Rookie Hunting (4)

It was hard to keep track of time inside a dungeon, but you could tell day from night. Dungeons also grew dark at night.

Without the [Night Vision] skill, it was difficult to move around at night without any light.

On one such dark night, Maio and the others had gone to sleep inside the tent Gesunoh had prepared without even posting a lookout.

Gesunoh and Kiwami stood in front of that tent without any light.

Their own tent was set up a short distance away. The reason they were standing here was, of course, to attack.

"Pardon the intrusion…"

Kiwami stealthily slipped inside. The interior wasn't very spacious, but there was enough room for three or four people to lie down. Maio and Shina were sleeping wrapped in blankets, while the beastkin pet sat dozing in the back.

She glanced at the pet. It looked like she was sleeping while seated, but then their eyes met.

"If you stay quiet, I won't do anything to you, okay?"

"…"

Looking uninterested, the pet just silently watched Kiwami.

"I knew it," Kiwami smiled, then brazenly took a collar from the pouch at her waist, a slave collar, and wrapped it snugly around the sleeping Shina's neck.

"… … …..—[Illegal Order: 5]."

The collar glowed faintly. Success. With this, the collar would now tighten on Gesunoh and Kiwami's command.

This magic was something she'd purchased from a shady merchant long ago. A spell that allowed her to make a slave collar constrict five times.

Once cast, the slave collar would become properly irremovable. However, on the fifth time the neck was constricted, it wouldn't stop until death. It was a defective spell in that regard.

With the biggest obstacle neutralized, now came the fun part.

"Darling, you can come in now."

"Thanks, honey. Love you."

When Kiwami called out, Gesunoh entered the tent without hesitation.

At that moment, Maio stirred.

"Mmm… huh, Kiwami-sama? Eh, wh-why is Gesunoh-sama here?"

"Awake already, Ojou-sama?"

"Why, to escort you ladies, of course. Kukuku."

Gesunoh smiled. Not the kind smile he'd shown at the guild, but a twisted grin of someone who couldn't help but delight in others' misfortune.

"No way… Shina, wake up! Cut down these ruffians!"

"Yesh, O-Ojou-sama! Right awa… ugh, guh…"

Her neck constricted, Shina collapsed face-down.

"Ha, what a pathetic elf. Out cold from just a little choking. Were you seriously her escort?"

"What did you do to Shina!?"

"We just put a collar on her and taught her some discipline. Now, now, the night is still young, let's have some fun. If you behave yourself… well, a brat who reeks of piss isn't my type anyway. I'll help myself to the elf instead."

Gesunoh searched through Shina's belongings, found her pouch, and pulled out her guild card.

"What, only D-Rank? I was wondering what kind of confident escort she must be, but she wasn't even worth the caution. Here, honey. A present."

"Thanks, darling. Love you."

Gesunoh carelessly tossed Shina's guild card, and Kiwami caught it.

Kiwami pulled an iron skewer from [Storage], one already piercing several guild cards. Shina's guild card was skewered through with a shunk and added to the collection.

"Ufufu, my D-Rank collection has grown quite a bit."

Kiwami had a habit of skewering guild cards taken from her prey as a collection.

They wouldn't rot and didn't take up much space. Kiwami considered her collection to be both tasteful and practical.

"…"

Then, having watched all of this, the beastkin pet stood up and rummaged through the belongings.

Wondering what she was up to, Kiwami watched as the pet held out a card to her.

It was Maio's F-Rank Adventurer Guild card.

"What are you doing! Stop it!"

"Oh my, oh my, Ojou-sama was quite hated, wasn't she? Ufufufu."

Kiwami accepted the card while still seated, pulled out a different iron skewer from her [Storage], and stabbed it through.

And just as she tried to put it back into [Storage],

The beastkin pet cut in with incredible speed and thrust her hand into the hole opened by [Storage].

She then grabbed the skewered E-Rank and C-Rank guild card collections from inside.

"Wha…!?"

"Sorted by rank? … No B-Rank or above. Well, that's fine."

There were many F-Rank and E-Rank cards, but comparatively, the D-Rank and C-Rank skewers had very few.

"What the…"

The moment Kiwami tried to say "what are you," she was punched in the face and slammed into the tent floor, knocked unconscious in a single blow. The beastkin pet was opening and closing her right fist repeatedly.

"That's enough."

"Eh, don't we need to question them about their methods and victims? I thought this was where the fun would begin, in a way."

"Yes. They were collecting their victims' cards. This is sufficient."

A voice came from somewhere. The pet was conversing with that voice.

Gesunoh had no idea what was happening. He was momentarily stunned, but quickly came back to his senses. Then:

"Don't move! Don't you dare move! You understand what'll happen to Ojou-sama if you move even a little, right?"

He picked up Maio and pressed a knife to her throat.

That decision was probably the right one for Gesunoh.

"What will happen, I wonder? Niku-senpai."

"… Perhaps she might have something useful for serving Goshujin-sama?"

"No, no, after being touched that much, it'd be obvious, so there's nothing more to gain from this."

"I see."

It would have been the right decision, if Gesunoh's understanding of the situation were correct.

By taking the important Ojou-sama hostage, he should have been able to rescue Kiwami and buy enough time to escape from the tent.

Furthermore, if the master, Ojou-sama, were to die, the slave would become ownerless. By channeling magic into the collar at that point, he could become the new master… Although, considering the movements from earlier, that might be difficult even going all out.

However, despite her master, the person who supposedly held power over her life and death, being captured, the slave paid it no mind and was busy binding Kiwami's hands and feet. She didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"What the hell, what the hell is going on! Let Kiwami go! Do you not care what happens to this girl!?"

"Feel free to do whatever you want with that toy."

"What did you…?"

Just then, Gesunoh noticed something was off. Ojou-sama hadn't been asleep; she should have been awake by now. And yet, since being taken hostage, she hadn't said a single word or made the slightest movement.

In fact, he couldn't even sense her breathing, and despite being pressed against him, he felt no body heat.

Only now did Gesunoh finally look at the "Ojou-sama."

What was there… no, what existed there was a doll made of wood. Only the hair was strangely realistic, but the face was flat with token bumps and grooves. It didn't even have a mouth or eye sockets.

The doll tilted its head with a click as it looked at Gesunoh's face.

"Hiii!?"

Gesunoh hurled the doll that had been "Ojou-sama." Reflexively, he threw it toward the slave.

Then Gesunoh fled at full speed. Abandoning Kiwami.

Whether it was because he'd thrown the doll toward the slave, he managed to escape the tent and reach the pedestal. To escape from this room, he first had to return the magic sword to its pedestal.

After that, he would have to pass by the tent again, but if he focused entirely on escaping, it shouldn't be impossible to get away. After all, Gesunoh was a C-Rank front-liner. He was confident in his abilities.

"What the hell, what the hell is going on… damn, everything was going so well just a minute ago."

Had he done something wrong? Well, obviously he had. But that's not what he meant.

… He felt bad for Kiwami, but it would be better to part ways here.

Those things were monsters in human form; he'd be killed if caught. Yes, they were monsters disguised as humans…

"… Monsters? Wait, this is a safe zone."

Which meant, they were variants? Yes, that's right, variants!

Reporting the existence of a variant was an adventurer's duty, and it came with a substantial reward. That's right, exactly! He wasn't running away. This was a strategic withdrawal so he could make his report!

Gesunoh thrust the magic sword at his waist into the pedestal.

"Good, now I can…"

He turned around to look at the passage.

But the passage was still blocked by spikes.

As if he had been trapped inside a monster's mouth.