Chapter 395: Contact
Several days had passed since I planted the listening device, and nothing particularly suspicious had occurred during that time. The residents of the house in question appeared to be a family of three: the husband fished at sea, while the wife worked at a restaurant. Their son, surprisingly, was an Adventurer. Of course, he was just starting out and still held the rank of F.
If there had been any progress, it was that the Spider TYPE had discovered another Dark Elf settlement. Naturally, I was conducting my investigation while ensuring I remained undetected.
“Lord Shu, there’s been movement from the Adventurer with the Insect TYPE attached,” Mesaria reported.
“Oh?”
Just as I was starting to relax, Mesaria brought me some good news.
“However, I must apologize. I wasn’t monitoring them constantly, so this information is from yesterday.”
“Oh, I see.”
At that moment, I had just finished breakfast and was enjoying a leisurely moment. According to Mesaria, the Adventurers had left the Town of Isolage and traveled north along the highway for about two days. At some point, they veered off the road and had an exchange with a person who was lying in wait.
“Hmmm…”
The Insect TYPE attached to the Adventurer wasn’t particularly adept. It couldn’t automatically switch its target just because there was a suspicious contact. The contact was also cautious, wearing a hood that obscured their face. Given that the highway had a fair amount of foot traffic, it was unlikely we would find them if we set out to search now.
“They’re quite cautious, aren’t they?”
“Hmmmm…”
“Haha, it’s rare to see you troubled like this.”
As I pondered the slow progress of the investigation, Ivan chimed in with his carefree words.
“Why not just ask them straight up where they came from?”
For a moment, I felt a flash of irritation, but his next words broke my train of thought.
“That’s it!”
I imagined the scene and found it didn’t feel out of place at all. I wondered if the other party had any openings or what they had been up to. It was true; asking about someone’s origin based on slightly different speech patterns wasn’t an unnatural motive. In fact, it was quite common for Adventurers to strike up conversations with others for the sake of information gathering.
“Y-yeah.”
I adopted Ivan’s suggestion with enthusiasm, though my response came out half-hearted. Regardless of the Adventurers Ivan had seen at the Guild, the individual who had appeared at the base was being monitored by the Insect TYPE, so we had their current location pinned down. We could even ask the Adventurer’s son from the three-person family living in the house.
“Alright, then we’ll wait until our target goes outside today.”
For now, each Adventurer was either at home or at an inn. It was unlikely they would stay holed up all day, so we should be able to make contact before the day was over.
“Understood.”
For the time being, I decided to relax at home.
The first to make a move was the son of the three-person family. He seemed to have left the house, and I began to monitor the footage sent by the Insect TYPE. He headed out of town and appeared to be going hunting in the nearby forest.
Seizing the opportunity, Rio and I made our way ahead into the forest, where we spotted a group of Monsters lurking deeper within. We decided to give them a little scare and drove them away.
He was likely there for a regular hunting or gathering request, but the timing was perfect. I had initially thought of asking him straightforwardly, but I realized I wanted a conversation starter. Reflecting on that, I was impressed by how adeptly template Adventurers interacted with rookie Adventurers.
“What? You think it’s cruel to set Monsters on him?”
That didn’t matter when considering the goal. The key was to not get caught. A good opening was essential.
“Uwaaaaaahhh!”
A man surrounded by a pack of four-eyed Wolves screamed as a particularly large one lunged at him. His sword was knocked away by the creature’s front paw, and just as its massive fangs aimed to crush his skull, I jumped in.
With a swift motion, I drew my katana from the Dimensional Box and severed the Wolf’s head. I turned to the man, whose face was twisted in fear, tears welling in his eyes.
“Are you alright?”
“Y-yes?”
“Was that a bit too much interference?”
After I spoke to the man, he seemed dazed for a moment before vigorously shaking his head from side to side.
“Well then, I won’t hold back.”
Having received his consent, I began to dispatch the Wolves one by one. When the pack was reduced by half, the remaining Wolves seemed to realize they couldn’t win and turned to flee. However, it appeared that Rio had circled around, and the Wolves met their end.
“Are you hurt?”
“Oh, no…”
“It’s unfortunate to encounter Raptor Fangs in a place like this.”
I identified the Monster, but the man’s reaction was dull. Perhaps he wasn’t familiar with them if he wasn’t a local. I only learned about Raptor Fangs after identifying them myself. Stat-wise, they were strong enough that Ivan could easily defeat them in a one-on-one.
“I’m really grateful… Thank you so much.”
“I just happened to pass by, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
Rio emerged from the shadows, echoing my unspoken thoughts. Since I was the one who had set the Monsters on him, he truly didn’t need to feel indebted.
“Still, I don’t hear that phrase around here very often.”
“Oh, I’ve been told that a lot since I got here. Is it really that different?”
“Oh, it’s completely different. Where were you before?”
With that, I decided to dive straight into the main topic, even if it might seem a bit abrupt.