Masahiko talks with Yoshimura-kun and Eri, while Teruko is looking around the old sign. “So you’re saying that the elf that was mentioned in the inn might be the same one you faced against Katsuragi-kun’s side?”

“Most likely. Akiyama-san has mentioned that Katsuragi may use mind control?”

“I’m sure,” Eri affirms. “Kyou-chan was wearing a ring and couldn’t help but do as he said. It was impossible for us to remove it, so it had to be a cursed item. I believe that the princess had a similar ring.”

“I see… hm… I’m not sure whether I saw a ring on the elf or not, to be honest. It’s all blurry… hard to notice something like that in a battle.”

“Be it as it may be,” Masahiko says with a stern face, “I would like to give them a chance to explain themselves.”

“FINALLY!” Teruko shouts in pure bliss. So far, she hadn’t found any tracks on this part, yet Masahiko was feeling that this is the right place, therefore she searched for some the whole time. “MASA-KUN!” She says as she runs towards them. “They really went their way to mask them. First, I thought you were just stubborn, but finally I have something! There is just a bit of dust, so I can’t say much more, but my skill recognized it as tracks and I believe that there is one who is barefooted.”

Barefoot, like an elf, if the stories are right. Masahiko is actually looking forward to meet her, he hasn’t seen an elf in this fantasy world so far. “Teruko, can you tell how many people were there?” Four would be the right amount.

“No. I can’t tell, however, the tracks are from yesterday. We’re catching up.”

“Great! Guys, we’re continuing!” He says it to Hoshibashi-kun and Daichi who are playing tic-tac-toe in the dirt. Katsuo is nearby and is checking his arrows, while Correo is leaning against a rock, the hat over his face. He said that he takes a rest whenever possible so that he can keep up with the heroes. Different from them, he lacks a [Stamina]-stat that can be easily replenished.

Yet Masahiko’s call makes him shove his hat back to the top of his head, slowly standing up. Yoshimura-kun looks at the rest, most likely assessing how much he can push them. “We’ll continue at the current pace. If we hurry too much, we’ll be vulnerable to monster attacks, and I’m sure that we’ll start facing them. Partner, you’ll check our behind, Kurosawa-san, check the front.” Using Hoshibashi-kun’s [Masterthief] and Teruko’s [Deepstalker] makes sense, as both classes excel in [Stealth].

Teruko looks at Masahiko who nods at her with a wryly smile. It makes sense to send her in the front as she also has the [Survival]-ability, and she can also use a skill that gives her insight about the surrounding stone-area.

Yoshimura-kun turns to Eri: “Your [Geomancer]-class has a spell that’s also capable of sensing the stone in the surrounding, right? How often can you do so?” While Teruko’s skill gives a rough idea about long distances, Eri’s spell is much more accurate, but costs so much more MP.

“Depends on the range.”

“Let’s say a hundred meters (almost 330 feet).”

“Maybe four times before I run out of MP.”

“I see… Can you shrink the area? I only want to be sure of the flanks, the others will check the front and back.”

“I can, but I need a certain power to get an accurate image, and I need to use it actively. I can’t cover the flanks with this.” The spell shoots magic into the earth and depending on the resistance, the user can tell what kind of earth, stone, and metals are there. Yoshimura’s idea is good, but the spell doesn’t fit the shoe.

“Hm…” Yoshimura-kun looks at the cliffs that are surrounding them in thought.

Masahiko has an idea though: “Let Katsuo check the sides. He has [Perception] and is good at noticing if something is off.”

“Yes… Kitamura-san, would you mind?”

Katsuo nods without a word.

“What about us?” Masahiko asks Yoshimura who didn’t give anyone else a role.

“I want Yamauchi-san and you to concentrate on walking. If a monster comes, I want you at your possible best, as you will form the front. Until then, let your mind rest. Same for Akiyama-san, we’ll rely on your healing if the need comes. Correo, you’ll be a look-out like Kitamura-san, I’m betting that you’re used to noticing threats as they come.”

