Chapter 11

Ardis, thinking of hunting a Beast King to earn some pocket money, galloped across the grasslands heading north.

He ran for half an hour, which would normally take two hours for an ordinary human, and found a Beast King away from the road to hunt.

Although the hunt was monotonous, what he needed was money, not satisfaction.

There was no other way to earn money that could be done on a day trip from Trias and at any time.

After hunting Beast Kings for about an hour, just as he began to feel drowsy from the repetitive task, Ardis came across three mercenaries in battle.

Normally, it would be against the code of conduct for a mercenary to interfere when others were fighting.

Since they had come to such a remote place from the road, they were likely hunting as well.

The unwritten rule was not to intervene unless they were in dire straits.

Of course, there are always exceptions. And it seemed that the mercenaries Ardis found were facing such an exception.

From a distance, the three mercenaries appeared to be four upon closer inspection. One of them was already down.

(The opponent is Despair. They must have encountered it by bad luck.)

Moreover, the opponent was Despair, the king of the grasslands named after despair.

By the time Ardis decided to lend a hand, another one had fallen to the ground.

(Damn, can I make it in time!?)

Ardis drew a short sword from his waist and released it into the air.

"Go."

At Ardis's concise command, the short sword flew at the speed of an arrow.

It deflected Despair's claw just in time, which was about to tear the shielded swordsman apart from the side.

Without hesitation, it cut off the arm, ignoring the hardness of the scales, and then beheaded it along with the horn.

After confirming the danger was eliminated, Ardis recalled the short sword.

Wiping the blood of Despair off, he sheathed it and walked over to the mercenaries who had been attacked.

Upon approaching, he found the swordsman who had narrowly escaped, a petite girl with auburn hair tending to the injured, and two injured swordsmen and an axeman, making a total of four.

The two who had been attacked by Despair were unconscious and in a state where a delay in treatment could be fatal.

"Um... were you the one who helped us just now...?"

The young swordsman asked as Ardis approached within speaking distance.

His words were hesitant, likely because he was surprised to see such a young person who could defeat Despair so quickly.

"I killed Despair."

Ardis only stated the fact, without mentioning that he had helped.

The young man quickly hid the slight surprise in his blue eyes and bowed to Ardis, shaking his ash-blonde hair.

"Thank you for saving us. I thought we were all done for. I really appreciate it."

Ardis was impressed by this.

Despite his youth, the young man was polite and showed sincere gratitude to Ardis, who appeared younger than him.

Though he lacked experience, Ardis thought he was too valuable to lose his life here.

"I accept your gratitude. But are your companions' injuries taken care of?"

Nodding lightly to the young man with blue eyes, Ardis looked at the two fallen youths.

"Um... I know it's presumptuous to ask after being saved, but... do you have any healing potions you could share? We're out of them."

"If that's the case... use this."

Ardis took two healing potions from his waist pouch and handed them to the young man.

"Wait... these are high-grade healing potions...?"

The young man was flustered upon realizing the potions were not ordinary.

"That's all I have right now."

"...I'm sorry."

The young man, likely thinking of the high price, showed a pained expression but took the high-grade healing potions to the injured.

After applying the high-grade healing potions, the two injured quickly stabilized.

Ardis had heard that both healing potions and high-grade healing potions were products of magic technology, but no one knew how they healed the body.

The pink liquid, which could heal minor cuts in seconds and even critically injured people in minutes, was rumored to be a blessing from a goddess.

However, Ardis did not believe this at all.

Even if it were a gift from a goddess, he did not think it was out of pure kindness.

"Ugh... hmm..."

A few minutes after using the high-grade healing potions, the two injured regained consciousness.

"Zio! Ralph!"

"...Ah... Conia?"

The petite girl exclaimed with joy, and the two who had just woken up looked around in confusion.

"That's a relief. I thought you were going to die!"

The tension seemed to break, and the auburn-haired girl plopped down.

