episode_0044

======[ Hilde ]======

The next morning.

It was a bit early for the morning sun to rise, and I was the first among our group to wake up and get out of bed.

“Ugh….”

Carefully disentangling Freida, who had wrapped one of my arms with her leg, and Amy, who had snuggled up against the other arm with her upper body, I realized they were both clinging closely to me, even though they must have been snug in their sleeping bags. Well, it was probably because it was so cold. A human arm would be much warmer than a shoddy sleeping bag.

They must have unconsciously clung to me while sleeping.

“Yawn….”

I let out a long yawn, adjusted my helmet by my head, put on the gauntlets that I had taken off, and opened the tent flap.

I wanted to stretch or do something light before the party members woke up.

“Yawn… Oh, Miss Hilde…?”

Was she awakened by the rustling sound? Gerda raised her upper body, blinked sleepily, and looked at me with half-closed eyes as she spoke.

“Are you already up…? You don’t seem to have much of a morning sleep.”

Her voice was tinged with drowsiness.

“Oh, did I wake you up? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb your nap.”

I slightly lowered my head and offered a formal apology.

“No, it’s fine. I usually wake up around this time anyway.”

Gerda shook her head lightly, as if shaking off the drowsiness, and replied.

“I see.”

Thank goodness. If I had woken someone up who was sleeping well, I would have felt a little bad.

I smiled faintly and stepped outside the tent.

◆◆

Stars twinkled like a school of silver fish swimming across the deep indigo sky.

“Sigh….”

Exhaling a white breath like smoke, I lowered my head and glanced around the camp.

It was still a time before the sun rose.

Between the temporary stakes surrounding the outer edge of the camp, the torches, standing tall like sentinels, cast a dim light, gently illuminating the darkness of dawn.

Next to the torch, a few adventurers armed with bows and spears were standing around, while some men who appeared to be paladins were circulating among the adventurers, giving various instructions.

Well, calling them instructions might be an overstatement; it was more like they were dozing off or engrossed in small talk, but the gist of it was probably to thoroughly guard against any suspicious movements outside the camp.

I walked from the tent where Amy and Friede were sleeping to an open space about twenty paces away, drew my sword, and thrust and swung it through the air, warming up my body.

“Hah! Hyah!”

The instinctive movements I displayed, the subtle motions of my fingers, and even the control of my breathing at that moment—all of it. Recalling all of that in my mind, I wielded the sword as if to replicate it, until I could freely and perfectly embody that swordsmanship.

This was my own method of training.

If I could master Brunhilde’s swordsmanship perfectly, there would be no way I’d be outmatched in swordplay anywhere.

“Hoo… hoo….”

After swinging the sword for about an hour, I took a short break, replenished my fluids, and then proceeded with strength training.

Wearing armor and using one arm to perform push-and-pull exercises, bending and straightening the arm repeatedly… things like that.

Even just the basic strength of Brunhilde surpassed modern people who claimed to have exercised lightly, so if I didn’t impose this level of stress, there would be no training at all.

Even so, without increasing the weight, I could barely prevent muscle loss.

Anyway, after roughly training like that for about two hours, the surroundings had noticeably brightened.

“Haah… haah….”

I sat down on a tree stump, taking a rest and waiting for Amy and Friede to wake up.

My body was emitting heat, drenched in sweat. White steam trickled between the folds of my clothes and armor, almost as if I had a steam engine inside me.

“Are you finished? Training so diligently from dawn is quite rare among adventurers.”

Gerta, who had come outside the tent, spoke to me.

She was sitting on the ground of the open field, spreading out a cloak and using her noble legs to sit. In front of her, she was busy grinding various plants with small tools laid out.

Things like weird-looking mushrooms or purple flower petals.

She would divide the powders she made into small cloth pouches or sprinkle them into small vials and shake them.

“What’s that?”

It looked suspicious from the get-go, and it certainly didn’t seem like something beneficial for the body.

“It’s poison. It may not affect the undead, but… it doesn’t hurt to have it prepared.”

As expected.

The advantage and characteristic of the patrol profession is that they manage things one way or another, but conversely, this means they are mediocre in every aspect.

As I mentioned before, patrollers actively use various tools and techniques to compensate for this disadvantage.

Gerda must have chosen poison. She probably used self-collected and blended venom to supplement her somewhat mediocre killing power.

This request may be rare for the poison to take effect against the undead, but if the enemy were ordinary monsters, it would have been very useful.

