Chapter 406: Midday Owl

The party of Meteor Claire set out early the next morning. The guide led them to a basin in the mountains. It looked like a good place to camp because of the lack of wind, but there was also the problem of visibility in this bowl-shaped spot.

「This is where the geologist and the Pozi met.」the guide said.

「Oh...」

There was a stone piled up in the shape of a kiln, and a few large stones lying near it, traces that someone once rested here. The party members gathered around Claire.

「Let's look at the map.」one said.

「We're here right now... Let's go somewhere high up for a quick survey.」

「Do you want to take a break?」

「We can still keep going.」

「There don't seem to be any monsters here at all. Speaking of which, we didn't run into any today.」

「Is there a water hole around here? Miss Guide, is there anywhere here we can get some water— Uh, hello?」

They noticed that the guide they had spent the entire trip with was standing about twenty meters away from them—smiling quietly.

「What are you doing over the— Claire, watch out!」

As one of them covered Claire, there was a sound that tore through the air, followed by a crash.

「Gaaaahh!」An arrow pierced the man's back.

「What?!」

「Enemies!」

「Where?!」

「Shielders, on your position!」

They quickly went into formation, surrounding Claire and the wounded adventurer. Out of nowhere, people appeared on the slopes surrounding the basin, standing in a line. Most of them were men, including beastmen and dwarves, not only humans. All in all, they numbered as many as fifty.

「Who the hell are you?」the adventurer with a huge kite shield snarled.

「There's no point in answering, is there?」the guide answered as she slowly backed away up into the incline.「You're going to die here.」

「You know we're rank B, don't you?」

「I do. And I also know you have pretty good gear.」

Meteor Claire realized that the enemy were after their gear. While they had huge amounts of money, most of it was deposited in the guild. What was more valuable, however, was their equipment. Consumables like shields were sturdy and durable, but weapons were incredibly expensive. They fought using special weapons that could be imbued with mana and spells. Selling one could easily provide funds to build a house.

「Claire, how's the healing?」

「I'm working on it. But this poison is nasty.」

The arrowhead was coated with poison. The arrow in the man's back had been pulled out, but he was sweating and breathing hard. None of the members doubted Claire's ability as a top-notch Healer, but complex poison required effort. It required time.

The enemy had surrounded the basin, every single one of them carrying bows and arrows. One hit each and it's over.

「Attacking in broad daylight.」the man with the kite shield said.「Cheap tricks. You guys must be Midday Owl.」

「Correct.」the guide said as she made it to the top of the slope.「But there's nothing cheap about what we do. We studied and discussed the most reliable way to kill you, and we're carrying it out at the moment.」

「I thought for sure you were a citizen of Gordon.」

The guide laughed out loud.「Of course you did. I gotta be that good. After all, hunting higher ranks is what we do.」

「Hunting?!」

「That's right. Like a wise owl of the forest, we will use our wits to hunt you down. Now, enough stalling.」

「Tsk.」

They wanted to buy some time for Claire to finish her healing, but she realized their intentions. Claire still didn't know what the poison was. Perhaps it was poison unknown to her. In that case, they would have to take the injured to town and take the time to heal him there.

「All hands, aim!」Acting as the leader, the guide raised her arm, and all bows were raised at the ready.「Fire.」

The moment she brought her hand down, two kite-shield wielders guarding the front and rear roared simultaneously. They poured mana into their vocal cords to intimidate the enemy. Their shouts produced shockwaves that hit seventy percent of the archers, knocking them back and throwing off their aim.

「Knock them down!」

Their companions were quick to respond as they already expected them to use it. Crouched down and covering their ears, they all rose at once to face the arrows coming from both sides that weren't affected by the roar. Shields deflected the arrows, and swords slashed them in halves.

「No injuries here!」

「Same here!」

They made it through the first volley.

「...Go...」

The two men who shouted had their vocal chords ruptured. They could barely speak. They took out a small bottle of potion from their bags and quickly put it to their mouths, but before they could drink it all, the next volley came.

Two kite-shielders focused on defense to protect Claire.

「Spread out!」

The remaining six went on the offensive. They were taken by surprise, but they were still rank B adventurers, every one of them a skilled fighter. They climbed up the slopes.

「What was that loud voice?!」the guide exclaimed in frustration.「No one told me about that!」

Their plan was to poison Claire first, then at least two or three of them next, but they had not achieved either objective.

Members of Meteor Claire seemed superhuman as they cut down arrows flying straight at them.

Irritated, the guide spread her arms wide, then crossed them into an X.

One man was climbing up the slope at an incredible speed. He was only five meters away from the woman now.

「You made a mistake targeting us, Midday—」

But when he took his next step, he felt nothing underneath. It was a pit. He lost his balance, but managed to hold on with one hand. Three arrows zipped towards him.

