Ghost dashed through the forest like a gale.

From Ariel's view riding on top, the scenery of the forest whizzed by and a refreshing breeze hit her face.

'This is it.'

Ariel nodded in satisfaction.

Riding the silver wolf, Ghost, was much more enjoyable than she had imagined. It felt like riding an amusement park ride.

Of course, if Ariel decided to run, she would be much faster than Ghost, but the feeling was different.

Ghost ran for a while and stopped at the end of a hill.

It was a spot where the entire forest scenery could be seen at a glance.

Ariel leapt down from Ghost's back.

"Good job, Ghost."

Then she stroked Ghost's chin.

Ghost also seemed pleased, with a refreshed expression.

Sticking out its tongue and panting heavily, it looked like it was smiling.

"Sister!!"

Ryu came flying at high speed from behind.

“What should I do if you suddenly go alone!!”

Lu also seemed out of breath from flying, perching on Ariel's shoulder while gasping for air.

"Huff...huff... This silver wolf... doesn't seem wary of you anymore, sister?"

At Ryu's words, Ariel nodded.

"Ghost."

"Ghost...?"

"Its name."

"Ah..."

Lu made a somewhat puzzled expression.

Ghost? This silver wolf was clearly female, so it didn't seem like a fitting name.

"Ghost, want to come with me?"

Ariel asked Ghost. Ghost seemed to understand Ariel's words.

It nodded, then licked Ariel's cheek with her tongue.

Ariel smiled faintly, and Lu folded his arms arrogantly.

"Hey, Ghost. I know you're a spirit, but I'm still above you in the hierarchy. I've been with sister longer than you... Ack!"

Ghost licked Lu too.

Lu, only finger-sized, was instantly drenched in Ghost's saliva.

"Don't lick me!"

Lu flew up into the air, shaking off his body, and Ariel climbed onto Ghost's back again.

"Let's go, Ghost."

"Awoooo!"

Ghost let out a powerful howl, then began dashing fiercely through the forest again, heading towards the city.

*

Thanks to Ghost's fast movement speed, Ariel soon arrived at the city of Sierra.

There was a long line of people waiting in front of the gate leading into Sierra.

Ariel also joined that line. It seemed they had to wait in this line to enter the city.

"Huh."

"What's that?"

"A wolf?"

People's gazes naturally focused on Ariel's direction.

Because Ariel was still riding on Ghost's back.

With Ghost's silvery fur and huge size, it was only natural to draw people's attention.

"Heheh, everyone's just looking at us."

Lu stood on Ghost's head and shrugged his shoulders.

This was something they had experienced in Herrington Village, so people's stares were now familiar.

Back then, it was because they were an elf and fairy, but now the giant silver wolf was included too.

"It gets tiring being so popular, you know. Haha."

Lu seemed oddly pleased, but Ariel showed no interest in people's stares at all.

With her back straight, she only looked ahead, continuously stroking Ghost's fluffy fur with her hand.

People were worried Ghost might act wild among the crowd, but fortunately that didn't happen.

It seemed Ariel could control Ghost perfectly.

As the line towards the gate gradually shortened, it was finally Ariel's turn.

The guard was startled when he saw Ghost, letting out a "Hiiik!" sound, and had Ariel get down from Ghost's back. They had to check her identification after all.

"Eh, an elf...?"

He was surprised again upon seeing Ariel's pointed ears.

It was rare for an elf to come and go through the city gates.

Moreover, in such cases, the elf was usually a slave captured by humans, so there was no need to check their identification separately.

They only needed to check the identification of the elf's owner.

"Ahem..."

Judging that this was beyond what he could handle, the guard called for his superior.

The superior was also startled upon seeing Ariel, Lu, and Ghost.

"Um... do you happen to have anything to prove your identity? Like membership in a mercenary group, a merchant guild's letter of guarantee, or an invitation from a noble house would work."

At the superior's words, Ariel looked troubled. Of course she didn't have anything like that.

"Well, if you can't prove your identity, I can't let you through the gate."

Originally, even without such things, they could have allowed passage into the city by collecting a toll and recording the purpose of the visit.

However, they were at a loss because the other party was an elf, fairy, and a wolf.

Currently, the city of Sierra was in a state of semi-emergency.

This was because numerous high-ranking nobles were passing through Sierra on their way to the capital, ahead of Princess Illiana's birthday.

