Chapter 46

My name is Ed! I'm an orphan!

I was raised by Azur-nee at the orphanage in the church.

At first, there were many friends in the orphanage, but due to various circumstances, in the end, there were only four of us left, including me.

There's me, Ed the wolf beastman, Saika the rabbit beastman, Kai the red panda beastman, and Wamika the cat beastman.

I don't really understand the details, but Azur-nee became a priestess, and we moved to a frontier development village.

At first, it was just a riverbank with nothing there, but before we knew it, it had grown into a big town!

I've never seen anything like it!

Of course, we helped too!

We built a proper church and orphanage, and we live there now.

When I asked Craft-nii, he started training us in magic, but I wasn't very good at it.

The older adventurers taught us, and apparently, wolf and rabbit beastmen aren't very good at magic.

When I was feeling down, they taught me how to use a sword instead.

One day, Craft-nii apologized for using a powerful stamina potion without telling us.

I don't know why he was apologizing, but I forgave him!

I like Craft-nii!

Then, he taught us how to use that legendary potion.

If it makes us stronger, there's no problem, right?

Life in the new Golden Dawn development town was very enjoyable.

Azur-nee seemed busy, but she looked happy, so that was fine.

"From this point on, we will hold the 368th Round Table Conference! Everyone, are you listening?"

"Ed, I've told you this many times, where is the round table?"

"In my heart!"

"Also, we haven't held 368 conferences, right?"

"It's the number of souls!"

"Hmm..."

The one who sighs at my face is Saika, the rabbit beastman. She grew up with me at Azur-nee's orphanage, but, well, girls can be a bit cheeky, can't they?

Today, I asked the older adventurers to let me join their training. We weren't allowed to use the stamina potion today, so we were all exhausted, but we have an important mission to discuss for the Ed-Saika-Kai-Wamika Adventurer Group!

"Hey, Wamika! Don't fall asleep!"

"Mmm~"

Wamika is just too laid-back.

Is it because she's a cat beastman?

But Miki-nee, who works at the adventurer guild, is very efficient.

Hmm, maybe it's just Wamika's personality.

"Wamika, it's better to wake up. Ed will get angry again."

"Mnya~"

Kai, the red panda beastman, gently shakes Wamika with a timid attitude.

I've heard from Azur-nee that red panda beastmen are very rare. I've never seen any besides Kai.

I'm a wolf beastman, and that's also rare.

Azur-nee once told us that both of our races are strong beastmen, so we should become strong and noble.

Of course, I'm trying to become stronger, but Kai's timidity doesn't seem to go away.

"Hey! Just listen to me!"

"Okay, okay. Please continue."

Damn, Saika's attitude really gets under my skin. It's like she knows everything and is just saying "Okay, okay."

But without Saika, we wouldn't be able to get anything done.

"Alright, let's announce our first big adventure for the Ed-Saika-Kai-Wamika Adventurer Group!"

"Hey, Ed, can't we change the name?"

"What? It's not weird if everyone's name is in it, right? Kai, what do you think?"

"Hmm... It's nice to be included, but it's a bit hard to understand..."

"Is it? If you have any other names, let me know."

"We've already discussed this. How about the Dragon Adventurer Group or something?"

"I thought the Dragon Adventurer Group was good..."

"Let's not, it sounds like Craft-nii's horse."

"Okay..."

"Tevasaki"

"Stop it. You're not Perseia-nee."

After discussing various options, we ended up with the Ed-Saika-Kai-Wamika Adventurer Group.

If we keep worrying about the name, we'll just get confused.

"Alright, let's move on."

"Why are you always so bossy, Saika?"

"If you were a bit more responsible, Ed, we wouldn't have this problem."

"Damn..."

"Okay, okay. Let's move on."

Why do I always lose to Saika?

"Alright, our first big adventure is to go to the forest and defeat the orcs!"

"Okay, I'll let Jitaro know."

"Idiot, that's not what I meant. We're going alone!"

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

"I want a snack..."

Saika and Kai made strange sounds, and Wamika pulled out some biscuits from somewhere. Ah, that's nice.

"Wait, Kai, are you saying we won't have any adults with us?"

