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“If you were picking a fight, I’ll have to punish you accordingly.”
“F-Fine, I just have to talk, right?!”

Bard stood up and faced the group of five.

“Do you bast-… people have experience fighting locust-type monsters or Lauloa Boars?”
“Huh? Of course we do.”
“We fight locusts in warrior exams.”

They were often designated as subjugation targets in exams that tested explosive power due to their high leaping power and gliding skills. They were also poisonous, so coming into contact with their mucous membranes when bitten would infect you with deadly poison, making them enemies you needed to be careful about.

Incidentally, I exterminate them on sight. I mean, they were giant grasshoppers, you know? I just can’t. Imagine enlarged versions of ants and stuff that you find in biology textbooks in school. Those show up before your eyes. I can’t stand them, no way.

…Just thinking about them made me feel disgusted.

“Come here…”
“Pi?”

My healing. I hugged Haku and watched on.

“In that case, have you fought them both at the same time?”
“…Well, no.”

Yup, Bard was right on this one.

“If you’ve fought them, you obviously… I mean, you should be aware that locusts are poisonous, yes? Lauloa Boars have low poison resistance and it just seeps into their body. That also applies to Rondo Locust’s paralysis poison.”
“Oh…”

Two warriors frowned. The other three looked puzzled at that, but they soon realized it too, and frowned just the same.

“It ain’t a problem to hunt them separately. But what if you encounter them in the same place and the boars get infected?”

At that time, Lauloa Boars would most likely start rampaging… they would fall into a rage state. The scary part of that state was that they either lost sight of the enemy, or they would chase them until either the enemy or they died.

It wouldn’t matter whether they were poisoned or paralyzed. In case of paralysis, they probably won’t be able to move, but it would turn into a situation similar to the shooting games where you touch the enemy’s plane but you die while they survive. Or maybe it’s a bit different.

Magicians would still be fine. But if swordsmen cut them, their body fluids would fly around, and boxers couldn’t touch them directly. It would be one thing if they touched the skin before the poison had seeped through, but if they touched the infected body fluids or blood, their resistance wouldn’t last for more than a few seconds.

It was hard to say whether they would be able to fight a large number of enemies while protecting their paralyzed friends who couldn’t recover themselves.

Given all that, Bard judged that it would be hard for them.

“…What will you do?”

Now that they realized this, they started to waver too.

The boxers seem to be particularly high-level among them, so the rest of them were hesitant to say anything.

“So what do you think they should do, Bard?”
“Huh?”

Not just Bard, even the five were having difficulty understanding my question.

“If you warned them, you have to provide advice too. Just telling them it’s impossible wouldn’t help anyone, you know?”
“Even if you say that…”

Bard started to ponder, but he had trouble reaching a conclusion.

Luke opened his mouth to speak, unable to watch any longer.

“You have someone from the Magician Guild too, so wouldn’t it be best to focus on magical attacks?”

The five just exchange awkward glances at Luke’s words.

Though he was from the Magician Guild, there were all kinds of them. Practitioners like Lula and York whose low-ranked magic packed sufficient lethality were extremely rare, and they hardly ever joined factions.

Even if he couldn’t tell his abilities like me, he should still be able to figure out the level of a magician that joined a warrior-dominated party, so his question was probably planned.

“But my magic isn’t that strong.”

As expected, Luke didn’t look perturbed at his confession. He then smiled to reassure him.

“Let’s prioritize safety over efficiency and put the firepower aside for a bit. Even with low firepower, you can take them down with a few shots, right?”
“Well, I guess.”
“But if you shoot them they’ll target you, and there’s no guarantee the others won’t join, right?”

It would be meaningless to use the swordsman and boxers as decoys while the magician took on the main role.

“Do you know how boars chase the outer invaders?”
“Legs… I guess that’s not what you mean. Their eyes?”
“They ultimately find the enemy with their eyes, yes, but boars living in forests have generally low eyesight, and they can’t search for enemies while running around due to their carnivore-specific visual angle. They instead use their large, protruded nose to sniff the enemy out and follow after their smell.”

Yes, in exchange for their low eyesight, their sense of smell was quite sharp, so unless you had a good plan, a boar in a frenzy would chase you to the ends of the world.

Mercenary Guild members usually hunted the boars then and there so they were looked down on a bit, but Luke was suggesting this strategy to them.

“So, I would recommend you use scent bags or perfume.”
“I see, so you’re saying we should disturb them with a smell.”

They had enough experience to realize the rest after he told them that much, and they proceeded to form their own plans.

Normal parties used things like bags that contained their own amplified smell and attached them to trees, hoping they injure themselves.

But these people had an alchemist among them. He wasn’t skilled enough to make the plants grow, but if he could at least grow a branch on a tree and attach a smell to it, he could make a spike trap, or even make a human silhouette out of vines before a rock or water’s surface would do the job.

Though I didn’t plan to butt in so much, plus Luke’s advice was more than enough this time.

“We’ll get the items in the second-hand shop. You have no problems if we accept this commission now, right?”
“…Don’t forget about Rondo Locusts either.”
“I know already.”

Bard finished registering the commission with difficulty while Luke supported him. As he saw off the five who walked away proudly as if they had forgotten the earlier quarrel, Bard felt relief and looked up at Luke.

“…You saved me. Receptionist work is quite tough too.”
“Indeed. But I was simply repeating what I heard.”
“Really? Was it the branch master’s words?”
“It was Illya. About 90% of what I said was her words.”

Bard turned around with a sour expression.

…Did I do something to be hated so much?

That aside, Luke didn’t have to mention that either.

“How well you can use the information you have heard is up to the individual. I hope you can learn a lot from Luke too, Bard.”

He gave me a suspicious look, but he soon straightened himself without turning defiant like before.

Meanwhile, Cathy was nervously carrying a tray. I’m hoping she properly learns the skill and levels it up.

I will have Bard predict the subjugation method people would need to take for subjugation commissions, whether he wants to give advice or not. Then verify it based on the state of the materials they would submit after finishing the commission. That should show quite a big difference in results.

“Morning. Is Frank around?”

Ector arrived at the counter.

“Good morning. I believe he’s in his private room. Shall I call him?”
“Yes, please. Could I wait in the reception room?”
“Of course. Please, over here.”