I"m going to try out a new release schedule for this novel. Since MaouMuji is now being posted in parts, I"m going to try and post one chapter of this novel together with a chapter part of MaouMuji.

I also translated the glossary(not really a glossary, just a character list from the LN webpage in sneakerbunko. It doesn"t even have all the characters included…) .

Chapter 28: Peaceful journey! But it was actually a perilous one!

TL: kizen
ED: Filip

AN: It becomes serious once it changes into third party"s POV (´・ω・｀)

Even though the night still hasn"t ended, the A cla.s.s adventurer party, 『Sword of daybreak』, had already folded their tents and were about to start their investigation of the dense forest.

Due to the forest"s overgrown foliage of the early summer, even the moon"s light can"t reach the ground.

Their path is only being illuminated by the faint light that the lanterns hanging on their waists are giving off.

「Boss, this path is pretty safe. The remnants of the large-scale mana disaster that the imperial sorcery academy has been observing is still going strong until now. According to the sorcery device we loaned from them, it"s located to the north」1

The party"s vanguard was leading the party with a small tool that shows the direction of their destination.

He has two daggers on his waist, one larger than the other, and is wearing a soft-tanned pelt with a hood. He"s wearing even lighter equipment compared to his party which was already lightly equipped taking into mind that they"re going to be traveling long distances. He is probably a ranger, a cla.s.s who tries to reduce the weight of their equipment as much as possible.

「It"s been a thousand years since it was last explored so this forest has gone back to being savage lands. It"s rumored that monsters don"t approach the sacred lake however, we shouldn"t be careless. There are usually dangerous monsters lurking in lands where a mana disaster occurs」

After saying that, the boss with a huge claymore on his back continued walking. He"s got a muscular body and is quite tall too. The offensive capabilities of their party most likely centers around him.

The men walking behind nodded in acknowledgment of their leader"s warning.

「That"s true. But even though we"re a party who maintains a balance between capturing labyrinths and exploring savage lands, each one of us is also an cla.s.s adventurer. I sure that the guild has already taken into consideration our battle potential at the time we were dispatched」

The man speaking now was wearing a priest-like robe and cape and was holding a morning star. He was a young man who has a feeble body that would better fit a librarian rather than an adventurer.

「Wellー, this isn"t really that big of a deal considering that the monsters aren"t strengthened by the labyrinth"s mana and there"s no risk of them trying to escape outside」

The last one on the line who"s cracking jokes was a rather short infantryman with a pike.

「It"s fine already so don"t drop your guard. We need to depend on your ability for us to move forward」

After getting reproved by a deep voice, the lancer"s expression changed into a serious one.

「Boss, we have company. They"re still 500 paces away but they"re heading in our direction」

「Good job noticing. However, we won"t change our course. Reaching the site is our utmost priority. We"ll just take care of them while going straight ahead」

「Roger」

「Understood」

「Gotcha」

Hearing the calm responses of his comrades as they took out their weapons, the leader strongly nodded.

The adventurers advance while being cautious but without losing speed.

It would still take a while before they come into contact with the enemy but the fact that they can already sense it means that the incoming enemy is something strong.

「We might have quite a hard time with this……」

Just as the vanguard ranger groaned, the entire forest seemed to shiver.

Not even an instant after they felt that, an intense bloodl.u.s.t was emitted and the presence of the enemy ahead disappeared.

「Wha!?」

They started wondering what happened.

Even though they were only about 10 seconds before they come into contact with the enemy, it suddenly vanished.

Did it purposefully erase their presence?
No, if that"s the case, they would have done that earlier.
Unless there"s a huge difference in our abilities, it would be impossible for it to conceal its presence at this close of a distance.

Also, what in the world was that forest-shaking bloodl.u.s.t that appeared for just an instant……

「What just happened!?」

「I don"t know. Let"s go check it out for now!」

Adventurers hurried over to the place where the enemy was.

After pushing through the tall gra.s.s, going through the trees and stepping of over their roots, they finally arrived at the said place. However, there was nothing there.

There was not a single trace left of the enemy that was supposed to be there and an ominous wind started blowing through the dark forest.

「B-boss……」

「Don"t panic. There"s definitely something in this forest…… Everyone, stay vigilant」

Anxious about how their investigation will go from here, the adventurers all gulped at the same time.

「Wafuu (Alright~. They"re advancing well. Good, very good)」

While monitoring the adventurers who have their weapons drawn out, I was happy that things are going well.

Right now, the demon wolves are surrounding the adventurers while acting as their bodyguards. Under the strict protection of several hundreds of wolves, not even a single monster could get past.

Even the monster that appeared earlier was instantly taken care of by Garo"s unit and was taken away. It only took an instant, it wasn"t able to let out a scream and there are hardly any bloodstains left.

As expected of Garo.
I"m sure that the adventurers will be able to advance safely with this.

