My inventory is full of monster materials.

Henry had sustained a hidden injury during the daytime battle with the ogres, and coupled with his guilt over Mark's uncertain fate, the injury was aggravated, and a metallic taste rose in his throat.

But Henry, suppressing his discomfort, staggered to his feet and walked toward Clyde, who was lying on the ground, seething with resentment.

The fennec fox seemed to sense Henry's emotions, and kept snuggling its little head into Emily's arms.

The next second, Henry grabbed Clyde by the collar and, before the other could react, slammed his fist, as big as a casserole dish, down hard.

Bang!

Clyde was knocked to the ground, seeing stars, and before he could understand what was happening, he heard Henry cursing him.

"What the hell kind of commission did you give me?!"

Henry delivered another hook punch, causing Clyde to arch his back in pain.

"What kind of intelligence did you give us?! There are two Tier 1 monsters! Are you trying to kill us?!"

Henry raised his fist again, but at that moment, Orion resolutely stood in front of Clyde, his fist slamming into the breastplate with a loud "clang," before the young knight firmly held his arm down.

Henry's eyes reddened with anger, and he tried to pull his arm away, but was held back by another pair of slender, soft hands.

Emily shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

"Mr. Henry, please don't do this!"

The sobbing was like a bucket of cold water poured over Henry, bringing him back to his senses. He held his face in disbelief, his hands trembling.

Beside the wooden stake, Vera, the fennec fox, broke free from Emily's embrace and hid behind the stake, only her large, terrified eyes peeking at the group of humans who had suddenly gone mad.

Henry turned his head and saw the little girl's tear-streaked face, then looked at the knight's determined eyes, and then at Clyde, whose face was bruised and swollen. His arm finally fell limply to his side.

But just then, a hoarse, cold laugh came from the other side.

"hehe..."

With a bruised and swollen face, Clyde slowly got up from the ground, his hair disheveled. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and instead of being angry, he smiled, his eyes full of mockery.

"You blame me? Blame me for inaccurate intelligence?"

Clyde, panting heavily with his chest heaving, staggered forward and demanded an explanation.

"Why don't you blame yourself for insisting on taking this commission?"

Orion opened his mouth, but Henry and Emily both turned pale and stammered, unable to speak.

But Clyde's counterattack had only just begun, and his voice was growing increasingly sharp.

"Your 'White Eagle' squad is just a bronze-level adventure team. You insisted on taking on a silver-level mission. Who can you blame for that?"

"It's all your fault, Captain, for coveting my attribute potions!"

"All that talk about protecting the team members' safety, and in the end, you still sacrificed your teammates to cover the retreat!!"

The last sentence was like a knife, stabbing Henry hard into his heart.

Henry's face turned deathly pale in an instant, as if his soul had been ripped out. He slumped to the ground, head bowed, muttering in a tone full of self-reproach.

"It was me...it was my greed...it was me who ruined Mark..."

Clyde spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, intending to press his advantage, but was stopped by Orion's stern shout.

"Sir! That's enough!"

The young knight stood between the two, his eyes filled with righteous indignation.

Clyde looked at him, then at the dejected Henry, Emily sobbing with her head down, and Vera peeking timidly from behind the stake.

Clyde took a deep breath, swallowed the words that were about to come out, and stopped talking.

An eerie silence fell over the camp.

creak-

The camp's wooden gate suddenly opened.

Everyone looked up at the same time.

Mark stood outside the door, neatly dressed, carrying a freshly hunted fawn. He glanced around and then uttered a sentence.

"...Why aren't you starting a fire?"

……

……

The campfire was quickly relit.

The tender venison tenderloin sizzles in the flat iron wok, garnished with spices such as pepper and rosemary, and its rich aroma instantly fills the air, making one's mouth water.

Brady had already woken up and was sitting by the campfire, shoveling large mouthfuls of venison from his plate, asking indistinctly what he was doing.

"So, Brother Mark, how did you escape from those two Tier 1 monsters?"

The people sitting around all turned their curious gazes towards them.

Everyone had just recovered from the joy of Mark's safe return and was eager to hear what exciting stories this formidable team member had to tell.

Faced with such a good opportunity to boast, Mark simply cut off a small piece of tender venison and handed it to Vera, the little fox at his feet, then casually offered a perfunctory reply.

"With my strength, I can easily handle not only two first-tier monsters, but even three."

"Wow—as expected of the eldest brother!"

Brady's straight man is always so timely, instantly enlivening the atmosphere.

Emily covered her mouth and chuckled, Orion smiled as well, and the little fox Vera let out a soft "ooh".

However, although Henry and Clyde maintained a facade of harmony and stopped arguing, they didn't even glance at each other.

Mark had learned from Emily everything that had happened at the camp before he returned.

Actually, the root of the problem is the failure of the mission—if we had won, none of this would have happened.

Henry had regained his composure and was well aware of the situation. He took a deep breath and looked at Mark, speaking in a heavy tone.

"Mark, we can't even handle ogres, let alone extract the core of the Slime King. Let's call off this mission."

From Henry's perspective, since Mark had returned safely and the entire squad was unharmed, there was no need to risk anything further.

As for guilds and clients, they are completely unimportant.

Mark appeared to be listening to Henry, but his eyes were secretly fixed on Clyde.

He knew that Henry was speaking to him, but also to Clyde—after all, Clyde was still the guild overseer.

To be honest, Clyde was definitely the one who suffered the most in this mission.

He not only spearheaded the mission and funded most of the supplies, but also personally led the operation. However, the mission ended in failure, the divine oracle could not be completed, and he was even unable to advance to the next level as a professional.

However, Clyde remained silent, head down, seemingly lost in thought.

Orion tried to speak several times, but he swallowed the words back.

Only Brady, after hearing Henry say he was going to abandon the mission, spoke with feigned seriousness.

"Huh? You're leaving already? I feel like we could try again; maybe we could win!"

To everyone's surprise, Henry glared fiercely at Brady.

Brady then realized something was wrong, wisely shut his mouth, and buried his head in his food.

Some people wanted to back out, while others didn't; the atmosphere seemed to have reached a dead end.

Finally, Mark raised his head and stared intently at Clyde.

"It's come to this point, aren't you going to take it out yet?"

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent instantly. Clyde abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with surprise and barely concealed unease.

The others also had different expressions, their gazes shifting back and forth between Mark and Clyde.

Seeing that Clyde remained silent and unresponsive, Mark went a step further and spoke clearly, word by word.

"Take it out, that trump card the Adventurers' Guild gave you."