“Traveling around dangerous areas is how I make my living, after all.”

“Alright, let’s go. Also, try to be as quiet as possible.” Yoshimura-kun shows that he’s capable of taking command of the whole team and, after talking to him, his tone is also a lot better. A bit demanding, but still an improvement.

After a while, Teruko comes back, reporting to Masahiko. “There was a rockslide before us. I think it was caused by a fight, or rather: Someone caused it willingly for fighting monsters. I found many cadavers, some of them with removed feathers, claws, and such.”

Yoshimura-kun looks displeased while giving his two cents. “Most likely them… as far as I know, monsters don’t ambush other monsters for parts.”

Masahiko agrees. “Then we should take a careful look.”

“I agree. I’ll go get my partner to be on the sure side, you can start investigating without us. If something happens, we’ll be right behind you.”

“Sure.”

After Yoshimura-kun is out of sight, Teruko starts speaking up: “Who does he think he is? I haven’t voted him boss.”

“I agree,” Eri also scrunches her nose. “Masa, why are you allowing that?”

“Because he’s making a lot of good decisions. Also, it’s important to work together, we can’t fight with each other over minor things.”

“I don’t know, Masa,” Daichi adds to the conversation: “I really can’t stand them. Wouldn’t it have been better to just do our own thing?”

“But Correo-san asked them to come.”

“Well,” answers the same with a strained smile, “they’re surely capable and I thought that your goals align. You want your friend back, they want the reward for the princess, and while I really want you to succeed with Momokawa-dono, I’m also after part of the reward.”

Eri snarls with her arms akimbo: “We’re five, they’re two, why should we listen to them in the first place? Masa does a wonderful job as a leader.” The rest of Masahiko’s friends nod to her words, even Katsuo who hasn’t said anything yet.

“Thank you guys, but so far we haven’t had even one fight, so please be patient. Let Yoshimura-kun and Hoshibashi-kun prove themselves. They’ve been fighting as long as we have. Also, Yoshimura-kun told me that he has experience leading squads. I’m always at my limit just handling five people. If we count Correo-san, we’re eight in total, all with different skill-sets.”

Teruko grimaces while saying: “One fight only, OK?” The rest grudgingly agrees.

Masahiko knows how hard it is. He also needs to get used to it, but he’s sure that it’ll be fine. The more he talks to Yoshimura-kun, the less he sees the student he used to know and the more he sees a veteran. This only showed how much everyone of them had to change to acclimate to this world and lifestyle. “Let’s go.”

The ambush site has almost no information other than the used tactic: Causing a landslide, forcing the monsters to enter a choke-point and then finishing them. Wounds caused by arrows, swords and spears give an idea of how the people are equipped… Katsuragi-kun had a spear, the princess a sword. The elf would be the bow, right?

After two hours or so, they spot the remains of a camp. “I guess four people…” Teruko pinches her nose after taking a look at the excrements several meters away from the camp, a task Masahiko didn’t ask her to do, yet she just did it like it was nothing. “Given their pace, we may catch up soon, unless they increased it. They’re also following the path at this point.”

So they decided to travel a bit faster for an hour, then at normal pace for another, then a break, then back to this rhythm. So far, the journey was eerily uneventful. Where are the monsters? Isn’t this supposed to be a monster-infested area?

Of course, having the other party before them would clear some away, yet there should be more… Just as Masahiko thinks that, Teruko—who was scouting ahead—runs back to them: “GIANT MONSTER!” She yells. “I thought something was off, so I made myself unnoticeable, then saw a giant bear made out of stone with smaller ones clinging at it. The area before us is devastated!”

“A giant monster with smaller ones? Like those spider-monkeys we faced before?”

“Yes!”

“Kurosawa-san,” says Yoshimura-kun with a strange voice: “Calm down. We need a report and not a story.”

