Amidst the long trails of blood and the smell of blood covering the trees and rocks, Shane quietly fell into thought.
“Uh, what’s going on here?”
Kevin and the other two were bewildered by the scene unfolding before them.
It was obvious that several owlbears had fought here.
Judging by the feathers and claw marks of the owlbears scattered everywhere, it seemed to have been no ordinary battle.
However, the strange thing was that there wasn’t a single owlbear corpse to be seen.
“It must be the orcs.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Look here. These footprints belong to the orcs.”
“But how did the orcs manage to kill the owlbears?”
“That’s odd… since owlbears are supposed to be their natural enemies.”
Even in ancient times, orcs couldn’t use magic and they still can’t.
Therefore, it wouldn’t have been easy for them to hunt down owlbears that protected their bodies with thick fat and muscles.
Of course, if an enormous number of orcs had attacked, the situation would have been different, but judging by the footprints, it wasn’t that many.
Was there a sign even back then?’
Recalling a memory from his previous life, Shane decided to end the scouting operation here.
“We should stop here. Let’s head back.”
“Ah, got it. What on earth is going on…?”
Just when Kevin who sensed the tense atmosphere quickly nodded his head,
Baaang!
“Ugh!”
Kevin stumbled as Shane’s suddenly summoned magic projectile shot toward the forest.
“What, what are you doing?!”
“Prepare for battle.”
“Hey, Kevin! Look over there!”
At the shout of Hackerts who was the smallest member of the scouting team, the group’s attention turned to the spot where the magic projectile flew.
“Uoooo—.”
Suddenly, an owlbear appeared. It was literally a bear with the head of an owl.
Usually, it didn’t attack during the day, but it was agitated by the smell of its kin’s blood.
“Luckily, it’s only one!”
Kevin quickly infused his spear with magical power and closed the distance to the owlbear.
A moment ago, Shane’s magic projectiles sent it flying, but that was only because it couldn’t react to the surprise attack.
Kevin was also one of the commoner knights who had made a name for himself before coming here.
The spear that contained his aura pierced into the owlbear’s eyes.
In the midst of everything, the owlbear was distracted by the magic projectiles flying from all directions, but it was equally skilled in combat.
It judged Kevin’s spear to be more threatening than the magic projectiles that couldn’t penetrate its skin, so it ignored the projectiles and blocked Kevin’s spear.
MacGowan who was wielding an axe joined the fight, while the remaining Hackerts who was armed with two short swords stayed on guard and distracted the owlbear.
Indeed, the three of them had the skills to match the expectations Shane had of them.
In terms of experience dealing with monsters, they could be considered even more skilled than the knights of the Kingdom of Haiel.
Additionally, their teamwork was so good that the owlbear soon started bleeding all over.
“Haha, do you see this, newbie? This is the might of your seniors!”
Kevin shouted in the direction of Shasha, as if to release some of his pent-up emotions after being overpowered by Shane.
“…”
At that moment, another owlbear that was attracted by the smell of blood was spotted approaching.
Swish─!
“Oh, no. Hey, newbie! Don’t just rush in!”
Kevin tried to stop Shasha from a distance, but the latter completely ignored him and charged towards the other owlbear.
Even though he wore full plate armor, his movements were as light as a feather and the greatsword he drew from behind came down heavily.
The owlbear blocked the greatsword with its arms, but the impact pierced through the thick fat and muscle and cracked its bones.
“Guooooh—?!”
The owlbear staggered back. It looked to be shocked by the unexpected pain radiating from its arms.
Even an ice troll’s full-force club swing couldn’t produce such destructive power.
“Wha-What ….”
“Hah….”
Kevin whose earlier thrust seemed weak in comparison, and MacGowan who had never been overpowered in strength, both stood with their mouths agape.
Hackerts who usually mocked Shasha as a mute also wore a grim expression on his face.
Unlike the personnel dispatched from outside, strength and skill were paramount for the residents stationed here.
In this aspect, Shasha’s fighting power far surpassed the three of them.
“Don’t relax. More are coming.”
Hackerts finally reacted to Shane’s words.
“Two more at three o’clock!”
The number of owlbears began to increase steadily.
However, the first owlbear that appeared eventually had its head split by MacGowan’s axe, and the one Shasha faced also had its arms broken by Shasha’s sword.
But there was no need to continue fighting the steadily approaching owlbears.
