“This area is what they call the boundary of the <Demon Forest>.”
Reidas, the party leader, turned back and said that.
“It feels like just grassland, though. Monsters start showing up little by little around here.”
Nadira explained to Sulfa—Alpha Sulfareas=Cosmos—walking beside her.
Sulfa scanned the surroundings and nodded.
“Indeed, there is more plant life. Are there animals?”
“Around here, you’ll sometimes see rabbits, mice, weasels, raccoon dogs, snakes, and dogs. They’re all animals, not monsters. ...Do you know the difference between monsters and non-monsters?”
To Graver’s question, Atro—Alpha Atrosanguineus=Cosmos—answered.
“I know. The distinction is whether it possesses a magic stone inside its body.”
It wasn’t exactly basic knowledge, but <Paraiso> had still performed a minimum level of information gathering.
If you asked around in a city that had to deal with monsters, you could get that level of information as much as you wanted.
“Yeah. As for monsters that show up around here... let’s see. I’ve heard leopards show up, or hyenas. I’ve never actually seen them, so they probably don’t come close to this road much.”
The group was currently walking along the path stretching from the forward base toward the <Demon Forest>.
Even calling it a path, it was only that the adventurers’ back-and-forth traffic had packed it down until grass barely grew.
“Newbies sometimes set rabbit traps, but adventurers like us don’t do work around here. There are only small animals, and monsters don’t show up. The mana is thin {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} and even medicinal herbs don’t grow. So I want to get through this path as fast as possible.”
“I see. So medicinal herbs grow more the deeper you go in?”
The six walked.
Behind them, with a quietness surprising for its huge body, the multi-legged machine <Backpacker> followed.
“In general, yeah. It depends on the environment, and there are also special terrains called mana pools—hot spots. Either way, it’s definitely related to how dense the mana is.”
“You folks probably aren’t familiar with this kind of thing, right, Sulfa? This is a mana meter.”
Reidas stopped and showed the device in his hand to Sulfa behind him.
“When there’s a lot of mana, this needle swings to the right. When mana’s low—like in Northend City—the needle’s all the way to the left.”
“...Is this also one of those magic tools?”
“Yeah. What it’s made from is the magic stone and whiskers of a forest tiger. Let’s see—if you go into the depths for about a day, you might run into one. But this time, that’s probably not happening.”
“If it is in Northend City, is it possible to obtain one?”
“Ah, yeah. It’s rare, but for parties that go deep, it’s essential. If you look, I think you’ll find one.”
Sulfa, Chris, and Atro asked right away whenever they saw something that interested them. Answering them, the group crossed the grassland.
The end of the <Demon Forest> boundary region drew near.
Around here, more and more shrubs about two to three meters tall appeared, giving it the air of a forest entrance.
“From around here, deer and boars start showing up. Usually they don’t come close, but during mating season or while raising young, they can charge at you, so watch out. Well, at this time of year, it’s fine.”
“What you really have to watch for is that big carnivorous monsters increase. Around here, young ones that lost a territory fight can suddenly show up. If they’re wounded, they get vicious, and it’s kind of the trial for an adventurer’s third year, I guess.”
Reidas was moving ahead by several hundred meters as the scout.
Right now, it was Nadira and Graver explaining things to Sulfa and the others.
Nadira held her short spear at the ready, on alert.
The remaining four stayed clustered so they would not get in the way.
“Watching here to see if one of those strays shows up is the usual way. But from what it looks like, we’re fine today. I’m picking up deer signs now and then.”
As they chatted, a short whistle sounded—Pii.
“That’s Reidas. Safety check’s done. Let’s move on too.”
Incidentally, since <Backpacker> was following behind them, wild animals were apparently keeping their distance more than usual as they watched.
With something that heavy plodding along, it made sense.
“Be careful near trees. Sometimes snakes fall down.”
“Understood.”
At Nadira’s warning, Atro nodded—and without a beat, kicked the nearby tree trunk.
A creaking sound rang out, and the branches and leaves shook violently.
Nadira and Graver were startled by the sudden action.
Then, Atro grabbed something that fell from the tree.
“There was a snake.”
The snake, its neck seized, could do nothing, and as a last bit of resistance, it coiled around Atro’s arm.
“...That’s incredible. No, even I wouldn’t notice this.”
“And that kick’s power is ridiculous...”
The two adventurers evaluated Atro from different angles.
The three on the <Paraiso> side were wearing assist suits, but for the purposes of strength assessment, they were not using the assist function at present.
Atro deftly planted her own tail as a third leg against the ground and reinforced the power of her kick.
And Nadira’s observational eye, which saw that at a glance, was not to be underestimated either.
“An ordinary snake?”
While walking, Atro carefully observed the snake.
“That’s a non-venomous grass snake. And it’s an adult, so it’s not food, and you can’t use the skin either. It’s the kind that’s useless as poison or medicine.”
“I see.”
Atro released her grip and gave her arm a light swing.
The snake slipped free and was flung far away by the motion.
“...Atro—well, you too, but are you good at fighting?”
“Atro is fine. In terms of using my body, you can say I am good. Combat is possible. However, I do not know whether what you would call martial skill is effective against so-called monsters.”
Sulfa, Chris, Atro, and the <Backpacker> behind them were directly linked in information terms. Since they also used the processor installed on <Backpacker> for information processing itself, their capability was far higher than an Android Communicator alone.
Because they could integrate and process the sensor information of four units, their spatial awareness was high, and if you combined that with precise body control, they could probably brush aside ordinary hostile presences with a flick of the sleeve.
However, the species called monsters possessed power that could overturn that expectation.
“This way! There aren’t any monster traces. And there’s a small mana pool hot spot up ahead, so we’ll gather there. We haven’t been able to do real adventuring work for a while, so we can expect a lot.”
“Hey, Reidas, don’t say things like that!”
The reason they hadn’t been able to do adventuring work was because <Paraiso> had seized Northend City.
Unless it was hostile action, there weren’t any particular restrictions, but even so, when your own base was in such a state, only a very small number of tough types would charge into the <Demon Forest> like usual.
To cover for Reidas, who blurted something that sounded like a jab, Nadira hurriedly followed up.
“Ah—sorry! I wasn’t complaining to you, Sulfa. I just meant, since there are fewer people in the same trade, we can expect better profits...”
“Sulf a is fine. Also, I understand that it is not criticism. You do not need to worry.”
Reidas and Nadira let out big breaths.
Graver kept walking with an air of not caring.
“Reidas, seriously—keep that loose mouth shut for this job, at least! Honestly, I can’t believe you!”
“Yeah... seriously, sorry.”
On the way, detouring to avoid dense stands of trees, they reached their destination.
“This is the easiest hot spot to reach from Northend City. Normally, adventurers stop by on the way back to gather, so almost nothing’s left, but today it’ll be all you can take.”
“You’ll teach us?”
“Of course! Graver, you’re up!”
