Nothing happened that night.
That makes sense. While monsters do attack people on sight, most are ultimately transformed from animals, possessing instincts common to all animals, such as herding, fear of fire, and dread of creatures larger than themselves. Without a large group or leader, they typically observe large groups of humans who gather and dare to light a campfire from the shadows.
After exchanging places with Shenxue in the latter half of the night, I didn't just sit there like an idiot. I leaned against the tree trunk, closed my eyes, expanded my senses a little, and at the same time concealed my aura.
The advantages of doing this are twofold: firstly, it won't be too tiring—the convoy in the distance is guarded by several burly men whose arms are thicker than my thighs, and keeping my eyes open all the time would only result in seeing a monotonous and boring scene, which would also easily add more bloodshot to my eyes; secondly, it can make the monsters lurking nearby ignore my presence.
This did indeed attract a few clueless little guys, who then couldn't escape being grabbed by the scruff of their necks. However, a few clearly smarter ones became alert as soon as they entered my range of perception, and after several attempts, they chose to quietly retreat, thus preventing me from seizing an opportunity to strike.
In the end, all they got was a rabbit and a raccoon dog, which was just enough for breakfast for the day.
Waiting for food to come to you is really nice; you don't have to move around much and you can still get food. In the academy, they prefer to call this method meditation, and there are always some idiots who claim that they can hardly maintain a meditative state and are very prone to falling asleep. In the end, they are usually criticized by those teachers who are disappointed in them as "useless good-for-nothings with no willpower," and they often say things like, "If you continue to maintain this lax attitude, you will never be able to set up a magic circle in your life and will only be able to lick the leftovers from other people's feet to survive."
Although I don't understand the connection between the two, calling those guys trash... well, I can accept that.
Even someone like me, who's used to skipping classes every day, can't compare to them. What are these guys if not good-for-nothings!
...Enough with the rant, let's get down to business.
As Hikari was waking the two who had fallen asleep to enjoy a light rabbit meat porridge, a commotion suddenly arose from the convoy ahead. Hikari, who was still a little sleepy, immediately perked up like an old-fashioned video camera with an antenna, grabbed her bowl and spoon, sneaked over to listen in, and then quickly darted back.
"This is a big deal! This is a big deal, Mr. Yumi!"
Hikari chattered away, but her already faint voice was muffled by the food in her mouth, making it difficult to understand what she was saying. "The scouts sent out by the caravan this morning have returned, saying they spotted what appears to be a flower fairy not far ahead. Their mercenary leader is arguing with the caravan's employers about whether to turn back now and wait for the mercenary group that went ahead to resolve the issue, or ignore this information and continue cautiously moving forward."
"A flower fairy?" I almost choked, coughing a few times before I caught my breath. I looked up in surprise. "Are you sure you didn't hear me wrong?"
Hikari nodded vigorously, her cheek, stuffed with food, twitching unconsciously as she chewed, looking like a greedy squirrel: "You have to believe my ears! I can't be wrong about something like this!"
"...It seems that even if you're not interested, you might still run into them now."
Turning to look at the silent Shen Xue, I saw her still blowing on the slightly hot white porridge in her spoon, carefully chewing it, without even giving me a glance.
Finally, after she finished eating the food in her bowl, she breathed a sigh of relief: "There's nothing to be afraid of. If we really encounter it, we'll just kill it."
That's true, you're the one who decides because of your superior swordsmanship.
I shrugged and continued tidying up, while also figuring out how to react if I were to have a stroke of luck and run into an accident.
The convoy seemed to have been hesitant for a long time, and even sent someone to inquire with the smaller groups that hadn't dispersed yet, as if they were planning to stick together.
There were a few small groups ahead and behind, mostly mercenaries who had accepted specific monster-hunting commissions. They agreed to wait and turn back, but some of the bolder ones said they would continue on their way, seemingly very confident in the mercenary group that was handling the monster-hunting mission.
"After all, that's the legendary [Silver Light Mercenary Group]."
The messenger sighed, "Although they were initially suspected of using [Dawn's Light]'s name, their members' strength is undeniable. The overall atmosphere is great, the leader has strong command skills, and the team works together like a single person. In fact, while their mission completion rate is extremely high, their member casualty rate is also the lowest among many groups. So far, they've only seriously injured two people during the biggest monster outbreak a few years ago, but they've mostly recovered and are back in battle."
"I see."
I chimed in with a sigh, then mentioned that we would continue on our way, before seeing off the messenger who was busy replying.
But why were they so confident in that mercenary group? Even with their glorious past and few flaws, it didn't mean they could be invincible forever. Even well-functioning magical devices can malfunction due to overheating or mechanical fatigue, let alone humans, who are incomparable to machines that are unaware of fatigue.
Even excluding the possibility that they deliberately accepted commissions they could complete for show, a perfect general is still a rare existence. It is more common for them to lose their reputation in their later years and become a laughing stock. Otherwise, how could there be so many famous great mages who were accidentally killed by novice petty thieves who broke into their homes?
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