Close Quarters

Inside the covered wagon.

"Let's go over the plan."

"With Rain joining us, we can adjust our original tactics."

"Fabian, once you've finished scouting, pick the best place to fight. Chris will pour water over the ground there."

Leia turned to Rain, her beautiful eyes meeting his. "Rain, fire your Freezing Ray at the wet ground to make a slick patch of ice."

"Once the two Boarfolk fall, I'll shoot one and lure it away."

"You should be able to gain the upper hand against the other with Poisoned Crossbow Bolts. Finish it off as quickly as you can, then come help me."

By then, Rain understood Leia's plan completely.

A classic kiting tactic.

Leia would use her mobility to draw one of the two Boarfolk away, while the rest of them, Rain included, would outnumber and quickly kill the other.

Then they would join forces against the one she had lured away.

But the plan demanded a great deal of whoever took on that job.

Rain glanced at Leia across from him, unable to keep a hint of worry from his face.

Her leather armor outlined a fine figure, but that kind of strength was another matter...

As if he had sensed Rain's concern, Chris patted him on the shoulder with a grin. "Don't worry. Our captain is about to become a full-fledged Professional."

"She's that strong?" Rain's eyes widened in surprise.

After more than a month in Mill Town and two minor missions, Rain was no longer the Oak Village farmer who knew nothing of the wider world.

He had picked up a few basic ideas about adventurers, including what it meant to be a Professional.

Most of it was hearsay from the young people training in the back courtyard, but as Rain understood it, a Professional could probably take on a Boarman alone.

They might get hurt, perhaps badly, but that alone was enough to show how powerful a Professional was.

"Be careful if you end up fighting the Boarfolk hand to hand. They're very strong," Leia added, looking at Chris.

Rain couldn't have agreed more.

He had seen illustrations and descriptions of Boarfolk in the Beginner Monster Compendium.

The Stillwater Boarman had a challenge rating of one and was in a different league from a Goblin.

It was as heavily built as an adult black bear, but had a huge pig's head. Dark brown bristles ran from its forehead down to its lower back, and a pair of curved tusks jutted from its mouth, sharp enough to kill or maim anyone they gored.

Its torso retained a humanoid shape, with a slightly hunched back and arms nearly twice as thick as an adult man's.

Its filthy skin was covered in hair, and it liked to wallow in mud. Dried mud often coated its body, giving it formidable defenses.

Ordinary arrows and short weapons such as daggers usually caused little more than minor wounds unless they struck a vital spot—and only made it angrier.

That was why Rain wholeheartedly agreed with Leia: they should avoid close combat wherever possible and, ideally, kill it with poisoned crossbow bolts.

It was also why Rain had sought out a strong team.

"Don't worry, Captain!"

"Grand and I were ready to hold off one each and see how we stacked up against the Boarfolk."

"With Rain here, it'll be much easier," Chris said with a laugh.

While chatting with Chris the day before, Rain had learned what their original plan had been.

Chris and Grand, both warrior apprentices, would each use a shield to hold off one Boarman. Leia and Fabian would then rush the one facing Grand, surround it, and kill it as quickly as possible.

Afterward, the three of them would hurry to Chris's aid.

The plan clearly carried some risk.

Grand and Chris both looked like experienced fighters, but even they would probably struggle to hold off Boarfolk with a challenge rating of one.

Otherwise, they would not have been trying to recruit a skilled archer in the Adventurers' Association's first-floor hall.

The covered wagon was pulled by two horses rather than oxen, so they reached the area near the sighting in about three hours, before noon.

The passersby and villagers had only spotted the Boarfolk from a distance beside the road.

That meant Rain and the others still had to find them.

By the team's division of duties, that job fell to Fabian, the wanderer apprentice.

Without needing any instructions from Leia, Fabian sprang down from the wagon and strode toward the dense woods.

As an aspiring wanderer, he had learned about tracking, traps, and poisons, though how good he was at each was another matter.

"Chris, have the driver wait for us in a clearing by the road."

"Bring the water buckets. We'll set up an ambush over there."

"Got it, Captain!"

Rain looked up. On one side of the road stretched rolling hills covered mostly in low shrubs and grass. Near the sighting, however, stood a broad grove of leafy trees that offered plenty of cover.

If the Boarfolk were here, they were most likely hiding in those dense woods.

Chris had just brought two large buckets of water over to Leia, and they were about to choose an ambush site.

Suddenly, branches snapped in the woods.

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"

An urgent cuckoo call followed.

"That's Fabian's signal—he's made contact!" Leia's expression changed slightly.

Rain froze for a moment. This isn't quite what we expected.

They had planned on spending some time finding the Boarfolk's tracks, choosing a suitable ambush site, then luring them in.

Clearly, things were turning out very differently.

They had run straight into the Boarfolk!

On reflection, though, Rain realized it was not entirely unexpected.

Both the Mill Town Nearby Monster Compendium published by the local Adventurers' Association branch and Leia's briefing in the wagon had mentioned the Boarfolk's keen sense of smell.

When the wind was uncertain or barely blowing, they often detected adventurers first.

What reassured Rain was that although Leia's expression had shifted, her voice remained steady as she gave orders:

"Prepare for battle!"

"Chris, pour the water right here."

"Rain, cast Freezing Ray when the Boarfolk are about to reach this spot."

"Hmm... About two seconds before they arrive. Don't be nervous."

"If Rain has any trouble, you two be ready to step in," Leia told Chris and Grand.

It was only natural that Leia trusted her two longtime teammates more than Rain, a newcomer they had never fought alongside.

"Got it!"

"Don't worry, Captain!"

They answered in turn.

Crack!

The sound of breaking branches drew closer.

Rain and the others took cover behind nearby trees, eyes fixed on the woods ahead.