"Shit! We can't do this. There are too many monsters!" Hellhound said as he warped back to our defensive position after his fifth kill. Twenty more salamanders were still around, slowly encroaching on us.

"Is using warp exhausting?" I asked him.

"Yeah. You get tired when using mana too, right?"

"Sort of," I answered noncommittally. This was definitely caused by a spawner. We shouldn't attack from the front like this; there would be no end to them. "The three musketeers could take this on, I presume."

"We are not those godly warriors! You're a mage too, right? You said you're level 8! Do something!"

"I am a dark mage. I specialize in illusions. They aren't attacking us because I've impaired their senses. They shouldn't be able to see us," I answered. "Wanna run?"

"Couldn't you direct them somewhere else? Like off a cliff or something?"

"Hm… maybe one, but all of them would be difficult." Dark magic is specialized for one-on-one. Maybe I could make a dragon appear to scare them off? But they could also sense mana, and if they don't sense any in the dragon illusion, there's no point. "I thought I could simply wait here while you kill all of them. I've hypnotized them. It should be as easy as hitting a dummy."

"Let's leave," Hellhound said before I stopped him.

"They will all die in about an hour," I said as I fired darkness bullets at them. As the corrosion began sapping their life force, they started to slow down. I need to get that spawner.

"Hm? You're suddenly motivated," Hellhound tilted his head when he saw me dismount and cast magic repeatedly onto the herd.

"There is a spawner there. If we don't do something, a monster stampede will occur."

"Spawner?"

"It's the same reason why there was always a stampede in Shadowstep every month. The stampede stopped because Elderan stole the spawner for themselves," I finally told them what I knew. The party looked at me weirdly. I took some risk in telling them. I hope they didn't dig too deep.

"How did you know this?"

"Well, the Shadowstep military talked about it."

"Whoa. You're in their military?"

"Um… yes?" Technically, it was Alicia, but since I'm her master, I am also counted.

"How old were you again? It was like two years ago, right? Does Althemer employ underage children in their military? I guess Althemer is no better than our Gulag." Hellhound sighed. "This world is fucked."

"No. Gifted children are taught how to fill feystones from the age of 10. Then, someone else buys them. Or, they can seek permanent employment anywhere, including the military, if they want to."

"Yeah, a child like you would surely get scammed." Hellhound scoffed at Althemer's policy about mages. I knew I wouldn't be able to win an argument with these guys. Let's wait until all the salamanders in this forest are dead.

"The salamanders stopped moving," Hell Biter said.

"They're still alive, but if you want to hasten the process, you could go and finish the job," I said. "Be careful; they could still jump at you, maybe."

"Alright! Ohh! This one dropped a feystone!" they nodded and slew the salamander one by one. After we cleaned up the battlefield, some salamanders dropped feystones, and we ended up with three of them. Three feystones for over twenty salamanders seemed like a bad harvest, but these guys were chill. They accepted any kind of extra income.

As we progressed through the forest, Hellhound suddenly stopped and turned to where we came from. He sighed and told us to retreat calmly. all of his party members follow suit. I, who is a tad bit shorter, lifted myself up over the bushes with my tentacle to look at what scared them.

"Let's leave. We can't possibly clear that." Over three hundred scaly monsters were visible in the distance.

"I suppose we have to warn the mercenary guild," Hellhound said as we retreated. If only I were a fire mage, I could cast a wide-range fire spell to annihilate these salamanders. Oh well, I guess I'll come back here again at night. The journey back was uneventful, but we didn't lower our guard.

"So, how's the commission?" The mercenary guild receptionist asked, but Hellhound frowned.

"It was really bad. There were hundreds of monsters there—wyverns, salamanders, snakes—all kinds of monsters. A stampede even worse than what happened in Shadowland might come for Sami and the capital."

"Really?. Did you know the cause?"

"We cannot confirm it, but Eli here said there was a spawner."

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"A spawner…" The receptionist frowned, but he didn't seem surprised.

"Oh, you know about it?"

"Heh, this young lady is more informed than I thought. Well, she is a mage; she gets that preferential treatment. Now, this is a secret, but a spawner is a treasure of condensed mana that sometimes spawns in abandoned areas. The country will pay you handsomely if you can get your hands on it. So, think you can do it? It's easy with your skill, right? You just need to warp there and back. "

"Nuh-uh, my warp strike range is 100 meters at most. I can't see the spawner, so it's futile. I'm not stupid enough to transfer in the middle of a monster zone. By the way, a stampede is going to happen. You must warn the capital and the Duke of Sami!"

"Well, your loss. Anyway, I'll mark the commission as complete. You have done a good job scouting the area. A message about the incoming stampede will be sent to the respective lords." The receptionist shrugged his shoulders and filled out the commission form. Seeing him reminded me of R25B. I had to give reports to him too before I headed out to the forest again.

"... So, that's the gist of it. I'm heading back to the forest now." I reported my findings to R25B inside the inn I rented.

"Gotcha. 200 points in the bag. Excellent work!"

"Was the reward this time a bit big?"

"Yeah. Elderan is in a hurry to get that spawner. If you can get it, they'll pay 1000 points!"

