Morgan fell silent.
He knew Altaïr was right. The three of them could not deal with all the Monsters on their own. To truly resolve the situation, they needed the scholars' help.
Yet he could not bring himself to "abandon" his companions and return alone to deliver the message. That would leave Altaïr and Isis facing even greater risks.
If only they had brought a peregrine falcon or a carrier pigeon when they set out. Even a peregrine falcon, however, could carry only simple messages. There was no way one could bring back the samples, photographs, and sketches they had collected earlier.
Wait... a falcon? Morgan's eyes suddenly lit up. "What if we send Hakucho back to deliver the message?"
Although Hakucho was still a young Halk, his carrying capacity far exceeded that of a peregrine falcon or carrier pigeon. A load of a few kilograms would not slow him down at all.
"The Mangrove Outpost is only a few dozen kilometers away as the crow flies. At his speed, he could reach it in an hour or two at most."
"I overlooked that," Altaïr said thoughtfully.
Sending Hakucho alone to deliver the message was out of the question. He did not know the way to the outpost, and no one there knew him. Besides, he could not explain the situation to the scholars.
But sending Sajji with him would solve all those problems. Even if carrying Sajji slowed Hakucho down, turning a two-hour flight into a three-hour one would make little difference.
"Then Sajji, you'll fly back with Hakucho. However, we'll have to send another Hunter from the outpost to escort Ms. Meow-It-All. Bring them both with you when you return."
"Understood, meow!" Sajji glanced at the sky. "It'll be dawn soon, meow. We'll set off once it's a little lighter, meow!"
Altaïr nodded. "Good. Isis, hurry with those sketches. Focus on the key points; there's no need to add too much detail."
What he wanted to send back was intelligence, not a few masterfully rendered "works of art."
Isis signaled that she understood, then sat down on a branch near the treetop. Using the back of her shield as a drawing board, she spread out several sheets of paper and began sketching rapidly.
Before long, she had finished the drawings.
Although the images consisted only of rough lines, with all shading and detail omitted, the composition and perspective were still excellent. The outline of the Ravenous Dragon Beast's body, its distinctive enormous maw, and the gill-like fins on either side of its head were all clearly depicted.
Even someone unfamiliar with the Ravenous Dragon Beast could get a general idea of its appearance from the drawings.
"Good, this is enough." After inspecting the drawings, Altaïr nodded in satisfaction, rolled up the sheets, and handed them to Sajji.
Sajji carefully packed them into his small satchel along with the mucus samples, photo negatives, and everything else they had collected earlier.
By then, the horizon was beginning to brighten faintly.
At that level of light, a Felyne could see almost as clearly as in daylight. Sajji unfurled his glider and launched from the treetop branches. With Hakucho's help, he climbed higher and vanished into the dim predawn sky.
Watching Sajji leave, Altaïr turned his attention back to the Monsters in the forest.
The good news was that, even after quite some time, no third Monster had arrived to join the feast on its kin's corpse.
Given the keen sense of smell and terrifying appetite they had displayed, there were probably no more of their kind in the surrounding area.
The bad news was that the two creatures were still eating despite having stuffed themselves until their bellies bulged. Even as the sky gradually brightened, they showed no sign of leaving.
This contradicted Altaïr's expectation that they might be "nocturnal." These Monsters did not seem to follow any pattern of daytime or nighttime activity; the light had no effect on their appetite.
"How long are they going to keep eating?" Isis asked, shaking out her hand, which had grown sore from sketching so quickly.
Morgan peered through the scope of his Heavy Bowgun and replied casually, "They eat, throw up, then eat again. Maybe they won't stop until the whole corpse has become a pile of sticky scraps on the ground.
"Oh, wait... they'd just swallow whatever they threw up again, wouldn't they? If so, this could go on forever."
Altaïr did not respond, but he found that speculation unlikely. It would be far too strange. What purpose would a digestive system even serve then?
Sure enough, once the Ravenous Dragon Beast's corpse had been nearly half devoured, the two creatures finally stopped eating and trudged away, dragging their swollen, bulging bellies.
Isis looked surprised. "They didn't throw up and keep eating?"
"That makes more sense." Altaïr nodded. "They vomit undigested food after gorging themselves to make room for more fresh meat.
"But since their stomachs are already packed with fresh meat, there's no need to keep vomiting.
"Still, if I'm not mistaken, they'll probably return in the next few days to keep eating. After all, there's plenty left.
"Then again, perhaps not. They might simply find a quiet place to sleep and digest their meal slowly, as many snakes do."
"So what do we do now?" Morgan asked, folding up his Heavy Bowgun. "Two isn't too many. Do we pick them off one at a time or what?"
He might have looked like an intellectual, but deep down he had the typical Hunter mindset.
"...No need to rush into a Hunt. The last fight only seemed easy because the Lolo Gougarf had already severely wounded the target twice." As he spoke, Altaïr glanced at the Lolo Gougarf, which was tending to its wounds.
The creature even knew how to seal its wounds with silk thread to stop the bleeding.
"The three of us probably wouldn't lose, but it would take time and put us at some risk. There's no need for that yet.
"Let's wait until Sajji brings Ms. Meow-It-All and the others.
"Until then, we'll carefully track those two Monsters. They probably aren't native to the Mangrove Forest.
"We need to find out where they came from."
Isis looked at the Lolo Gougarf, which was perched on one of the giant tree's main branches and licking its wounds. "And what about it?"
"We part ways here. You weren't planning to make it a permanent teammate, were you?" Altaïr said with some annoyance. "If we ever cross paths again, it'll be a win if we don't end up fighting each other."
"Fine." With some reluctance, Isis waved farewell to the Lolo Gougarf.
The Lolo Gougarf tilted its head and looked at her, clearly not understanding the gesture.
This reminded Isis yet again that, despite the creature's intelligence, establishing communication with it would not be easy.
"Let's go."
The Hunters began climbing down the tree along the vines and branches. The Lolo Gougarf made no move to stop them. It merely paused what it was doing and quietly watched them descend.
By the time the Hunters reached the base of the giant tree, the creature had vanished behind the lush foliage.
Altaïr took out the map and roughly marked the giant tree's location. The three Hunters and Clawdia then set off through the forest, leaving the area behind.
—--
For more than a week, ever since the investigation team had left, the atmosphere at Mangrove Outpost had remained somewhat tense.
But thanks to the sturdy walls built early on and the Hunters' efforts, construction continued efficiently and in good order.
At the logging camp across the river from the outpost, a watchtower had already been erected.
The Village Chief had organized rotating watches to prevent a Large Monster from approaching the outpost undetected.
After a full night on duty, the watchman in the tower was exhausted. With the shift change approaching, his attention inevitably began to wander.
Then a piercing screech from overhead made him jolt and look up.
A dark shape was diving from high above, rapidly approaching the camp.
With no landmarks to judge the shape's size against and the brightening sky behind the silhouette, he could not immediately identify the approaching figure. Even so, he seized the alarm bell's rope and pulled with all his strength.
The piercing bell rang throughout the camp. The logging camp's gate was shut at once, and someone rushed to the Heavy Ballista's firing position, tore off its cover, rapidly wound the loading crank, and aimed it at the sky.
"It's me, meow! Don't fire, meow!"
After several hours of high-speed flight, every hair on Sajji's body stood on end from the rushing wind, making him look like a ball of fur. He yowled in alarm, and the camp stood down.
He landed, then told Hakucho to stay close and not wander off. "I have important news, meow! Where is Ms. Meow-It-All, meow?"
(Translated by yourtl.app)