“Thank you so much for helping us.”

“You arrived just as we were getting quite tired~”

A rugged-looking tanned man thanked them while the pale-skinned woman beside him scratched her cheek in embarrassment. Following behind them was a thin man in priestly robes and a petite mage.

“By the way, what’s she doing over there?”

“Ah~, she’s just doing her usual stuff, don’t mind it.”

As Ares exchanged a few words with the other Adventurers, Muriel stood in front of the giant ant’s carcass and muttered to herself.

“Hmmm~, this isn’t a monster type often seen in these parts, right? But it looks familiar… T-this is a Valley Ant!!!”

As he stood beside the red-haired mage who suddenly shouted out of nowhere, Riberto, the one who killed one of the giant ants earlier, stared at the carcass in confusion.

“What’s a Valley Ant?”

“Th-this is dangerous, we have to report it right away!”

“Yeah, but that’s why you have to explain…”

“It’s a highly reproductive and dangerous species of ant monsters that can cause a stampede if left unchecked!”

Everyone tensed up at the mention of a dangerous species for a moment until Ares picked up the conversation again.

“But it’s early winter, you know? Aren’t ants supposed to be dormant during this time?”

“No, these ant monsters are most active during this period until the snow piles up!”

Generally speaking, mere ants couldn’t be compared to their monster counterparts. If they hadn’t gathered enough food during the autumn season, then it’s no surprise that they would be active during this time.

If that’s the case, then they would attack the surrounding towns and villages before they go into dormancy during the winter.

(If I remember correctly, there are usually around 200 Valley Ants living in a single colony…)  

Of course, unlike small, ordinary ants, only a few of them can lurk inside a burrow at one time. Nevertheless, they are still a threat that an Adventurer cannot handle alone.

“But they aren’t that strong, are they? We were even able to force them back.”

The rugged-looking Adventurer looked a little awkward, but he implied that they could have easily beaten the monsters back by themselves if they were in top condition. However, his statement was unfounded.

“You’re too naive. Those were only Valley Ant Scouts, that’s why they were weak and there were only a few of them. But if they were to attack the surrounding towns and villages, a hundred Valley Ants that are threat level Cs and the queen which is a threat level B would come rushing all at once.”

“… Seriously?”

The rest of the Adventurers still looked half-convinced at Muriel’s words even though their companions who were also biologists froze in shock when they heard her warning.

“It’s that bad?”

“Well, we can’t really tell yet…”

“In any case, I have a feeling that Grau village and other places nearby might be in danger…”

Muriel is usually right about her hunches in these kinds of situations, so as a precaution, she and the other Adventurers they met dropped by the nearest village. After they parted ways, she and her party visited the village chief, but… the response they got did not bode well.

“Hmm, dangerous monsters you say? The local village guards reported that they fought off several ant-type monsters yesterday, but I haven’t heard of such a threat.”

The village chief, Rechte, looked suspiciously at the Adventurers who suddenly visited him and claimed that the village might be in danger. However, he took the red-haired girl’s words seriously because she was wearing a mage’s cloak decorated with an owl emblem made of mithril.

He suspected that if she were a mage who had studied in the Royal Academy of Magic, it wasn’t strange for her to have connections to nobility or court mages even if she were just a mere Adventurer.

He wasn’t far off the mark though, as Muriel was the only daughter of the Vest family, which is a local aristocratic household, and she is also a close friend of Ernesta who is a junior Court Mage in Riastize Kingdom.

But even if he had been rude to her, the “Tempest Witch” would not be involved with such a trivial matter. And although she belonged to a house of nobles, her father was not a noble but a famed adventurer and biologist who had explored various regions in the west.

However, the chief of Grau village didn’t know these circumstances, and worriedly observed the red-haired mage who was deep in thought.

“… Have there been sightings of Valley Ants even before the village guards drove them away?”

With one hand on her chin, Muriel tried to confirm her suspicions.

Logically speaking, the villagers should have first encountered these giant ants around the grasslands or Easteria forest rather than the local village guards suddenly encountering them near the village. They were probably in the process of verifying these sightings when the village guards came across the Valley Ants.

“Yes, there have been complaints of giant ants appearing around the pastures.”

“That might be bad… When did this happen?”

“Around 3 days ago, the local guards were on the lookout for them yesterday…”

(Ugh, that’s even more dangerous)

If the first batch the villagers suddenly encountered were reconnaissance-type Valley Ants, then there’s a high probability that yesterday’s scouting unit was sent out to survey the area.

Moreover, “fighting off” doesn’t exactly mean that the monsters were completely defeated, and some may have even survived and brought information back to their colony. Muriel sighed as she pieced together the current situation and faced Ares.

“I think we should return to Warren as soon as possible and report this to the administrative office.”

“You’re right, there’s only so much we can do right now.”

After they wrapped up their conversation, Muriel looked out the window and saw that the sun had already set. It seemed it was already time for them to go.

“Village chief Rechte, thank you so much for your time.”

“Don’t mention it. Rather, I should be the one thanking you for going to report this issue to Ferias Territory’s administrative office.”

After a brief farewell, they headed back to their lodgings in Grau village. Since this was a village around the outskirts of the capital city, the inns were reasonably good, and Muriel and the others have stayed in them several times.

After she met up once more with the other Adventurers at the “Temple of Abundance” and had dinner in the dining hall ahead of the others, Muriel retired to the double room they rented and dove into the bed.

“Ugh~, I’m so tired.”

As Mirea sat beside the red-haired mage lying on the bed, Muriel wriggled around and took off her mage’s cloak, followed by her equipment, and stripped off the rest of her clothes until she was only in her underwear before getting inside the covers and pulling the blanket over herself.

“I’ll just keep on thinking about it the more I stay awake, so I’m going to sleep already.”

“Sure, good night. I hope everything goes well tomorrow.”

Mirea thought positively as she patted Muriel’s head as she fell asleep, but… things did not go smoothly as expected.

Early next morning, while Eina, the petite mage, woke up before everyone and went for a walk, she suddenly remembered what the red-headed mage from the previous day said. Curious, she walked to the edge of the village in the east and used her vision magic-imbued eyes to look far into the depths of the forest.

“There’s nothing here… Just what was I hoping to see anyway?”

While thinking how foolish she was, she decided to make the most of the spell and turned around to face the northern edge of the village and looked into the grasslands…

“N-no way!”

She saw that countless black spots were approaching from the northern plains. As she concentrated and poured more magic into her eyes, she was able to confirm that the black spots were the giant ants. Panicked, she immediately turned around and rushed back to the inn where the other Adventurers were gathered. 

※Character Introduction

Name: Ares ()

Race: Human

Rank: Sword Fighter

Skill: Full Swing, Parry, Arm Strengthening (Medium / Effect is instantaneous)

Title: “Black Iron” Warrior

Weapon: Long Sword (Main), Mail Breaker(Auxiliary)

Armament: Banded Armor

Name: Riberto ()

Race: Human

Rank: Fencer

Skill: Triple Slash, Evade, Arm Strengthening (Medium / Effect is instantaneous)

Title: “Black Iron” Swordsman

Weapon: Saber (Main), Parrying Dagger(Auxiliary)

Armament: Hard Leather Armor

Name: Mirea ()

Race: Human

Rank: Jäger

Skill: Short Range Archery, Trap Disarming, Trap Setting, Increased Dexterity (Medium / Effect is instantaneous)

Title: “Black Iron” Hunter

Weapon: Short Bow (Main), Hunting Knife (Auxiliary)

Armament: Hard Leather Armor