At the behest of the lord lord, I, Captain of the Guard of the frontier small city of Liberty, Gugus, and his party have come to investigate the site of the former frontier village south of the Green Convoy.

　The purpose of the investigation is threefold
　One is a survey of the current status of this former frontier village
　The first is the re-examination of the underground mineralization around the former settlement site.
　One, to see if there are any survivors left in this neighborhood.

　Well, it's been years since it was abandoned, so I don't think it's unlikely that there are any survivors, but since the lord lord has reminded me to be sure, I'll give it some thought.

　Since this area is also the habitat of large carnivorous creatures, I selected an elite squad of guards with Lil' Pop as the centerpiece... or rather, if Lil' Pop, the battle witch, is there, it will be no problem to leave most of the battle activities to him, or perhaps it will be solved even if he is left alone... even if I tell him, he won't listen... (sigh)
　We also needed to investigate an underground vein, so we asked five dwarves to accompany us.
　We were told that it would take several days to investigate the vein of ore, so we also prepared facilities for simple lodging and food, and after about half a day to complete our preparations, we and our party left Liberty's guard station that day.

　We traveled by high speed wagon and stayed the day at Greencomb.

　It used to take four or five days to make the journey, but now the cobblestone roads have been built so that a day's journey overland is enough to get us there.
　This roadway is a feature that has been enhanced all at once since the current lord's lordship, but it has really helped.

　Since we're leaving at the request of the Green Combe union, we were able to get a pretty good meal and lodging for the day, and all of us, including me, were very impressed, but only Lil Pop.
"I am in charge of the armored infantry.
　And then he was fiddling with the demon infantry throughout the night like he always did.

　The demons don't have to sleep or anything, and that's why I've never seen that guy sleep.............................but I'd tell him to at least take a bath every day.
　The lillpop guy, if you leave him alone, he'll keep spending all his time without a bath and
　I often find myself walking around with the smell of nitrous smoke and oil all around me.....................and I have to force myself to take her into the bath.
　I used to have some reservations about it, thinking that Lil Pop is a woman too........
　When the whole town is telling you to "do something about those oily guards," you know...
　Every time I force Lil Pop, who doesn't like it, to take a bath with me, I'm getting a lot of bad press from my people, but then you guys do it.


　The next morning, we left the Green Convection.
　After a few days, we arrived at our destination, the site of the settlement village.


　........But, well.......I guess this is what you would call an all-over-the-road village.

　At the entrance of the pioneer village, there is a large gate and the surrounding area is covered with wooden forts, but because they have been abandoned for several years, they are covered with so much vegetation that at first I didn't realize that there was a man-made structure there.
　The interior of the fort is similar, with buildings, wells, etc., but all of them are covered with vegetation and dense vegetation.

　As expected, there was no sign of human life.
　Well, it would be amazing if they were still alive in this state.

　After confirming that there was an excavation site at the back of the frontier village that looked like an entrance to an underground mine, we looked around for a suitable place to stay.
　Most of the houses were unusable because they were covered with plants and trees, so we were forced to build a simple hut at the base of a huge tree in the center of the village.
　The lillpop guy really comes in handy when it comes to this kind of work.
This kind of work is not really within our jurisdiction, sir.
　and so on, but he cuts down, processes and assembles several huge trees by himself.

　What's amazing about a mage is that he doesn't need to use any tools to do so, but his hands subtly transform themselves into a shape suitable for such work.
　The tips of his hands became a saw or a hammer, and I was constantly stunned when I saw it.

　After creating a hut that the entire group could sleep in with room to spare in a matter of seconds, Lilpop went to patrol the surroundings without a break.
　I decided to go on patrol with Lilpop, leaving the task of carrying the luggage into the hut to everyone else.

　When I follow him like this, this guy is blatantly
Have you been doing enough on your own?
He's rather slowing you down, isn't he?
　But I've gotten used to it, and I've mastered the skill of letting those eyes go by.
　I don't mind it, because I've gotten used to it, and I've learned to ignore those eyes.
　

　After a week around the fort, we learned a few things.
　The area around the fort is as thick as a dense forest with vegetation.
　No sign of life.
　However, traces of large organisms regularly strutting around the area can be seen.　

　The problem is the third one.
　There are several brand-new animal trail-like structures around it, and it looks like a large creature is circling this area.
　I don't know how long the cycle is, but anyway, it would be best to finish the investigation of the underground vein as soon as possible, and retreat quickly.

　I've been worrying about that at the same time as I've been worrying about it.
A colossal creature, sir. That's very exciting.
　And the lil' pops that are ready to kill me are getting worked up about it....
　Well, this guy was going to join the usual patrol while getting covered in undead return blood during the battle with the chimera pseudo, too.......the stench damage from that time was terrible.......
　I mean, he's covered in so much blood, but did he just make that "ka-ka-n" face...he's a battle junkie, man.

　At any rate, if we ever get into a battle with a large creature and he gets hit by the blood of a large creature, we'd better take him out for a bath right away....

　After returning to the temporary housing, me and Lil Pop met up with everyone and briefly told them about the situation we had seen.
　As it was, we decided to go to bed early after having a meal for the day.

　Lilpop and the other guards take turns staying awake.
　Honestly, I think one lillpop would be enough, but this guy has a bad habit of getting caught up in the maintenance of his magic infantry sometimes and neglecting his security duties, so I can't be too careful...

　At any rate, the first day dawned uneventful.

　After breakfast.
　The dwarf squad, along with two-thirds of the guard unit, headed to the underground mining site.
　Me and Lil Pop were in charge of guarding the perimeter, again that day, and we left a few guards in the hut as well.

　Well, other than the large creatures that seemed to be circling the outside of the fort, there wouldn't be any problems... until this time, I thought.

　Then, a scream went up.

　It was from a group of dwarves who had headed to the mining site.
　I never dreamed that a creature of that size would be lurking in a former mining camp it was my fault, my fault.

　It was my fault.
　A large creature chasing after it with great speed.

　From a distance, watching that big thing, Lil Pop and I ran towards it as fast as we could.