Knock! Knock!

The door of Keith’s office was knocked on at noon, not too long after Keith had finished his lunch box. He briefly wondered who came to see him this time, considering that people rarely visited his office without having an important topic to discuss. Nevertheless, he spoke out in response to the knocking.

“Come in!” Keith said, and the door clicked open, revealing that the visitor this time was Elana. “Oh, Elana! Good day!”

“Pardon me.” Elana said as she closed the door behind her and approached. She still wore the same military suit of her homeland and that had been going for so many days, yet she never looked any worse or smelled anything bad, and that made Keith curious.

Putting the curiosity aside, Keith spoke with a smile on his face. “How can I help you today? Oh, take your seat.” He gestured at the set of chairs facing him on the other side of his desk.

“Thank you.” Elana said as she sat down. “So, I’m here to ask about the rate of the rooms I and my men have been staying in. Our free rent is almost over, after all.”

“Free rent? Oh, right. I did say two weeks.” Keith said while glancing at the nearby desk calendar. “It’s almost up, eh?”

“Yes, tomorrow in fact.” Elana said with a nod. “We got some money for that now, but I need to know the rate to plan ahead. Also, the parking space for our car- I mean, RV.”

Keith folded his arms. “Right, that too. Let’s see...”

Keith then pulled an empty paper sheet from a stack on his desk and also a pen from a nearby stand before he began writing quick calculations on it.

“All the rooms on that floor are this much... and then the parking space... add a discount and... there. This much per week.” Keith said as he handed the piece of paper to Elana. “How does it look for you?”

Elana received the paper and took a look at the numbers written. Ten seconds later she frowned. “Are you serious?” She said while looking at Keith in the eyes.

“Why? Is it looking bad?” Keith asked back.

Elana immediately replied with no hesitation. “Yes, this is honestly bad for my skepticism. For what reason is this so-called discount ninety percent?”

“It’s part of the repayment for your consent.” Keith replied. “No way Sedhoust would stop at only waiving your entry fees, right?” He continued with a cheerful grin, but Elana’s face didn’t show any signs of positive response, and thus he reverted to his serious, professional face.

With a sigh, Elana took out her own pen from her suit and crossed out the discount part of the calculation. “Please tell Lord Grasmord that I respectfully decline, and I shall pay the normal rate.” She said as she returned the piece of paper.

“Well, no choice other than to respect your decision.” Keith said as he took the paper from Elana’s hand. “Would you share your reason, though?”

Elana leaned back on her seat, folded her arms, and put her right leg crossing above the other. “Both of you should already know that the ship is not mine to give consent for in the first place. I don’t wish to owe any of you too much, else the one who can actually give consent will be hard-pressed in making the decision.”

“Hmm, yeah. Understandable.” Keith said. “But if I may ask, will the owner actually come here in person?”

Elana briefly mused with her eyes looking at the ceiling before replying. “Before the ship fell, when I... coerced her to escape, she made a promise to come back for me. Who am I to doubt her?”

Keith stayed silent for a couple seconds, thinking that continuing this topic would do nothing than reopening an old wound. “...Alright, let’s settle there.” He said before raising the piece of paper from earlier. “Anyway, I’ll get this arranged. You can deposit the rent downstairs starting tomorrow.”

“Good to hear. Thank you.” Elana said as she adjusted herself to an upright sitting posture.

“Is there anything else?” Keith asked.

“I believe not. I shall take my leave, then.” Elana said before standing up.

Keith suddenly remembered something important, thus he spoke to Elana. “Wait, I just remembered that there’s something I’d like to discuss with you. It’s quite important.”

“Oh?” Elana responded before sitting back down. “What is it?”

“I heard that you can see things from afar with your homeland technology.” Keith said. “How far can it see?”

“There are limitations, but it can go as far as it needs to go.” Elana replied, folding her arms. “Is there something you need from it?”

“Yes, indeed! That would be a huge help!” Keith said without hiding his delight on the news. “Would you?”

