The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 158
After joining his companions, I was able to hear the detailed situation.
It seems they were searching for a missing person.
“Elon has disappeared!?” Rudolph shouted as if screaming after hearing the full story.
A man who appeared to be the village chief among the group nodded with a gloomy face.
“Yes. We’ve just started searching with some people who came to help…”
The village chief turned his gaze to me.
“Are you perhaps from the Kingdom of Ellan?”
“Huh? No, I’m not.”
“Then are you from the Salvation Alliance!? If it’s not rude, could you tell us your affiliation?”
“I don’t have any affiliation. I’m not part of the Salvation Alliance either.”
The village chief, seemingly greatly disappointed that I wasn’t from the Salvation Alliance, sighed and said, “Let’s talk about the rest later. Right now, searching for the missing person comes first. Elon is a hunter. He went to the mountains to check traps for food but hasn’t returned.”
“Chief!”
The leader of the combat unit asked angrily, “Why did you send people out at a time like this!”
“We had no choice. There’s a limit to staying inside with talismans! The kingdom ignored us, and no one from the Salvation Alliance came to help for so long! Meanwhile, all our stored food ran out!”
So that’s why Rudolph was in the fisherman’s hut. To somehow bring back food.
“Sigh! I understand how you feel, but… That hunter, Elon, probably couldn’t survive. He was most likely eaten by hellhounds.”
I suddenly remembered the necklace I had kept after killing that monster yesterday.
Just in case, I showed it to them, and the village chief’s eyes widened.
“Th-that…!”
“I found this in the stomach of a monster I killed in the mountains.”
“Ugh, it’s Elon’s…! Elon…. I’m sorry…!”
Now that we knew the fate of the missing person, there was no reason to wander around here.
We turned and headed towards the village.
The small village formed in the center of the island was filled with a gloomy atmosphere.
I quietly asked Rudolph, “How long have they been like this?”
“It’s been a month already. They’ve been like this for a month.”
“A whole month…!”
A month was long enough for food to run out.
“It can’t be helped. The mainland has its own urgent matters. Only after dealing with those do they send people to outlying areas like us. This turbulence seems to have been quite large in scale. They still haven’t sent support…”
“What about those four over there? Come to think of it, didn’t you say yesterday that people from the Salvation Alliance would be coming soon?”
“That’s right. They were supposed to arrive around now…. But those people don’t seem to be from the Salvation Alliance, just simple mercenaries. We were in no position to be picky, so we put out requests not only to the Alliance but also to mercenaries. They probably came because of that.”
Rudolph exhaled a sigh mixed with frustration.
The village had already reached its limit. Upon hearing the news of the missing person’s death, the villagers began to wail.
“Excuse me for a moment?”
It was the leader of the mercenaries.
The man, who introduced himself as Torres, proposed a joint mission to me.
“You seem quite capable. Would you like to handle this job together? It won’t be much, but I’ll give you your share.”
I’m not sure why he considers me capable. Of course, I’m not weak, but there were easily over 100 people stronger than me on the continent.
‘Or, thinking differently, does this mean I’m around 100th place overall, which is quite strong?’
Maybe I’ve become desensitized because there are so many monsters around me.
I shook my head, indicating refusal. “I’m sorry. I’m not in a position to do that right now.”
Something about monsters, something about dungeons. I wasn’t particularly interested. Right now, my priority was to inquire around the village to investigate the whereabouts of my acquaintances.
However, I decided to leave some room for negotiation, as I might need to hitch a ride on their ship when leaving this island.
“Could you possibly wait for a few hours? There are some things I’d like to ask the villagers.”
The other mercenaries showed various reactions to my words.
“Torres, we don’t have time to delay. We need to finish this today to meet the deadline for our next job.”
“That’s right. If we stay here any longer, they might even ask for the food we have. It’s probably just the leader of the hellhounds at most, let’s just deal with it quickly and get our money.”
The two men reacted like this, but the woman was different.
“But, but still. Just in case, wouldn’t it be better to go together? This person seems reliable too…”
At this, the men scoffed.
