Aldis decided to hunt even the Beast King for a few coins, so he ran through the grasslands to the north.

　What would take a normal human two hours to run through in an hour, he ran through in half an hour, finding the Beast King away from the road and hunting him down.
　There was no fun or anything interesting about the hunt, but what they needed was money, not satisfaction.
　There is no other way to earn money that can be done in a day trip from Thoria, and at any time of the day.

　After hunting the Beast King for an hour, Aldis had just begun to feel sleepy from the monotony of the task when he came across a scene where three mercenaries were fighting.
　Normally, it was against the etiquette of a mercenary to sidestep someone else when they were fighting.
　Since they have come to a place like this, far from the road, the other side must be looking to hunt.
　Unless they were in a predicament, it was basically an unwritten rule to stay out of it.

　Of course, things were bound to have exceptions. And the mercenaries Aldis had found seemed to be facing a situation that was an exception to that rule.
　The mercenaries that seemed to be three from a distance, but upon closer inspection, there were four. One of them is already down.

(The other party is a dispenser? I guess we just had a bad luck encounter.)

　The other man, the despairing champion of the grasslands, was a dispatcher.
　The other one had just fallen to the ground when I decided that I should lend a hand.

(Hey, are we going to make it?!)

　Aldis pulls one of his shortswords from his waist and unleashes it into the air.

'Go.'

　At Aldis' instructions, which couldn't be more succinct, the shortsword flies with the speed of an arrow.
　And when the swordsman with the shield is about to be torn apart by the claws of the dispenser, Aldis's shortsword disperses it from the side at the nick of time.

　He slashed off his arm without regard to the hardness of the scales and beheaded the entire horn as it was.
　After confirming the elimination of the danger, Ardis calls back his shortsword.
　He wiped off the bloodstains of the dispenser and tucked it into the scabbard at his waist as he walked over to the mercenaries who had been attacked.

　As I approached, I found the swordsman who had just come close, a petite girl with reddish-red hair who was tending to the wounded, and a long-haired swordsman and axe man who had been wounded.
　The two who were attacked by the disperser are already unconscious and look like their lives could be in danger if treatment is delayed.

''That ......, was it you who saved me earlier, ......?

　The young swordsman asks Ardis, who has approached within face-to-face distance.
　I'm at a loss for words, because I'm sure he looks younger than I thought he would be, as he quickly took down the display.

It was me who killed the display.

　He didn't dare to say that he had helped, only the fact that Aldis would say so.
　The young man quickly hid the slight surprise in his blue eyes and bowed his head to Aldis, shaking his ash-blonde hair.

'Thank you for saving me. I didn't think I and my friends would make it. I really appreciate it.

　Aldis sees this and admires it in his mind.
　Although he is young, he is polite and has the capacity to honestly show his gratitude to Aldis, who clearly looks younger than him.
　Although he hasn't yet mastered his skills, I thought he was too good a person to lose his life in a place like this.

'I certainly received your thanks. But more importantly, is your companion well-treated?

　Nodding lightly towards the blue-eyed young man, Aldis turned his attention to the two young men who were lying on the ground.

''That ......, I know you've helped me out and are a hundred times thicker, but I need a favor from you ....... If you have the cure, would you be willing to share it with me?　I don't have any more on hand.

If that's what you're talking about, go to ...... and use this.

　Aldis took two bottles of the cure from his waist pouch and handed them to the young man.

'What ......, these are high-grade cures, aren't they ......?'

　The young man scowls when he realizes that the cure he received is not a normal cure.
　The high grade cure is far more effective than the ordinary cure, and is sufficient to cure even a dying man.
　But their selling price is ten times higher than that of ordinary cures. It was not an easy thing for a new mercenary like the young man to come by.

''That's all I have for now.

...... I'm sorry.

　The selling price must have been a problem for him. The young man's face was filled with anguish as he took the high grade treatment he had received and walked over to the injured man.
　As soon as the two men were treated with the high grade cure, their condition settled down.

　I've heard that both the healing potion and the high grade cure are the result of magical technology, but I've never heard of anyone who knows how they work to heal the body.
　I'm not sure I'll be able to understand why the liquid heals the human body's injuries in a very short time.

　The pink liquid that heals abrasions and small cuts in seconds, and even a dying man in minutes, is said to be a blessing brought by a goddess, according to one theory.
　But Ardis didn't believe in that theory as much as she did in the dew.
　Even if the blessing was brought by the goddess, it was unlikely to be out of pure good will.

'Ugh, hmmm ......'

　A few minutes after using the high grade cure, the two injured men wake up.

'Gio!　Ralph!