“I shall decide after hearing you out first.”

“Alright. I’ll go straight to the point.” Keith said, reverting back to his professional demeanor and facial expression. “Truth is, I’m concerned about the recent increase in calamity beast activities. Besides the infested area you discovered and took care of, a village in the north has been having some beasts pestering them for days. It’s next to a pretty large forest so I suspect there’s something in there.”

“And that’s where I come in.” Elana said.

“Yup! I sent adventurers there yesterday, but you really mustn't hold back in dealing with calamity beasts.” Keith said. “Would you go there as well to make sure the other adventurer team didn’t miss anything?”

“No.” Elana replied in a straight tone, which momentarily made Keith frown in disappointment. However, she then smiled rather mischievously. “What I mean is, there’s no need for me to go there. Let me show you.”

Elana pressed a number of buttons on her sophisticated-looking wristwatch while Keith observed with keen curiosity on what would happen next, and soon he got his answer. A projection of what seemed to be a live bird’s eye footage of the city appeared above the desk, and Keith couldn’t help whistling in awe.

“Simply said, I have an eye in the sky which I can freely order to go anywhere.” Elana said with a visibly prideful smirk. “Where is the village you mentioned?”

“It’s thirty kilometers northward.” Keith said without taking his eyes off the projected map. He was now concerned about a different matter, and therefore he looked at Elana in the eyes and spoke to ask about it. “Elana, is it alright that you’re showing me this?”

“What do you mean about it?” Elana asked back.

Keith folded his arms and leaned forward as he began replying. “This is a very big thing, definitely not something I recommend to show around. Some people out there would kill to have this kind of ability in their control.”

“I see.” Elana said. “I shall keep that in mind. But I wonder why Kurt didn’t raise a fuss back then.”

“Did you show him this projection?” Keith asked, glancing at the very thing he was talking about.

“No.”

“That’s the thing.” Keith pointed to the projected live footage, which was visibly scrolling northward. “Detection Weave experts can stretch their range far and wide, but I’ve never heard about any of them being able to share their findings visually like you’re doing.” He then leaned back to his seat before continuing with his arms spread wide. “And you’re scouting further beyond while sitting right here!”

“Alright, I get it.” Elana said. “But I showed you because you asked, and it will leave a bad taste in my mouth if people get hurt because I hide my capabilities.”

“Yes, yes. I fully understand your sentiment, but try to keep it in moderation while you’re in a foreign land.” Keith said. “The last thing I want to happen is some less benevolent fellows getting word of this.”

“Duly noted.” Elana said. “It would also help if you inform me how far these detection experts you mentioned can stretch their range.”

Keith folded his arms and momentarily gazed at the ceiling while trying to remember. “I say one kilometer around oneself is the maximum. Now you see how extraordinary this thing is to us?”

“Yeah.” Elana said with a small sigh. “Anyway, is that the village?”

Keith looked at the projected map again. The bird’s eye view made it a bit difficult to discern whether it was Krochi Village, but looking at the shape of the river and how its course separated the houses and the farm fields in addition to separating the forest to the northeast, there was no doubt that it was the village in question.

“Yes, no mistake.” Keith said before pointing toward the upper right portion of the displayed footage. “And the forest is right over there.”

“Which side of the river?” Elana asked.

Keith put his right hand under his chin. “Since the ape beasts damaged their farm fields, they probably came from the north side. The river’s shallow, though. Could be from the south side anyway.”

“Alright, I shall have it look for ape-like creatures.” Elana said while pressing more buttons on her wristwatch. The footage immediately changed color to almost completely black and eliminated vegetation from view, followed by displaying bright yellow silhouettes of animals which had the body shape similar to apes.

“Do you think those are calamity beasts?” Elana asked while her eyes were fixated on the projected footage.

Keith took a quick look at several of the silhouettes. With manageable difficulty, he perceived that all he saw so far were regular apes. However, a second later he noticed a new yellow silhouette forming in a seemingly empty area and there was no mistake about it.

