A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

One thing must be clear—that is, Bray has spent a lot of time fighting monsters while carrying Nia.

Therefore, even if Bree was worried, Naruko wouldn't be careless.

Playing around is fine, but we won't joke about Nia.

This is an ironclad rule that Bray, Naruko, and Levy all abide by.

Moreover, if someone were to truly bully Nia, the first to act wouldn't even be Bray, but rather Levy, who would still be sunbathing.

I reckon Levy would have bitten him without hesitation at that moment.

What will the ending be? For details, refer to the Silver Seed that was recently bitten and thrown to the ground by Levy.

"Then we'll set off tomorrow." Naruko kneaded and squeezed the unwilling-to-resist Brai at will.

"Oh," Bray replied listlessly, too lazy to do anything else.

---

Eric had already informed Bray of the expedition's time and rendezvous point.

The next day, Bray arrived at his destination on time, keeping his promise.

He carried a broadsword on his back as always, with a longsword and a pouch hanging at his waist, but he was not carrying any heavy load.

Naruko put on her well-maintained arm armor and carried a pack for her long journey on her back.

As for Levy, she had a sleeping fireball on her head and was carrying a large package that was disproportionately large for her size.

The package was several sizes larger than Naruko's.

Bray and his two companions stood out conspicuously from the expeditionary force.

The sense of being out of place here is not just about appearance, but also about mindset.

The expeditionary forces were mostly composed of former knights or soldiers, with very few adventurers mixed in.

Because most adventurers are profit-driven, while expeditions offer absolutely no reward.

Expeditions bring no benefits; they only gather intelligence.

Perhaps with good luck you might find something valuable far away, but that value is disproportionate to the risk of death.

No one here knows how many will survive, so everyone feels heavy-hearted.

But Bray and his group did not feel that heavy, suffocating mood.

"Alright, everyone's here, let's go!" Leading the way was none other than Eric, who always sat in the office secretly eating milk smoothies.

Everyone always thought he was idle and didn't do anything productive.

However, he did everything that everyone else thought was foolish and not worth it.

Yes, what's so special about expeditions? Simply to learn more about the outside world.

This isn't important, is it...? Is this really not important?

“Alright… there’s no exciting opening.” Eric began.

"I just want to tell you that if you want to survive the expedition, then don't consider yourselves living beings."

"Stones, grass, corpses, it doesn't matter."

"When facing a Silver-tier monster, just imagine yourself as one of those monsters."

"Even if someone breaks your leg, don't run away, don't fight."

"That way we can survive."

Eric said a lot of things that were not only uninspiring, but also demoralizing.

“Colonel, everyone here knows this, and it doesn’t matter if some don’t,” Alice said abruptly, standing behind Eric.

"Just in case."

Eric knew that everyone on the expedition was aware of this ironclad rule, and he was speaking to Bray and the other two.

Of course, he didn't want Bray and his men to do that, because it wasn't realistic.

Eric simply needs Bray and the others to understand how the others survived on the expedition.

In this way, Bray and his friends won't do anything that could kill others.

They are not living beings, so Bray will not need to save them—in fact, he should not.

Because saving a few people could lead to the death of everyone else.

After Eric finished speaking, he gave Bray a deep look.

After noticing Eric's gaze, Bray hesitated for a few seconds before nodding in response.

He didn't fully understand Eric's true purpose in saying that, but he did understand that there was only one way for others to survive against the Silver Race.

They have a chance to survive even without my intervention.

If I were to intervene rashly, it might be erased.

"Levy understands!" Levy raised her paws, her tail wagging gently.

Actually, Rebecca didn't understand anything; she just responded with a sound of agreement because she saw everyone was silent.

When everyone is feeling down, it feels like you can't breathe.

Moreover, the soldier seemed to have said something very impressive, and it would be pitiful if no one responded.

"How lively!" Alice said with a slight smile.

“Yeah, I really don’t know why he can still be so lively.” Eric shrugged.

She is such an enviable little girl, yet you wouldn't feel any jealousy towards her.

How wonderful it would be if everyone could still be so full of energy in such a depressing world.

For some reason, the suffocating atmosphere around them instantly dissipated after Levy responded to Eric.

Everyone on the expedition looked much more relaxed.

The chances of survival didn't increase, but... seeing this little girl did indeed dispel much of the gloom.

To date, the Imperial Capital Security Zone has organized two expeditions; this is the third.

Every expedition resulted in heavy losses.

The first time Eric wasn't the leader, the entire team was wiped out.

Eric led the second team, and more than half of them died.

Even though those who participated were all original soldiers or knights, no one would be willing to die in vain if there were no compensation.

