“Wide Heal!”
The voice echoed throughout the quiet place.
At the same time, a strong, gentle light wrapped around the surrounding knights. It was the magic skill system 【Wide Heal】 released by Schnee. A wide area version of heal.
The knights, who were weakly sitting on the ground, recovered without a single wound when the light that wrapped their bodies disappeared.
While everyone raised their voices in admiration, Berg, the commander, promptly calmed himself down. He realized he was getting too careless, so he tried to re-focus his mind, and gave out instructions loudly.
As might be expected from a veteran, there were no useless instructions. The surrounding knights started to mobilize in a rush, and a different noise resounded throughout the forest from a little while ago.
“You have been a big help…we were thinking about stopping and withdrawing.”
Berg formally thanked Schnee who stood near him. His voice was still rattling.
“No, I was able to defeat it because of everyone’s assistance in fighting.”
The words of encouragement reached Berg’s ear. Berg thought that this feeling, that his mind was being cleansed just from hearing her voice, was not just his imagination.
“I am honored when you say so. But actually, it was thanks to Schnee-dono that the undead was defeated, please let me show Schnee-dono deference here.”
“If you say so…however, we cannot relax yet.”
Schnee replied with an awkward smile.
It was not a lie that they should be focused and remain on guard. It was the reality.
This incident began one month ago; it was at the time when an adventurer, who just had become a rank B, approached the Wraith Plains to test his strength. That adventurer was heading toward the Wraith Plains through the forest, and when he tried to enter the haze which showed the boundary line of the Wraith Plains, a Skull Face appeared and broke through the haze a few mels from where the adventurer was.
A monster from the Wraith Plains should not exist outside of it, and it was a situation that would overturn common sense.
Even though the adventurer was stunned from the impossible scene, he managed to break off from the fight. He left the place immediately when he understood the abnormality of the situation, and went to nearest town’s guild with all of his effort.
The guild that received the information quickly decided to dispatch an investigation team. From the investigation afterwards, the condition was unclear but although some monsters were much stronger than others, it was confirmed that monsters had come out from the haze and spilled into the forest.
The plains were vast, so it wasn’t understood when and where they left from; furthermore, it took several weeks until it was clearly confirmed that a monster had passed through the haze. It was unknown how many monsters reached the forest, and to make matters worse, because a control point was not set up, damage had already started to occur in the countries near the Wraith Plains.
It was the reason why the advanced level adventurers went all out when Shin went to the guild for the first time before.
Of course, the damaged countries wouldn’t just sit and do nothing either. They set-up every possible type of security and also set up patrols to protect the people of their own country. The greatest problem was that the monsters breaking through the haze had abilities that far surpassed the commonly known monsters. In most cases, coming into contact with the enemy would result in either annihilation or retreating, even with enough battle capabilities from allies.
Kings from each country that were concerned about this, united under the name of an alliance for the first time, and put together the best knights from each troop to form a monster subjugation force, a plan to calm the situation. At the same time, a request to a certain person was issued.
The requested destination was 『General Store Tsuki no Hokora』.
And that certain person was the acting manager of Tsuki no Hokora, Schnee Raizar.
Though whether or not she would accept the request was a gamble, Schnee accepted the request purely to protect the people. Thus, she went quickly and participated in the monster subjugation force.
“I understand. Then, I will leave to Schnee-dono the monsters’ weapons and raw materials as according to the contract.”
“Yes, I will hold them for now.”
She nodded at Berg’s words, and Schnee stored the equipment from the Skull Face that was scattered in the surrounding area into the Item Box.
Since the subjugation force was a joint military unit of knights from two or more countries, the scramble for precious equipment and raw materials was considered. After the subjugation was completed, she was expected to distribute it equally except for a portion. Schnee, who had the highest battle capabilities, was also given the safekeeping role, with forestalling and anti-theft by usage of the Item Box.