◆◆

About ten minutes later.

“Whew… overslept. It’s not like me…”

Frida, with her cloak and hood turned inside out, rubbed her half-open eyes, dragging her greatsword as she walked out of the tent.

“Ugh… what, you’re up early….”

Following her, Amy also stretched as she walked out.

“Oh, you’re up? Good timing. I was just about to wake you up.”

“Did you sleep well… I mean, good, good morning, Hilde! It’s… a nice, good morning!”

“Yeah, good morning.”

Sitting next to the bonfire Gerda had lit, I waved my right hand slightly towards Frida and Amy, exchanging morning greetings.

“If you’re awake, come over here first. Gerda has prepared breakfast, so let’s eat before the dishes get cold. And wash your face.”

Stew made by dissolving preserved food and dried meat in melted snow with salt and herbs.

It was an extremely crude dish… but surprisingly, it was quite edible. The aroma of the herbs completely masked the gamey taste of the meat.

“Wow, this is delicious! Um, could I have just one more bowl…?”

“Well, it’s not bad. Maybe I was a bit hungry after all…?”

Freida and Amy also expressed satisfaction with the stew’s taste. Amy’s praise, true to her nature, had a slightly critical edge.

To achieve this level of flavor with ingredients that were essentially scraps—it truly showcased the skills of a ranger. They are indeed quite versatile.

After filling our stomachs with the warm stew and washing up with lukewarm water, we each put on our gear and set foot into the forest.

The second day of our search began with a different tone compared to the first.

While encounters with the undead decreased to less than a third of the previous day, the number of undead we encountered at once increased nearly fourfold.

Not only their numbers but also their intelligence seemed to have heightened.

Using several revenants as bait, there were even instances where, leveraging the distraction, ten wights that had been hiding underground launched a surprise ambush.

“Hey, I think there’s another one hiding over there.”

Of course, with our reliable ranger, we never fell victim to such surprises. Even if the undead managed to conceal their appearance perfectly, they couldn’t erase the faint smell or the traces of disturbed earth.

We simply followed Gerda’s lead, ready to launch a lethal preemptive strike in the direction she indicated. But…

“…This isn’t good.”

“You’re right.”

It wasn’t a big problem for us to handle it this way, but considering the entire search party, it was a serious matter.

Not only were the undead beginning to gather, but their tactics had advanced to a surprising degree. What could it possibly mean?

“It’s unmistakable that there’s a deep priest nearby. Judging by how quickly they’ve adapted and applied countermeasures within a day of starting the search.”

Amy muttered in response.

Indeed.

The behavior of the undead we faced today was clearly aimed at dismantling scattered search parties in a coordinated effort.

Thanks to Gerda, we were able to avoid the ambush, and with my and Friede’s skills being among the best in Dongpae, plus having a mage with us, we could fight comfortably, but…

“Um… that… weak… no, mediocre party. Such a party seems a bit dangerous.”

As Friede said, those who were ambiguous even among Dongpae adventurers seemed likely to be surrounded and killed at any moment.

– Puff puff!

In reality, today we saw the flames of a signal flare almost five times, which we hadn’t seen even once yesterday.

Since the location was quite far, we couldn’t go find out.

“…Right. We should return and discuss this first.”

Therefore, I decided to return much earlier than yesterday.

If the situation had changed, the countermeasures had to change as well.

◆◆

The atmosphere in the temporary barracks upon our return was, as expected, somewhat restless.

“Oh, you’ve returned! You’re… Miss Hilde, right? Thank goodness.”

The paladin remaining at the barracks approached to welcome the return of the adventurer party.

“Thank goodness… Do you also know the current state of the forest?”

“Yes. The reconnaissance team that returned earlier reported. It’s become quite difficult…”

The paladin sighed lightly, complaining as he laid out the detailed story.

The number of the reconnaissance unit sent out today did not return and were reported to have been killed.

In fact, this was the minimum damage they had suffered.

This number was calculated based on the reports of those who barely survived and returned.

It was impossible to determine how many members of the parties that hadn’t returned had perished.

Although signal flares were sent out to prepare for such a situation, the forces of the punitive expedition were limited, so they couldn’t rescue all of them, right?

Spreading the adventurers widely had backfired.

The only way was to eradicate the undead spread throughout the forest and find a way to locate the Abyssal Priest hidden somewhere… But at this rate, the reconnaissance teams would be wiped out before finding the Abyssal Priest.