A Bottom-Tier Adventurer Devoted to Supporting Their Idol Activities: Every Time, They Offer Rare Materials and Stir Up the Elites - Episode 15: The Investigation Team

Episode 15: The Investigation Team

At the west gate of the royal capital early in the morning. A line of carriages was already forming. Over ten of them were parked there. Around them, adventurers in all sorts of attire gathered. They were radiating a tense atmosphere as they watched each other warily.

Just then, a man with graying hair appeared. He was accompanied by a guild staff member. All eyes turned to them.

“Is everyone here? I’m Lamberto, the leader of this investigation team. Everyone will follow my instructions. If anyone has complaints, speak now.”

Everyone remained silent.

In that moment, a young red-haired man stepped forward and opened his mouth.

“Lamberto-san. You’re an A-rank adventurer, but quite the veteran already. Can you still actually fight monsters?”

Lamberto glared at the red-haired man.

“Tomage, huh. I’ve heard of your recent accomplishments. But now’s not the time to act tough. There are no young girls around here, right? What’s the point of showing off?”

Now Tomage glared back at Lamberto. The atmosphere turned dangerous. And the guild staff member hurriedly stepped in to stop them.

“Please, both of you calm down! Show your abilities against the monsters! Anyway, the leader of the investigation team has been assigned to the experienced Lamberto-san! That’s the decision of the Adventurers’ Guild! We ask for your cooperation on this!”

Tomage snorted in annoyance and stepped back.

“Alright. Then we move for the Western Forest immediately. We’ve arranged to switch horses at a town on the way. So we’ll go straight there without resting. When we arrive at the forest entrance by evening, we’ll make camp as is. From the next day, we enter the forest and begin investigation. Understood?”

Just under fifty adventurers agreed to Lamberto’s instructions and boarded their assigned carriages.

#

The sun had long since set. And the Western Forest had transformed into a domain of darkness. Just by looking around, multiple red monster eyes glowed in the shadows.

“Half of you light the bonfires and set up tents. The other half gather firewood and stay alert. There are monsters crawling all around out here. Don’t let your guard down!”

At Lamberto’s command, the adventurers all began to move at once. The area quickly brightened thanks to the bonfires. And a space of human territory was established.

“Alright. This should do for the tents. Let’s move on to perimeter watch.”

Tomage and his two companions had quickly finished setting up their tent. They then headed into the forest. Tomage drew his sword, and the two others illuminated the path ahead with magical light tools.

After some walking, there was a rustle. A bush about ten steps ahead shook. Beyond it, red lights could be seen.

Tomage gave a hand signal. And the other two stopped moving. The red eyes in the darkness stared at them, unmoving—no telling when it might leap out.

He quietly raised his longsword. He could feel magic filling his body.

He took a slow, quiet breath.

“[Wind Blade]!”

As Tomage chanted, his longsword was enveloped in a green light. As he slashed downward, a vacuum blade shot forward.

The balance was broken. And from the bushes emerged a massive figure—the upper-rank species of Mad Boar, the Rage Boar.

It charged toward Tomage, gouging the ground. It clashed with the vacuum blade.

“Bwomph…!!” With a stupid sound, the Rage Boar tumbled to the ground. The light tools immediately illuminated it.

What appeared was a boar-type monster that had lost both its front legs. It was unable to ever stand again.

Its red eyes filled with hate glared at Tomage.

“Alright. Let’s make this guy tonight’s dinner.”

The Rage Boar struggled desperately. But all it could do was kick with its hind legs—no threat at all. Tomage pointed the tip of his longsword down and thrust it deep into the Rage Boar’s neck.

Red bl00d spurted out. It quickly soaked into the ground. Soon, the Rage Boar stopped moving.

“Okay. Go call a few others.”

The Rage Boar Tomage defeated was so massive that it took ten people to carry.

The camp bustled with excitement at the early big catch.

Some young adventurers volunteered for the troublesome butchering. And as they cut the meat, it was grilled on the spot.

“It’s on me! Eat up and get ready for tomorrow!”

Tomage shouted, and the adventurers responded with cheers. Generally, upper-rank monster meat is tasty. And boar-type monsters are popular as ingredients to begin with. In other words, it was the best dinner.

“You’re not eating?”

Tomage called out to Lamberto. Lamberto was standing apart from the meal circle, watching the forest.

“I’m not fond of greasy meat.”

“Getting old sucks.”

“You’ll grow old too, one day.”

Lamberto kept his eyes on the forest without meeting Tomage’s gaze.

“I’ll make it big before that happens.”

“Hmph. Know your place. There are real monsters out there in the world. You can act tough because you haven’t met one yet.”

Even hearing Lamberto’s words, Tomage’s confident expression didn’t waver. As if he himself were that “real monster.”

“Hey, Tomage! Your share’s gonna be gone!”

Called by a companion, Tomage joined the meal circle.

Meanwhile, Lamberto remained facing the dark forest, muttering:

“The smell of bl00d is too strong.”

#

After waking up from a terrible breakfast at the Snake’s Nest, I began heading toward the Western Forest.

There were too many carriages on the road. So I went off it and walked across the grasslands. I ran over Horn Rabbits multiple times along the way. Since they’d make nice souvenirs for the slum brats, I stuffed them into my backpack each time.

While I was resting in a town on the way, an old man asked about my clothes. Which were stained deep red. “Back from war?” he asked.

“No, the fighting’s about to start,” I answered. And he gave me some baked sweets, saying “Then do your best for the country.”

Maybe the Linde Kingdom is about to start a war with some other country. And I just didn’t know. If it comes to that, the White Orchid Magic Corps, which Ellel-chan belongs to, will probably be mobilized too.

I need to keep offering her rare materials to ensure her safety…

With renewed determination, I hurried toward the Western Forest.

#

By the time I reached the entrance to the Western Forest, night had already fallen. It was well past sunset. A group of adventurers was setting up camp with bonfires and laughing loudly. They had no sense of tension at all.

I circulated magic through my eyes to activate night vision and entered the forest.

The presence of monsters was thick. The rumor that “a Demon King has been born” might be true.

“Heh.”

A pig-faced monster lurking in the bushes and aiming for the adventurers’ camp—its throat was slit by my knife. The High Orc—or maybe an Orc General—never even noticed me before collapsing and dying on the spot. I immediately stuffed the corpse into my backpack to avoid the scent of bl00d spreading.

After that, I kept cutting off the heads of High Goblins, High Kobolds, and more. This density was impressive.

The further I advanced into the forest, the clearer the trend of monsters became.

Only Goblins, Kobolds, and Orcs appeared as higher species. If a Demon King had been born, it’s probably based on one of those species.

And it’s likely strengthening and evolving the nearby related species.

“Gii…”

I stabbed a knife into the chest of a Goblin Mage who was about to cast a spell and silenced it with my left hand over its mouth.

I’d never heard of Goblin Mages appearing in the Western Forest before. This Demon King might be of the magic type.

“Looks like I’ll get some nice materials.”

While slaughtering every monster that appeared, I kept moving. Around midnight, I found a large tree and decided to rest.

I climbed up and leaned against its thick trunk, took out some dried meat from my backpack, and bit into it.

The strong salty flavor soothed my fatigue. Time for some sweetness.

Remembering the baked sweet I got earlier, I pulled it out and popped it into my mouth.

“Not bad at all.”

After filling my belly, I kept my awareness sharp while closing my eyelids.