An Irregular Laserdon
The road to Broke Village with the Irregular Laserdon was peaceful. Thanks to the Ikelos pushing their speed, we moved at a pace on an entirely different level from everyone else. Of course, even at that insane velocity, running into monsters was unavoidable. The monsters of the Central region could only stare blankly, unable to keep up with the Ikelos' speed, but the ones from the North could easily match it.
"Hold up. There's a pack of Wood Goers ahead."
"Ugh. What a pain."
"Where, where? Where are they?"
At my words, Adela and Neon looked around. Aside from the trees densely packed on both sides of the moderately paved road, there was nothing. Even if someone searched for possible hiding spots, there weren't any nearby. A stranger might have thought I'd made a mistake, but Adela and Neon trusted my detection abilities completely. After seeing me prove myself time and again, they stopped without a moment's hesitation.
To repay that faith, I summoned Umbra and sent him forward. As he walked ahead unarmed, the trees on both sides of the road dozens of meters away suddenly moved. No—the arms of the Wood Goers shot out fiercely.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Wood Goers, which looked like ordinary trees at first glance, attacked to hunt their prey, gouging deep holes into the ground. Their attacks, perfectly blended with the trees, could shatter rocks without effort. As I'd mentioned before, Wood Goers were monsters capable of fighting even the trolls of the Central region.
But contrary to their expectations, Umbra simply stared at the Wood Goers with a calm expression. That was only natural. Since Umbra's true nature was a shadow, as long as he received mana from me, he could regenerate indefinitely.
Umbra drew a sword from his body and charged at the Wood Goers. Watching him take on three of them alone, I smiled warmly.
"It's been a while since I've seen these guys too."
"Yeah. They're still ridiculous as ever."
By rank, Wood Goers were monsters that Bronze or Iron adventurers would normally handle, yet they were moving their arms so fast they left afterimages as they fought Umbra. The Wood Goers exploited the brief openings when a body was destroyed and had to regenerate, linking their attacks without pause. Umbra, however, skillfully dodged those combinations and hunted them one by one. The battle didn't last long. Umbra's abilities were built on the foundation of my own power, and my strength wasn't weak enough to struggle against mere Wood Goers.
After leisurely finishing off the Wood Goers, Umbra gathered only the useful materials and returned.
"Good work. Come back into the shadow and rest."
He nodded. I took the materials he handed over, stored them in my inventory, and absorbed him back into the shadow. With the monsters blocking the road dealt with, it was time to move again. Since the Ikelos were running at dozens of kilometers per hour, the travel time wasn't long. We passed several villages in the blink of an eye and soon reached our destination.
"We've arrived."
"This is Broke Village?"
"It looks a bit unusual."
The appearance of Broke Village that the chef had described was indeed unique. The thick walls resembling the small fortresses typical of the North and the internal structure weren't all that different, but the houses that made up the village had wildly varied designs. There were elf homes made from living trees, dreamlike fairy houses straight out of a storybook, orc homes and beastkin homes decorated with hunting trophies, and more. Just from what we could see, there were over seven different architectural styles. I'd seen villages with two or three races living together, but this was the first time I'd encountered one with such a diverse mix of species. I looked on with curious eyes as we headed toward the entrance.
The guard at the entrance seemed to guess our identities from our appearance and gave us a friendly look.
"Are you adventurers?"
"Yes. I'm Argo, a Bronze-rank adventurer affiliated with the Edenberg branch."
"Nice to meet you. Broke Village always welcomes warriors!"
When I showed my adventurer badge and revealed my identity, he thumped his chest in the warrior's salute. His goodwill toward us was obvious, so I took the opportunity to ask something that had been on my mind.
"By the way, this village has an incredible variety of races. Is there a particular reason for that?"
"Ah. That's because of Mother Aria, the chief of Broke Village."
Calling the chief "Mother" suggested she held tremendous influence in the village. Even the guard protecting the entrance showed clear respect for her.
"Mother is an incredible person. If it weren't for her, many children would have died."
She'd saved so many people? The more I heard, the more curious I became about who this chief really was. I opened my mouth to ask the guard for more details when a kind-looking elderly elf woman approached the village entrance.
"We have guests, I see."
"Mother!"
She had such a graceful aura that it made me wonder if this was what a great beauty from her youth would look like after aging beautifully. On the surface, she seemed like an ordinary grandmother. But we didn't let our guard down. The presence radiating from her was clearly stronger than mine. The pure mana enveloping Aria proved she was a skilled fighter.
"It's an honor to meet you, Chief."
"Nice to meet you. I am Aria, the chief of Broke Village. Since we've met like this, it must be fate. I'll show you around the village myself."
"Thank you for your kindness."
Aria smiled warmly as she welcomed us and took on the role of guide. Thanks to her, we were able to tour the village comfortably and hear all sorts of information.
"This is the village I built after retiring. At first, I planned to live here alone, but I started taking in children with nowhere to go and survivors from destroyed villages. Before I knew it, it had become this."
