The boss heard Def’s words and wondered if he had misheard.
“Who caught it?”
“The sli!”
‘So I didn’t mishear him.’
The boss looked around.
Def, who had spoken to him.
The corpses of the deer and wolf nearby.
And Hawane and Skol, sleeping.
Lastly, the sli bouncing up and down.
First of all, it was clear that Hawane and Skol hadn’t gone with Def.
“You’re really saying the sli caught it? Tell how.”
“Yup!”
Def nodded with a smile and began to explain.
“...And that’s how I dragged the deer and the wolf back.”
“I see.”
The boss knew that Def wasn’t the type to lie.
To begin with, he wasn’t cunning enough, or smart enough, to make up a lie.
And if Skol ever tried to make him lie, it would show all over his face.
Deciding to trust Def’s words for now, the boss accepted the fact that the sli had caught the wolf.
‘What kind of sli is this?’
A sli that’s not only faster than Skol, but also caught two wolves in the blink of an eye?
He’d never heard of such a thing.
“H-Hey boss.”
“What.”
Def’s stomach growled as he spoke.
“If we don’t clean the at soon, it’ll spoil.”
“Yeah, we should clean it.”
The boss decided to put off his thoughts about the sli for now.
Growl.
Though not as loud as Def, the boss also felt that one rabbit hadn’t been enough.
“Wake Hawane and Skol. We’ll clean it and eat.”
“Yes, boss!”
Smiling brightly, Def woke the sleeping Skol and Hawane.
“Ugh! What the heck, pig! Why’d you wake soone up?”
“Yaaawn~ Huh?”
“Both of you get up and help clean this.”
“Boss? What the!? Where’d these deer and wolves co from!?”
“Did you and boss catch them because you were hungry at night?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, help us clean them.”
Following the boss’s orders, Hawane and Skol began cleaning the deer and wolves.
Sizzle, sizzle.
The sound of venison cooking late at night drifted on the breeze.
Since one rabbit wasn’t enough for Hawane and Skol either, the whole bandits watched the at grilling with hungry eyes.
While the at cooked, the boss explained why they suddenly had at.
“What? The sli caught the wolves?”
“That’s what Def said.”
“You believe this idiot’s words, boss?”
“I-I’m not an idiot...”
“Def may be a bit slow, but he’s not the type to lie. You know that.”
“But it’s just a sli...”
Skol stared at the sli suspiciously, but Hawane laughed and said, “Pfft, you’re the one who lost to that sli, Skol. Isn’t it better to just admit you lost to a sli that even took down wolves?”
“I didn’t lose!”
“Oh! It’s done!”
The bandits decided to fill their stomachs first with the grilled at.
“Hey, sli, here. This one’s for you.”
Boing!
The sli also ate the at that Def had grilled separately.
‘Tasty!’
Though it couldn’t compare in taste or nutrition to what he ate at the mansion, sharing food with others made it taste delicious.
After they’d eaten their fill, the bandits, tired from being woken up, fell back asleep.
***
The next morning.
Since they had eaten at late at night, the boss’s face was swollen when he woke up, and he fell deep in thought.
‘What should I do about this sli?’
At first, he had only thought the sli would sell for a good price at the black market, since it approached people without fear.
But once they returned to the hideout, surprising things kept happening.
After a hunting trip, he realized the sli was faster than even Skol.
After waking up from sleep, he saw the sli had taken down two wolves in an instant.
A sli that doesn’t fear people, yet is this powerful.
The boss had never heard or seen anything like it.
It was clearly no ordinary sli.
Which is why he began to question whether it was okay to sell it to the black market.
What if he used it for sothing else?
‘Maybe we could make more money that way.’
The boss looked at his n.
Hawane, Skol, and Def.
All of them were from the sa rural village.
They called him “boss” and had followed him when they left the village.
Having brought them with him, he felt responsible for them as their leader—and he couldn’t let them go hungry.
Since hunting monsters as adventurers was too dangerous, the boss had decided they would work mainly as rcenaries taking on safer tasks.
A rcenary group of only four mbers.
At first, they started with transporting cargo.
Then they took on minor tasks like eliminating nearby goblins, even if they weren’t full-fledged adventurers.
After that, they started getting requests to escort rchants or intimidate newly opened shops.
They mainly took on work that wasn’t life-threatening.
Even if it wasn’t monsters, they’d had plenty of fights with people since they were young.
Because of that, the four of them had built a strong bond over the years, and even rookie adventurers or local thugs were no match for them.
But now, that rcenary group had beco a bandits.
‘It’s all because of .’
It had started with a noble’s request.
By then, they had gained so reputation as a rcenary group.
A noble nad Baron Fedfil approached them with an arrogant attitude and demanded they take on his request.
