The Demon Lord used Chatter!

Hunting monsters.

Most commissions made to the guild involved that in one way or the other. That was why adventurers were mostly combat-oriented rather than travelers with excellent outdoor survival skills. In a way, they should be called monster hunters instead of "adventurers," for they rarely, if ever, did any explorations.

Even new members were not exempt, though the difficulty of the commissions they could accept was heavily limited. Matthias' group was the same, as a party at the bottom of the hierarchy.

"We're missing all the action!"

Soleil's dismayed shouts echoed across the small wooded area they made camp in. She sat in a miserable position beside a clean pond in a small clearing. Her face was twisted in both indignation and frustration as she murmured her complaints like "how dare they do this to the demon lord," or "I'll remember this, mark my words."

Meanwhile, Matthias and Manna spent that time picking herbs from the forest floor. In other words, they were doing all the work.

The commission was to assist the pharmacy guild in collecting common ingredients. While they were cheap, low-level materials, there could always be more of them as they could be refined into recreational solutions besides the usual potions. In that case, the guild paid by their weight, and the commission didn't have a deadline. It was an easy job that even new non-combatants could do so long as they were vigilant of their surroundings.

So why did Matthias decide for the party to gather herbs instead of taking on more difficult commissions to raise their ranking? To put it simply, he just wanted to experience it. Life in an RPG-like world wouldn't be complete without picking their first cheap herb. And as to why Soleil wasn't helping... well, it wasn't because she was too busy sulking.

It was because she was utterly useless at it.

A short while after they started, they gathered to check the quality of the herbs they had picked. At first, it was to see how much of the herbs they had collected were ripe enough to be useful since only mature sprouts could be processed. That time, Soleil was even proud of what she had done and presented them with a half-full basket. However, he and Manna noticed that out of almost thirty pieces of plants she had picked, only four were the ones they were looking for.

The rest were just weeds.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Aren't these all the same?"

Soleil looked utterly convinced of it, and even after several minutes of both he and Manna describing the herb, she still couldn't identify between the two. And thus, she was relegated to watch duty.

"You know, I don't think a "demon lord" would know the difference between a useful plant from the weeds around it," said Manna with a smirk. "If you think about it, it's also strange that you, a noble, do."

Matthias stopped his hands and glared at Manna, who replied to him by sticking her tongue out.

"... I just studied about it. Books exist for that reason, you know?"

Truthfully speaking, it was difficult for Matthias to keep calm each day without purposely straining his brain. Even after almost two decades of living in that new world, he was still not used to processing the limited information his surroundings fed him. Back on Earth, there was plenty of information circulating around him. Whether it was through browsing his phone or listening to the ads in the background noise, everything kept his mind running non-stop. But in that world, only a few things could happen simultaneously, and most of them operated at a speed limited by mortal perception. Though it helped him focus better, it was different when he was just trying to get through everyday life. That was one of the reasons why he buried himself in books every chance he could.

In a way, it was similar to repeatedly browsing through Wikipedia pages using the Random Page button.

"What should we do with Soleil? She's quite deep in her sulking."

"Well, what can we do?"

There was no helping it. According to regular procedures, once a new dungeon was discovered, only parties similar to or higher than the rank assigned to it were allowed to enter for the preliminary exploration. It was to prevent newbies trying to make quick cash from getting themselves killed. Even though Matthias was sure that they could handle it just fine, rules were rules, and he didn't want to stand out in a wrong way so early in his adventuring career.

On that note, as it turned out, Nail's party was the only B-ranked group in town. They were also the highest-ranked party in the entire province. It felt nice to be on friendly terms with such a party.

"We could enter the dungeon afterward, anyway. All we're missing is the experience of going into truly uncharted territory."

It was only four hours into the day, which meant they still had roughly fifteen hours of sunlight left. The air was still cool, and the sun shone on them gently at an angle. It was the perfect time to relax. Otherwise, it was also a great time to do some light exercises. Matthias felt at peace in climates like that, simply picking herbs in a lush, verdant forest.

If only Soleil thought the same. Matthias sighed.

Even after they finished gathering the herbs an hour later, Soleil was still staring blankly across the pond.

"Actually, wait... is she fishing?"

"Where the hell did she pull a rod from?"

"That's a branch."

Despite that, Matthias could tell she was at least doing her job of being alert since she would react to even a tiny animal scampering around the grass.

Manna looked at Soleil with a complicated expression. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry about her companion's state. The difference between her usual haughty attitude and her current disposition, fishing with a serene-looking posture, was quite startling, even after only spending a day with her.

