Chapter 63

Swoooosh

At the same time as the first thunderclap, the raindrops that had started to fall one by two began to pour down as if a hole had been punched in the sky.

The rain cooled down the small battlefield that was burning in various places.

As a result, the fire that had been clinging to the plants still smoldering with embers left only a bit of acrid smoke and disappeared completely.

And in that place, Mari stepped forward, shielding the unconscious Karina and Serena, facing off against A-Dragon.

However, even though Mari desperately stood in front of A-Dragon to protect the two, A-Dragon merely sneered at her as if she were a mere human, finding her efforts amusing.

Mari’s arrows were indeed threatening to the monster, but only because she aimed for vital spots like the eyes while it was focused on fighting Karina and Serena.

Without a shield to protect her or magic to confuse the monster’s senses, her arrows would never reach its weak points.

This was a deduction based on the experience gained from fighting the three of them, and indeed, the deduction was accurate, befitting the name of the ruler of the ecosystem.

However, what A-Dragon overlooked was that Mari’s abilities were not limited to just that.

Mari looked at Karina and Serena with trembling eyes.

Fortunately, both had only collapsed from excessive mana depletion and didn’t seem to have suffered any fatal injuries.

But even so, she couldn’t let her guard down in this situation.

If things continued like this, it was only a matter of time before the two women in front of her would be torn apart by A-Dragon.

“I’m sorry… Karina, Serena.”

What Mari felt for the two fallen women was not fear of facing A-Dragon alone or a sense of helplessness, but guilt.

Because she had been slow to make a decision.

Because the two had fallen while protecting her.

Mari had only used her bow in her adventures until now.

It wasn’t just because that was enough for adventuring, but also because she wanted to continue this adventure.

If she used the ability she had hidden, the chances of continuing to adventure together would be slim.

So, until the very last moment, Mari believed she could overcome any adversity with her archery alone and conserved her strength.

But the result of that mistaken judgment was the collapse of Karina and Serena.

Mari never wanted to end the adventure like this, but she also didn’t want to continue at the cost of sacrificing the two.

Looking at Karina and Serena with sad eyes, Mari soon untied the ribbon holding her hair.

With her hair now loose, Marisia quietly closed her eyes and felt the energy of nature.

Growl…?

And then, gradually, clusters of light of various colors began to gather around her.

For a moment, A-Dragon turned its head to see if the mage had not yet fallen, but Serena was still in a state of exhaustion.

No, the clusters of light surrounding Mari’s body were different from the artificial lights created by magic.

They were more irregular, as if they had a will of their own, and unlike magic formed by the arrangement of artificial mana, they were pure, unrefined natural energy.

[Marisia! Long time no see!]

[Hi! Marisia! What’s going on?]

[Hey. You’re in big trouble. Your mom is really mad and looking for you.]

[Where is this place?]

Unlike the tense atmosphere of the battlefield, the clusters of light giggled with innocent, childlike voices.

The true identity of these clusters of light was the spirits, also known as the souls of nature.

“Spirits, I’m sorry to call you after so long, but could you help me defeat that monster?”

[Monster? Wow! That’s a huge one!]

[It’s a giant lizard!]

[Wow! Look at its mouth! It could swallow a whole wolf in one bite!]

[So why do we need to defeat it?]

“That monster hurt my friends.”

Marisia spoke with a serious face, unlike her usual self, and sensing the atmosphere, the spirits also stopped their commotion and began to face the monster seriously.

[What? You hurt Marisia’s friends? If they’re Marisia’s friends, they’re our friends too!]

[By the way, did you make new friends? Introduce them to us later!]

[Are those collapsed ones your friends?]

[What! Their ears are short! Did you leave the Elf Village, Marisia!?]

…Not all spirits were serious, but at least one was.

Surrounded by the colorful spirits, Marisia pulled the bowstring with a determined expression.

.

.

.

“Hoo. Somehow, I managed to retrieve all the ingredients before it was too late.”

I never thought it would start pouring right after the thunder.

Back when I was a hunter, I never made such mistakes, but maybe my senses have dulled since I quit hunting.

