“Alright how about this? We drive them off, far away, and get the people out.”

  Ace said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.

  

  “This is way too much to handle. There’s no way we can kill them all.”

  Then he tilted his head toward Earp.

  

  “Except you. But this job isn’t a full-on purge, so relax.”

  Earp gave a small nod and answered in one short line.

  

  “Understood.”

  His voice didn’t sound happy—more like someone finally exhaling after holding their breath.

  Sight leaned against a tree, still gripping an arrow like his hand had forgotten how to let go. Even with a faint buzz lingering in his head, his eyes stayed locked on the lizard swarm, and he muttered in that crumpled, half-drunk tone of his.

  

  “The second we go down there… they’ll come at us immediately. They’re not exactly the peaceful type. I’m only worried the captives will get caught in it.”

  Ace laid out the plan, calm as ever.

  

  “Then Rome goes first shield them, keep everyone safe. Earp, if any lizard gets too close, take it out. That’s necessary. If we don’t, they will eat someone. Sight, cover us from range. I’ll go in with Valda push them back. We don’t need to wipe them out. Just drive them off. Mary, stay with Rome. Focus on the injured.”

  Rome lifted a hand and brushed at the air as if dust itself had offended him. Then he spoke with a serious expression… and an attitude that somehow made it worse.

  

  “Kindly refrain from splattering blood onto my new cloak. I will stand as a wall. But if there must be blood, then at least let it be a shade that complements the cloak’s overall color theme.”

  Lily froze mid–spell pose, her chant dying in her throat. She raised a finger like she’d just caught a mistake in the script.

  

  “Uh hey. Aren’t we forgetting something?”

  Ace nodded, as if it finally clicked.

  

  “Ah… right. No, not forgetting. You. Just… keep it light. Create a small disturbance enough to spook them. Remember, we’re driving them off. If we don’t have to kill, we don’t.”

  He added, more seriously,

  

  “We still need to figure out why they’ve gathered here. If there’s a cause behind this… the one pulling strings might show their face.”

  Valda smiled sweetly and gave a soft little clap.

  

  “And don’t forget to keep your clothes clean too, okay?”

  The words sounded like a caring big sister.

  Her eyes, however, were sharp and flat—more than enough to remind everyone that the hammer was ready at any moment.

  Once the plan was complete, all seven moved in immediately—each taking the position they’d agreed on.

  And of course, the lizard swarm attacked the moment they stepped into the marsh.

  CLANG!

  Metal met hardened scales with a ringing crack every time a lizard lunged. Each time, Ace simply lifted his sword to catch the impact, then snapped his blade back with a smooth counter—sending them flying off in different directions like he was swatting away chores he’d done a thousand times before.

  Valda kept smiling, but her hammer slammed into the ground—

  THUD!

  A shockwave rippled through the soil. Several lizards flinched so hard they froze, suddenly unwilling to come any closer.

  

  “Go on now run back home, good kids~”

  Her voice stayed gentle.

  The earth split into jagged lines beneath her, like a small, contained earthquake.

  In front of the captives, Rome had already spread a barrier over them. His expression was dead serious—like he was handling the most critical operation of his life—yet he still muttered under his breath.

  

  “Not a single drop of blood… not on this cloak…”

  Inside the barrier, Mary knelt down and began casting healing spells over the bound victims. Her voice was soft, soothing… with a faint tremble hiding underneath.

  

  “It’s alright… you’ll be okay… it’ll heal… okay?”

  Earp stood beside the barrier, completely silent.

  His gaze was cold enough to cut.

  And yet—not a single lizard dared step into his range.

  The air around him felt assigned—as if the world itself had already decided: Do not cross this line.

  From atop a high outcrop, Sight lifted his bow.

  

  “Haaah… I might be a little tipsy,”

  he muttered.

  He loosed arrow after arrow—each one slicing into the ground or snapping into tree bark just far enough ahead to cut off escape routes, forcing the lizards to keep moving in the direction he wanted. A swarm of nearly a thousand creatures was herded like cattle, pushed into a single flowing stream.

  Behind him, only Lily remained—still striking a dramatic pose, eyes blazing.

  

  “My turn at last… the Sevenfold Dark Arts”

  

  “Stop!”

  Ace’s shout snapped up from below.

  

  “Not now, Lily!”

  

  “The hell!? But I trained this stance seriously!”

  The fight felt less like a war and more like a herding game. The lizards barely had time to snarl before they were forced to run along the path Sight dictated. Any stubborn one that tried to resist got swatted away—again and again—by Ace’s sword or Valda’s hammer, launched back into the stream like a bad idea being physically rejected.

