Now, it's good that I remembered something from a while ago, but I have no iion of defeating the Haniwa, aka the Petite , right now.

  This journey is pnned for one night and two days, and it's currently just before noon.

  We'll prepare for camping by noon, then hunt until su and camp out. After that, we'll hunt again from early m until we make it ba time for the gate closure.

  "You're te!!""Hey, we've already finished our preparations over here."

  I had Dent-sa the Petite and collected the dropped items.

  After seg today's firewood aurning, I found a tent fixed to the wagon and a bucket filled with water prepared.

  And the two girls, eager to start hunting, were all set.

  "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't find good firewood."

  I uand they're pumped up hearing that their levels will increase soon, but will they st until evening?

  "Young dies must be eager too. I'll take care of the firewood, so Dent and Pidd, go hunt in the forest. It would be o get some meat too."

  Worried about them running out of stamina—or rather, their "batteries" running out—Mile-san, the birdman who was fetg water with Amina, seheir feelings and suggested moving up the schedule.

  He's the only married man with children among the guards this time, so he probably uood Nel and Amina's feelings.

  He always has a smile on his face, which gives him a somewhat suspicious vibe, but apparently, many owl birdmen look like that during the day because it's tht.

  "I'm fine, but what about you, Pidd?""No problem."

  Starting with Mile-san's suggestio-san put down the firewood he was carrying and called out to Pidd-san, a bear beastman adventurer who had helped us at the guild.

  He's a man of few words, but acc to Dent-san, he's serious about his work and gdly accepted this job.

  His facial muscles are stiff, and he looks intimidating, but I could tell he's not a bad person whe.

  Slowly standing up, his massive frame, which I have to look up to as a child, feels reassuring when thinking about fighting monsters.

  "Alright then, kid. You take charge from here. I'll keep an eye on the monsters around us. Pidd, keep an eye on the kids.""Uood.""Got it."

  A bit earlier than pnned, but I adjusted my bamboo spear and checked the leather bag on my back.

  "Are you two ready?""Of course!""Yeah! I've got potions too!"

  Potions, a simple map, dried meat as emergency rations, and a water fsk.

  "You're not wearing the Training Bracelet, right?""Don't worry.""Yeah, it's in the bag."

  Finally, I checked to make sure the Training Bracelet wasn't equipped.

  If it's on, your level won't increase, and you have to wait a day to remove it.

  If you actally equip it, it's a hassle, so be careful. If there's no problem, then...

  "All set. Let's go.""Alright.""Right."

  I called out to Dent-san, and we headed into the forest.

  "Dent-san, take the lead and keep a while guiding us to the destination. Pidd-san, guard the rear.""Got it.""Sure."

  The formation is Dent-san at the front, then me, Amina, Nel, and Pidd-san at the rear.

  "But guarding you kids is pretty rexing. Right, Pidd?"

  Ohe formation was set, we just had to move through the forest, taking a slightly longer route to find the best paths.

  Even if the terrain looks familiar, the natural enviro ges a lot, so there's no guarantee we'll reach the destination as I remember.

  "...Don't chatter. We're on the job."

  So I left the path to Dent-san and focused oing a rough idea of our location from the terrain.

  Walking in silence is quite b.

  The first to speak was Dent-san, leading the way.

  From the front to the rear, with only three kids, his normal voice carried just fine.

  "Don't say that. Remember when we escorted those noble kids through the Goblin Forest?""The pay was good. That's all I say.""But after that, we started avoiding escort requests from that family, right?""..."

  The tent was just adventurer work pints.

  "What's so rexing about it?"

  You could call it the voice of the adventurer field. It's a topic I'm curious about too.

  And Nel seemed ied as well, aski-san without stopping.

  "You girls are following us without any pints. The employer trusts us and leaves the guiding to us. That alone makes it much easier. pared to those guys, right?""...The noble kids we escorted before were quite troublesome."

  Nel's questiht Pidd-san into the versation.

  Dent-san brought it up, but it must have been a job bad enough to make them want to pin.

  Pidd-san's tough face twisted as if recalling something unpleasant.

  "After just a few minutes of walking, they pined non-stop. The path is bad, we're not entering monsters, it's taking too long, they're thirsty, and finally, they're tired. And these were noble kids older than you guys!""I was told my face is scary.""And that I reek of old age!! Just because they're nobles doesn't mean they say whatever they want!""If you had said that back then, it would have been something.""You tht? We oners just have to do our jobs quietly."

  On one hand, I think they shouldn't be pining in front of kids, but oher, I learhat nobles in this world be quite arrogant.

  Nel was nodding in uanding.

  Does she have opportuo i with hrough her business?

  Or does she just hear rumors?

  Either way, even kids know about the arrogance of nobles.

  Amina also had a distant look in her eyes.

  "The pce we're heading to is somewhere nobles wouldn't go. So in that se's rexing.""In the Goblin Forest, the petition for hunting grounds makes our osition clear. If they falsely accuse us of stealing their spot, we'd be in trouble.""Yikes, nobles are really scary."

  Having only been in this world for a short time, my knowledge of the noble css es from games.

  The fear of noble power that everyoalks about isn't just a game meic.

