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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 93

CHAPTER 93: THE ADVENTURERS’ FOLLY

「Rein!」

「Thank goodness, you’re okay!」

Everyone seemed to be wide awake too and jumped out of their tent.

Kanade, Tania, Sora, Luna and Nina, they were all here and accounted for.

「…… Funyah……」

…… Although Nina actually looked half-asleep still.

Oh, well, I guess that’s actually okay.

I’m glad to see that everyone is okay for now.

「GAO!」

The bear that I tamed earlier approached us.

It looked to be somewhat proud of itself, perhaps because it managed to faithfully accomplish the orders that it was given.

「Good job, buddy! Good job.」

「GAOH!」

「Which way do the intruders go?」

「GAO!」

The bear pointed in the direction of the south.

The south?　But there’s nothing special about the south……?

After a short walk, you would only be able to reach the city’s limits, and besides that there was nothing else.

However, there was no way the bear would be lying to us.

Bears don’t have the intelligence to deceive people, and there’s no reason for it to do so in the first place.

What does that mean?

「Rein, come here! Quick!」

「…… Tanya?」

With some amount of impatience in her voice, Tanya called to me.

We moved as we were told, and we found ourselves in the tent where we had thrown our captives.

「Look at this.」

I looked inside the tent as I was told…… and the poachers that we were supposed to have captured were all gone.

Instead, the only thing that was left here were the pieces of cut rope.

「I don’t know how they managed to do it, but they got away. We have to go after them now!」

「……………」

「…… Rein?」

「…… Look, isn’t that strange that they all managed to escape? First of all, there are only a few pieces of rope left in here. They had both their arms and legs tied together, so if they were to untie themselves, there would be a lot more pieces of rope left, wouldn’t you agree? Besides, how did they manage to get out of this situation in the first place? Not without some outside help, that’s for sure.」

「That is…… But the fact remains that they managed to get away, right?」

「Well, I guess……」

There’s a lot I still don’t understand, but……

The captured poachers managed to escape captivity. That’s a fact.

If we don’t go after them quickly, then we are going to fail the request that was given to us.

I then walked out of the tent and rejoined the others.

「Rein, what is going on?」

「The captured poachers have escaped.」

「Nyah!?」

「Sora, Luna. Can you use your magic to track down the escaped prisoners?」

「If they are still close enough we can find them for sure, but if they have already escaped far enough away, it would be really difficult. Because out detection spells have a fixed range of effectiveness, you see.」

「Oh well, but we still gotta do what we gotta do! “Material Search”!」

Luna cast a spell and then……

After a bit of waiting, she nodded her head.

「Oh?　Did you get some sort of a reaction?」

「…… Are you sure?」

「Yes…… But it’s a reaction that is barely within the limit of the effective range. About five hundred meters…… to the south of here. There are multiple magical reactions there.」

「That’s actually closer than I thought they would be.」

「If we go now, we can still easily catch them!」

「Good. Kanade and Tanya, follow me. Sora, Luna and Nina, call Ogg and Kreutz and let them know what’s going on.」

「Are you really going to contact those two?」

「Can’t we just leave them out of it?」

「That’s not going to happen. If we ignore them here, they might make it difficult for us again and we might have to help them out in the future. You never know.」

「Nyah…… If that’s what you want, Rein, then I guess I’ll do it.」

「Yeah, Rein? About that? Those two are supposed to be camping by the river up north, about fifty meters away from here, right?」

「Yeah? What about it?」

「There was no response from that direction.」

「Huh?」

「There was no sign of those two. There’s no one to the north right now. The only reaction I could feel right now was from the people who are to the south of here.」

What does that mean……?

Did they actually abandon their request?
　
Or if that was the case……

Could it be that they……

All of a sudden, it hit me.

「…… Luna. Can you check the magical reactions again?　However, now I want to know a more accurate number of people who are heading south. Can you do it?」

「Fufufu! Just who do you think I am? I am a member of the Ultimate Species! For someone like me, a matter like that it’s a piece of cake! Now is the time for me to show my Master just how great I am……!」

「“Material Search”!」

「H-Hey! It was my job!」

「That’s because you were surely taking your sweet time! I can feel seven magical reactions from over that direction.

