A few minutes later.
At a bend in the tunnel on the other side.
"Hah... hah..."
Panting heavily, Mikoto ran all the way back to the members of the Takemikazuchi Familia.
"Mikoto?!"
Seeing Mikoto so out of breath.
Kashima's heart lurched.
"What happened?!"
"Did you run into danger?!"
"Are those monsters chasing you?!"
Behind him, Chigusa was so frightened that her face went pale, and she nearly dropped the shortbow in her hands.
"Quick! Everyone, get ready to retreat!"
Without even thinking, Kashima immediately gave the order to retreat.
"N-no!"
Mikoto grabbed Kashima's arm and shook her head hard.
Her gallant face was now lit with an almost fanatical glow.
"It's not danger!"
"It's something good!"
"Something incredibly good!"
"Huh?"
Kashima froze.
Chigusa and the others beside him looked just as bewildered.
Something good?
In this hellhole full of killer rabbit corpses and the stench of blood?
What the hell could be good about it?
Kashima frowned, looking at Mikoto with concern.
"Mikoto..."
"Don't tell me you were scared out of your mind?"
"Absolutely not!"
Mikoto stamped her feet anxiously.
"Ugh, I can't explain it to you!"
"That commotion over there wasn't a monster rampage!"
"It... it was a team from the Haimo Familia farming monsters!"
"They killed loads of Al-Miraj!"
"And those big ones, too!"
Mikoto made an exaggerated gesture.
"Now there are magic stones and materials all over the ground!"
"They don't have enough people and want to hire us to help carry everything!"
"The pay will definitely be generous!"
"..."
"The Haimo Familia?"
"Farming monsters?"
"And..."
Mikoto took a deep breath.
"Lady Tsubaki from the Hephaestus Familia is there, too!"
"She's a witness!"
"Tsubaki?!"
"The one-eyed master smith?!"
Upon hearing that name.
Kashima's expression finally changed.
She was one of Orario's highest-ranking figures.
If even she was