Adrian and his group left Tedumaya after the afternoon had passed.
No monsters appeared, but they had to walk through the endlessly stretching great rainforest.
Thanks to that, not a trace remained of the excitement they had felt when they first set out.
And before they knew it, the scenery around them had sunk into darkness.
“This doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon, does it?”
“Yeah. We’ll probably have to camp out.”
“Better than taking the wrong path.”
“Can’t be helped. Everyone, let’s rest here today and head out in the morning.”
In the end, Adrian and his party chose to camp for the night.
After quickly setting up their simple tents, they sat around a campfire and began eating the food they had brought from Tedumaya.
The atmosphere wasn’t bad.
If anything, it felt like camping, so it had a certain charm to it.
“This would be perfect if we had a guitar or something.”
“Do you even know how to play?”
“Of course! I can belt out a song like nobody’s business.”
“What are you talking about? You’re tone-deaf.”
“Damn it, that won’t do. Just wait, I’ll show you…”
“Keep it down, you brats!”
In front of the blazing campfire, the sound of their laughter and chatter echoed through the great rainforest.
“How much longer do you think it’ll take?”
“Who knows? I can’t really tell even by looking at the map.”
“Do you think Ian’s made it out?”
“No idea. She might be camping somewhere too, like us.”
“True. There aren’t any monsters, after all.”
“Still, you never know, so let’s decide on night watch shifts.”
They continued chatting about this and that for a while, then, in order to leave early in the morning, one by one they entered their tents.
Adrian, who was standing the first watch while guarding the campfire, blankly stared up at the sky.
“I’m bored…”
It felt like he had been sitting there for ages, but when he glanced at the time, not even twenty minutes had passed.
It might have been different if he’d had someone beside him to talk to, but as he sat there alone, pointlessly scraping at the ground, time crawled by like a turtle.
Still, one way or another, time passed, the tedious night watch came to an end, and when he opened his eyes again, the light of dawn was breaking.
“Ugh… my back. Let’s make it to Winsley today no matter what.”
Adrian and his party set out on the road again.
Rubbing their sleepy eyes, they steadily made their way through the great rainforest.
“Oh! Looks like we’re finally getting close to the end.”
Before long, they were able to notice that the scenery around them was changing.
The vegetation around them had begun to shift, and a cool breeze was blowing in.
And then.
“So this is Winsley…”
At last, after escaping Rimbahitam, the scenery that spread out before them was an open grassland.
In its center, a village surrounded by a wooden palisade drew everyone’s gaze.
“Is that the settlement?”
“It looks even harsher than I expected.”
It wasn’t as bad as Rundle, but since they had been enjoying splendid festivals in large cities until now, the village before their eyes looked far more shabby.
Enough that, like Ian, they naturally began to wonder if it might be better to keep their lodging in Tedumaya.
But they were frontline players.
Adrian and his group steeled themselves and headed toward the village.
And the closer they got to the village, the more they could sense that something was not right.
“Wait, what is all this?”
“Why are there so many monster corpses?”
From outside the village, corpses of monsters stretched on without end.
At the horrific sight, and of course the rising stench, their faces naturally twisted.
At the same time, a question naturally arose.
“Just what happened here?”
It was clear that a fierce battle had taken place, but from the scene before them alone, they couldn’t be certain what exactly had happened.
They had fully entered the village and were just about to start questioning the surrounding NPCs to uncover the truth.
“Wait, that person… isn’t that Ian?”
As Adrian’s group walked through the village, they spotted a familiar face.
Ian, the winner of the last Zone 4 Birth Festival.
The group approached her to greet her.
But when they saw the state she was in, they could not close their mouths.
“Wh-what? Her condition…”
Her entire body was drenched in blood.
Her eyes were almost unfocused, and there wasn’t a single part of her arms and legs that wasn’t trembling.
At that moment, Ian turned her head, spotted them, and staggered over like a zombie.
The flustered Adrian looked at Ian with concern.
“Ian, what happened here…”
What happened?
But he could not finish his sentence.
Because Ian, having approached Adrian, gripped his wrist tightly and glared at him.
Breathing heavily, she finally opened her mouth.
“F-food.”
“What?”
“I’m… hungry…”
Morning in Winsley.
Adrian and his group had no choice but to hand over the emergency rations they had on them.
***
“Haa… this is nice.”
After getting a meal from Adrian’s group, I went straight to the bathhouse in the village square and sank into the water.
Of course, I don’t particularly like baths.
Even when I was in reality, I didn’t take them often because they were bothersome, and after coming to this world, it was because I was afraid of seeing my own body.
But after the defensive battle ended, they strongly recommended the bathhouse in this village, saying it was really good, so I came to relieve my fatigue…
“Now I get why they insisted I come here.”
As I sat in the steaming bath, not only did my body naturally loosen up, but the unnoticed wounds on me also gradually began to heal.
