kscans

Chapter 283 - A Howl in the Snowy Plains 3. The Young Master

Seeing that Yuri seemed to be on board, Naval explained the guild’s side of things in a little more detail.

"So that’s why the request came down to us, the Adventurer’s Guild, from Viscount Fransel. To find that troublesome young master."

But the timing was bad.

"Most of the adventurers are out on escort quests for the merchants participating in the Great Market, so we’re desperately short on manpower. It’s also the time of year when monsters and beasts awaken from hibernation with empty stomachs and wander around, so we can’t send in half-baked rookies. To make matters worse, the snow is starting to melt in the area the young master entered."

"Ah… so the risk of avalanches has increased?"

"That’s right."

The search party was to depart tomorrow. The guild had somehow managed to assemble a team with the adventurers they could scrape together. It seemed even the Adventurer’s Guild couldn’t bring itself to entrust everything to a twelve-year-old child, especially when searching for the scion of a noble family.

"Well, the Tyrantbot may be good at hide-and-seek, but the young master isn’t. We should be able to find him, but…"

"The point is, we need to show our sincerity to the young master’s parents. To do that, we need to head to the location as soon as possible with as many people as possible. …Is that it?"

"It helps that you’re quick on the uptake."

Though neither Kudol, the Guild Master, nor Yuri had said it out loud, they all thought that the chances of securing the young master in question "alive" were not very high. Of course, it would be best if they could secure the target safely, but they would be lucky if they could recover even a part of the body. In that case, however, the Tyrantbot would be designated the enemy of their beloved son, regardless of the facts, and a subjugation request would be issued. The materials from the slain Tyrantbot would surely be claimed by the noble in question.

"So… in order to recover the Tyrantbot’s materials, I need to rescue that annoying young master alive."

He would never say it out loud, but for Yuri, the Tyrantbot’s materials were far more important than some idiot master. If he were entering the mountain alone, he would probably push the search for the fool to the back burner, if not ignore it altogether, and pour all his energy into finding the Tyrantbot. If he could find and hunt it successfully, all he had to do was put it in his Storage. There would be no problem even if his magic bag was inspected.

However, if he was entering the mountain as a member of the search party, he couldn’t act so selfishly. He would have to at least pretend to search for the young master.

"What a pain… Can’t we have dogs or something track his scent?"

In his previous life, dogs were a staple in searches for missing persons.

"First of all, there are few dogs that can do that. At least we at the Adventurer’s Guild don’t have any, and I doubt the lord here does either."

Since one could not casually enter mountains where monsters roamed, hunting as a sport had not developed as it had in his previous life. Consequently, hunting dogs were not widespread, and the training of dogs to follow scents was also lagging.

"It’s not that there’s no magic for searching, but we couldn’t arrange it in time this time."

"So our only option is a human wave tactic…"

To Adon and Naval, who sat in silence with bitter expressions, they had no desire to dispatch a child like Yuri on a monster subjugation, especially for a troublesome noble’s request, no matter how skilled he was. But considering Laurenzen’s position, they couldn’t bluntly refuse either. So, they intended to have Yuri join the search but to keep that information thoroughly concealed. Yuri’s safety went without saying. Once he found a clue, they planned to have him descend the mountain immediately.

But the key person, Yuri, was plotting the exact opposite.

Unaware of Adon and Naval’s intentions, for Yuri, the Tyrantbot was synonymous with "top-grade game meat." He had not the slightest intention of standing by and watching it go. Even less so would he give any to a foolish noble who couldn’t even handle his own foolish son. He would use any means necessary to secure the Tyrantbot.

With this firm resolve, his favorable impression of Adon and Naval, who had brought him such a delicious opportunity, soared. What’s more, they were even taking him to the scene with food and transportation provided. It wasn't a bother at all.

The discrepancy in their perception and evaluation of the situation was almost comical, but neither side was aware of it. Only Kudol seemed to have a faint inkling of Yuri’s true intentions.

While his spinal cord handled the conversation with Adon and Naval, Yuri’s cerebrum was single-mindedly devising a plan on how to get his hands on the Tyrantbot.