Inside the Gazekil Kingdom, a buggy was moving along the road. Horses were pulling it while a driver controlled them from the front.
Inside the buggy, four people were sitting — two boys and two girls.
One of those boys was Chama.
Chama (narration):
After big brother Precious trained me, I went to the army camp of Zinau to continue my training. I trained there for a few months. During that time, I completed many missions and also made some friends.
And now, I have come to the Gazekil Kingdom for another mission with my three friends:
Max, Chiki, and Rumi.
The scene showed the three people sitting with him.
Suddenly, the buggy driver spoke.
Driver:
"So... why are all of you going to Gangnam City? You look like adventurers."
Max:
"You can think of us as adventurers. We came here because of a mission."
Driver:
"I see..."
Rumi:
"Actually, we came from the Zinau Kingdom for a mission."
Driver:
"Zinau Kingdom? I see... so what is your mission?"
Chama:
"There is a gang that is capturing beasts. We have to find them and report them."
The driver nodded.
Driver:
"I see... actually now that I remember, I also heard that someone has been capturing beasts from the jungle. Because of that, the monsters in the forest have become very active and they are starting to come into the city and cause destruction."
Chiki:
"Beasts used to stop monsters from entering the city. Because of beasts, encounters with monsters were very rare. But now beasts are decreasing, so monsters are becoming active."
Driver:
"You are right..."
He paused for a moment.
Driver:
"If you want, I can give you a suggestion."
Rumi:
"Say it."
Driver:
"There is a pub in Gangnam City called CROGE Pub. If you investigate there, you might find some information."
Chama:
"A pub, huh..."
Driver:
"Yes. Many gang members and group people come there daily. You might be able to collect information from them."
Max:
"By the way, why are you helping us so much?"
The driver laughed lightly.
Driver:
"Think about it. If beasts disappear, monsters will increase and start appearing in cities and open lands. In that situation, my business of transporting people between cities will end. That's why."
Rumi:
"That makes sense."
Max:
"Okay then. Let's go to that Croge Pub."
Chama:
"Hm."
He nodded.
After some time, they finally reached the city.
As soon as the buggy entered Gangnam City, it stopped.
Chama and his friends stepped down from the buggy.
The driver spoke again.
Driver:
"If you go straight from here, you'll see an Adventurers Office. Take the right turn there, then after the fourth road, turn right again. You will see a park, and the pub is right in front of it."
Chama:
"Okay. Thank you for telling us."
Driver:
"Oh ho ho~ mention not! See you later!"
The driver left.
Chama and his friends began walking.
Chiki:
"So what is our plan?"
Chama:
"Hm... the leader will tell."
All eyes turned toward Rumi.
Rumi:
"Well you see... I don't have any idea."
Everyone:
"Haa..." -_-
They continued walking while talking.
Rumi:
"Still, first let's go to the pub and see what's happening there. If someone looks suspicious, we will follow them to their base. After that, we'll decide what to do."
Max:
"Then let's go."
Soon they reached the Adventurers Guild building.
They turned right, walked past four roads, then turned left and arrived in front of a park.
Across the park stood a small building.
Its lights were off.
Rumi:
"So this is Croge Pub."
Chiki:
"Let's go."
They moved forward silently and opened the door.
Max (whispering):
"No one is here. Come inside... come on."
Using the wall for cover, they slowly walked inside.
Max moved ahead first.
Suddenly he stepped forward, peeked around the corner, and immediately came back, bumping into Chiki.
Chiki:
"Ehg! What are you doing?"
Max:
"Shh... there are some people."
Max carefully peeked again.
Around four to five people were sitting at a bartender table. Another person stood on the opposite side of the table. He was wearing bartender-like clothes, while the other four looked like officers or workers.
Max:
"Damn... I can't hear their voices from here!"
Chama:
"Rumi, use your skill and tell us what they are talking about."
Rumi:
"Yeah... SUSAD."
Rumi (thinking):
With this skill, I can hear even the smallest sound within 500 meters.
Soon, their conversation became clear.
Person 1:
"Yeah... the beasts you delivered yesterday, you forwarded them, right?"
