“Chako-neechan… I wonder if everyone is okay…”
“Yeah. They’re going to be alright.”
The dwarf Lana anxiously gripped Chako’s hand, and the dark elf Noi, on the verge of tears, bravely glared outside as the only boy among them.
The youngest, the dog-kin Nal, had gone outside alone and not returned. Everyone wanted to search for Nal, but the three who remained knew that waiting was also an important role.
That was what Ron and Rena, who had gone to search, and then Aria, who had returned afterward, had taught them.
Chako was a little afraid of Aria. Even though she knew that Aria had healed Noi’s illness and risked her life to save Chako from the Munza Society, standing before her, who lived a harsher life than any adult Chako knew, made her feel small, as if she would be scolded for being useless.
She was strict with herself and others… but surely, she was the kindest person of all.
Someone who could risk her own life for others.
That was why Chako was afraid to tell Aria that Rena had gone to look for Nal.
Rena was the one Aria wanted to protect the most. Even though she cared about Chako and the children, Rena was the one deepest in Aria’s heart.
Aria and Rena had no obligation to protect Chako and the others. Rena had chosen to help Nal, seeing something in the larger world that Chako couldn’t, but how would Aria feel about Rena, the one she wanted to protect most, taking such a dangerous action?
Would Aria be angry with Rena?
Would Aria be disillusioned with Chako and the others for getting involved?
Aria listened silently to Chako’s words and quietly nodded.
Chako, considering Aria’s feelings, wondered if she should say something to Aria, and mustered her courage to speak, but suddenly, Aria’s hand gently stroked Chako’s head.
“You did your best.”
Those few words brought so much relief to Chako and the others. Her words carried that much power. Aria understood that simply waiting and trusting their companions was also frightening.
Aria must have wanted to go to Rena right away, but she first stroked the heads of Chako and the anxious children.
Chako was about to say something about Rena, but seeing a slight smile on Aria’s face in a fleeting moment of light as she headed outside, she sensed their connection and swallowed her words.
“Aria-san… please take care of everyone.”
Returning to the tower that served as our base, I heard the story from Chako and ran out into the desert again.
It was a child’s action, so there were other possibilities, but if Nal had gone to look for the red grass used in alchemy, I knew a few places, but the places a child could reach on foot were limited.
Elena and Ron had left the tower about half an hour ago. There shouldn’t be any monsters around here that the two of them couldn’t defeat, but due to the Monster Stampede, monsters had flowed out of the ruins, so we couldn’t let our guard down.
Besides, suspicious people like the dark elf and the Cruz people I saw in town were also moving around. The reason for their actions was unknown, but it couldn’t be anything good.
I put the Mana Recovery Potion I had made in my mouth, replenishing the mana I had used up so far, and used Body Enhancement to dash through the desert.
If the two of them were moving while searching for Nal, they shouldn’t be too far away. Running at more than three times the speed of a normal person, I poured mana into my eyes and focused on the flow of mana in the atmosphere, and faintly felt the water and darkness Mana Particles, realizing it was a monster’s corpse, and I was convinced that something was happening in this direction.
If the two of them were heading to the habitat, they would have to go around the rocky area, taking a detour. But I had no use for a safe detour.
“–Iron Rose–“
At my muttered words, my pink hair changed to an ashen gray-iron color like burnt ash, and the flowing scenery reflected in my eyes accelerated, leaving behind a trail of light like a comet.
Deliberately ignoring the safe path, I took a deep breath and allocated the Rose’s Body Enhancement to speed in order to increase my speed further.
“A-Re (Quickly)!”
I couldn’t finely control the Iron Rose because of the Mana Recovery Potion, but this was not a problem.
My body, which had increased its speed even further, climbed up the rocky area faster than a rock falling from a cliff, and slashed through a worm-like monster that attacked me in passing.
“Tch!”
My enhanced detection ability caught the presence of someone who seemed to be Elena in the distance.
At the same time, I felt multiple presences. A faint Killing Intent…. And from the presence of Elena that I felt, I sensed a surge of mana, and I immediately switched my consciousness to “combat.”
I couldn’t use throwing knives in a state where I couldn’t finely control my movements. I took out a small Crossbow from Shadow Storage, loaded a steel arrow, and leaped onto the rocky area. In less than a second, I judged the dark elf in my eyes to be an “enemy” and released the arrow.
The arrow aimed at the center of his face pierced the dark elf’s right eye, and at that moment, as if aiming for it, Elena’s ice spear pierced the man’s chest.
“Did I keep you waiting?”
“No, it was just the right time, Aria.”
Elena smiled and exhaled in relief.
It seemed I had made it just in time. Ron’s eyes widened at my sudden appearance, and Nal also seemed to be unharmed from Ron’s and Elena’s expressions. I turned my eyes to the remaining Cruz men.
“D-Boss!?”
“What happened!?”
“Someone’s on the opposite cliff!”
The Cruz people started to make a fuss, and one of the men shouted as he readied his bow and arrow. Seeing their equipment, I judged that they were the same guys I had seen in town.
An arrow was released from the man. Some of the others tried to ready their arrows as well, but arrows were useless against warriors of Rank 4 or higher. As long as you didn’t let your guard down, you could dodge the released arrows after seeing them.
“He jumped!?”
Without a running start, I leaped across to the other side, more than ten meters away, with just Body Enhancement. I didn’t need the Iron Rose anymore. Using the coat I had taken off in mid-air and the remaining trail of light as decoys, I dodged the arrows and, while jumping in front of them, slashed the throats of the two men who were trying to switch to their bows and arrows with my Knife and Dagger.
“W-What are you!?”
“Kill her!!”
“A-A woman!?”
