Volume 2 Chapter 14 (2/2)
We’d probably be able to bring back two or three without issue, as all that would do is cause people to assume that we happened to have trained ourselves up a bit before beco adventurers It wouldn’tmore than just people with potential
（Plus, it wasn’t like ere in any sort of financial distress We had all the uild by showing the wouldn’t be worth the attention we’d get And if Minnalis asks, I’ll just insist that I didn’t just not want to bother）
Minnalis had all the eht up an excuse that’d work to convince her I even considered that she ht tell me I could’ve just picked them up and saved them for later, and came up an excuse for that scenario too Specifically, I decided I’d tell her that I just hadn’t thought of doing so at the tirabbed the two nearest Red Caps and retrieved the body parts that'd allowedback in Minnalis’ direction
「Huh?」
「…」
I saw strange sight uponMinnalis was situated in
「Hey Minnalis, what exactly are you doing?」
Minnalis was, for so's centre The Red Caps she and I defeated lay nearby, but she was paying theed to handle the last two by effectively shredding their flesh to bits
Her rabbit ears, which normally swayed to and fro, had instead fallen flat on her head
I couldn’t exactly what she was saying to herself, but Ia few others She see a bit under the weather
「N-Nothing i on the fact that I accidentally let us get attacked despite being responsible for keeping watch over our surroundings because I was having a bit too e pain, so save it for e get back to the inn I just want to dive right into bed right about now」
「Y-You’re not going to scold me?」
「Why would I? I only just barely noticed the a bit of reflectionto throwto let me stay as both your slave and accomplice, Goshujin-sa that? Sure you h to cause any real dae Besides, I was already aware that you weren’t already skilled going into this whole accoh with it anyway, so I’ to throw you away because of a seance would allow me to do so in the first place」
To be honest, Minnalis looked like she’d wanted me to scold her, but I couldn’t be bothered because I ay too exhausted, so I decided to just shelve the idea for the ti
「You know, I think that the lack of MP is just getting to you in a different way than usual Here, have another potion」
「Drinking sounds」
I shoved an MP potion in Minnalis’ ht her couard The co out the side of herthat nor, but I was currently too tired to bother
As themore than to find myself a futon to crawl into However, I was unable to entertain the thought as I realized that I couldn’t just fall asleep in the middle of the forest of all places, so I decided to just force Minnalis back to the inn
「Alright, get up Let’s start heading back」
「Oh, alright」
And so, we finally got a move on
「I knoe planned elsewise, but let’s just tell the guild that we ended up getting seperated from that one noble kid that was supposed to be with us because eren’t able to 」
The original plan was for us to spray his surroundings with a poison that wouldn’t har hio and pick hione and done soht now, I’d say he was currently probably off rotting somewhere with his body half liquified I was pretty confident in the poison we had hiest, as it was one that would feel on his mana in order to fuel a process that would eat away at his body and cause it to decoht…」
「Oh cos to do and places to be We’re only going to be getting busier from here on out, so sharpen up」
「Ah! Wha! Okay!」
I pat Minnalis on the head in an attehts and direct her focus elsewhere
「You don’t have the ti down about a mistake this minor Barkas and his clowns only served to function as the opening act, and we’ve finally got our firstup ahead」
I wasn’t sure if it was because I was still under the influence, or simply tired, but I wasn’t able to maintain full control overback finally showed itself onht that killing Barkas would at least curb h」
「…」
My eyes narrowed as my lips curved the ever since we got here I don’tto reflect on your ears as quickly as you can Isn’t getting stuck thinking yourself in circles just a waste of an opportunity? Weabout hoe can best get revenge on Yuumis while we’re here Save all that self reflection for e’re done」
☆
「And… I think that just about su after arriving back in Elmia
We told the buffed up, male receptionist that ere ae excused hied to survive the ordeal because we heard the e scream His surprised shout had allowed us to take up arms and defeat the Red Caps as they attempted to abmush us We also stated that we immediately retreated because we didn’t think it was safe for us to stay in the vicinity ht around ere finishi+ng up, so I don’t think he h it is rather unfortunate that you couldn’t help hiht choice Red Caps specialize in grouping up and planning ambushes, you may have lost your lives had you tried to save him」
Naturally, we hadn’t said a word about Barkas or his crew
「Are you really sure that you encountered a group of Red Caps that close to the forest’s edge though…?」
「We’re sure I think this should work as proof that we beat theht?」
I placed the body parts that served as proof of subjugation on the counter alongside several proofs frooblin we’d defeated
The receptionist examined all the proofs with a serious look on his face
「It looks like you were right This really is a piece off a Redcap’s head Most Redcaps tend to stay around the base of the roups of 4-5 have been spotted near the forest’s entrance before」
「Oh, okay」
（Huh…? I’m pretty sure e ran into wasn’t exactly what you’d be able to call a sroup）
After all, we’d encountered a whole 16 of them
Monsters were known to occasionally stray from the forest from time to time, but, the ones we ran into didn’t really seem like lost strays that happened to wander outside their usual territory
（Oh, right Didn’t the de people ht before Elot slammed by that massive army of undead）
I recalled the ti reset and reroup of the undead
The reason that attack occurred was because of a deers and forced the local ar had caused a buildup of negative an taking over the corpses ofcounterparts, which bolstered their nu the cycle repeat itself over and over ultiave rise to an are in particular because it’d served as one of the places I hid in after having the world turned againstshort of terrible The land was stained with negative eraded to such an extent that all that rericultural were a few, delicate purple and yelloers blooe’s remains
（Back then, ere able to coside Yuuht, and a party of A ranked adventurers I wonder how things’ll turn out this time around…）
That said, the undead ar for another two uarantee that El, as they were slated to be attacked not once but twice In 10 days time, the city would be attacked by horde of Goblins, Red Caps, and boars It would have to survive that onslaught if it even wished to consider the possibility of surviving the undead invasion The only reason the city hts the first tiain, just so happened to be an A ranked party in town
Surviving the onslaught hat convinced the city to send people to scout the forest, which in turn provided theh information to prepare themselves for the undead invasion to coer because they had ordered investigations in the first incident’s afterroup Minnalis and I encountered was actually n of the chaos to co over all the details he needed to and exchanged our proofs for cash as I got ht
「There won’t be any added bonuses for the Redcaps because they haven’t been designated for subjugation You’ll only be getting the standard fee The goblins, however, are, so you’ll be getting paid extra for those」
We were given a bunch of coins
「You two must be as skilled as most E ranked adventurers if you were able to re two Red Caps The number may not sound impressive, but it really is We’ll be able to raise your ranks if you just coht?」
「Sure thing, will do」
「Oh and, one ed D ranked party, but they aren’t ould call known for being well behaved It’d be best for you to avoid getting involved with them if you can We’re aware that you iven the circuest you just head on home and let us handle Barkas and the aftermath」
「We’d really appreciate that Thanks」
I responded to the guild’s receptionist in a rather grim tone of voice
Minnalis and I both then politely thanked the buff, veteran adventurer before turning around and leaving
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