Bartender:
"Yes, I did. But we need more beasts."
Person 2:
"I don't know what they are going to do with so many beasts."
Person 3:
"That's not our job to think about. We're getting money for this work, so why not do it?"
Person 4:
"Let's go. The beasts we kept alive — we'll remove their skin and other parts and sell them."
Bartender:
"Yeah. Come here."
The bartender picked a drink from between several bottles.
Suddenly the wall shook and slid aside, revealing a hidden entrance.
Bartender:
"Let's go. All the beasts are inside."
The five people stood up and walked inside.
Chama:
"Let's go. They're going inside."
Silently, Chama and the others followed them.
They arrived at an underground storeroom.
Inside, some beasts were locked in prison cages, some were dead, and some had their skins hanging from chains.
Bartender:
"So... we can sell the skin and other parts of these three beasts in the market."
He pointed at three creatures.
The first was a rabbit, about 4 inches in size. It had three tails, blue-green eyes, three horns on its forehead, and very long ears.
The second was a crocodile, about 2 meters long, brown in color with one big tail.
The third was a monkey, normal size but with two tails and a spike on each hand.
Person 3:
"If we sell their teeth too, we'll get at least 4–5 gold coins, right?"
Bartender:
"Easily."
Person 1:
"Then why are we standing here? Let's do our work."
Suddenly—
Chama:
"BROWN BURN!"
A brown horn covered in flames suddenly shot forward and hit the bartender.
BOOM
The bartender was knocked unconscious in a single hit.
The other four people quickly turned around in shock.
Person 4:
"Who are you?! How did you know this place?!"
Rubi:
"You people are the ones capturing beasts."
Person 2:
"We only do it in this city. In other cities, other groups do this work."
Person 1:
"Oi! Why are you telling them all this?!"
Person 2:
"What difference does it make? They are all going to die here anyway."
Max:
"We'll see about that. SOUTING WALL!"
Suddenly Max used an attack.
Multiple walls appeared between the two sides, creating a maze-like structure.
Person 3:
"What the hell is that?!"
Person 2:
"Don't be afraid. This is just some little trick!"
At that moment—
Rubi:
"Dragon Ring Mirage!"
A glowing ring appeared in mid-air and floated down.
It smashed through the walls and transformed into a spirit dragon.
It looked like a normal dragon, but ghost-like — white and blue in color.
The dragon burst through the maze and struck one of the enemies.
Person 4:
"Agh...!?!!"
Rubi:
"Die."
The dragon passed through his body.
When it came out, it held the person's soul in its claws.
The soul vanished in the air.
The man collapsed dead.
Meanwhile, all the walls collapsed to the ground.
At the same time—
Chiki freed the beasts from their cages.
Chiki:
"Oh great air, please accept my request and break those locks and free all of these beasts!
GAPAMATAFOT!"
Strong winds formed.
The locks broke and fell to the ground.
The prison doors opened.
The remaining criminals looked terrified.
Person 1:
"W-what the hell?!"
Person 2:
"Do you know how much money we spent capturing those beasts?!"
Chama calmly spoke.
Chama:
"I already called the minister of this city. Knights will arrive here soon."
Chama (thinking):
These people are terrible. They captured these beasts, killed them, and sold their skin, blood, teeth, horns, and eyes.
Well... many artifacts are made from these things, so I can't say it's completely wrong.
But killing too many beasts like this... that's definitely not right.
Rubi:
"Okay, done."
Rubi and Max captured the remaining three people using ropes.
Rubi:
"Our mission is complete. The officials of Gazekil Kingdom will handle the rest."
Max:
"Uff... after this, I'm going to take a long bath in a bathtub. This place smells terrible."
Chiki:
"That's true."
After some time, soldiers arrived, captured the criminals, and sealed the pub along with all the evidence.
The scene faded out.
Writer:
"Well, you could say this chapter is like a filler. But two things happened: first, Chama reappeared after a long time, and second, Deku's mission of capturing beasts is progressing in the background. So I don't think it should really be called a filler.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this... shit.., I mean my novel, not shit.
Let's meet in the next chapter."