「Yeah, I knew it!」

I had a really bad feeling about this, and hearing the report I couldn’t help it but to click my tongue.

「Rein, Rein. What does that mean?」

「It’s Ogg and Kreutz. They are the additional two people.」

「…… Nyah? Those two? But why would they do that?」

「Because they are the ones who helped the poachers to escape.」

「What!?」

「No, to be more precise, they have simply stolen them right from under our noses. They are most probably going to take them to the city and take all the credit for capturing them.」

Sora said that there were seven magical reactions coming from the south.

But the number of poachers that we have caught was five.

So that means that there were two more people with them now.

And then…… Ogg and Kreutz were nowhere to be found where they were supposed to be.

Their timing was perfect, and the prisoners that shouldn’t be able to escape on their own were now missing without a trace.

It would be the first thing to logically assume here: that those two helped the poachers to escape.

「How dare they! Taking away someone else’s prey just like that……!」

「It’s not fair!　I won’t be happy unless we capture them and punish them!」

「You’re right. There’s no way I’m letting them get away with this. We’ll get them for sure!」

The girls were about to give chase, looking all bloodthirsty and agitated……

「Wait a minute.」

I closed my eyes and searched for signs of a certain creature in the nearby surroundings.

Skipping more thought waves, I sought out precisely what I wanted to find.

I then made a temporary contract with a certain insect.

As if following us, a fluffy light ball appeared right before our eyes.

「…… So pretty.」

「Nyaah…… What’s that?」

「It’s a certain type of luminescent insect that glows at night. It’s dark, so we will use it as a light source.」

「I mean, we need the source of light for sure, but if we are going to take this thing with us, won’t that make us pretty easy to spot for those two?」

「They are not alone. They are carrying the prisoners with them. I don’t think they can speed up their escape just because they know we’re here, or that we are coming to get them. That’s not a problem. In fact, maybe we can put some pressure on them by showing them that we’re coming after them.」

「Okay, that’s reasonable.」

「Well then, let’s go already!」

On that cue, we have all plunged ourselves into the thick forest.

The forest at night was a dark and dangerous place, and with the leaves of the trees blocking the moonlight, visibility would have been quite poor under any normal circumstances.

However, thanks to the luminescent insects, our surroundings were moderately well lit.

We could see our feet and the light reached about three meters around us.

It was not that we were able to run at full speed…… But we were able to make some good progress in a short amount of time.

Thanks to that, we were able to catch up with Ogg and Kreutz soon after.

「Rein! There they are! At eight o’clock!」

Hearing Kanade’s words, I quickly shifted my gaze in said direction.

Multiple figures could be seen moving in the darkness of the night.

The one standing in the lead was Ogg.

The one standing in the back was Kreutz.

The two men were leading the prisoners that we had captured earlier.

Although their shackles had been lifted, the prisoners were still restrained, and they were led by the two as they walked through the darkness of the night.

As I suspected! Sothese two were involved after all!

「Kanade, Tania! Go around in front of them and stop them!　I’m going to approach them from behind!」

「Roger that!」

「Let’s get this over with, fast!」

Kanade and Tania picked up speed and circled around their formation from side to side, respectively.

That was a true show of cooperation right there.

When the two of them get serious, there’s no way that anyone would be able to ge in their way.

「From here on out……..」

「It’s Roadblock time!」

「What the!?」

In no time at all, Kanade and Tanya were able to get right in front of Ogg and Kreutz’s group.

When they stopped to show off their presence, Ogg, who was walking at the front, let out an upset voice.

「God damn it! I can’t believe they have already found us…… But if it comes to this, we just have to show them who’s Boss around here! Ogg!」

「Yeah! There’s no way that I’m going to let some stupid kids beat us!」

Ogg and Kreutz held their weapons at the ready, a sword and a staff respectively.

Apparently, there was no way that those two would ever think about surrendering quietly and going down without a fight.

Oh well, not that it really matters here.

If they were willing to stand down in the first place, we never would have gotten ourselves in this stupid situation.

But since they wanted to take all the credit for themselves, that means that conflict is inevitable here.

Well, this is the moment of truth.

We can’t let these people do as they please!