80 - a guide on the way

Protrusions of various sizes are lined up on an endless white plane.

The wilderness of the broken wind can be summed up in one word.

The ground, covered with fine white sand, is dry and hard.

The source of the sand, which is blown up whenever the wind blows, is the tuff that rises up out of the earth.

The white rocks are carved into strange shapes by the incessant gusts of wind that chip away at them little by little.

Rock, sand, and wind.

Nothing else, and that is why this land is called the wilderness.

The boundary where the wind dies down.

Where the sparse sucking grass remains, a few wagons are lined up in a semi-circle, acting as a windbreak.

Inside the circle, wooden boxes are piled up in place of tables, and empty chairs are placed around them.

Sitting on the chairs were men of varying heights and clothing.

They are also wearing cloths to protect their faces from the sand, so their facial expressions are not clear.

The only thing that is clear is that all of them have such a tight body that it can be seen even through their clothes.

They all had a black adventurer's card hanging from their necks.

One of them reached out his hand and moved a piece on the table diagonally forward.

The man on the other side of the table sees this and lets out a loud groan.

The other man, who had been watching from the side, clapped his arms in admiration.

This game, in which the twelve servants of the god of creation are used as pawns and are taken by each other, is called Komaban, and is a well-known game in the Central Land.

It seems that a young man who had been pondering over the game played a crucial move.

The trapped player looks around the board for a way out, but there seems to be no more moves to be made.

The older man, sighing and on the verge of giving up, finds a strange move at the edge of the cliff.

It was a move from outside the board.

"Well, that was a nice game, but I guess that's it for today. Here come the guests."

"Hey, that's not right, Garudo."

"You're still good at running away, aren't you? Well, it's time to go to work.

As soon as the man announced his intention, a new carriage pulled into the stop at the same time.

Dexterously turning around, it joins the end of the line for the wind shelter.

As the people at the table look on, a middle-aged man is the first to get off.

A brand-new sandcloth was wrapped around his head, black thin leather armor and red iron armor covering his neck and chest.

His blue-striped cloak flutters down to reveal a sheath hanging from a sword belt around his waist.

He appears to be a swordsman, but he is quite lightly armed.

However, in his sharp eyes, there is a unique awesomeness that only a strong man is allowed to possess.

"So that's the guy who's uniting all those reputable people..." he said. There's a kind of mysterious air ......," he said.

"Yeah, I can feel it just by looking at it. This looks very promising."

"............, I mean, that's the old mud fisherman, isn't it?"

"I knew it?　We used to pass each other in the kobold forest, you know?"

"Yes, yes, I miss it. I didn't know they were still in business.

The next person to emerge from the wagon was a young woman.

She grabbed the man's hand and stepped out onto the ground with great energy.

She is dressed in a white loose-fitting robe and a red breastplate that covers her chest.

In her hand was a reddish cane, at the end of which shone a round blue crystal.

The cloth around her mouth obscured her face, but her large dark eyes and the bridge of her nose were enough to make one imagine that she was pretty.

One of the men whistled softly at the sight of this beautiful young woman.

"Oh, here comes a pretty girl. And she looks quite young!

"A staff with a rain crystal stone, you mean a water user?"

No, that's just a facade. I've never heard of this guy. He's using some kind of weird magic.

The third person to get out of the carriage was a woman about a fist taller than the girl.

She carried a short priest's staff with an icicle stone on it and a white cloth elegantly wrapped around her hair and neck.

Her upper garment was a white breastplate worn over a dark chenic, and her slender legs were revealed by her tight-fitting trousers on the lower half of her body.

The men swallowed hard at once at the sight of this almost unseen level of beauty.

"...... is amazing. Even with a breastplate, you can see the size of her breasts.　

"It's rare to meet an adventurer of the ash-eared tribe. She's too beautiful. I'd be too busy adventuring to notice her.

"And suddenly you've got a black steel-class seal of approval. Where the hell did he come from?"

His last appearance was as a young child.

He jumped down from the carriage with a white cloth wrapped around his face and only his eyes showing.

He rolled forward and stood up easily.

She was wearing a red cape, short sleeves, and short pants. Long socks and large boots.

The only protective gear he had on was black covers on his elbows and knees.

"Why a child?

"Don't you know?　That's the kid they say is the lightning man. He's said to be the genius of the century.

"Is it true? There's only four of them?

"No one with a shield. And no healer. You don't think it's that kid, do you?

"If you're a lightning user, it's standard practice to play the decoy role,......, as you'd expect."

So, what are you going to do?

The man called Garudo asked the people who had been commenting on the place as they pleased.

He had a dignified face with a mustache, but he must have been in his mid-thirties.

He had short horns on his forehead, and his thickly built body was covered with a full body armor of white hard copper.

At Garudo's words, the four C-ranked men looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.

