Another day passes by uneventfully, as we reach the 5th Day since we’ve entered the forest.

We fend off some wild boars, but otherwise, there’s nothing else to note.

Taking up camp for a break as per usual, I begin to feel slightly sick of the soup that we’ve been having daily.

It’s good hearty soup, but once you have it everyday… it does get pretty dull.

I can’t blame the servants, since soup is one of the easier things to cook in the wilderness.

That is of course, unless we hunt for wild animals ourselves.

There’s just no point in going through such unnecessary trouble just to get meat.

Once we resume our journey, however, we arrive at a bloodied road.

There’s blood everywhere, and many badly mutilated corpses lying around.

The corpses were all ripped into pieces by a sharp object, like the teeth of a beast, causing them to be utterly unrecognisable.

Upon closer inspections, we realise that the corpses were that of some animals, some of them even bore resemblance to the wolves we fought previously.

It seems like the area was ravaged thoroughly, with the only fortunate thing being that there were no human corpses lying around.

It was ‘just’ an unlucky pack of animals.

However, we soon spot a less disfigured corpse.

That’s when we all gasp.

It was surprisingly a Class 1 Magical beast corpse.

This is a beast that could only be defeated easily by a Class 1 or higher mage equivalent.

This is something that our current mercenary team would be able to face only 3 of at maximum before being utterly crushed in all likelihood.

A Class 1 Magical beast possesses simple intelligence, and a unique magic ability to them.

The magic ability often had to do with their innate skills, and complemented them.

This made them much harder to subdue than the average wild animal.

It’s like if a rabbit were to be given a boost in its jumping capabilities, being able to kick out shockwaves as its attacks. This is merely an example, but reaching the realm of a Class 1 magic beast does make it a powerful creature within the forest.

Such a powerful creature was lying down coldly on the ground as a corpse.

Hypothetically, if this beast came in a pack, and those other strewn corpses were of its allies…

...what kind of monstrosity did they run into?!

I shudder to think of it.

It seems like the merchant and the mercenaries have the same idea as me, judging by their ashen faces.

We reach a moment of silence, before the merchant sighs, before speaking up.

“I think we should make a detour to be safe.”, he says, slightly worried.

It’s a reasonable choice, the chances of us running near danger by continuing on the ‘safe’ road seem much higher at this point.

Not to mention, the blood trails off along the main road, which means they may have headed in that direction as well.

I’m simply a client, so I’ll abstain here. I don’t wish to display my ignorance in front of the veterans of this road afterall.

The adventurer, Zhe Yun, speaks up for once, “I agree, there’s a high likelihood that this was done by a pack of magical beasts. If it is so, we stand no chance against it if we head down this path. Even if we encounter them through a detour, at least we have more ways of escape than just one path.”

The merchant nods approvingly at this. He does make an excellent point.

In either case it would be better for us to take a detour for a while before returning to the main road.

We shouldn’t risk running into a horde of magical beasts.

Unknowingly, I nod slightly at this while thinking.

The merchant takes this as my approval.

He turns to look at Sylvia, who shakes her head calmly, “I’m not good at navigation, so I won’t express my opinion here. I’ll go with whatever you decide.”

He then looks at the one who’s displayed the most domineering strength so far, the Ogre man.

He pauses for a moment, seemingly in thought, leaving us all in suspense.

Before long, he starts, “There a low chance that the beast horde would continue along the man-made road, rather than return to the forest surroundings. I think we should continue on the road as planned.”

As he finishes speaking, he flashes a sharp look at the merchant.

“I-In that case, we’ll…”, the merchant seems ready to accept the Ogre man’s words, noting his battle prowess.

However, at this point, Wind, the elf archer speaks up, “I have experience with many forest creatures, being an elf. The recognisable magical beast is a beast that has similarities to the Titan Wolf, a Class 2 Magical Beast…”

“While it may not be one, a class 2 magical beast may have been the leader of the pack. I don’t think that we should t-take that risk.”, she stutters a bit to the end, clearly not used to speaking so many words.

She clearly highlighted the fact that the enemy could be something that has the capability to eliminate a Class 2 magical beast. In that case, we wouldn’t stand a chance against it, and taking a detour would be our best choice.

The merchant quickly swallows the words he was going to say.

“Since a denizen of the forest has spoken up, we’ll naturally follow.”, he says, pinning the decision behind Wind, as if afraid of offending the Ogre man.

The Ogre man, noticing the merchant’s gaze, replies curtly, “...so be it.”

Before he turns to walk back into the caravan.

The merchant, heaving a sigh of relief, heads back to his carriage, instructing the servants on their next actions.

The servants prepare quickly, redirecting the carriages.

We are now going slightly off the road, heading a distance of approximately 3 days to the left before turning back to join the main road again.

The mercenaries get on the caravan, as the Ogre man takes the lookout position in front of their caravan.