“Wow…”

Peering from behind a rock, there were four adventurers in sight.

No, to be more precise, one adventurer on the verge of death and three corpses.

I don’t have medical knowledge, but even so, it’s obvious at a glance that they’re beyond saving…

The corpses all have their limbs attached, but from the sides of their armor, various fluids are spilling out.

From the nature of the wounds, it seems they were not attacked by a magical beast, but by a demon… well, probably a goblin.

I don’t know what the weapon was, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were stabbed with a broken branch forced through by sheer strength.

If they approached it thinking it was a regular goblin, they must have been ambushed by an unexpected attack, unable to react in time, and got dragged down just like that…

I don’t know how long they’ve been here, but if you look closely, there are traces leading deeper into the forest.

Did they defeat a monster, or did they escape… It’s unclear, but it seems they made it this far, only to collapse here.

The one still breathing has blood leaking from his arms and legs, but the torso seems unharmed, so I guess he’s lucky.

I decided to splash the potions I had on hand.

Since today I only brought regular potions for a quick dip in shallow waters, it may not be much, but it’s better than nothing.

“Now… what should I do?”

I can’t just leave them here, and it’s not right to abandon the corpses.

The forest is only a few hundred meters away, so if I handle the fight, even the apprentices should be able to carry them out… but still…

“Flash!”

I’ll leave it to the knights.

After that, I blew my whistle and called over the apprentices who were waiting behind.

Everything was going smoothly toward the retreat, and though I’d hoped to leave it all to them until the end, well, at least I’d get to see how the knights work up close, so I’ll have to be patient.

Before long, a patrolling soldier, alerted by my magic, arrived and began recovering the bodies and the survivor.

I overheard a bit of their conversation, and as expected, it seems they were adventurers who had come from another place.

Unlike us, who came straight from the west gate, it seems they were exploring a bit further north.

While I have free passage, I still need to report my purpose at the checkpoint when leaving the city, so they can keep track of that too.

But north… that’s quite a distance.

The monsters are the same, but that area isn’t as well-maintained, and maybe during their escape, they lost their sense of direction.

Unlike me, who can always head up and figure things out, whether it’s shallow or deep, a forest is a forest from the ground, and they wouldn’t know where they were…

◇

“Hey, Captain. We only know the monsters around here, but are the ones in other places weaker?”

Now that our numbers have increased, we arrived safely at the city without being attacked by any monsters.

Afterward, we handed over our harvests and the monster corpses to the adventurer’s guild… and while waiting for the evaluation, one of the group spoke up.

“Vice-captain, huh? Hmm…?”

How should I respond…?

From their perspective, it makes sense they’d wonder why adventurers with better gear than them get killed by goblins they can handle themselves.

I can understand that.

And it’s also reasonable to think that monsters from other places might be weaker, considering those adventurers manage to defeat and earn from them.

I don’t know much about the monster situations in other places, except for dungeons, but apparently, they really are weaker, so that line of thought isn’t wrong…

“Rather than strength, the monsters around here fight differently. So, if you’re used to monsters from elsewhere, you might be caught off guard,” I answered vaguely, giving a neutral reply.

Upon hearing this, everyone looked up with question marks floating above their heads, but I have to be careful not to belittle the monsters or adventurers from other areas.

Local adventurers are important, but to attract adventurers from other places, I want to avoid situations like that.

I’ll leave that to the adventurer’s guild.

So…

“Since it’s going to take a while for the evaluation, and other teams haven’t returned yet, why don’t you learn some dissection techniques? They say the number of monsters being processed recently is up, so more hands are always appreciated.”

When I asked the clerk, he nodded.

Though the number of adventurers has increased, it’s not so easy to increase the staff.

Until the dungeon opens to the public and adventurers start flowing there, they’re all busy.

Even if they can’t do the difficult tasks, having more hands is a welcome addition.

“What are you going to do, Captain?” asked another, this time a girl.

“I have business at the workshop today, so that’s it for me,” I answered.

She seemed a little disappointed upon hearing that.

Dissection often gets messy.

If I were with her, she could use various facilities, including the showers, so I guess she wants to freshen up after hunting, even without the dissection.

“I’ll make sure to talk to them, so if you’re willing to help out, you can join, okay?”

“Really!?”

Hearing this, the girl looked thrilled, and the clerk added his input.

There are girls in the apprentice group, but they’re rare.

Maybe one out of four?

Well, there are opinions on whether it’s right for a girl to become an adventurer, but for now, they respect the individual’s wishes and don’t interfere.

Still, she’s a rare case, and there’s a certain sweetness to it.

Even if she doesn’t become an adventurer, there’s always a chance to join the staff.

The boys are also clamoring, “Let us use them too,” but with the numbers, who knows what’ll happen?

“Well, I’m heading out now.”

With that, I quickly slipped away in the meantime.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind Cloak】・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy Eyes】【Dragon’s Lungs】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】・13 cards

Seriana・【Range Identification】・【】・28 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Power Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・8 cards