Northern Harbert Forest
The northern part of Harbert Forest.
The mercenaries immediately began gathering the corpses of the dead moths.
“The lack of wings is a bit disappointing.”
“Since we’re not greedy, let’s at least take the shells.”
Joseph’s expression twisted at the sight of the mercenaries happily chatting while holding the smashed moth’s head.
'Why on earth would they buy that?'
The corpses of bug-like monsters seemed to be mostly purchased by mages or nobles who had mages with them.
However, he didn’t know the details of the reason.
It was natural if it was natural.
This world didn’t have information systems like the modern era.
It was an era where even a small piece of information was valuable.
In big villages, there were separate information brokers.
Probably, even if someone knew well, they wouldn’t easily answer.
'Well, there might be some artifact that uses such materials.'
For now, this was all the speculation he could make.
After loading the moth corpses onto the cart, Joseph and his party moved north again.
Passing the second camp, they finally approached the vicinity of the third camp.
It was the place where they had fought the burrowing spider last time.
As expected, the corpse of the burrowing spider had already been completely cleared away.
Only traces of the dug-up earth remained from Joseph’s magic.
“Is this the area?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
Joseph got out of the cart and answered.
The third camp, where the corpses of those believed to be Davie’s subordinates were.
“From here on, I haven’t been to this place.”
“I see. It would be better to be more cautious about the perimeter.”
“...Wouldn’t it be better to check it directly?”
Joseph asked cautiously.
Even so, they were soldiers of a noble, and Joseph thought it wasn’t good for him to check it out on his own.
“If it were an important mission, but as I said, those guys just came here on their own and died.”
But Davie just shrugged his shoulders.
“...”
Joseph glanced at the sky.
Unlike before, no shadows flying high in the sky this time.
“Anything visible over there?”
Joseph asked the leading mercenary.
“There’s nothing special. No strange sounds either.”
Several days had passed since then.
Even if there were corpses, by now nothing would remain.
“Since we can’t be sure, let’s move in formation.”
“Understood.”
Joseph led the mercenaries into the third camp.
“This is...”
Joseph’s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the camp.
It wasn’t that corpses were scattered.
But with faint red stains left on the ground and leather armor torn and rolling around, it wasn’t hard to guess what had happened.
“Search the surroundings.”
Upon hearing that, the mercenaries quickly scattered.
Originally, it would have been Davie’s soldiers’ job, but he didn’t feel like moving even though he had come this far.
“...Mage-nim.”
Meanwhile, one of the mercenaries called out to Joseph.
He was holding a piece of torn cloth in his hand and kept glancing at Davie behind Joseph.
“Flag?”
“...Yes.”
The mercenary bowed his head but looked worried about offending him.
It was natural because the family flag was as important as one’s own life to nobles.
Among dirty nobles, there were those who wouldn’t hesitate to cut off a servant’s head if even a speck of dust got on the flag.
Joseph accepted it and unfolded it slightly, revealing the Fabidea family emblem.
“...It seems this is indeed the place you mentioned.”
“Is that so?”
Fortunately, Davie wasn’t that twisted in personality.
However, he frowned slightly and stared fixedly at the flag with the family emblem.
“From this, it seems they were trying to find another camp.”
Davie circled the camp and spoke.
“Abandoned camps, you mean?”
“Yes. No matter how you look, it wasn’t made by someone passing by quickly, right?”
He pointed to the tent.
The tent made by cutting trees had traces of stakes driven in to prevent easy collapse, and next to it were scattered pieces of wood that seemed intended for firewood.
Joseph, who had wandered around here and there for quite some time, could tell.
No matter how well equipped with swords, shields, etc., this was strictly a monster’s territory.
In such a place, setting up camp so obviously without hiding, and that clumsily, was like begging to be attacked.
'Even for that, it’s too clumsy...'
Joseph’s gaze reached the extinguished bonfire.
Normally, when camping in dangerous places, it was important to dig a pit in the ground so the firelight didn’t spread widely.
But there were no such traces here.
“You seem to have overestimated your own abilities.”
Davie noticed Joseph’s thought and spoke first.
He was starting to look irritated.
Eventually, he turned his head back and spoke to the other soldiers behind him.
“If any of you does something this stupid like this, I’ll cut off your heads even after you die.”
The soldiers, as well as the mercenaries searching, flinched at the growling voice.
'...Nobles are nobles.'
The search of the camp was completed in less than thirty minutes.
Originally, the scale was small, but because they found what they had hidden under a tree near the camp.
“These seem to be things that were in the other camps.”
From old leather to metal accessories, there were quite a few valuable items.
“This seems to be something Davie-nim should take.”
“During the extermination, you said you wouldn’t take what comes out, right?”
“That’s only for monster extermination. Originally, these are things that Davie-nim’s soldiers wanted to obtain outside the mission, so it would be only right for them to belong to Davie-nim.”
“...”
When Joseph answered firmly, Davie’s eyes widened a bit.
Then he laughed loudly.
“Hahaha! I understand. If the mage-nim’s will is like that, I will accept that kindness.”
“Thank you.”
Honestly, Joseph wasn’t not tempted by those items.