It was an opponent to whom common sense did not apply, but since they had made it this far, their abilities should be considered several times greater than those of an ordinary party.

"......All of them? Good for you, you're a big hit, Thor."

"Long time no see, Garudo. I didn't know you were still an adventurer."

I'm the one who should be saying that. I was afraid you'd grown old and quit."

They grinned at each other and bumped their fists tightly together.

Garudo, a brown-horned tribe member, was the first adventurer Thor guided through the forest of kobolds.

Being only four years older than Thor, they had always been casual acquaintances, but as Galrud's rank increased, the time they spent together decreased, and they had been estranged for a long time.

"So, what are you talking about, popularity?"

"Well, I'm talking about who's going to be your guide.

"Ah, a guide. That's very helpful.

The guide is a system authorized by the Adventurers' Bureau that exists only in the Wilds of the Breaking Wind.

This barren wilderness, which is open to challenge from D rank and above, is surprisingly large, and if one tries to advance without any guidance, he or she will not be able to get out safely.

The new goal of Thor and his team in such a harsh place was to find a dungeon that emerged deep in the wilderness.

The dungeon, called the Orc's Rock Fortress, is created after a certain amount of time in the rocky mountains and canyons scattered throughout the vast wilderness.

It is not an easy dungeon to find, as it requires more than a day's walk to reach it.

In fact, many adventurers who have become accustomed to the lukewarm environment of the bloodstreams are unable to endure the drastic changes here and drop out.

To help adventurers in their search in unfamiliar lands, a group of C-ranked adventurers who have come before them has been devised to serve as "guides".

This is a practice that even the deputy director, Sacco, was unable to discontinue due to the excessive rate of wear and tear in the area.

There is basically one guide per party.

They are only in charge of leading the party to the safe zone and informing the party of any troublesome presence, and do not take any part in the battle.

If the situation is dangerous, they will help, but the search itself will be terminated there.

Furthermore, if a party is in such a crisis many times, the guide itself will not be attached.

This is because there is no reward for the guide.

The goal of C-rank adventurers is to conquer the orcs' rock fortress, and they have no use for parties that cannot make it there.

On the other hand, if the party that accompanied them successfully found the dungeon, the adventurers who guided them to the dungeon were given priority in the challenge.

Therefore, promising parties competed to be chosen as guides.

"I'd like to say there's a great selection, but I don't think we can choose just off the cuff.

That's true. Then, I'd like to have a guide to show me the way.

That's interesting. Well, actually, if everyone wants to go, it's already decided. I'll pick the one that best fits the bill so that there's no regrets."

"I see. Well, I'm sure you'll make the right choice.

It is said that the most difficult part of fighting monsters is to act when they are defeated.

If you scatter without thinking, there is a risk of secondary damage.

On the other hand, if you are greedy and try to reduce the damage as much as possible, you may lose sight of the right time to escape and be wiped out.

In this respect, Garudo, a shieldman, had a reputation for his skill in retreat battles.

He never made a wrong choice while holding on until the very last minute, and he never lost any of his comrades, which earned him the nickname "Garudo, the good runner.

The brown-horned shieldman nods confidently and looks around the table in a suggestive manner.

Then, with folded arms, he sharply called out someone's name.

"Hey, Saralisa. We've got work to do."

It was not the men in front of him who answered his call.

The side door of one of the carriages in the middle of the line opens and someone emerges.

Straight black hair that reached down to his shoulder blades.

Slightly droopy black eyes with a hint of blue in them, and a nose that turned up sharply.

The person who appears is a woman of the Soukei tribe, with blue scales running from her neck to her chin.

The beautiful woman, who had quickly wrapped a cloth to protect her from the sand, approached Thor with a lyre in her hand.

She greeted him gracefully, swaying the folds of her blue coat.

"I've only been guiding you for less than a year, but I'm an excellent player.

Nice to meet you, I'm Thor.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Saralisa."

Thor felt a strong sense of déjà vu from the voice and the appearance of the girl, and he asked the question that came to his mind.

"Could she be?"

When I first showed Garudo around, he was actually not alone.

Behind the young man holding the shield, there was a young girl of the Soukei tribe who looked exactly like Saralisa.

The girl's name was Cerce.

He was an excellent water user and continued to party with Garudo, becoming a lifelong partner when he was promoted to E rank.

As I recall, they had a child together.

"Oh, this is Celse's sister. They look alike, don't they?"　

"I'm surprised. How is your wife?

At Thor's casual remark, the smile faded from Garudo's mouth and his gaze averted slightly.

The man takes a few steps forward and quietly looks out over the white plain through the gap between the carriages.

Then, with his back to us, Garudo told us the cruel and heartless truth.

Celse went missing three years ago in the wilderness. We've been looking for him, but we haven't found him yet.