A sinister green liquid in a spray bottle. Its name: Moss Spray.

Zurah mercilessly sprayed it on everyone.

Contrary to its unsettling appearance, the liquid left no stains on skin or clothing, drying quickly and disappearing without a trace. All that remained was a faint, grassy odor—something akin to the stench of a stink bug…

“This is a synthesized scent extracted from the stink glands of Leaf Moth larvae. Bloodsucking Vines apparently hate this smell and won’t attack us.”

“…It’s a bit stinky.”

“Bear with it, Mika. Bloodsucking Vines are seriously dangerous without this!”

Indeed. Mika had been attacked once before and had a terrifying experience. And now that the stench had already been sprayed on her, there was no helping it.

The quiet forest, dappled with sunlight, was beautiful, though the footing was a little tricky. Still, the Bloodsucking Vines didn’t attack, allowing them to pass through without issue. The Moss Spray’s effect lasted a full day, so even if more Bloodsucking Vines appeared further ahead, they’d be safe.

Yes. The Moss Spray’s effect lasted a full day.

Once they exited the forest, they soon arrived at a small village—a remote mountain settlement occasionally attacked by yetis.

This year, yetis had appeared near the village multiple times, leaving the villagers on edge throughout the winter.

“They might have been searching for flowers.”

In the past, this village had spotted yetis several times, and on a few occasions, yetis descending from the mountains had even destroyed houses. So today, they would gather information here, confirm the direction where the yetis were most frequently seen, and then finally venture into the mountains.

The Adventurer’s Guild must have notified the village in advance, as someone was waiting for them at the entrance.

“Well, look who’s here! So y’all are here to investigate the yetis, eh? The villagers already know, so come on in.”

A birdfolk youth, his cute face sunburned bright red, laughed heartily—”Gahaha!”—as he guided them to the rest house. Since this village was the last stop before the deep mountains, they maintained a rest house where lost travelers could take shelter. There, visitors could eat or even spend the night. A donation box stood at the entrance, and it was customary for users to drop in a small fee.

“It’s a donation, so there’s no set amount, but apparently, people tend to put in a reasonable sum in boxes like these.”

As she spoke, Zurah collected 10G from each of them and tossed it into the donation box.

Aside from the birdfolk youth, there was one other person in the rest house—a kobold man. According to him, he had spotted yetis three times before.

He showed them a crudely drawn map as he explained.

“Where I saw ‘em was here, here, and this spot marked here. Only from a distance, mind ya, but they came down from up this mountain.”

The map marked a mountain cabin a little ways beyond the village, along with several yeti sighting locations. After questioning the kobold man, they got a rough idea of the direction—toward Mount Kurikana, the tallest peak in the area.

“We planned to stay at the mountain cabin up ahead tonight, but if we’re heading to Mount Kurikana, it might be better to push a little further today.”

“In that case, forget the cabin—take this path here, and, uh… right around this spot, there’s a cave. Ya can camp there.”

The two villagers—the birdfolk and the kobold—pointed at the map, debating back and forth about the best route while marking down landmarks. They decided to proceed based on that information.

“If ya look from the sky, ya won’t get lost, y’know.”

Makes sense. As the birdfolk man said, Dada could scout the path from above, so Mika and the others rarely got lost.

They finalized the map, adding hints about locations as seen from the sky.

After finishing their break—which doubled as an information-gathering session—they thanked the villagers, handed over a small reward along with a bag of kaki-pi (peanuts and rice crackers) Mika had brought, and set off toward the mountain cave.

The mountain path was little more than a game trail, rugged and steep, but they found a small open grassland along the way where they could stop for lunch.

For Mika, this was more than just a job—it was a fun picnic where she didn’t have to worry about getting home on time.

As she pulled out a lunchbox from her backpack, she muttered under her breath, disappointed.

“This’d be way more fun if it didn’t stink…”

The Moss Spray’s potency showed no signs of fading.