Chapter 73: Solo Search
“Shinya, you went even deeper than where we met you?”
“Well, he wouldn’t have been able to hunt a King Tiger that size otherwise.”
“The Big Elk and the Elk are huge too. No wonder he doesn’t want to say what he’s carrying.”
〈Look at that, Red Horn Goats are found way out in the rocky areas deep in the forest!〉
〈Good for you, dateless guy. If you’d had a Mock Battle with him, you would’ve been vomiting blood.〉
〈Since we saved on Potion money, I can splurge on the girls!〉
“Shinya, do you always operate alone?”
“Basically.”
“Well, if you can hunt this much, I guess it’s not a problem. Hey, could I get you to go on a reconnaissance mission?”
“Reconnaissance?”
“They’re coming out from the Deep Forest, and I want you to investigate how far they’ve spread.”
“I only came to this town at the beginning of October, had an acquaintance show me around the forest, and this was my first time going deep in alone. Even if you say reconnaissance, I barely know the geography. It’s impossible.”
“That’s not an issue. We know they’re being pushed out from the west of this town, heading east towards us.”
So this is what Tina-san was talking about, the result of the Beasts increasing too much.
“West? Pushed out?”
“About once every ten years, an overpopulation of Beasts gets pushed out of the forest. They say it’s due to food shortages or losing territorial disputes, but either way, it’s a nuisance we can’t ignore. So, about the reconnaissance, this time it seems they’re being pushed out from almost due west of Tanza, heading east. West of Tanza is a village called Deelgo, and the report came from there. I want you to go to Deelgo Village, and then head west from there. A rough estimate is fine, just check the vanguard of the large ones and their lateral spread.”
“Large ones?”
“Herds of High Orcs, Tiger-types, and Bear-types. We’ll gather people and head to Deelgo Village. The feudal lord should also be gathering Soldiers and rushing over. I’ll have Tanza’s Shield guide you to Deelgo Village.”
So, I don’t really have a choice, huh?
Sending me alone probably also serves to minimize casualties and conserve our fighting strength.
I don’t mind quitting being an Adventurer, but running away when people I’ve come to know are going to fight would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Besides, if I encounter a horde of Beasts, it’s faster and less stressful to escape alone.
“Tanza’s Shield, I want you to guide Shinya and make arrangements for his reception over there. Shinya, you’re promoted to C-rank.”
“What an unwelcome promotion,” I muttered under my breath.
“Shinya, you’ve got it rough.”
“If you’re an Adventurer, you just have to accept forced conscription.”
“Shinya, just in case, don’t neglect your escape preparations.”
“That won’t be a problem. If there’s one thing I’m confident in, it’s my ability to run away faster than anyone.”
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It was a six or seven-hour walk to Deelgo Village, a dead-end village connected by a road barely passable by a cargo carriage.
It felt a bit larger than Osius Village, with more people, and the sturdy fence surrounding it indicated a high level of danger.
I went to the village chief’s house to confirm the situation, but even though I had Forest Wolves with me, he looked at me, young as I am, with suspicion.
“Village Chief, Shinya may be young, but he’s a C-rank Adventurer. Worry more about fortifying the village’s defenses than about him,” one of Tanza’s Shield members said.
“Is that really true? Well, I don’t care if he messes up and dies, but don’t you dare lead any Beasts to this village!”
Since I didn’t like that, I hit him with my killing intent and King’s Pressure. The gutless wonder just turned pale, froze up, and started trembling.
“That’s some impressive pressure.”
“Stop it, you’re making my heart pound,” Ariela said.
“Hmm, are you smitten with me?”
“Don’t go seducing my mom!” Glen retorted.
“Village Chief, he’s risking his life for you people. If you keep talking like that, we’ll abandon your defense,” one of Tanza’s Shield members, likely Glen, admonished.
“S-Sorry. I apologize.”
“Alright then, as agreed, when Hoo-chan arrives, let him into the village without attacking.”
“It’ll be fine. I’ll look after him,” Ariela assured.
“Yeah, don’t worry, I won’t let anyone lay a hand on him,” Glen added.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
Waiting for dawn, I left Deelgo Village and headed west.
Hoo-chan and the others had red cloths tied around their necks, a marker so they wouldn’t be attacked when they carried messages to the village.
About an hour after leaving the village, I summoned Bee-chan and the others, pointed west, and asked them where the big furballs were.
The Guild Master, without knowing anything, had made the perfect choice for a scout. I couldn’t help but give a wry smile. However, I couldn’t just leap and bound around; I had to match my direction and travel time to that of an average Adventurer.
Bee-chan and the others returned one after another, telling me where the furballs were, but I only used their directions as a reference.
After all, Bee-chan flies, so I didn’t know how far away they were in terms of an Adventurer’s walking speed.
I walked for a day in the direction they indicated, then hurried from there to confirm the furballs’ location.
Once confirmed, I walked back to my original spot and recorded the time and distance.
Using a point one day west of the village as a starting point, I headed west for another day and confirmed Brown Bears, Tiger-types, and several others moving east.
From the starting point, one and a half days north, I confirmed a herd of 16 High Orcs heading east, along with various Bear-types and a large number of assorted Beasts.
