kscans

Chapter 285 - A Howl in the Snowy Plains 5. Find Wally

"Hey Yuri, can’t you pinpoint the young master’s location with your Perception?"

Yuri had a track record of detecting Greed Wolves before Fray, the beastman scout. Knowing the vast range of his skill, Kudol and the others felt that if Yuri just used it, this search would be over in an instant. But things in this world were not so simple.

"...I’m sorry... I don’t have much experience searching for human presences, you see..."

"""""...Ah..."""""

They had completely forgotten, but Yuri’s home was at the foot of Salt-Sour Mountain, a place rarely frequented by humans. Consequently, his Perception skill had rarely been directed at them, and Yuri had developed the unusual weakness of being unaccustomed to searching for human presences. Still, since he had started interacting with End Village…

"...I’ve gotten a little used to it now, but… human presences are surprisingly weak, aren’t they?"

"I-Is that so?"

After all, what Yuri had been perceiving until now were monsters. The magnitude of the presence they emitted was different from that of a mere human. There had been monsters that skillfully concealed their presence, and he had perceived such monsters on more than one occasion. But from Yuri’s perspective, the reaction was somehow different.

"Also… it seems like there are other people moving around besides us…"

"Ah… searchers separate from our group…"

"The tracks were pretty trampled, weren’t they…"

It seemed there were adventurers who had gone in to search for the young master before the Adventurer’s Guild had formed a search party. Because the tracks had been trampled, it had become difficult to follow the target’s movements.

"Well, it’s not like we’re in a position to complain…"

"The latecomers can’t exactly act high and mighty."

There seemed to be an unspoken rule, a privilege of being the first on the scene.

"Yuri-kun, can you… distinguish between the search party adventurers and the young master’s party?" Dalia asked worriedly. It was indeed an important question in the current situation.

"Umm… according to the servants, the young master, Wally-san, was it? He set out with nearly ten people, including attendants and a guide, right? The searchers aren’t moving in such large numbers, so I think it will be fine. Besides, they’re moving in a spread-out formation instead of sticking together."

"Ah… the basic formation for searching for people or things…"

"So, we just need to head in the direction where they aren’t… right…"

Fray had casually tried to decide on a course of action, but when he realized that the "direction without preceding searchers" was a steep, snow-covered slope, his voice trailed off.

"That’s right. Let’s go, Fray."

"Yeah, yeah…"

And so, with steps that could be described as neither enthusiastic nor light, Yuri and "Lucky Footsteps" headed into the depths of the snowy mountains.