For their own good

"we are surrounded," announced Alex.

"By ogres?"

"No, by humans," Alex's expression became even more serious.

According to the presences he could sense, they were surrounded on all sides. Fortunately, it seemed that the ones who had surrounded them weren't numerous. However, he didn't relax nonetheless; who knew, maybe there were some of them that had means to erase their presence like Anna.

As they waited in tense silence, the girls prepared themselves for a fight.

Amelia took out and planted seeds in the ground.

Anna took out two sharp daggers that she held firmly.

Lilia, on the other hand, simply straightened herself, her attentive gaze sweeping her surroundings.

An instant later, silhouettes of men clad in leather armor and holding various weapons appeared around the carriage.

Like Alex's group, the newcomers also had wary expressions as they observed them.

The moment Alex and the girls were about to act and attack the group...

"Wait, we mean you no harm." Two men detached from the group, their hands raised in the air.

"Then why are you surrounding us?" wondered Alex with a sneer, clearly not believing them.

"Ah, sorry about that. Guys, come here." One of the two men gestured for the others to stand behind them.

As the group moved away from Alex's carriage, one of the two men who had approached earlier, a rather young and handsome individual with black hair and eyes, stepped forward and smiled.

"Hello, my name is Starx, and I'm an adventurer. We all are adventurers," shared the young man as he pointed to his comrades.

"And what brings you here?" questioned Alex.

"There was a dungeon break not far from the city where we reside. The monsters that were released were mostly ogres; they attacked the town, and us adventurers had to deal with them. But their leader managed to escape us; we chased it to kill it so it wouldn't harm people, and its track led us to you. Sorry again if we startled you; it's just that we weren't certain if the ogre was dead or not," explained Starx with a charming smile.

Alex and the girls relaxed a bit, hearing his explanation.

The young man's words before them seemed logical. If a dungeon break had indeed occurred nearby, it would explain the appearance of ogres here, as ogres weren't known to inhabit this kind of environment.

A dungeon break is a phenomenon that occurs when the number of monsters in a dungeon exceeds its capacity. To prevent dungeon breaks, adventurers' guilds, soldiers, and other entities responsible for people's security often conduct periodic extermination expeditions inside dungeons.

"This dungeon was a new one that hadn't been discovered in time, causing a dungeon break to happen. Fortunately, no one was harmed; we were worried we wouldn't be able to stop the ogre's leader before it attacked people, and it was the case. Thanks to the gods, the ones it met were able to kill it," Starx sighed in relief.

Alex nodded his head.

"Since it seems the ogre is dealt with, we will retir-"

Cough

Just as Starx was finishing speaking, the other man who had stepped forward with him, a burly man with a bald head and tattoos all over his body and face, coughed.

Alex wasn't certain, but it seemed that Starx's shuddered a little when he heard the man cough.

Alex frowned, noticing this, but his frown quickly disappeared. His gaze focused on Starx, who was now fidgeting in his place.

"Um, yes, I almost forgot, we w-will take with us the corpse of the ogre," stammered Starx.

Alex's frown returned.

"Why? We were the ones that killed the ogre, so its corpse belongs to us."

"Y-Yes, I mean n-no...." Starx stammered again, seemingly having lost his previous eloquence.

He turned to stare at his comrade, who shot him a smile, then turned to stare at Alex with pleading eyes. However, Alex's gaze remained firm.

The things one could do with a monster body are numerous, all the more so with a monster like an ogre.

Without even mentioning the ogre core, its thick skin could be transformed into leather armor. Its sharp teeth and some of its organs could be sold to a witch for a hefty price. Even its seemingly useless wooden club was worth a good sum, and there were many other things that could be done with an ogre corpse.

With all of this explained, it becomes clear that this group of adventurers' request to give up on the ogre corpse was quite absurd. That's why Alex didn't even take time to think about what Starx said before refusing.

Just as he was about to make it clear that he had no intention to let them take the ogre corpse...

"Just give the corpse to the kid; he looks too pitiful. Plus, none of us has a spatial ring big enough to accommodate the corpse, and we don't have time to butcher the corpse," whispered Lilia in Alex's ear.

'Haa, I can't deny anything to my wife, and she is indeed right' Alex sighed 'I don't have the time nor the will to butcher this ogre.'

"Take it and leave us alone," Alex waved his hands.

"R-Really? You are giving us the corpse?" exclaimed Starx with an incredulous expression.

Even the adventurers behind him seemed surprised by Alex's decision to give them the corpse.

"Take it and scram before I change my mind!"

"Thanks!" exclaimed Starx.

"Guys, take care of it!" he shouted to his comrades.

They snorted but still executed.

'How are they going to take the corpse, carry it?' wondered Alex with an amused expression.

To his shock, the group of adventurers really intended to carry the ogre corpse!

'Wait, seriously?'

As Alex observed, seven people among the group of adventurers lifted the ogre corpse with great difficulty and began walking in the direction they came from.

Alex, who was observing them, was really dumbfounded that they would carry the ogre on their body, but it couldn't be helped. Normal people weren't able to afford things such as a spatial ring. Furthermore, a spatial ring with enough space to accommodate such a big corpse.

Starx bowed to Alex one last time and took off with the others.

However, before leaving, the tattooed man took his time observing Alex, the carriage, the pegasi, and most of all, the girls.

When his gaze landed on them, a peculiar light flashed in his eyes.

Having witnessed the man's gaze on his wives, Alex glared at the man coldly.

The man lowered his gaze under Alex's glare, turned around, and left, not before glancing at them one last time.

"Something is peculiar about those people," remarked Amelia after the group of adventurers left.

"And it seemed like the young man, Starx, has a relationship with the others of their group that is not as it seems," added Anna.

"Yeah, it was like he was-"

"Frightened by that man," stated Lilia.

Both of them nodded.

"Should we do something about-"

"No, it doesn't concern us. We are here just for the night; at sunrise, we depart," stated Alex.

He also remarked that something peculiar was going on between Starx and the tattooed man. However, as he said, it didn't concern them, and he had no intention to pry into someone else's affairs.

'I just hope for their own good that nothing will happen tonight.'