"Carry this for me, will you?" Manna asked as she dropped her basket full of pristinely-picked herbs onto Matthias' arms. "I'll see if I can hunt some small game we could snack on. That'll add some variety to the fish she caught. Maybe that'll lift her mood."

He nodded and watched Manna jump onto the trunk of a tall tree and skip between the branches. Her actions were nimble and quick, and she didn't make a single sound even when her feet kicked her entire body weight up across the flimsy-looking branches.

After seeing her figure disappear, he looked back toward Soleil and sighed.

"Guess I should talk to her," he thought. It was an excellent opportunity to learn more about each other and improve their chemistry.

At the back of his mind, he hoped their relationship would go even deeper, but that was simply him being a man. After all, Soleil was by no means unattractive. Her body was lean, toned, and without any trace of excess flesh. When she was hunched up, he could see traces of muscles on her back rippling as she breathed slowly. Her face was a thing of wonder as well. Combined with her prodigal strength and morality, her only problem is her eccentric behavior… which isn't an issue if one gets used to it.

He walked towards her, baskets in hand, and sat a few paces away. She spared him a glimpse before turning her view back to the water's surface.

"Yikes."

As he sat there, he realized: he had nothing to talk to her about. What should he say? Should he talk about the weather? But it was the same weather as yesterday and the entire month before.

When he was on Earth, he had extremely few, if any, chances to talk to the opposite sex. He was a loner, an outcast. He had a much more comprehensive network of friends in his new life as part of the nobility. Well, it would be more accurate to say that they were mere "acquaintances" as he didn't like most qualities of young nobles. Honestly, most of them acted precisely like the cliche ones he saw on television. After all those years, the only real "friend" he had made was the daughter of an old butcher, an extremely talented hunter…, and even that didn't help him gain the experience talking to women because she was quite the tomboy.

"N… Nice day we're having, huh?!"

Yeah, that was definitely an awkward way to start a conversation. And he even fumbled it at the end by almost shouting.

Wait… that was strange. That was definitely not him.

He looked to his side. Soleil was looking at him. She had on a stiff, nervous smile.

The hands that held the fishing rod were trembling.

"Uhh…"

How should he respond?

He kept thinking about the matter for some time until he saw tears form in the corner of Soleil's eyes.

Was she as awkward around the opposite sex as he was?!

"Yeah! It's nice and sunny."

Just like yesterday and every other day for the past month.

The problem with that kind of conversation was that there was no natural way to continue it unless one was a smooth communicator. And as he realized at that point, neither of them was.

So another awkward silence followed between them. Yet, Matthias could feel that the pressure was on him since she was the one who initiated a conversation first, regardless of how basic or simple it was.

But before he could ask some stupid question, he heard Manna call out to them from a distance.

He was saved.

With his heart full of gratitude, he stood up promptly and scanned the treetops for signs of her approach... and saw nothing. But her voice definitely did come from somewhere nearby.

"Where are you looking, man?"

Just when he assured himself that her voice had come from above, Manna walked out from the shadows of the tree trunks. She was carrying a leather pouch dripping with blood with what looked like a rabbit's foot sticking out of the opening. It looked to be the spoils of her hunt. But her expression was anything but happy.

"We have a problem. Come with me."

She motioned for them to follow as she walked back into the woods. Matthias and Soleil exchanged confused looks before following her obediently.

At the back of his mind, he was grateful that he didn't have to suffer that awkward air a second longer.

After walking without any conversations happening for a few minutes, they came upon a small clearing. There, they saw the corpse of a minor wolf monster that had been shot in the head with an arrow. At first, Matthias thought it was what Manna was trying to show them, which was strange because those targets were nothing more than practice for her. But then she turned to the right immediately after and continued walking. The kill was likely just a marker.

It didn't take them long after that to discover what she meant to show them.

It was an undead. Granted, it had already been disabled with a well-placed arrow to its knees and a rock to its skull.

"Well, that's strange," he mused, immediately realizing why she brought them there. "The entrance to the dungeon should be pretty far from here. What gives?"

Manna nodded. "It's also wearing armor."

Matthias realized her point.

Low-level undead, typical of tomb-type dungeons of the E and D rank, never wore clothing, much less armor. Only those of the intermediate and advanced ranking did, and they were challenging to fight in numbers. Two explanations made sense. Either they were adventurers wounded by the undead and turned due to the lack of a cleric in their party… or the guild misjudged the dungeon's rank. Both possibilities were equally problematic.

But before he could deliberate on the matter, they heard someone scream for help in the distance.

Soleil immediately ran off to it, destroying the trees in her way.