Kays Translations

Chapter 35: Preparing to Enter the Forest

“In that case, I’ll bring the request form right away!”

When we agreed to take on the request, Remi-san hurriedly stood up.

“Ah, Remi-san.”

I called out to Remi-san, who was about to leave the private room, and she turned to look at me.

“We don’t need the request form. Just make sure to give us a good price for the monster materials.”

“…What? No, I can’t possibly do that!”

Remi-san looked puzzled for a moment, then waved her hands frantically in front of her face.

Saying we don’t need the request form is essentially the same as saying we don’t need the reward for completing the request.

It’s natural that she’s surprised.

I chuckled slightly at my uncharacteristic behavior.

“It’s fine. If we don’t do it this way, Kane will probably come barging in, claiming we stole his credit.”

“Haha, that’s true. He might actually do that.”

Remi-san scratched her cheek awkwardly, as if realizing something.

Maybe Kane has been causing trouble for the Adventurers’ Guild, just like Lloyd used to.

I continued speaking, considering this possibility.

“Besides, I feel somewhat responsible for this situation.”

Lloyd’s past actions and his decision not to expel Kane from the party contributed to the current problem.

If I were to take a reward now, I wouldn’t be taking proper responsibility.

“…Lloyd-san.”

While I was thinking this, Remi-san suddenly bowed deeply.

“I apologize for saying all those rude things earlier.”

I was momentarily taken aback but quickly lifted her head.

“No, no, it’s fine. Considering what I’ve done, it’s understandable.”

Given Lloyd’s past behavior, it’s not surprising that I was harshly criticized.

“But still—”

“Really, it’s okay. Well then, we’ll be on our way now.”

“Wait, please!”

Just as I was about to leave, Remi-san grabbed my arm firmly.

“At least allow us to provide potions and food necessary for the request!”

“No, really, you don’t have to go to any trouble.”

“I insist. Please, just accept it!”

Remi-san’s persistence left me with no choice but to reluctantly nod in agreement.

In the end, we ended up accepting various supplies from Remi-san, and now we were carrying slightly heavier bags as we headed into the forest.

With these supplies, we could live comfortably in the forest for a while.

It might be Remi-san’s way of apologizing, but she didn’t need to worry so much.

“That woman was getting too close to Lloyd-sama.”

Next to me, Lilina pouted a little.

It seemed she was jealous of how Remi-san had been holding my arm and talking to me for a while.

Trying to keep a straight face despite Lilina’s cuteness, I turned my gaze toward the top of the forest.

“I didn’t expect to be back in the forest so soon.”

“Indeed. We just barely made it back last time.”

Lilina’s words reminded me of the difficult times we’d faced before.

Previously, we had been caught up in events that deviated from the anime, making everything much more challenging.

And so, we were once again stepping into a situation not depicted in the anime.

I wasn’t sure how things would unfold this time, but it was best to proceed with caution.

“For now, let’s proceed as we did before, by ‘stealthily’ advancing. We only need to deal with the monsters upstream of the river.”

“Huh? Aren’t we going to fight the other monsters?”

“As it stands, the monsters that shouldn’t be in this forest are the ones upstream. If we deal with them, the monsters in the middle and downstream will return to their original territories.”

Monsters have territories, too. Normally, when the decoy, Zard, is no longer present, they should return to their own territories.

So, the monsters we need to defeat are only those trying to establish new territories here.

Moreover, these are only the ones that survived territorial disputes while we were absent.

In essence, we just need to take down the monsters that survived the internal conflicts.

Since they probably fought among themselves, there might be some monsters that haven’t fully recovered from the damage.

Thus, there shouldn’t be too many of them, and it might not be as difficult as before.

…Well, that also means there could be some strong monsters left.

This really isn’t a task fit for C-rank adventurers.

With such thoughts, I sighed and continued deeper into the forest.

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