’Now. Is there anything you don’t understand?’

Airi raised her head after listening to Ian’s explanation to the very end.

In the far distance, Harpies were flying about leisurely. After observing them for a while, Airi turned toward Ian and asked cautiously.

’So... you mean I have to hit those Harpies with an arrow and lure them in?’

’Yeah. You understood well.’

Ian nodded at Airi’s question. If you summarized the job called ’pulling’ very simply, that was exactly it.

However, Airi hadn’t said that because she understood his words. On the contrary, she didn’t understand it at all.

’Those things? I can’t fire an arrow that far...’

Airi said while pointing tentatively at the flying Harpies.

Hitting a Harpy with an arrow to lure it was easy to say, but it sounded similar to telling someone to shoot down a flying bird.

Even putting aside whether she could hit them accurately, it was a distance an arrow wouldn’t even reach with Airi’s strength alone.

’I know that. I’ll show you the method starting now.’

’Pardon? A method?’

At Ian’s answer, Airi asked back with a puzzled expression.

A method. It didn’t seem like Ian had particularly learned archery, so did he mean he knew a way to fire arrows further?

Airi had her doubts, but she listened intently to remember the method Ian was teaching her without missing a beat.

＊　＊　＊

’...Huh?’

It was about the time she stepped onto the bridge alone that Airi came to her senses.

Listen to Ian’s explanation, nod, and then immediately into the real thing.

The thought that something had gone wrong bloomed belatedly.

It certainly sounded like something she could do easily without any problems when she heard it as a story. But once she actually stood on the bridge, the thought that she had been tricked occurred to her.

Airi, who had been hesitating at the front of the bridge, stopped and looked back.

Ian nodded toward Airi with a face that said she was doing fine. Beside him, the other members were preparing for their assigned tasks at their respective positions.

In the end, Airi couldn’t bring herself to say she couldn’t do it and quietly turned her head to face the bridge.

’You can start whenever you’re ready.’

’Yes...’

She wanted to prepare her mind for about two more days, but that wouldn’t be possible anyway.

Airi cautiously moved her steps while looking down.

Her heart wanted to keep looking up to check if Harpies were approaching, but since she might trip on tree roots if she did that, she had to walk while watching her feet.

- Skreeee!

’Hiek!’ 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

When the cry of a Harpy was heard over her head, Airi flinched and stopped her steps.

Looking up in a hurry, a Harpy was descending toward Airi.

’It’s, it’s coming!’

’It’s okay! The barrier is up!’

It didn’t feel real when they were far away, but the speed of the Harpy approaching was much faster than expected.

In an instant, the talons of the flying Harpy lunged toward Airi.

Fortunately, as the barrier Mika had placed activated, the Harpy’s talons were bounced back with a dull thud.

When the attack missed, the flustered Harpy circled nearby for a moment before flying up again to put distance between itself and Airi.

’Did you get it?’

’A-ah, no. I’m sorry!’

’Calm down. Mika says she can hold out for about three more times.’

To Airi, it sounded like she only had three chances left.

Meanwhile, the retreated Harpy circled nearby and was approaching Airi again.

Airi hurriedly calmed her heart and prepared the magic she had practiced beforehand.

- Kyaak!

’Ugh...’

When the attack was blocked by the barrier again, the Harpy flew away immediately unlike before, perhaps wary of a counterattack.

Airi, who had succeeded in completing the incantation but missed the Harpy due to late timing, had an anxious expression.

And then, once more.

Airi was finally able to cast magic on the Harpy on the next attempt.

A glowing red mark of black magic was engraved on the body of the Harpy that had approached.

Taking advantage of the moment the Harpy moved away, Airi immediately turned her back and hurriedly returned to where her companions were waiting.

Once Airi left the bridge, the Harpy did not pursue her and instead flew up into the sky to return to its flock.

Airi, who returned across the bridge almost at a run, slumped down in front of Ian.

’Heck... I suc...ceeded.’

’Good work. Now, here.’

Ian handed over the bow and quiver Airi had taken off.

She hadn’t even caught her breath yet, but since the magic she just cast had a duration, it couldn’t be helped.

If she dawdled and the magic ended, she would have to do that again. Recalling that thought, Airi hurriedly stood up and accepted the bow.

Airi notched an arrow and looked up at the flock of Harpies flying in the distance.

The distance was quite far, but the energy of the mark she had just placed was still faintly felt.

