The monsters we captured are concerning, but… let’s put that aside for now and focus on the purpose of my visit today. I handed Alec the memo I’d written about the corpses of monsters I’d encountered along the way.

It seemed like he wasn’t interested in discussing anything too complicated in this crowd. Alec pointed to a tent at the back, walked toward it, and I followed him.

“21 of them, huh… that’s surprisingly a lot. And they’re magical beasts… not in a group, but scattered around individually?”

“Yeah, yeah. They were lying here and there between the forest and the road. There’s a chance we missed some, so there might be more, but… is this some kind of abnormal situation?”

Alec stared at the memo with a serious face for a while, and it seemed like the number was more than he had expected. Well, even without considering the boss, magical beasts usually travel in groups. Sure, if they’re cornered, they might cut off the weaker members, but it’s unlikely they’d be scattered like this.

“…No, it means we’ve torn them up pretty badly. Aside from the group I brought, there were adventurers around the city, too. They were hunting desperately.”

“Ho…”

I see… they must have hunted them so thoroughly that they couldn’t even maintain a small group. For the adventurers active around this town, irregularities happening in their hunting grounds would be concerning, and on top of that, reinforcements were being sent from the capital to resolve the situation.

In a way, it’s lucky that winter is approaching. They probably wanted to stabilize the hunting grounds properly during this opportunity. Even though they worked hard to break up the group, it might lead to new struggles for dominance in the forest again…

“Anyway, we were planning to stay here for a few more days, so we’ll also investigate the forest while we’re at it.”

“I see… I’ll leave that to you then. Oh, what about the monster we captured?”

Well, he probably already knows what to do with it. More importantly, that captured monster… I’m not sure who caught it, but it doesn’t seem like one of the second squad members. Will it be used here in Arios? It doesn’t really seem suited for dungeon work, though…

“Hmm? Ah… it depends on compatibility, but it’ll probably be presented to the lord or the Knight Order.”

“Huh? We caught it with such effort, and we’re just giving it away…?”

Well, presenting it to the lord is certainly a prestigious thing, and it’s a good way to use it, but… it’s not easy to get a familiar, even if you want one.

“If it’s your snake or smaller… birds, they wouldn’t be much trouble. But horses and wolves are troublesome even without being magical beasts, right?”

“…I see.”

I don’t know about wolves, but I’ve heard that horses are difficult in terms of space and feed costs. It’s tough for commoners unless they own a lot of land. Unless you’re using it to pull a carriage, in which case a regular horse would suffice…

“If they cause trouble, it’ll be the owner’s responsibility. The reason knights and nobles have familiars is because of that. As for adventurers… individuals probably don’t have them. Plus, it’s not suited for dungeon work, even if you go to all that trouble. It’s also not very useful for hunting outside…”

“…Ah.”

I clapped my hands in realization.

If they’re active around here, they probably don’t have the skills to hunt in a magical wasteland. The captured monster isn’t even from the magical wasteland, it’s from around here. Even if they wanted to step up their hunting grounds, there’s no place to refine their teamwork, so it’s difficult. I get it now… they must be struggling to deal with it. My snakes don’t take much effort, so I hadn’t considered it from that perspective.

But that means…

“Well then, they’ll come to the capital, right?”

I hadn’t gotten close to the monster myself because I was a bit scared, but if it’s going to the capital, I can make sure it’s surrounded by strong people, and maybe there will be a chance to ride on its back later.

◇

I finished my business in the city of Arios, and after talking with Alec and the others for a while, a messenger who had left the capital in the morning arrived.

Though I had passed them on the way here, it was still just before noon, so I thought they were pretty fast.

It was bright, and since I had already taken out a lot of monsters, there hadn’t been any battles on the way, making it easier to travel quickly. I felt bad that they were disappointed when they saw me, but… it couldn’t be helped.

Anyway, once they delivered the lord’s orders, their mission was complete, and they didn’t need to bring a reply this time.

So, they would stay in the city and return with Alec and the others. They had been busy with messengers and other duties in the capital for the last few days, so it was a bit of a break for them.

Still, thanks to that, many of the messenger soldiers gained experience moving between towns, which was probably a good thing.

As I was thinking about that, before I knew it, the city walls of the capital came into view.

We quickly passed through and arrived in front of the mansion…

“The window… isn’t open. Everyone must be resting. Guess I’ll go around to the back.”

My task is done, but I don’t need to report right away.

It seems like everyone is still resting.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera ・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind’s Robe】・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Snake’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】・15 cards

Seriana ・【Range Identification】・【】・33 cards

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

Alec ・【Power Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・9 cards