Gauss, Aria, and the gray wolf Ulfen walked through the desolate wilderness.

Pedestrians and carriages had become much sparser than before, the chill in the air growing stronger.

Both of them had excellent physical constitutions, especially Gauss. Aside from lacking warrior rank bonuses and corresponding powerful combat techniques, his attributes probably weren't inferior to some level 1 warriors.

As such, he hadn't fallen ill in a long time, and his cold resistance far surpassed ordinary people.

"We've completed two more missions," Aria said, crossing out entries in the notebook she carried and exhaling a white puff of breath.

"Even though we're still doing these trivial commissions after advancing to Bronze rank, it might seem strange, but the efficiency is actually quite good," Gauss responded.

"I don't mind either way," Aria shrugged, then added with a hint of teasing. "But recently, it seems people have started giving our team a nickname - the Goblin Slayer Squad."

Gauss was momentarily speechless.

He admitted they'd been killing goblins with higher frequency and quantity lately, but wasn't that simply because most monsters active in the area were goblins?

With the weather turning colder, he didn't want to travel long distances, so he began focusing on clearing out small commissions nearby.

After applying to the association, he obtained permission to simultaneously undertake two ordinary commissions that were adjacent or along the same route.

This way, a single trip out could complete two missions, with monster kills often reaching around thirty, while the return time to Grayrock Town was even shorter than most beginner-level tasks.

The efficiency matched that of 1-star beginner missions, but with higher safety.

However, whether someone had noticed his mission patterns or nearby villages were overly moved by having a "big shot" Bronze-rank adventurer helping them, his "achievements" had been spontaneously publicized.

After several trips out, the title "Goblin Slayer" had quietly spread around Grayrock Town.

Now, many Bronze-rank professionals knew there was a "mission maniac" in their rank who was obsessed with clearing out goblin mobs.

Most Bronze-rank adventurers looked down on these "small potatoes" and had already wrapped up their mission arrangements to conserve energy for the Winter Hunt, leaving them more free time to gossip.

And Gauss, who was still "grinding" small monsters with low-level adventurers at this juncture, became particularly conspicuous.

"Let them talk. We'll focus on training and improving our strength. When we reach higher levels later, the idle chatter should decrease."

Gauss recalled a saying from his past life: When you succeed, you'll find everyone around you becomes nice.

Aria didn't respond.

She didn't share Gauss's confidence in believing they would definitely advance to become high-level professionals.

Though many had praised her talent, she felt she was nothing compared to true geniuses.

After briefly "comforting" Aria, Gauss checked his Adventurer's Manual.

"Total monsters slain: 619."

Recently he'd made three rounds of trips, completing six ordinary missions and killing 115 ordinary mobs, most of which were goblins wandering the wilderness.

Unfortunately, there was still quite a distance to reach one thousand kills, and he probably wouldn't be able to pile up to 1000 kills before the official start of the Winter Hunt.

The bad news was that after several commissions, the [Weakened Leap] skill had advanced to lv3.

The activation became slightly slower, while each leap's distance increased by about ten centimeters.

Though seemingly insignificant, the accumulated mobility improvement during continuous movement was considerable.

Running faster was absolutely good, whether chasing enemies or fleeing, it could earn him more opportunities.

Mage Hand and Magic Missile should also be close to leveling up.

The cold wind howled as the two humans and wolf hurried along.

As they approached Grayrock Town, more travelers began converging from various side roads.

Gauss's gaze swept across the crowd.

Suddenly, among a team of dust-covered, low-spirited adventurers, he caught sight of a familiar face.

That freckled face—

Malin?

He narrowed his eyes.

Memory and reality overlapped. Indeed, it was that superficial friend his original self had known while working at the blacksmith shop.

When he'd visited the blacksmith shop recently, he'd learned Malin had left, determined to become an adventurer.

Now it seemed he'd started taking commissions?

Looking at Malin and his teammates' condition, Gauss felt they didn't appear very optimistic.

Beyond their extremely low morale, their equipment seemed to have varying degrees of loss and damage;

upon closer inspection, one could see some injuries and bruises.

As they drew nearer, Gauss could clearly hear what appeared to be the "captain" of the team muttering complaints.

"...I told you not to fight recklessly! Now look - several weapons gone, and the mission uncompleted! With winter coming, I think our team should just disband already!"

The captain scratched his head irritably, then pointed at Malin. "And you, Malin! How many times have I told you not to panic? But you? Your hands shake like a sieve the moment combat starts... Ugh, you're the worst teammates I've ever led!"

The team quickly became engulfed in low spirits under the captain's irritable nagging.

The group walked on numbly.

Facing such an awkward situation, Gauss hesitated whether to greet them.

But the gray wolf Ulfen walking ahead was simply too conspicuous, quickly drawing the attention of all passersby including that team.

They instinctively looked over, their gazes also sweeping over the pair behind the wolf.

Gauss and Malin's eyes met unexpectedly in midair.

Gauss could keenly sense Malin had recognized him - his eyes instantly widened.

Well, no need to deliberate now.

"What a coincidence," Gauss smiled awkwardly. "So you became an adventurer too."

"Y-yeah," Malin instinctively covered half his face with a hand, rubbing his nose, his gaze evasive.

He'd imagined meeting acquaintances many times, but in his fantasies, it was always scenes of him returning in glory, riding a mount while dragging abundant spoils back to town.

But the current situation was undoubtedly the most humiliating scenario he never wanted others to see.

Fresh from being berated by the captain until he couldn't lift his head, with Gauss having clearly heard every word.

Moreover...

Gauss had grown so tall now, and become exceptionally handsome.

Not to mention his heroic bearing and well-equipped appearance formed a glaring contrast with Malin's disheveled, foot-soldier-like state.

He wished he could turn and run immediately.

So embarrassing!

Recalling how, months ago, it was precisely the sight of Gauss's spoils that had stirred him uncontrollably to become an adventurer.

He'd eventually persuaded his parents to fund his purchase of a warrior's sword technique, training for a period before registering as an adventurer.

He'd thought he'd be like Gauss, quickly earning silver coins, upgrading equipment, and escaping his lowly status.

But reality was brutally harsh.

His adventuring career had been full of setbacks.

His first team disbanded due to internal conflicts following casualties.

This second team also appeared to be hanging by a thread.

Only after truly becoming an adventurer did he realize the life was far from the magnificent existence he'd imagined.

They could only struggle with the simplest missions;

even when completing commissions, the divided shares gave each person little money. But failure meant not just losing the commission but also wasting provisions and supplies, even suffering damage or loss of precious weapons and armor.

These were the risks low-level adventurers had to bear, with their swamp-like circumstances easily trapping them in a vicious cycle.

Low mission completion rates meant little earnings, preventing equipment repairs, purchases, or upgrades. Lacking combat power further reduced completion rates, leading to team dissolution. With poor records, they could only join worse makeshift teams...

"When I went to the blacksmith shop last time and learned you'd left, I actually wanted to..." Gauss attempted to ease the atmosphere, wanting to talk about old times.

"Yeah," Malin's voice remained quiet.

Gauss lowered his gaze, pausing briefly on the other's drooping head.

"Keep at it. We'll catch up another time." Seeing Malin's thoroughly dispirited state, Gauss offered a few polite words.

Then he and Aria quickened their pace, gradually distancing themselves under the gazes of passersby.

......

Only after the two figures had completely disappeared from view did Malin's teammates gather around him.

"Malin, you know that guy?"

"W-we used to work together at the blacksmith shop... Why? What about him?" Gauss's departure relaxed Malin slightly, but seeing his teammates' nervous expressions, his tension returned as he cautiously asked.