132 survivor

When I walked from the gnome village to the place where Masaru was breeding ants, I found an unfamiliar group of ants fighting to the death.

Because Masaru hadn't been here for a while, the ants had been given a lot of food, and their numbers had increased considerably, and the group was clearly on the verge of exhaustion. There were two shieldsmen, a man who looked like a swordsman, a heavy warrior wielding an axe, a woman in light armor with a mace, and a woman archer who had run out of arrows and was desperately wielding a shortsword, probably someone's spare.

I'm not the enemy! I'm in. When you think you can fall back, all of you fall back. I'm in.

With that, he jumped into the ants, and with a sword from his item box, he cut off their joints one by one to disable them. It was not too dangerous for Masaru, as he had done it many times before.

After a while, he watched as the group retreated while still paying attention to him, and while collecting the carcasses of the ants, he said

"Come on, let's eat!

I'm sure you'll be able to see that I'm not the only one who has a problem with this," he said, scattering the carcasses of demons that he had acquired during his march with Zarg and the others, which were not suitable for human consumption or could not be used as raw materials.

I think they ran this way, right?

I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure it's a good idea.

I'm not very good at tracking or looking for things. .... I'm sorry.

For Masaru, who has been living in modern Japan, when he was told about the smell and footprints due to the direction of the wind, he could understand it in his mind at first, but it did not develop into a technology. The Masaru of today is ..........

"I still don't understand... If you're hiding like you're hiding, there's really nothing I can do about it. .... I don't know.

Even though he came to their aid, Masaru was completely unknown to them, and if they were cautious and hiding, Masaru, who had no skills, would be helpless.

"I guess we'll just have to take our time... Fortunately, given the limitations of distance, the area we'll be looking for won't be too large. I'll just have to take my time.

After about an hour of searching... we didn't find anything, and were about to leave...

"Aaaaah!

A woman's scream came out unexpectedly close.

"Over there! It's really bad luck for them to be attacked by another creature when they're hiding at all. .... "There!

I rushed to the scene and found that the group had been attacked by four wind-blown quail. There were tree rings around their feet, indicating that they were individuals that Vintaria had returned to the wild after they had multiplied too much in the past. The wind quail is relatively easy to raise and has a mild personality, but it is originally a demon... and as its name implies, when it encounters a hostile object, it rushes at it with a speed so fast that it can break the wind.

"Hey! You guys, get away from those people!

The quail, perhaps still remembering Masaru's words, came close to Masaru's feet. A group of them watched him without letting their guard down.

I'm sorry, but these quail were originally bred in the city, but were returned to the wild because they bred too much. ...Hey! Where are you going? Hey, there's no food there. .......... There's no food there.

You'll need to have a good idea of what you're doing.

"Who are you?

The female archer finally calls out to me.

I'm sure that's what I'm talking about... I've even put up a sign that says 'Demon's Nest, Stay Away' to warn people to stay away from that area because it's used as a breeding ground for ants... Didn't you see it?

"I saw it... and I thought it was a lie to keep people away from us. I saw it.

There are more than a dozen handmade signs around the ants' nest warning people of the danger, but apparently they're not being taken literally.

"Oh, you're hiding something good? And ......... almost died from it. Take care of yourself... but you're hurt, aren't you? I'll fix you up, but you need to drop your weapon. Put your weapon down.

"You'll heal me .........?

Yeah, if you leave us alone, we won't help you and we won't look for you, will we?

We're strangers, remember?

We're strangers. Come on, come on! We need to get to the village before dark, so show me your injuries. Show me your injuries.

We're not going to the village. ....

We can't go to the village. - That's after you've been healed, don't make me repeat it! Let's see your wounds. Let me see your wounds.

After they had finally lowered their weapons, I checked their wounds one by one and treated them with magic... None of them were hurt too badly, and I was more concerned about their fatigue and body odor.

When was the last time you guys took a dip or a bath?

"Let's see, ........., maybe more than 10 days ago. Do you smell that?

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, pretty bad.

The two women looked seriously depressed at the honest answer.

You're not a bandit, are you?

"......... We're adventurers from Bazelarka. We're former. I'm sure they're being hunted right now. I don't believe it.

"You mean you escaped from King's Landing to get here? You guys are so lucky. "Lucky"?

"Lucky"? You have no idea what we've been through!

It was the swordsman who yelled at me.

No, I shouldn't have said that. You're not wanted, and you're not being hunted. That's for sure. That's for sure.

"How can you be so sure? How can you be so sure?

"That's because I went to Bazelarka's capital after the incident. I hate to tell you this, but Bazelarka's capital was ......... wiped out. Every living thing that didn't run away when it was attacked. Now the area where the capital used to be has been cleared. I'm sorry.

"......... such. I don't know.

I'm sure the people who escaped are now trying to rebuild themselves in other cities. Some of the hereditary royalty have been confirmed to be alive. "There were survivors.

So there are survivors?

I think you're free to live as you please. Why don't you come to the Gnomes' settlement for now? Why don't you come to their place first to wash your body and equipment, get refreshed, and eat some good food? You're pretty tired, aren't you?

"Gnome's? Isn't this the Kingdom of Greitas?

We're out of the Kingdom of Greatus, and we're in a place that's not under state control at the moment. We've been in contact with the Kingdom of Gratus, and we're currently cooperating with them. We're working together.

They were talking a bit in hushed tones when the archer woman's words moved them.

"Hey, I'm... I'm tired. I don't know if this is true or not, but I need some rest. ....

"......... Well... I don't know if this is true or not, but I need some rest. Well, if we push ourselves too hard, someone might die. ...

And so, with a group of adventurers, Masaru returned to the Nome settlement.