Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Exploration (1)
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How much time had passed in the shaking wagon?
Everyone looked up at the shout announcing they were almost at their destination.
"We'll be there soon!"
Ian poked his head out a little and looked ahead. The forest, their destination, was almost in sight.
"Let's get ready to get off."
The members riding with Ian gathered their gear and weapons.
Normally, it would have taken time to find a wagon going this far, but with the festival over, caravans leaving Labyrinth City were passing through every day.
Thanks to that, Ian had been able to secure a wagon heading the same way right on the day he accepted the commission and set off immediately.
The wagon stopped at the road closest to the forest, and everyone disembarked.
Ian approached the driver's seat and thanked the man who had given them a ride.
"Thanks to you, we got here quickly."
"No problem. I hope you find the person you're looking for."
The wagon owner refused the fare Ian offered.
The man, who had come to see the festival, said to Ian with a serious face.
"I take out insurance from Labyrinth City pretty often too. Gotta spread some goodwill so I get lucky later."
It was a common superstition among travelers.
The man who refused the payment departed, wishing safety for the other traveler Ian was searching for.
Ian turned to his waiting members and spoke.
"Everyone ready? Once we go in, we might not come out for a few days."
Unlike their previous expeditions, which had been mostly practice, this was the real deal.
Everyone checked their gear with stern faces, nodded, and stepped into the forest.
Walking along the forest outskirts, Ian checked the map from the guild.
From the last city where the client had been confirmed, the road to Labyrinth City was straight and free of rough terrain.
Even if they had been attacked, a wagon couldn't just vanish without a trace from the road.
He had also confirmed beforehand that there were no reports of abandoned or accident-damaged wagons midway.
The only place along that route where a wagon could disappear without a trace was this forest.
Ian planned to find a path in the forest wide enough for a wagon and start the search from there.
Rin and Mika, looking at the map with him, spoke as they listened to Ian's explanation.
"To get to Labyrinth City, they wouldn't need to enter this forest specifically. Why come here?"
"Maybe bandits threatened them and dragged them in?"
As they walked toward the forest, everyone shared their guesses about why the client had gone missing.
Rin and Mika's theories weren't impossible, but...
Ian thought for a moment and shook his head.
"I don't think so."
This was a forest where monsters appeared.
Bandits or robbers didn't use such dangerous places as their hunting grounds.
They robbed in safe spots, not risking dragging prey into a monster-infested forest.
"Then they came in voluntarily..."
Ian looked up at the forest.
There were paths wide enough for wagons, but they weren't for regular travelers or merchants.
Mercenary groups heading deep into the forest or clients with urgent business hiring escorts came here.
Of course, if they weren't locals, they might not know how dangerous the forest was.
But normally, people didn't even approach unknown forests like this.
"Ah, look at this!"
With Rin's shout, Ian spotted the trace too.
It was wagon wheel marks.
The tracks branched off from the road and led into the forest.
"So it is this way."
"Recent ones?"
"...Can't tell that much."
With no hunters in the group, they couldn't glean more from the tracks.
But with no other clues, they had no choice but to follow them.
Everyone nodded and followed the wagon tracks deeper into the forest.
The deeper they went, the quieter the forest became.
"Everyone, stay sharp. There'll be more than last time."
The monsters that appeared in this forest were Night Tails.
They had experience fighting them on previous expeditions.
But before, they had only dealt with small groups straying from the outskirts of the Night Tails' territory.
Now they were fully inside the Night Tail zone, so they needed to be much more cautious.
Rin scanned the path ahead with a tense face.
"Should I scout first?"
"No. We could get ambushed separately. Stick together."
Ian stopped Rin from going ahead to check and kept the party bunched up as they moved.
Everyone held their breath and moved slowly.
Lowering their breathing to hear even the smallest sounds, ears perked.
How far had they walked into the forest?
Someone gasped sharply.
"Captain. Over there..."
"...A wagon."
Ian and his group found an abandoned wagon right in the middle of the path.
The wagon bore marks of attacks from various weapons scattered across it.
"Ah...! There's blood!"
"Doesn't look like human blood."
Mika exclaimed in surprise at the bloodstains, but Lia, who examined them, replied.
Judging by the floor marks, it was from an animal much larger than a human.
The location matched where the horse would have been tied.
Ian and his group took positions in front of the wagon, staying vigilant of the surroundings as they inspected the area.
"No horse corpse..."
The amount of blood suggested the horse was dead, but no body.
Bandits would have taken the horse alive.
Even if killed accidentally in battle, no reason to haul a heavy corpse.
"Attacked by Night Tails."
Lia said after checking the traces.
A horse corpse was useless to bandits, but different if the attackers were monsters.
Traces of a battle hunting prey, not money.
Ian nodded at Lia's words.
Meanwhile, Rin, who had lightly checked the surroundings, reported to Ian.
"No monsters nearby."
"Good. Then..."
Everyone's gazes cautiously turned to the wagon.
One spot they hadn't checked yet: the inside.
"...Shall we open it?"
A wagon smashed by monster attacks.
What had happened to the people inside?
Tanya, who had been silent until now, quietly approached the wagon.
What horrors might be inside...?
Her chest tight with tension, unable to stay put, she flung open the door.
But inside... no one.
The people inside seemed to have fled in a hurry, leaving a few bags amid the mess they hadn't grabbed.
"Looks like the people inside escaped."
Lia stepped forward to check the interior but found no bloodstains or hidden people.
Haah...
Tanya staggered back, tension releasing in a sigh.
"Tanya, calm down. They'll be okay."
"Yeah, they got away safely."
Rin and Mika steadied the wobbling Tanya from behind.
On the way here, everyone had heard that the missing mercenaries might be Tanya's friends.
Thinking they were dead, only to find they might still be alive—or perhaps dead after all.
It was a headache-inducing situation just to think about, so everyone glanced at Tanya while focusing on finding traces.
Tanya knew she might hinder the search if she panicked, so she pushed the two away and took deep breaths.
"I'm... fine. Let's search the area more."
Tanya moved first, and the two nodded, following her to look for other traces around the wagon.
"No more bloodstains."
"Seems the people inside weren't caught."
Everyone carefully searched nearby, but no human tracks.
"The monsters that hit the wagon... seem to have just taken the horse corpse and left."
Lia said, looking at drag marks on the ground.
Marks from hauling the horse body.
Monsters specifically targeting only humans were rare.
Having caught a much larger horse, they'd likely be satisfied and leave.
Now the question was where the escapees had gone.
"Maybe they went out of the forest?"
"Lots of wagons on the road now. If they exited, they'd have reached Labyrinth City."
Since they hadn't arrived in Labyrinth City yet, the client was probably still in the forest.
If still in the forest, where? Ian recalled the client and their mercenary group's info.
"Escort was an E-rank mercenary group, right?"
"Three members. Don't know their skill, but they couldn't fight multiple Night Tails."
With that strength, they wouldn't fight monsters or push deep unnecessarily.
If unlucky, they fled deeper while escaping, but if lucky, they found a nearby hideout.
Hearing Ian's guess, Tanya replied urgently.
"Then let's search around here! If they're hiding, we need to find them quick..."
"Tanya. Sun's setting soon."
Ian checked the time and spoke; everyone looked up at the sky.
The sun was sinking, darkening the forest rapidly.
No more searching today.
"Camp nearby tonight, search again at dawn."
Couldn't fight the sunset with effort.
Tanya nodded quietly.