"Wow, we managed to get more wild mushrooms than I expected."

"And we collected herbs, too. Two birds with one stone."

We did find some clusters, but not in abundance like at the Skywolf Groves. Having too many mushrooms grow on a single tree might not be ideal for their quality.

"Still..."

"Is something wrong?"

Rio tilted her head curiously.

Far off, I sensed a large presence. By now, I could extend my detection range several kilometers, picking up faint magical and physical auras.

"Could that be the creature that killed the Silver Wolves?"

"Did you find something? I can’t feel anything from this far, but if you think it might be, then maybe."

"Hmm... Compared to the monsters in the depths of the Demon Forest, it’s not inferior."

"Wow, that’s impressive."

The innermost part of the Demon Forest supposedly housed monsters even Master struggled with. Rio and I hadn’t faced anything there yet, but deeper forest creatures often took both of us working together to bring down.

The worst encounter was an Earth Dragon—a Ground Dragon. It took us two full days to defeat it. Even now, while I think we’d fare better, I wouldn’t exactly want a rematch. Cutting the battle time in half wouldn’t make it less grueling.

"Yeah, let’s avoid that thing. Too much hassle."

"Good idea."

"If it spots us, we’ll toss some random prey from the storage box to distract it and escape."

"Haha, true. We’ve got plenty of hefty monsters in there to keep it busy."

"Alright, let’s head back for today."

"Sounds good. It’s getting late anyway."

We moved away from the large creature’s presence and started making our way back to the village. Along the way, we spotted a bear-like monster, but it fled upon noticing us. The guild said they were supposed to be aggressive, so why the sudden timidity?

By the evening of the next day, we were back from another successful herb-gathering trip, our faces practically glowing with satisfaction. The wild mushrooms we’d harvested made the trip worthwhile. The deeper areas of the forest, untouched by others, turned out to be a goldmine.

"Tonight’s our last stay at the inn, so let’s sell everything to the guild and see what we can make."

"Tomorrow we’re heading to Raven, the craftsmen’s city, right?"

"Yeah. I want to get some proper furniture for camping. Heading back to the border town just to resupply is a pain."

"Haha, I totally agree."

As usual, we stepped into the guild, this time heading straight for the purchasing counter.

"I’d like to sell these."

The staff member, a young man, approached after noticing us.

"Certainly, please go ahead."

First, I laid out the herbs we’d collected, then moved on to the real prize: Silver Wolf carcasses.

"Wha—?!"

The staff member recoiled in surprise as I casually placed six wolf corpses on the counter. The commotion drew stares from other adventurers in the guild. Ignoring the attention, I added, "I’ll keep the pelts."

"Y-yes... um, what about the meat?"

The hushed murmurs of the guild reached us as the staff struggled to keep his composure.

"You can eat wolf meat?"

Rio asked what I was thinking.

"Yes, high-ranking magical beasts often taste quite good. Silver Wolf is considered edible."

"Alright, I’ll keep meat from three. Sell the rest."

"Understood."

"And one more thing..."

I pulled a sizable wild Skywolf Mushroom from my bag. I had harvested quite a few, so curiosity drove me to see how much they were worth.

"A wild one?!"

The reaction was louder than with the Silver Wolves. I guess wild mushrooms were even rarer than wolves, which tended to attack on sight.

"Excuse me, but we’ll need until tomorrow to appraise everything and prepare the pelts and meat."

Accepting the receipt as a claim ticket, I left the guild. The curious and suspicious gazes that followed us were ignored.

The next day, we returned to collect our rewards. First, I checked the processed Silver Wolf pelts.

"Wow, they’re fluffier than I thought."

"Yeah, they feel amazing."

The pelts were large enough to comfortably lie on without hanging over the edges.

"And the wild mushrooms?"

"Those turned out to be more valuable than I expected."

For the two mushrooms I sold, I received 53,000 flons and 120,000 flons, respectively. That was far more than I’d anticipated. The "wild" mushrooms served in the course meal at the inn might have been less authentic than I thought.

"Alright, let’s head out."

"Yeah, this was such a nice village."

"Peaceful, too. Though the constant mushroom aroma made me hungry all the time."

"Haha!"

The faint mushroom scent still lingered in the air as we prepared to leave. I couldn’t imagine how the villagers dealt with it daily—maybe they were just used to it.

Just as we were about to exit the guild, a voice caught my attention.

"I’m looking for the adventurers who brought in those wild Skywolf Mushrooms yesterday. Do you know where they are?"

The speaker was a chubby, self-important man with a commanding tone. He didn’t look like an adventurer but more like someone who issued quests.

A bad feeling crept over me. To make matters worse, the guild staff he was addressing glanced in my direction, and the man’s gaze followed.

Our eyes met, and my gut told me I wasn’t getting away from this easily.