"Alright. Let's set off." Since they had gotten the answer, Alisa shouted to the team.
Among the spectators, ten of them stepped forward and answered her call. "Yes, Ma'am!"
Albert had brought his backpack and other equipment, so he thought he was ready.
When Alisa saw his backpack, she frowned and asked, "Why is your bag empty?"
"Hmm? They're not. They have all my belongings… Though, there are only copper coins inside."
"How about your food and drink?" Alisa tilted her head in confusion.
"Ehm, I don't eat or drink until I return to the city before dark." Albert's expression was innocent as if that was the right to do.
Alisa was oblivious and even taken aback by Albert's statement, but the others recalled Albert's story.
They forgot that Albert had nothing with him just two days ago. He must have skipped meals continuously around the forest because he was chased by monsters. In fact, that might be how he lived this whole time with his abusive parents.
When they remembered all those tragic stories, they teared up.
"Here, I have bought too much food this morning. You should take this… It's only hard bread, but you can have this water too to soften the bread. It should fill you up."
"No, no. He should have some jerky."
They were showing some support to Albert, making Alisa even more confused.
Seeing her expression, Fila came to her and whispered Albert's story.
Alisa couldn't help but facepalm and understood why Albert was lacking common sense. She said, "Anyway, we located them yesterday, and even if we need to search for them, it won't take too long to find them.
"So, I believe it won't take a whole day to exterminate them. For now, just save those supplies with you guys and share them with him during lunch.
"Remember to teach him how to be an adventurer or he won't last long in this place. Understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" They shouted in unison.
Although Albert felt weird with all this sympathy, he didn't refuse them either.
'They might be horny, but they are, by no means, bad guys.' Albert muttered inwardly, realizing that this town wasn't that bad as long as he could ignore the fact they were horny.
"Thank you, everyone." Albert smiled.
"Anyway, we have wasted too much time here. Let's go." Alisa finally left the guild, forcing the others to follow her.
Albert started observing the entire group. Including Alisa and himself, there were twelve people in this subjugation group.
Out of the twelve, six of them seemed to be a one-horned Oni.
Albert had been living in this town for two days, so he already felt something was wrong with the number of one-horned Onis.
'Before becoming a town, this place must be the one-horned Onis settlement. And they soon accept people of all races without caring about their physique, skin color, and strength. It's a good place to live.'
Albert smiled and turned to the other guys. He found three muscular cyclops and one cat person. The cat person was covered with yellow fur. Even his head was similar to that of a cat.
It brought two thin swords with him as he seemed to be looking around the area with his sharp eyes.
While walking, Alisa asked, "By the way, you're a Demon Dog, right?"
"Yes." Albert nodded.
"Do you think you can find them if you sniff on their trail?"
"I am not very sure." Albert shook his head helplessly. Since he was really a Demon Dog, he didn't care when someone treated him like a dog.
He just considered them acknowledging his useful nose. Even he had taken advantage of this feature. As long as it could help him and the team, he didn't really mind sniffing the trail.
"Well, I think we can locate them easily, but if we somehow get stuck in our investigation. I want your help," said Alisa before turning to the cat person. "Kyonya, your eyesight is good, so I will be counting on you in the search. Don't miss any details."
"Understood." The cat person, whose name was Kyonya, nodded with a serious expression.
"Oi, three big guys." Alisa then looked at the cyclops and said, "The moment we find them, you three will follow my lead because we're going straight at them. We will be the shield for the entire group."
"We got it, Ma'am." The three cyclops gave a thumbs up.
"The rest will handle the wolves after that." She then glanced at the one-horned Onis, Albert, and Kyonya.
They nodded in succession as Alisa didn't seem to be racist. She simply wanted to take advantage of their special feature to make sure the team could defeat the wolves.
Everyone knew about it and didn't mind following her order.
After walking for an hour, the group finally took a ten minutes break to recover their stamina. Alisa and Kyonya then checked their surroundings and found the wolves' trails.
In the end, they decided to cut the break short and started locating the wolves.
"Hmm, this is very fresh." Kyonya narrowed his eyes. "I think we're not that far from them."
"As much as I want to get them right now, we will wait for now." Alisa sighed after seeing their exhausted faces. "Only fifteen minutes."
The group nodded and finally had a long rest. They gave Albert some water to keep him hydrated while talking about his experience in this town.
They learned that Albert didn't wander too far because he was afraid of getting lost in the forest. They started giving him some tricks and tips to survive in the area.
It was useful and Albert thanked them.
After the break, they followed the foot trail until Kyonya raised his hand, asking them to stop.
The group halted their steps as their expressions became serious.
"I believe we're not far." Kyonya nodded to Alisa.
Albert also opened his mouth while pointing at their northeast. "I hear multiple footsteps in that direction. Though I believe they have heard our conversation and footsteps too."
"…" Alisa furrowed her eyebrows and said, "Well, surprise attacks never worked every year, so yeah… We will have a head-on confrontation. Let's go."