But a swing of his sword knocked them down.

Are rank B adventurers really this strong? the guide wondered as a chill ran down her spine.

Unfortunately, this was all within expectations.

An arrow pierced the man's thigh as he tried to climb out of the hole—an arrow that came from behind, from the opposite side of the basin. One mistake and it could've hit the enemy. In fact, some arrows landed some distance away, while others hit members of Midday Owl.

The guide crossing her arms was a signal to just shoot without care for their own. They believed that even Meteor Claire could not do anything about attacks coming from behind.

「We have you outnumbered」the guide said, wearing a faint grin.「By the way, we have antidotes.」

The man's vision blurred.「Damn you...」

「If you surrender and give us your equipment right now, I promise that we won't hurt your precious Claire.」

Three of the man's comrades and five members of Midday Owl were also hit by arrows. The poison was extremely potent. Even after using antidotes, the members of Midday Owl were foaming from the mouth, unable to get up.

Meteor Claire's outstanding physical abilities allowed them to barely remain conscious, but if they lost focus for even a moment, they would surely faint.

「Wow... You've got some sweet weapons.」The guide smiled as she looked at the swords, shields, armor, and tool bags in front of her.

Meteor Claire had surrendered and given up their weapons. Five men in light clothing were glaring at the guide, with Claire in the middle. They were seething with rage.

The antidote they had just been given was working, but it only slowed down the poison's effect. The other four men were slumped down on the ground, breathing heavily. Claire was healing all of them.

「Stay strong. I'll make sure to heal you up.」

She was on the verge of tears, and the five men could only watch while gritting their teeths. After her friends took the weapons, the guide distanced herself from Meteor Claire. Around them were thirty archers, bows at the ready.

「Hey, wait. You're just leaving us? We can't go down the mountain without food.」

「Food?」The guide cackled.「You don't need food when you're all gonna die anyway.」

「Bitch! You didn't plan on keeping your word at all!」

「Wait, did you actually believe me? Even after I tricked you? I guess even idiots can become rank B.」

Members of Midday Owl burst into laughter.

「Damn right! Why would we offer a compromise when you're the ones under attack?」

「We only said that so your weapons wouldn't get damaged.」

「If these guys are rank B, then we should've been rank A a long time ago.」

They were tricked from the start. The enemy had carefully planned their ambush, waiting for them to come here. They were more like spiders than owls.

Our rank made us cocky!

The members of Meteor Claire gritted their teeth. Their biggest weakness was Claire. When things became desperate and the enemy said they'd spare her, their mind wavered. Had they charged in straight earlier fully prepared to die, they would've taken out half of the enemy. They would die, but it would've been a better end.

「Let's get this over with, then. Ready!」

Suddenly, the biggest man in the party, the one with a kite shield, shouted.「Protect her!」His throat had not fully healed yet, but it was enough to get his message across. His long-time comrades responded. He covered Claire, while the other four started running.

They would fight even bare-handed, even with poisoned arrows piercing their flesh, even when death awaited them. If they backed down here, they could not call themselves adventurers. Their pride spurred them onward.

『Let the ever-pure light illuminate the dark and narrow path.』

A voice came from the top of the basin. Anyone should have noticed them, all the more so when they were accumulating mana to cast a spell, but no one sensed their approach. What's more, they were standing behind the guide.

「Atonement Flame.」

The voice belonged to a girl with a silver mask and a hood. She let loose a pure white flame that was difficult to see in broad daylight, almost as if another sun had appeared. It startled everyone and drew their attention.

The flame engulfed the Midday Owl. One by one they screamed. Then they realized something.

「W-Wait. It doesn't burn!」

「What is this?!」

「Quit being stupid and shoot the Mage!」the guide yelled.

Midday Owl snapped back to their senses and aimed their bows at the Mage's direction.

But members of Meteor Claire struck them, sending a few flying.

「Calm down! We have the numbers!」

Then another voice came from somewhere else.

『O' God who art in heaven, by your wisdom, pass thine judgment. The light from thine right hand sees the truth, blessing the holy and judging the wicked.』

They jumped. Another silver masked stranger with a hood on appeared from behind Claire. Taller than the other girl, she possessed tremendous mana. Pure, bluish-white light rose from her location. It looked like she was burning up at a super high temperature.

The guide saw a number of huge, golden rings coming down from the heavens towards the Midday Owl.

「Angel Judgement.」

Blue light shot out from the hands of the masked girl, piercing everyone on the chest. It couldn't be avoided.

The guide's vision turned bright. She gasped as tremendous pain, worse than being burned in flames, jolted through her body. As soon as it was gone, she fainted.

