The dense array of prompts and choices that appeared before his eyes left the unprepared Haus momentarily stunned in place.
Wait, so there really are choices?
Then why…
Haus instinctively glanced down at Lilim nestled on his chest.
Feeling her master’s gaze, Lilim formed a pair of eyes and met Haus’s stare.
“Eat.” Lilim still wanted to eat.
The small snacks Haus had given her earlier had already been finished by Lilim during the goblin subjugation.
Now, she was starting to seek food from Haus.
But that could wait for a moment.
First, he needed to deal with the “???” before him.
Haus took out a set of miniature medical tools from his pocket and began performing simple disinfection and bandaging for the fledgling before him.
Haus carried two medical kits.
One was the standard adventurer’s kit, fully equipped; the other was a lightweight version he had assembled himself, designed for easy carrying and use during combat.
It contained just a small knife, a roll of bandages, and a bottle of disinfectant.
Haus took out this portable medical set and began carefully cleaning the hatchling’s wounds, disinfecting them and stopping the bleeding, then meticulously wrapping the injuries with bandages to complete a simple dressing.
[Favorability +20] [Option 1] [Favorability: 10/100 → 30/100] [???
Monster girl’s external bleeding stopped, pain alleviated, hostility eliminated, initial trust established] The hatchling before him no longer held any sense of rejection toward Haus.
But it did not show any signs of affection either.
It simply curled up quietly in the straw nest, its round eyes fixed steadily on Haus, its frail body rising and falling slightly with each breath.
Haus thought for a moment, then took a rice cake from another pocket and broke it in two.
He placed the smaller piece in front of the hatchling and tucked the larger piece into his chest, offering it to Lilim.
Lilim, nestled between Haus’s collar and leather armor, immediately stretched out her soft body, opened her small mouth to envelop Haus’s palm, ate the rice cake, and then retreated back inside.
“Haus?!” Just as Haus leaned over, watching the hatchling hesitantly approach the rice cake and preparing to complete his first feeding, Sylvia’s somewhat urgent call suddenly came from below the tree.
It turned out that after seeing Haus successfully deal with the Falcon-type Monster, Sylvia had grown worried when he didn’t come down for a long time and instead kept staring into the tree hollow.
“Are you alright?” Sylvia’s voice carried a hint of fatigue.
“Sorry, I found something.” Haus responded, then took out a cloth to wipe his sword, quickly and carefully cleaning the bloodstains from the blade.
Once it was clean, he slowly sheathed it.
He then reached out directly, carefully scooping up the hatchling, which had already begun nibbling on the rice cake, into his arms, and began making his way back to the ground.
“Haus, what did you find?” As soon as he returned to the ground, Sylvia eagerly stepped forward, curiosity in her eyes as she peered into Haus’s arms.
“This little fellow is what I found.” Haus said, slightly opening his palm to reveal most of the hatchling in his arms, allowing Sylvia to get a better look at it.
“This is…” “This might be that monster’s offspring.” Haus glanced at the magic falcon lying decapitated on the ground.
In Haus’s arms, the hatchling, which had been nibbling on the rice cake, suddenly stopped.
Its small head lowered slightly, its brown-yellow eyes fixed intently on the bird’s head placed on the ground, adopting a highly vigilant posture.
Seeing the hatchling react this way toward what might have been its mother, Haus felt even more puzzled.
But now was not the time to figure these things out.
The priority was to return to the camp as soon as possible and reunite with Pierce and Layla.
Haus placed the hatchling on his shoulder, then naturally crouched down to begin handling the magic falcon’s corpse on the ground.
“Sorry to trouble you with the cleanup.” Sylvia watched as Haus took out a rope and skillfully tied up the magic falcon, her face showing a hint of guilt as she softly apologized.
She was simply too exhausted.
A heavy, groggy feeling from complete mana exhaustion enveloped his entire body, leaving him sore, weak, and utterly unable to step forward and lend a hand.
His heart was filled with apology.
“We are companions.” Haus simply replied with those words.
Hearing this, Sylvia’s long eyelashes trembled slightly as she stared blankly at the busy figure before her.
Companions…
is it?
So this is what adventure is like.
The girl’s slender ears twitched, and a faint smile curved at the corner of her mouth.
Haus quickly bundled up the magic falcon’s corpse and lifted it.
“It’s quite light.” Haus hefted the magic falcon in his hand.
This bird-like monster, with a body length of nearly one and a half meters and a size close to that of an adult human, surprisingly weighed only about ten pounds.
But then again, it made sense; if it were too heavy, it wouldn’t be able to fly.
Once everything was packed, Haus carried the monster prey, while Sylvia followed weakly behind.
Before long, the two returned to the temporary camp set up near the goblin nest.
…
Inside the camp, Pierce and Layla were waiting for them.
When they saw Haus returning with a large, bird-shaped monster in hand, the two were momentarily stunned, their faces simultaneously showing expressions of surprise, disbelief, and excitement.
“Is this the monster that attacked us?” Pierce excitedly circled around Haus to observe it, while Layla noticed an unfamiliar fledgling perched on Haus’s shoulder.
“This is…” Haus recounted everything that had just happened.
However, he concealed the matter of his contract manual, simply saying that the fledgling wasn’t very afraid of people.
Glancing at the sky, it was still early.
Haus began discussing with the group whether they should leave or stay.
At this time, if they started heading back, they should be able to leave the Misty Forest by evening, distancing themselves from this area teeming with monsters.
But the team’s current condition was not optimistic: Layla had expended a large amount of mana and was somewhat unaccustomed to the adventuring life, leaving her in low spirits and unable to cast spells fully, greatly diminishing her combat effectiveness; Sylvia was completely mana-depleted, sore all over, dizzy, and weak, having almost entirely lost her ability to fight.
Both leaving and staying carried risks.
Haus leaned toward leaving quickly.
His intuition told him that staying in the Misty Forest filled with monsters was not a good choice.
Moreover, given Layla and Sylvia’s condition, they likely wouldn’t recover by tomorrow.
If they encountered some terrifying monster in the latter half of the night, the team would not have sufficient combat strength to resist.
But the team’s leader was ultimately Pierce, and the final decision rested with him.
Pierce lowered his head, pondering for a moment, his gaze falling on the pale and severely mana-depleted Layla, then shifting to the weak and nearly faltering Sylvia.
Forcing a long journey in their current state would only add to their physical burden.
If they encountered a monster attack along the way, the team would be utterly defenseless.
After weighing the options, Pierce finally made up his mind to continue staying at the temporary camp in the Misty Forest to rest and recover.
They would set off on their return journey tomorrow at dawn, once everyone’s condition had slightly improved.
Besides, their current location was only at the forest’s outskirts, where the strongest monsters were just goblins.
The more intelligent higher-tier monsters from the deeper parts of the forest, such as Ogres and Kobolds, wouldn’t choose to stay in a place frequently visited by human adventurers.
Human towns are to them what humans are to the Misty Forest; the closer they get, the greater the danger.
Thus, the outskirts are typically inhabited only by low-level, low-intelligence bottom-tier monsters such as goblins, slimes, wild wolves, spider monsters, and swamp Frogs.
Haus had no objections to Pierce’s decision.
Whether to stay or go, both options carried risks, and in truth, the choice made little difference.
Pierce was the leader, so his word was final.