The campgrounds by the river had finally calmed down from the exciting events at midday. After the impromptu barbecue began, players started calling their friends over to join in on the festivities, causing the gathering to rapidly grow in scale. Even Maxwell, who had instigated the entire event, was forced to call for back-up from the company headquarters back in town.

“Truly, Milady’s foresight is awespiring…!”

When Enna heard about the Travelers’ ability to send messages to each other, she immediately started hiring them to create an information network, greatly accelerating her company’s activities and growth. To her surprise, there were some Travelers already familiar with her idea, so she hired those individuals to act as network managers.

Thanks to Enna’s “Traveler Telecommunications System”—TTS for short—Maxwell managed to keep a steady supply of goods through the entire barbecue, leaving no room for other merchants to get in and only running out of stock at the very end. If Maxwell hadn't called for support, he would have run out of supplies before even halfway through.

‘And as a result…’ Maxwell thought as he gleefully tallied up the sales. ‘I’ve more than tripled my estimated earnings!’

“Muehehe… Milady will surely praise me for this~!” He let out a slovenly giggle.

Giving furtive glances as Maxwell writhed, unabashedly fantasizing about his ‘reward’, the nearby adventurers promptly decided to mind their own business.

———

Although most people were done partying, there were a surprising number of players who had stuck around afterwards. The majority were just relaxing by the riverside—playing in the water, talking, napping in the sun—but some curious players had decided to try their hand at fishing, with a few of them getting hooked on it.

“... And that’s the gist of it,” Mr. Bass concluded his lecture to the small group of fishers-to-be. “Once you get those basics down, the rest’ll come with experience.”

“Incredible…” “I see…” “Thank you for teaching us, Mr. Bass!”

Bass Pro Tour Fishing was a bit annoyed that that name had stuck, but the complements were making him feel fuzzy inside, so he let it pass.

“H-Hmph! That was just the ‘A’ of the ABCs—of course I can teach you that much!” he harrumphed, turning his head to the side.

However, as he opened his eyes, Mr. Bass noticed a familiar figure approaching the bridge.

“...The hell?” He squinted. It looked like Fenris and his party, but…

‘——They’re covered in blood…? And what's with that crazy aura Fenris is putting out?!’

Unlike the spacey expression that Fenris normally had, he looked downright murderous; his eyes were sharp and focused like pointed knives, and his fangs were bared in a vicious snarl. As they drew closer, a deep rumble began filling the air with a clear warning: ‘Do not cross me.’

Mr. Bass felt cold sweat run down his back. Others began to notice the party’s approach as well, and started moving out of the way to give Fenris a wide berth.

“Ara,” Gen suddenly noticed what was happening. “Wolfie, you don't need to do that here.”

“Ah… Mm.” At Gen’s prompt, Fenris returned to his usual, blank stare. Not even a hint of the menacing air remained—though the combination of his bloodstained appearance and empty eyes was still terrifying in its own right.

No longer paralyzed by the pressure, Mr. Bass marched up to them and demanded an explanation.

“You lot...! The hell was that?!”

“We ran into some trouble, as you can see,” Gen said, ‘not-directly-referencing-but-very-clearly-referring-to’ the copious amounts of blood. “We were in no state to fight, so we had Wolfie ‘shoo away’ the mobs.”

“... Right.” Mr. Bass gave a particularly disgruntled face as Fenris posed with a peace sign over his eye. “Anyways, do you need help getting back to town?”

“Naaah, we’ll be fine.” Louis said, waving from Fenris’s shoulder as they passed Mr. Bass. “See ya.”

… Once they walked a little further, Louis asked the others—

“By the way, has Lily recovered enough mana to cast [Cure]? I think most of the blood on Fen is mine at this point.”

“Shush,” Gen scolded him. “Lily is sleeping. You’ll live.”

“No, I might actually bleed out soon…”

… In any case, the river was a peaceful place.

———

(EXTRA:)

“Wasn't that wolf boy in the plaza earlier today?”

“Yep.”

“... Weren't they covered in blood back then as well?”

“... Yep.”

Players were starting to recognize Fenris as a ‘dangerous individual’.