'If she's still trying to complete her quest, she should be somewhere around here...' Shye pondered as he looked around the area called the Bonbon Swamp located inside the Messedin Advanced Adventurer zone.
As per Receptionist Eva, Shirley was out to hunt a Thunderblight Toad—a (B-) ranked monstrous creature that was well-known for staying within its hunting grounds, instead luring unsuspecting prey using a special gas that would stir one's appetite regardless of one's diet.
As a result, the said creature didn't have to hunt much and instead, just needed to wait for prey to arrive.
Overall, it was a fairly weak (B-) ranked creature, a good target for a solo adventurer like Shirley.
'For her to be able to hunt (B-) ranked creatures on her own...she sure is something. With a little help, she'll be unstoppable...' Shye mused, feeling regretful that he didn't even try to persuade Shirley. 'Ah, crap. I can't space out like this...'
Continuing to search the area for one and a half hours, Shye found one Thunderblight Toad lair that...seemed to fit the description of what he was looking for.
It was a small green cave in complete disarray, clearly showing signs of a recent battle; and judging from the decaying bones in the far left corner, it was evident that the adventurer had triumphed and harvested the valuable parts of the Thunderblight Toad.
Only, although Shye was happy that his investigation yielded results, this was not the result he was hoping for.
The best-case scenario would be finding Shirley around the area, struggling to defeat the toad.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
But no, instead, the toad had already been defeated and Shirley was nowhere to be found.
'Curses!'
*BANG!*
Shye punched the walls of the lair in frustration.
He was hoping...hoping that this search would go smoothly, however, reality once again slapped him hard.
Finding Shirley wouldn't be as easy as he wanted it to be.
Still, he would never give up on her just because the task was hard.
'I have to gather more information regarding the dangers of this zone first...'
The next moment, all fourteen adventurers woke up, swiftly standing up and grasping their weapons while assembled in combat position.
"H-Hey, calm down, I'm just a solo adventurer and I'm only here to ask you guys a few things..."
Realizing that Shye was indeed only human, both party leaders slapped the back of the sentry's head hard.
They truly thought they were done for after hearing such a horrified scream.
"Y-You bastard! Do your job properly next time!"
Naturally, the sentry was embarrassed, hence, the guy repeatedly bowed to everyone while apologizing.
After around two minutes, the clown show was finally done.
"So, what do you want to ask? Also, don't you think you owe us something for ruining our sleep? You know th–"
Shye wasn't in the mood to haggle and, having recently won a substantial amount of money, he didn't mind spending some to get what he wanted as efficiently as possible.
Thus, he simply tossed in a medium-sized pouch containing fourteen gold coins—one for each of the adventurers.
"Now we're talking. Speak, what do you want to know?"
"Simple, I want to know what this "danger" everyone is talking about."
Hearing Shye's words, the expression of the party leader he was talking to turned grim.
"Why do you want to know?"
"To save someone and get rid of the problem in the process."
This time, their expressions turned to surprise; after all, none of them expected someone so young to have such a noble goal.
"I see, then listen carefully. The danger everyone is talking about..."