While they could overlook the elf and fairy, if they allowed this huge wolf to pass and an accident occurred, it would be a big problem.

"......"

At the words that she could not pass, Ariel's face became gloomy.

She had wanted to eat delicious food in the city and observe how the people lived, but she could not pass through.

Seeing Ariel's expression, Lu became upset.

"Hey, human! Our sister won't do anything! Before, our sister didn't cause any harm in the human village. She even helped them. We plan to behave quietly in this city too!"

"But since it's an emergency situation now... If you leave the wolf outside the city, I can probably let you pass."

The guard proposed a compromise, but Ariel didn't really want that.

She didn't want to leave Ghost, who she had just befriended, alone and lonely.

"How troublesome! Humans really do live complicated lives!"

As Lu grumbled, someone approached them.

"Oh, Ariel?"

It was a middle-aged man with a gentle appearance.

It was Lloyd, the merchant from Herrington Village who had bought the troll from Ariel.

"What's going on here?"

Lloyd seemed very pleased to see Ariel.

It was understandable, as Lloyd had made quite a large profit by purchasing the troll from Ariel.

"Who..."

Ariel didn't remember Lloyd.

At the time, Ariel was only interested in selling the troll, so she didn't pay close attention to Lloyd.

"Sister, it's the merchant who bought the troll in Herrington Village."

When Lu whispered to her, Ariel finally nodded.

Of course, Lu's whisper was also heard by Lloyd, and Lloyd scratched his head with an awkward expression.

"Haha, anyway, are you trying to enter the city? If needed, I can write you a letter of guarantee."

Lloyd was a merchant belonging to a company. In fact, he was a merchant of a large, well-known company in the empire.

If Lloyd vouched for her identity, Ariel could easily pass through the city gate.

"Please do."

Ariel said so, and Lloyd willingly wrote out a letter of guarantee.

"Well then, have a pleasant time."

The guard seemed a bit worried, but in the end, he let Ariel, Lu, and Ghost into the city.

*

After entering the city, Lloyd said to Ariel,

"Thank you again for last time. Thanks to selling the troll, I received great praise from the company. If you ever have another monster corpse to sell, please let me know."

Lloyd was a merchant. He didn't write the letter of guarantee for Ariel without any thought.

He wanted to establish a connection in case he had another opportunity to buy a troll from Ariel in the future.

If he achieved even a small success, Lloyd could be promoted within the company. That's why he was full of enthusiasm and working hard at everything.

"I have some."

Ariel bluntly said.

"Troll corpses." 

"What? Really?!"

"Lots of other things too."

"!!"

Ariel had defeated all the monsters she encountered in the forest.

The corpses of those monsters had all gone straight into her Inventory.

There were seven troll corpses alone.

Since she didn't particularly need them anyway, it would be good for Ariel to sell them to Lloyd.

"I'll show you."

With those words, Ariel stretched out her hands in front of her. At that, Lloyd was startled and stopped her.

"No, no, not here. People are passing by."

Previously in Herrington Village, a troll corpse had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

If the same thing happened here, the guards would swarm over.

"It would be better to go to our company's warehouse. Since we have to move them anyway, it's better if you show me there."

Following Lloyd to the company's warehouse, Ariel took out the monster corpses from her Inventory.

Since Lloyd seemed to like troll corpses, she first laid out the seven troll corpses on the floor.

"...!"

Upon seeing the seven troll corpses lying side by side, Lloyd was speechless.

"You... defeated all of these?"

"Yes."

"Amazing..."

Lloyd was genuinely surprised.

Not only did she have seven of the hard-to-obtain troll corpses, but more importantly, the condition of the corpses was immaculate.

Last time, even without a head, he had made a huge profit, but this time there was only a small hole in their foreheads.

Lloyd couldn't contain his excitement.

If he could buy all these troll corpses, it wouldn't just be a single promotion. He might even become the branch manager overseeing the entire city.

With a trembling voice, Lloyd said,

"Ah, Ariel... can I buy all of these...?"

"Yes."

But Lloyd's surprise didn't end there.

Endlessly, monster corpses emerged from Ariel's Inventory.

Orcs, goblins, minotaurs, owlbears, wyverns, and more...

Even the corpse of a hobgoblin king, they were all of the highest quality.