「Chuuー (I see. You plan to make them reach their destination without encountering any monsters, correct?)」

「Wan (That"s right. Those guys will immediately go back once they see how peaceful the forest is)」

「Nya~n (Meanwhile, we are going to head towards the waterfall and disperse the gathered mana right?)」

That"s right.
You two get it, don"t you?

I want to let the adventurers fully enjoy this peaceful journey to their heart"s content.

I need to prepare wonderful surprises along the way.
If it"s at our speed, we will reach the waterfall fairly quickly but we also need to buy time just in case.

「Wan (Alright, let"s go to the next area. Everyone, I"ll leave escorting the adventurers to you)」

「「「Gau (Please leave it to us, our king)」」」

After hearing the reply of the demon wolves, I headed for the next strategic point.

There"s a shadow.
Only the shadow of it can be seen.

Whenever the presence of a monster draws near, an intense killing intent together with a fast moving shadow appears for just an instant.
Then after that, the monster whose presence could be felt would suddenly vanish.

Once that eeriness has pa.s.sed, all that"s left is fear.

「W-what the h.e.l.l is that……!?」

「B-boss. Shouldn"t we withdraw at once……?」

The ranger and the priest said that in a bewildered voice.

「This is definitely strange. Boss…… I feel like someone is watching us for a while now but I can"t tell where they are. This is the first time I experienced this……」

Although the lancer has a wide scope in his perception ability, he still can"t grasp where the other party is.
No damage has been done but the current situation already satisfies their conditions for retreat.
If this was just any ordinary request then the leader would have already done that.

However, this investigation was a personal request from the guild master.
They need to obtain the information or else they can"t go back.
If they went back now, they would have finished the quest without actually knowing anything.

「……we will advance. The guild master said that depending on the situation, this could develop into a national scale disaster. We need to complete this investigation even if it costs us our lives」

「Heee. Does that mean that we might die here then?」

「What are you on about now? You should already have that kind of resolve ever since you became an adventurer, right?」

「As for me, I will just follow the boss wherever he will go」

The adventurers all nodded in agreement to that remark and with that heroic conviction, they resumed their advance.

As they raised their spirits, they resumed their perilous journey.

「Wan (They"re probably getting disappointed at how easy this job is going by now)」

「Chuuー (That is probably certain. This might even be a bit too easy for a forest where monsters don"t come out)」

「Nya~n (The adventurers are quite fortunate, aren"t they~? They will receive the reward for just walking~)」

With Ren on my head and Nafra on my back, I am now sprinting to the north.

「Wafuu (The sun is going to rise soon……)」

Looking up from a clearing in the forest, I saw that the gentle yellow glow of the morning sun is starting to mix in with the deep ultramarine of the night sky.

It would be cruel of me as a pet if I don"t get back before Ojou-sama wakes up.

「Wan (Shall we end this here for now? Nafra, can I leave it to you?)」
「Nya~n (You can you know~. I guess I will just temporarily remove Routsan"s anchor and establish it here. That way, we can just resume our journey by transferring here)」

That ability of Nafra"s is really convenient, isn"t it?
It"s like a certain door that lets you go anywhere.

With a single cry from Nafra, everything turned white and at the next moment, we were back in the mansion"s courtyard.

「Wafuu (See you later then. Let"s meet up again tonight)」

「Nya~n (Yes desu. Well, we"ll be meeting wherever it"s time to eat though)」

「Wan wan! (Like I said, my meal is mine alone! Stop eating it like it"s just the most natural thing to do!)」

While swinging her tail, Nafra went back to Hecate"s atelier.

Good grief, that one will definitely come to mooch off my meals starting from this morning.

While sighing, I returned to Ojou-sama"s room.

Entering the mansion"s rear entrance, I made my way to the kitchen, though the corridor, and used the entrance"s stairway to get to the second floor.
Located at the west wing is Ojou-sama"s room.

Using my front paw to open the doork.n.o.b, I stealthily went inside.
Ojou-sama is calmly sleeping like usual.

I used my front paw to lift the side of the futon and entered the bed.[ED: Mission Impawsible BGM]

It"s a pretty huge bed but my hind legs start slipping out whenever I lie down on it these days.
It also starts creaking when I get on it.

I should probably be doing something about this but right now, I"m feeling sleepy.
I"ll just think about it another time.

Entering the futon, I lie down right next to Ojou-sama.

「Mnn…… Routaaa……」

Ojou-sama unconsciously wrapped her hands around me.

「Ku~n (I"m back Ojousama)」

It fills me with delight being hugged this tightly. It makes me feel like I"m truly back home.

If it"s to protect this lifestyle, I would be willing to do anything.

Well then, I"ll just take a nap until morning.

While anxiously thinking about squeaking screams of the bed, I immediately fell into deep sleep.2

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