## Chapter 392 – The Color From Space
I guess dragging Quetes around with the three of us makes us look like easy targets, attracting trash like this. If we were pulling a whole caravan or had a fancy carriage, they’d probably steer clear, but what can you do?
We don’t.
“Heh heh, you must have made some money robbing travelers around here, right? Where’d you hide it?”
“Ugh… I don’t know, you bastard!”
For a bandit about to be butchered, he’s got guts. I stomped on his chest and shoved the tip of my sword into his shoulder.
“Kyahhhhhh!”
The guy thrashed and screamed as the blade pierced his shoulder.
“Still don’t know?”
These damn bandit bastards.
It seems like every two-bit criminal in the area has flocked here since the meteor fell. Though, they’re not exactly high quality. Just your run-of-the-mill thugs dreaming of hitting the jackpot.
The local security might be collapsing soon.
Getting out of here quickly was definitely the right choice. Even with all the chaos, the nearby cities would have to send troops to restore order.
Then everyone, without exception, would get stabbed with spears and have everything taken from them. The military is a terrifying bunch. The moment they move, hell unfolds.
“Ughhh!! Stop! Stop it!”
“Where’s the money hidden!”
Anyway, I spun the sword that pierced his shoulder like a demon’s club, and the guy coughed up blood and begged for mercy.
“I didn’t hide it!!!! We already split it all up!!!!”
“So, I just need to pick your pockets?”
“Yeah, you son of a bitch!!!! Keuh-heuk!!!”
“Should’ve said so sooner, you bastard!”
—Stab!
I ended the bandit leader’s life right there. There were about fifteen of them, but they lacked the skill and numbers to survive against me, Claudia, and Winia.
“Seriously, can’t we have one peaceful day?”
Winia said, pointing her staff at the head of a bandit crawling on the ground. The bandit was mortally wounded and begging for his life.
“It’ll be more peaceful once we get out of here. All sorts of scumbags have gathered because of the meteor. It’ll quiet down as soon as we leave.”
“I guess so. Sigh, getting the meteor was good, but I shouldn’t come out just because I hear rumors next time. There are too many damn bastards.”
“Hehehe, yeah. Let’s not go where people gather next time.”
And so, we crushed all the bandits who attacked us.
Then, we took our time and carefully searched their bodies, and while we didn’t find much cash, we found things that might be even more valuable.
“Holy crap.”
“Katt? Winia? What are these?”
Every one of them had stuffed three or four small stones into their pockets.
We spread a cloak on the ground and laid them all out, and there were almost fifty of them. Could there be a meteor among them? If so, that’s a jackpot.
“Hmm…”
Winia calmly examined each one and came to a conclusion.
“They’re all just trash. All ordinary stones. It seems like these guys just picked up any suspicious-looking stones and kept them.”
“I knew it, these bastards. They’re so useless, these cancer-of-society bastards!”
Just as she said, these idiots probably looked at the stones and secretly kept them, their hearts pounding, wondering if they might be meteorites.
The conclusion was that they were all ordinary stones.
“Seriously, you’ve never been helpful to anyone even once in your lives! All these damn bandits should be killed!”
Enraged, I stomped on the stones and kicked them far away. At least we got some cash, so it’s fortunate we made enough to cover our expenses.
If these guys were just pure beggars, I wouldn’t know where to vent my anger.
“Some useless bastards come to pick a fight. Let’s go.”
After all, there’s no way these bandit bastards would have the eye to recognize a meteor. The adventurer who provided the meteor last time was either lucky or had a good eye.
No matter how many fell, meteorites aren’t common.
Since there are tons of people failing, let’s just give up and stop expecting anything.
“Still, it was pretty fun, right? I’m satisfied with this much.”
Claudia seems happy anyway. Well, if Claudia’s happy, then everything’s good. I happily sorted the money we earned.
“Actually, me too.”
We earned quite a bit of cash on this journey.
We spent some money, and we’ll have to pay the Quetes rental fee when we get back, but we still made over 60 silver. The journey was long, so the money we earned was also substantial. And the small meteor is a kind of bonus.
Maybe I should learn some useful skills with this.
With that, we worked hard to return to Isvant. All I wanted was to get out of this hell as soon as possible.
Even so, there were more than a few who blocked our path along the way. If we could resolve it with words, we just passed by, and if we couldn’t, we beat them up as we passed. Of course, if bandits attacked, we slaughtered them all on the spot as we moved.
It’s definitely because there are only three of us that we keep getting caught up in trouble.
Those blinded by desire had no restraint. There were even guys trying to relieve their frustration of not finding a meteor through murder and plunder. It’s only natural that they’d attack us since we look easy to handle.
In other words, the madness from space was driving people crazy.
…No.
It’s not quite right to call it madness from space.
Madness was already in people’s hearts from the start. The meteor from space merely awakened it. That’s right. Human ferocity didn’t come from anywhere, and no one instilled it.
It was already rooted in people’s hearts from the beginning.
“Really… it’s terrible.”
“What is, Darkie?”
“The meteor awakened the most primitive emotions latent in people’s hearts. Swollen desires have blinded their eyes… Nothing came from space. It just revealed it.”
“Darkie, are you going to keep talking nonsense creepily?”
“Why is this nonsense?”
I could tell.
It still felt like I could hear the screams of monsters crazed with desire for meteorites coming from behind… That hand! That meteorite! The tragedy wasn’t over!