After sorting the retrieved ingredients by type and organizing them further, I sat down in the Adventurer Guild’s lobby and took a breather.

Clank!

Just then, the door of the Adventurer Guild opened, and Mari came in.

“Ah, come in quickly, it’s raining.”

“Kurt!”

“Your hair tie came loose.”

But Mari, ignoring my words, made a sad face and said,

“That’s not it… Karina and Serena…!”

“…What?”

Swoooosh

.

.

.

Mari barely managed to return with Karina and Serena.

Fortunately, the two didn’t have any major injuries.

Both had just collapsed from excessive mana depletion, that’s all.

However, being in a state of exhaustion and getting drenched in the rain for too long had drained their stamina, and they needed to rest without moving for about a day.

After wiping down the two drenched bodies and changing their clothes, Mari, who had taken them to their respective rooms, came back down to the first floor of the Adventurer Guild with a gloomy face.

“…How did this happen?”

“Well, you see…”

In response to Kurt’s question, Mari tearfully began to explain what had happened.

From accepting a request from the Adventurer Guild to explore the forest, encountering a Hell Hound, and then facing A-Dragon.

They managed to defeat the Hell Hound without much trouble due to its territorial dispute with A-Dragon, but soon after, they had to face A-Dragon.

And though they continued to fight A-Dragon, they were outmatched, leading to Karina and Serena collapsing, and Mari, the last one standing, desperately continuing the fight but ultimately failing to defeat A-Dragon and barely managing to bring the two back.

As she spoke, Mari’s emotions overwhelmed her, and by the end, she was almost crying.

“I… I’m so frustrated. I couldn’t even avenge Karina and Serena and had to run away…!”

“Don’t worry too much. If even the three of you were struggling, it’s no wonder you couldn’t defeat it alone. Just bringing the two back safely is more than enough.”

“That’s not it! If only I had done better…!”

But Mari couldn’t accept Kurt’s comfort.

Even after pushing herself to the limit, ready to end her short adventure, she had ultimately failed to defeat A-Dragon.

To her, it was nothing more than helplessly running away with the two while the enemy who had defeated them was right in front of her.

If only she had shown her spirit power from the beginning and combined forces with the two, maybe something would have been different.

All she could think was that this whole situation happened because she had let her guard down.

Mari couldn’t hold back her tears, feeling both frustrated and sad.

After listening to Mari’s sobbing for a while, Kurt spoke up to comfort her.

“Don’t worry. When you’re an adventurer, there are days you have to run away from monsters.”

“But, but I…!”

As Mari tried to argue with Kurt, she had to stop when his hand touched her forehead.

He pressed his hand against her forehead and said,

“You have a fever. You wiped down Karina and Serena but didn’t take care of yourself, so you’ve caught a cold.”

Indeed, upon arrival, while diagnosing the two’s conditions and changing their wet clothes, Mari had neglected herself, still wearing her soaked clothes without wiping herself down.

Though not as exhausted as Karina and Serena, Mari had also expended a lot of stamina during the fight, and as her body cooled down upon arriving at the Adventurer Guild, she started to feel the onset of a cold.

“Anyway, the request you accepted was to investigate the abnormal activities of the monsters. Even though you didn’t defeat A-Dragon, identifying it as the cause means the request was successfully completed. So go up, change your clothes, and rest.”

“But, but still…”

“You can’t do anything with a fever anyway. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

With that, Kurt forcibly sent Mari, who still hadn’t shaken off her sadness, back to her quarters.

Eventually, feeling that Kurt’s words made sense and unable to break his insistence, Mari obediently decided to return to her room.

And as she headed up to the second floor, Kurt quietly put on his raincoat.

“Kurt…? Are you going out?”

“Ah. I just remembered I left some ingredients drying outside. I’ll go get them and then come up to sleep, so you go ahead and rest.”

“Okay… Understood.”

With Kurt’s answer, Mari, whose head was starting to feel fuzzy from the rising fever, didn’t think too deeply and quietly went up to the second floor.

After confirming that Mari had gone up to the second floor, Kurt silently turned and headed out of the Adventurer Guild.