I Was the Scout for the Hero’s Party

“Um… L-Lady Gracey! This way…”

Max and the hero’s party, who had been moving hurriedly following the occasional bloodstains and scattered traces of battle, stopped in a wide clearing.

“Another supply unit…”

Debris of wagons scattered everywhere, blood, and violently scratched battle scars.

Max and Adrienne, who had been surveying the surroundings with vigilant eyes, slightly lowered their weapons when they saw no enemies nearby.

“There doesn’t seem to be any enemies around… Max, was it? Such perimeter checks are the scout’s role. From now on, handle it yourself.”

“Uh… yes… I’m sorry.”

Gracey, who had been walking in front with Max, approached the wagon with the hero to investigate the wreckage.

“These marks… they seem similar to the ones we saw earlier?”

“Hmm… it seems there are those who target supply units.”

Just as Gracey and the hero, having confirmed that this was also a trace of merciless slaughter using long-range attacks, began to move back toward the party members.

“….elp….”

At the faint voice coming from somewhere, their legs stopped abruptly.

“…Gracey. Just now…”

“Yes… I heard it too.”

Gulp. Swallowing saliva, closing their eyes for a moment and concentrating all their senses on hearing, another faint voice began to flow into Gracey and the hero’s ears.

“elp… me… sa… me…”

“…A survivor.”

“There’s a survivor..?”

Unable to ignore the continuously heard sorrowful voice, Gracey and the hero cautiously moved to examine the inside of the wagon where the sound was coming from.

“Help… me… save me…”

The hero and Gracey peeked inside the wagon with vigilant eyes.

“…What is that…?”

Inside, a bizarre object that looked like flour dough was wriggling and continuously uttering pleas for help.

“Saaave…. meee….”

The spherical object, constantly wriggling like a slime, began to slowly approach the hero and Gracey.

“…Let’s step back for now.”

The hero, after making Gracey step back briefly, carefully extended her hand toward the bizarre object that was writhing and approaching her.

-Squish

“Save… me…. sa..”

“……It doesn’t seem dangerous… and it doesn’t seem like a monster either…”

As she carefully touched the object that had a softness and springy resilience like a slime, Maya, who had somehow approached, began to examine the object the hero was touching with shining eyes.

“…It’s not. A monster… I can’t smell. Any monster scent. Rather than a monster. It’s more like….”

More like a human.

Just as this thought flashed through Maya’s mind, a bright red light began to seep from the object that was constantly changing shape in the hero’s hand.

Along with it, the scent of magic spreading with a whoosh…
…Could it be?

“Hero!! Drop that from your hand immediately!!!”

Maya frantically adjusted her grip on her staff and deployed a protective spell while shouting at the hero.

“Huh… what is this?”

“Throw it far away quickly!! It’s a trap!!”

At that moment, the object held in the hero’s hand flashed brightly and began to instantly draw in the red magic that had spread around.

Realizing something was going wrong, the hero threw the unidentified object back into the wagon, and the moment it left her hand.

-BOOOOM!!!!!!!!

With an earth-shaking roar, a blood mist began to spread from the object that had exploded by condensing the red magic.

“Urgh..!!! Cough cough! Adrienne!! Max!!! Isabel! Come here quickly!”

“Hero! Hero!! Are you alright?!”

“Cough..!! Ugh… thanks to Maya.. I’m alive…”

“Isabel! Quick, healing..!”

Thanks to Maya’s protective magic deployed at the moment of the explosion, and twisting her body to avoid it, the hero managed to save her life, but her condition was not good after taking the explosion right in front of her.

Due to the magic wave she couldn’t avoid in time, the hero, clutching her bleeding side, began to assess the situation while receiving treatment from Isabel.

-Step Step

As the blood-colored mist gradually cleared, other figures began to appear.

“As expected of the continent’s hope. To survive even after taking the blood pus right in front of you.”

The approaching footsteps slowed, and then the fog cleared.

“It’s been a while, hero.”

“….Depal…!”

The hero’s party and Depal’s Romphalia Raid Squad that surrounded them silently drew their weapons, glaring at each other.

“Without that nuisance, you fall into such a shallow trap. Today I will behead you all and present it to Him.”

“Try if you dare..!”

The blue spear held by Depal vibrated greatly and trembled, and the holy sword drawn by the hero also began to emit a bright light, buzzing no less intensely.

“…Uh… H-Hero…?”

“…Max. Prepare for battle.”

Max, who had inadvertently nocked an arrow to his bow, instinctively realized from the dense killing intent in the gazes directed at him and his companions.

I’m going to die here, he thought.

“What kind of grass grows taller than me? Damn it, I want to set it all on fire.”

As I quietly cursed because of the grass that kept brushing against my eyes and tickling me, Robin, who had been detecting the surroundings next to me, nudged me with her elbow and opened her mouth.

“…Senior. We’re getting close. The distance is about 200 steps… the number… roughly 30 people gathered. Could it be a supply unit?”

“Well, if 30 people are detected, it must be a supply unit.”

When I answered nonchalantly while pushing aside the annoying grass, Robin tilted her head questioningly.

“But… that child’s voice we heard earlier… what could it be?”

“How would I know? Well, maybe it’s a child of some high-ranking person, like our Lady.”

Usually, children of noble families who come to gain practical experience are often assigned to supply units or rear standby groups rather than dangerous front lines.