...... Oh, ...... Konia?

　The little girl squealed with joy, and the two woke up and looked around in confusion.

'Thank God. I thought I was going to die!

　The tension was broken, and the girl with Akane hair flopped down.

'Greshe, where's the dispensation?'

　A short, black-haired axeman asks the blue-eyed youth known as Greshet.

'If you're a dispenser, you know what I mean.

　The blue-eyed young man said, and pointed to the body of the dispenser.

'Oh, oh ......!　Seriously?　You defeated a dispenser!

　The short-haired warrior instantly began to get excited, but the blue-eyed youth shook his head and said, "No, it wasn't me who beat him. It was him," he said, turning his gaze to Ardis.

'Huh?　Huh?　...... What are you talking about, Grechet?　No matter how much, how many times a kid like this can beat a dispenser?

"Don't be rude, Ralph!

　The blue-eyed young man stopped him in his haste.

"I'm sorry. My people were so rude to you. ......

I don't mind. I'm used to that kind of thing.

　The blue-eyed young man gave Aldis a subtle look as he replied with a bitter smile, "Never mind.
　He laughs and forgives a person who is clearly younger than them - a boy, if you will - even if he is said to be insulted and his own abilities are questioned. He felt uncomfortable with such a masterful reaction.

'I want to thank you again. Thank you for saving me from a dangerous situation. My name is Greshet. My companions are Gio, Conia and Ralph over here.

It's Aldis.

　Aldis tells him as much.

'That ...... Aldis. I'm paying for a high-end treatment, but could you wait a moment to pay ......?　As you can imagine, when it comes to two bottles of high-grade remedies, we don't have any ......

　As soon as he finished introducing himself, Greshet cut in apologetically.

''It's fine, the price is. It's not that I had any intention of selling it in the first place. It's the duty of a surviving mercenary to provide help to the fledgling army.''

'Ha!　I don't need a kid like you to tell me that!　Which one of us is just starting out!

Stop it, Ralph!

　Ralph, who has short black hair, raises his voice and Greshe admonishes him.
　For Ralph, it's no wonder he can't believe it.
　It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to find a way to get the best out of the situation.

I'm sorry, Ardis. Anyway, I'm going to go back to town for today, so I want to thank you again later. What inn are you staying at?

Are you going to go back to Trier now?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, but?

　What's the problem?　Greshet replies.

'You'd better not leave me just yet.

What kind of ...... is that?

We'll find out soon enough.

　After Aldis answers wordlessly, he turns his gaze in the opposite direction from the city.
　When Greshet and the other four naturally turned their heads in that direction, the best-eyed Conia muttered as if in a huff.

''There's something coming this way: ......!

What?

　Gio took a pair of far glasses out of his cargo bag and peered through them, his face turning blue as he said.

'It's a dispatch: ......'

　Greshet, who was also checking with his far-sightedness, quickly made a decision and said.

''Let's run!　Get rid of the extra baggage!

　The other three quickly followed the instructions and discarded the snatch furs and heavy loads.

'Aldis, what about you!

　Greshe naturally knows how strong Aldis is. And that Aldis wouldn't have to run away.
　But I guess he doesn't unconditionally believe that Aldis will be able to fight off the disperser.
　It is only Aldis's good intentions that he was helped earlier, and he understands that it is just naive - arrogant - to think that his good intentions will be received again for free.

　That's why they have decided on their actions as something without Aldis' help.
　The intelligence and grace of the man made an even better impression on Aldis.

I'm still here. By the way, you'd better not leave me.

What do you mean?

The display is not in one piece.

　With that, Aldis pointed to the almost opposite side of the dispenser he had found.

'Not in one piece, ............, dammit, what a mess!

　Gio swears as he checks the direction Aldis has indicated with his distance glasses.

'And over there, too.'

　Aldis pointed in yet another direction.
　Including the first one discovered, a total of three dispersers were approaching, encircling Ardis and the others.

''Three dispairs are not ......, that's not .......

　Shaking out her semi-long hair, Conia's face is stained with despair.

　Originally, dispersers often hunted alone.
　But that is not an absolute, and in rare cases, they may hunt with more than one.
　Because their biology is a mystery, nothing is known for sure, but it is said that they may be hunting in pairs or with parents and children.

　Of course, even one of them can plunge a newbie mercenary into the depths of despair, a monster called a dispatcher.
　If they were dealing with three of them at the same time, the level of danger would increase dramatically.
　Not to mention the fact that they are completely surrounded by them. There is no chance in hell that Greche and his team will survive.

　--It's not just a matter of time before they're able to get to the top.