Basically, the reason everyone is willing to participate in this mission, which has a very high chance of resulting in death, is that the safe zone has promised to ensure that their families can live without worry.

The safe zone kept its word the first two times, which is why there was a third time.

Because they weren't completely wiped out the second time, Eric was called back to lead the team once again.

Could he refuse? Actually, he could, but he didn't.

If there were someone who could do it better than him, he would rather sit on a stool and eat ice cream quietly than face death.

Most of the participants in the third expedition were survivors of the second expedition.

The second expedition expanded its exploration beyond the capital. This time, the plan was to advance directly to the recently destroyed safe zone. Having experienced people around would be a good thing.

Knowing the truth about the destruction of the safe zone is also the true purpose of the expedition.

Being devoured by monsters is indeed the survivors' story, but the problem is that there were only two survivors, and the accuracy of this information is questionable.

It's not that I don't believe what Luo Shiqi and the other survivor said, but something doesn't seem right.

Monsters are indeed terrifying; it wouldn't be surprising if they destroyed the safe zone.

Eric still felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

I can only say that this was my own unreliable intuition.

"..." Bray followed without saying a word, and now he, Naruko, and Levy were at the back of the group.

Generally speaking, the middle position is relatively safe, while the two ends are the first to be hit in an accident.

However, Bray was an exception. Eric unceremoniously placed him at the back, and then stood in the middle of the line without any shame.

"This is the first time I've ever been this far from home." Naruko looked around the deserted outer city of the imperial capital in surprise. In a little while, they would reach the outskirts of the imperial capital.

Although Naruko had left the safe zone many times, she had never gone this far.

"It's all been abandoned like this?" Naruko thought with a touch of emotion. As she traveled along, she had truly come to realize just how badly the capital had been destroyed.

“Hmm…” Although Levy didn’t share Naruko’s sentiments, she had noticed a tavern sign on the ground that read “Civet Cat” when she passed through Midtown earlier.

After that, Levy's long elf ears drooped, and her tail lost its wagging interest.

"It'll be alright," Bray said, glancing sideways at Naruko and Levy.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Naruko asked instinctively, startled.

"I don't know, I was just offering a casual reassurance," Bray honestly told Naruko the truth.

He can't read minds, so how could he possibly know what Naruko and Levy are thinking?

Understanding people's hearts is a skill that Bray can't master. He only knows that Naruko is worried about something and that Levy is disappointed.

So he started saying some meaningless things to comfort them.

Although he knew these words were meaningless, he thought that saying them would make others feel better.

"Alright, it's time to leave the capital. Watch out for the terrain."

"The road ahead is much more difficult than the one in the capital," Eric, one of the members of the group, suddenly reminded everyone.

"Then we'll have more time to stop and investigate things."

Outside the capital, these are the key areas to investigate.

The terrain was more complex than the ruins of the imperial capital, because the original forests were no longer forests, the original hills were no longer hills, and the original rivers were no longer rivers.

The team was small, with about twenty people, and no one was lost along the way.

Since their predecessors were soldiers or knights, dealing with monsters wasn't too difficult for them.

What always makes people nervous is the unpredictable appearance of silver coins.

"I remember this used to be a grove of trees?" Naruko said strangely, looking at the muddy ground.

Her memory wasn't as bad as Bree's; she still remembered the terrain outside the capital from more than two years ago.

"I don't know, I don't remember," Bray said, pursing his lips.

But the expedition team stopped right after Naruko finished speaking.

It wasn't that any monster had appeared; rather, their next target for investigation was this muddy ground.

“We’re going to investigate this place soon,” Eric said, pointing to the muddy ground in front of him.

"Be careful, this might be due to a mutation of the Silver species." Bray could sense a faint residual concept from the ground.

While it's unlikely to cause sudden death, it's still best to be careful.

“I guessed so.” Eric nodded slightly after hearing Bray’s words.

A third of the vegetation outside the capital has turned into mud; only those unreasonable monsters could accomplish such a thing.

"..." The colonel stared at the large patch of mud in front of him, caught in a dilemma.

“The safe zone only prevents those Silver-ranked beings from using their abilities, but it can’t reverse the consequences caused by their abilities, right?” Eric crouched down, his back to Bray, and asked.

“Yes.” Bray didn’t know what Eric was planning, but he answered seriously nonetheless.

"Won't this mud make people weird?" Eric asked again.

"Probably not." Judging from the remaining concept... it doesn't seem to have that effect.

But Bray couldn't definitively say that it didn't have this effect; concepts are hard to define.

"Blind man."

"what?"

"Come over here a bit."