  Then—

  WHOOOOOOM!

  A violent gust slammed in from the direction the swarm was fleeing toward.

  This wasn’t the forest’s usual cool breeze.

  It carried weight—pressure—enough to make the trees tremble, as if something had generated it on purpose.

  Sight narrowed his eyes. He exhaled, and his voice dropped into a grim murmur.

  

  “…So it’s not natural wind after all.”

  A heavy sound followed—THUD… THUD…—the echo of branches snapping deep inside the dense, tangled woods.

  And then it emerged.

  A colossal lizard—so huge it rose higher than the surrounding trees. It stood upright on two legs, gripping an enormous spear that it swung with casual menace. Each sweep of that weapon birthed a stormy burst of wind that whipped the forest into motion. Sometimes the gusts were so strong they sent ordinary lizards tumbling—lifted straight off the ground and thrown into the air.

  

  “Don’t tell me…”

  Ace raised a hand to shield his face from the blast, grimacing as he spoke.

  

  “…This is why the lizards were forced to gather and flee here in the first place.”

  Valda stared at the deep-blue scales along its body, her brow tightening.

  

  “Judging by the scales… it’s probably a Dragonewt an evolved form of a regular lizard. Their intelligence still isn’t very high, but their predatory instincts are several times more violent…”

  She narrowed her eyes.

  

  “And on top of that, they can use magic too.”

  The moment she finished speaking—

  BOOM!

  A small shadow shot down from somewhere above, landing right in front of them with the kind of dramatic entrance you’d expect from a shōnen anime heroine.

  A petite girl in a mage’s outfit spread her staff wide and shouted at the top of her lungs.

  

  “Leave this to me, young adventurers!!”

  …And of course, it was none other than Lily—who’d been waiting for this moment so long she was basically about to combust.

  In one motion, Lily thrust her staff toward the sky. Her incantation rang out like the opening declaration of a festival.

  

  “By my name! O King of Chaos!!

  Manipulator of disorder across this earth!!!

  Now, I shall unseal the covenant bound promise forged by the Creator of the universe!!!

  O turmoil of the land manifest at once!!

  O chaos that surges and pierces the heavens!!!”

  RUMMMMMBLE!!

  The air around them was swallowed by thick, roiling black clouds. A spiraling storm erupted. Marsh mud splattered violently across the ground as if the world itself had been flung into upheaval.

  In Lily’s hands, the staff blazed with a harsh crimson light. A colossal magic circle hovered in the air above her head.

  Lily’s eyes glittered.

  

  “TAKE THIS!! My wrath EYE OF CHAOSSSSSSSSS!!!”

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  …

  The result was—

  Absolute silence.

  The black clouds vanished instantly, as if someone had turned them off. Only a gentle breeze drifted through. The staff… went dark. The magic circle… disappeared. The sky… returned to its ordinary blue.

  And… nothing happened. Not even a little.

  Ace exploded immediately.

  

  “I TOLD YOU! The Eye of Chaos DOESN’T EXIST, damn it!!”

  

  “It’s real! It has to be real!!”

  Lily snapped back, her eyes glossy with tears.

  

  “I recited the incantation exactly the way the manga author wrote it! So why won’t it come out!?”

  Up on the rock, Sight took a swig from his liquor bottle and laughed like he’d lost all remaining dignity.

  

  “Hah hahahaha! Oh my god… I’ve seriously never laughed this hard in my life.”

  While Ace and Lily were still arguing about the so-called Eye of Chaos, the Dragonnewt lunged in—spear raised—aiming to end both of them in a single strike.

  

  “Don’t get in my way, you oversized gecko. Lightning Bolt!”

  Lily didn’t even bother turning around.

  She cast the spell as casually as tossing a tiny bead of lightning—like she was flicking a marble for fun.

  ZWHIP!

  The bolt punched straight through the Dragonnewt’s chest, blasting a clean hole right through the center. The sound was sharp and sickening—like skewering meat.

  The gigantic body went—

  THUD.

  It collapsed in dead silence.

  Instant death.

  A chorus of shrieks erupted from the thousand lizards, echoing across the marsh. Then the entire swarm scattered in blind panic—like sparrows being chased off all at once. It was hard to tell whether they were relieved… or absolutely terrified.

  Ace let out a long, exhausted sigh, and somehow kept yelling without missing a beat.

  

  “I told you that idiot Eye of Chaos thing doesn’t exist! I’ve read that manga too, damn it!”

  

  “It’s real!! If it wasn’t, how could the author write it!? There has to be some truth behind it!!”

