Volume 1 Chapter 19 Pursuit
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Man, Boss Robert…”
The employee guy looked up at the cliff where Griffin had disappeared, muttering in disbelief.
”Fal-Fal!”
”Funnelwing!”
Meanwhile, the ‘Falcon Brigade’ had gathered around the injured cat-haired swordsman.
”Ugh… I feel like I’m gonna puke.”
”You’re okay for now. The bleeding’s stopped.”
”Fal-Fal, you alright?”
The delinquent priest Rosen nodded seriously, while Franciska looked at their leader, a young man, with worry like a child who lost their parents.
”Funnelwing, you should fall back for now.”
As she put the greatsword that was lying on the ground back into Funnelwing’s sheath, Serena frowned with concern.
”Given the color of the blood, it’s likely the injury has reached his insides. If we leave it, it could be life-threatening.”
”Damn it… damn it!”
Funnelwing pounded the ground with his gloved hand, cursing.
”What are you all doing? Hurry up and chase after Boss Robert!”
The employee guy came running and shouted.
The members of the Falcon Brigade exchanged glances.
Serena stood up and turned to the two men.
”We get it. The 3 of us will track him down now, so you guys go back to town with Funnelwing. Once you get to town, report to the guards or the Adventurers’ Guild. Tell them Griffin’s out and to send help urgently to the western forest road.”
”Y-Yeah, got it!”
”Hey, wait a sec, Serena.”
The delinquent priest Rosen Pitt stood up.
Franciska also got up anxiously beside him.
”Hey, Serena, are we really going alone?”
”Yes, Serena. We had a former top adventurer, and with this many people, we still ended up like this. How are the 3 of us supposed to fight?”
”This isn’t the time to be whining. If we don’t go, the client is definitely gonna die.”
Serena raised her eyebrows and said that.
But it seemed she understood the difference in strength too, as a look of grim determination appeared on her face.
Rosen and Franciska seemed to pick up on Serena’s expression, thinking she was ready to charge in, even if it was a long shot.
”Shit, are you outta your mind? You’ll just die!”
”If it weren’t for Vanguard’s Fal-Fal, who’d even distract the Griffin? Serena, you can’t handle Vanguard alone.”
”I can handle it! …I can handle it!”
Serena shouted once, then whispered to herself again, trying to convince herself.
”This is ridiculous! I’m not going! I won’t go even if it kills me!”
”Are you scared or something?”
”Huh!? Then go by yourself! Have you even thought about how I feel just following behind and healing you, huh?”
”…You really want me to go alone?”
Serena’s voice trembled strangely as she squeezed out those words.
Rosen Pitt snorted mockingly.
”What’s up, can’t even muster the courage to go alone?”
”If he flies away, I can’t do anything. I need Franciska at the very least.”
”Huh? You think I’m gonna let my important teammate go to die? You go alone!”
”Are you saying I’m not a teammate!?”
”That’s right!”
Rosen shoved Serena’s shoulder.
”You always fight however you want! Think about the healer too, you damn idiot! I don’t know if you’re a Wolfmen or what, but it’s hard to fight alongside you!”
”Wha…!?”
”You said you were left behind by your tribe, right? Isn’t that ’cause you were useless? You can only swing a sword, and yet you act all high and mighty! Your old teammates probably thought they didn’t need you, so they left you behind, didn’t they?”
”That’s not true.”
”How can you say that for sure? Plus, your sword skills aren’t even that great. You always look at other swordsmen and say, ‘That’s bad, this is bad,’ but maybe you’re just doing that stupid self-critique because you lack confidence?”
”────!?”
At Rosen Pitt’s words, Serena’s face turned bright red.
The silver fur on her tail stood on end, then drooped down after a moment.
Next time she looked up, her face had a look that could almost kill a delinquent priest just with her gaze.
”…Take it back, Rosen Pitt. You just stepped into a place you shouldn’t be.”
”You wanna go, huh!?”
”Take back your words.”
”──Hey, both of you, let’s just chill out!”
The ‘Falcon Brigade’ finally started to turn on each other.
The two male employees watching this were exchanging worried glances.
”Um, so what about Boss Robert?”
”You’re gonna help us, right?”
”…We’re retreating.”
Funnelwing groaned, holding his blood-soaked stomach.
”I hate to say it, but if we chase after him now, Mr. Robert won’t make it. We need to retreat and ask the guild for instructions.”
”No way!”
”What’s gonna happen to Boss Robert? This is ridiculous!”
”If you want to save him, you two need to go. We’re retreating. We don’t want to die for nothing.”
”…Damn it… What kind of adventurers are you, cowards!?”
”What am I supposed to tell Essie…?”
The two men knelt on the ground.
Funnelwing leaned on Rosen Pitt’s shoulder to stand up.
”Let’s pull back, everyone. What we need to do now is report exactly what happened here to the guild. Ms. Serena?”
”I can’t accept that.”
Serena said, tightly pursing her lips.
”Then go alone, you jerk!”
”Ms. Serena, it’s fine to stick to your principles, but don’t drag us into it. You really think it’s smart to take Franciska with you on a reckless mission with no chance of success? Don’t be ridiculous.”
”Hey, can we stop fighting?”
”…Fine. I’ll go alone.”
Serena said quietly.
”I’m a proud Wolfmen. I won’t back down, and I’ll definitely save the client. I’ll fight even if I’m alone.”
”Ha, do what you want, idiot!”
Rosen scoffed, but Funnelwing shook his head.
”Right now, we’re at a party, and we’re all facing some penalties together. If you wanna off yourself, just sign the papers to leave the party in the guild first. …Please don’t cause us any more trouble.”
”────っ ….”
If Serena goes in alone and the party abandons her, there’ll be death penalties for the members, along with various restrictions.
