The adventurer who encountered Thresha made a split-second decision to return to Gilm after she lost consciousness, having just begged him to save her comrades.
He was supposed to be completing a request to gather herbs imbued with magical power, but he couldn't just abandon Thresha in a state like this.
Moreover, there was no denying that the fact Thresha was reasonably beautiful had some influence on his decision.
"Haa. Seriously, why do I have to..."
Even as he muttered that, he lifted the unconscious Thresha into his arms and turned on his heel.
Since he had been the first to dash out the moment the gates opened today, he was the fastest among those traveling on foot rather than by carriage or horse.
(If I'd just appeared in front of someone in a carriage, I wouldn't have had to carry her like this.)
Though he grumbled inwardly, the fact that he still refused to abandon Thresha—was it out of kindness, or ulterior motives?
Be that as it may, the man carried Thresha, cradling her in his arms as he made his way back to Gilm.
Naturally, this meant it wasn't uncommon for him to cross paths with other adventurers and merchants who had departed Gilm after he did.
Feeling the gazes of the others upon him, the man hurried toward the city.
...If his appearance had been suspicious, at worst he might have been mistaken for a kidnapper. Fortunately for him, the man was a fairly well-known figure as a solo adventurer.
"Hey, Luno. What's with the woman?"
The solo adventurer—Luno—was called out by an acquaintance on the highway.
"Nah, she just appeared out of nowhere and collapsed. Said something about her party being eaten by the forest, too."
"The forest? Hey, is that true?"
"Don't ask me. She just said that one line and passed out."
"Then couldn't your Magic Eye do something about it, Luno?"
A woman partied with the man talking to Luno asked him that.
Luno, who possessed a Magic Eye, was a fairly well-known figure in Gilm.
That was precisely why the woman must have thought his Magic Eye might be able to help.
However, Luno simply shook his head in response.
"My Magic Eye isn't some convenient tool that can do just anything."
Luno's Magic Eye could see magical power, but that ability was of no use in the current situation.
"Setting the Magic Eye aside, did she really say the forest ate them?"
The man cut into the conversation between Luno and his female companion.
The reason he was so concerned was that his party had accepted a request to procure meat from two Fang Boars in that very forest today.
Located not too far from Gilm, that forest was a place adventurers frequently visited for requests.
Hearing that the forest devoured people in such a place, it was only natural to be alarmed.
But even when pressed by the man, Luno had no answer to give.
"Even if you ask me, I only heard a little bit myself, alright? She passed out like this before I could get the full story."
Even in her unconscious state, deep exhaustion was etched on Thresha's face.
That was why Luno judged it better to let her sleep rather than wake her right then.
But the men were about to head to the forest, so there was no way they could stay silent after hearing such ominous words about the forest eating people.
"Grrr... what do we do? Do we go to the forest?"
"Even if you ask me, I have no desire to be eaten by a forest. I don't know what happened, but something that dangerous..."
Leaving the two of them behind to deliberate, Luno walked away with the woman in his arms.
He had explained the situation to a certain extent. Judging what to do next wasn't his job.
Passing by several merchants, adventurers, and travelers, Luno eventually arrived at the main gate of Gilm.
The morning rush of people leaving the city had ended, and things had temporarily settled down. The guards were each enjoying a brief moment of rest.
That was why, when they saw Luno—who had left Gilm just a short while ago—return carrying a woman in his arms, their eyes widened in astonishment.
However, they didn't immediately treat Luno as a criminal who had knocked the woman out and abducted her. Partly because Luno himself was fairly well-known, but also because they reasoned that if he had actually done such a thing, he wouldn't be openly presenting himself before the guards like this.
As a result, they assumed he had found a woman collapsed by the roadside and brought her back.
"Luno, what happened? Who's that woman?"
"Apparently she came running from somewhere off the highway. When she reached me, she said something about the forest eating them and then lost consciousness."
"...The forest ate them?"
One of the guards tilted his head.
If she had been eaten by a monster in the forest, that would be understandable.
But what did she mean by the forest eating them?
"I don't know that part either. Like I just said, she only said that much and then passed out. I couldn't just leave her there, so I brought her to Gilm."
The guards exchanged glances.
How should they assess this?
If she had simply been attacked by a monster, it was unfortunate, but it would be considered self-responsibility as an adventurer.
But if there was some kind of abnormality involved... and if it could cause major damage to Gilm, the guards couldn't just ignore it.
Making that distinction was difficult, but in the end, the matter was left to the Guild's discretion.
The words about being eaten by the forest were concerning, but ultimately, the victims were only a single party.
They felt it was pitiable in many ways, but as guards, they could not show favoritism to one party over others.
If they did, party after party would come seeking their assistance from now on.
The guards of Gilm were not numerous by any means.
Given that, it was necessary to cut their losses where appropriate.
Luno understood this as well, so he held no resentment toward the guards.
The fact that a female guard was called over, and a Guild Card found in Thresha's pocket revealing her rank as D, likely also factored into the decision.
A D-Rank Adventurer was recognized as a veteran rank, but adventurers of that caliber could be found in abundance in Gilm.
To put it bluntly, a monster capable of nearly wiping out adventurers of that rank was not at all rare in the frontier city of Gilm.
