The beach episode...?

"What in the…!"

A tall black-haired young man with quite overgrown white roots gasped and covered his nose, frowning at the foul smell coming from the direction he was going.

"...yeah, it makes sense…"

Continuing his way to rejoin the girls after cashing in the mini boss corpse, Zane breathed out as the source of the stench revealed itself after he moved a bit further into the area,

There they were, iteral piles of dead monsters stacked together segragated by the species, in the general area where the monstrous servants left the gold and brown haired girls.

While those piles were very neat and propper the area around them wasn't at all - not with all the blood and gore decorating the trees and other vegetation like some gruesome festive ornaments.

"Isn't that a whole digestive system of…?"

As he observed the scene of a carnage past, Zane spotted a while set of internal organs strung on the crown of a toppled tree, and furrowed his brows, looking back at the pile of canine-type monsters…

"...ooooohhhh…"

Letting out an understanding voice seeing the bloody backsides of said unfortunate creatures.

"How did she even…? Did she used something that expanded and tossed it into their mouths or…?"

Intrigued by the process in which the organs were removed, Zane gasped to himself while walking betwine a pile just large brownish yellow wings bloodied at their bases and a pile containtng just massive blackish talons.

"...and those are from Kirr Harpies… I believe there was a rank A quest for them…"

The monstrous servant added while securing his grip on the bag he was carrying so that it wouldn't accidentally got soaked in the everpresent viscera.

"Fang hares… Valley lions… Foul Elks… Armored Boars… a… half of a damn Pigkin and Boarkin orcs worth of village apparently… At least three type of arachnid colonies, ugh, only their fangs and silk sacks are worth anything.... Goliath Milipedes… Wait… Hah?"

Zane was taking mental notes of which quests taken by Melinda were already finished when the sigt of an eight-foot-tall flaking burgundy-brown shell sticking out of the ground made him stop mid step.

Especially that the shell was sticking out of the ground was eight-toot-tall without counting the buried part which was at least just as large…

"That's ANOTHER mini boss! Snapping Demon Turtle! Where is its head?! It's beak is the most valuable part!"

The monstrous servant called out, walking around the the shell just to confirm that the corpse - at least the visible part - had its limbs torn off and… apparently tossed who knows where?

Or maybe just blown apart into nonexistence.

"That said… Snapping Demon Turtles would only appear around lakes with underwater caverns… And judging by the angle it fell…"

Zane pointed out to himself before leaning down and slid his hand upwards alongside the large burgundy-brown shell, movingit further up and then bringing it down while making some calculations.

"Yeah… that's definitely beyond the map we got from the guild…"

Zane hung his head and sighed in defeat, already suspecting what could be going on.

"...that's over three-quarters of the quests done right here plus few additional ones… I feel stupid for ever doubting her…"

He breathed out with amazmenet, making his way through even more decimated monsters as he went in the direction where he estimated the Snapping Demon Turtle had been launched from.

After rather remarcably long time Zane made his way out of the wilderness, taking a step in the new biome - the shore of a spahire-blue lake at the base of two hills that could even contend for the title of mountains.

"...oh there they a…"

Zane breathed out, instantly spotting two figures righ by the lake, but then he froze up.

The brown-haired girl who took off her maid uniform and was left in her undergarments was helping a naked - ecpet for the neklace and a shackle-like bracelet - gold-haired girl crouching in the water wash her hair and back.

"...Adiiiii, I'm serious! Turtle monster like the one before live only in lakes with underwater caves…!"

The couching and slouching Melinda sulked adorably with her chin rested on her knees as she was dipping her hand in the water and wiggling her fingers.

"And I do belive you, my lady. The thing is we don't have the equipement or the spells necessary for the exploration of such caves. Without knowing whether there is an air to breathe in any of those caves or not, it is far too reckless to even attempt going down there."

Adrianna pointed out patiently while combing her master's hair to one side with her fingers in order to scrub off the coagulated blood from behind her ear.

"...yeah… that's fair…"

Melinda muttered, tilting her head while making a tiny wirpool by moving her hand around.

"As long as you understand, my lady~ Prepare yourself, it should be the last time."

The maid nodded with a caring smile and warned the gold-haired girl before reaching down and splashing her with some of the crystal-clear water.

"GYAAAAH! COOOOLD!"

Melinda called out and shivvered before shaking off.

"Please, bear with it a bit longer, I'm sure that young Zane will…"

Adrianna bowed her head to the younger girl and casually lganced over her shoulder - freezing up in a very similar way to Zane, not to mention, at the sight of Zane.

"I have an idea on how to make the water hotter - how about I…"

"My lady, I'll be right back. Please wait here."

The maid took a deep breath and asked, unintentionally speaking over her lady.

"Hmmm? Ohhh… okaaay~"

Melinda raised her brows before nodding with udnerstadning without looking back.

"...!"

With that, Adrianna charged right at Zane, making him flinch and regain some senses - including shame - as his face turned completly red from blushing.

"Thank you for bringing this for our lady, but do get out or at least turn aroud! Not to mention announce your presence!"

Adrianna took the bag off Zane's hands and did thnaked him while getting red in the face herself, before she began scolding him - much more worried about Melinda than herself.

"I… o-of course…"

Zane opened his mouth but he could not deny acting in suboptimal way so he lowered his head apologetically and began to turn around.

At that time, Melinda unaware of Zane's retrun, raised her hand…

…and brought it down, smacking the surface of the water with her open palm…

"!!!"

The next moment a massive tremor instantly follwoed by the erruption of steam casued the pair of servants to lose their balance and slam to the gorund, pushed away by the shockwave.

"What in the?! I leveld up!? From what?!"

Zane coughed, waving his hand trying to chase the thick steam away to no away.

"M-me too…! MY LADY!"

Adrianna coughed too, trembling ebcause of sdden changes in temperature, before gasping in panick and blindly rushing back in the direction the lake should have been.

"!!!"

Zane rushed over there too - thanks to the party connection sharing the status of all of them he knew that Melinda's took a massive hit, losing almost half of her overal health, not to meniton getting aflicted by the burn effect.