"Greche, what about Despair?"

The black-haired, short-haired axeman asked the blue-eyed young man, Greche.

"Despair? Look over there."

Greche pointed to Despair's corpse.

"O-Oh...! Really? You defeated Despair!?"

The short-haired warrior became excited, but Greche shook his head and said, "No, I didn't. He did," pointing to Ardis.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Greche? There's no way a kid like that could beat Despair."

"Excuse me, Ralph!"

The blue-eyed young man hastily intervened.

"I'm sorry. My companion was rude..."

"It's fine. I'm used to it."

Ardis smiled wryly, and the blue-eyed young man showed a subtle expression.

"Let me thank you again. Thank you for saving us. My name is Greche. My companions are Zio, Conia, and Ralph."

"I'm Ardis."

Ardis only said that much.

"Um, Ardis. About the cost of the high-grade healing potions... can we pay you later? Two high-grade healing potions are quite expensive, and we don't have the money on us..."

As soon as the introductions were over, Greche hesitantly brought up the topic.

"It's fine. I didn't intend to sell them anyway. Helping newbies is a duty of surviving mercenaries."

"Ha! I don't want to hear that from a kid like you! Who's the newbie here!?"

"Stop it, Ralph!"

Ralph raised his voice, and Greche tried to calm him down.

It was understandable that Ralph found it hard to believe.

Seeing a seemingly unremarkable youth defeat Despair, which they couldn't even touch, must have made it seem like Greche was just flattering him.

"Sorry, Ardis. We're planning to return to the city today, so I'd like to thank you properly later. Where are you staying?"

"Are you going back to Trias now?"

"Y-Yes. Why?"

Greche answered, as if sensing a problem.

"It's better if you don't leave me yet."

"What do you mean...?"

"You'll see."

Ardis answered briefly and looked in the direction opposite the city.

When the four of them turned to look, Conia, who had the best eyesight, gasped.

"Something's coming this way!"

"What!?"

Zio took out a telescope from his bag and looked through it, turning pale.

"It's Despair..."

Greche, who had also confirmed with the telescope, immediately made a decision.

"Run! Leave any unnecessary items behind!"

The other three quickly followed his instructions, discarding Snatch furs and heavy items.

"Ardis, what about you!?"

Greche knew Ardis's strength and that he didn't need to run.

However, he didn't unconditionally believe that Ardis would help them again.

He understood that the help earlier was out of Ardis's kindness, and expecting it again for free was just wishful thinking—arrogance.

Therefore, he decided on their actions without counting on Ardis's help.

This wisdom and integrity impressed Ardis even more.

"I'm staying here. By the way, it's better if you don't leave me."

"What do you mean?"

"Despair isn't alone."

Ardis pointed in a direction almost opposite to where he had found the first Despair.

"Not alone... Damn it!"

Zio cursed as he confirmed the direction with the telescope.

"Also, there's one over there."

Ardis pointed to another direction.

Including the first one, three Despairs were approaching, surrounding them.

"Three Despairs... That's... impossible..."

Conia's face turned pale with despair, her semi-long hair trembling.

Despairs usually hunt alone, but it's not absolute, and they sometimes hunt in groups.

The reason is unknown, but it's speculated that they might hunt in pairs or as a family.

Of course, even a single Despair can drive new mercenaries to the depths of despair.

Facing three at once would exponentially increase the danger.

Especially being completely surrounded, the chances of Greche and his companions surviving were virtually zero.

—If Ardis wasn't here.

2017/11/15 Correction: "Ardis came across a scene where mercenaries were fighting." → "Ardis came across mercenaries fighting."

2019/05/02 Correction: "fighting scene" → "fighting"

2019/05/02 Correction: "raised" → "raised"

*Thank you for the corrections.

2019/07/22 Correction: "survive" → "survive"

2019/07/22 Correction: "for example" → "for example"

*Thank you for the corrections.