Volume 29 - CH 1

The First King of the Kingdom of Grandsword was a swordsman. The mine was located half a day's ride by carriage from the royal capital. There was also a small town nearby, which seems to have developed along with the mine.

The soldier on the gate guard confirmed our affiliation and told us that the incident at the mine was not yet over.

「There are two other adventurer parties here besides you. They're not as big as this one, though. I hope you won't cause any trouble.」

「Of course. Thanks a lot.」

We all got out of the carriage, checked our gear, and headed for the mine we could see.

The gray-rock mine was quite large, and there was more than one entrance, and even from the foot of the mountain we could see that there were several roads leading to it.

「Hmmm, it's not going to be easy to find in this place. What should we do, darling?」

「Well, first, we should ask the girl's mother which route the girl who took her lunch usually took. It'll only take extra time if we take a random route.」

「You have point.」

「I'll go ask her then.」

「Wait, Serina. I'm coming with you.」

As soon as she was about to go, Hannah wanted to accompany her. She's a cool blonde beauty with a rapier.

「Sure, then let's go together, Hannah.」

Serina and Hannah went to the town to ask around.

「Then we'll go talk to the miners. There's an old man over there.」

「Let's do that.」

We were too bored to just sit around and wait for Serina and Hannah to come back, so we decided to go talk to a man who looked like a miner, who was sitting at a fork in the road, probably watching for monsters.

「Oh, look at all the people here. Are you guys here for a quest?」

A large miner asks me with some surprise.

「Yes. Can you tell us more about the monsters?」

「Of course. If there are monsters, we won't be able to do our job.」

Nodding, he gave us an overview of the incident.

「The first sighting of the monster was three days ago. We found a bear-like creature wandering around the entrance of the mine, probably wandered in from the nearby mountains. Look, that's the entrance on the left.」

「Hold on, old man. So it's already been three days since the missing girl disappeared?」

Saki confirmed, but if too much time has passed, rescue is hopeless.

「No, no, it would have been better if we had sealed the tunnel right then. We decided to just seal off the bear-infested tunnel and leave the rest to the adventurers. It was only yesterday that the girl didn't come back.」

「You still haven't found her, have you?」

I'm going to make an important point. If the missing girl case is closed, it's going to be difficult for me to take her home and give her a good kissing while I help her. There's nothing I can't do, but there's also Serina and the others. It's not that easy.

「Ahh, I'm worried about her. I hope she's okay. ......」

The miner's shoulders slumped and he looked down.

「Hmm, Mm」

「Hmmm? Mare, what are you trying to say?」

A loli girl with short black hair who carried a bow on her back tugged on my sleeve, but there was no way I could understand her. It's not that she can't speak the language, so she should speak.

「Hawa, 『Aren't you going to ask about the monsters?』 she said」

Nene interpreted Mare's mind, but I would have been in trouble without Nene. What a mess.

Nene, wearing a grass-colored pointy hat, was astride a large bird that she had picked up somewhere and named "Matsukaze". She may look a little dangerous, but she's gotten much better at using magic and has become a magician. I don't like to admit it, but I guess her master, Letty, the "Natural Disaster" mage, has a good way of teaching Nene.

「Mm, you're right. Is there only one of those monsters?」

「Yeah, there's only one that's been found. It's just that it's kind of big, and I've never seen one around here before. I don't even know its level.」

If it's a slime or a goblin, the miners will be able to kill it in no time with a nickel, but if it's a monster whose strength is unknown, it's not so easy.

「Heh, leave it to us, old man. Now that we, the 『Black Cat of the Wind』, are here, we'll get rid of that bear in no time!」

Jouga, a hot-blooded warrior, smiled and slapped his chest.

「Oh, so you guys are the 『Black Cat of the Wind』, huh? I've heard rumors about you guys that you've defeated the 『Immortal King』 and the 『Infinite Calamity』.」

「Wow, we're getting pretty famous too, aren't we? I can't believe our names are so well known. Huh.」

Letty picked up her navy blue pointy hat and started posing uselessly, but let's leave it at that.

「Oh, it's famous, too. My brother, who lives in Royal Capital, wrote me a letter saying that 『Infinite Disaster』 was a scary thing. He complained that the soldiers kept bringing him pork soup one after another, and he never wanted to eat pork soup again. I'm glad we got rid of them.」

「It's because we had Master's presence.」

The white-haired Meena smiled proudly, but yes, that incident was probably only because of me. Well, I'm being feted as a hero. There's no need to dare to destroy the image of the people of the city. In fact, I was the one who killed that thing.

「That thing is actually Alec――Mmghgmhh」

The pink-haired prankster was about to reveal the truth, but Meena quickly blocked Lily's mouth. She's a reliable my right hand.

「Oh, God, bless these lost girls.」

As the cleric Fianna was praying, and Serina and Hannah returned.

「Thanks for waiting. I figured out the route the girl who was going to deliver the lunch took yesterday. It's the road in the middle.」

Serina said.