The remaining three–two men in their forties and one man in his twenties. Among them, the twenty-year-old man, who was the slowest to draw his weapon, had a throwing knife thrust into his forehead as I flipped my skirt.
“Aria!”
“Roger.”
I heard Elena’s voice. I know. I also have something I want to ask those guys.
I readied the Black Knife and Dagger in both hands and stepped forward. The man who had shouted first took a step back as if looking for an escape route, and the other man, trembling with anger at the killing of his comrade, attacked with the Spear in his hand.
“That guy is fine.”
“Guh-ah!”
Guys with a strong sense of camaraderie take a long time to interrogate. I pushed aside the tip of the thrust Spear with my hand, deflecting it, and slashed the carotid artery with my Knife as I passed by, slipping past before the blood spurted out of the wound. As I approached the other man, the last remaining man easily turned his back while throwing his Spear at me.
“Guh-ah!?”
The Ball-Shaped Pendulum struck the back of his head, and the shocked man stumbled and fell. I grabbed the man’s Spear in mid-air and thrust it into his neck.
“You want to live, don’t you? Tell me what you know.”
“Doryaaah!!”
Jesha’s Two-Handed Axe smashed the Ogre’s head.
“You guys! Show some guts!!”
The Adventurers led by Jesha had finished dealing with the fast-moving first wave of the Monster Stampede and were now beginning to fight the second wave.
In the first wave, which had a lot of momentum, some of the shield-bearing dwarves were killed or injured in a collision with a rampaging Armored Dragon, but there were many low-Rank Monsters, so there was no major damage. However, the second wave included Sand Ogres, which were unique to this region, and the collision with the Rank 4 Monsters was beginning to cause damage to those other than the shield-bearers.
“You guys should scatter a little more!”
“We’re the young lady’s bodyguards, you know? Can’t do that!”
“If we scatter carelessly, Jilgun-san will kill us!”
Jesha’s subordinates, the dwarves, laughed and replied to Jesha’s shout.
The combat power of the Sand Ogre is from the upper Rank 3 to the lower Rank 4. At Rank 4, several Rank 3 Adventurers have to take it on, but at Rank 3, the same Rank 3 Adventurers can handle it.
The reason why there was still damage was that most of the higher-ranking Adventurers were Jesha’s bodyguards, and they were surrounding her. Moreover, including Jilgun, who was in charge of overseeing her, they were all people who had known Jesha since she was a child, so they prioritized her safety over Jesha’s orders and sometimes even ignored her orders.
Right now, the Munza Society’s beastmen are still moving around as skirmishers, so there hasn’t been any major damage, but there’s no guarantee that things will continue smoothly.
“You bastards…”
Jesha was gnashing her teeth at the troublesome dwarf elders, but the next moment, she had a belligerent grin on her face.
“Well, guess we have no choice! Hey, tell those beastmen flying around to gather the ogres in the center! I’ll take them all on at once!”
“Ooooooooh!!!”
The voices of the adventurers echoed in response to Jesha’s roar-like shout.
Four hours have passed since the Monster Stampede battle began, and the number of monsters defeated probably exceeds five hundred. We still have a stockpile of potions, and we’re trying to conserve the Superior Potions we purchased from “Rose” as much as possible. In a normal year, a Monster Stampede would end after defeating a thousand monsters, but there’s no telling what will happen this time.
There are several hours between the first and second waves, allowing for healing and recovery for the mages, but depending on the content of the third wave, even that might not be enough.
(…Tch, this feels bad. Do the monsters feel stronger than last time because the one in the back came out sooner? If that’s the case, I can figure out a way to end this quickly, but with those suspicious humans around, if the next wave is similar… maybe I should have brought “Rose” along…)
Jesha didn’t ask Aria for help with the Monster Stampede because the dwarves were the main fighting force, and she wanted Aria to prioritize potion production.
But, to be honest, Jesha was secretly competing with Aria, who was also a woman with Rank 4 power, and she didn’t want to ask for Aria’s help because it would be like admitting her own strength was insufficient.
She knows it’s not good for the Guild Leader, but Jesha is still just a girl, barely an adult by human standards.
“Guild Leader! That thing!”
“What is it, the third wave…”
A female beastman scout who had rushed to Jesha’s side turned her attention towards the ruins. If you strain your eyes, you can certainly see sand dust approaching from the direction of the ruins, but the female beastman’s pale face was not because of that.
The content of the third wave was rock lizards and fire lizards, relatively slow monsters, and although their scales were hard, their rank wasn’t that high. But behind them, a mountain-like shadow slowly advanced, driving the monsters forward, and was about to reveal its figure from within the veil-like dust.
Glossy scales with a mix of black and brown.
Four horns extending backward like flowing hair.
Reptilian eyes with a mix of gold and silver.
The master of the giant body, whose head alone was over ten meters tall even while walking on all fours, the master of the Ancient Ruins Lace Veil, the Earth Dragon, roared into the desert, having found new “bait.”
“Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
[Earth Dragon] [Race: Dragonkind] [Mystic Beast Rank 6]
[Mana Capacity: 334/350] [HP: 792/820]
[Overall Combat Strength: 4557]
…It’s here.
The master of the ancient ruins has finally appeared. What will become of Jesha and the others?
A little belated explanation.
Time in this world is twenty-four hours (whether it’s the same as Earth’s twenty-four hours is unknown).
The clock towers in each city have a dial divided into twelve sections, each representing two hours, called a “kok.”
Half a kok is one hour, and a quarter of a kok is 30 minutes. The bell rings every four hours (every two koks), and for example, four in the morning is referred to as “two bells.”
Aria basically uses that, but in her mind, with that woman’s knowledge, she mutters things like “10 minutes” or “one hour.”