  Lily fired back just as loudly, but before she could finish her next sentence—

  A massive shadow slowly spread over both their heads.

  Ace felt a strange pressure sink into the air. Sweat prickled at his skin.

  

  “Uh… Lily…?”

  His voice turned suddenly polite—almost timid.

  

  “Maybe… we should… stop arguing for a second?”

  Lily nodded quickly, still gripping her staff.

  

  “Yes… this is definitely not the time to argue… at all, huh.”

  They turned at the same time.

  Valda was standing there.

  Her entire body was splattered with mud—leftover from that fake storm Lily had just summoned. But what was far more terrifying was the gentle smile on her face… paired with eyes glowing a deep, blood-red, like something inhuman.

  She raised her massive hammer with graceful elegance and spoke in a soft voice that was not a question.

  

  “You do understand what happens next, don’t you.”

  

  “I do…”

  Ace lowered his head and muttered.

  

  “I do…”

  Lily echoed, her voice trembling.

  KRAAASHHH!!!

  The hammer came down with a thunderous impact—louder than the Dragonnewt collapsing, louder even than the thousand lizards fleeing.

  After the chaos, Valda lowered her hammer and smiled sweetly as if nothing had happened.

  Then she cast Regenerator her clear, bright voice ringing out. In an instant, every muddy stain on Ace and Lily’s clothes vanished completely, returning to spotless cleanliness—like they’d just come fresh out of a professional laundry.

  

  “All done. Clean as new now, okay?”

  Valda said gently, brushing their outfits until every fold sat perfectly flat.

  Ace and Lily pressed their palms together at the same time in a reflexive show of respect.

  

  “Th-thank you…” / “Th-thank you…”

  Their voices shook like they’d just crawled back from hell.

  

  “Hey then why did I have to take my pants off earlier? That’s not fair, Valda,”

  Sight complained, still bitter about being forced to strip earlier.

  

  “Because yours was dirty all the way down to your underwear,”

  Valda replied, still speaking in that same sweet tone.

  

  “And don’t forget my eyes can see right through you. I can practically see all the way to your appendix.”

  Mary smiled warmly—like the kind of gentle mother you’d see in a TV drama.

  

  “Alright. I asked Earp to inform the gate guards about what happened, so they can hurry and send a medical unit to take the captives from here.”

  She added with a small, almost amused sigh,

  

  “Even though… they’re completely healed already.”

  In less than an hour, the guards arrived—along with fully equipped medical wagons. Every captive was escorted away safely.

  Once everything was settled, the seven of them returned to the guild to file their report.

  

  “We’ve driven off the lizard swarm,”

  Ace reported, confident and casual—like it was just another normal day.

  Their investigation notes all aligned into the same conclusion:

  The lizard swarm had been forced to gather at the marsh because they were being compelled to hunt and bring food offerings to the Dragonewt. If no one had dealt with it, it might have continued evolving—into a dragon.

  Not a true dragon from an ancient bloodline, perhaps… but still the kind of existence that could trigger a devastating catastrophe. And with it being so close to the city, the danger only multiplied.

  Ace let out a long breath.

  

  “Thank god… this mission ended well.”

  But everyone in the party wore the same expression—like they all wanted to say:

  Are you sure you didn’t forget something?

  Three days later…

  The Rank G young adventurer—yes, the same one who’d gotten into an argument with Eirik—was strolling through the forest, humming cheerfully as he went out to gather herbs.

  Then he froze.

  Beneath the roots of a tree sat an enormous pile of herbs—far more than he’d expected.

  

  “Oh lucky!”

  he exclaimed, eyes lighting up.

  

  “And I don’t even have to wait three days. The tree already absorbed all the poison!”

  He chuckled under his breath as he scooped the entire pile into his sack.

  

  “No idea who left these here… but hey, thanks. I’ll just take all of it, then~”

  And that was…

  …the herb stash Ace’s party had deliberately gathered and set aside.

  Only to forget it there completely, without a second thought.

  One afternoon at the guild…

  Ace, Valda, Mary, Rome, Lily, and Earp sat around a wooden table with serious faces.

  Sight?

  Of course… he was off socializing—getting absolutely wasted with adventurers at some other table instead.

  

  “We should take an escort quest for a merchant,”

  Valda suggested with a bright smile, opening the discussion.

  Ace frowned.

  

  “Why that one? Long travel means more supplies. And it’s only Rank C. The pay isn’t even that good. There are seven of us, you know.”

  Valda kept smiling, as gentle as ever.

  

  “He’s a merchant. Even if the direct fee isn’t high…”

  She clasped her hands lightly.

  

  “…the gratitude bonus afterward will be anything but small, I promise.”