“Sigh…. Rena, you really…”
“Anyway, you just can’t help yourself when you see a handsome guy.”
“Enough, let’s go already!”
With that, the four of them equipped their gear and left for the island’s mountainous area, saying they would subjugate the dungeon.
Left alone, I gathered information by inquiring among the people.
It was about two hours into my inquiries when I obtained some useful information.
It came from a hunter who had gone to the mountains yesterday and returned. He said he had been working to obtain food, just like the hunter who was eaten by monsters.
He said, “Come to think of it, I met a strange fellow.”
“A strange person…?”
“A huge figure approached me. At the time, I thought it might be a bear and ran away in a hurry, but thinking about it now, it might have been a person. I heard something that sounded like words, though hard to understand.”
“Is there a possibility it was someone from this village?”
“There’s no one in this village with that kind of build.”
When considering if this person could be one of my acquaintances, there were only two candidates, Master Ilya and Gunther.
Master Ilya, at about 180cm tall, wasn’t exceptionally large, but her intimidating appearance and aura could cause such a misunderstanding.
On the other hand, Gunther had a simple appearance but was physically huge.
Although it might be this hunter’s mistake, I thought it was worth investigating.
‘Should I join those mercenaries even now?’
But just then,
─Kuooooo──!
A roar that seemed to shake the entire island.
I felt something tingle inside my body.
“Kyaaaa!”
“M-Monster!”
The villagers turned pale and locked themselves in their houses. Those houses were plastered with the same talismans I had seen on the fisherman’s hut.
‘I have no choice.’
I decided to track the traces of people alone for now. If I met the mercenaries on the way, I could join them.
After receiving some basic provisions from the village chief, I headed towards the mountains.
* * *
I had quite a bit of experience with mountainous areas.
I had fought in three major wars in such terrain, and when I was young, I learned survival skills from my master.
Finding human traces was no difficult task.
‘There are clearly traces different from animals. Are these the monsters’ traces?’
The footprints themselves were alien, you could say. Moreover, their behavior patterns seemed focused solely on slaughter and predation.
There was blood of ordinary animals everywhere.
‘This actually makes it easier.’
These monsters devour everything indiscriminately.
Generally, when predators hunt, they eat only what they need and leave the parts that are difficult to eat.
Other animals eat those remains, and completely rotten carcasses become nutrients for insects and soil, completing the natural cycle.
But these creatures seemed to have no intention of leaving any carcasses. They ate everything as if to say that once they eat, they can digest it by any means.
Thanks to this, I could easily find their traces.
‘This!’
It was the bone of a small animal.
Judging from how it was deboned, I could tell there had been human intervention.
Above all, there were traces of a campfire.
If it wasn’t done by the village hunters, it means someone else did it.
I couldn’t be sure who it was, but if it was one of my acquaintances, I thought it might be Gunther.
‘Considering the positions at that time, it makes sense.’
When the magic suddenly manifested then, Gunther was beside me. Sophia was on my right.
Gunther ran to protect Sophia. Perhaps because of this, ironically, he was closest to me at the last moment.
‘If this hypothesis proves true, it would be a great discovery.’
It would mean that those who were close or attached to each other fell in the same place.
I desperately tried to recall the situation at that time.
‘Eo and Bisketa were embracing each other not far from me.’
In addition, Aggert and my Mother, Sister Julia and Olaf, Master Ilya and Estelle were all close to each other.
‘Tch, I can’t think of anything else.’
I composed my complex inner feelings and followed the traces deep into the mountain.
I became even more convinced that the person who had been here was Gunther.
If it were my master who understood the mountainous terrain well, she wouldn’t have gone in deeper.
“…”
The deeper I went, the more intense the blood traces became. It felt as if an otherworldly scene had unfolded.
Moreover, I felt murderous gazes watching me from all around.
‘The number is about eight…’
Although I judged that it would be wise to run away from here, I decided to take a gamble since it was still a manageable number.
I took a deep breath and shouted.
