Chapter 6

The southwest of Maildia was a grassland.

The view was good, and it didn't seem like we would be ambushed by monsters one-sidedly.

However, if there was a problem, it would be...

Cornelia's bad mood, perhaps.

...What's wrong? Did I do something?

Maybe she doesn't like that I, an outsider, joined what was supposed to be a fun time with friends.

The other two don't seem to have any issues; rather, things are going well.

Liam often talks to me.

He's quite knowledgeable and told me about the game's setting, such as the activation of monsters due to the revival of an evil god, and that the forest to the north of the city is infested with orcs that are different from the usual ones, well-organized, and numerous, making it impossible to gather intermediate potions.

Well-organized... There might be a boss monster.

The NPCs in this game have very advanced AI, so it wouldn't be strange if there were monsters with high-level AI capable of commanding others.

We also talked about daily life—family and origin stories.

Liam comes from a farming family and has five younger siblings.

I'm an only child, so I felt a bit envious, but his family isn't very well-off, so he works and sends money home.

Liam, you're a working adult.

But how did you play Another World, which is quite expensive? —Ah, right, you must be a fellow winner like me.

However, when the topic of family—no, specifically her father—came up, Cornelia's mood worsened, and the conversation naturally stopped.

I don't know why she got so upset, but maybe she dislikes her father.

But asking about family circumstances on the first meeting is too much, right?

So, we're walking in this awkward atmosphere.

I feel really uncomfortable.

I wish someone would break this tension.

Emilia stopped walking.

Did we reach our destination?

"Emi-ri"

Before Liam could call out, Emilia put her finger to her lips, signaling to be quiet.

Sensing something unusual, Liam drew his sword, Cornelia readied her bow, and I prepared my staff.

There was nothing around, just a monotonous grassland. No sign of monsters.

But if I listened carefully, I could hear a faint, strange sound. What is it?

What should I do in such a situation... Ah, I forgot.

I remembered the idea I had for this and displayed the map window.

This is a countermeasure against ambushes.

In the past, I was attacked from behind by Killer Bees, so I thought of ways to eliminate blind spots and avoid ambushes.

By zooming in on the map in the map window, the positions of surrounding monsters and humans are shown as colored marks.

Using this, I can tell from where the monsters will attack.

The map window shows green marks indicating our party members.

And not just that, there are six orange marks—enemies that haven't noticed us—and six red marks—enemies that have noticed us—surrounding us.

"Everyone, be careful! It's Giant Moles!"

I don't know if Emilia's voice triggered it, but the earth swelled up and came toward us.

I dodged to the side instinctively.

"Ugh!"

Liam couldn't dodge in time because the enemy appeared too close and got hit in the leg.

From the HP bar—when you join a party, you can see the HP and MP of others as bar graphs—it didn't seem to be a serious injury.

Warriors have high physical defense.

"Damn! You'll pay for that!"

Cornelia spat and aimed an arrow at the raised earth.

But it just stuck in the ground and had no effect.

Giant Moles are quite troublesome enemies.

Since they're underground, it's hard to attack them, and they immobilize you by targeting your feet, then use hit-and-run tactics.

It's subtle but very effective and annoying.

Using "Mana Bolt" only gouged the ground and didn't have much effect on the moles underground.

It's probably because the Giant Moles are level 10 and the spell's power is too weak.

Emilia was smashing the heads of Giant Moles that barely showed their faces above ground with an iron mace.

Despite being a healer who is supposed to be bad at combat, she's quite strong, being the only one at level 13 (Liam and Cornelia are level 8, and I'm level 6).

...The defeated Giant Moles look gross, and the sight of her swinging a blood-covered mace is a bit scary.

What about the rest?

It's hard to lure them out like Emilia did.

Considering the level difference, if I miss, I might die from a single hit, so the risk is too high.

"Mana Bolt" just gouges the ground, and Cornelia's attacks are blocked by the ground—wait!

"Cornelia! Aim after my attack!"

I don't know if she understood, but I don't have time to confirm.

I cast "Mana Bolt" just in front of the approaching mole.

The ground exploded, revealing the mole.

Without hesitation, Cornelia's arrow pierced the mole.

The mole screamed.

Though it wasn't killed in one hit, the arrow stuck in its body prevented it from burrowing back underground.

Cornelia continued to shoot, and we took down two more moles in quick succession.

The other moles... one was defeated by Emilia again. The rest are coming from the side!

"Chaos, they're coming from the left!"

"Spider Net!"

The web doesn't reach underground, but as soon as the mole's head appeared, it was ensnared.

"I'll take care of it! Haah!"

Liam's longsword finished off the slowed mole.

"Sorry, I let my guard down."

Liam, looking apologetic, scratched his head.

But if they appeared almost directly to the side, there wouldn't have been much we could do.

"Liam, I'll heal you. Stay still. Heal!"

A faint light emitted from Emilia's hand.

Bathed in the light, Liam's leg injury healed.

"Thanks, Emilia. Chaos, what are you doing?"

"I'm gathering materials from the Giant Moles."

He placed his hand on the dead moles and collected them as if gathering items.

The corpses disappeared, leaving only bloodstains.

At first, I thought monsters automatically dropped items when defeated, but I didn't know that you had to collect the corpses to get the items.