“That one.” Keith pointed at the silhouette he had noticed. “It’s a quad ape, a common calamity beast. As implied by the name, it has four arms. Others around it are just regular wild apes.”

“Alright.” Elana said with a nod while pressing buttons. All yellow silhouettes of regular apes disappeared from view, leaving only a scarce number of quad apes in view. “Hmm? What’s that? Do you know about it?”

Keith promptly looked at the spot Elana pointed at. There had been nothing there a minute before, but now a bulky figure occupied that space. Keith took a closer look, and his face soon turned to a frown upon recognizing what that was.

“Boulder gorilla.” Keith said. “The adventurers I sent there should be able to handily slay it, but it’s still not a beast to be taken lightly.”

“Tch!” Elana clicked her tongue. “I hope you are prepared for bad news. Look.” She pointed at a different spot. Keith looked there, and what he saw were two other similar silhouettes moving together toward a direction. The previously seen boulder gorilla figure soon joined them, making a trio of boulder gorillas which bulldozed through the forest toward a single direction.

“What the-!?” Keith stood up, slamming his hands on the desk with his eyes going wide upon realizing the implication. “Multiple boulder gorillas moving together? This is bad!”

Keith hurried out of his office without batting an eye at Elana, went downstairs to the main hall of the guild, and shouted from the top of his lungs.

“Emergency quest!”

Most adventurers who heard his shout immediately stopped their activities and gathered in front of Keith. There were at least twenty of them gathering when Keith began speaking. A voice amplifier magic item a guild staff had handed to him soon after he had shouted helped in having his voice reach all the adventurers.

“I’ve just got word that multiple boulder gorillas have been sighted in the forest northeast of Krochi Village. They were seen moving together in sync, so it’s very likely there’s at least a ghirdys as well. Therefore the forest is now declared as an infested area!”

A good number of the adventurers gasped, followed by talking to each other with worried looks on their faces. Nevertheless, Keith continued.

“I announced this as an emergency quest because a Gold rank team is currently right there for a scouting quest they took yesterday. There’s no way they can fight against multiple boulder gorillas and a ghirdys without help should they get unlucky and encounter the beasts. Therefore, the quest objective is to help them escape from the forest before the beasts get to them!”

Keith ended his speech and took a deep breath before looking around. None of the adventurers in sight seemed to give a positive response to the emergency quest. They mostly talked among their respective teams with noticeable gestures which essentially said that the quest was impossible, and Keith knew it very well.

Even if Keith authorized using the guild RV at full speed, at least one hour would be needed to cover the distance between the capital city and Krochi Village after taking preparation time and several other factors into account. Unless the Enforcer team could stay hidden from the beasts for an extended amount of time somehow, their chances of surviving before then was slim at best.

I’ve made a grave mistake.

The thought ran in Keith’s mind as he clicked his tongue, followed by gritting his teeth. He had suspected that the forest would be infested soon, but it had never come to his mind that it would have been this soon. The lives of an adventurer team was in jeopardy, and it was all his fault.

In the middle of his silent lamenting, Keith suddenly felt someone’s palm on his back, followed by the voice of Elana calling. “Guildmaster.”

“Oh, Elana.” Keith said as he turned around. “Sorry for leaving you there. It was important.”

“Yes, I heard the announcement.” Elana said with a slight nod. “But I have new news. The forest is now on fire.”

“What!? How!?” Keith asked in a loud voice which startled some adventurers within earshot.

Elana, seemingly unfazed by Keith’s loud voice, replied. “There were a number of huge lightning strikes sparking countless embers which quickly grew into wildfire.”

Upon hearing Elana’s answer, Keith went silent for a few seconds with his mouth slightly agape. It was at that moment he remembered the thing his old friend had said the day before, and thus he smirked in relief before speaking. “So there’s still hope. Thanks for telling me.”

