After lunch, we went for a walk in the woods again.
And so, we repeatedly encountered monsters and defeated them.
The most common was Violet Boar, maybe we killed five of them.
"Tonight is a meat festival," one knight said happily.
Yes, I know. Knights love meat, don't they? I love it too.
The saints, as always, would sit apart when a battle started and heal when it ended.
Then, when the sun was starting to tilt slightly west of the summit, they spoke to Platoon Leader Hector for the first time.
"I'm tired. We're going home." (A saint)
"Understood! We will return as soon as possible!"
Thus, we were going back from monster subjugation.
On the way back, unlike the way there, we didn't pursue monsters themselves, but rather defeat any monsters that happened to come across.
The knights around me also seemed to relax and relax a little.
However, disasters often strike when we let our guard down.
"Monsters are approaching!"
The person in charge of reconnaissance suddenly cried out in a panic.
He was an offensive magic user and could pinpoint the location of monsters to a certain extent using magic detection.
"Wh-what?! What direction?! Be on your guard..."
Platoon Leader Hector was about to speak when he was blown away.
I gasped and turned around, and saw a three-meter-tall deer-like monster with shining blue eyes standing there.
Flower Horned Deer. The more it grew, the more the horns on its head spread out like flowers, and it was a species endemic to this forest.
It was a B-rank monster that is said to require 30 knights to defeat and is clearly stronger than the other monsters we'd defeated today.
The stronger the monster, the deeper it lurked in the forest, and B rank monsters were likely to live in the abyss even deeper. They're not monsters you could encounter within a day's distance.
In the first place, it was not expected that they would encounter each other during today's extermination, as evidenced by the fact that the platoon was made up of only 20 people.
The greatest misfortune was that the platoon leader, who was the commander, had been blown away and was now completely unconscious.
But I didn't think this was a coincidence.
B-rank monsters were highly intelligent. They would have instantly figured out who the commander was and targeted the platoon leader to create chaos.
The knights were standing in an oval shape, scattered across the ground, with a monster stepping into one corner.
The acting platoon leader stood motionless at the edge of the oval.
"Fabian, can you command us?" (Fia)
At my question, Fabian blinked as if he had come to his senses.
"No... It's the first time I've seen that monster. It's impossible since I don't know anything about its characteristics." (Fabian)
I see...
It's a monster that is endemic to this forest and usually lives deep in the forest. Normally, no one would know about its characteristics.
As if coming back to their senses after we began speaking, the knights around us began drawing their swords.
However, since the monster's attacks were unknown, they were unable to make any rash moves and were left in a state of blindfolding.
"Aaarghhh!!!" (Saints)
Amidst all this, the three saints suddenly started screaming and ran off in different directions.
"Ah, no!" (Fia)
Flower-horned Deer had a habit of chasing anything that moves.
I instinctively drew my sword and stood in front of Flower-horned deer, who was about to run towards the saints.
"[Physical Enhancement] Attack power x3! Speed x3!"
Muttering this under his breath, I drew my sword and held it to my side to block the horn that was swung down on them.
"Ugh...!" (Fia)
Although I was able to block it, the impact caused my body to move backwards.
"I have experience in defeating Flower-horned Deer! I'll be in charge!" (Fia)
I shouted, gazing into the monster's blue eyes and tensing its whole body to avoid being pushed back.
This state continued for a few seconds, then suddenly the monster's eyes changed from blue to red.
In an instant, I jumped back.
"Stand back!!" (Fia)
At the same time as I spoke, the area around the monster was engulfed in flames with a radius of about three meters.
"What?! Flames appeared suddenly!!"
"It's dangerous! Get back!"
The knights cried out in panic and fell back.
"There's only one thing to be careful of when defeating a Flower-horned Deer! Look at the color of its eyes, if they're blue, attack, if they turn red, get away instantly! That's it!" (Fia)
This monster only manipulated fire when its eyes turned red. And while it's manipulating fire, it wouldn't attack, so there's no problem as long as you stayed away.
"However, this monster has tough skin, so it will take time to kill him! Fabian, sound the rescue whistle and call for backup! We don't have enough people to take on a B-rank monster!" (Fia)
Immediately, Fabian and the other knights who had free time sounded the rescue whistle.
I wished there were another platoon nearby.
The unit was originally made up of 20 people, and with the platoon leader now incapacitated, there were clearly not enough men.
The Flower-horned Deer's flames were getting smaller.
Soon, its flames would die down and the monster's eyes would turn blue. Then, our attack would begin.
"Three of us in charge of attacking will block the horns from the front with our shields! The rest of you will surround the monster! This monster has extraordinary jumping ability. If there is even the slightest gap in the enclosure, it will jump through it and escape. Then, if it gets outside the enclosure, it will attack us one by one! So, don't let it get away!" (Fia)
The trained knights responded immediately to my voice and formed a formation around the Flower-horned Deer.
"When attacking, try to aim for the white part of the abdomen as much as possible! Its back is tough, so your sword won't penetrate it!" (Fia)
——It must have been a few minutes after that.
As we struggled, unable to penetrate the monster's tough skin with our swords, we heard an inappropriately leisurely voice call out to us.
"Oh, I heard a rescue whistle and wondered what it was, but it turns out there's a rare monster, huh..."
I turned around and saw a knight known as the "Kingdom's Dragon" who shouldn't have been there.