At the camp in the early morning, the bonfire had long since gone out, leaving only wisps of blue smoke.
After washing up, Gauss and Alya hurriedly ate a simple breakfast, rubbed their cheeks, stiff from the cold, and headed to the day's gathering point.
Before everyone had assembled, snippets of quiet conversation drifted over from several nearby teams.
"Looks like one team's missing?"
"I heard they... ran into a Level 2 Pureblood Ogre, unfortunately..."
"Tch. We'll have to be extra careful."
"That's a little strange. If they couldn't win, surely they could've run away, right?"
"Maybe they were too confident in their own abilities?"
"..."
Gauss and Alya exchanged a look.
Had another team met with disaster yesterday?
"I'll go ask around." Alya signaled with her eyes.
With Gauss's permission, she walked over to a familiar female mage nearby.
A moment later, Alya came back with a puzzled look on her face.
"What is it?" Gauss asked.
"What they were talking about... seems to be the four-person team we dealt with yesterday." Alya lowered her voice to almost a whisper.
"Huh?" Gauss raised an eyebrow. "How did that turn into an encounter with an ogre?"
So he, Gauss, was equivalent to a Level 2 Pureblood Ogre?
"Maybe... someone covered for us?" Alya shook her head. She was just as confused.
"Forget it." Thinking about it wouldn't get them anywhere.
In any case, it was over, and no one had come to question them. As far as the outcome went, the rumor was in their favor.
So they could just eat and drink as usual.
Though the other adventurers grew more alert at the loss of a team, they weren't unduly shocked.
After all, anyone who'd volunteered for this Winter Hunt had already prepared themselves for the possibility of meeting