In fact, one could find such examples easily with just a little searching.
(Still... I wish at least one guard had come with me.)
He thought this as he walked down the main street, acutely aware that he was carrying Thresha in his arms.
Naturally, such behavior stood out considerably, and he ended up drawing the stares of many passersby.
"Whoa... hey, look at that. Amazing. I'm jealous. I wonder if someone would carry me like that."
"Keh, if someone carried you, their arms would break... ow! Hey, come on! That hurts!"
"That adventurer's got guts. What was his name? Luna? Hm? Luno? I think he was an adventurer by that name."
Such conversations reached Luno's ears.
There were many things he wanted to say, but judging that responding would only draw more attention and lead to no good outcome, Luno pressed forward.
(At times like this, if I were in a party, someone else... or better yet, if a woman were walking nearby...)
The difference between carrying a woman all by himself and the sight of having even one woman walking nearby—comparing the two, the gap was immense.
It was only because Luno carried her so openly that things were fine. If he had moved while trying to avoid people's gazes, it wouldn't have been strange for the guards to stop him.
Assailed by embarrassment, Luno finally arrived at the Guild.
Fortunately, the Guild had already passed its busiest time of the morning, and the number of adventurers inside was currently small.
...However, it was not yet so deserted as it would be around ten o'clock, so there was still a decent number of people present.
Because of that, Luno entering the Guild while carrying a woman stood out considerably.
Adventurers searching through the remaining requests for something worthwhile, adventurers eating a late breakfast at the tavern... and the Guild Staff Member behind the counter.
With the gazes of such people directed at him, Luno approached the counter.
"The request Luno accepted was a gathering request for herbs imbued with magical power, not kidnapping, I believe."
The familiar Receptionist said this to him with a serious face.
"It's not kidnapping. I was walking along the highway when this woman suddenly appeared from off the road and said her party was eaten by the forest or something. Her name is Thresha. A D-Rank Adventurer."
Hearing Luno say that, she apparently judged it was no joke.
The Receptionist thought for a moment, then looked through some nearby documents.
She did it at a speed that made it seem like she couldn't possibly be reading everything, but Luno, who had known the Receptionist for a fairly long time, understood that this was enough for her to take in the contents.
After finishing reviewing all the documents, the Receptionist shook her head.
"It seems she hasn't accepted any requests in Gilm. At the very least, there is no record of an adventurer named Thresha accepting a request within the last five days or so. If so, what comes to mind is that she accepted a request without going through the Guild..."
"Or she encountered this situation while on her way to Gilm."
The Receptionist nodded to Luno, who had finished her thought.
However, another Receptionist standing nearby asked with a puzzled expression.
"But if she was heading to Gilm, why was she off the highway? The highway leads straight to Gilm, so there'd be no need to deliberately leave it."
That was an undeniable fact, but at the same time, it couldn't be said that she fully understood the mindset of adventurers coming to Gilm.
"Probably, they brought some kind of monster materials with them before coming to Gilm and wanted to show off that they were skilled."
As someone who had been active as an adventurer in Gilm for a reasonably long time, Luno generally understood what adventurers coming to Gilm at this season were thinking.
The Receptionist felt the same way. ...No, as a Receptionist who had many opportunities to converse directly with such adventurers, she was likely even more familiar with those circumstances than Luno.
"I see. ...Anyway, we need to hear the details from her. This way, please."
The Receptionist let Luno through to the inside of the counter.
The place she guided him to was the treatment room.
Since the Guild was a gathering place for hot-blooded adventurers, it was not uncommon for Guild staff members to be injured.
Also, there were those who were injured in fights between adventurers.
For such people, a treatment room was provided at the Guild.
However, even though it was called a treatment room, there was no one who could use Recovery Magic; it merely stocked potions and the like.
Furthermore, if someone other than a Guild Staff Member used a potion, they had to pay a fee, so few adventurers ever used it.
In Luno's case, he worked solo and possessed a Magic Eye that could see magical power, so he rarely found himself short on money.
The request he had accepted today was not for ordinary herbs, but for gathering herbs imbued with magical power, and the reward was incomparably higher than that for ordinary herbs.
Even with such a request, Luno, with his Magic Eye, could effortlessly gather herbs imbued with magical power... and in large quantities at that.
Luno, who was not struggling for money in such a way, had used this treatment room several times before.
"Please lay her down on that bed."
"Got it."
Following the Receptionist's instructions, Luno laid Thresha down on the bed.
"Now then, I'd like to hear the details from her... but what should we do?"
"No point asking me. ...For that matter, is there really any need for me to stick around this long?"
Luno had helped Thresha in the spur of the moment, but he had performed the embarrassing act of carrying a woman through the city streets.
Belatedly, he wondered why he had needed to go that far.
"My, how cold of you. That's unusual, considering you're faced with a beauty like her."
"...Could you stop forcibly making me out to be a womanizer?"
"Hehe, I'll consider it if I feel like it. ...Let's see. I'm in a fairly good mood today, so I'll provide the smelling salts as a free service."
The Receptionist, who had been exchanging words with Luno, smiled as she said that, took out the smelling salts from the shelf... and held them under the nose of the unconscious Thresha.