A short while later, the notched arrow was dyed in black light.

What she had placed on the Harpy was a mark of black magic that could be linked with various curses.

And what Airi imbued into the arrow was the [Curse of Obsession], which continuously tracks the target the mark is placed on.

Since it was a magic similar to the tracking arrows she used often, it wasn’t that difficult to use.

’I’m firing!’

Airi, giving a signal toward Ian and the members, released the bowstring.

The cursed arrow left Airi’s hand and soared into the sky as if pulled by a magnet. Looking at the momentum, it seemed there wouldn’t even have been a need to notch it on the bow.

The arrow, soaring while drawing a trail of black light, flew toward the Harpy Airi had marked earlier.

’...Did it hit?’

Airi muttered while looking up at the sky. Because the distance was so far, it was difficult to even confirm whether the arrow hit properly or not.

As if answering that mutter, the shrieks of the Harpy flock spread out all at once from afar.

...It hit.

Seeing the Harpy flock begin to fly toward them, Airi realized the strategy had succeeded.

’They’re coming!’

’Everyone, get inside!’

The Harpies approached the cliff all at once while letting out shrieks.

Harpies basically did not leave their hunting grounds easily, and because they were very cautious, they didn’t chase very far if the prey fled out of that territory.

The exception was when they were attacked first, like now. In that situation, they would chase and retaliate against the opponent for a considerable distance. It was a characteristic of monsters with a strong sense of territory.

Furthermore, since Harpies also had a strong sense of camaraderie, in a case like this, the entire flock they were with would swarm and attack together. Just like now.

Airi hurriedly took cover inside the burrow. One by one, the others followed her into the burrow, with Lia finally taking her position at the very rear.

’Will the Harpies really follow us all the way here? I don’t think they’ll come inside such a narrow place...’

Tanya, who had taken her position inside the burrow, asked Ian in a small voice.

Luring the Harpies was all well and good, but it was questionable whether the Harpies would follow them into such a narrow burrow.

Rin stepped forward before Ian to answer Tanya’s question.

’They’ll come in.’

’How do you know that?’

Rin had a confident expression.

She could boast that her knowledge of monsters was second only to Ian’s among this group.

Except for the minor drawback that the source of that knowledge was a cheap monster encyclopedia by an unknown author, so about half of it was incorrect information. Anyway, it was so.

’Harpies have a nasty temper...’

- Kyaaaaak!

Before Rin’s story could even end, the noisy shriek of a Harpy echoed inside the beast burrow.

The Harpy was chasing them into the burrow through the entrance on the cliffside.

’...They never just let it go when they’ve been attacked.’

’They really come in all the way here...’

It was a burrow so narrow the Harpy couldn’t even fully spread its wings.

Lia stood in the way of the Harpy that had chased Airi into the burrow.

The Harpy tried to attack Lia, who was blocking its path, but the Harpy that had landed on the ground was neither fast in movement nor were its means of attack worth mentioning.

All of the Harpy’s attacks were simply blocked by the single shield Lia held out in front.

’Are they all in?’

’It seems so!’

’Lia! Attack now!’

The shrieks of the Harpies that had entered in a line were so loud that the voices of the members right next to her were barely audible.

Lia, receiving the combat signal, swung her sword toward the Harpy at the very front.

The lightning mana she was now quite familiar with jumped along the tip of the blade, creating sparks.

- Kek!

Since it wasn’t an opponent with particularly high defense or a lot of health, the Harpy collapsed after failing to withstand Lia’s attacks a few times.

When several Harpies were struck down in an instant by the sword of Lia, who was advancing forward with her shield up, only then did the Harpies in the back begin to retreat.

However, the Harpies’ attempt to turn around and exit the burrow was immediately thwarted. The barrier wall Mika had already set up was blocking the exit.

Confirming that the exit was blocked, the Harpies lunged toward Lia with an even fiercer momentum.

Naturally, there was no way the clumsy attacks of the Harpies lunging one by one in a line through the narrow burrow could get through, and Lia dealt with all the Harpies in an instant.

It was a battle so simple there was no need to even ask if she was tired.

’This is quite good. Let’s keep going.’

’Hiek...’

When Lia, looking back at the Harpy corpses scattered in the burrow, spoke with a refreshed expression, Airi shook her head in disgust.

Of course, the right to decide did not belong to Airi.