"I heard it was a dead technology, though…"

"Really?"

"Yeah, people here don't actually use monsters in their everyday lives. People still use horses. Monsters aren't efficient enough to replace horses despite the increase in food prices."

"I see. That's interesting information. I'll tell my seniors. So, you didn't see any tamed monsters in Elderan?"

"They said tamed monsters are used more like pets or to show support for Elderan's national policy."

"I see. This info is from your mercenary group, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll record the information. Now, go get that spawner, my little reaper! 1000 points are on the line! That's a full 20-gold for me! It's fascinating how you always seem to be in the right place at the right time! Big quests like this keep happening in front of you! I think a promotion and salary increase is on the horizon!" R25B kept blabbering about his achievements and how he would soon be rich. I ignored his tirade and headed back to the forest.

I didn't intend to hand over the spawner to the reapers. I planned to use it to bribe the monster tamer guild. There hasn't been any new information about Droner Gustav, Tione Alex, or Seles. I asked the mercenary guild about influential lords around here and those with contacts in the monster tamer guild, but it bore no fruit. There was no mention of this Gustav.

As I approached the forest, the growls of salamanders could be faintly heard. The bushes rustled as I passed by on my horse. Sensing that I was making too much noise, I dismounted and continued on foot. Using my reaper card and the glasses connected to my cartography tool, I had already mapped the path leading to the monsters we encountered this afternoon.

A few hours later, I found the monster group. In the shade of the night, I ambled, silently casting illusions on every monster that came near me. Dark mages cast illusions inside the brain, unlike light mages, who bend light to create illusions. So, I could obscure their sense of smell, too.

I should have been able to obscure the mercenary group from the monster too, but since I had yet to grasp our group's behavior, I didn't say it to them. I didn't know if they would make surprising movements like attacking the salamanders, touching them, or being seen by them before I could cast my magic. The salamanders weren't stupid; if I obscured all their senses, they might go into a rampage.

"Hm… this is harder than I thought," I muttered. I had cast magic on over two hundred monsters, but I still couldn't find the spawner. The Shadowstep Forest only had ogres and goblins, so it was easier. Moreover, there was a dragon here sleeping in the distance.

The dragon was beautiful. Its silver scale seemed to shimmer like jewels. However, when I cast my illusion on it, it reflected my magic! I needed to stay away from it. If it sensed me, I would have to fight it, which was impossible among these monsters.

"Ugh… should I give up the quest?" Dragons were very rare, but they were no longer as invincible as the myth. A well-placed cannonball could kill it. The garrison would suffer tremendous damage, but Elderan should still stand even if this stampede occurred. Heck, even Hellhound could probably kill it by teleporting a blast charge or dynamite onto its back. However, I lack the capability to fight it now.

A few hours later, I still couldn't find the spawner. I had already gone to the edge of the monster group where the monsters started to thin out. That left only one place to search: the area around the dragon. But I couldn't possibly search for it without awakening the dragon.

"Hah… I should wait here for a while. Maybe I should visit daily or camp out. I could steal the orb when the dragon is out." I formulated a plan as I returned to the mercenary guild when dawn arrived.

"You're still here, Miss Level 8?"

"My name is Eli, Hellhound. Yes, I'm still here. Why ask?" My irritation peaked as this punk greeted me while I lounged in a restaurant he recommended. He joined in and ordered a hot dog with coffee as he teased me.

"No, I thought you would take the carriage to Elderan City. You said you wanted to visit the monster tamer guild in the capital, right?"

"Well, the spawner in the forest piqued my interest. I want it."

"We want it too, you know! The mercenary guild phoned the capital, and now they've issued a quest to take the spawner. It was worth 300 Gold!"

"Instead of giving it to the mercenary guild, how about giving it directly to the Monster Tamer Guild?" I asked them.

"Hmm…" Hellhound and the others looked at each other before nodding. "Maybe it's worth the money? 10% isn't much in usual cases, but this spawner could be worth more than three hundred gold in the capital." Hellhound seemed used to low-level commissions. It might be unthinkable for him to consider that the spawner was valued at 1000 gold.

"Yeah. The commission taken by the guild must be enormous. It would be better to hand it over directly." Hell Knight and Hell Archer agreed, but Hell Biter had a different opinion.

"But what about the guild's reputation?"

"That's what I'm worried about," Hellhound nodded.

"Come on, it's just one quest," Archer said.

"But how are we going to get past that field of monsters?"

"It's Easy. We just need to wait until the stampede happens. Then, as the monsters move out to the city, we can steal the spawner," I said.

"... You're unexpectedly heartless, Eli. What about the people in the city?"

"We already told the guild the stampede is going to happen, right? It's up to this city's lord to deal with it. Do you think you can make a difference? If you feel so philanthropic and selfless, stealing the spawner is still at the top of the list. I heard the monsters spawned by a spawner would disappear if the spawner was destroyed." That last part was a lie. I didn't know whether the monsters would disappear or not.

"I see. Very well, we are in your debt. Let's do it and steal that spawner!" Hellhound said and went off to do some shopping for our camp.

Ah! I forgot to tell him about the dragon…