The only reason Hikaru noticed something strange was because of the roar that echoed through the mountains. The intimidating scream, filled with magical power, traveled far and wide. Anyone who heard it would have assumed that something was amiss. It actually served as a kind of SOS.

Hikaru wondered if they should check it out. He knew they were heading in the right direction, and he could use Mana Detection to survey the situation from afar, so he decided to go.

He thought adventurers were fighting a wyvern or something, but he was dead wrong.

「I didn't expect a battle between Meteor Claire and Midday Owl.」Hikaru said.「All right. That should be everything.」

In order to avoid trouble, Hikaru switched to his Silver Face persona. He then took down the fleeing members of Midday Owl and brought back the weapons they took. The huge guy immediately went to retrieve his heavy armor and kite shield.

「How's the healing?」Hikaru asked.

「A-All done.」Paula replied.

「Incredible!」Claire grabbed Paula's clothes.「What kind of spell did you use?! What about that magic that took down those scoundrels?! It was too amazing! I'm now a fan!」She would not let go.

Paula quickly healed the poisoned members of Meteor Claire with her magic. Since examing the effects of the poison was a waste of time, Paula brute-forced it instead with her 8 points on Healing Magic and 12 points on Mana. To neutralize poison effectively with magic, knowing the composition of the poison was necessary. Of course, having extraordinary magical power worked as well.

「A random Mage stole our Claire!」

「But she's a girl... girl on girl action... works for me.」

「Better than a man taking her!」

The members of Claire's party seemed to be grieving.

「We gotta go.」Hikaru said.「You can deal with Midday Owl, right?」He didn't want to waste any more time here.

「W-Wait! Let us thank you.」Claire said.「This lady must be someone of high status, right? She travels with you as her servant, hiding her identity...」

「Servant?」Hikaru pointed to himself, and Lavia gave him a pat on his shoulder.「Well, whatever. We're in a hurry. We don't care about bandit-wannabes. You can kill them or hand them over to the authorities.」

「Please don't go yet. I beg of you.」A man bowed to Hikaru.「It will take some time for us to reorganize. We can deal with a Flame Goat, but not a wyvern.」

「I guess... Fine, we'll stay. But no socializing. I'll keep a lookout, so pull yourselves back together as soon as possible.」

「Thank you.」The man bowed his head once more, truly grateful.

For the next hour, Hikaru stayed close to them. The wind was cold and dry, but that was about it. The blazing heat from the sun made it hotter.

All the while, members of Midday Owl did not wake up. They had been subjected to Angel Judgement, giving them psychological shocks in proportion to the wrongs they had committed. They were not dead, only unconscious. Hikaru wondered if they had done a lot of things.

Prioritizing their safety, Meteor Claire decided to head back down the mountain for now and report what happened. For now, because they planned to search for the Pozi village again later.

As for Midday Owl, they left them behind, not caring if they got eaten by monsters. If that happened, then they had it coming. You reap what you sow, as they say.

While they were resting, Claire stuck to Paula all the time, begging for permission for her to accompany them. Her party members managed to pull her away in the end. Apparently, she liked those who could use more powerful Healing magic than her.

「Adventurers try and try again.」the big guy with the kite shield said. His throat had already been healed by Paula.「Plus, we're Jewel Hunters.」

There are all sorts of adventurers out there, huh? Hikaru thought as he glanced at Midday Owl, who were still tied up on the ground. Those who take from others don't count. Adventurers take on challenges. Some search for gems and precious metals. Some fight monsters. Others want to reach the deepest part of a dungeon. Some search for rare medicinal herbs.

「What kind of adventurers are we?」Lavia asked as they left the scene.

「I was just wondering the same thing.」Hikaru said.「Meteor Claire are Jewel Hunters. We don't really have any objectives, do we?」

「I want to read more books!」Lavia exclaimed.

「So you're a book hunter.」

「There's no such thing.」

「There is, actually.」Paula interjected.

「What?! Really?」

「Yes. Adventurers whose expertise are rare books. They have good eyes, too. I think it's perfect for you.」

「Oh...」Lavia's cheek flushed at the newfound knowledge.

Hikaru and Paula smiled.

She looks so happy. Maybe I should search for something too... Like a goal, or perhaps some journey to self-discovery.

「Sounds like I'm having an identity crisis. Yikes.」

「What's an identity crisis?」Lavia asked.

「Oh, no, it's nothing. Look. We're back to where we were before.」

The map showed that they had returned to the path they were supposed to take.

「We're almost there. We should be there by the end of the day, so hang in there.」

「Yeah!」

「Okay.」

Oddly enough, the place where the Midday Owl guide had brought them was quite close to the site of Pozi's village.

Hikaru was sure that everything would be settled before Meteor Claire climbed back up the mountain again.