Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 277: A Great Victory

Generally, human armies tend to collapse once they suffer a certain percentage of casualties.

But for rats, especially starving ones, that breaking point was clearly much higher.

Even after more than half of the swarm was wiped out, they kept fighting. The first to flee was a rat that had earlier managed to steal and nibble on a corpse. Maybe it had just enough energy or sense to run.

As the carnage continued, a few more rats began to bolt, this time the ones swarming the Blue Sentinel.

Some had tried to climb it, gnawing at its stone armor with desperate fury. But no matter how hard they bit, all they got were cracked teeth.

The Sentinel didn't seem bothered. It stomped down on the vermin or bent over to crush them with its massive fists. Meanwhile, its floating sentry drones took care of the stragglers on its back, blasting them clean off with precision lasers.

Still, the scene made Rhodes squirm a bit. He leaned toward Bill and asked, "Hey, could you grab me a few buckets of water?"

"I'm on it!" Bill had been watching the insect-versus-rodent showdown with wide-eyed fascination, but rushed off the moment Rhodes called for him.

Mira tilted her head curiously. "What are you going to do with the water?"

"Disinfect the golem," Rhodes replied, frowning a little. "It just feels gross letting all that rat gunk stick to it."

"Wouldn't boiling water work better?"

"Sure, but that feels a bit... mean."

"Also, where would you even find a pot big enough to boil the entire golem?"

"Wait—huh?"

Rhodes froze. Was she joking? Did she really imagine boiling the whole Blue Sentinel like soup? Or was she just teasing him again?

The morally-conflicted summoner fell into deep thought, rethinking his entire sanitation plan.

Meanwhile, the battle raged on, but the tide had clearly turned.

The rats were finally breaking.

They scattered in droves. Some managed to drag a Voidmite or two with them, but most were still being hunted down by the relentless wave of Mira's demonic blasts and the never-ending swarm of summoned bugs.

Rhodes pointed toward the fleeing swarm. "Chase them down. Keep just behind and take out as many as you can."

He wasn't talking to Mira, but to the trio of Voidgrubs, who hissed in response and lumbered out of the village perimeter.

On their backs, new Voidmites continued to spawn, flinging themselves forward with surprising speed, faster even than the grubs themselves.

Village Chief Jasper hurried up beside them. "Mr. Rhodes! Should we join the chase? If we act now, we could finish them off!"

Rhodes shook his head. "Leave the clean-up to me. You have something more important to focus on."

"What's that?" Jasper puffed his chest out. "We'll do anything!"

"Now that the rats are retreating, you'll need to start collecting the corpses before they start rotting. If left unattended, they'll become breeding grounds for disease."

Rhodes added, "Make sure everyone wears gloves and covers their mouths. Also, the village's water supply might be contaminated, make sure everyone boils their drinking water."

Jasper followed Rhodes's gaze to the nearby buckets Bill had delivered.

"Mr. Rhodes is so thoughtful!"

"I'll get everything arranged right away!" Jasper responded, rushing off with deep gratitude.

"Did he misunderstand something?" Rhodes asked, blinking.

"It's possible," Mira replied, chuckling softly. "But maybe it's just because you're that good at what you do?"

"I'll be very proud if you praise me like this. Well, how about I give you a reward?"

"Nope." Mira quickly covered his mouth with her hand, her cheeks slightly red. "People are watching."

The final sweep and cleanup lasted for nearly half an hour. The Voidmites chased the last of the fleeing rats into the dark countryside before finally disappearing into the night. Their work was done.

A round of cheers erupted across the village.

Though not every rat had been eliminated, the infestation had been crushed, and with the remaining Voidmites on patrol, it was only a matter of time until the stragglers were gone too.

It was only early June. There was still time to plant fast-growing crops like summer corn, sorghum, soybeans, and late rice. If the villagers acted quickly, the harvest season could still be saved.

And to think... all of this was thanks to a single mission worth just 200,000 Jewels.

The villagers quickly got to work. Armed with shovels, dustpans, and wooden rakes, they began gathering the mountain of rat corpses into centralized piles.

After checking the wind direction, they constructed a simple incineration pit on the leeward side of the village and fueled it with firewood and charcoal. One by one, the corpses were burned away in cleansing flame.

Even the ash wasn't wasted, it would become nutrient-rich fertilizer for the fields. The villagers swept up every remaining charred speck, not willing to waste a single grain.

Though the night sky was dark, the village of Ravendel glowed with flickering firelight and the hum of effort and relief. It felt like the village had been reborn.

Meanwhile, Rhodes was hard at work disinfecting his Blue Sentinel.

He'd come prepared, carrying a small pouch of powdered disinfectant that could be mixed with water. After all, this was a rat extermination mission. Sanitation mattered.

The golem stoically stood there, obedient and cooperative. It even squatted, stood, and laid down when asked, much to the amusement of the villagers. frёewebnoѵēl.com

Mira watched the lumbering stone guardian, her head tilted and her expression soft.

"It's kind of cute," she murmured.

Despite being busy organizing the clean-up, Jasper still made time to check in on Rhodes. "Thank you for everything you've done tonight!"

Rhodes waved off the thanks. "Just doing my job. And... well, we'll help repair the fence and the roads tomorrow."

Mira, slightly red in the face, scratched her cheek. "Sorry about that. I got a little... carried away."

"Please don't worry about it!" Jasper said with a hearty laugh. "We'll patch those up soon enough."

The old fence was already in poor shape, and the dirt road, well, potholes were nothing new to them. Compared to the threat they'd just eliminated, these minor damages didn't even register.

Rhodes opened his mouth to say something in response, but a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him.

His complexion turned noticeably pale.

The Blue Sentinel, which had been obediently squatting nearby, flickered out of existence with a low hum.

Far off in the distance, the three Voidgrubs that had been chasing the last of the rats vanished one after another.

The remaining Voidmites lingered for a moment longer, twitching faintly... and then they, too, dissolved into thin air, fading like mist in the wind.

"Rhodes!" Mira quickly stepped in, grabbing hold of him as his knees buckled slightly.

"I'm fine," Rhodes muttered with a faint smile. "Just... reached my limit. My magic's nearly drained. I need to rest."

Jasper's eyes widened with concern. "Please, come to my home. We've already prepared a guest room!"

Mira looped one of Rhodes's arms around her shoulder and slid her arm around his back, supporting his weight.

They'd only taken a few steps toward the village chief's house when Mira paused, glanced at him, and smirked mischievously.

Without warning, she bent down, slipped her arm under his knees, and lifted him clean off the ground.

"Wha—Mira?!" Rhodes yelped.

With an innocent smile, Mira cradled him bridal-style. "It's just easier this way," she said sweetly.

Rhodes blinked, caught completely off guard. "Yeah, but... it's weird, isn't it?"

"What's weird about it?" she teased. "You carried me like this after I fell into the lake, didn't you? Think of it as payback."

She shifted his weight slightly and adjusted her grip as if she'd done this a dozen times before.

"Alright, I'll admit, it's kind of fun," Rhodes murmured, resting his head gently against her shoulder and closing his eyes.

He could feel the warmth of her breath and the scent of her hair, comforting and familiar.

"Don't squirm too much," Mira warned with a teasing tone. "If you move too much, I might just drop you."

...

Bonus Chapter