Published: September 2, 2025
※Corrected typos on 2/11.
This is Satou. They say that complacency is the greatest enemy, but I think failures happen precisely because you don’t realize you’ve let your guard down.
It seems that in any world, the moment you get used to things is the most dangerous.
â—‡
Well then, I’ll visit the magician’s place during the night.
I don’t want to be attacked by a swarm of ants in the morning... Ants aren’t nocturnal, right?
I start changing clothes alone inside the carriage. Arisa peeks in, so I ball up my sweat-soaked shirt and throw it at her face. Let her suffer from the stench.
I don’t change the outer robe I wear outside, but underneath, I swap to thick pants and a shirt, along with knee-length leather boots. Walking through the mountains in just a robe wouldn’t be convenient.
“Sniff sniff.”
“Arisa, stop that, it’s improper.”
It’s the first time I’ve seen Lulu scold Arisa like that. Still, what is she doing? Well, I get it when I see it, but honestly, I don’t want to understand... sniffing the smell of a sweat-soaked shirt is way too perverted, isn’t it?
I take the shirt from Arisa and hand it over to Lulu.
“Sorry, but please wash it together with the laundry.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Before that, let me enjoy the scent of a teenager.”
“Ouch!”
I stop her with a forehead flick before she finishes.
“My love hurts too much~ Punishment should be more… adult-oriented!”
“There are plenty of pure maidens around; you should restrain yourself a bit more.”
“Ugh~ I’m a maiden too.”
Maidens don’t do things like that—at least not in front of others.
“By the way, what are you going to do after changing?”
“I’m going on a little reconnaissance.”
I can’t just honestly say I’m going to the magician’s place.
“I’ll accompany you.”
Liza offers to come along, but I persuade her to stay and guard the campsite. She asks to have Pochi and Tama as escorts, but I say I’ll be back before sunset and go alone.
â—‡
In truth, I don’t plan to go to the magician right away. I want to expand the scouting area before the next tracking party arrives, so I intend to retrace the route the Rat Cavalry trampled and venture into unexplored territory. If I run, I should reach it before sunset.
Since I’m out of view from the campsite, I run without damaging the path. In just five minutes, I pass by the place where Arisa slaughtered the ants with her unique skill.
The piled-up ants are in the way. I lightly jump over them.
Small animals have gathered, probably because monster corpses are tasty.
Still, having so many monster corpses lying around must be blocking the path.
In games, they disappear after a certain time if left unattended, but reality is troublesome.
…Huh?
…Oh no.
“Reality isn’t supposed to be troublesome!”
I stop and look back at the pile of corpses.
Let’s imagine this.
On a little-traveled highway, numerous monster corpses lie sprawled. Some died of internal bleeding without external wounds; others were struck down by arrows. Anyone normal would be curious about who defeated them. And we’re the only carriage that passed through this highway.
Unless they’re idiots, they’ll connect the monster corpses to us.
Not good.
I change plans and start storing the monster corpses into the storage’s “ant carcass” folder one by one. I considered dismantling and dumping them by the roadside, but storing them is less hassle.
Corpses don’t show up on radar, so I rely only on sight. Corpses on the highway are easy, but those caught in bushes or stuck on nearby trees are tough to deal with.
Still, thanks to my all-out corpse collection task, I finish clearing all visible corpses from the highway before nightfall.
I hide bloodstains and battle traces on the road by breaking a random tree branch and dragging it back and forth several times. It might be more conspicuous, but it’s better than having obvious pools of blood.
I check on the map that Pochi and Tama have departed from the campsite to pick me up, so I store the branch in storage and head back.