GILF Hunter

Chapter 285: 285 Bloodstains

How much time had passed spent in the back of the swaying wagon?

Everyone raised their heads upon hearing the shout that they had nearly reached their destination.

"We’ll be arriving shortly!"

As Ian leaned his head out slightly to look ahead, the target forest was drawing close.

"Let’s get ready to disembark."

The members riding in the wagon with Ian gathered their respective belongings and weapons.

Normally, they would have had to spend time finding a wagon heading this way, but currently, a procession of people leaving the Labyrinth after the festival was continuing daily.

Thanks to that, Ian was able to find a wagon heading in the same direction and depart on the very day he accepted the request.

The wagon stopped at the main road closest to the forest, and everyone stepped down.

Ian approached the driver’s seat and thanked the man who had given them a ride.

"We made it quickly thanks to you."

"Not at all. I truly hope you find the person you’re looking for."

The owner of the wagon refused the gratuity Ian offered.

The man, who said he had come to see the festival, spoke to Ian with a serious face.

"I often take out the Labyrinth insurance myself. I figure if I show kindness like this, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to be rescued someday too."

It was a common superstition among travelers.

The man, having declined the payment, departed while wishing for the safety of the other travelers Ian was going to rescue.

Ian turned back to his waiting members and said,

"Everyone ready? Once we go in, we won’t be coming out for a few days."

Unlike their previous expeditions, which had a strong training aspect, this time it was the real deal.

Everyone nodded after checking their equipment with grim faces and stepped into the forest.

***

Walking along the outskirts of the forest, Ian checked the map he had received from the guild.

From the city where the client was last confirmed to the Labyrinth, the main road was a straight path with no rough terrain.

Even if they had been ambushed, a wagon couldn’t just vanish from the road without a trace.

He had also confirmed beforehand that there had been no news of anyone finding a wagon abandoned or crashed mid-way.

The only place on that route where a wagon could disappear without a trace was this forest.

Ian planned to find the path where a wagon could travel within this forest and start the search from there.

While listening to Ian and examining the map together, Rin and Mika spoke up.

"There’s no need to enter this forest to get to the Labyrinth. Why would they come here?"

"Maybe they were threatened by bandits and dragged away?"

While walking toward the forest, everyone offered their opinions to Ian, speculating in their own ways about why the client had gone missing.

The speculations of Rin and Mika weren’t impossible scenarios, but... after thinking for a moment, Ian shook his head.

"I don’t think that’s it."

This was a forest where monsters appeared.

Bandit groups or robbers didn’t make such dangerous places their base of operations.

They preferred to commit robberies in safe areas; they wouldn’t risk dragging their prey into a forest filled with monsters.

"That means they entered voluntarily...."

Ian looked up at the forest.

Although there was a path for wagons, it wasn’t a road used by ordinary travelers or merchant caravans.

It was a place entered by mercenary groups going deep into the forest or clients with important business who hired escorts to go inside.

Of course, if they weren’t locals, they might not have known how dangerous the forest was.

But usually, it was normal to stay far away from such unfamiliar forests in the first place.

"Ah, look at this!"

Along with Rin’s shout, Ian also discovered the trace.

It was a wagon’s wheel tracks.

The trail, branching off from the main road, led toward the interior of the forest.

"As expected, it’s this way."

"Are these recent?"

"...I can’t tell that much."

Since there were no hunter-type classes among the members, they couldn’t glean more information beyond the existence of the tracks.

However, since there were no other clues, they had no choice but to follow this trail for now.

Everyone nodded and moved deeper into the forest, following the wagon tracks.

As they went deeper, the forest grew increasingly quiet.

"Everyone, be careful. There will be more of them than last time."

The monsters appearing in this forest were Gnolls.

They were monsters the group had experience dealing with during a few past expeditions.

However, until now, they had only dealt with small, isolated packs on the outskirts of the Gnoll territory.

Now that they were completely inside the Gnoll infested zone, they had to be much more cautious.

Rin scanned the path ahead with a tense face.

"Should I go out ahead?"

"No. We could be ambushed separately, so let’s stick together."

Stopping Rin from going ahead to scout, Ian moved the party as a tight unit.

Everyone held their breath and moved slowly.

Quietly lowering their breathing to hear even the smallest sound, they listened intently.

How long had they walked through the forest?

