"Huh? Those people... Are they running from us?" Seeing the group of adventurers in the distance suddenly making a 180 turn before moving in the exact opposite direction, Charles could not stop himself from muttering his thoughts out loud. "It looks like they are, my lord." Causing one of the two knights following closely behind him to nod his head before confirming his thoughts
"They dare...! Chase after them! No way I’m letting those adventurers run away. Especially now that we find ourselves in need of a few meat shields to deal with that damnable snake guarding the night spire lotus."
Feeling like he had been completely looked down on by a few lowly adventurers and in dire need of someone to serve as the frontline against an especially powerful snake monster guarding a precious medicinal herb, Charles didn’t even bother thinking about settling down for the night. Instead giving the direct order to chase after the group of adventurers in the distance. Intent on catching up with them and forcibly recruiting them. After all, with how they had chosen to run away, he was certain that this group of adventurers weren’t that powerful and feared an encounter with him and his group.
"" Yes, my lord!""
Knowing that that they didn’t have any way to refuse an order given by this little superior of theirs, the two former A Rank Adventures, now knights, solemnly answered before getting the rest of their group ready to chase after the fleeing group of adventurers, something that didn’t take more than a few minutes, as they were already on the move.
A sight that was of course caught by the group of adventurers. However, they weren’t exactly surprised nor worried by this turn of events.
One, because there was already a significant distance between them and the group of the little noble lord and second, because night was approaching.
Traveling at night within the Thousand Spire Mountain Range was impossible with the mountain ape wandering around, so, they should be able to ensure a safe distance between themselves and the group that was now chasing them from behind.
But... Maybe more importantly than that, they knew that a little noble like the one chasing them wasn’t exactly the type to get up early in the morning. So, they planned to set off just when the sun rose. Shaking off the group that had decided to chase after them before their little lord even woke up.
At least, that was their original plan as they found somewhere not too close to the giant ant nest to settle down for the night. Leaving two people to stand watch for the night, as although the annoying mountain ape would ignore them, the same could not be said for other monsters.
The problems began when the two people standing guard for the first part of the night realized that the group that was chasing them from behind hadn’t shown any sign of settling down for the night and were continuing towards them even as the sun was about to set behind a mountain behind them.
Still, it wasn’t too worrisome and was at most something to keep an eye on, as it would still take them at least another four or so hours to reach them.
But as night officially fell and the sky darkened along with the moon rising to replace the sun that had dominated the sky during the day, the two on watch realized that this group chasing them showed no signs of settling down for the night.
What might originally have been an attempt to close as much distance between them before having to settle down for the night turned into a dangerous night trek that forced the two on watch to keep an eye on the group. Knowing that if they got too close, they might have to join them in running through the night, something they wanted to avoid if possible.
For that reason, the two on watch silently prayed for the famous mountain ape of the Thousand Spire Mountain Range to show up and lend them a hand in dealing with this group of little noble excursion group compromised of knights and well-armed guards.
A wish that wasn’t fulfilled, as the two guards on watch watched with increasing unease as the group continued getting closer to them over the next three hours.
The only positive from everything being that the group had clearly encountered a few problems travelling through the night and ended up taking longer than expected to travel towards them. Meaning that, by the time three hours had flown by, the group was still over two hours away from reaching them.
Not that this meant much to the two on watch, as they understood that they would get little time to sleep with those people, deciding to make the dangerous trek through the night to try and catch up with them.
Because of this, the two didn’t waste any time, as they woke up the two who were supposed to take over for them an hour ahead of time before informing them about the situation. Not giving the two unfortunate souls who barely managed to get three hours of sleep in before they tucked themselves in for the night. Hoping that they would at least be able to get an hour or two of sleep before those people got close enough that they would be forced to join them in traversing the dangerous mountain range at night.
"They really just went to sleep..." As the two unfortunate souls settled down, one quietly complained while the other just shook his head in understanding. "Nothing for us to do about it, I understand wanting to get a bit of sleep before potentially having to spend the rest of the night running from those reckless fools."
"That... Indeed, getting a bit some sleep is great. But, what about those reckless people? Aren’t they worried about attracting that damnable mountain ape or did that little noble lord perhaps use his authority to force them into continuing this chase?"
"No idea, but from how a few of them seem to be carrying what looks like a small bed of some kind, I have a feeling that the noble lord in question might already be asleep while the rest of his little team continues moving through the night..."
"Wow... Sometimes I really do wish I had been born a noble. Especially one with direct connection to the royal line like that Charles."
"Hehe, indeed, though there is little hope for adventures like us unless we become well known A Rank Adventurers or ascend to the S Rank."
"True! Though for us, becoming A Rank might be possible, but S Rank... No way!"
"Haha, that is true, S Rank is too far away and..."
Continuing to chat with each other in low voices to avoid accidentally waking up their companions, the two new adventurers in charge of keeping an eye out for any monsters or other threats didn’t spend long watching the slowly approaching group in the distance. Only glancing in their direction from time to time to see how close they were and if they needed to wake up the others.
This continued for another hour and a half before the two were startled by the sudden appearance of someone from behind. Luckily, it wasn’t someone unfamiliar. Instead, it was none other than Thomas, who had gotten up because he hadn’t been able to sleep or that was at least what he told the two. In reality, the reason he got up was because the laughter of the two who were clearly not good at keeping quiet had woken him up.
And after learning about the situation, he simply couldn’t get back to sleep, as the group with a noble in it had already gotten close enough that the two on watch had started discussing when to wake up the rest.
Time wise, they were a little under an hour from reaching their location and were currently at the base of the mountain where the giant ant nest was located.
Seeing this, Thomas had originally wanted to use some way to attract the attention of the giant ants to the group brazenly wandering at the edge of their nest, but after thinking about it for a little more than two seconds, he realized that anything he did to potentially provoke the giant ants into attacking the group chasing them, would also end up affecting them.
After all, when those giant ants were provoked, they would attack anything in sight. Sweeping through their surroundings indiscriminately-
Roooar-!
But... It seemed like there wouldn’t be much of a choice in what was going to happen, as a loud roar suddenly echoed out beside the group moving in their direction before an ape standing a little over two meters tall appeared a dozen or so meters away from the group. Attention focused specifically on the two knights who had once been A Rank Adventurers in the past.