Chapter 61 – The Knight of the Foster Child

“Now!”

Just as Sheila finished wildly slashing the Angry Mushroom to pieces with her twin daggers, she leaped back and shouted. The moment Ashley confirmed her retreat, her magic activated.

“Water Cutter!”

The water blade Ashley fired struck the Angry Mushroom as it tried to pursue Sheila, hitting it like a Counter. Though it didn’t slice through completely, it inflicted a deep wound on the creature’s torso.

Immediately after came Irmhild’s Pursuit. She had been supposed to be keeping the miscellaneous monsters at bay with her arrows, but somehow she had switched roles with Sheila.

A powerful tail strike swept through the Angry Mushroom’s legs from the side. As it tumbled uncontrollably, Caduceus extended from Ashley’s shadow and mercilessly impaled it.

“It seems I cannot afford to fall behind either.”

Grace was fighting a giant tree. An Evil Willow – a monstrous willow whose hollows and knots in its trunk formed human-like faces. If you approached, it would attack with branches that lashed like whips. But if you kept your distance, it would throw leaves sharp as blades like shuriken, so ignoring it wasn’t an option either.

If you only paid attention to what was above, it would entangle your feet with roots or trip you, making it quite a troublesome opponent – but.

The branches it swung to attack were severed before they could even touch Grace.

Grace’s axe handling seemed to be growing increasingly impressive lately. She wielded the heavy two-handed axe as if it were a toy, shattering everything it touched.

The Willow resisted by swinging its branches and leaves, but it couldn’t stop her from advancing leisurely. When she finally closed in, she slammed her Fighting Spirit-imbued axe at face height, cutting it down with a single blow.

“Huu,” Grace exhaled softly, her expression still looking quite relaxed.

As for me, I was dealing with a pack of over twenty Gray Wolves.

They were wolves of high intelligence. Their danger level depended on the pack’s size and the Alpha Wolf – the boss’s personality and strength – but since labyrinth wolves didn’t pay much attention to pack losses, you had to be careful that they wouldn’t retreat even when injured.

By taking position on a water sphere using Water Walking and moving the water sphere itself as footing, I could freely adjust distance while maintaining both an interception Stance and posture. I caught the wolves leaping at me from all directions with staggered timing in the Spin of my Dragon Staff, batting them up, sweeping them away, and blowing them back.

“Well then—”

After roughly scattering the wolves, only the boss wolf remained, its body noticeably larger. It glared at me while growling, approaching while jumping left and right as if to scatter its target.

When it entered range, I scooped up the water sphere at my feet with my Dragon Staff and launched it toward the pack leader. It branched out finely mid-flight, meeting the wolf from all directions. Aqua Whip. A fifth-tier Water Magic.

The boss wolf tried to jump away, but that was impossible since I controlled the water whip from my hand. The moment it seemed to accurately track and entangle the wolf, the whip began freezing from my hand, eventually reaching the parts touching the wolf’s body. Like a glacier eroding the earth, it mercilessly bit into the wolf’s body and drilled holes.

“Not bad at all. The Coordination is becoming seamless too.”

Probably because we’ve come to understand each other’s movements better than before. We’re becoming able to handle various situations flexibly.

But we’re still not there yet. We need to accumulate more steady combat experience against monsters and build up our strength.

“What are you all complaining about!”

When I returned after finishing the usual looting and Collection, I spotted Chester scolding his subordinates in the labyrinth entrance plaza.

“Well, you see. Sir Chester. Why the sewer route? The others are heading to different sections, you know? That is… what’s beyond the sewers is that thing, right?”

His subordinate looked up with fearful eyes, reporting to Chester as if walking on eggshells.

“That thing” beyond the sewers. Meaning, the Great Corruption Lake.

I could understand his subordinates’ feelings about avoiding the Great Corruption Lake. It’s a place I don’t want to go either.

Could it be… does Chester intend to go there…?

“What about the Great Corruption Lake? We serve the glorious kingdom! Don’t you think that if others won’t do it, we should be the ones to do it!”

So that’s what it was. Willingly doing what others dislike.