"That's truly amazing."
"It's nothing special. I simply did what I could."
She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but was it really that easy? Being called Mother by the villagers meant she must have saved a great many children. The survivors of villages destroyed by monster attacks probably owed their lives to her as well. To the people of this village, she was practically a hero.
In recognition of her truly heroic deeds, I thumped my chest.
"I offer my respect for your efforts."
"Ho ho. You flatter me."
Aria covered her mouth with her hand and laughed elegantly before continuing the tour. The village was larger than I'd expected, but since she only showed us the important spots, it didn't take long.
"This is the house where I live."
"It's an incredibly large tree."
"I'm living with a friend, you see."
A girl emerged from the massive tree at the center of the village. The dryad, a type of fairy, spotted Aria and smiled brightly, waving her hand. Aria waved back in the same way, then noticed an orc moving near the tree and brightened.
The orc passing by the tree looked strangely familiar.
"Ah. There's Arash over there. He's an adventurer from the same branch as you. Do you know him?"
"We know each other. In fact, we're comrades. We were working on the same request until just a few days ago."
I hadn't expected to run into someone I knew here. As we approached, revealing our presence, Arash noticed us and looked surprised.
"Argo?"
"It's been a while. I didn't see you in the city and wondered where you'd gone. So you came back to your hometown?"
"That's right. This is my home."
I'd figured as much. Seeing Arash back in his hometown made me feel like visiting my own home for the first time in a while. I was pondering whether to stop by soon when Arash pulled some Elune Berries from the pouch he was carrying and tossed them over one by one.
"For us? Thanks."
"A gift to celebrate your visit to the village."
"I'll enjoy them."
"Thank you, brother."
I thanked him and took a big bite of the Elune Berry. These berries, which grew commonly in the North, looked like large strawberries. They were quite big, delicious, and popular as snacks. Their moderate sweetness followed by a gentle tartness was particularly memorable. I ate carefully so the juice wouldn't drip, and Arash asked what had brought us here.
"So what brings you here? A request?"
"The chef put in a named request. I heard there's a Gourmet Deer around here."
"A Gourmet Deer, huh."
Arash rubbed his thick chin with his hand. He seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment, he spoke.
"Did they say it was spotted in this area?"
"That's right. That's why we came."
"Then it might be pretty difficult."
His words, spoken while scratching his head as if troubled, left me with a puzzled expression. What was so difficult? Of course, hunting a Gourmet Deer wouldn't be easy, but it shouldn't be impossible either. Seeing our confusion, Arash explained.
"There's a rather peculiar Laserdon living around here."
"A Laserdon? That big bear-like thing?"
"Yeah. They usually move in packs, but this one wanders alone. It's probably after the Gourmet Deer too."
Laserdon had appearances like bears and appetites to match, devouring enormous amounts of food. The calories they stored were used to fight predators or competitors, or saved for times of famine. Because fairly large groups moved together, once they settled in an area, they could devastate the local ecosystem. If they were spotted near a village, the Adventurers' Guild would immediately organize a subjugation force. They were monsters that treated humans as competitors, so they were usually hunted down. But from what Arash said, it seemed this one had been settled nearby for quite some time.
"The special thing about it is that it's a boss-level monster."
"A boss-level one moving alone..."
This didn't feel good. Arash nodded, reading my thoughts.
"Exactly. Just as you suspect, it's an Irregular."
"I knew it."
Irregular. Not all monsters were the same. Some had exceptionally high growth limits or possessed unique abilities. If those monsters reached adulthood and accumulated various experiences, they would evolve into monsters of a completely different dimension or become what we commonly called Named monsters.
Since it posed an unusual level of danger, it should have been a top priority for subjugation. So why was it still alive? I looked at him with a puzzled expression, and he explained the reason.
"That thing is smart."
"Smart?"
"It understood that if it touched people, adventurers would come."
"So there hasn't been a single casualty."
"Right. It doesn't encroach on human territory and only operates nearby, so naturally, monsters don't approach the village."
"It figured out that as long as it doesn't touch people, the adventurers won't target it."
The North was always suffering from a chronic shortage of manpower, so they didn't have the luxury of bothering a monster that stayed quiet. They were already busy dealing with monsters that invaded human lands. How many adventurers and how much time would it take to hunt an Irregular Laserdon? I was quietly impressed by the symbiotic relationship that had formed by cleverly exploiting that fact. At the same time, I realized that such a creature was now our competitor.
"If it finds the Gourmet Deer, it'll definitely go after it."
"Of course. To a monster with a high growth limit, a Gourmet Deer would be like a feast."
I'd thought it would be a simple matter of quietly hunting the Gourmet Deer and calling it a day, but I never expected to get an interesting rival. After listening to Arash's story, I grinned.
"But it doesn't matter. The winner will be us anyway."
Even if a competitor that had caught the scent appeared, nothing would change. The prey was ours.