Withdrawal.


　When Pelly learned of the possibility of a basilisk, he made the decision to withdraw without hesitation.

　He was so fearless that he bore no resemblance to the man who had laughed so hard when he recruited me.

　I was impressed by the fact that he was the leader of the group.


Our goal is to capture the demons. It's not in our contract to take out the basilisk.

Commander. Even if you were to run away, how?

Yeah, that's right. He's going to run a straight line to Ishqa.


　Having said that much, Pery looks at me with a serious look on his face.


Sola. I don't want you to send all of us, but could you give some of the young guys a ride?

I don't mind. You were hired to be a courier to get to and from the airport to begin with. If you want, I don't mind going back and forth and sending them all home.

It's a long time to go back and forth, and the burden is on the one who remains in the forest. It's not a good idea to stay in one place and fight against a basilisk. I appreciate the offer, but one time is enough.

Yes, sir.

All right, then, boys, get ready to go, quickly!　Other than gear, minimal water and food!　You're greedy, you're throwing your bags all over the place, and you're leaving your wasted time behind!　What's the matter with you, Fyodor? Fyodor is a very perceptive man. It's an emergency and he'll make it up to you. No, in fact, he might even give you a reward for finding the basilisk!


　Backed by the Commander's words, the Grim Reaper's Scythe quickly began to prepare for a retreat.

　This quick decision may have worked, but we were able to start our retreat before the basilisk appeared.

　We had to leave most of the supplies we had brought with us behind, but not our lives. As well as food, we have a lot of herbs and remedies (potions) that we'll collect later.

　Just like the leftovers of the dead, the supplies thrown away during the adventure belong to the people who picked them up - well, we'll return them to the Scythe of the Reaper properly, though. In that case, I won't be punished even if I receive about ten percent as a thank you.



　While thinking about this, he nudged the wyvern and soared into the sky.

　There are three human beings on my back. Two young members and the XO. Incidentally, the XO is the young man who explained to me about the Sea of Rot and the basilisk.

　The reason why Pelly gave priority to the return of the XO because he needed to return as soon as possible and explain in detail to his employer, Fyodor.

　The appearance of the basilisk was more than just the appearance of a powerful monster.

　If Titis Forest was swallowed by the Sea of Rot, the bounty of the forest would disappear. Medicinal herbs, wood, and materials for magical beasts. All the products that support the economy of Ishqa would be lost at once, a huge blow.

　Besides, it's impossible for these magical beasts whose homes are swallowed by the rotten sea to die of starvation peacefully.

　In the worst case scenario, they will attack Ishqa in droves. It's called the Stampede.



　And we have a more serious problem.

　The Kale River, fed by the Titis Forest, is the backbone of the Issaquah's water supply, its main source of water for domestic use. What would happen if this were to be poisoned?

　The current situation is a rather serious threat to the survival of the Issaquah.

　And it's not just about the city of Ithaca. The magical beasts from the Titis Forest and Mount Skim, which had been held back by the city of Ishka, would flood the various parts of the Canary Kingdom like a dam, plunging the entire kingdom into chaos.



　Because he knew that much, Pelly must have decided to send his trusty XO first.

　That being the case, we will have to repay that trust.

　These days, the indigo-winged wyverns have become much more versatile in the way they fly, allowing them to hover and even take off and land vertically.

　Apparently, they don't simply fly with their wings alone, but also apply their magical powers to support and float their bodies - yes, progress through hard work is remarkable. After all, this kid was a wyvern that could do it if he tried.


　Lunamaria and Seal have told me that it's time to give him a name, but I can't think of a name that fits at the moment.

　I tried calling her Indigo, but she gave me a very sad look. If I had continued to call him Daigo, I might have learned the ultimate secret of the game before long.

　Since then, I couldn't come up with a name for it, and lately I was beginning to think that Indigo Wyvern was already a good name for it.



　As I soared high into the air with this thought in mind, I looked out over the forest below.

　As far as I can see, there's no clear anomaly - no, it's in the north, and parts of the forest are discolored as if they were darkened. Is that corner of the sea of rot?

　Thinking about it calmly, it's only a guess that the monster that caused the rotten sea is a basilisk. No one has actually seen a basilisk in person.

　In order to give credibility to the report, I wanted to check the rotten sea from above once.



　But I suppressed the urge.

　Now that there are four people in the saddle, which is normally the limit of a one-seater, or at most a two-seater, the mobility of the wyvern has been greatly reduced.

　I didn't want to come in contact with a demonic beast that can attack in the air in this state - the basilisk spits out poisonous breath - and I didn't want to come in contact with it.

　As instructed by me, the wyvern begins to flap its wings towards Ishka.

　I thought I heard a mocking roar from behind, as if chasing after us.



◆◆◆




　I returned to Ishka with the XO and the others, and without a moment's rest, I turned back to the forest of Titis again. The XO and Fyodor had begged me to help the other members of the Scythe of Death.

　For my part, there's no denying it.

　However, since there was a risk of being attacked by a basilisk, we couldn't fly low. We needed to maintain a certain altitude, but then it would be difficult to see what was going on on the ground.

　In fact, the entire field of vision was covered by a sea of trees. No matter how hard I looked, it was impossible to find the "Scythe of Death" running underneath the trees.



　If you think about it simply, they should be somewhere on the straight line between the base we set up in the forest and the city of Ishka.

　But it's in the forest, where there is no road-like path. It's not easy to go straight to the destination.

　In that case, the best course of action would be to use the creek as a guide and continue on downstream and downstream, just like I did before.

　However, the creek does not flow straight to Ishqa. In some places, it can be a long way around.

　If there really was a basilisk, and yet they were chasing the 'Scythe of the Reaper', that detour could have fatal consequences.



''........There's no point in thinking about this and that, is there?


　I took the wyvern and headed for my base in the forest. From there, I climbed down to the ground and made my way through the forest towards Ishka. If you run at full power, you should be able to catch up with someone eventually.


I'll call you when I see you. I'll call you when I see someone.''


　The wyvern looks at me with concern for a moment at my command to get out of the saddle, but it must have sensed that I was in a hurry.

　But the wyvern must have sensed that I was in a hurry, and it immediately flapped its wings and flew into the sky.

　As I saw that figure off, I immediately began to search for it.

　From the looks of it, the supplies at the base hadn't been raided, and the surrounding plants and trees didn't seem to be rotting. No basilisks have come here.

　I take some relief in that fact. If this place had been messed up, the search ahead would be an ominous one.

　If this place is safe, the chances of the 'Scythe of the Grim Reaper' being safe will increase. That's what I thought.



　-- until they started their search and found that corpse in less than a few minutes.



　It was lying in a place less than five minutes after leaving the base.

　Half of its face was melted and its contents were exposed.

　At first I thought it had been eaten, but I was wrong.

　The reddish-black liquid that was dissolving the corpse's skull, still making a strange sound as it jiggled, was probably an extremely poisonous liquid. This person had probably died from a direct hit of the poisonous liquid in his face.

　The remaining half of the body seemed to be still swirling with astonishment, pain and despair in the eyes that were wide open with a snap.



　I was on the verge of trying to close those eyes, but I stopped myself.

　Legend has it that the poison of the basilisk caused the death of an enemy knight through the spear that attacked him.

　This is not a level of safety as long as you don't touch it directly.

　I'm sure it's safe to say that he's using his juju, but this is not the time to make a bet.


　I bowed to the dead, then turned on my heel and stepped into the forest.

　I don't know if it's a basilisk or not, but there's no doubt that there's a very powerful venomous monster (Venom) wandering around.

　I couldn't stop having a bad feeling.