“…Oh? Nailed it.”

The spear she had thrust into the burrow must have pierced both rabbits, but it seemed they weren’t killed instantly. Monica had to wrestle the violently shaking spear for several minutes.

But it finally settled down.

“Okay! …One, two, three!”

With strength, Monica yanked the spear out of the burrow.

Firmly skewered on the tip were the lifeless rabbits.

Just their bodies alone looked to be about 50 centimeters long.

Their hind legs were probably thicker than my arms.

They must have been heavy too, because Monica immediately placed them down on the ground.

“They’re huge… Leaving them alone would’ve been a real problem…”

There are rabbits in the First Forest where I usually hunt, but I never target them myself.

Seeing them up close again really is a surprise.

As I was admiring the size of the rabbits, the farm owner chimed in with agreement.

“Yeah… But these things are so quick on their feet, it’s hard to get rid of them even when we do spot them…”

“Right, right.”

Trying to chase something that fast on foot isn’t exactly practical.

Today it’s Gilly, but we’ve also got Bale back at home, and this kind of task feels like it fits the Second Squad. Still, it’s probably best to do these exterminations regularly.

Anyway, since we can’t really carry the rabbits around, we’ll donate them to the farm and start patrolling the other fields!

◇

So, we finished patrolling all of the farm’s fields, but moving in formation, dealing with the rabbits, and filling the burrows back up ended up taking over an hour.

If it were just about finding the burrows, Gilly could’ve run around and located them quickly, but aside from me, the other four have to move on foot.

If it were just Monica and me, we could keep up with Gilly’s pace, but… when considering worst-case scenarios…

Even with a spear, I’m not sure I could deliver a killing blow. And setting aside the fact that I’m hiding 【Shadow Sword】, I’d still be scared to shove my arm into a hole where monsters might be lurking.

Even if I leave it to Monica, if it’s something other than a rabbit, we’d need a tough shield-type fighter.

So yeah… it’s going to take time.

“We really spent a lot of time on just this one spot… What now?”

“Yeah… Considering we’d have to travel further, maybe we should stop here for today.”

“Monica. You’re running on foot—how’s your stamina?”

“I’m fine.”

Still, unlike me who came out just out of curiosity, the knights are here on actual duty.

They can’t just brush it off with a “whatever,” so they’re properly huddling up and discussing it.

If it takes about the same amount of time at the next farm, then by the time we return to the capital, it’ll be getting dark.

At that point, we’d also have to be on guard against monsters, but the three knights can handle it.

They’ve got horses, and they’re skilled enough to fight in dangerous areas.

But today, Monica’s with us.

She’s got the same mobility as them, but in terms of combat strength, I’d be worried about her even against the beasts and monsters on the western side of the capital.

This is a Knight Order mission, but unless it’s an emergency, there’s no need to push ourselves.

Safety first!

“Alright… Let’s end it here for today. We’ll continue tomorrow or later.”

Looks like they all agreed.

Monica seemed apologetic, realizing she was part of the reason we were pulling out, but in my opinion, just confirming that we can handle this extermination using the wolves was good enough.

I came along today, but they should be able to manage without me starting tomorrow. So today’s wrapped up!

◇

That night, I reported the day’s outing to Seriana.

“Rabbits, huh…”

“Yup, yup. Since they’re monsters, they were pretty big, you know? The damage was apparently worse than you’d think. The farm owner was happy to hear the Knight Order might be able to take care of them from now on.”

The rabbit-caused damage seemed to be outside of what Seriana had expected, and though it was a fairly mundane topic, she listened seriously.

Well, yeah… You can imagine people being attacked, but it’s harder to picture damage to crops.

Even I only thought, “Oh, right…” once I heard the story, despite having seen news about deer and wild boar damage in my previous life.

This kind of issue might be handled at the field level, but it’s not something that usually reaches the lord or Knight Order leadership.

“Good that there’s another place where the wolves can be useful. Are two enough?”

In the southern forest, we had to give up on the idea since there are powerful beasts and monsters like that bear we fought the other day. A single wolf wouldn’t be able to maintain a territory on its own there.

One of them is currently guarding the mansion’s garden, but we’ve been looking for a place where they could be of unique use—and this rabbit extermination might just be it.

“Hmm… Well, the patrol area isn’t that big, so I think it’s doable with two… maybe?”

It’s better to have them than not, but the area isn’t all that large, so two should be enough, right?

“I see. Well, there might be other ways to use them too. If there’s room to spare, it might not be a bad idea to keep them on.”

Seeming to have decided to bring this up as a topic for Liesel, Seriana turned to the table by the bed, pulled out a piece of paper from the shelf, and began writing.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sera ・【Hideout】 +1 【Prayer】 【Mira’s Blessing】 【Wind’s Garment】 ・【Floating Orb】 +1 【Shadow Sword】 【Scarlet Bee Needle】 【Fairy’s Eye】 【Dragon’s Lung】 【Amber Sword】 【Danrem’s Thread】 【Serpent’s Tail】 【Ankle Bracelet】 【Amber Shield】 【Purple Wings】 【Red Sword】 【Monkey’s Arm】 ・4 cards

Seriana ・【Range Identification】・【】・39 cards

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

Alec ・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】 【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards