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The cliff at my temporary base would have worked too, but the viewing angle changed what you could see.

I hid myself in untended wilderness and simply waited for the moment.

And then they came.

Only three of them, but since the key person—Number Six—was among them, that was enough.

According to the new information I had obtained, the Forshna Clan—one of the Three Great Clans—possessed an extremely dangerous weapon called the Spirit Bow.

Observing her, someone of high status within that clan, and searching for a path that led there was a rational decision.

Why were elf women stepping into a river always so picturesque?

A lewd image sprang up in my mind like a little shoot, but this was an important mission—serious time.

I watched them take off their shoes, splash at the water, and chat, and I strained my ears to pick up fragments of information from the voices I could hear.

If I got too close, I would trip their alert net.

So I stayed put and monitored in Stealth Mode.

I just stared at them.

I grasped the general content of their conversation, but most of it was everyday talk, and I did not gain any particularly useful information.

Then the time came.

Having enjoyed the feel of the water, the elves wiped their wet feet with cloth, put their shoes on, and returned to the forest.

‘…What about bath time?’

Unfortunately, winter was steadily approaching, and in water that had begun to turn cold and chilly air, there was no way anyone would soak in the river.

I knew that.

But still… could the season not have lasted just a little longer—just a little? I pounded the ground with my fist.

Swallowing my tears, wishing at least that today had been warm, I canceled Stealth Mode and started searching for prey.

If I was going to visit the settlement, I needed a gift.

If I took down a deer or a boar and brought it, they would not just coldly send me away.

So I quickly took down a boar, hoisted the prey, and crossed the river.

I expected someone to come after I crossed the elves’ alert line, but there was no sign of anyone in my field of view.

Instead, waiting for me in front of the settlement were Number Six and what seemed to be her escorts.

“Welcome, Argos.”

“It’s a humble gift, but…”

I held my throat and moved my fingers as if I were producing speech, returned the greeting to Number Six, and handed the prey to the man beside her.

Ignoring the looks around me that said, “He learned something weird again,” I acted friendly toward Number Six, who was giving a wry smile, and added, “You look beautiful today, too.”

Glancing sideways at the men, who were making openly displeased faces, I stated the purpose of my visit.

“Plant seeds…?”

There was precedent for monsters growing crops—the orcs.

But coming to ask a humanoid people about it was apparently unheard of, because the reaction around me went past disbelief into stunned silence.

Number Six, however, looked pleased.

Since she had recognized me as a demi-human—in other words, an intelligent lifeform—my productive behavior must have appealed to her.

By building favor like this, I wanted a relationship where she would also hear me out even if I asked for something slightly unreasonable.

With the sun about to set, a human would not intrude any further.

But to behave like a monster, I stuck to not caring.

By casually making mistakes in places like this, I could keep up the “still not used to it” vibe and avoid being suspected.

There were disadvantages to being seen as a monster, but right now the advantages outweighed them.

Until my various problems were solved, my policy of behaving like a neighbor would not change.

Now then—no one could really scold an unreasonable person like me, and since I was a case that required extreme caution, the elves’ side had little choice but to “accept me.”

As expected, they tossed the matter to the Forshna Clan, and as planned, I followed Number Six all the way to the manor where she lived.

I would say my conversation with Number Six—mixing in written notes—was truly meaningful time.

It was less than twenty minutes, but relaxing with a beautiful woman was, as expected, a good thing.

The conversation was mostly a status update, though of course I withheld some information.

It was nothing exciting—goblin extermination on the southern side, securing a new base, and asking for simple guidance on easy cultivation now that I had obtained vegetable seeds—but Number Six listened properly.

I considered bringing up “cooperating against an unknown monster,” but it was still too soon.

Not only would it be bad for them to see me lose my reason and tear someone apart, showing them me asleep would be even worse.

If I did not bring it up myself, and they brought it up instead, it would be easy to arrange the situation.

To avoid the undesirable case of a joint operation, I needed to step carefully.

After the meal, I turned pages of the borrowed book with my pinky and kept reading by the small flame floating at the tip of my thumb.

The book was about the kind of gardening elves often did, and I carefully read the section on home vegetable gardening.

They said they would even lend me books and tools suited to the vegetable seeds I had brought, so it was attentive service to the extreme.

By the way, the book’s contents were not very different from the home-gardening book I had found.

‘It’s interesting that even if the means differ—scientific versus magical—the destination hardly changes.’

I laughed quietly.

It was getting late, so being quiet was basic manners.

For the light needed to read a book, even a small flame was enough.

As if showing off the results of my training, I maintained the weak little light—and then my ears caught footsteps.

“Did you need something?”

I extinguished the flame on my fingertip, touched my throat, and asked the faintly visible figure.

A single man appeared.

If my memory was correct, he was one of the Forshna men—someone who had accompanied them when they destroyed my base.

“…There’s one thing I want to ask you.”

The man created a ball of light from his palm in my place, and looked up at the sky as if gazing at the moon.

I nodded at his words to show, “Go ahead,” and he exhaled once and fixed his eyes on me.

“The neighboring country… the Kingdom of Canaan is in an uproar. I know it’s related to the new monster species. What did you do?”

I was being watched—more accurately, this was the normal reaction.

I thought about how I should answer.

If I was going to be honest, starting from the beginning was convenient.

Because then I could be the one who had been targeted first.

But in that case, it would also lead them to infer that I understood the concept of a “state.”

After all, I had only rampaged in the Kingdom of Canaan.

There were sightings in Seizeria too, yet I had not touched them at all.

My meager brain warned me: “They’ll definitely suspect you.”

But lying would be even worse.

I did not know how accurate the elves’ information gathering was.

Number Six might welcome it, but if I told the truth, their caution would rise.

If I mixed in lies, what little trust I had would fall.

As I agonized over this unpleasant choice, the man—perhaps interpreting my silence in some way—began explaining why he had asked.

“…Canaan contacted our Republic. They said they want to jointly exterminate the new monster species named ‘Argos.’”

“…Seriously?”

Caught off guard, I forgot to hold my throat and blurted it out in my normal voice.