Seeker 363

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Chapter 363. The Situation

We took on a mission to rescue a noble family's kidnapped daughter.

But without knowing where she was taken, there was no way to stage a rescue. Our first step was to gather information.

After some careful questioning, we got a promising lead from a guard at the north gate of the city. He told us that a group, which included a young girl and the butler of the Holmrand family, had passed through the gate and left the city. The group was heading toward Mount Monster.

There wasn’t any information beyond that, but hoping for some clues, we decided to head to Mount Monster.

On the way, from quite a distance ahead, we heard what sounded like someone shouting. It was a man’s voice, saying things like “The kid escaped,” “Who let her go?” and “Help search for her.”

Thinking we’d hit the jackpot, we rushed towards the voice.

But we couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. The forest at the foot of Mount Monster was vast, and we ended up wandering around blindly.

Frustrated, we continued searching, knowing that the kidnappers and the girl were probably nearby and that something urgent was happening, but we just couldn’t find them. We were almost ready to give up, thinking it was impossible to stumble upon them by chance.

It was also about time for the kidnappers to contact us again, so we discussed whether we should reluctantly return to the city.

Just then, Kazane pointed to the sky in a certain direction. Through a gap in the thick foliage, we saw a shadow flying under the blue sky.

But it didn’t seem like an ordinary bird—the size and distance were all wrong. That giant bird-like shadow descended towards the ground a little way off.

Then we heard several screams. They sounded like the desperate cries of multiple men.

We hurried to the scene. Running uphill along an unmarked path, we eventually came upon the sight.

A boy who looked to be around 16 or 17 was being chased by a massive monster resembling a giant eagle—it was definitely a Roc. The Roc was about to catch him.

The boy seemed to be awakened one, but I could tell he was nowhere near level 25. He was probably around level 10. If he took a hit from the Roc, an S-rank monster, he’d be nothing but a silent pile of flesh in an instant.

The fact that he was here meant he might be part of the kidnapping group. But from what we’d heard earlier, someone had let a child escape. We didn’t know the exact situation, but we decided that the first priority was to rescue him.

Kazane, the fastest among us, rushed in and managed to save the boy. Yuzuki and I faced off against the Roc and began our battle.

I had already looked up the Roc's stats in the monster guide, and its overall numbers were slightly higher than Aerial Dragons or Fire Dragons. Its HP was a massive 2100, comparable to the Yamata no Orochi.

But unlike the Orochi, it didn’t have ridiculously high physical or magical defenses, nor did it have regeneration abilities. It didn’t have a particularly high number of attacks, and it didn’t use any special breath attacks either.

To put it bluntly, it was only worth 50,000 experience points. Even though it was an S-rank monster, it wasn’t much of a threat to us at this point.

The battle dragged on a little since we didn’t have time to cast any enhancement magic to boost our combat power—

“Here’s the finishing blow—Hyaaaaah!”

In the end, Kazane finished it off with a dual-wielding dagger combo, and the Roc was taken down without much trouble. The fact that we even had time to let Kazane deliver the final blow for XP distribution showed how stable the fight had been.

With the Roc’s defeat, we completed one of our missions.

───────────────────────

Mission Complete: Defeat 1 Roc!

The whole party received 50,000 experience points!

Kazane Kodachi leveled up to level 55!

Current Experience:

Musou Daichi: 2,734,804 / 2,848,853 (Next Level: 114,049)

Kazane Kodachi: 2,649,636 / 2,848,853 (Next Level: 199,217)

Yuzuki Hotaru: 2,955,451 / 3,133,157 (Next Level: 177,706)

───────────────────────

As the Roc's massive body vanished into thin air, a treasure chest appeared in its place.

This treasure chest wasn’t normal-sized. Even with my arms spread wide, I wouldn’t be able to hold it, and it was taller than me.

Now, what should we do with this treasure chest? Or maybe there’s something we need to deal with first—just as I was thinking this, the boy we saved called out to us.

“Wh-Who are you guys...? That was a Roc, right? You’d need at least ten veteran adventurers to take one down...”

“Hmm. I think we’d like to ask the same question. Who are you, and why are you here? Could it be—you’re part of the kidnapping group?”

Kazane questioned the boy. As she spoke, her eyes narrowed, and she gave him an icy stare that could freeze anyone in their tracks. Scary.

The boy shuddered under her gaze and nervously replied.

“Y-Yeah... that’s true, but... wait! That’s not the point right now!”

It seemed like the boy remembered something and tried to run off in a certain direction. But Kazane quickly cut him off and blocked his path.

“Where do you think you’re going? To that little girl over there?”

The direction the boy was heading, not too far away, was a thicket where a young girl, about ten years old, was sitting, collapsed on the ground.

She had blonde ringlets and normally would have looked pristine, but now she was covered in dirt and grime. She was wearing a man’s oversized jacket, but underneath, her clothes were torn to shreds.

“Well, yeah, but it’s not what you think!”

“What’s not what I think? I’d like you to explain. We’ve only just arrived and don’t know what’s going on, but if you’re planning to hurt her, I can’t let you go.”

“N-No, it’s not like that. I was indeed part of the kidnapping group, but—”

The boy began explaining the situation to Kazane. I left that to her and made my way over to the girl.

Yuzuki came running over, and we met up. Our pet griffon, Glyph, flew over from Yuzuki’s hat and perched on my shoulder.

The girl glanced at us warily.

“Wh-Who are you? Are you bad people, too?”

“No, we’re not. You’re Elvira, right? We came here to save you at your father’s request.”

“My... Father? You’re not bad people?”

“Yeah. I’d like to hear how you ended up here. And if you could tell us more about those 'bad people,' that would be helpful.”

“Understood... but...”

The girl—Elvira—blushed and squirmed awkwardly. Looking down, I noticed the ground beneath her, and her clothing was soaked.

Uh... did she wet herself? I guess that’s normal at her age? Well, given the situation she’s been through, it’s understandable.

“Ahem... uh, maybe we should turn around for now, senpai.”

“O-Oh, yeah.”

Yuzuki coldly ordered me to turn around. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I obediently turned my back to them.