The sound of someone gasping was heard.

"Captain. Over there...."

"...It’s the wagon."

Ian’s group discovered the wagon abandoned in the middle of the path.

The wagon bore traces of being attacked by various weapons in several places.

"Ah...! There’s blood!"

"It doesn’t look like human blood."

Mika spoke in alarm at the sight of the bloodstains, but Lia, who examined the traces, replied.

Looking at the marks on the ground, it was from an animal much larger than a human.

The location of the traces was where a horse would have been hitched.

Ian and his party took up positions in front of the wagon, scanning the surroundings while staying on guard.

"There’s no horse carcass...."

Given the amount of blood, the horse must have died, but there was no body.

If it were bandits, they would have taken the horse alive.

Even if they had killed it by mistake during combat, there was no reason to haul away a heavy horse carcass.

"They were attacked by Gnolls."

Lia, having examined the traces, said.

To bandits, something like a horse carcass is useless, but it was different if the attackers were monsters.

These were traces of a battle where the target was prey, not money.

Ian nodded at Lia’s words.

Meanwhile, Rin, who had briefly scouted the perimeter, said to Ian,

"There are no monsters nearby."

"Right. Then...."

Everyone’s gaze cautiously gathered on the wagon.

There was one place they hadn’t checked yet. The inside of the wagon.

"...Shall we open it?"

A wagon broken by a monster’s attack.

What had happened to the people inside?

Tanya, who had been silent until now, quietly approached the wagon.

What on earth could be waiting inside....

Though her heart felt like it would burst from tension, Tanya, unable to stay still, threw the wagon door open.

But inside... there was no one.

As if the people inside had left in a hurry, only a few pieces of luggage they couldn’t take remained in the messy interior.

"It seems the people inside managed to flee."

Lia stepped forward to inspect the inside of the wagon but found no bloodstains or anyone hiding.

Phew....

Tanya let out a sigh and stepped back unsteadily, as if the tension had suddenly snapped.

"Tanya, calm down. It’ll be okay."

"Yeah, she said they escaped safely."

Rin and Mika supported the staggering Tanya from behind.

While coming here, everyone had heard the story that the missing mercenaries might be Tanya’s friends.

To think that friends she thought were dead were actually alive, only for them to possibly be dead now.

It was a situation that made one’s head ache just thinking about it, so everyone was glancing at Tanya’s condition while focusing on finding any traces.

Tanya, knowing that her being a hindrance now would affect the search, pushed the two aside and took a deep breath.

"I’m... fine. Let’s search around more."

As Tanya moved forward first, the two nodded and followed behind her, beginning to look for other traces near the wagon.

"There are no more bloodstains."

"It doesn’t seem like the people inside were caught."

Everyone carefully searched the vicinity, but no human traces were visible.

"The monsters that raided the wagon... seem to have just gone back with the horse carcass for now."

Lia said, looking at a trail of something being dragged along the ground.

It was the mark left by dragging the horse carcass.

Monsters that targeted only humans were rare.

Since they had caught a horse much larger than a human, in most cases, they would return satisfied with that.

Now the problem was where the fleeing people had gone.

"Do you think they left the forest?"

"There are many wagons passing along the main road right now, so if they had escaped the forest, they would have reached the Labyrinth by now."

Seeing as they hadn’t reached the Labyrinth yet, it was highly likely the clients remained in the forest.

If they remained in the forest, where would they be? Ian recalled the information about the client and the mercenary group.

"The escort was an E-rank mercenary group, right?"

"There were three of them. We don’t know their skill level, but they wouldn’t have been able to fight multiple Gnolls."

With that much power, they wouldn’t have gone out of their way to fight monsters or move recklessly.

If they were unlucky, they might have gone deeper into the forest while fleeing, but if they were lucky enough to find a place to hide nearby, they might be hiding there.

Hearing Ian’s speculation, Tanya replied urgently,

"Then let’s search this area! If they’re hiding, we have to find them quickly...."

"Tanya. The sun is going to set soon."

When Ian spoke after checking the time, everyone looked up at the sky.

As the sun gradually tilted, the forest was darkening in an instant.

Searching any further was impossible.

"Let’s spend the night nearby and check as soon as the sun rises."

Nothing could be done through effort to stop the sun from setting.

Tanya quietly nodded.