Dorea, the clinic’s owner, stood behind him, his portly belly jiggling as he collected the laundry blown away by Zig’s training. He looked very impressed at what Zig had done.
“Absolutely amazing! I could hear your swings all the way inside the clinic. So much for rehabilitation… But are you sure you don’t feel any discomfort?”
Zig checked himself again at the doctor’s reminder. He had only borrowed the garden so he could swing his sword for a little while, but it shifted completely into training. He became so engrossed that Dorea had to check in on him, worried that he wasn’t coming back.
“Sorry, Doc. No problems here.”
“I see. Very good.”
Dorea gave him a kind smile and handed him a dry towel to wipe himself off.
“Thanks for taking care of me. I’ll be back.” Zig thanked him, feeling apologetic for his doctor’s courtesy.
Dorea smiled uneasily at Zig’s gratefulness. “I appreciate your gratitude, but as a doctor, I don’t know how to feel about wanting my patients to come back…”
Zig’s hospitalization came to an end after four days. He hadn’t been the most patient of patients, having attempted escape multiple times. But, he had made a complete recovery, and there were no signs of complications after the surgery.
He couldn’t complain about his health. His wealth, on the other hand…
“I’m…broke.”
To avoid any misunderstanding, the price for Dorea’s medical services was highly reasonable, and he didn’t gouge Zig a single cent. Still, four days of hospitalization were not cheap. Added to that was the downright violent food consumption Zig had over his entire stay. His wallet couldn’t cover the expenses—it was already light from buying a new weapon. In the end, Zig had to sell his precious gemstones to cover his medical expenses, leaving his coin purse terribly empty. If he got breakfast today, he would be left with less than a child’s pocket money.
Zig winced painfully. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so strapped for funds.
“Now that you mention it, you got caught up in this whole commotion because you were out of money and wanted to do some work.”
Siasha felt nostalgic about the events of a few days ago while Zig reflected on his mistakes with a frown.
“I’ll have to account for food expenses next time I get injured.”
Even though Zig just got better, the two were immediately headed to the guild after his discharge. It was already noon; there were probably no more jobs left around at this time, but Zig had to work today if he wanted to eat.
Walking into the guild, the atmosphere was much grimmer than he expected. Receptionists were running around in a panic, and injured adventurers were being carried off in gurneys. Most seemed to have laceration wounds and immediate medical attention was being given to those that were bleeding the most.
“What happened?”
“Maybe there’s another bounty.”
“That would be a problem. Your funds will dry up even further if we can’t go to the hunting grounds.”
Zig sighed. If that was to happen, Zig planned to get hired by some adventurer as a bounty hunter. He would have to do it behind Siasha’s back, though.
As the two stood around trying to understand the situation, one of the receptionists ran up to them.
It was Aoi Kasukabe, a sagacious beauty whose charm was negated by the fact that she was always expressionless. She was slightly sweating, although her face remained emotionless. Her picture-perfect poker face was clearly unsettled.
Zig thought that things might be more dire than he expected.
“Zig, Siasha. Good timing.”
“There’s quite the commotion going on… Did something happen?”
“About that… The guild has a request for the two of you—or rather, for Miss Siasha. And it’s an emergency request as well.”
As the name implied, emergency requests were only issued in times of crisis. It was a special job issued by the guild that carried a severe penalty upon refusal. Although it came with ample compensation, these requests were far more dangerous than ordinary ones. In a sense, it was like powerful medicine—one that the guild wouldn’t administer without good reason.
Something terrible had definitely happened.
Although the natural response to the situation would be a concerned frown, Siasha was beaming with expectation.
“What a stroke of good fortune! See, Zig? You really can acquire money from other people’s bad luck!”
“I agree with you, but don’t say that out loud,” Zig chided Siasha, deciding to turn a blind eye to his own lack of compassion. “With a smile.”
Zig turned his attention to Aoi as if to make up for his own coldness. “So, what do you want us to do?”
“A rescue operation.”
“Who are we rescuing?”
Aoi’s eyebrows knitted together as she gave a vague answer. “As many as you can.”
It was a strange request. A rescue operation usually had details of the person in trouble. Adventurers weren’t part of the army, and a disaster might have befallen them.
“Excuse me. Allow me to fill you in on the details.”
Zig scrunched his face, knowing that whatever was going to come out of Aoi’s mouth next wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Someone kicked the bees’ nest.”
She wasn’t kidding. Though the phrase was usually metaphorical, it didn’t take long for Zig and Siasha to understand that this time it was literal. Siasha winced, knowing the awful implications that would follow.
“Oh dear. Someone hit the blade bees’ nest?”
Blade bees. These were bees that were the size of a small child with differently shaded black markings.
White lines ran along their bodies, and their stingers were curved like scimitars. Though not venomous, they hunted prey by forming large swarms and putting those weapons to good use. Blade bees weren’t dangerous individually, but a swarm was a suitable challenge for eighth-class adventurers. However, that only applied to swarms of ten.
Their gigantic nest was known to house thousands of bees, though their exact numbers were unknown since half was buried underground.
Numbers were always an advantage. Humans could probably take a nest of blade bees if they were prepared. The same couldn’t be said if a whole nest of blade bees started swarming adventurers caught unawares.
“We don’t have the details of what happened, but according to the adventurers who have been evacuated, the nest was hit by a powerful spell.”
Siasha shrugged in exasperation. “What? But you don’t even need powerful magic in that area.”
“Precisely.” Aoi agreed with her, sounding quite indignant, which was rare for the taciturn receptionist.
“Not only did the attacker use a powerful spell, but for it to miss and hit the bees’ nest… Even aiming the spell in its direction is an extremely reckless action.”
The error of a minor stray bullet could be solved by finding cover until the bees settled down. Such courtesy would not be extended if a powerful attack hit their nest, however.
Sensing danger, the blade bees would rush out of their nest to eliminate the threat and chase whatever enemies remained in the vicinity. They were not restricted by human questions such as “Who did that?” They would find and kill everything they thought responsible.
Zig steeled himself and asked the burning question.
“How many made it out?”
A lot of adventurers hunted blade bees every day—from ones who hunted them daily to make ends meet, to those who needed money to buy equipment after getting promoted to stabilize themselves.
The guild seemed lonelier than it usually was with the adventurers who successfully escaped being the only ones present.
Aoi calmly filled them in on the evacuation effort.
“Forty percent of adventurers have been successfully evacuated. Most of them were in front of the bees’ nest and ran straight for the transportation stone when the outbreak happened.”
Those on the opposite side of the nest could only escape into the forest and were still probably being chased by bees.
“An estimated eighty adventurers are still out there.”
“That’s a lot.”