A mountain of bandit corpses sat in the center of the hall, the result of the grim labor performed by Arrogan, Superbia, Filma, and Rei.
Gazing at the heap with a slight, involuntary frown, Rei turned to give instructions to the others.
"Schola and Culotte should be wrapping things up in the warehouse by now. Let’s move out and regroup with them."
Filma tilted her head, looking puzzled. "That’s fine, but what about these bodies? Weren’t you going to burn them?"
"I am, but not until right before we leave the cave. If we set them ablaze now, the tunnels will fill with smoke."
"Ah, I see. Humans are quite restricted by such things, aren't they?"
Superbia caught the phrasing in Filma's agreement. "Is it different for Elves?"
"Hmm, well... If we stay in a smoke-filled room, we’ll eventually collapse just like anyone else. It just doesn't happen quite as quickly for us."
"Hmph. Elves are quite convenient creatures, then."
"In exchange, our raw physical strength is much lower than yours. That’s why Elven swordsmen are so rare compared to Rangers and Mages like me."
"Actually, Filma is the first Elf I’ve ever met," Superbia admitted.
"That makes sense. The number of Elves who actually venture out of the forest is quite small to begin with."
As the two conversed, Arrogan cut in irritably. "Hey, save the chatter for later. We’re heading to the warehouse, right? I’m sick of standing around here. Damn it, the stench of blood is killing my sense of smell."
"Arrogan has a point," Rei said. "And we shouldn't leave the prisoners to Culotte and Schola forever. Let’s get going—"
Rei suddenly went still. The other three looked at him with curiosity as he fell silent, a faint smile touching his lips for some reason.
The cause was a voice that had just echoed inside his head—a voice he was becoming quite well-acquainted with.
【Seto has acquired the skill 『Poison Claw Lv.1』】
The announcement message resonated clearly.
(I see. So even when Seto and I are acting independently... and even if Seto absorbs a magic stone on its own, skill acquisition is still possible. Confirming that alone made it worth splitting up today.)
"Rei?" Superbia asked.
Rei shook his head, masking his inner satisfaction. "No, it’s nothing. I thought I felt some remaining bandits nearby, but it must have been my imagination. Let’s head to the warehouse."
He led the way out of the hall, returning to the fork in the path and taking the left tunnel toward the storage area.
"Ah, Filma! Rei’s here too."
Culotte and Schola were waiting in front of the warehouse, accompanied by two men Rei didn't recognize. He assumed these were the rescued merchants.
"What’s the status of the loot?" Rei asked.
"Not bad," Culotte replied. "There’s a decent amount of gold, silver, and copper coins, plus a few gems. We found some low-end magic items too. Strangely, though, the stockpile of weapons is incredibly large."
Following Culotte's lead, Rei peered inside. The space was packed with swords, spears, axes, bows, and bundles of arrows.
"This doesn't add up," Rei murmured. "The bandits we killed were already fully armed. Why is there such a massive surplus here?"
Superbia looked over Rei's shoulder and offered a guess. "They probably stole them from the merchants they've raided. They kept them as spares for themselves instead of selling them off."
"That would be the logical conclusion, but..." Rei still felt a lingering sense of doubt.
"Hey," Culotte interrupted. "I returned the stolen goods to these two. That’s fine, right?"
Rei looked at the two merchants, who were now carrying massive rucksacks on their backs. Normally, an adventurer would demand a fee for recovering stolen property, but Rei wasn't particularly greedy.
"Sure, why not?" he said with a shrug.
Arrogan, however, could not let that pass. "Wait a minute! Don't we usually charge a fee to return stolen cargo? Why are you being so easy— about— it..."
His voice trailed off as he noticed Rei’s cold gaze fixed on him. Arrogan withered, his momentum vanishing.
Still, the thought of a diminished reward was hard to swallow. Since this was a Rank Up Exam, their official pay was a measly single silver coin; any real profit had to come from the bandits' hoard. Arrogan looked toward Superbia and Filma for support.
"I don't mind," Filma said. "It was their cargo to begin with."
"No objections here," Superbia added.
Arrogan found himself completely isolated. From a strictly professional adventurer's standpoint, his logic was technically correct—undercutting market rates could cause problems for other adventurers later—but the merchants were wise enough to navigate the situation.
"Now, now, please," the younger merchant spoke up. "We would be ashamed to accept our lives and our livelihoods back without offering anything in return. Once we return to the City of Gilm, please visit us. We deal in magic items, and I’m certain we can find something to suit your tastes as a proper thank-you."
At the mention of magic items, Arrogan’s face lit up with naked greed. Given the high cost of such items, his reaction was expected. It was settled: the party would receive their true reward at the merchants' shops in the city.
"Now that that’s settled," Superbia said, "what are we doing with the rest of this?"
"What do you mean?" Schola asked. "We can take it, right?"
"Sure, but look at the volume. It’ll be a nightmare just getting it to the carriage, and there’s no way we can fit all of this inside."
"Oh, right," Schola realized.
Everyone understood that leaving the weapons behind was a safety risk. New bandits could use them to re-arm, or monsters like Goblins might stumble upon the cache and become a much greater threat to travelers.
Rei let out a long sigh. "Fine. I’ll store everything in this warehouse in my Item Box. We can handle the distribution once we’re back in town."
Arrogan nodded with a conflicted expression, while the others brightened with relief. Superbia, whose longsword had been chipped during the battle, immediately found a high-quality replacement in the warehouse as an advance on his share.
Rei walked through the rows of equipment, systematically storing the loot. The two merchants, who had been unaware of Rei's Item Box, watched the vanishing piles with gaped mouths.
