Chapter 28 (2/2)

「But then……that, if the Orc subjugation fails, the city of Gilm……」

「Calm down Al. Nothing major will happen to the city of Gilm even if the Orc subjugation fails. If the going gets tough, they can just get reinforcements from the country.」

In that situation, it will probably give the nobles faction an opportunity that they’ve been looking for, she murmured in her head.

The woman’s name was Seryl. She was a C rank adventurer. With Al and Sunyi, who were in the same wagon, and the man who was in the driver’s area, Murgas, she led the four of them in a party called Dark Night’s Star. Usually, these four people wouldn’t receive a subjugation request for Orcs, let alone ones led by a rare species or higher rank species. Then why had they received this quest? It was because they were aiming to steal Rei’s item box.

If you searched the world, item boxes were rare. You would be able to make a mountain of money if got your hands on one. A numbing feeling flowed down Seryl’s back by just by thinking of it.

(And I’ll be able to leave this dangerous frontier area with the money. I would live a wealthy life in the Imperial City.)

Seryl was already in her thirties, she wouldn’t be able to continue her adventuring work for much longer. She had already given up on ranking up to rank B. She was only at a C rank caliber.

And at this time, a rookie in his mid teens had appeared. When she heard that he had an item box, Seryl had made up her mind. She had to take the item box at any cost. No, it should have been something she should have had in the first place. Because she had worked so hard for so long.

Seryl was convinced, she ordered three subordinates, who were currently her party members, to investigate Rei’s actions. And, with that timing, they happened to hear Rei participating in the Orc subjugation, with that, they also decided to join.

「But you know, big sis. That Rei brat, didn’t he have the ability to take down the Claws of the Hawk by himself?　Even without the Griffon they said……」

「Use your head a little, Al. We don’t have to defeat that rookie fairly from the front. There’s no problem even if we steal it while he’s asleep. When he’s fighting we can surprise attack from behind. Any means possible.」

Seryl had a smile with meaning, but Al, who had an honest mind, didn’t see it.

Regardless of whether Rei was protected or not, Al had an attachment to the city to Gilm. That was why he didn’t want to obstruct the Orc subjugation quest.

(In addition, he defeated Vargas quickly. I was told that Vargas, even if it was only combat power, was a C rank, no mistake.)

Al suddenly, thought about what Murgas, who was sitting in the driver’s area, would do.

Murgas was basically a timid person, because of that, he was scared of the existence of the Griffon, that’s why he had volunteered to keep a lookout at the driver’s box so he could perceive any actions even a bit sooner. As a timid person, if he sensed the state of the Griffon to be strange, he would probably give a shout into the wagon before running away quickly.

「……Ah.」

Meanwhile, Sunyi, who had been quiet until now, let out an unexpected voice.

「Anything, Sunyi?」

「Sis……that, Griffon……」

「Griffon?」

Griffon, the tension couldn’t be concealed when that word was said, Seryl prompted her to continue.

「With one kick, it just scattered a pack of Fang Wolves.」

「-!?」

Seryl and Al suddenly stood up from their seats and went to the window at Sunyi’s words.

Looking ahead, they saw a pack of Fang Wolves, wolves with a distinctively larger fang, being trampled by a Griffon.

With a single swing of its claws, a neck was severed, thrusting its beak at another wolf, it pierced another head, a wolf that tried to sneak around and bite his tail had its body crushed by the lion like feet.

「It’s taking on a pack of Fang Wolves so easily……」

Al leaked a voice of blank surprise at the fight.

Speaking on a rank basis, the Fang Wolf was an F rank monster, it wasn’t strong by itself. However, they are the only wolves that turned into monsters and still formed groups to hunt. Because of its low rank, adventurers who just registered with the guild assume that a Fang Wolf subjugation isn’t that hard, because of that, there would be cases of the hunters becoming the hunted several times a year.

F rank is still F rank, even if it formed groups, it was only E rank. But no matter what rank it was placed at, the degree of risk was D rank equivalent.

It may be possible to defeat a pack as a C or D rank adventurer party. But, to fight easily, to the point of overwhelming them, it couldn’t be called a fight like that. But looking out from the wagon, the Griffon seemed to be unhurt.

Seeing the figure of the Griffon, Sunyi, who had been deriding Al for his timidity, had the thought pass through her head of what would happen if they messed with the rookie and failed.

「Big sis……」

The voice of Sunyi that called out to Seryl had traces of fear and fright.

It wasn’t good the way things were going. Their minds may have given up before they could take the item box from Rei. Seryl who determined that, spoke up loudly.

「Both of you, there’s no need to be scared. Though I said it before, our aim is only to take away the item box. Even if you say how strong the Griffon is, there’s no need to fight them head on. You only need attack him by surprise, take away the item box and run away quickly.」

Naturally, because they would run away from the subjugation duty, the fate of Gilm would be involved, if they did carry it out, it would be unlikely that they would be able to stay in the city of Gilm. However, Seryl intended to live off by selling the item box, escaping to the Imperial City and retiring comfortably. She would possibly be put on the Adventurer Guild’s wanted list through the Gilm branch but she was a C rank and had confidence in not being defeated by local adventurers. As soon as she got the money from selling the item box, she would hire a strong bodyguard, she may even be able to apply pressure on the guild by siding with the nobles faction.

Even if the guild called itself an organization independent of the country, in the end it was still the country’s land, Seryl expected that they wouldn’t put her on the wanted list if they didn’t want to get into trouble with the nobles faction.

When she pictured her purpose and bright future in her head again, even the sense of fear from the scene of the the Griffon’s slaughter was wiped away.

Starting to speak, she clapped the shoulders of Al and Sunny, who were looking anxious, with a ban~ ban~ sound .

「Come on, it’ll be okay. First is the camp tonight. If it goes well, we’ll be able to take away the item box and quickly run away before we reach the Orc settlement. Look for a good opportunity. 」

At a distance a bit further away from where Seryl was speaking, Set was pecking meat from a Fang Wolf that was double the size of the others in the pack.