"This morning, when you weren't here, I was scouting by myself and happened to find the artifact I lost yesterday!" Precious Baby said to Stelle with a serious expression.
"Uh… when scouting?" Stelle's first concern was the word "scouting" that came out of Precious Baby's mouth.
No matter what, scouting was too strange, making it sound like he was here to steal something.
"Cough, cough, I mean, investigating, do you understand investigating?" Precious Baby coughed a few times, managing to gloss over the matter.
"In short, I checked carefully this morning, and it is indeed the artifact I lost."
"Does that mean the commission is over?" Stelle touched her head, feeling a bit subtle.
Although she also helped look for it all afternoon yesterday, in the end, the artifact was found by Precious Baby himself, and she was also late and didn't come at all.
"But no matter what, I should at least get half of the commission fee, right?"
"Don't worry, the commission isn't over yet." Precious Baby gave Stelle an annoyed look, but then the expression on his face became a bit embarrassed.
"Actually, after I got the artifact, I was very happy, so I thought I'd continue, uh, surveying the place where the artifact was found…"
"Suddenly, a group of monsters appeared out of nowhere. I was unarmed and could only run away in a panic, and as a result, I left the newly found artifact behind."
"Huh? Something like that happened??" Stelle looked at Precious Baby in surprise.
But honestly, there seemed to be quite a few monsters in this place, and Precious Baby, why didn't he leave quickly after getting the artifact? Why stay there to survey?
However, with Precious Baby saying that, Stelle started to worry a bit. If she wasn't mistaken, Soraya should also be in this group of ruins.
If she encountered monsters, wouldn't it be very dangerous?
"Alas, after that group of monsters left, I immediately went back, which is where we are standing now." Precious Baby stretched out his hand and pointed to the ground beneath his feet.
Stelle also looked closely, and there were indeed many traces of monsters moving nearby.
"Then, the artifact…"
"I can't find it. I've been looking for a long time." Precious Baby helplessly covered his forehead.
Speaking of this, he was really upset. Nothing was more painful than getting something and then losing it again.
He also truly regretted why he had been so greedy for a moment, continuing to scout here, thinking about robbing tombs in the future.
"I don't know if that artifact was taken away by the monsters, so the commission continues. Please help me look for it."
"No problem. If it was taken by monsters, I think it shouldn't take long to find it." Stelle nodded, ready to get to work.
Monsters certainly couldn't distinguish the value of the artifact. After seeing what was inside that package, they would most likely just throw it away casually.
In fact, it was very possible that the monsters wouldn't even open the package and would just throw it away.
In other words, by following the traces of the monsters' departure, they might just find it along the way.
"Let's split up and search. That way, it'll be faster. This time, I brought my weapon, so even if I encounter monsters, I won't run away in a panic." Precious Baby took out his large axe from somewhere.
He looked like he was ready to take revenge on the monsters.
However, Stelle was a bit puzzled. Since Precious Baby was a scholar, why would he use a weapon like an axe…
Perhaps it was a family heirloom? Stelle didn't press the matter, only remembering something else and slowly opening her mouth:
"Precious Baby, have you seen Soraya?"
"Soraya? Who's that?" Precious Baby asked, puzzled.
"She's a scholar from Sumeru. The proprietress of Wangshu Inn said she came here yesterday for a survey." Stelle explained, "The proprietress is a bit worried about her safety, so she asked me to check on her."
But Stelle hadn't seen anyone along the way except Precious Baby.
"Is that so? Unfortunately, I haven't seen any Soraya. In fact, I haven't seen a single living person besides you since I came here." Precious Baby shrugged, but he secretly noted down what Stelle had said.
A scholar from Sumeru… If I encounter him, it's best to deal with him.
Otherwise, if Stelle talks to that scholar a few more times, her identity might be exposed.
Stelle and Precious Baby separated, as the traces left by the monsters were very scattered, and they needed to investigate in different directions.
Actually, Stelle was still a bit worried. Although she wasn't sure what the artifact looked like, since it was unearthed from ruins, it should be very fragile, right?
What if it was damaged by those monsters? After all, monsters wouldn't care if it was an artifact or not.
Even though Precious Baby said his artifact was safely placed in a box, Stelle still didn't feel very secure.
While thinking, Stelle followed the footprints of several monsters on the ground, heading deeper into the ruins.
A moment later, the traces of the monsters completely disappeared.
Stelle looked up and around. It was quiet, and there was nothing.
"Hmm, did the monsters disappear when they got here?" Stelle said, a bit confused, then slowly walked towards a broken wall ahead.
There was a small pile of sand here, which looked a bit strange.
How to put it, this sand clearly didn't look like it was naturally formed.
But it was hard to say whether it was man-made or done by monsters. However, no matter who did it, there was definitely something wrong.
Stelle took out her bat and cautiously walked towards the small mound.
The moment Stelle approached, sure enough, just as she expected, an anomaly occurred!
A Hilichurl instantly burst out of the mound. It leaped high, swinging the wooden club in its hand towards Stelle.
At the same time, behind Stelle, two Hilichurl archers, who had been ambushing, also shot element-infused crossbow bolts at Stelle.
It was evident this was a rare coordinated attack among Hilichurls. If it were an ordinary person, they might not react in time and truly perish here.
But how could Stelle be an ordinary person?
Her movements were far quicker than these Hilichurls. The moment the crossbow bolts were fired, Stelle moved.
With an instant twist of her body, she struck the Hilichurl that had leaped from the front, sending it flying, then quickly ran towards the two Hilichurl archers.
The two Hilichurls panicked, continuously firing element-infused crossbow bolts at Stelle, but Stelle nimbly dodged them one by one.
Before they could reload, Stelle's bat heavily struck their heads.
One hit, one kill.
"Weak, weak, but do Hilichurls actually understand coordination...?" Stelle stroked her chin, looking at the two Hilichurl corpses, lost in thought.
Just then, the shadow of a colossal creature appeared behind her.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"