"That would just be a picnic!"

"When will you realize that what the adults call a picnic is actually quite dangerous?"

"Is that weird?"

"Hmm, not really. I guess the picnics in this town are like that..."

I don't really understand what Saika means.

A picnic is just going out with a lunchbox to a nice place, right?

But the forest is a dangerous place, so it can't be a picnic without adults.

I'm not stupid, so for our first adventure, I want to aim for the big rock we always play at.

In other words, it's an adventure if we don't have adults with us!

"Got it. I understand what Ed means. What do you two think?"

"It's dangerous. There are lots of monsters."

"Sounds fun."

"1 in favor, 1 against."

"I'm strongly in favor, so that's 2 votes."

"That doesn't make sense. 2 in favor... Well, I think we can handle it with our current strength."

"Saika, you're in favor?"

"Hmm, Ed seems to have thought this through. We've been to the big rock many times."

"Okay, if Saika is okay with it, it's fine."

"Kai, try to have your own opinion."

Saika says this, but I can tell from her expression that she's excited.

"Alright! Everyone's in favor!"

"It's decided! Tomorrow is a day off from school and helping at the orphanage. Everyone, let's go first thing in the morning!"

"Ed, you can defeat monsters, but not animals, okay?"

"Got it. I understand."

I don't really understand, but apparently, you can't hunt animals that can be eaten unless you can use a powerful fist called "Shuriken" or something. I've never seen Jitaro use it, but he probably can.

"Our mission is to defeat the orcs and get the magic stones! It's a gift for Azur-nee!"

"Sounds good. I'm motivated now."

"I'll do my best too!"

"Let's go!"

When I mentioned Azur-nee, the three of them suddenly became motivated. I should have said that from the beginning!

We secretly transferred the legendary stamina potion from the barrel to a water bag, and prepared healing and curing potions.

"Craft-nii said we can use as much as we want."

If we need to, we can use these to escape.

We prepared our weapons and got ready for the next day.

◆

When we were led to the guild master's room, Sainos, the guild master of the Sainos Adventurer Guild, spread out a map and got to the point.

"Currently, a large number of cockatrices have been confirmed in this area."

His tone was calm, but his face was pale.

The area he pointed to was close to the town and quite extensive.

"That's pretty close to the town. And it's a wide area. Is it spread out thinly?"

"Yes, for the outer areas. But the central part is so densely populated that we can't get close, and the details are unknown."

"They have a petrifying breath. It's dangerous without resistance. Can Raidock handle it?"

"Maybe if he just inhales a little. But if the amount of breath increases, it's bad."

"That's true."

If the amount of breath inhaled increases, even a B-rank adventurer like Raidock, who is well-trained, can't neutralize the petrification.

"Still, cockatrices are troublesome enough on their own, but a large number? Can you give me an estimate of the total number?"

"Because we can't get close, there's a wide range... But from the information of multiple adventurers, it's probably a thousand... or even more than five thousand..."

"Five thousand!? Even goblins don't increase that much!"

"Goblins sometimes do, but this is the first time cockatrices have been confirmed in the thousands. Of course, the human living area is still small compared to the continent, so if we venture deeper, there might be an unimaginable number of them."

"In other words, the thousands of cockatrices we haven't confirmed might be normal for this world."

"We can't deny that."

This is a headache-inducing situation.

Clearly, expanding the number of adventurers and boosting their strength is essential.

I knew this, which is why we built this fortress.

"Still, this is unusual. Is there a possibility that the cockatrices will come to the town?"

"It's unknown. It seems that our continued hunting in the shallow parts of the forest has changed their territory."

"Like they're being pushed out from deeper areas, and their territory is expanding."

"That's a possibility."

We need to respond to this urgently.

"Alright, I'll go discuss this with Kail. You guys think about the response too."

"Understood."

"First, we need to mass-produce anti-petrification potions. We also need to prepare petrification removal potions just in case. They're a type of curse, so Cure Potions won't work."

"Let us know what materials you need. We'll send people to hunt for them."

"I'll contact you later."

"Understood."

This will be a race against time.

I parted ways with the two of them and ran to Kail's house.