“Gunther──!! I’m here!”
My voice echoed. Stimulated by this, the monsters began to surround me.
There were wolf-shaped monsters like the ones I’d encountered earlier, and also feline monsters.
Eight in total.
For the gamble to succeed, I had to hold out here.
I drew my weapon and aimed at them.
“Come at me.”
“Grooooar!”
They all charged at once in response to my killing intent.
Swish! I ended the life of one approaching from the side with my spear, then swung its body widely with the spear still embedded.
Thud! Thud! Two more were hit by this and rolled on the ground.
I used this chance to deal with the one charging from the front.
Swoosh! First, I ducked low and stabbed one with the sword in my left hand. Then, with a snap of my wrist, I pulled out the spear stuck in the corpse and Thwack! Thwack! took out two more in one go.
‘Four left!’
I charged at them instead.
When I switched to offense, they finally realized they had messed with the wrong person and tried to flee in panic.
I took out two with my sword and threw my spear to kill another, but I didn’t have time to deal with the last one as it fled in the opposite direction.
‘Tch, one got away.’
There was a high chance the escaped one would bring reinforcements.
‘Can’t be helped. I’ll have to return to the village for now.’
But that’s when it happened.
Grab! A powerful hand grasped the head of the fleeing monster.
The grip was so strong that the monster whimpered and writhed.
Then Crunch! The monster’s head was crushed by sheer grip strength alone.
Only then could I properly see the person’s appearance.
A monstrous build with a simple expression.
“Gunther! It was you after all!”
“Phew! Likewise. It was you, Ars, as I thought.”
Gunther exhaled with a relieved expression.
He seemed to not fully understand the situation yet and asked me for details.
I decided to move to a safer place to explain the situation to Gunther.
* * *
While Ars was reuniting with Gunther, a new commotion was brewing in the village.
The village chief was greeting guests with a face both moved and perplexed.
A team of two men and two women.
“The Salvation Alliance has finally…!”
“We were delayed visiting other island villages. Could you tell us about the situation here?”
“Well, about that…”
The chief, looking troubled, spilled the story. That he had also requested help from mercenaries out of desperation. Hearing this, they frowned.
“You requested mercenaries too? Listen here. We’re not people with time to spare. If word gets out that you made us come for nothing, you won’t be able to receive help from the Salvation Alliance next time.”
“I’m so sorry! I’m truly sorry! Our circumstances were so dire! Please forgive us!”
“Good grief.”
The chief kept bowing and begging for forgiveness. After all, when push came to shove, it was the Salvation Alliance he could rely on, not money-hungry mercenaries.
“Kelly. That’s enough. These people’s situation is indeed pitiful. Besides, have you forgotten the Alliance Leader’s words to be kind to the people of the Ellan Kingdom?”
“Tch.”
Kelly questioned the chief.
“When did the mercenaries head to the dungeon?”
“About 3 hours ago. And along with them, a man with excellent skills…”
“Excellent skills? Hmm. I suppose he’s a mercenary too. Anyway, if 3 hours have passed, the situation must be over by now. The monsters that appeared were just Hellhounds after all…”
Kelly clicked his tongue, saying they had come for nothing.
That’s when it happened.
─Guooooooooo──!!
A roar of fury that shook the island.
Kelly’s expression changed drastically.
“Wh-What? Don’t tell me this sound is…! Lunia!”
“Yes! Detection!”
As the woman called Lunia chanted a spell, a vibration-like magic spread from her staff.
After standing there for about 10 minutes feeling the vibration, the female mage finally opened her eyes and shouted.
“There’s no doubt! It’s a 6th-grade danger designated dungeon! The Mother of the Wild!”
The members of the Salvation Alliance, including Kelly, wore astonished expressions.
He shouted.
“Quickly, start setting up the rescue teleportation! Time is of the essence!”
There was no longer any composure in Kelly’s expression.
He was certain.
That the mercenaries who went to subjugate the dungeon, and the skilled person the chief mentioned, had already lost their lives.
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