Chapter 9

In a tranquil forest, a man and a woman were walking, armed. They were adventurers who had come to this place on a commission.

Their rank was C. They finally felt like proper adventurers, having grown through steady accumulation of experience over about a year.

"Hey, have you heard about the alchemist who's been making the rounds lately?"

"What about him?"

The girl brought up the topic, but the boy shook his head.

"Apparently, there's an alchemist at the Adventurer's Guild who has multiple elixirs."

"Hmm... surely that's a mistake. What advantage would a rich person who can afford multiple elixirs have in being an adventurer?"

Unlike the girl, who spoke with enthusiasm, the boy's reaction was indifferent.

"Well, normally you'd think so, but... gee, you're no fun."

The girl pouted, looking bored, and kicked the ground. The boy couldn't help but sigh at her childish gesture.

"Then bring a more credible topic next time. Right now, we need to focus. We're here on a commission."

"You're so serious."

"You're just too relaxed."

The boy's troubled expression made him look like a man who had seen too much.

"Still, are there really monsters in a place like this? I haven't heard of any until recently."

"Well, yeah... but since the commission is out, there must be. If we don't see any, we'll have to report that."

They had received a commission to slay monsters. They had been suspicious because they had never heard of monsters appearing in this area, but there were no other good commissions, so they took it.

However, they couldn't even sense the presence of wild animals, let alone monsters. It would be nice to find some traces, but there was nothing.

"...There's nothing here."

"Yeah, what should we do? Should we go back today?"

"It's getting dark, too..."

Just as they were about to decide to go back, something caught their eye.

"That's... a cabin?"

"Looks like it."

A slightly larger wooden cabin stood alone in an open area. The sudden appearance of a clear man-made structure left them puzzled.

"Does anyone live here...?"

"If so, they must be strange..."

They approached the cabin cautiously, and the boy knocked on the door politely.

"Excuse me, is anyone there?"

They waited a few seconds, but there was no response. They couldn't hear any sounds from inside the cabin either.

"...Is no one there?"

"Probably not..."

If someone was there, they would have liked to get some information about the monsters, but it didn't seem to be that easy.

"What should we do?"

"We can't just go in, so we might as well go back."

There was a possibility that someone was inside and just sleeping. They decided to give up on getting information and leave the cabin.

However—

"...What's that?"

In the thicket behind the cabin, red eyes, reminiscent of blood, were floating. And not just one or two, but an uncountable number.

A growl shook their eardrums.

"What the... how many are there... Damn, let's run!"

"Y-Yeah!"

As soon as they started running, wolf-like monsters emerged from the thicket. At a glance, there were more than ten. If they engaged in battle, they would almost certainly die.

"Why... all of a sudden...!"

The boy cursed as he ran through the forest. The footing was poor, and his steps were unstable.

In the midst of this—

"Kyaa!?"

The girl slipped and fell. The leading wolf, which was running behind them, did not miss this fatal opening.

"Not a chance...!"

The boy stepped in, intercepting the wolf's fangs. The fangs sank into his left arm, and intense pain hit him.

"Thank you..."

"Just run!"

Though he had narrowly escaped death, the situation remained dire. He quickly got up and started running again.

"Ha... ha..."

The boy was breathing heavily. Blood was constantly dripping from his left arm, and he was losing a lot of stamina. His attention was scattered, and he didn't react to the appearance of a new enemy.

"...Huh?"

When he realized, the creature was right next to him. The monster showed no mercy and attacked the boy—

***

The sky was dyed orange, and thin beams of light fell through the gaps in the clouds. In the town, where dinner time was approaching, children who had finished playing were hurrying home.

Among them, Rais was walking towards the Adventurer's Guild after completing a commission at Daisy's shop.

"Daisy, how long will it take for you to learn...?"

Thinking of Daisy, who looked exhausted with dark circles under her eyes, Rais sighed. Daisy tends to overwork herself, and Rais was worried she might damage her health. He had warned her, but if she collapsed again, it would be a problem.

"Still, it's hard to believe she's the same age as me..."

Her body, with little to no curves, lacked any feminine features. The one time Rais had mentioned this to her, she had stepped on his toes with all her weight. He didn't know what would happen if he said something like that again.

"Aah, scary, scary..."

Rais shivered at the thought of Daisy's face. As he was lost in these pointless thoughts, he noticed something odd about his surroundings.

People were looking towards the entrance of the town, talking in serious tones.

"What's going on?"

Rais approached a nearby adventurer.

"Ah, well, they say two bloodied adventurers are at the town's entrance..."

"What happened?"

"Probably attacked by monsters. One of them is seriously injured. They say he probably won't make it... Hey!"

Rais didn't wait to hear the end of the story and started running. His destination was the town's entrance, as mentioned in the story.

"Please, let me make it in time...!"

Running with a prayer-like feeling, he reached the entrance in just a few minutes. A crowd had gathered, and the sound of someone's anguished cries could be heard.

"Move aside!"

Rais pushed through the crowd and made his way to the center. What he saw was a boy, covered in wounds, holding a bloodied girl.

"Someone, help this one...!!!"

Despite his own injuries, the boy was crying and pleading for help. However, the girl's injuries were clearly fatal. Her back was torn open, and the bleeding was severe.

The people around them seemed to have realized she wouldn't make it, and their expressions were uniformly dark.

Rais rushed to the boy's side.

"You...!"

"Just show me the wounds quickly!!"

"O-Okay..."

Rais examined the girl's wounds closely and immediately activated 'Analysis.'

"Blood loss, wound corruption... and poison."

After assessing her condition in an instant, he opened his bag to save her.

He took out an elixir and a green potion.

"Have her drink the green potion quickly!"

Rais gave instructions to the boy holding the girl. While he did this, he rummaged through his bag, but his expression gradually became anxious.

"...The potion to counter the poison...!"

He couldn't find a potion that matched the poison in the girl's bloodstream. If he didn't, she would die from the poison even if he healed her wounds.

"Then... I'll make it now."

Without hesitation, Rais took out white water, cycloa grass, and a small knife from his bag. He transformed the cycloa grass into a potion and mixed it with the white water.

Then, he cut his fingertip with the knife and mixed a drop of his blood into the mixture. This was to infuse the potion with the correct blood information, free of poison.

He had already confirmed through 'Analysis' that the girl's blood type matched his.

"Here, this last one!"

Rais handed the final potion to the boy and watched as the girl drank it all.

As the girl finished the green potion, the parts that had turned purple from corruption returned to their original skin color. When she drank the elixir, the wound on her back closed immediately.

The last clear potion Rais gave her didn't cause any visible changes, but it should have eliminated the poison in her body.

The boy was wide-eyed, amazed by the changes in the girl's body, but Rais, without a care, activated 'Analysis' again.

"...She's going to be fine. She's saved."

As Rais' words echoed in the quiet space, the scene was suddenly filled with a tremendous cheer.