Without waiting for Elana’s reply, Keith turned back to the gathering adventurers and spoke out once again after reactivating the voice amplifier magic item. “Changeover! The situation’s evolved and the forest is now on fire! The objective of the emergency quest now is to contain the fire and ensure the safety of the villagers! Guild RVs will be mobilized to quickly transport takers, prioritizing Earth Weave and Water Weave casters! Those who wish to take this quest and fulfill the conditions, follow me to the parking lot immediately!”

Keith turned off the voice amplifier and returned it to a nearby guild staff before walking in a brisk pace towards the guild’s parking lot. A bunch of adventurers followed him with determination on their faces, and he deeply hoped that Sedhoust would be able to keep the Enforcer team safe until reinforcements arrived.

***

“Are they gone? Did he get ‘em?” Mathias asked in a loud voice while cowering down and covering his ears with his eyes closed. The other three of his team were also in the same position as him, having been exposed to the bright flashes and thunderous roars of Sedhoust’s supreme Lightning Weave spells.

“Yes, I did get them all.” Sedhoust said while glancing at the charred black remains of the calamity beasts around them, accompanied by a massive bushfire encircling the group. “And now we have something else to deal with. Get up and follow me.”

While the adventurers of the Enforcer team tried to get up from their shock, Sedhoust looked in one direction where the bushfire seemed the least intense and cast a spell with an intention to open a path.

Bwoooosh!

A massive gust of wind blew forward from Sedhoust’s position, having enough force to rip soil apart from the ground and uproot trees before dissipating at a far distance ahead. Nothing but destruction was left in its wake, but it opened a path as Sedhoust had intended.

Sedhoust briefly threw a glance at the Enforcer team behind him before flying forward through the path he had opened. They were still partly stunned, no thanks to the prior lightning strikes being overwhelmingly loud and bright, but they quickly picked themselves up and began dashing to follow Sedhoust.

“Was that the wrong choice?” Yuril asked while running and glancing at the growing bushfire behind. “The forest’s gonna disappear if this keeps up!”

“Neither choice was right or wrong.” Juliana said while gritting her teeth. “We simply chose the path which had the better chance for our survival. We’re not strong enough yet to fight three boulder gorillas at once.”

“At the cost of the forest.” Reiter said with a frown. “Regrettable, but even though Lord Grasmord gave us a choice, we actually had none in the first place.”

Sedhoust silently smiled overhearing the conversation between the team members. They had made the arguably correct assessment of the situation in regards to their prowess without getting ahead of themselves, and they now had a better chance to live and grow to fight another day.

The group’s escape was looking good. While on the move, Juliana and Sedhoust utilized their Water Weave and Wind Weave magic respectively to slow down the wildfire’s spread and prevent anyone from inhaling too much of the black smoke, and thus they were gaining distance.

However, Sedhoust abruptly spotted a boulder as large as himself flying straight onto his face.

“What the-! Halt!” Sedhoust shouted as he stopped and swiftly cast a barrier spell in front of himself within a split second.

Crash!

The boulder crashed onto Sedhoust as he braced himself. The barrier he had conjured protected him successfully, but the sudden attack had still been a shock to his mind regardless.

“A-Are you alright, Lord Grasmord?” Mathias asked as Sedhoust landed on his own two feet.

“Don’t worry about me.” Sedhoust said. “Worry about the fact that we got company.” He continued as he glared at the beast which had hurled the boulder at him. It was a mere boulder gorilla which Sedhoust should be able to simply smite. However, this time he couldn’t because there was a man being helplessly pinned in the left armpit of the boulder gorilla.

“H-Help! Please help me!” The man screamed with a horrid look on his face, and Sedhoust soon remembered that the unfortunate man was the villager who had approached and talked with him in the farmlands.

“I can’t smite it.” Sedhoust said, gritting his teeth. “Juliana, can you cast icicle shot?”

“Huh? Oh, yes!” Juliana replied startlingly. “But it’s too far from where I stand!”

“Add precision function on it and cast!” Sedhoust said in a raised voice as the beast ahead hurled another boulder at him, which he deflected with a magic barrier like before. The wildfire behind the group was coming closer and it would catch up in mere minutes. They were running out of time.

