CH 62.2

Gis, well aware of the meaning of my gesture, yanked out his chain scythe—his face livid green.

“You motherf**king bastard!”

“Hey, you can also bark?”

Distancing myself away from him, I was also about to draw my sword. When a strong, compressed wind pressure materialized and carried Gis away from his feet. Frillite was wielding her greatsword.

“Stop. We are here to solve the abnormal situation that is currently happening in the forest, and not to fight among our fellow heroes.”

Seeing Frillite step up made Gis twist his face beyond recognition as he reluctantly but silently inserted back his chain scythe. It seems that the experience of having a hole punctured right through the stomach was quite memorable.

“Cloud. You too, take your hands off the sword.”

“Alright, but did you really have to split the poor table? Judging from the look on Sir Randolph’s face, it seemed to be an expensive one.”

Frillite turned her head to look at Randolph’s face. Seeing Randolph staring blankly at the table or what it used-to-be, she coughed lightly in embarrassment and put up an apology.

“…sorry. I will surely reimburse for it later.”

“It’s okay… may I speak now?”

Randolph individually looked around at the expression of the four heroes one by one.

We all affirmed with a slight nod, Randolph sighed and began to explain the reason for summoning the heroes here.

“First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the heroes who have come a long way to help Duke Oler and the duchy. And coming straight to the main point, our soldiers will be marching into the forest to solve the cause of the anomaly.”

“Are we going to finish it quickly? That’s damn good.”

Gis smiled at Randolph as if he was darn pleased with the dude.

The facial expressions of the other heroes didn’t look disagreeable either.

I asked Randolph.

“What is the troop availablity?”

“Over five hundred of our people have been either killed or injured. So we plan to deploy about five thousand soldiers except for the five hundred who will protect the wounded.”

Randolph’s answer was quite surprising.

“You are going all in with the troops? That means we have to pull apart the defense lines surrounding the forest, but then what about the monsters who would in the meantime escape from the forest?”

“That’s the reason why we’re leaving five hundred people to protect the wounded.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. The monsters that manage to escape the forest are going to pass through the evacuated villages and eventually head to the city. If the gates are to be breached, the citizens will be at risk, Sir Randolph. I’m asking if you are sure about taking such a risk.”

“If that’s the cause of your concern, you don’t have to worry. According to the reports of our scouts, the number of remaining beasts and monsters is at most around five hundred. With those numbers they won’t be able to break through the gates.”

“Is the information reliable?”

“Information gained at the expense of numerous scouts. So, no doubt about it.”

Randolph had an expression on his face that expressed he would never have been more determined than he was. With my scepticism answered, I put a lid on my doubts.

Otherwise, it might turn into the starting point of a verbal conflict that none of us wanted.

Having decided to march straight into the woods, all that was left was to draw up the finer details and prepare for the march.

* * *

It’s not easy to march through the forest.

The forest path is at most wide enough for five people to walk side-by-side.

Naturally, there was no way the troop could advance in a formation, and we had to walk through the grumpy forest.

On top of that, a troop meant many people, so the pace slowed down even more.

“So, as we are looking for the Behemoth…”

It was better to divide the troop to increase our efficiency towards finding it.

However, if we did, there was a possibility that one side would be pincered by the Behemoth and the monsters he controls, annihilating many in process.

In order to reduce the damage, we better stick together, even if meant moving at a slow pace.

“You sound very confident. Why can’t something other than a Behemoth be the cause of this situation?”

Frillite, who was walking next to me, quizzed.

Seeing from Frillite’s point of view, her questioning my confidence is just, but since I’ve played the game, I know that the cause of this is a freaking Behemoth.

So what?

“Would you like to have a bet then?”

I’m going to use it in the right way.

“Bet? It doesn’t sound half-bad, but what are we betting with?”

“The loser pays for the drinks. Moreover, there are no restrictions, the winner can order expensive alcohol.”

Frillite squinted her eyes rather dangerously.

“Didn’t you promise that you would only drink ale?”

“…are you really going to kill the fun?”

I looked at Frillite with the most desperate puppy eyed expression. If one doesn’t even melt to this, they simply aren’t human. To which, Frillite laughed.

She chuckled, “It does sound okay to drink something intoxicating after a hard job. But, only this once.”

“Yahooo!”

F**k off to you, darn ale!

My lovely expensive wine, here I come~!

As I was rejoicing inside, someone grabbed my arm. It was Neria who had pulled over, and her complexion looked pretty bad.

“Are you crazy, Cloud? You can’t be drinking with Frillite-sama–”

Before she even finished speaking.

The forest shook with the loud cries of the monsters.

At the same time, there was the sound of many legs rushing through the forest.

Highly likely—beasts and monsters. Many beasts and monsters.

Their hurtle wasn’t directed at us.

Rather, it was getting farther away.

They must be heading to the city with the intention of raiding the empty and loosely-defended nest.

‘I’m glad Randolph’s information turned out to be correct.’

If the number of monsters had reached a thousand, the forest would have heaved just by their chaos.

But the forest did not heave.

Just the moment I felt reassured.

I saw something flying in the sky.

The face and body of a female, but the arms and legs had the characteristics of birds.

A harpy.

The harpies were flying with their big boobies flapping in the air.

How? And why were they coming out here?

They cannot be controlled by a Behemoth.

No, rather, they’re flying to the city, right?

This changes the situation by a lot.

‘I’ll get to Randolph later.’

Respectfully, at that.

I sighed and asked Frillite.

“Do you want to go or should I?”