"Mmm, it smells so good! When did you secretly learn to cook, sis!"

"What do you mean secretly learn? Your sis has always been good at it... Also, put your paws away, if you try to sneak another bite, I'll chop them off before they're even healed!" Etras stirred the pot of thick potato soup with a long wooden spoon and used the handle to hit a hand that was reaching out to steal some soup.

Aya sat nearby, silently swallowing her saliva. The flickering campfire reflected a tempting glow on the soup, and the chunks of potatoes and minced meat simmering in it looked equally delicious.

"You two..." Unable to bear the hungry wolf-like eyes of the two people beside her any longer, Etras took a deep breath and took out a map book and a compass from her pocket and threw them at Ino. "Instead of staring at me, think about how to find the witch."

"Didn't we agree to take a break? And at a time like this..." Ino said reluctantly.

"You won't get any of the soup later." Etras narrowed her eyes.

"You're definitely a demon!" Ino exclaimed.

"Calling your own sister a demon? You really have no manners, my silly Edou!" Etras coldly laughed.

In the end, Aya obediently started reading the maps and mission information. In fact, at first, Aya had no idea what kind of existence a "witch" was. Well, if she had to rely on her impressions, it seemed to be on the level of malicious witches in fairy tales.

"What's the difference between a witch and a magician?" Aya flipped through the information book provided by the Adventurer's Guild, repeatedly looking at the page describing the witch.

According to the information provided by the guild, rumors of witches first started circulating in the adventurers' town outside the dark swamp not long ago. At first, no one paid much attention to it, but as more adventurers reported being attacked by creatures of darkness in the swamp, the Adventurer's Guild gradually began to take it seriously.

At first, a search team was dispatched, but they quickly lost contact with them in the depths of the dark realm within the swamp. At the same time, the previously calm dark realm began to gradually expand towards the outskirts of the swamp, and the activities of the monsters became more and more active.

"And then someone happened to provide the Adventurer's Guild with information about the dark realm and the witch, leading to the mission being released, right?" Aya closed the little book.

"That's what I heard." Etras sprinkled some crushed herbs evenly on the surface of the soup, stirred it gently, then extinguished the fire underneath. She used a small spoon to scoop up a bit of soup and tasted it.

"In other words, a witch created the dark realm in the depths of the swamp and is expanding it?" Ino seemed excited, patting Aya's shoulder forcefully. "That's great! Once we deal with this, we'll definitely gain fame throughout the country!"

"I'm not interested in gaining fame throughout the country. I just want to make money. By the way, there's no mention of the witch's treasure in this information." That was what Aya truly cared about. Although the mission reward was not bad, she still relied on the witch's treasure to pay off her debts in one go.

"Well, I guess it's similar to a dragon's treasure, right? After all, a witch must have something valuable with her," Etras tilted her head.

...Hey hey, so it was just a guess? Similar to a dragon's treasure? Sorry, but Aya is also a dragon, but she's not exactly rolling in money!

"Also, doesn't it seem strange to you guys that the information says the monster activity in the swamp, especially the activities of creatures of darkness, is quite frequent, but it's so calm over here?"

It makes sense. Aya carefully surveyed her surroundings, and then used her psychic power to probe again, finding that everything around her was so quiet it made her suspicious. Besides the insects and rats, there wasn't even a slightly formidable monster around, which should be the peak time for those dark creatures to be active, right?

"Maybe it's because I scared them all away?" someone still had a mysteriously confident expression.

"Don't be silly, you foolish Ododo. It's more believable to think that those dark creatures collectively got food poisoning."

"Oh, no no, it's impossible, absolutely impossible. Even scaring away rats would be an achievement for lowly Lucky E... Oh wait, it seems like the rats haven't been scared away either."

Aya and Aetras shook their heads almost simultaneously.

"Tsk, do you have to be like this..." Ino seemed quite affected, lowering his voice with teeth clenched, as if he had suffered an internal injury.

"Oh well, let's just enter the dark The Realm tomorrow morning. Aetras, is the Ming Jade Stone ready?"