Chivalry is fine, but it would be better to take proper countermeasures before charging in. It’s a place too harsh to handle with just guts and chivalric spirit. Especially when it comes to investigating that section.

If he knows about that place and still wants to go, I’d think he’d at least gather information beforehand…

“What’s wrong, Sir Chester? You seem quite worked up again.”

Another knight approached Chester’s group and spoke to him like that.

“Fernando… it’s you. No, it’s just that their attitude isn’t proper, so I got carried away.”

Apparently an acquaintance of Chester’s. The young man called Fernando smiled.

“I hear many squads are struggling with the unfamiliar labyrinth Exploration. It might be better to proceed without rushing.”

“…Yes, you’re right.”

Chester slightly furrowed his brows.

“More importantly, Sir Chester. Sir Greg and Her Highness Rosemary were worried about you. Why not return to the Royal Castle even now?”

“I’m grateful that they worry about me, but I’ve come to realize my abilities are still insufficient. I have no intention of returning to the Wyvern Corps.”

When Chester stated this firmly, Fernando shrugged his shoulders.

“Somehow… your resolve seems quite firm.”

“A knight doesn’t go back on his word. What about you? You volunteered for labyrinth Exploration, didn’t you?”

“Well, even when I dive into the labyrinth, I still show my face at the Royal Castle quite often. Even if you don’t return to the Wyvern Corps, how about, say, showing your face to Her Highness Rosemary?”

“…No. That would dull my resolve.”

“Is that so?”

I didn’t sense any strong will to persuade from Fernando.

“Then we shall proceed with our labyrinth Exploration.”

“Yes, good Luck to you.”

“And to you.”

Chester disappeared into the labyrinth through the stone tablet, leading his somewhat low-energy subordinates.

A small smile appeared on Fernando’s lips as he was left behind… but he then headed outside the Temple and disappeared.

…Fernando, huh. He mentioned Greg and Rosemary’s names, so he might be that Greg’s protege.

Now that he mentions it, given that Greg wants to install him as Chester’s replacement, there’s something about his atmosphere and appearance that fits.

“…That person from earlier seemed quite happy for some reason.”

Ashley tilted her head suspiciously and furrowed her brows. Hmm. She’s observing the right things.

Chester himself probably doesn’t have a sense of having fallen from grace, but from Fernando’s perspective, it must feel like a rival has fallen and an opportunity has presented itself.

“Oh, found Theodore-kun!”

In that manner, some people called out to us too. The Forestbird group.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hellooo~”

Lucian and Irmhild bowed to each other with smiling faces. Now that I think about it, they do have similar atmospheres and seem to get along well.

The atmosphere they’ve had since we first met hasn’t changed. Since it’s pleasantly relaxed, it puts me at ease too.

“Exploration going well?”

“Well, yeah. We had some trouble with the Rock Turtles at first, but not so much anymore. When you hit them with this thing, they get nicely dazed, you see.”

Fitz grinned while lightly lifting the heavy war hammer he carried on his shoulder.

Rock Turtles are turtle monsters with rock shells that appear in the old mine. They’re not particularly fast, but since they sometimes use camouflage, you have to be careful not to get ambushed.

Fitz used to use a sword like Robin, but it seems he got new Weapons suited for the mine monsters. Looking closely, his Equipment was new too, so it seemed their earnings were going well.

“We’re about to have lunch. Would you like to join us?”

“Huh? What about the labyrinth Exploration?”

Forestbird usually did labyrinth Exploration from afternoon onward.

“The deadline for the mineral Collection Request was pretty tight, you know. We’ve been working really seriously these past few days.”

Must be a Request posted at the Adventurer Guild.

“Well, since we couldn’t hang out together last time, how about we make up for it by going somewhere to eat?”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about. I know a good place.”

So as we climbed the spiral passageway upward through the Temple with Forestbird, we passed another familiar face along the way.

Let’s see. That’s the group that was causing trouble with the Knight Order.

Hmm. Not just them, but there are more familiar faces at the labyrinth entrance and Adventurer Guild lobby lately.

That probably means we’re getting used to life in Termwills. That’s fine in itself—but I was somewhat concerned that Jasper’s figure was nowhere to be seen among them.