“I’m not telling stories!”

“I mean, you’re too emotional and hung up, so it’s hard to discern the facts.”

Teruko directly hisses at Yoshimura-kun, so Masahiko goes between them: “Yoshimura-kun, let me handle it. Teruko, we all need to calm down. It hasn’t found you, right? Then we can all take a drink, Yoshimura-kun gets Hoshibashi-kun again and then we’ll talk.”

“…hey, Yoshimura. Be thankful.” Omitting any honorific, Teruko sits on the ground and starts taking something out of her backpack to eat.

“…” With an aggrieved face, Yoshimura-kun turns around and is leaving the rest alone to get their rearguard.

The expressions of his friends make Masahiko rather insecure about the whole process. They agreed to have Hoshibashi-kun and Yoshimura-kun prove themselves with the next fight, but if it’s with a giant monster… This may be too risky when nobody is willing to work with each other.

“Relax, Inoue-dono.” It’s Correo-san who seems to be the one who is the least concerned. Maybe he’s just acting as the only adult here. “All your concerns will melt away the moment Yoshimura-dono starts making his plan.”

“I sure hope so. The last time we faced a giant monster, we were almost killed.”

“Well, I’ve heard of these kinds of monsters before. Regular people like me usually won’t ever meet one, though it seems that most heroes in the field are bound to meet two or three.”

“Only heroes?”

“Usually. I talked with a monster researcher in Ulwern once, she said that whenever monsters are decimated for public safety, the ones that are larger—often called alpha-monsters, though she preferred goliaths as a term—are the first ones that retreat. However, they seem to actively attack heroes whenever they can.”

“They’re hunting heroes?”

“I don’t know if it’s a hunt or just an attack when an opportunity arises. If the researcher was still alive, I would ask her.”

“Oh, what happened to her?”

“She was ripped apart by a furrongous treant. What a pity, she always had funny stories to tell and was a lovely woman.”

Eri chimes in, she hides a smile behind her hand: “Were you lovers?”

“No, I was still married when I met her. But you can appreciate a woman without having any romantic interest in her, she was more like a good acquaintance.”

“Oh, boring.”

Correo-san decided that traveling is more important to him than love. Now he talks like someone who has given up on any relationships that are more than skin-deep. That’s why Masahiko asks him: “Correo-san, can’t you find someone willing to travel with you?”

“Boy, it’s my life. I’m happy for your feelings, but when you’re a full-fledged adult, you’ll see a lot of things differently. At some point, I may also settle down and then everything will be different. Until then, I’ll enjoy what I have right now.”

In this moment, Masahiko realized that Correo-san is on an entirely different level than himself or any of his friends. This explains why often Correo-san is silently letting the teenagers discuss, because the merchant also knows that he may help and guide them, but is not part of them.

The moment Hoshibashi-kun and Yoshimura-kun returns, Teruko starts explaining in a much calmer demeanor what she saw. At some point, Yoshimura-kun interrupts: “How sure are you that their fur is made of stone?”

“What do you want, a number?”

“I need to know if their skin is really stone or some sort of camouflage.”

“It would have moved differently if it were camouflaged.”

“Correo, what kind of monster is it?”

“Rocky-bears, they’re also lurking around the more used paths. Their skin is really made out of rock and they can cause quakes.”

“Just tremors or even moving earth?”

“Usually only tremors, but I don’t know about the goliath.”

“… …can you draw a sketch of the terrain, Kurosawa-san?”

“Sure.” Teruko takes the paper and quill Yoshimura-kun offers her and starts doodling: “This is rubble, this is the cliffside, there are boulders,” she explains while mapping out the scene.

“Hm… Kitamura-kun, you are capable of strong attacks, right?” Katsuo nods. “The problem here is the stone-fur. I don’t know whether any of us is capable of breaking it. Correo, what does it take to break through the defenses of a usual rocky-bear?”

