Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~

Chapter125，Part2: 2 - A Certain Vacation ⑥

Chapter 125 A Certain Vacation ⑥

Part 2

Arnold is also a swordsman. However, if we are only talking about technique, his skill with the sword is 『So-so』.

For Hunters, who are required to have all kinds of skills, swordsmanship is only one element of their strength.

In the first place, swordsmanship fights are basically designed to fight against other swordsmen, but Hunters are dealing against Monsters and Phantoms. If he learns too much, there is the possibility that he will make a decision mistake in the fight when push comes to shove.

A genius swordsman. Normally, it would be words that would be laughed off, but it’s a different story if it was a Hunter with an Alias. Of course, he would be a skilled swordsman, but his overall strength should also be quite high.

With the information on a strong enemy, a smile naturally forms on his face. Before talking about retaliation or things like that, when a Hunter learns about a strong enemy, it is normal to have an impulse to want to cross swords with him.

After a few hours of going down the road, Arnold stopped the carriage in the middle of a sparsely wooded plain.

Gilbert’s carriage, which was following behind him, stopped as well.

The reason why Arnold stopped his carriage was because of traces left on the ground.

A wheel track was formed on the uneven path.

“? Um…… Is something wrong?”

“The road………… It’s splitting off. Hay.”

“………… There is no doubt. It hasn’t been that long…… A day or so?”

With a serious look on his face, Hay looked in the direction where the wheel track continued.

If they wanted to go to the next town, they should just follow the road. Arnold too was planning to do that, and if you think rationally, you would take the safe road.

That is why wheel tracks going off the road stand out more. The wheel track made from crushing the soft grass was almost imperceptible, but Arnold and the others weren’t so naive as to let that fool them.

The wheel tracks continued in the direction where many monsters were said to live there, the Garest Mountains.

“Nine out of ten it was them. I heard that Monsters could appear over there, I don’t think a mere traveler would make the logical choice to go there.”

Crossing the mountains is only a viable option if you are quite confident in your abilities. When there are Monsters, it is possible that there are mountain bandits. Even the most pigheaded merchant wouldn’t choose that path.

It was too much to be just a coincidence. Considering the timing of 《Infinite Variety》 leaving the town, it was obvious that these wheel tracks were made by them.

“Are they planning on crossing the mountain? Were they in such a hurry……? No ――”

If their destination was Gladys’ territory, crossing the mountains wouldn’t be that much of a shortcut. If you take into account the amount of time to fight Monsters, it is an option you wouldn’t want to take unless you are very confident in your fighting abilities.

Moreover, it was obvious that those wheel tracks were left by ―― 《Infinite Variety》.

Even if they didn’t do it on purpose, if they thought Arnold and his companions would overlook a track like this, then they would be really idiots.

And considering 《Absolute Shadow’s》 provocation when they left, there was only one conclusion possible.

Arnold strongly clenched his teeth and stared at the end of the wheel tracks.

“So you are inviting me to come and see what I am made of…… 《Infinite Variety》!”

“…… What do we do?”

“………… Oi, Gilbert. I’ll ask you one thing, is that man ―― Afraid of hordes of Monsters?”

When Arnold squeezed out his voice, Gilbert tilted his head with a thoughtful expression for a moment, but then immediately said in a loud voice.

.

“He isn’t afraid. There is no way a man with a Level 8 would be afraid when he didn’t even pull out his weapon when facing a Phantom! Are you afraid, Ossan?”

“!?”

Ruda tried to stop him, but it was too late. In the first place, without even the need to ask Gilbert, Arnold’s choice was already made.

“………… Let’s go. To the mountains.”

§

The old road that had been made in the Garest Mountains was just barely large enough for their new carriage to pass through.

The trees were so dense that it narrowed their view on both sides, and they could also occasionally hear the cries of Monsters coming from somewhere.

But above all, what bothered Arnold and his companions more than anything was ―― The Monsters abandoned corpses.

All kinds of corpses were scattered everywhere and it was obvious that they were recent corpses, and considering that some of them had already been eaten by beasts and Monsters, there were far too many.

Putting aside Gilbert, Ruda and the other young Hunters, even Hay, who has seen his fair share of terrible battlefields in his life, frowned at the sight of this scenery.

“All of this… Was all of this done by 《Infinite Variety》……”

“…… Sure, there are many Monsters in the mountains, but no matter how, there are too many. Did something happen……?”

Monsters’ corpses can be sold. If there were so many, they would be worth a fortune, but probably because they didn’t take any effort to do so, there was no sign of any Monsters being brought back.

What supported Arnold’s sense of discomfort was the fact that there were almost no Monsters attacking their carriages.

With so much flesh and blood spread around, it wouldn’t be strange for Monsters to gather and feast on it, but they were nowhere to be seen, as if they had all fled somewhere.

There must be a lot of lesser intelligent Monsters in the mountain…… Did all of them escape from 《Infinite Variety》? Did they feel the difference in their abilities?

I don’t understand the situation. But, I have a bad feeling about this.

There were many Monsters, but not many giant ones. If Arnold and his companions wanted to do it, with their abilities, they could probably recreate a scene like this.

However, the prerequisite to do this is for you to be attacked by a large number of Monsters.

A flashback of the time when they were attacked by the horde of Orcs comes back to their mind.

The situation was the exact opposite as it was 《Infinite Variety》 who was attacked this time, but the creepiness was the same.

“What did you do…… 《Infinite Variety》. No, first and foremost…… For what reason did you choose this path?”

Was he really trying to just provoke us?

“Arnold-san…… Would you like to return?”

Maybe Hay was thinking the same thing, he asked me so in a quiet voice.

Arnold looked up at the trail of corpses and silently shook his head.

TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

So Cry thinking that Arnold wouldn’t follow because he went to the forest was, as expected, wayyyy wrong.

Arnold’s To the mountain made me think of the Hobbit. Is he going to the mountain to fight a dragon? And also he said “I have a bad feeling about this”, Star Wars anyone? XD

Tchao à plus!