I'm an alchemist. I've dumped self-restraint into the trash - Chapter 17

“Are you okay?!”

Once he got close, he could tell how excessive the bleeding was. This bleeding was not caused by a single wound deep enough to directly threaten their life, but was a result of many wounds all over their body.

Most of them were lacerations, but there also seemed to be teeth marks. Most likely, this was done by a monster.

“Laffy, prop them up.”

“Yeah, got it!”

“Analyze,” he said, activating an alchemical spell to observe the wounds’ condition. By the time he was finished, he hadn’t found anything like poison inside the wound. All he needed was to heal the wounds and deal with the blood loss and then they’d be fine.

Raith took out two types of potions from his bag and fed them to the adventurer. The wounds then closed up instantly. The adventurer’s pained expression turned softer.

“Are you alright?”

The adventurer stood up, rotating his arms and doing other such stretches to check if his body had any abnormalities.

“Y- yeah… You saved me,” the adventurer said with relief and then sighed deeply, as if freed from the tension.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you collapse in a place like this?”

“I was attacked by monsters in the forest up ahead…”

Even though he’d already guessed as much, hearing it being said aloud made it feel more serious. It seemed that there were still monsters in the forest where Raith’s house was located.

“What kind of monsters were they?”

“They were probably Blood Wolves.”

“That’s… a C-rank monster, right?” Laffy mumbled, touching her chin with her hand.

Since they were C-rank, they’d be a bit of a tough opponent for a newbie adventurer. Though, naturally, they were no threat to Laffy, an S-rank adventurer.

“Was there anything else?”

“No, I was so desperate to get away that I didn’t see anything…”

If Raith encountered a monster, he would also put all his energy into escaping. He wouldn’t have time to check his surroundings.

“Anyway, we’ll be leaving now, but will you be alright on your own?”

“I’ll be fine, thanks for saving me.”

“Okay, then. There’s no need to repay me or anything, so we’ll part ways here. Take care of yourself.”

After seeing the adventurer off, Raith and Laffy boarded the carriage once more.

“Anyway, I guess it’s confirmed that there are Blood Wolves in the forest. Well, monster repellent potions work well against them, so it could be worse.”

The better the monster’s sense of smell, the stronger a monster repellent potion’s effect would be. Wolf-type monsters were certainly the typical example of this.

One could say they were a comparatively easy opponent for Raith to deal with, even solo.

“Though, judging from that adventurer’s wounds, there’s quite a few of them. It’s no problem for me, but it’ll be dangerous for you, Raith.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. …I’m counting on you, Laffy!”

“R- right…”

A boy who relied on girls could only be an indescribable setup. All Laffy could do was express vague agreement, making a complicated expression.

However, unlike his teacher, Raith’s combat ability was nonexistent. In all seriousness, if he got surrounded by monsters, his death was a virtual certainty. He had been improving his escape skills for a long time now, though.

“I see it. That’s the forest I lived in,” Raith said as he stopped the carriage. At first glance, the only impression it gave was that of a deep forest. “Let’s travel on foot from here. I know the way.”

“Alright.”

If there weren’t any monsters, it would have been fine to travel by carriage through the wide-open areas. However, since there was a danger of being attacked, that wasn’t an option.

With Raith leading the way, the two set foot into the forest.

Laffy kept her eyes on their surroundings and stayed alert on the lookout for monsters. The title of S-rank adventurer wasn’t just for show; she was prepared to enter combat at any moment.

While Raith felt relieved seeing Laffy like this, he was by no means letting his guard down, making sure to look in front of him. Though there was no monster-like presence yet, they could be attacked at any moment.

“…I don’t see them at all,” Raith whispered as he calmly looked around. By ‘them,’ he meant the monsters. Since he knew they were there, he was prepared to encounter them, but hadn’t run into any.

They were already more than halfway to the house. They could encounter the monsters any moment now.

While putting his guard up, Raith continued walking, and–

“Cold…!”

A water droplet fell onto his cheek. Wondering if it had started raining, Raith touched his cheek.

When he did so, an incredibly viscous liquid got stuck to his hand.

“…Hm?”

“Up there!” Laffy shouted at the same time, anticipating Raith’s question. Before Raith could make sense of any of it, he was grabbed by Laffy and they tumbled sideways.

“Woah?!”

As Raith tumbled on the dry ground, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a creature he had hoped he wouldn’t see. Up in a tree, the creature bared its fangs, its eyes glowing a fiery red.

“Blood Wolves. …We’re surrounded,” Laffy said with composure.

Hearing this, Raith grasped the situation entirely.

The Blood Wolves, just over 20 of them, had been waiting to ambush them from the treetops. In addition, they were positioned to surround them on all sides.

This way, there was nowhere to run.

As Raith stood up, the Blood Wolves jumped from the trees to the ground one after another.

“Hahaha, this is one of those ‘no escape’ situations, isn’t it…?”

“Huh, you’re calmer than I expected, Raith. Though, I think it’d be normal to panic in this situation.”

“Nah, I’m just used to situations like these, I’m super scared on the inside. In fact, I would like to run away as soon as possible, thank you,” Raith replied, the light disappeared from his eyes. He was surrounded by creatures that were after his life. Being a Normal Person, this situation was bad for Raith’s heart.

“You want to run away, huh… Alright, then I’ll make that happen,” Laffy said, and at the same time, drops of blood splattered before Raith’s eyes. The Blood Wolf that had lunged toward Raith had been slayed by Laffy. “I’ll take care of things here. You get away and hide. I’m not sure if even I can perfectly protect you from this many opponents.”

“…Will you really be alright on your own?”

No matter how he looked at it, she was at an overwhelming disadvantage in terms of numbers. Even Laffy might not get through this without a scratch.

Raith had been worried about this, but soon saw that there was no need to be.

“I’ll be just fine.”

In the blink of an eye, three Blood Wolves fell to Laffy’s blade. It was so fast that Raith’s eyes couldn’t keep up with it.

“Ah, right.”

Raith couldn’t help but gape at a spectacle like that.

“Now, run!”

“On it!”

As Laffy gave the order, she created an opening in the encirclement for Raith to escape through.

Laffy, who was capable of moving with such ferocity, would surely be able to annihilate the Blood Wolves, just as she had declared.

“Until then, I’ll go hide somewhere, so…”

Feeling a bit pathetic, he searched for somewhere to hide. If he went too far, it would be difficult to find eachother again, so he wandered around in an area that wasn’t too close or too far, and–

“Ah.”

It was a total coincidence. …However, it was the worst possible encounter.

When he pushed his way through the grass, there were three wolves with fur that seemed to be dyed with blood – Blood Wolves.

“Hey, this isn’t how this was supposed to go…!”

With a stiff smile on his face, Raith immediately turned around. In order to save himself, he started running.