There were still countless people coming this way in search of uncertain opportunities!
“Ooh, ooh!! Ooooooh!!!! Ooooooooooh!!!!!!!!!”
“Eek!!!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!!!!”
Just like these people who appeared now.
They must have been ordinary travelers, but when they saw me roaring as they walked towards us, they sprinted away with all their might.
“…Now words aren’t even necessary.”
Winia sighed as she watched them.
Well, the return went smoothly in this way. With each passing day, the number of people with malicious intent rapidly decreased.
As soon as we got out of the meteor concentration zone, only ordinary people started appearing, as if they had been freed from madness.
We could pass by them without any conflict.
But ironically, as the people obsessed with violence disappeared, the ones attacking us were monsters.
Because so many people had gathered in that area, all the monsters in the region had fled outside.
Monsters were swarming everywhere.
Monsters that had lost their habitats were rampaging, and monsters whose territories had been invaded were venting their anger. Monsters driven to extremes by stress, anger, and hunger came down from the mountains and attacked people.
It was utter chaos.
The meteor had messed up several places.
It seems like the adventurers’ workload will increase.
When monsters run wild, adventurers get busy.
—Krrr… Slurp!
—Woof, woof!
Even though we were moving along the road, we could easily find monsters devouring human corpses.
There were gnolls, goblins, giant wolves, imps, and even spirits that had smelled the corpses.
Judging from the traces, it seemed like owl bears and medium-sized cockatrices had swept through some areas.
It was like the shrimp getting crushed in a whale fight. Nearly a thousand people were tearing up the mountains in that narrow area, trying to find meteorites, so the only options for the monsters were to fight to the death or pack up and run away.
“What a mess.”
—Woof! Woof!
—Woof woof!
—Woof, woof woof!
A pack of gnolls was tearing apart the corpses of travelers in real time.
Gnolls are relatively weak monsters, but if about thirty of them attacked at once, most people wouldn’t be able to handle them.
—Woof! Woof!
—Woof woof!
The dog-headed monsters discovered us and opened their blood-stained maws, barking fiercely. It looked like there were about four dead human bodies.
They were probably travelers or just adventurers. They were unlucky.
“These bastards… Shut up? Winia. We’re having dog meat for lunch today.”
“You want to eat the ones who ate people?”
“We should eat them and teach them a lesson.”
“Darkie, I’m going to scold you if you keep talking nonsense?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Winia, chanting a spell, fired a fireball, and the gnoll that was directly hit screamed in agony.
—Squeak! Squeak squeak!
—Squeak! Squeak!
—Woof…! Woof woof!! Woof!
The gnolls, terrified by the sudden fire, abandoned their charred comrade and scattered in all directions.
Unfortunately, they were too burnt to eat.
“Katt, are you really going to eat them?”
Claudia said in a worried tone. If they were cooked just right, we could have eaten them, but they were just a lump of carcinogens.
“No. I can’t eat burnt stuff.”
“Didn’t the Ogres chew on raw flesh?”
“That’s raw fish… Fish are a bit different. Anyway, I can’t eat this.”
Anyway, I searched the belongings of the people who had been eaten by the gnolls.
There wasn’t anything particularly special. It turned out that they were an E-rank adventurer and an F-rank adventurer party. Well, with that kind of combination, they would have been a bit lacking to face a large number of gnolls.
And they probably didn’t expect the gnolls to appear on such a large scale… So, they wouldn’t have been prepared either. They couldn’t help but be defeated.
I only took the money pouch and the weapons they were carrying.
—Gwaehk.
“Oh, this little guy.”
Quetes was hungry and showed great interest in the completely burnt gnoll corpse. I quickly pulled on the reins to stop him from eating it, as it would be a disaster if he got sick from it.
“It’s not much further now. Ah, I want to go in and rest soon.”
Claudia said, stretching.
“Haaah, haa. I’m tired too. When we get back, I need to rest for a few days.”
Winia also said, stretching. I followed her and stretched my body. It’s hard when you go far away. Still, the money we earned made my heart burn with excitement.
“Yeah. Let’s get some rest. I’m really tired from keeping watch all the time.”
“Darkie can’t rest.”
“What, why?”
“Katt… Are you asking because you don’t know?”
“Damn it.”
It seems like I won’t be able to rest even when we get back.
As we diligently climbed mountains and crossed valleys, we eventually came near Isvant. There weren’t any monsters near the city. Even bandits were rare.
It’s a rare moment of leisure.
“How many days has it been since we left?”
“It’s been a little over two weeks. I didn’t think it would take this long. Getting lost in the Misty Plains was the biggest factor. And resting there for two days too.”
“We really spent a lot of time.”
It was a journey of over two weeks. We originally planned to move for about ten days, but spending time in the Misty Plains was too much.
And even after arriving, the results of the search weren’t great.
In the end, we only got one meteorite.
“Then, should we just keep moving tonight without sleeping? We should arrive in the morning. Let’s return Quetes right away in the morning, get a room, and rest.”
“Yeah. That sounds good.”
“Let’s do that. It’s not a big deal.”
When I asked, they nodded.
If we move without sleeping tonight, we should arrive in Isvant. Let’s move with a final spurt. We’re a bit tired, but this kind of schedule isn’t a problem for us.
I wonder if Quetes can handle it.
Well, if he can’t move in the middle, we can carry the luggage.