The manual only mentioned it briefly, so I probably overlooked it.

The manual is quite thick.

Because of that, I lamented leaving quite a few Forest Wolves without collecting their items, thinking my luck was bad, but I sold the drop items for a good price, so in retrospect, it was a waste...

Still, the Giant Moles Emilia killed are really gross.

Their heads are a mess.

This RPG is rated R (with a warning about graphic content), but it might be too much for people without a strong stomach.

Ah, I've seen gross images from friends, so I have some tolerance.

...Everyone seems surprised, but why?

Are they sensitive to gross things?

Cornelia wasn't enthusiastic about this mission.

She felt a sense of disgust from her own ethical standards.

On the other hand, she understood the necessity and meaning of the mission.

As a female adventurer of a sub-race, she rarely got to join parties, so she was grateful to be in a party where she felt comfortable.

That's why she reluctantly accepted the mission, but her young age made her feelings show on her face.

The boy who joined the quest—Chaos—was a plain-looking man with black hair and black eyes.

His frail body seemed unsuited for combat, but according to Havoc, he was a skilled newcomer.

He looked like a second or third son of a noble family who had never known hardship, disguised as a commoner.

We introduced ourselves and exchanged glances before leaving.

His expression was slightly stern, as if he was enduring something.

Ah, he knows—knows and is deliberately going along with this charade.

I can't tell the others outright, but I can't help feeling guilty.

Since we accepted the mission, we have to complete it, so I can only speak.

Liam, being close in age and gender to Chaos, was assigned to talk to him and gather information.

Meanwhile, Emilia and Cornelia were observing him.

First, Liam probed how familiar Chaos was with the area.

The rumors about the evil god's revival and the orcs are well-known in Maildia and the kingdom.

However, Chaos seemed to know nothing about it, just nodding along.

He didn't try to get any information, just listening to the story.

From his earlier expression, it seemed he wasn't good at acting, so his reactions were genuine.

Next, Liam talked about his background.

He was from a place called Osaka.

I had no idea where Osaka was, but it was probably a distant foreign land.

There, he was a student.

Probably a student at a school for training mages.

Such schools exist in the capital of this kingdom.

Excellent mages are valuable to the state.

However, only those with high status and wealth can attend.

Those of low status need to be exceptionally talented to be admitted.

So, this wealthy boy probably came here for magical training.

He also talked about his family.

He had no siblings.

His father had a job called a "salaryman."

What is a "salaryman"?

Mages are usually influenced by their bloodline, so if the parents are mages, the children are likely to be mages too, and vice versa.

From the conversation, it seemed his father was a wealthy mage with the means to send his son to school.

A high-income, high-ranking mage, a "salaryman" probably refers to a court mage, a very high-ranking position.

His father sounds impressive—Cornelia felt envious.

My father...

Thinking of him, she remembered his womanizing, lax, and unimpressive face, and the rising disgust.

Comparing him to Chaos's father made her feel miserable.

Feeling a gaze, Cornelia snapped back to reality.

Chaos and Liam had stopped talking.

They seemed to have noticed her bad mood.

She silently apologized to Liam's reproachful gaze.

What am I doing?—She fell into self-loathing for a while.

After a while, Emilia noticed the presence of monsters.

With her superior elf hearing, she should have noticed them earlier, but her concentration had dropped due to the earlier incident.

She readied her bow.

The enemy appeared from underground.

Giant Moles—troublesome opponents.

Liam couldn't dodge in time and got injured, making her curse herself for not noticing sooner.

She shot an arrow in retaliation, but it had no effect.

Chaos also cast a spell.

It was a basic spell I had seen other mages use.

It had little power and didn't defeat the Giant Mole.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed.

I thought he would cast a more impressive spell, given his reputation as a skilled mage.

But by our standards as new adventurers, he is strong, so maybe I had overestimated him.

The battle continued.

I pushed aside my thoughts and focused on how to deal with the Giant Moles.

Should I aim for the moment they show their faces?

"Cornelia! Aim after my attack!"

Chaos called out to her for the first time since the introduction.

He seemed to have a plan.

Chaos cast another spell. So far, it was the same as before. This will end the same way—no, it won't.

The spell exploded just in front of the mole, revealing it.

His spell control is amazing.

I get it!—She understood and immediately aimed and shot.

The situation quickly turned in our favor.

His spell control, his ability to quickly utilize his allies.

He is undoubtedly a fine adventurer.

I admire him, but I also feel a growing sense of frustration at the gap between us.

We are both new adventurers, yet he can calmly read the situation and use his skills effectively.

His magic isn't dramatically impressive, but I can match him with my bow.

I should be able to catch up to him.

Maybe I can learn from his actions.

I might not be able to fulfill the mission to monitor him due to my conflicted feelings, but I can learn from his techniques.

The negative emotions that had been eating away at her heart eased a bit.

She looked at him with a mix of respect and jealousy.

He seemed to be gathering materials.

I heard he is excellent at gathering.

I should watch and learn.

She observed him closely.

He touched the Giant Moles, and their corpses disappeared in an instant.

"...What did you do?"

I'm impressed you could ask in this atmosphere, Liam—half in exasperation, half in admiration, I thought.

"What? I'm gathering materials."

He answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

...Is that a storage spell...?

It seems there is more to learn from him than I thought.