“Retreat!”
“Alright!”
Following Shane’s command, the trio and Shasha nodded and quickly started running in the opposite direction.
Hackerts who remained at the rear tried to hold off the pursuing owlbears, but it wasn’t necessary.
Every time the owlbears closed the gap beyond a certain distance, Shane’s layered magic projectiles flew toward the owlbears’ faces.
They aimed at the only weak point of the owlbears, which was their large eyes.
How long did the chase continue?
By dusk. When they began to leave he Iron Forest which was the owlbears’ habitat, they were finally able to shake off the owlbears completely.
“Huff, huff. That’s strange. They didn’t chase us out here.”
Kevin’s breathless muttering was answered by Shane.
“It seems to be related to the attack they suffered from the orcs the other day.”
“Ah…”
Kevin thought it made sense and nodded his head while Shane led the group toward the Viduron Castle.
“Well, we’ll head in first.”
“Alright.”
Maybe because they had fought together once, Kevin and the other two seemed much less wary of Shane than before.
Shasha who was wearing a helmet that covered his entire face silently watched Shane for a moment before leaving as well. Shane who was now alone went to report to Mimir.
“Hmm…”
Mimir, who had been buried in work, gave Shane a weak smile.
“Welcome back. I heard you went on your first scouting mission today. How was it?”
“It went fairly smoothly. As expected of the northern warriors, they are skilled in combat.”
“Haha, thank you for saying that. Still, it must not have been easy to get them to follow you, impressive.”
“Thank you.”
Shane then began to recount his experiences to Mimir.
“Orcs have appeared in the owlbears’ habitat.”
“The Iron Forest is the habitat of the owlbears… It’s strange for orcs to be there. Orcs are usually found further north.”
“Even when I searched through the records of other scouting teams, there was no information about orcs moving in large numbers. But based on the number of orc footprints found in the owlbears’ habitat, it seemed like they were moving together in groups of five or six.”
“Hmm…”
Mimir furrowed his brows at the additional remark that the orcs seemed to have hunted the owlbears and then left.
“There’s no way that just five orcs could have hunted an owlbear. Something unusual must be happening.”
“It can only be explained as an anomaly. We should order other scouting teams to be on alert for orcs.”
“I understand. Even though it was your first scouting operation, you achieved good results. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Not at all.”
With this level of advice, Mimir would handle it well.
“And I came to ask you a favor.”
“A favor? What is it?”
“I would like permission to go outside the walls.”
“Hmm… Are you saying you want to go alone?”
“Yes.”
It was an impossible request.
Since Arunvida was essentially a military area, there was a rule against wandering around freely.
This applied to the residents of Arunvida as well.
“I’m sorry, but that won’t be possible. We can’t set a precedent by giving you special privileges, Sir Shane. Could you tell me why you want to go alone?”
“It’s out of curiosity as a mage. Arunvida is one of the few regions that survived the Great Seal of Akasha.”
“Hmm… that’s true.”
“I’m thinking of gathering information related to that.”
“Hmm.”
Mimir thought for a moment about Shane’s request.
Wasn’t this the boy who created an incredible paradigm shift among mages with his paper on the Great Mezaiya Forest which was a place he’d never even visited?
If he accomplished something similar in Arunvida, the imperial family might take an interest in the area.
Perhaps they would even receive more support.
“Instead, I will allow it if you go with someone else.”
“That sounds reasonable. Thank you.”
“Yes. Then I look forward to working with you, Sir Shane.”
He had obtained the necessary permission.
Now, the remaining task was to decide who to take along.
Naturally, the trio immediately frowned and expressed their refusal.
“Are you crazy? If it’s not a designated search area, we can’t even predict what might happen.”
“Uh, sorry. My life is precious to me.”
“I don’t really want to either…”
Why would they go through unnecessary hardship with no benefit?
So, while Shane was thinking about bringing them some treats like cigarettes.
“…”
“Shasha?”
Shasha, the new recruit in this scouting team, tapped Shane’s shoulder and handed him a piece of paper.
-Tell me more about what happened in the Great Mezaita Forest. I want to hear it directly.
“About the Mezaia Great Forest? That’s not difficult.”
Considering Shasha’s remarkable skills he displayed in the Iron Forest, it was worth taking him along.
With that thought in mind, Shane began investigating Arunvida with Shasha after their scouting operations ended the next day.
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