  

  “OOOOOOOH!!”

  Everyone erupted at once—like someone had pressed a cheer button.

  Valda nodded.

  

  “I already looked into him. The merchant’s name is Spencer. He isn’t nobility, and he didn’t inherit anyone’s business. He started with a tiny shop in a western town… and climbed up from there until now people call him the unicorn of this era.”

  Mary blinked rapidly.

  

  “Unicorn… does that mean he sells horses?”

  

  “No,”

  Valda said, letting out a soft laugh.

  

  “It’s a business term. It means someone who was a total nobody, and then suddenly rose into massive success. He’s a commoner, not arrogant at all. Yes, he pays the guild less on paper…”

  She smiled a little wider.

  

  “…but he takes very good care of the people escorting him.”

  

  “OOOOOOOH!!”

  Round two. The entire table roared again—like they’d just watched fireworks.

  Ace crossed his arms and nodded.

  

  “So this is an easy one, then. We escort the goods convoy from Vanir to Freyja. No more than seven days.”

  He counted on his fingers with deliberate seriousness.

  

  “No mess. No exhaustion. No killing. No ghosts. Everyone good?”

  

  “OOOOOOOH!!”

  The whole table cheered like it was already a victory banquet—despite the fact they hadn’t even left yet.

  That night, Sight did what he always did—making the rounds, drinking with other adventurers in the guild.

  Laughter rolled through the hall. Glasses clinked—

  Clink!

  woven between loud, rowdy music. Eventually, he staggered his way to the restroom. And while he was standing there taking a piss, a pair of hushed voices slipped in from somewhere nearby.

  

  “You sure… that guy’s really hauling valuables? Not some pathetic agricultural goods?”

  “Sure as hell. That guy’s the unicorn of the era. He got rich off mining businesses inside dungeons… Even the cheapest cargo is raw ore and that alone sells for a fortune. But if it’s been cut and refined? Man… we’re talking obscene money.”

  “And what about the escorts? For a job like that, he should have high-rank adventurers, shouldn’t he?”

  “Nope. Not at all. The request is posted as Rank C only.”

  A low chuckle followed.

  

  “Heh… for ex–Rank A guys like us, this is basically free lunch.”

  Another quiet laugh.

  

  “Then tomorrow morning, same place. We’ll ambush him in the middle of the forest right between Vanir and Freyja. Perfect midpoint. No one will reach him in time.”

  Then the voices vanished, swallowed up along with the sound of footsteps walking away.

  Sight gave a light shake, finished up, and stepped out.

  He glanced around…

  No one.

  Outside the restroom, there was only a small table with a few bottles of liquor and some snacks. A stack of money sat neatly beside them—payment left behind.

  

  “Hm. At least they paid,”

  he murmured.

  

  “Decent manners, I guess.”

  Then he turned around and went right back to drinking like nothing had happened—kept going until morning.

  The next day…

  All seven of them stood waiting for Merchant Spencer’s convoy at the city’s eastern gate.

  Sight yawned hard. One of his eyes was red from last night’s heavy drinking. He’d already forgotten what he’d heard in the restroom.

  Or maybe… it had never been real in the first place.

  Maybe it was just a drunken dream.

  It didn’t take long before Spencer appeared—with a convoy of three cargo wagons, each tightly covered with cloth, plus a large passenger carriage for himself and his attendants.

  Valda walked up with a bright, friendly smile.

  

  “Hello, Mr. Spencer. I’m Valda. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  She gestured lightly.

  

  “And these are the members of my party. Please take good care of us.”

  At the same time, Mary leaned in and whispered to Earp.

  

  “Is that… what they call a unicorn?”

  Earp tilted his head slightly and answered in a plain, innocent tone.

  

  “Mm… honestly, I’ve only read about unicorns in books. I’ve never actually seen a real one either.”

  As he spoke, he turned and looked at Spencer with that same perfectly still expression.

  Spencer happened to meet the young man’s gaze—

  and immediately went pale.

  In his head, his fear filled in the blanks. He misread that calm stare as something murderous… and then his imagination warped Earp’s words into something far worse.

  

  “A unicorn, huh…”

  “I’ve never tasted its blood before…”

  Before the atmosphere could spiral any further, Valda quickly clapped her hands clap, clap!

  

  “Alright then let’s go!”

  The three women and Rome climbed into the passenger carriage. Meanwhile, Ace, Sight, and Earp chose to ride on the back of the cargo wagons—each taking one wagon along with Spencer’s attendants.

  The convoy rolled out through the city gates without a hitch…

  and the new mission began immediately.