I attached a message detailing these two sightings to Hoo-chan No. 1 and sent him towards Deelgo Village, simultaneously continuing my Search while moving south.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
Three days after Shinya departed from Deelgo Village for his confirmation, the Adventurers gathered at Tanza’s Adventurers Guild, led by the Sub-Master, began arriving one after another.
On the evening of the following day, a lookout shouted that a single Forest Wolf was approaching.
At the sound, the Sub-Master rushed out of the barn serving as a temporary command post and ran towards the lookout.
Ariela and the others from Tanza’s Shield followed the Sub-Master. Confirming the red cloth on the approaching Forest Wolf, which showed no fear, Ariela stepped out of the village to meet Hoo-chan.
After Hoo-chan sat down in front of her, Ariela untied the message from his neck and returned with Hoo-chan to the Sub-Master.
“To obey someone other than its Tamer… his skill as a Tamer must be considerable,” the Sub-Master remarked.
“Just having it deliver a message this far demonstrates his high level of ability,” Ariela said.
The Sub-Master took the message Ariela offered, and his face clouded over as he began to read.
“Is it bad news?” Ariela asked.
“There’s never good news in these kinds of messages, but not only are the numbers large, it seems they’re spread over a wide area. It says they’re spread out and approaching from a starting point one day’s journey west of this village, extending another day west and one and a half days north.”
“What about the south?” Ariela inquired.
“He’s investigating that now, so we don’t know yet. We’ll need the feudal lord’s army to deploy to the front as well.”
“So the vanguard might appear near the village today or tomorrow.”
“How will we organize the formations?”
“I’ll send a messenger to the Guild Master and have him request the feudal lord’s army to guard the highway. We’ll use this village, which will be the town’s frontline, as our base and advance to subjugate them. When Shinya returns, incorporate him into Tanza’s Shield and show him the ropes.”
The Sub-Master scowled at the list of participating parties, racking his brain over combinations and deployments.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
While heading south from my starting point, I received reports from Bee-chan and the others and went to confirm them.
Unlike the Beast stampedes or city raids you often see in light novels, these were in units of the same species, and what’s more, they weren’t in large herds, making it a pain to confirm their numbers.
Still, it was a relief that they weren’t causing a stampede like in light novels, giving us some leeway to respond.
However, even so, I ended up having to subjugate Beasts wherever I went for the investigation, and I started to worry about the capacity of my rank 8 Magic Bag.
I still have my rank 5-360 and 5-90 Magic Bags in reserve, so it should be manageable.
The only thing that irked me was that I was moving exactly as that Clunker God intended.
The southern spread was smaller than I expected, and by the time the sun began to set, the presence of Beasts had significantly diminished.
This time, to make my return quicker, I had walked, so I sprinted through the forest and arrived back in Deelgo Village by mid-morning the next day.
When I returned to the village, there were fewer Adventurer parties than I expected.
Glen-san and the others, who came to meet me, guided me to the Sub-Master. It seemed more than half the parties had already advanced westward.
The Sub-Master had set up in the village assembly hall and was giving instructions to each party on which direction to head from the village.
“Sub-Master, Shinya’s back!” Glen announced.
“Oh, good work. How’s the southern front?”
“To the south, they extend to a distance reachable before sunset. I feel like there are slightly fewer Beasts than on the north side.”
“Hmm, perhaps we’ll leave that area mainly to the reinforcement Adventurers.”
“Hey, did you really find and confirm a horde of Beasts?” a skeptical Adventurer asked.
“If you don’t like it, go check yourself, you dateless old geezer.”
Someone snorted with laughter. 〈Bffft!〉
“I’m asking because you came back way too fast!”
“You’re an idiot. I’m the one who commands Forest Wolves, you know. If I couldn’t navigate the forest adequately, there’d be no point in using them. If I ran through the forest at full tilt, I could reach the destination in half your time. If you have time to complain about me, go out there, get some solid kills, and earn some money to get popular!”
“So, you must have subjugated some of the Beasts you encountered, right? There are many here for support, so could you show them to us for reference?”
“What kind of things did you subjugate this time?”
“Ooh, let us see!”
I suppose it couldn’t be helped.
If I refused here, my report might be suspected as false, so I decided to lay them out in the plaza.
Since I was scouting while subjugating Beasts I ran into on my path, I took them out at random from the Magic Bag where I’d indiscriminately tossed the Beasts, and lined them up.
Gray Wolf, multiple
Red Bear, multiple
Bighorn, multiple
High Orc, multiple
Fang Tiger, 1
Forest Wolf, multiple
Golden Bear, multiple
Black Cat, multiple
Brown Bear, multiple
《Whoa, whoa, just how many did he hunt?》
《He went out scouting, didn’t he?》
《Yeah, and all by himself.》
《That number of High Orcs… does that mean he fought an entire horde?》
“Everyone, as you can see! If you head in the direction I indicated, there’ll be plenty of prey to hunt and money to earn. Don’t let your guard down, I’m counting on you!”
Those confident in their skills were fired up seeing my haul, but those who weren’t, and some parties, looked pale.