If he sold just those, he could immediately cover the mercenaries’ hiring costs.
But no matter what Davie said, swallowing them whole would be a stupid act.
'This guy is a human who stakes his life on a gamble.'
It was easy to see if you thought about it a little.
Even if Davie received support from his family, it wouldn’t be infinite.
Originally, the person who became a wandering knight because he was dissatisfied with dividing the family’s resources.
He would need money endlessly even while leading his own soldiers on a journey.
Joseph could tell because he had done it himself.
But he said he wouldn’t take compensation for the extermination.
And then he said he’d give the things that come out to Joseph...?
It felt like he was overreaching at first glance.
'If you cling to face, it becomes like this?'
Joseph understood Davie’s attitude with his head but couldn’t empathize at all.
No matter what, if Joseph here greedily swallowed everything without noticing, he didn’t know what kind of words he would hear later.
“You’re too kind to people, aren’t you?”
Actually, Davie seemed quite relieved in mood, so he treated Joseph more intimately than before.
It was to the point that Davie’s soldiers looked at Joseph with strange faces.
* * *
After the camp search was safely completed, Davie brought up his opinion.
“The dead ones were coming down from the north, so if you look at it the other way, it means it’s safer further north than here.”
The ones who came this far and set up camp clumsily died.
If such guys safely passed through, it would be safer than here.
Following that opinion, they moved further north, and finally the edge of the forest and the riverbank appeared below the hill.
“Let’s set up camp here.”
Normally, he would have gone down to the river, but it wasn’t a good choice either because it was a monster forest.
Water was important for people and animals alike.
It would be as stupid as being attacked by a monster that came to drink water.
After spending the day like that, the next day they entered the monster extermination in earnest.
“Maintain formation like during training.”
Before starting, Joseph gave instructions to the private soldiers.
The goal was to catch as many monsters as possible and return, but he had no intention of moving recklessly.
Because he wasn’t sure how many there were hiding in the forest.
The mercenaries led by Derik were in the front.
Then Joseph, Auk, and Jiren followed.
Behind that, Davie and five soldiers guarded the rear.
“I’ll guard the rear, but if a dangerous one appears, I’ll engage.”
Last time, Davie took Joseph’s position.
Joseph nodded at this.
In such places, if someone guarded the rear well, it was enough to feel safe.
After going in a little, just like before, the leading mercenary raised his fist above his head.
It was a signal that something had appeared.
“Quite fast.”
It hadn’t been long since entering the forest, but something appeared already.
It was clear that the northern forest had more monsters than other places.
“...A group of 'Bonefang'.”
“What? Those guys are here?”
The other mercenaries were startled by the word Bonefang.
And of course, Joseph, who didn’t know about it, had no choice but to show a bewildered expression.
Joseph had done some investigation in the northern part of Harbert Forest over the past few days.
Giant moths, leech flies, vine snakes, poison sting centipedes, etc....
But among them, there was no such thing as Bonefang.
“That is...”
“Here they come!”
Before Joseph could ask about it, the leading mercenary shouted ahead.
Soon, four large boars burst out from beyond the bushes.
Two were twice as big as Joseph, and the other two were a bit smaller.
“...Aren’t these just boars?”
“No. Look at their tusks.”
Upon hearing that, he carefully examined the boars’ mouths.
Indeed, on the mouth of a large boar, there were tusks as thick as an adult’s arm.
“The tusks of these guys are large and very hard regardless of male or female. They can rival ordinary metals.”
Unlike normal boars, it seemed they all had large tusks without distinguishing male and female.
'Male and female... Then aren’t these just a different kind of boar rather than monsters?'
A bit strange, but it wasn’t important now.
“...Their tusks are quite expensive to sell.”
“Let’s catch them.”
All of this family.
It’s a sad thing, but it’s a noble sacrifice.
“Roar─!”
The leader-looking one that was glaring at us let out a rough roar.
“It doesn’t seem like we can block it with shields.”
“Yes, so usually... we use slaves as bait.”
“What?”
When it was necessary to exterminate Bonefang, usually the guild used slaves owned by the guild as bait.
They had a temperament that reacted violently to fast-moving targets, so they seemed to prioritize them when slaves ran out.
Even if the slave died, it didn’t matter.
Originally, human slaves weren’t comparable to the value of monsters.
By exterminating one appropriate monster, they could buy several cheap slaves again.
'Insane...'
Originally, it was a world where the word 'human rights' itself didn’t exist, so it was understandable.
But he still clicked his tongue at the cruel and primitive hunting method.
When human efficiency and ruthlessness combined, this is what happened.
It was understandable even while understanding, but it was absurd.
“Then we don’t have slaves to use as bait, so how do we catch those guys?”
“...”
Then he glanced at Joseph and then at Davie behind him.
The look was as if asking what to do with a mage and a knight.
“...?”
Joseph looked alternately at the soldiers and Davie with a puzzled expression.
Even if it was him, honestly, Davie was just a human who waved a sword.
The only proper knight he had seen was Manir, but even that one just dodged around in front of a troll.
“Should I take the biggest one?”
And at that moment, Davie stepped forward as if waiting.