  Maybe it's because the story wouldn't progress if you bowed to nobles.

  "It's best to avoid them as much as possible.""Even if you want to avoid them, they'll e after you if they take notice.""...That's troublesome."

  I gave a safe response, but Dent-san, wagging his finger with a bitter smile, had a hint of sadness.

  He must have had a hard time in the past.

  Maybe he struggled with t Clermont's ment.

  With that flow of versation, most of the talk was Dent-san and Pidd-san's pints and experiences about dealing with nobles.

  It's useful for me and Nel, but Amina seemed a bit bored.

  "Alright, we're almost there. Just over this hill."

  There are no active monsters around here, so the journey was smooth.

  The weather is clear, no rain.

  And after climbing a slightly steep hill.

  "Look, the ruins."

  There's a circur excavated area.

  "Wow, there's really a town-like pce here.""It's the ruins of a civilization that perished long ago. Most of the buildings are gone, buried in the earth. It was excavated by nobles in the past as a treasure hunt."

  Road-like structures, wall-like structures, building-like structures—only the remnants of what might have been remain.

  The legacy of an a civilization.

  It's surprising that such a pce exists just a few hours by wagon.

  "There are quite a few of them.""Where do they e from?""No idea. There's definitely no dungeon here."

  Looking down from the hill, small moving shadows in the ruins.

  Petite s.

  The inhabitants of these ruins are only them, and as Nel said, there are quite a few.

  "So? What do we do, kid? We just boldly ehe ruins, you know?"

  The Petite s, aka Haniwa, are much strohan Mochi.

  Their race is, as the name suggests, Golems.

  They're hard and have siderable strength.

  But their speed isn't that fast, which is their characteristic.

  However, their strength is such that even a group of them would be no match for the two veterans.

  "No, that would be troublesome, so we'll lure the ones oskirts."

  I rummaged through my leather bag and took out something I had prepared for this.

  "A slingshot?""Handy, isn't it?"

  Also called a catapult, it uses estids to shoot small stones far.

  Nel also took out a slingshot from her leather bag.

  "Nel and I will lure them, so...""Amina, you're up!""Let's go with the pn!"

  The characteristic of this tool is that if you don't equip it, the damage to the enemy is minimal.

  I, Amina, and Nel all have equipment mixed with the Mark of the Weak, so we 't switch equipment.

  And the Haniwa's strength is above Mochi but below Kagami Mochi.

  If we attack with a reinforced bamboo spear, we'll defeat them i.

  If that happens, with the initial experieable, our levels will increase from the Haniwa's experience.

  To avoid that, we o minimize damage, and the stones for the slingshot are plentiful here.

  Plus, the slingshot is the best way to lure the Haniwa.

  Of course, with the right skills and proper equipment, the slingshot deal damage, but that's not necessary this time.

  "Alright, let's start."

  At the outskirts of the ruins.

  There are plenty of Haniwa here too.

  But not as many as in the middle of the ruins.

  Among them, I aimed at the closest Haniwa.

  "Hit it!!""It's ing this way!""I know!!"

  The first shot missed, and so did the sed.

  Finally, the third shot hit.

  Reag to our attack, the Haniwa turs hollow eyes towards us and started moving in our dire with an odd gait.

  The closer it gets, the easier it is to hit with the slingshot.

  Nel pulled back her slingshot and fired a stone, hitting it with a dry *k*.

  "Got it!!""Amina!""Okay!! Leave it to me!! Hey!!"

  However, the minimal damage didn't stop the Haniwa from approag, and at that moment, Nel swung down a wooden stick she had grabbed with her winged arm with all her might.

  'Hanya!?'

  Not as as a perfect overhead strike, but it hit the Haniwa's head squarely, shattering its body.

  With a strange cry, the Haniwa turned into bck ash and disappeared as usual.

  Left behind was...

  "Alright, it dropped."

  A strange, horn-like item.

  "You picked that up earlier too. But if you keep pig up stuff like that, y will get full. The guild won't buy that junk."

  Dent-san warned me.

  In fact, this item was worthless even in the game, selling for zero zeni.

  But this is an important item that must not be discarded.

  Important, but only useful in this specific situation.

  "This is how you use it. Nel! Amina! Let's go again!!""Okay!""Alright!!"

  Like loading a bow, I set the horn-like drop item into the slingshot.

  Taking careful aim, I shot it at a Haniwa closer tha one.

  If it hits, it should just make a dry sound, but...

  "What was that!?""Did it glow?"

  The drop item hit the Haniwa.

  Instead of taking damage, the Haniwa glowed upon tact.

  "...It grew a horn.""Ah, yeah."

  When the light faded, the drop item I had shot was now attached to the Haniwa's head.

  "Wait!? Did the monster just evolve!?""Let's take it down.""No, it's fi's just the appearance. Let's go!""Go where!?"

  The Haniwa, now transformed by the strange light, made Dent-san draw his dagger and Pidd-san ready to attack, but I stopped them and calmly attacked with a stone.

  " is me!"

  Luring it closer, Nel hit it with her slingshot.

  "Last is me!!"

  Following the same pattern, the horned Haniwa was smashed by Amina.

  'Hanyaa~'

  With a pitiful cry, it vanished.