Earlier that evening, while Rei’s party was beginning their raid...
The members of Scorching Wind were camping in the forest with the gryphon, Seto. Their current quest was to hunt five Treants, but the elusive monsters had proven difficult to track.
As Rank D monsters, Treants were not a significant threat to a Rank C party—especially with a Rank A monster like Seto on their side. However, that was only if they could find them. Treants were essentially monsters with faces on their trunks; they could move using their roots, but when stationary, they were indistinguishable from normal trees. Even Seto’s keen senses had struggled to spot them while they remained dormant.
"Sigh. I didn't think we’d go three days without seeing a single one," Mirene grumbled, tossing dry wood into the campfire.
"It can't be helped," Sulnin said soothingly. "We knew Treants were difficult to find from the start." He handed her a cup of tea made with water boiled over the fire.
"Thanks. But I didn't expect it to be this bad. Remember that last quest? We found them almost immediately."
"Ah... that time," Ekryl, the third member, recalled with a wry smile. "I wasn't the only one who thought we were going to die."
Back when Scorching Wind was still a Rank D party, they had successfully hunted their target Treants. However, while resting by a nearby lake afterward, they had encountered a Kelpie—a Rank C monster. Exhausted from their hunt, they had barely managed to escape with their lives.
"I still don't know how we outran a horse-type monster like that," Mirene said with a hollow laugh.
"Seriously. I really thought my life was over," Ekryl agreed.
"Guruu?"
Seto, who was lounging by the fire, tilted its head at the two women. Mirene, who doted on Seto as if he were a giant kitten, broke into a smile and began stroking his back.
"Oh, you! Seto-chan is just too cute!"
"Gruruu."
Seto purred happily, leaning into the touch, though his cry sounded a bit lonely without Rei around.
"I really don't understand why Mirene is so obsessed with him," Sulnin remarked with a chuckle.
Mirene began to protest, but she was cut off as Seto suddenly let out a low, predatory growl.
The laughter died instantly. Mirene was on her feet in a heartbeat, her longsword drawn.
"Get ready, everyone! Looks like we’re being hosted for a welcome party."
"Good grief. I’d prefer my parties during the day," Sulnin said, gripping his staff.
"It’s a surprise party, then," Ekryl added, nocking an arrow and scanning the dark treeline.
"Guruu!"
Seto sensed movement and unleashed a Fire Breath. The plume of flame sliced through the darkness, instantly incinerating several projectiles into charcoal.
"...Wait, hasn't the power of his Fire Breath increased since the Orc Settlement?" Sulnin asked. The blast he just witnessed was clearly superior in both range and intensity to what Seto had displayed against the Orc King's archers.
"Sulnin, focus! They're coming!" Mirene shouted.
The melting smile she had for Seto was gone, replaced by the ferocious grin of a predator. Six monsters emerged from the shadows.
"Six Treants! Wait... one of them is different. It’s a Rare Species!"
Five standard Treants led the charge, but behind them stood a deformed Treant that seemed to be commanding the others. Its bark was stained a sickly, deep black. The party intuitively knew it was a Poisonous Treant.
"A Rare Species? You’ve got to be kidding me," Sulnin muttered.
"Rumor was that their sightings were on the rise," Mirene said, her eyes narrowing. "Guess the rumors were true."
"I could really do without the poison..." Ekryl added.
Under normal circumstances, a Rare Species would be a dangerous fight even for a Rank C party. But these were not normal circumstances.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrruu!"
Seto stepped in front of the party and let out a deafening Roar, activating King's Intimidation.
The Treants froze. Their movements became sluggish and clumsy, leaving them completely unable to evade. Scorching Wind began to harvest them with ease.
"Gruruu!"
Seto cried out, unleashing multiple Wind Arrows. The slowed Treants were shredded by the magical wind.
"Gruruu!"
With a powerful Horizontal Slash of his foreleg, Seto snapped a Treant's trunk like a dry twig. A vine whipped out from the darkness to strike him, but he reduced it to ash with another burst of Fire Breath.
Watching him fight, it felt less like he was protecting the party and more like he was venting his frustration over being separated from Rei. It was a fit of pique directed at the forest.
By the time Scorching Wind managed to finish two Treants, the other three had already been broken in half by the gryphon. The Rare Species was no exception; Seto’s beak plunged into the center of the Poisonous Treant’s trunk, gouging out its magic stone and swallowing it whole.
【Seto has acquired the skill 『Poison Claw Lv.1』】
"Guruu!"
Only Seto heard the message. He let out a triumphant cry, leaving the members of Scorching Wind to watch him with baffled, wry smiles. Mirene, however, looked perfectly satisfied with her "Seto-chan’s" performance.
"Right... let's get the Proof of Subjugation Parts while we can," Sulnin said, looking at Mirene with exasperation.
Ekryl began harvesting the Treant Sprouts—valuable potion ingredients that served as proof of the kill. For the often cash-strapped Scorching Wind, Treants were a profitable prey.
"I wish we could have kept that Rare Species Magic Stone, though," Sulnin sighed.
"Can't be helped," Mirene said, finally snapping out of her daze. "We weren't the ones who killed it."
They finished gathering the materials and headed back to camp.
【Seto】 『Water Ball Lv.1』『Fire Breath Lv.2』『Wind Arrow Lv.1』『King's Intimidation Lv.1』『Poison Claw Lv.1』new
【Death Scythe】 『Corrosion Lv.1』『Flying Slash Lv.1』『Magic Shield Lv.1』
Poison Claw: Secretes poison from the claws, poisoning opponents wounded by them. The strength of the poison increases with the skill level.