After walking about thirty steps like that, suddenly the pebbles on the ground slightly floated up, and then an enormous explosion sound violently penetrated our ears.

“Kyaaat…! What’s this..?”

“What… what is it…?”

As Lady Alexis and I spoke with dumbfounded expressions, Roymen, who was standing firmly despite the loud sound ringing in his ears, took a deep breath, gripped his flail, and opened his mouth.

“…My nose feels numb from the evil energy. We must move faster.”

“Uh… well… if you say so… Lady Alexis, are you alright?”

“Ye-es… I’m just a little surprised..”

After our momentary confusion, we regained our composure and approached the source of the sound carefully with tense expressions, wary of our surroundings.

“…They’re fighting. Have they encountered Depal?”

At the sound of weapons clashing in the distance, we quickened our pace.

When we reached about 100 steps away from the entities detected by Robin, the lush green hell parted, and suddenly, a flat clearing appeared before our eyes.

“….That’s…”

Along with the smell of blood stinging our noses, a battle where blood and flesh were flying was in full swing.

About twenty Living Armors, and Depal, who was swinging his spear at the enemies from the front.

And…

“…Why are those bitches here?”

I saw the hero bitch and her minions desperately parrying Depal’s consecutive attacks.

What’s this? Weren’t they pursuing Argyle?

Momentarily frozen in confusion at the unexpected appearance of the hero’s party, I could see that they were gradually being pushed back by the numerical disadvantage and Depal’s relentless attacks.

Seeing blood flowing from her side, it seems they were ambushed…
…Do I really need to help them?

“…Hey, Roymen. Should we just kill Depal at the end of the fight and take his head? I hate to say this, but I’m actually not on good terms with the hero…?”

In the place where Roymen had been crouching behind me until just now, only the grass flattened by his large body remained.

What the hell, where did this bastard go?

As I couldn’t hide my anxiety and looked around for Roymen, suddenly Robin tapped my shoulder and pointed forward.

“Senior… over there…”

Reflexively following Robin’s fingertip with my gaze, my teeth involuntarily clenched, and all kinds of curses filled my mind.

“….Ah, damn it. Really.”

I cursed and immediately rushed toward Roymen, who was standing face to face with Depal.

That idiot, really!

“Urgh… Maya! When will Flame Storm be ready!”

The hero shouted without looking back after blocking Depal’s spear, but it didn’t reach Maya’s ears as she was already concentrating all her mind on her incantation.

‘Damn… that was a trap?! Shit…!’

-Clang!

After another exchange, the hero, having momentarily distanced herself from Depal, spat out blood-mixed saliva with a “ptui.”

This is dangerous.

If only she had noticed it was a trap… if she had noticed it was a trap and prepared for the ambush… perhaps the situation would have been better?

In the hero’s mind, oddly enough, Austin’s face appeared.

The presence of Austin, who had always removed traps with sharp eyes and warned them in advance, began to disorder Hero Yoo-jung’s mind once again.

“Call me cowardly if you wish. Without doing this, capturing you would be nearly impossible…”

Toward her, Depal, with the expressionless face characteristic of Argyle’s dolls, aimed his spear once more.

The hero felt her side, which had barely stopped bleeding thanks to Isabel’s healing light, getting hot again as she gripped her holy sword firmly.

Feeling her breath becoming ragged and hot blood leaking from her mouth again, the hero faced Depal’s spear once more to buy time for Maya’s incantation.

As the sword and spear clashed dozens of times, and sweat and blood mixed to heighten the heat of battle.

“….?”

Behind Depal, she saw a priest walking out.

“…What.”

Depal, too, seemed to sense the presence behind him, as he created distance from the hero and turned his head to fix his gaze on the priest.

Due to the sudden appearance of a third party, the battle between the Living Armors and her companions also temporarily halted.

“…Who are you? Are you with the hero?”

Depal turned the head of his spear and aimed it at the suddenly appeared priest.

Depal’s senses were instinctively sounding an alarm that the priest before his eyes was dangerous.

For a moment, silence descended, and the priest, who hadn’t answered Depal’s question, eventually raised his head and began to look up at the sky.

“….?”

At the priest’s strange behavior, Depal, as well as the hero and her companions, tilted their heads and looked at the priest.

The priest, who had been continuously looking up at the sky, finally lowered his head again, stared intently at Depal, and uttered words with an incomprehensible meaning.

“…This is, uncommon.”

“Leave if you don’t want to die. If you don’t disappear right now, I’ll consider you to be on the hero’s side.”

Despite Depal’s threat, the priest did not retreat.

The priest in front of them simply slowly lowered his hands to grip the flail and bizarre whip hanging at his waist, his eyes glowing red.

As the ominously glowing flail made a clanking sound as it fell, Depal flinched at an inexplicable uneasiness.

The priest, who had shown no movement until now, finally began to approach Depal one step at a time, weapons in both hands.

“…He does not desire your death. That’s uncommon.”

“…..What?”

“Like Bacchus, I’ll make you a body that can’t die even if you want to.”

When the name of Bacchus, who had suddenly disappeared a few months ago, came from the lips of the priest before him, Depal tightly gripped his spear, feeling a chill for the first time in his life.

“…He desires your limbs, evil being.”

As the grass thicket behind the priest parted again, the thorny whip began to lash out.