"For sure, we'll take the shortest route - this direction. Alright, decision made, now let's have dinner." After determining the direction with a compass, Aetras looked up, but instantly froze.

"You guys!" Ino almost choked on his own blood from anger, reaching out to fight his sister, but he noticed that Aya and his sister were staring straight behind him, realizing that something was wrong.

A figure covered in mud-stained clothes, with a hood on, was sneaking up behind Ino.

Stare...

"I'm sorry! I-I-I-I-I didn't mean any harm!"

Huh? Is it a girl judging from her voice? But even if that's the case, couldn't she at least put the rock down before saying that? She's not very convincing, is she?

As if confirming Aya's thoughts, the hooded girl unconsciously let go of her hand, and the stone, which was about the size of half a head, naturally fell in a free fall.

...And landed perfectly on Ino's head. So, without even a single whimper, the younger brother who hadn't even had a chance to turn around fell to the side.

Aya: "..."

Aetras: "..."

The person who accidentally hit Ino: "..."

...

"I really didn't mean it! Please forgive me! I'm sorry!"

The tearful girl kept apologizing to the complex-faced Aya and Aetras, while beside her was the future strongest shooter, who had been knocked down by her with a stone.

"Aya, what do you think?" Aetras looked at the girl with some interest, but didn't spare a glance at his own younger brother. Well, this guy's pretty stubborn, so at most he'll just be unconscious for a while.

"She's probably not an ordinary person." Aya shook her head, her psychic power detection was still effective, but she didn't detect this girl, so she must have used some kind of spell to hide herself.

"For now, we'll forgive you for this, but why are you here? It's impolite to intrude into someone else's camp like this. As an adventurer, you should at least know that much, right?"

If her temperament was a little worse, she would have drawn her sword and fought right away after being attacked with a stone.

"Um... well, I'm sorry, but what's an adventurer?" The girl raised her hand.

Not an adventurer? Aetras was momentarily stunned, and suddenly a bold idea came to his mind.

Looking at her dirty appearance and the absence of any adventurer equipment, but still being able to walk around in the dark swamp at night, it was obvious she wasn't an ordinary person. If that's the case, could she be... a witch?

Swallowing a gulp of saliva, Aetras gave a meaningful glance at Aya.

(Testing what she's up to, seeing what kind of person she is.)

Aya understood and nodded. She spoke firmly, "It doesn't matter who you are, but if you dare to have ideas about our dinner, don't blame us for not being polite."

"Huh?"

"I didn't ask you to say that!" Aetrus nearly choked on her own saliva.

"But, but, but I haven't eaten anything all day, I'm really starving! Please give me a little bit!" The hooded girl pleaded pitifully.

So she really did come for food!

Aetrus didn't know what expression to make anymore and slapped her face, turning away.

"By the way, I won't eat your food for free, I'll pay for it! These should be enough, right?"

The girl suddenly had a good idea and reached into her dirty robe, taking out a deerskin bag with patterns on it and shook it twice, immediately making a jingling sound. When she opened it, a golden light shone through.

"Um, although I used a little bit earlier, there should still be a lot inside, enough to exchange for a meal... huh? Wait, why are you looking at me with such a scary expression?"

Seeing Aya's suddenly hostile gaze, the girl nervously took two steps back.

"Hey, hey, I have to say, this bag shouldn't be yours, little miss thief, right?" Aya clenched her fist, making a cracking sound, and sneered.

This bag... isn't it the money bag that was stolen in the adventurers' town not long ago?!

"Ah... uh?" The girl's expression also immediately froze, standing there at a loss.

Taking a deep breath, Aya's expression suddenly calmed down, "Honestly, as a rookie adventurer going out for the first time, it's actually normal to be stolen from. If you're smart, you should stay calm and calm down, but..."

"But?"

"I'm someone who regularly gets called an idiot by a certain otaku girl! So you, little thief, better accept your punishment obediently!" Aya roared, clenching her teeth and delivering a righteous blow, punching the girl solidly on the head, adding another "corpse" to the ground.