(I knew there were too few people in the largest adventurer's guild in the south, but I never imagined something as strange as this would happen...)
The sight that unfolded before my eyes took my breath away.
A large number of adventurers, guild staff, and guards were lying on the simple beds in the hospital.
Over 100 people were there, their eyes closed and their faces lifeless, crying out in agony. Healers were desperately trying to treat the wounded, but it seemed to be merely a temporary fix.
"It all started about three weeks ago. A party of level 80 adventurers were found collapsed in an alleyway early in the morning."
Thomas, the guild master who had guided us here, cried out with a look of pain on his face.
"After that, every morning, unconscious adventurers and guild staff were found all over the city. Naturally, we stepped up our vigilance and increased our night patrols, but the city is so large that we can't keep an eye on everything... The number of victims continued to increase without us knowing the cause, and everyone remained in a coma, getting weaker with each passing day."
"Not a single person will wake up...?"
"Yes. Not a single person. Thanks to the efforts of the clinic staff, no one has died so far... but due to the lack of adventurers, the gathering of ingredients for the stimulants to prevent weakness has also been delayed. If the damage continues like this without knowing the cause or treatment, those who have lost their strength will start dying one after another."
Saying that, Mr. Thomas bowed his head with cat ears deeply to me, a boy who was still only 14 years old.
"Once this case is resolved, we will give top priority to accepting your application for the slave contract cancellation item. Please help us solve this strange case."
"Of course."
I responded to Thomas' plea without hesitation.
There was no way I could just ignore a situation like this, even without considering the application to use the item.
"Oh, thank goodness. It seems the national army is short on manpower and they were in a lot of trouble."
"No, of course. But it's strange."
I told Thomas to lift his head and tilted my head as I looked at the people lying there.
"It seems all of the damage happened in the city, but these symptoms seem like--"
"...It's exactly like the state when you receive a drain attack..."
Alicia, who had apparently already begun examining the victims in anticipation of my request, took over.
Drain attack.
It's an attack often used by monsters that lurk in swamps and caves.
Essence... it is a brutal skill that steals vitality such as physical strength and willpower, if too much is absorbed the person will fall into a coma, and in the worst case scenario they will die.
When I was little, I also got sucked into a monster in an accident, so when I saw the victim's condition, I understood... but what bothered me was that all the damage was done in the city.
"Are there monsters with the Drain skill lurking around town?"
"We had speculated and investigated whether this was the case."
Thomas shook his head at our speculation.
"However, among the victims was a party of powerful people over level 100. It's hard to imagine they were killed without any sounds of combat. Besides, the weakening caused by a drain attack should normally heal over time. If they are still in a coma, as if their life force is still being sucked out... I have no idea what the cause could be."
Another possible reason is that contaminated water or food has entered the town... but as the people in the town seem healthy, that seems unlikely.
Hmm, it's a mystery.
But it seems certain that people out and about at night are the ones being killed.
In that case, there was only one solution.
"We'll act as a decoy while patrolling at night."
Not to be conceited, but we didn't think we'd be defeated anytime soon, and if it came down to it, we could warp away. At the very least, we felt we'd be able to find out what was going on.
"Oh, you could do that. But you never know what's going to happen. Please be careful... Oh, and I'm not sure if this is related to the current incident, but..."
As we had decided on our course of action, Thomas-san, worried about us, came over as if he had just remembered something. He then lowered his voice as if he was about to give us some important information.
"Apparently, recently, a busty slut has been 'appearing' around here at night... wearing nothing but dirty underwear and a robe covering her face."
"Oh, yes, that's definitely irrelevant information."
I replied to Thomas's confidential information with a straight face.
Everyone began preparing for the night patrol by taking a nap.
*
And then night.
We were split into two teams.
The patrol team consists of me, Alicia, and Sophia.
This time, because their predictions weren't working very well, the rescue team consisted of Sister Claire and Sylvia, who were helping to extend the lives of the victims with the help of Gachimuchi Grass that they had harvested in large quantities beforehand.
