Chapter 58

When Kurt and Jungwoo were peacefully eating hamburgers, Mari and her group were walking through the forest, continuing their search.

Originally, the request was just to hunt the Black Ink Wolf, but contrary to their initial expectation that it would take a while to find the nocturnal monster, the monsters attacked first, allowing them to finish the hunt faster than anticipated, leaving them with plenty of time.

Of course, this task didn’t pay anything, so a typical adventurer would have returned immediately after the monster hunt was over.

They could have gone back to the Adventurer Guild and received their reward without issue.

However, Mari, a curious and adventurous half-elf, wanted to investigate this suspicious situation. Karina and Serena, who also felt uneasy, agreed with her opinion, deciding to search on the condition that they would retreat if things got dangerous.

And, of course, this didn’t help their original goal of dieting at all.

With only lunchtime having just passed and still a few hours to spare, they quickly agreed to investigate the cause of this strange situation.

The three of them stuck together and searched the surrounding area, focusing on the direction where the Black Ink Wolf had appeared.

Despite it being daytime, which wasn’t their usual active period, the monsters appeared in groups and, even after most of their pack was defeated in the ensuing battle, they didn’t flee. It felt as if they were trying to prevent something from being approached.

After searching the direction from which the Black Ink Wolves had attacked for a while, they began to wonder if this incident was just a coincidence without any external factors.

Serena, who had only agreed to the two’s opinion and wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the search, moistened her lips with the distilled liquor she had brought and said, “Hoo……. But we’re searching without even knowing what we’re looking for. Isn’t this meaningless?”

“If only Kurt had come along, he would’ve been a big help……”

“Hey! If Kurt came, he’d find out we’re on a diet!”

Of course, Kurt had already figured everything out when they first said they’d take the request alone, but Serena still believed he hadn’t caught on to their reason for going alone.

“Hmm. That’s true……. But is there really any meaning in continuing this search without any results……. What do you think, Marisia…? Marisia?”

“….”

But Mari didn’t respond to Karina’s words. She closed her eyes and quietly seemed to be sensing something.

Before Karina could say anything, Mari immediately moved toward where she had sensed something.

“Ma, Marisia!”

“Hey! Let’s go!”

The two hurriedly followed Mari, who had suddenly stiffened her expression and started moving.

As they moved, an unusual scent began to reach not only Mari but the other two as well.

A foul, unpleasant stench, yet somehow strangely alluring.

Following the scent, they arrived at what appeared to be the den of the Black Ink Wolf.

And in the middle of it, something emitting that scent stood out.

It was a strange, pink, bubbly substance.

The closer they got, the stronger the dizzying scent became.

“This is the den of those monsters……. But what is that thing over there?”

“Hmm, it feels like I should remember something……. But the smell is making my head spin, so I can’t think clearly. Actually, the more I smell it, the more relaxed I feel. Should we take a break?”

“Hehe……. Should we?”

Just as the two were starting to relax and lose their focus due to the mysterious, pulsating scent in the monster den——

“Blow away! Shards of the Storm!”

Whoosh!

Suddenly, Serena chanted a spell and blew away all the scent filling the monster den.

“What are you doing! You idiots! Snap out of it!”

As Serena shouted and blew the scent out of the den, the two gradually regained their senses and clutched their heads.

“Ugh, ugh……. What happened? It feels like I was just dreaming.”

“Ah! I remember now! That’s the wool of the Pink Hallucination Sheep!”

“What!?”

The Pink Hallucination Sheep, as its name suggests, is a monster sheep with pink wool.

This monster has very low aggression and, correspondingly, low combat power, making it a monster even an iron-rank adventurer could defeat. Despite its physical harmlessness, it was classified as a special-grade hazardous species that must be exterminated on sight.

The reason lies in the wool growing on its body.

Through its monsterification, the sheep altered its wool to have special properties to protect itself from natural predators.

The pink, cotton-candy-like wool emits a powerful hallucinogenic scent.

When the Pink Hallucination Sheep senses danger, it releases a strong hallucinogenic scent. Inhaling this scent initially relaxes and weakens the senses, but continued exposure leads to hallucinations.

Thus, in the black market, the processed wool of the Pink Hallucination Sheep, which constantly emits hallucinogenic scents, is traded as a type of hallucinogen.

Essentially a natural drug, the sheep’s wool led to its classification as a special-grade hazardous species that must be exterminated on sight to protect people.

Moreover, the wool’s effects don’t stop there.

While under the influence of the scent, aggression decreases, and a sense of happiness is induced. However, the scent is highly addictive, and once addicted, withdrawal symptoms include decreased intelligence and increased aggression.

Because of these side effects, in countries other than Eustia, it’s said that gladiators or slaves are deliberately addicted to the wool to make them more ferocious.

Whether it’s the effects of the scent or the withdrawal symptoms from not inhaling it, the wool’s easily exploitable properties made it clear why this herbivorous monster was classified as a special-grade hazardous species to be exterminated on sight.

Realizing this, Karina, still clutching her dizzy head, said, “I see. Those Black Ink Wolves must have been attacking because they were addicted to the scent of this wool.”

“But who brought this wool here?”

“It must’ve been smuggled by a smuggler who was attacked and robbed. Smugglers can’t use the usual paths, so they must’ve taken a mountain trail and had the bad luck of being attacked by these monsters. Well.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“Right? Now, could you step back a bit? I need to burn this wool.”

Serena said this and used magic to ignite a fire, burning all the wool in the wolf monster’s den.

After burning all the wool, the three checked to ensure no embers remained and then turned to head down the mountain.

“By the way, smugglers of hallucinogenic wool? That’s a disturbing story.”

“Right? Maybe we should stop by the guard post on the way back and report it. If the wool is already circulating in the city, that’s a big problem.”

“More importantly, I’m tired because we haven’t eaten lunch.”

“Rena……. Isn’t it bad to drink distilled liquor on an empty stomach?”

Their faces looked refreshed now that the mystery they had been pondering was solved.

Unaware that, aside from the wool, there was nothing else in the Black Ink Wolf’s den that belonged to a person.

.

.

.

And in a secret place hidden deeper within the wolf monster’s den.

A group was there, watching the three’s actions.

A man with fiery red hair and a rough demeanor, and another man with wavy blond hair and a noble, squinty-eyed impression.

As the three completely turned their backs and headed back to the city, the watchers stopped their surveillance and finally began to speak.

“Boss. They didn’t seem to notice and just left, huh?”

“Ah, is that so? That’s a relief.”

“A relief? We went through the trouble of soaking those wolves in the wool to make them guards, and now they’re all dead. What a waste.”

“But wasn’t the point of planting those monsters as guards to hide our location? Even if they died, they served as bait without revealing our position, so that’s a relief, isn’t it?”

The man with the gentle voice spoke, but the rougher man clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

“Still, if they came this far, I wanted to repay them for killing the monsters we worked so hard to tame.”

“But isn’t it a relief they didn’t kill us? If they had harmed us, the Adventurer Guild might’ve launched an additional search. By the way, how’s the search progressing?”

“No need to worry about that. It should be finished in a few days. Those foolish kingdom folks. They don’t even know that the key to unlocking the forgotten history lies hidden around Astram.”

“Well, thanks to that, we’ve been able to work without interference. Let’s push a little harder and finish the job quickly so we can return.”

“Understood. I want to return to the Empire as soon as possible.”

With that, the two who had been watching the three soon returned to their own tasks.