While seeing Schnee put an item away, Berg thought, if there was no Schnee Raizar, the situation would have advanced towards the worst case scenario.
From the battle just now, he understood that there was an enemy that they could not beat, even with the top class ability of the knights from each country. Certainly, part of it was because of the poor cooperation since it was a joint military unit, but it didn’t change the fact that the strength of the monster was abnormal.
The problem above all else was that there were monsters possessing extraordinary gear like the previous Skull Face. According to the information that had been collected up to now, it seemed that all of the Skull Faces held special gear, but it couldn’t absolutely be confirmed.
From Berg’s view, he prayed that these kinds of equipments would run out.
Up until now, Schnee had defeated a few of the monsters with special weapons, and the knights then took charge with just the numerical advantage. The arrangement was to contact Schnee immediately if there was an encounter with a weapon holder. The situation was somehow good enough this time. The monster that the knights had a hard time fighting with was instantly defeated by Schnee. And in addition to that, close range battle was assumed to be the weak point of elves.
“As expected of someone who stood side by side with a High Human before.”
The continental conquerors, the High Humans, which once existed. The people in this world couldn’t help but to have sense of respect towards those who fought with them. The achievement of those conquerors was carved into the memory of the people without fading, even now after a long time.
The reason why the knights fought bravely was also because there were strong feelings to compete with such an existence. No one wanted to show an unsightly appearance and misbehave themselves, as such, the monster subjugation went smoothly without any arguments as a result.
Several monsters that were in the reports were among the last Skull Faces that were defeated. They still needed to confirm whether or not any monsters had been passed over with the adventurer who had been dispatched by the guild after they had left. If there was nothing, the subjugation force would return. And a surveillance network would spread out under the cooperation of each country and guild.
“It would be good if there is nothing more, but…”
Berg talked to himself, suddenly remembering an unpleasant predicament from his long life full of experience. And then he saw the casual Schnee, who seemed to be reading a letter eagerly in the open space where the raw materials of the Skull Face were scattered.
“Schnee-dono? Did something happen?”
When Berg called out, Schnee put the letter away and turned around. During that period, Berg, by chance, saw 『Blue Moon』 written on there, but he didn’t know what that was.
“No, its nothing. After this though, because I will continue searching for someone, we will mobilize separately. Please launch the magic item I gave you if you encounter a monster, since it is difficult to pinpoint the specific area.”
“Roger that.”
Schnee, after that short communication, quickly left the place.
While maintaining an unbelievable speed, even while wearing a long skirt, Schnee thought over the content written in the letter.
It was the information on the message card that was sent from Tiera, which had written that a certain person seemed to be heading to the Wraith Plains.
The name of the person was not so unusual. There were a lot of people with similar names if she thought about searching for them. However, the story was different when the person has 『Blue Moon』. There was only one such person as far as Schnee knew.
“Did you come back, and return it…”
While noticing that she herself was not calm, Schnee continued to run at full speed. Her destination was the Wraith Plains.
She was irritated because of the time taken up by the monster search. Even if it was not her main job, without skimping on it, it was the obligation of a person who had received the work, so she still went.
Her heart was getting more impatient.
She might finally meet the person whom she looked forward to the most.
That thought filled Schnee, who deeply yearned for it.
◆◆◆◆
The hunting party started in the center of Wraith Plains and lasted for several nights. Currently, Shin’s party was still in the sealed area.
“Oi, Dammit, Shin! Pecker Hollow is coming!”
“It can’t be helped, let’s withdraw right away.”
Shin and Wilhelm perceived the monster that was approaching and had Rashia and Yuzuha go outside the seal. If a person was separated by the seal barrier, it seemed that they couldn’t be sensed by the monsters inside, even if they were very close. The Pecker Hollow appeared to lose interest in Shin and the others, and after loitering around for a while it left the place in no time.
The monster, Pecker Hollow, which approached was an undead monster at level 541. A large amount of corpses were joined t