It’s strange that fewer PVs lead to more bookmark registrations.
I wonder why? lol
The town where the Crown Branch of the Ayrica Kingdom is located is a castle town that includes Ribbiaa Castle.
The town was named Ribbiaa, directly deriving from the castle’s name.
Due to its proximity to the royal capital, the areas surrounding Ribbiaa Town rarely experience the appearance of large monsters.
Though they do appear occasionally, they are almost always subjugated by the Knight Order.
However, monsters of intermediate to high rank can still be found a few days’ walk from the adventurers’ usual routes.
Most monster subjugation requests submitted to the Guild are issued by Ribbiaa Town and the Kingdom to maintain the security of the royal capital and its satellite cities.
The majority of adventurers active in Ribbiaa earn their living by subjugating these monsters.
West of Ribbiaa Town lies a deep forest region.
Based on the remaining flora and fauna, it is said to have once been part of a vast forest stretching across the western part of the Ayrica Kingdom. However, it is now completely separated from that great forest.
Nevertheless, a considerable forest remains, providing more than enough space for monsters to make their nests.
Several such large forest regions remain within the Ayrica Kingdom.
Therefore, the subjugation of monsters living in these environments becomes their primary source of income.
The first request Roman and his party chose was for a squirrel-like monster called a Lynx, found about half a day’s walk from the royal capital.
Lynxes also appear in Amamiya Tower, so they were a familiar foe for their first subjugation target.
They are about one meter in length, and despite their size, they are characterized by their characteristic speed, as they attack with their sharp teeth like squirrels.
What makes them even more troublesome is that they usually attack in groups of two or three, which increases the difficulty of subjugation.
While an individual Lynx is not of particularly high rank, the request is ranked D because they almost always appear in groups.
However, even within the D rank, this is considered a lower-tier request at headquarters.
In essence, it is said to be the request where adventurers who have just been promoted from E rank first experience the threat of group combat.
This is their evaluation on the Central Continent, but within the East Continent, including the Ayrica Kingdom, it is considered a higher-tier D rank request.
Therefore, a considerable amount was offered just for proof of subjugation, rather than bringing back materials.
In Ribbiaa, this request is considered not worth the effort due to the monsters being too strong for their rank.
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Roman and his party decided to base their operations in a village called Taen, located about half a day’s walk from Ribbiaa.
The number of Lynxes to be subjugated, as stated on the request form, was the issue.
A typical subjugation request would ask for four or five, but this one specified one hundred.
Sometimes, unpopular requests are combined into a single task.
Roman thought one hundred was excessive, but it was likely due to the extreme unpopularity of the request.
Conversely, for Roman and his party, who were accustomed to fighting Lynxes, the quest reward was quite appealing.
They couldn’t possibly face a hundred Lynxes at once, so they decided to make Taen village, located near their appearance point, a temporary base.
By the way, the proof of subjugation is to be stored in a vault-like room.
While looking for a place to store it, they were fortunate enough to have the innkeeper at their lodging offer them an available space.
However, the vault is not as heavily guarded as a real bank’s vault.
They were able to rent it on the condition that they were entirely responsible for anything that might happen to their stored items.
On the day they finally set out for the subjugation, Roman conducted a final confirmation with Arisa once everyone had gathered.
“Before we head out for the subjugation, is it confirmed that Riku will not be participating?”
Roman did not know Riku was royalty, but he sensed that Riku was the son of some noble.
Initially, he treated Riku with appropriate respect, but since Riku refused it, he now addresses him by his name.
“Yes. Also, please don’t worry about us and proceed at your own pace.”
“Understood.”
Roman and his party had seen ample proof of Arisa’s strength during their time at the training school.
They knew that protecting a single child in the area they were about to enter would pose no problem.
“Ah, but please be careful about the speed of your advance. It’s probably your first time entering the forest for reasons other than hunting.”
Arisa said this and looked at Riku.
Riku nodded without reservation.
He had already learned on the way to the village that trying to hide things unnecessarily could cause trouble.
“Right. Understood. Well, Lynxes don’t usually inhabit the deep parts of the forest, so I don’t think we’ll need to go too deep to find them…”
“This isn’t the Central Continent’s forest, so don’t let your guard down.”
One of the party members admonished Roman’s assumption.
“I know. Besides, given the numbers, we’ll likely have to go deeper eventually.”
“True. Well then, I’ll just go take a look around.”
“Please do.”
As Roman said this, the party’s scout quickly entered the forest, leaving the others behind.
Their style was to have the scout confirm the presence of the target monster nearby before proceeding with the subjugation.
Meanwhile, Roman and the others were not idle.
They carefully advanced through the forest as a party, ensuring their safety.
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As Roman and his party advanced through the forest, the scout member returned.
“They’re up ahead. Five of them.”
“Understood. Are you all ready?”
In response to Roman’s confirmation, the party members nodded.
Roman and the others already had Riku’s presence in the back of their minds, their focus entirely on the subjugation.
Despite having fought them many times before, they knew not to be careless.
Moreover, they couldn’t be sure that other monsters besides Lynxes wouldn’t appear.
Roman, the leader, glanced at Arisa for a moment, and seeing her nod, he gave the order to his members.
“Alright, let’s go!”
At his command, the party members began to move, each fulfilling their roles.
Lynxes, despite their large bodies, sometimes perched on relatively large tree branches.
While they weren’t light enough to stand on thin branches, they could easily climb onto the trunk of thick branches.
Their behavior in this regard was similar to squirrels, but they were far from being cute creatures.
There were a total of five Lynxes that Roman and his party encountered this time.
With such numbers, the Lynx’s characteristic group combat came into full play.
To prevent this, the scout first used their bow to create a diversion from a distance.
The Lynxes, alerted to their presence by the attack, skillfully leaped between branches and charged from the ground.
By the time they reached Roman and his party, one had already been taken down by the scout’s bow.
Riku watched intently, holding his breath, as the monster subjugation unfolded before his eyes for the first time.
He felt a profound sense of awe, in many ways, at the intensity of the combat, which was unlike anything he had experienced from books or stories.
Naturally, blood splattered from the defeated monsters.
He did not feel any aversion to these raw sensations.
Nor did he feel particularly exhilarated.
He simply watched the life-or-death battle unfolding before him.
Arisa kept a close watch on Riku’s reaction.
With Riku watching, the first battle concluded in about fifteen minutes.
Fortunately, no other monsters interfered, and they were able to defeat the Lynxes cleanly.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t carry the entire length of the one-meter-long monsters.
After dealing with the surrounding blood and collecting the necessary parts, the party headed towards their next hunting ground.
Riku, who witnessed the battle for the first time, watched surprisingly calmly.
Incidentally, he had seen the tower’s familiars subjugate monsters before.
