Ding

The bell installed at the front door rang, signifying the arrival of new visitors.

Entering were Lily and her four party members. All the gazes in the guild were instantly on them.

Seeing who came, Amita began, “Hey, Lily! Good timing! I forgot it yesterday, but there is- “

“A stampede, right?” Lily cut her off.

“You have already known?” Amita blinked her eyes in surprise.

“Don’t underestimate my information network,” Lily replied proudly, putting out her kind of flat chest on display.

‘U-Umm, Lily, wasn’t it just sheer luck?’

Elvis secretly thought.

The other three were more or less thinking of the same thing and had a wry smile on their faces.

Yesterday, after they had left the orphanage, they decided to check-in at their usual inn. Later on, they caught a good long rest in a long while after surviving that arduous ruin with no visit to an information broker whatsoever.

Before each went to bed, Rey suggested that they went to the guild again tomorrow to hear the details of the incident and discuss the defense strategies.

So, here they were, at the guild, with their leader gloating about her non-existent information network.

…To be completely honest, with their party status, she could actually have such a network. Unfortunately, she always spent too much money on orphanages until there was none to pay the brokers.

Rey once suggested that he used his own fund to pay for it but got refused as Lily deemed it was her responsibility as the leader.

…Even though she still didn’t fulfill such a responsibility to this day.

Please try your best, guys.

“So, can you please tell us the details?” Rey, ignoring their boasting leader, decided to take the matter into his own hands.

“Yes,” Amita nodded. And, after a moment of contemplation, continued, “You guys are one of the two top adventurer parties in this town, after all.” Her expression turned serious with a tiny frown on her forehead.

After asking her junior to take her place, she guided them to the private room they were in yesterday.

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…

“So, as you all know, a stampede is coming.”

Amita leaned her body forward with two hands putting together in front of her chest as she eyed the entire party with a stern expression on her face.

“What are the main compositions of the monsters this time?”

Surprisingly, it was Raphael who asked first.

“Fortunately, mostly goblins,” Amita shrugged uncaringly. But then the light in her eyes darken, “but there are sightings of quite a few high-ranking goblins too. One Lord, two Champions, eight Wolf Riders, as far as we know.”

“The hell?! Why such strong bastards among the Gobs came out so much like the people at Wicky’s during their half-priced sell periods?!’ Raphael complained.

He was the one in the most risks as the only defender of the party, so it was natural for him to worry.

The others each had an ugly expression on their face too.

Elvis was shaking as he hugged his body-sized staff to try to calm down.

Rey’s facial expression changed the least, but it still got visibly worse.

Lily put her right hand to her mouth in deep contemplation with a drop of sweat on her forehead.

And Guts…

“Lord… Champions…”

…He murmured with an ashen face. His face lost all colors.

His expression had not been good the entire time. Furthermore, he had been less talkative than usual since hearing about the stampede.

The others noticed his abnormal condition, and Lily asked worriedly, “Do you want to take a break, Guts?”

She stared intensely into his eyes without blinking as she waited for his response.

Her look said it all, “Don’t lie to me.”

“N-No, I-I’m fine. Please continue,” Guts looked away from the powerful gaze and lowered his head.

‘He is not okay,’ Lily thought.

“Okay then. Please continue, Amita.”

Nevertheless, Lily did not pursue the matter. She knew Guts well. He would never admit it even if she persisted on it when he already went this far. Then, it was best to quickly finish the matter at hand and let Guts relax a bit. After all, his stress had been high the entire time they had been talking here.

“A-Ah, yes. As they were also other attacks by different groups of monsters in the surrounding areas, it seemed like we won’t get much in terms of reinforcement,” Amita sighed again, “From the guild and the guard’s previous discussion, we decided to center our forces around our top two adventurer parties, ‘Lily and co’ and ‘God Slaying Sword’. Since we previously couldn’t contact you, it seemed the next discussion held will be between the guard, the guild, you guys, and ‘God Slaying Sword’ on the exact strategies to use.”

“With ‘God Slaying Sword’, huh?” Lily couldn’t help but making an uncomfortable face.

The other three apart from Guts, who still had his face lowered, also showed disgust on their face.

It was not that they were not strong, but…

“I know, right? Who the hell would want to work together with those narcissistic assholes? But it seems like we all don’t have a choice,” even Amita, who was supposed to be neutral, also shrugged in agreement with their display of disgust.

God Slaying Sword.

Just the name was already cheeky as hell.

The members were a lot worse, however.

A young swordsman who claimed he had never lost a duel even though he had never dueled anyone.

A dwarf defender who claimed he had never been on his knees even though his legs below the knees were prosthetic.

An elf magician who always carried a hand mirror and praised how beautiful his appearance and magics were.

An old thief with a few screws loose on the head (All of them do, actually.) who solved all the traps he could detect without avoiding the ones that could be avoided. He claimed himself as a Trap Master who was the best at installing and disarming traps.

A playboy priest who, despite his constant engagement in sexuality, claimed to be the next Pope of Luminus like a deranged person.

Of course, their skills were top-notch and comparable to ‘Lily and co’ or even slightly better. Even the swordsman moron was actually very good with his sword…

…But, yes, how to say it, everyone just didn’t see them as humans anymore.

It was well known that Onyx’s current top adventurers were strange. But even ‘Lily and co’ would have to hurriedly raise a white flag when comparing to them.

“Hah… I guess we have to somehow deal with it… not that I want to,” Lily put a hand on her temple as she mused at her own cursed fate.

The other three nodded bitterly.

As for Guts…

…He still stared absentmindedly at the floor.

“That’s all, right, Amita?” With the corner of her eyes glancing at Guts, Lily tried to end the conversation.

“A-Ah, yes. Please come to the meeting at noon two days from now!”

“Let’s go, everyone. Things can’t get any worse anyway,” Lily turned her back, nudged at the still absentminded Guts, and walked out of the room with her party members.

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…

Although they actually needed to repair and replace the equipment damaged during their time in the ruin, Lily decided to put it off until tomorrow as caring for Guts was more important.

So, they were heading straight back into the inn.

As they were about to enter the inn, however…

“Hmm… You there! What is your name?”

…An old woman with a tattered hood over her body and a wooden cane in her right hand called out to them.