“No! Wait!” Reiter spoke out. “Leave this to me! Yuril!”

“Got it!” Yuril nodded and she immediately danced her hands in a pattern. “Augment: Penetration!”

At the same time, Reiter drew his bow and aimed at the boulder gorilla. The moment the arrowhead began glowing green, he released the bowstring and shot the arrow forward, straight to the head of the beast.

However, the boulder gorilla grabbed the villager in its left armpit with the other arm and raised him in front, effectively using him as a human shield.

“Ha!” Reiter pointed at the flying arrow, which immediately curved away from its original course to the right. “And strike!” Reiter shouted again, and the arrow made a sharp curve going back to the boulder gorilla.

“Graau!!” The four meters tall beast cried in pain as the arrow stabbed its left hip deeply and stuck there. The shock of the pain made it let go of the poor villager, and then Sedhoust swiftly flew forward and caught him before he hit the ground.

As Sedhoust retreated from the beast, Reiter shot more magic-coated arrows at the boulder gorilla while Mathias charged forward with his sword brandished. By the time Mathias was right in front of the gorilla, it was bracing itself from Reiter’s arrows, thus its arms were covering its own face and it failed to notice Mathias’ presence.

Mathias swiftly slid between the beast’s legs and performed a horizontal roundhouse slash which cut the tendon of both its heels. The gorilla cried in pain again and lost its balance, causing it to fall forward and faceplant. Not wasting any time, Mathias jumped toward the beast’s back and stepped his feet on its nape.

“So long, bastard!” Mathias shouted with a triumphant smirk on his face as he stabbed his sword through the back neck of the gorilla. The fresh wound gushed out a fountain of blood which stained Mathias’ face and armor all over, and the gorilla cried for the final time flailing its rock-embedded arms in a futile attempt to attack Mathias before becoming motionless. It had been slain.

Sedhoust who was still carrying the villager over his right shoulder asked. “Are you alright?”

“I-I don’t know.” The villager replied with cold sweats and a worried look on his face. “I feel dizzy, and I can’t feel my left leg. Is it still there...? Please tell me it’s still there!”

“I can’t get any look like this.” Sedhoust said before noticing the thickening smoke and flying embers around him. The wildfire they had been escaping from had nearly caught up. Checking on the villager’s injuries was not his biggest concern at the moment. “But we need to get away from the wildfire first.”

Sedhoust conjured a temporary continuous gust of wind against the spreading wildfire to slow down the wildfire before turning around and flew forward. The Enforcer team followed behind him, and thus the group’s effort to escape from the wildfire resumed with an extra baggage in the form of a probably injured villager.

“Juliana.” Sedhoust called without looking back. “Can you take a quick look at this man’s left leg? He said he couldn’t feel it.”

“Oh, alright. I’ll try.” Juliana replied, and Sedhoust slowed down a bit. “Oh my!”

“Is it bad?” Sedhoust asked as he noticed how grim the villager’s face turned.

“It’s an open fracture! He’s losing a lot of blood too!” Juliana replied. “He needs first aid now!”

“Tch, no wonder my trousers feel somewhat wet!” Sedhoust frowned, and the villager’s face turned even more grim than before.

“Lord Grasmord, we have to stop!” Juliana spoke out. “If we let the wound untreated for too long he’ll lose his leg, or worse!”

Yuril chimed in as soon as Juliana finished. “But Ana! If we stop we’re all gonna get burned!”

“But I can’t leave that wound untreated!” Juliana spoke in high tension. “I don’t want another person to die on me! Not when I could’ve helped!”

“D-Die..?” The villager asked. “Am I gonna d-?”

Sedhoust immediately intervened. “No, you’re not. Look.” He pointed forward, and everyone else soon saw that the river which flowed through the forest was right ahead. “We can stop and treat your wound after we cross the river, so hang in there for a little longer.”