“Use a hammer or a spell, then it’ll be fine. Especially if you know skills.”

“I will assume that the—what do you call it, goliath?—has a thicker layer of stone protecting it, appropriate to its size. I have three plans ready, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Remember them and your roles in them.” The skepticism among Masahiko’s friends is obvious, but Yoshimura-kun either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. “The core is easy. Yamauchi-san, Kurosawa-san and Inoue-san, you will take care of the smaller bears, this stays true for every plan. Correo, you’ll be on the watch, observing everything and telling us if there are any changes, like reinforcements or such. Everything will fall if any of you fail.”

Daichi looks at Masahiko who nods back. This seems logical. Daichi is powerful, but might be unable to deal a good hit at the boss, even if he uses his maul instead of his axe. Same for Teruko and even Masahiko might only be able to deal damage if he uses that, something he only wants to use in dire emergencies and if he has a vision of victory, like his shishou told him.

Yoshimura begins with the moving parts of the plan. “In case we can attack out of hiding, Akiyama-san and I will hurl our strongest spells against the goliath. If we can’t, or after the initial attack, we start with moderate spells. If we can hurt it on a moderate level, we will keep doing so, while Partner and Kitamura-san support the others. This is Plan Alpha. If our moderate spells aren’t enough or even our strongest spells don’t have a noticeable effect, we’ll switch to Plan Beta. Akiyama-san and I start using moderate spells against the smaller monsters while Kitamura-kun and Partner will try to take on the boss with their powerful attacks. If this isn’t effective, then Akiyama-san and I use our powerful spells in succession while Partner takes over for Yamauchi-san, who will concentrate on protecting us casters. Partner is strong in attacking and surviving, not defending. This would be Plan Gamma. I have this horn, when I blast it the first time, we change to Beta, if I blast it a second time, it’s Gamma, if I blast it in fast succession, it’s retreat. This will be most likely the case when we can’t effectively hurt it and fighting it is just too dangerous. Akiyama-san, when in doubt, go to the others and heal them. If they fall, we will most likely fall with them. Also, be prepared that we could change tactics in the midst, I can’t cover every possibility.”

Masahiko is impressed by how easily Yoshimura-kun came up with a solid plan. Of course it was more of a rough idea, but knowing first hand how strategizing needs a lot of leeway, this is really solid, taking their strengths, weaknesses, and usual tasks into account. Yoshimura-kun only heard from Masahiko about their party, yet he still managed to come up with a good plan.

“…fine.” Daichi is the first one to agree to the plan, though he’s grinding his teeth.

“I still don’t like you!” Teruko glares at Yoshimura-kun, but also complies.

Eri is the smartest one out of Masahiko’s friends, so she’s also the one who sees weak spots in the plan: “What if the normal monsters are too much for Masa and Daichi-kun?”

“Then we retreat. I have the perfect spell for retreating and I will keep enough MP to cast it several times if needed.”

“…wouldn’t it be better to put Teru-chan on the watch? She has [Perception] and I doubt she can deal much damage to the stony beasts with her spear.”

“Hey!”

While Teruko calls out, Yoshimura-kun nods, still focused on the map: “I thought about that, but in the end, I’d like to have her at the front as she’s sturdier as a [Knight] than our non-hero Correo. Letting Yamauchi-san and Inoue-san handle everything might be too much, also, the three of them are used to fighting next to each other, which alone should increase the combat prowess of all of them. If you’re able to handle the boss on your own, Akiyama-san, I might also step in as a [Warlord] to increase everyone’s power. To sum the [Warlord]-class up: Following my orders makes you stronger. There!” Yoshimura-kun points at a spot on the map, one full of rubble. “Before we start chanting our first spells, our front will try to hide behind that hindrance, then we cast from this uprising, this is also where Partner and Kitamura-san are on stand-by. Front, when they come, make an ambush, then retreat to this open space. If they can cause quakes, it might be safer there, also…”

So the planning progresses.