If there were even a cold beer here?
This would be heaven. What else would heaven be?
Though I heard bringing things in was prohibited, so I couldn’t bring one.
Still, wouldn’t it be fine to enjoy baths while I was staying in Winsley?
I had become fairly used to my body now, and I didn’t want to give up this pleasant feeling.
However, I couldn’t stay in the bathhouse forever.
“Then I guess I should start getting out.”
There were people waiting outside, and I didn’t know when someone else might come in, so I reluctantly got out of the bath.
After all, I’m still a bit uncomfortable seeing other women’s bodies.
Anyway.
When I came out of the bathhouse building, Adrian and his group, who had been waiting, approached me.
“You look a lot more presentable now. Earlier, the smell of blood was something else. I wondered how you could even get food down in that state.”
“Try fighting all night. See if you care about that kind of thing.”
“No, what the hell happened?”
“Let’s go to a nearby restaurant first and talk there.”
“You’re eating again?”
“I’ll pay this time, so just follow me.”
It was almost lunchtime, and all I’d eaten was a bit of emergency rations.
Right now was the time to replenish my strength with some hearty meat.
And so, after finishing my second meal at the restaurant, I told them what had happened last night.
“A Monster Wave, huh… Was that the reason Winsley couldn’t communicate with Tedumaya?”
“Yeah. There were so many monsters. I ran around all night until dawn and barely managed to clean them up. So today, I’m planning to do nothing and just rest.”
At any rate, I had more than raised all the proficiency I needed to raise today last night.
I did need to explore, but… I’ll do that starting tomorrow.
Right now, I felt like I wanted to crawl into bed as soon as possible.
But the world still refused to allow me a good sleep.
“Hm? What are those people?”
Because a group of armored people suddenly entered the restaurant and surrounded me, Adrian, and his party.
While everyone simply stared at one another with puzzled expressions, a person wearing a helmet that completely covered even their head approached my side.
“Are you the person called Ian?”
‘A woman?’
I was momentarily flustered by the unexpected female voice, then nodded.
“I am.”
“Your appearance certainly matches exactly what people described. Could you spare us some time?”
“Right now?”
“Yes. Right this instant.”
“Uh… now’s not really a good time.”
I didn’t know who was looking for me, but in my current condition, I wasn’t confident I could have a proper conversation with anyone.
At the very least, my head would only start working properly after I got some sleep.
So.
“If it’s all right, how about we meet later this evening…”
The moment I was about to say that it would be better for both of us, a cold blade touched my neck.
The owner of the blade was the armored woman beside me.
A cold gaze from inside the helmet was directed at me.
“This is not a suggestion. Come quietly.”
It was such an absurd situation that my half-drifting mind snapped wide awake.
The pupils of Adrian and the others, who had been watching us, also widened in an instant.
I let out an openly loud sigh.
“Why does it feel like I’m always getting dragged into incidents?”
Can’t I just quietly focus on clearing things?
“Get up. One, two…”
But obediently going along with this wasn’t in my nature either.
I glared at the woman.
“I don’t want to.”
“You insolent…!”
Strength went into the woman’s sword.
I caught it with my gloved hand, then grabbed the woman’s helmet with my other hand and slammed it down onto the table.
It all happened in an instant.
The woman’s body shook violently from the impact.
“Guh!”
“You crazy bitch. I’m already tired, so why are you pissing me off? Huh? Just because I’m staying still, you think I’m some idiot?”
“You! Do you think you’ll get away with this…”
“Yeah, I will. Now, think about how many times you want to get hit. One, two…”
Just as I was about to teach this woman, who was throwing her weight around without knowing her place, a lesson—
“Stop.”
A sharp female voice rang out through the commotion.
At the same time, a beautiful blonde female knight pushed through the people and stepped between us.
The body of the helmeted woman being pinned down under my hand flinched.
“C-Commander!”
Commander? Is she on the same side, maybe?
I glared at the woman approaching me.
However, contrary to my expectations, the woman who had come to my side kicked her subordinate hard in the shin.
“Ah!”
“Evelyn, did I not tell you to bring her politely? What disgraceful behavior is this?”
“No! I was only carrying out your orders, Commander…”
“Be quiet. I will not let today’s matter pass.”
Leaving her shriveled subordinate behind, she lowered her head to me.
“I apologize. I will take responsibility for my subordinate’s rudeness.”
“Uh… yes, well… But who are you?”
“Ah, my introduction is late. I am Grace, commander of the mercenary corps that protects this village. And this is my inadequate adjutant, Evelyn.”
The woman who introduced herself as Grace looked around at me and Adrian’s group as she spoke.
“I’m sorry, but could you spare us a moment? There is something I must tell you regarding this Wave. Of course, your companions may attend as well.”
Adrian’s group and I looked at one another for a moment.
And then.
“All right.”
We nodded.