“A-Alright!” The villager replied with renewed vigor.

The group soon crossed the shallow river and stopped when they reached dry ground. Mathias and Yuril quickly spread a cloth mat from their luggage, and then Sedhoust put the villager down on the mat.

“Don’t look at your leg. Look at me in the eyes.” Sedhoust said as he crouched next to the villager’s head. At the same time, he also cast a Wind Weave spell which conjured a constant breeze in order to keep smokes and embers from crossing the river.

The forest on this side of the river was still not burning yet, so the group was safe for the time being. Knowing this, Juliana began her work by cutting open the villager’s bloodstained pants so she could get a clear look at the wound.

“Whoa! Nasty!” Mathias exclaimed with his eyes wide, right before Reiter smacked him in the head. “Ow!”

“Shut up, you dunce.” Reiter said. “Juliana needs to concentrate.”

Juliana spoke up while still having her eyes fixated on the villager’s wounded leg. “You two, get along and fetch some water from the river. Yuril, I’ll be counting on you to purify the water.”

“Alright! Leave it to me!” Yuril said while nodding in determination.

“A-Am I going to be alright?” The villager asked while still looking at Sedhoust in the eyes.

“Yes, you’ll be fine.” Sedhoust replied, holding the villager’s hand. “You’re in good hands. Trust me.”

“Okay. Okay...” The villager said before taking a deep breath and calming down.

Sedhoust smiled a little in an effort to ease the villager’s mind further. “This is the second time we meet, but I haven’t learned your name yet. Mind telling me?”

“It’s Dylan, sir adventurer.” The villager, Dylan, replied. “May I know yours?”

“...” Sedhoust hesitated for a moment, but he ultimately decided to tell the truth. “Sedhoust Grasmord.”

Dylan’s eyes gradually went wide with his mouth going agape and no words coming out. He glanced at Reiter and Mathias who had just returned from fetching water, seemingly asking in silence whether the answer he had heard was true.

“Oh, yes.” Mathias smirked as he spoke. “One of the legendary Five Heroes, the one and only, Earl Sedhoust Viharyu Grasmord.”

“Now, now.” Sedhoust said before Dylan could say anything. “I am here not to be revered, so treat me the same like you did befo- Hmm?”

Sedhoust quickly let go of Dylan’s hand and turned his head to the forest behind him. His Detection Weave spell had picked up something, and he didn’t like the readings he got. However, there was no mistake about it since he noticed Reiter being alerted just like him.

“Ghirdys incoming!” Reiter shouted while readying his bow.

“What!? Another? Seriously!!?” Mathias asked in disbelief, but he still unsheathed his sword and stood ready.

“Stay here and guard your teammates.” Sedhoust told Reiter and Mathias before conjuring miniature wind spheres which covered his hands and feet. Soon, rustling sounds came out from the depth of the forest and the three-meters tall primate beast emerged from the trees. “HA!”

Sedhoust stomped his right foot and triggered the wind magic coating it, launching himself in high speed straight at the ghirdys within an instant. In flight, he clenched his hands and extended them toward the ghirdys, and thus his fists made the first contact with the ghirdys.

The combined force of Sedhoust’s flight speed and magic-coated punch sent the ghirdys flying backward, sending it back into the forest along with Sedhoust himself who added a magic-coated flying kick into the mix, ultimately slamming the ghirdys hard onto a tree.

Sedhoust landed on his feet a couple meters away from the ghirdys, which also landed smoothly despite the punishment it had just received. The primate beast momentarily coughed and held its chest, implying that it still had taken damage from the attack.

“If I can’t use Lightning Weave here,” Sedhoust said while cracking his knuckles. “I shall beat you up with martial arts.”

“Grraauu!”

The ghirdys roared and leapt toward Sedhoust with its right leg extended forward for a heel drop. Sedhoust jumped to the side, evading a direct hit from the attack which made an explosive shockwave upon impacting the ground.