(Thomas was shocked to see a large amount of Gachimuchi grass, an ingredient in the smelly drug that was in short supply.)
"...But, will it be possible to find the cause so quickly in such a large city...?"
"I guess it's all down to luck. But I don't think the probability is that low."
As Sophia-san spoke with a sense of unease, I told her my chances of success.
"People in the town are wary of the recent commotion and are refraining from going out at night. It's likely that if you just wander around, you'll encounter the culprit to some extent."
Additionally, if the cause was a monster or something, it would be easy to find it using Alicia's Presence Detection.
And so, with these calculations in mind, we continued our night patrols.
"a"
"a?"
In the moonlight, we suddenly came across a familiar face around a corner.
When they showed up at the guild, they were a party of female boar beastmen adventurers who had been harassing the rabbit beastman receptionist Bernie-san.
Even with the city in this state, are there any bars that are open at night?
Apparently they had been out drinking in the middle of the night, and everyone smelled of alcohol.
"...Tch. I was drinking to get revenge on you guys for humiliating me, and now this is all ruined."
As she spoke, the boar beastwoman quickly avoided us and tried to go somewhere.
I guess it's polite to ignore this, but...
"Um, please be careful! Adventurers seem to be particularly easy targets!"
"Shut up! How can you be an adventurer if you get scared of something like that!"
When I called out to her, the female boar beastman yelled like a rough person and disappeared into the night.
"...Those people don't seem to show any remorse at all... They've treated Elio like that twice... I think they should have drilled a solid understanding of the hierarchical relationships among adventurers into them..."
"So, Sophia-san? To be honest, what happened just now was a bit my fault, so let's put away the dagger for now, okay?"
I know it was because she was worried about me, but… I desperately tried to calm Sophia down, who was still exuding the murderous aura of the time when she was known as the War Princess.
And then, it happened.
"...yeah?"
Alicia, who had been continuing to sense her surroundings, suddenly let out a cry as if she had caught sight of something.
"...Someone approached those boar people from before...and they all stopped moving...?"
"picture...?"
Not just passing each other or anything?
We had a bad feeling and immediately took off.
And the moment he turned the corner Alicia pointed out...
There stood an incredibly nice body.
"Whaaat?!"
I couldn't help but scream.
After all, what suddenly appeared on the moonlit night road was a voluptuous female body wrapped in sexy black underwear. The mysterious woman opened the front of the robe cloak she was wearing to hide her face, and shook her breasts, which were comparable to those of the cow beast Bastia. For a moment, I panicked and my thoughts stopped, but...
"...Ah, so she's just a slut..."
Just as I was surprised and relieved to realize that Thomas had told me such trivial information, I suddenly realized that.
"...Elio..."
"picture?"
Alicia and Sophia let out tense voices.
And then, my eyes were inevitably and reflexively drawn to her breasts, and it was at this point that I finally realized.
Several adventurers were lying at the slut's feet.
The boar beast women's faces were lifeless, like the dead, and they hadn't moved a muscle.
"...!?"
In that instant, we all went into battle mode and drew our weapons.
But then it happened.
--Bang!
"What?!"
A strange sensation as power was rapidly sucked out of my body.
(What?! Drain is being activated on all of us even though we haven't touched each other?!)
What's more, it was so intense that Sophia fell to her knees in an instant, and Alicia, who is supposed to be a physical monster at night, staggered and said, "Ugh!?"...!
Is it possible for a drain to have such crazy performance?
But then there would have been an explanation for the victims who were killed without the sounds of battle...and for that moment I was shocked.
"Are you guys bullying me too...?"
"...!? you...!?"
The robe that was hiding the slut's face loosened, and another shock hit me.
Her face illuminated by the moonlight is...
"Bernie?!"
Shaking her cute rabbit ears.
The receptionist, who was supposed to be timid and pretty, had taken on a monstrous aura and stood before us with blazing eyes.