It’s been two days since the soldiers who participated in the war returned.

The returning soldiers are now on a well-deserved break, probably resting and recovering their strength.

When I flew over the town earlier, I felt like there were more people walking the streets than usual… Maybe they’re out enjoying themselves in town.

There are still few entertainment facilities in town, and not many places to hang out during the day… but if they’re able to refresh themselves, that’s a good thing.

Alec and Zighart are also meeting up with the squad members and adventurers who stayed in town…

Well then, putting those guys aside, I’m currently slowly moving along the highway in the eastern sky of town.

The other night, I heard something from Seriana that made me a bit curious about the eastern side of town.

Of course, I’ve never completely ignored that side.

If I let my guard down, monsters might appear.

I have always tried not to overlook any signs of monsters coming out of the forest or their traces whenever I pass nearby.

But… the thing is—

What I’ve been cautious about was always only related to monsters.

I haven’t paid much attention to anything else, and especially since the dungeon was made, this side has been largely neglected.

The highway and the base are well guarded by adventurers and patrolling soldiers who come and go daily.

So there shouldn’t be any need for me regarding monster matters.

However, it seems that from now on, they will focus on developing, pioneering, and advancing this area.

I don’t know if I’ll have any role to play, but I thought I’d at least inspect a little, so today I came here for the first time in a while.

◇

“Hmm…”

So, I’m floating around from the east gate toward the base, but maybe it’s still before noon?

All I’ve seen are merchants heading toward the territory’s capital; adventurers were only visible near town.

It’s almost spring—an okay season for hunting—and this area is a bit tougher than the shallows, so there probably aren’t many adventurers hunting here, but still, there should be a few more…

Maybe the adventurers haven’t arrived yet… but there’s an easy path here, so even on foot they should be able to come without much trouble if they were hunting around here.

“Hmm… Ah, maybe…!”

I was wondering why there are no hunters around, and one thing came to mind.

Right now, I’m floating a few kilometers from the territory’s capital.

The forest around here is no longer shallow territory; it mostly has fairly large or pack-forming monsters.

Because these monsters come from a demon realm, they are strong enough that even the adventurers here can’t let their guard down, but it’s still manageable if you stay cautious.

However, the real hassle is dealing with the corpses after defeating them.

Even if you manage to kill them, you can’t just leave the bodies behind.

You have to either burn them to ash or bring them back to town.

If bringing them back is difficult, they often choose the former, but since this is a forest…

It’s a bit tough to burn them completely to ash.

So they have to bring them back to town… If it were a bit closer to the shallows, there would be more hunters, and they could ask for help with collecting the bodies.

And if it were a bit deeper, the base would be closer, so they’d bring them there instead.

The base gathers those accustomed to hunting in the forest, and many hunters are there, so help would be easy to find.

But this spot seems unsuitable for hunting.

Maybe it’s the balance of adventurers’ strength or a geographic issue.

Either way, this place is a depopulated area…

◇

This road stretches from the city’s main street through the eastern gate and continues all the way to the eastern outpost.

I helped out back when we first built the outpost in the First Forest that spreads east of the city—it was a rush job cutting through the forest to create this road.

As the eastern outpost has expanded and developed, this road leading to it has also been widened.

Felling trees, clearing the path… it’s all slow, painstaking work. Not to mention the risk of monsters—so work proceeds cautiously, and of course, it takes time.

Still, they’ve managed to widen it enough for carriages to pass each other… but even that still isn’t enough, apparently.

When I was wandering around after the rainy season, I briefly glanced at the eastern road too.

But at the time—rainy season aside—I didn’t notice any signs of work being done.

“Oh?”

As I was flying along and checking out the road conditions, I reached about halfway to the eastern outpost—when I spotted a group hard at work.

I wondered what they were doing and started to approach…

“Oh? Hey, Deputy Chief. Working today?”

Looks like someone noticed me floating lazily overhead.

One of the soldiers guarding the workers called up to me from below.

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

Sera・Blessing・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Water’s Garment】

Blessed Items・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】+1【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】・8 cards

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

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

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