Sedhoust successfully braced himself against the shockwave and all the flying debris coming his way by conjuring an instant, short-lived frontal barrier. Not wasting time, Sedhoust leapt forward and propelled his right leg in a spinning motion using wind magic, delivering a roundhouse kick to the back of the left knee.

Whack!

The impact knocked the ghirdys off balance and made it fall on its back with a heavy sound. Sedhoust followed up with a magic-coated heel drop right on the primate beast’s chest. The force of the impact was so great that it generated a gust of wind to all directions.

The ghirdys coughed up blood within that instant before leaping up and getting back on its feet. It looked at Sedhoust who at this moment had already made some distance, and its face turned furious. Drops of blood were dripping out from between its teeth, accompanied by heavy breathing sounds.

All right. It’s pissed now.

The ghirdys reared and inhaled deeply, puffing its cheeks in the end of it. Sedhoust knew what was coming, so he lowered his stance in preparation.

As Sedhoust had expected, the ghirdys blew forward, shooting out air projectiles invisible to the naked eye. Being a renowned expert in Wind Weave, however, Sedhoust easily sensed the projectiles and their trajectories, and thus he evaded all the shots with little effort.

Right after evading the air shots, Sedhoust leapt forward, closed his distance within an instant, and performed a spinning kick. His magic-coated boots met the side of the beast’s jaw, once again generating a wind shockwave to all directions as the result of the hard impact.

The ghirdys was not dead yet. In response to the kick, it performed a spinning jump kick in place which sent out a miniature tornado as tall as the beast itself forward. Sedhoust braced himself by conjuring an instant frontal barrier like before, and after the tornado dissipated he smirked.

Sedhoust immediately launched a straight punch on the beast’s chest. Upon contact, the Wind Weave spell he had coated his fist with reacted with the welled up air inside the lungs of the ghirdys, generating an explosive burst strong enough to make the head of the beast blow up like a popped balloon. Fresh blood, brain pieces, and bone shrapnels rained on everything in the vicinity, including Sedhoust.

“Hmph.” Sedhoust snorted in displeasure after the rain of gore was over, but the calamity beast had been slain without starting an additional bushfire and that was all that mattered.

Sedhoust went back to the riverbank where the Enforcer team was and found them still doing their work in healing Dylan. They all looked delighted upon seeing Sedhoust, except Juliana who was still fixated on Dylan’s wound.

“Lord Grasmord! Glad you’re back safe and sound!” Mathias said.

“Well, thank you for your concern, even though that was honestly not necessary.” Sedhoust said while wiping his face off the bloodstains.

Mathias shook his head. “No, not that. I mean, this guy here.” He glanced at Dylan, who was still lying down and averting his eyes from Sedhoust. “He has been begging us to leave him be and help you fight that ghirdys, saying that a mere villager’s life isn’t worth and all that.”

Hearing Mathias’ explanation, Sedhoust shook his lowered head and let out a sigh before crouching near Dylan. “Listen up, man. I survived a battle against Calamity and came out victorious. A mere ghirdys wouldn’t even put a scratch on me. Also, never say your life isn’t worth.”

Sedhoust stood up without waiting for Dylan’s response. He looked over the river, seeing the now charred black trees across. No embers had managed to fly across, so the forest on this side of the river was still safe from being turned to ashes for the time being. Still, the rising smokes at far distances strongly implied that the wildfire was still ongoing, and Sedhoust began to doubt whether smiting the beasts back then had been the right choice.

There was also another thing which concerned him. For some reason, the beasts had been acting unlike their usual behavior. Boulder gorillas didn’t possess enough intelligence to decide on taking a human hostage and use them as a shield. In addition, the pre-emptive boulder throw attack back then had been weird as well. Not to mention the ghirdys, which charged straight at the group from the depth of the forest as if it had already known their position.

Don’t tell me...

Sedhoust looked to the sky with an ominous feeling creeping up inside. The weather was fairly clear, putting the black smokes aside, but he couldn’t help feeling that something was watching him from up there somewhere.

***