'Excuse me. It's probably a very sensitive subject, so can we talk about it in the middle of nowhere?

They sensed something in my appearance and led me to Nephi's private room.

'You'll be fine here. What's going on?

'Calmly listen to me. We found the Ex Machina in the ruins of our travels and signed a contract.

It wouldn't be a quintessential event reward, so this area would be a compromise.

''What?''

They are surprised.

'Wait, wait a minute. Are you talking about an extinct sub-race, Ex Machina?

It's true that they are said to have gone dormant, so it wouldn't be surprising if they were deemed extinct.

'I've heard of a sub-race that tried to exterminate the human race... but have you really found such a legendary entity?

'Yes. She told me the history of Ex Machina herself. So I came to see what I should do. I thought the two of you could handle it.

I said, and a third party voice said that.

'Yeah, yeah. I'm glad you seem to have the trust of a young, talented summoner. 'Both of you,'

I looked over and saw one fat cat.

''Grammas!''

Hmm? Grammas? What's that?

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, summoner, beloved of subspecies. My name is Kaim. I'm the Grand Master of the Beast Demon Guild in this guild's Guildmass. I've heard about you from both of them.

What did you say? Is this fat cat okay with this fat cat here, Guildmas? Then Neffy says.

'Grammas!　I'm still in cat form!

Oops. Yo!

When the fat cat says that, he takes on human form. It's a young man about the same age as Nephi.

'Nope, sorry. I'm too fond of fat cats and I always look like a fat cat.'

I feel like this is the reason why there are so many people with strange habits in the Beast Demon Guild.

''Why are you here... or rather, this is my room!

'Cats are cats because they're free.

That's not a good explanation!

I mean, as long as he's in cat form, he can do whatever he wants.

There are no such rules!

Surely it would be hard to have a rule like that.

'Well, well. It's his story now. Anyway, can I meet that ex machina?　I'd like to see it in person to make a decision.

Okay. I'll be in the shop and I'll show you around.

'Oh!　You've heard of this place!　Lucky. But you haven't been summoned yet, have you?　You should come.

Is the restaurant that well known to Grammas? My shop. And this guy knows what he's doing.

He heads to the Summoning Room and summons the Demonstone with the Ice Demonstone!

The magic square glows blue! Okay, we made it! Now, did you have the right answer? It's the little one that showed up!

It was a snowman.

"What?

I don't know, I froze in place. Let's just try to identify it for now.

Snowman.

Yeah, it's a snowman. It's a snowman. No, from the looks of it, it is.

And then the Snowman comes bounding up to me. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You okay? You're not gonna break it, are you?

When I lifted him up, he was properly cold. But my body didn't collapse. Well, that's just as well.

Now, let's see what we're going to name him. I didn't think I'd give the snowman a name. I don't even know the gender of the snowman, so we can use the name either way.

Name: Ibuki, Snowman.

Life force 10
Magical power 10
Strength 12
Defensive Strength 15
Agility 4
Dexterity value 12

skill

Barehanded Lv1 Snow Throwing Lv1 Defense Lv1 Physical Resistance Lv1 Snow Hiding Lv1

That brings the number of summoned beasts I can summon to 8. But what's going to happen to this Snowman? Is it possible that it could be a subspecies of the golem?

Next, summon Snake to the list.

The magic circle is unresponsive...I've had my failures...well, the ice magic stone didn't go to waste. Let's hope so.

Everyone had the same reaction when I went outside with Iyuki and Kaim-san.

''A snowman?''

That would happen. Then I took the three of us to the store.