Funnelwing and the other 2 would end up with a hefty debt of silver coins.
Your life is yours, but you can’t just be selfish and drag the other members down with you.
Besides, even if they chase after Robert now, he might already be eaten.
It’d be way better to leave the retrieval of his belongings to a higher-level adventurer party that’ll be sent later.
Serena clenched her fists.
(What am I… doing? What do I want? I’m just causing trouble for my friends.)
What she felt inside was a clear sense of urgency.
Plus, the Wolfmen’s unique spirit of ‘never abandoning comrades’ was tearing deep cracks in the party.
There had always been differences in thinking within the ‘Falcon Brigade,’ but this time, she didn’t feel like she was making a smart choice.
(Abandoning the client I’m supposed to protect…)
It was because she lacked strength.
Because she didn’t have the skill.
Serena felt like her soul was rotting away in darkness.
”I’m going back.”
Funnelwing said that and turned back with Rosen.
Franciska followed, leaving the two men slumped on the ground and Serena as the last one standing.
That’s when she suddenly realized ‘he’ wasn’t there.
”Wait.”
”What is it? Is there something else?”
Funnelwing turned back, sounding annoyed, while Serena looked around.
”He’s missing. That Azraelian… Kian.”
”Now that you mention it, he’s not here.”
”Seriously, where did he go?”
”Probably ran off, that coward from ‘Garbage Scavenger’.”
Serena narrowed her eyes.
””The axe that the client, a big man, was carrying has disappeared…”
”Is it looting in a disaster? Can’t save that ‘Garbage Scavenger’ at all.”
Funnelwing shrugged, sounding exasperated.
”……”
Serena was pulling up the arms of 2 guys while glancing back at the cliff.
(Picking up an axe… does that mean he actually went to fight? Alone? That’s just crazy.)
A shabby guy’s face, laughing without a hint of a warrior’s pride, popped into Serena’s mind.
The guy who called himself a ‘weakling’ was going solo──?.
(No way… right?)
Shaking her head, Serena pushed the men’s backs and left the spot, hoping deep down that he was just a hopeless guy who’d done something as low as looting during a fire.
* * *
’Go around the cliff to the left. There seems to be a narrow path over there.’
”I thought you were useless, but you’re actually pretty helpful, huh?”
Kian, blocked by the cliff, quickly took off to the left after replying.
He had considered climbing the cliff, so the glasses’ special ability was a real blessing.
(I can’t believe it can not only pinpoint treasure but also grasp the nearby terrain.)
’Hehe, pretty handy, right?’
”It’s a useful tool. If only you didn’t talk all the time, it’d be perfect.”
He spotted a dark rock formation on the right that formed a gentle staircase.
This must be the shortcut.
If he went up from here, he could get over the cliff.
(There’s a lot of gravel, and the rocks are sedimentary. The plant life suddenly thinned out. If they fought here, they could use the terrain to their advantage.)
’Where do you want to choose the battlefield?’
As he climbed like he was flying, the glasses asked.
(The main battlefield is where we catch up to him. We can’t pick and choose where to fight to save Robert.)
’Got any plans?’
Kian looked up at the sky.
(The griffin’s strength lies in its ability to keep flying. If it’s in the air, I can only attack with ‘Shot.’ But ‘Shot’ has lower accuracy compared to other basic techniques.)
Until now, practicing ‘Shot’ meant downing a ton of energy drinks and being ready to crash for a day.
Kian had been diligently practicing for over a decade since his banishment, but the number of times he practiced it was overwhelmingly less than the other basic techniques.
(If I’m gonna use ‘Shot’, aim for the right timing and the right spot. Ideally, I wanna hit its wings.
The blade part is tough, so I gotta target the wing membrane.)
If he can bring it down from the sky, then he should be able to fight it on the ground.
The absolute must for winning is to take the wings from the griffin.
(Armed with 2 clubs, one wooden sword, a slingshot for throwing stones, and a little bit of gunpowder and spice bombs.)
It would’ve been nice to have some flashbangs, but he’s out of those right now.
With the clubs, he can’t really deal any decent damage except to the head.
Same goes for the wooden sword. The slingshot might help a bit for distraction
(But)
Kian squints and focuses on his back.
The axe that Robert dropped.
It’s just a regular axe with no magic effects, but it’s really sturdy and easy to handle, well-maintained too.
When he wiped the blood off the blade, it looked like it could definitely be used as a slashing weapon.
(With this, I can aim for its weak spot.)
The target is the inside.
Cut and bleed it out to weaken it.
If its movements slow down, he can aim for the weak spot covered by tough muscles──the nerves in the neck.
Since it has few feathers, if he just add the basic technique ‘impact’ to the weapon, the blade should go through.
’Kian’
”Yeah.”
He slides down the slope and rolls onto the grass to break his fall.
Now, he can clearly hear the roar of a lion and the echo of a hawk from afar.
In the grassland, he spots an abandoned windmill shed.
The hidden spot for the ancient gear that the glasses highlighted in red should be around here somewhere.
”…, …!”
He gathers his energy.
Kian puts strength into his legs and kicks off the grassy ground, leaping forward.
Basic technique ‘Leap’.
He approaches the roofless windmill shed at an incredible speed.
’Hurry up. If it is reached the nest, it’s probably gonna use its claws to tear apart its prey to make it easier to eat.’
In the middle of the glasses’ words, a pathetic scream from a man comes from the top of the windmill shed.
”Dammit, don’t come! Stay away! Damn it! You piece of crap! Get away!”
(He’s alive…!)
Kian’s eyes widen as he reaches for the axe.
If he’s alive, then it’s time to fight the griffin.
He calms his mind and first checks the situation around him.
At the top of the windmill, the roar of the lion and the echo of the hawk exploded once more.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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