The pay was good, so the boss imdiately asked what the job was.
And the contents of that request were shocking.
The kidnapping of a village woman.
When they first heard it, not just the boss, but the other three questioned whether they had heard correctly.
Baron Fedfil had a twisted hobby too shaful to even describe.
He liked forcing himself on won who had no feelings for him.
He especially enjoyed seeing them suffer.
Even the reason he gave such unspeakable tasks to rcenaries was absurd.
He couldn't order his private soldiers directly, fearing it might tarnish his honor if he were caught.
He didn’t trust the filthy thugs in the back alleys enough.
But if he hired a rcenary group that had earned so trust through several jobs, no one would suspect them even if won went missing.
Moreover, knowing how seriously rcenaries take contracts, he had said, “I’ll personally give you this request.”
He even added that a re rcenary group that had luckily gained so reputation should be grateful to be paid such a large sum for this.
After hearing all that, the boss snapped and punched the baron square in the face.
That’s how they ended up in this situation.
They barely managed to escape the noble’s mansion, but the rcenary group beca wanted and could no longer accept legitimate requests, forcing them into banditry.
Even then, they weren’t good at being bandits.
Though they were called bandits, all they did was block roads and demand tolls—it was more like aggressive begging.
They couldn’t bring themselves to actually swing their swords at people or rob them of their possessions.
‘At this rate, this half-hearted bandit life will only take us so far. If that’s the case, then maybe...’
The wanted posters only applied to regions under the baron’s influence.
They had chosen the path of banditry thinking it was less dangerous than monster hunting.
But after trying it themselves, they realized sothing.
They just weren’t suited for being bandits.
The boss himself was feeling the limits of this lifestyle when he t the sli.
A sli that was fast enough to instantly take down at least two wolves and was friendly toward humans.
‘If we can train this sli properly...’
It might be dangerous, but maybe living as adventurers would be better.
To test that possibility, the boss decided to run so experints.
***
First, the boss told his n.
Today, they were going to hunt goblins.
“Goblins? Boss, it takes at least an hour to walk to where the goblins are. It’s not worth much money either. Also, aren’t we going to do any robbing today?”
“Stop whining and co with . Skol, Def, take care of the sli.”
“Yes, boss!”
The boss took his n and headed to the goblin territory.
Upon spotting the goblins, he gave an order to Def.
“Def, go take down those goblins with the sli.”
“Yes, boss!”
“Boss? What are you even saying...?”
“Quiet.”
He wanted to verify whether the sli really had the skill to catch wolves.
“Let’s go, sli! Let’s catch so goblins!”
Boing!
Though unsure, the boss sent Def and the sli.
And he saw the truth.
“Yah!”
While Def swung his sword and defeated one goblin—
Boing! Boing! Boing!
Whack! Thud! Smack!
Each ti it bounced, the sli took down a goblin.
“What the heck is that.”
“That sli’s seriously amazing.”
Even Skol and Hawane blinked in disbelief at the sight.
“Hehe, sli, you’re incredible!”
Boing!
Even though he didn’t defeat as many as the sli, Def smiled purely and praised it, while the sli bounced happily in response.
Seeing that, the boss felt a spark of hope and gave additional orders.
He paired the sli not only with Def, but also with Skol and Hawane to hunt goblins.
And finally, he himself tead up with the sli to fight goblins.
The results of the test were—
‘What the... Why is it so obedient? And also... insanely smart?’
It was an unbelievably good result.
The sli was unusually cooperative.
Not only that, but it clearly understood human speech.
“Hey! I’m going to catch two this ti, so you just get one and stay still!”
Because the sli kept defeating most of the goblins it spotted, Skol once complained like that.
And surprisingly, the sli quickly took down one goblin and then remained still.
That wasn’t all.
“Hey! What are you doing? Help out!”
When more goblins showed up while Skol was dealing with the last one and he shouted for help—
Boing!
The sli reacted imdiately and defeated the goblins.
It was clear to anyone that the sli could understand human language.
‘It’s possible. At this level, we can definitely do this!’
The boss saw hope in the test results.
That evening, he spoke to his n.
“Guys, be honest. You don’t really like being bandits, do you?”
“Huh? I don’t care if you say we should do it, boss.”
“Pfft, you’re asking that now, boss?”
“M- too, I’m fine with whatever you say, boss.”
“Don’t think about . You guys don’t actually like banditry, right?”
“Well, who really wants to be a bandit by choice?”
“If it weren’t for that damned pervert noble, we wouldn’t be doing this crap.”
“Ugh... honestly, I felt guilty asking passersby for money...”
Hearing their honest words, the boss made up his mind and said, “Guys. Then let’s... take this sli and beco adventurers.”
““Huh??””
Their voices overlapped in surprise.
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