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On the early morning of the third day of the week. After finishing their preparations, Soma and his students are riding a carriage pulled by the Two-Headed Salamander and heading towards an area between the town of Akud and the town of Elm.

 

Elm is the only port town in the Kingdom of Valc. And naturally, all marine products come from there. And that makes the roads leading to Elm the perfect target for bandits and thieves. The day before, Soma accepted a request from the Mercenary Guild to eliminate a medium-sized bandit’s band that is active on the road leading from Akud to Elm.

 

“The band of bandits we are after is active on the road that leads from Akud to Elm, but they are known to be more after the goods going from Akud to Elm and that’s why their base is closer to Akud than it’s to Elm. Their base is so close to Akud to the point of it being only 10 hours away on a normal carriage and 4 hours by this one”(Soma)

 

“Te…Soma-san, can I ask you something?”(Zac)

 

“Go ahead”(Soma)

 

“…Those bandits, how strong are they?”(Zac)

 

“They are weaker than Rimi and Alice here, and around Nad’s level, individually that is. Did hearing that their base is near Akud worry you?”(Soma)

 

“To be honest, yes. Hearing that bandits live this close to the people of Akud made me uncomfortable”(Zac)

 

“Then here is more information about this band of bandits. The reason those bandits are able to have their base this close to the town is that there are not enough Mercenaries and guards to take them out. Most Mercenaries in Akud are barely able to provide for their families and are constantly targeted by the hunters working with the nobles. Making their hands full with going through the day without dying or losing family members. And the lack of combatants in Akud led to the lack of guards and soldiers to keep an eye on the area outside the protection of the Five Mountains. And there is more you’ll learn once we reach our destination…”(Soma)

 

The carriage kept going until the scenery started to change. The scenery around the carriage started to change from flat plains to a foggy forest. Trees surrounded both sides of the road along with thin and eerie fog engulfing the whole area.

 

“…Alice, this is”(Rimi)

 

“…Yeah, I believe what’s on your mind is correct”(Alice)

 

“Rimi-chan Alice-chan, what’s wrong?”(Emma)

 

They both looked at Soma, and he nodded to them giving them permission to answer Emma’s question.

 

“…Undead”(Rimi)

 

“Yes, and looking at this fog and the fact that we are going after a band of bandits in this area…. I see”(Alice)

 

“Undead? Are you saying that there are undead monsters in this forest?”(Zeek)

 

“…And what does the fog have to do with it?”(David)

 

“The cause of this fog is the undead monsters in this forest. This is what’s called the effect of monsters on their surroundings. When only a single type of monster is found in an area, that area’s environment and the weather starts to change to suit those monsters. This happens due to the Mana leaking from the monsters over a period of time. And this fog is the effect Undead monsters cause to protect themselves from the sun, being exposed to the sun causes them to dry up over time after all”(Soma)

 

“…But what does that has to do with the bandits?”(Anolan)

 

“You’ll see soon”(Soma)

 

The carriage advanced for some time, and then it came to a halt, and there Soma instructed Rimi, Alice, Anolan, and Zeek to use Earth Magic and erect a 5m high wall around the area with a single entrance/exit and square holes every half meter all the way around.

 

“This place will be our campsite location. And right now we will head to the forest to look for the bandits”(Soma)

 

Soma led his students inside the forest with everyone fully armed and prepared for combat. The students are not supposed to fight during this trip, but they are on guard just in case.

 

After walking for some time, they spotted some footprints on the ground and those footprints were scattered all over the place randomly.

 

“These footprints you are seeing are all footprints of Undead monsters. How did I figure that out? Well if you look closely at the footprints you’ll see that they are all left behind by barefooted beings. And from the way they look, you can conclude that they were left behind by human beings, and there is no way barefooted people are walking around this place this randomly. If you carefully inspect the frontal part of the footprints where the fingers are supposed to be, you’ll see that there are actually two types of footprints. One is made by just walking slowly and the other is made by running or more accurately by dashing. And there are only two types of Undead monsters that fit those descriptions, Zombies, and Ghouls. And both these types are originally people like all of us. Zombies are known to be very slow, but they are extremely strong physically, on the other hand, Ghouls are very weak physically but are extremely fast”(Soma)

 

Soma kept looking at the treetops instead of the ground or around him when searching for any indications of bandits being here. And after two hours of constant search, he found his indication.

 

“…Look over there. If you look carefully at that tree you’ll see that some of its branches have been cut. There too, and there too. And on the other hand, if you look at that tree over there, you’ll see that its branches are intertwined with that tree over there. And that tree’s branches are intertwined with that tree there, and all the other trees around them have some of their branches cut or broken. That’s the indication I was looking for, those intertwined branches are used by the bandits to transport their loot from the road to their base, and are used by scouts as well to move around”(Soma)

 

“…I see, so they are using those trees to move from the road to the base while avoiding the Zombies and Ghouls on the ground”(Zac)

 

“That’s right, Zombies and Ghouls can’t climb trees after all”(Soma)

 

“…But why would they choose to make their base in this place in the first place? If the place is full of Zombies and Ghouls, why not choose another place?”(The Four Brothers)

 

“…Because the Zombies and Ghouls can be used as a line of defense against any intruders?”(Nad)

 

“Exactly, and besides the bandits were here before Undead monsters started appearing”(Soma)

 

“…So it’s like that isn’t it…”(Rimi)

 

“…Yeah”(Alice)

 

“What do you mean?”(Zac)

 

“You’ll see soon enough”(Soma)