Looking at the red bar indicating physical strength, based on the information I had gleaned from previous battles, I expected "Restore Support 1" to be a very useful skill for novice searchers.

　You have 30 seconds to recover your strength - that's when the "Restore Support 1" is activated and it works perfectly.

　Current Situation◆

　Arihito's 'Recovery of Support 1' is activated → Kyoka's health is restored.



　Chief's red bar, which had been reduced by 70%, recovered 50% at once. And her breathing, which seemed to be quite painful, also became easier, and her arm, which was red and swollen, could hardly be seen to be swollen with only a little redness remaining.

　If a level 1 explorer's strength was 10 points, then recovering 5 points in 30 seconds would be very useful. Of course, it would be meaningless if a single blow took 10 points with it, so it was fortunate that Redface's blow was shallow enough to get in.

　However, from the shock of the intense pain that followed, the Chief has lost consciousness. Even if her strength recovers, she won't be able to recover that much - does that mean she needs another method of status treatment?

　I put her down once and I put 'Red Face' into a leather bag as a harvesting tool. If you take her down, she's a rat covered in fluffy red fur, but her face is still vicious. It was a size larger than a cottontail, so the leather bag was full, as a normal cottontail could hold four rats.

"Hey, are you all right?　I'll carry you to the healer (healer) now!

　Theresia brought Mr. Rival and his friends with her. His friends carried the Chief on a stretcher. I was escorted out afterwards, while Rival-san asked me to talk to him.

'What the hell happened ... did you run into a group of watadama or something?
'You'll have to ask Mr. Budwick's party about that. 'Named' came out, and they used something called the Scroll of Return to get away with it.
I'm sure they knew that, but I guess they needed the money. But how did you guys manage to get away from 'named'?

　It's hard to say that I can't simply say 'I beat him' here. If my occupation isn't special, it's impossible to defeat Redface, and if the story spreads too much and I'm spotted, I don't know what's in store.

(Let's just report Redface's case to Louisa and have him announce in time only that he's been defeated. I'm sorry for Budwick's party, but I'll have to ask him to be suspended for a while. (My skills aren't quite on the board yet, either.

　The skills of the 'rear guard' have their drawbacks. Since I don't have to support myself, I can be easily killed depending on the formation. If there are skills to avoid this risk, such as dealing with side attacks or concentrating the enemy's aim on the vanguard, then I must obtain these skills as a priority.

　However, if the vanguard fights and the rear guard supports, you can probably capture the beginner's labyrinth without difficulty. That is, as long as no enemies appear that can't nullify the damage.

　And although it's an effective "10 points" right now, if the demon's health value goes up a little bit, or the damage amount changes by an order of magnitude, it becomes instantly unreliable. If we have "Support Defense 1" then we should have "2" as well, so hopefully it will be strengthened as much as possible.

　--and we passed both Elitia and Suzuna before we escaped.

　The girls were far away from us, so we didn't know that there was a battle with Redface. However, they must have sensed the stuffy air and rushed over to me.

　As she does when she fights, Elitia has her long golden hair tied into two pigtails. It's a twin-tailed princess knight, and now is not the time to tease her.

''What the hell happened...?''
'I got 'named'. It was a close call, but I managed to deal with it.
"...dealing with........red cotton candy?　That one only comes out once a month, and even a 3rd level party can be decimated. It's so quick, you can't get away with it, and in any way...

　Elitia seems to know about Redface and asks me eloquent questions, as if she thought it was a miracle that we survived. However, in the middle of the process, she made a huffy face and stopped talking.

''I'm sorry, I should be happy that you survived in one piece, but I'm sorry to hear this. You're amazing, you've only just been reincarnated and you're dealing with it tactfully.
'No, we got lucky, too. I don't think it's worth my concern, but if you two are going to hunt here, be careful, too. There won't be any more red ones, so don't worry about that.

　I'd be careful about giving out information, but it's not in good taste to scare Suzuna, another novice explorer, by making her think there's a chance of redface. There's a chance that she'll notice that I've defeated her - but no, that seemed to be an unfounded fear.

'The named ones will continue to vindictively pursue the first person they show up with, so we may run into another named one, but we won't run into a red cottontail. Thank you for your concern.

　She was a humble person, even though she seemed to be at a pretty high level. Even as a beginner, she treats me with courtesy.

'Oh we haven't had much time to talk. Accompany the people at your party my name is Elitia. And you are?
I'm Alito. It may be hard to pronounce, but just call me Ariecht. You're Suzuna, right?
''Yes........well, the one who was carried away earlier was not the one who was reincarnated with us.......''
Yeah, but I'm fine. He's out, but he's regaining his strength.
Did you use a potion?　How could you keep it when it's so valuable...

　Then Elitia looks at me. Her question is understandable - it's my profession.

''.........no, no way. If there was someone in the rearguard that competent........
If you have any questions, I can answer them.
'Nah, it's nothing.

　Elitia wants to team up with a good rearguard. If I explain my position here, she may want to form a party.

　She seems to be a position for solo exploration (solo) and there seems to be some risk for the rearguard, but I'd like to know about that as well. If Suzna continues to accompany Elitia, there will come a time when Suzna will face that risk. It's not something that's going to be a problem right now, but it's worrisome to leave it unaddressed.

(And if that risk can be eliminated, Elitia would make an excellent vanguard. For now, it's just a possibility...)

　Right now, the Chief is the first thing on my mind. When you see Elitia and the others again, you can talk some more then.

''Then I'll go.
"Yes........it was a pleasure to talk to someone who is also a reincarnation from Japan. If I see you again somewhere else, can I say hello to you...?
Of course. I'd love to hear from you, too.

　I guess they were all heartbroken, having just been reincarnated. Suzuna bowed to me repeatedly and walked with Elitia. The girls will probably be doing a small check today, so they'll come out after exploring a bit.

　I look over at Theresia who was waiting for me. And I was going to call out to her to go - but something about her looks different than before.

''........Teresia?''
..........

　She doesn't say anything, but she's staring at me. It seems to be OK, so I start to walk away, and Theresa shuffles behind me.

　I suddenly have an idea and turn around and ask Theresia.

''Well you know, I'm going to use my mercenary ticket again tomorrow, will you come with me?''

　Theresia didn't answer for a while. Maybe individual mercenaries don't have the right to choose their employers - I thought.

　She nodded dully. In other words, she would come with me tomorrow.

'Okay, it's settled. I'm going to say goodbye to you at the agency today, but I'll see you tomorrow, too, Theresa.

　This time Theresia didn't reply. I chuckled and was pretty much pulled away from her, so I ran with Theresia and followed Rival's party out of the cave.

　◆ Results from this exploration ◆
　We're in the ground floor of Akebono's Field. Five points.
　Aricht's level is now 2. 10 points.
　5 points for defeating one Watadama.
　200 points for defeating the bounty hunter "Red Face".
　Trust in "Theresa" has increased by 50 points
　Trust in "Kyoka" has increased by 10 points.

　Searcher Contribution ・・・ 280