"Start searching from the water sources?"
"If it's places where animals drink water, I actually know where those are!"
Morgan suddenly spoke up, joining the conversation between Chris and Sura.
"You know?"
Under Chris's half-surprised, half-doubting gaze, Morgan leaped into the air: "Follow me!"
Chris and Sura looked at each other and immediately followed.
Since Morgan spoke with such confidence, Chris and Sura naturally chose to believe him. The team immediately shifted to Morgan leading the way, with Sura carrying Chris following behind, flying one after another toward the center of the mountain range.
"Based on my observations over the years, there are primarily two river channels in this mountain range."
"The first flows from the west to the south. The river surface is wider, and the drop is smaller. After exiting the mountains, it merges with other tributaries and eventually forms the river that runs through Magnolia."
"The second one flows south from the northern pass and then turns east. Its course is more complex, and the river surface is narrower. Its length is about three times that of the former; therefore, it sustains over 70% of the animals in this range. Additionally, this river forms a waterfall at a point upstream due to a massive drop and gathers into a lake in the low-lying areas of the middle and lower reaches. Many animals gather there to drink."
"If we are looking for the Beast King, that is our best bet!"
Listening to Morgan's eloquent speech, Chris and Sura both showed expressions of surprise.
"Amazing..."
"How do you know all this so clearly?"
Morgan, flying in front, suddenly jerked his body, and his voice became stuttery: "Ah... this... th-th-this... isn't this normal? In all these years since moving to Magnolia, I haven't just been burying my head in work in town every day!"
"Whenever I have a holiday or break, I... well... I occasionally come here by myself to relax, so I have some understanding of the situation in these mountains!"
So that's how it is...
"Is it really like that?"
"Why do I feel like something isn't quite right?"
As his younger sister, Sura knew Morgan all too well.
How could her brother possibly come to a place like this to relax all by himself?
"Ha?! Ha??"
"Wh-what could be wrong?"
Morgan's voice became even more flustered: "Don't overthink it! What I said just now was perfectly normal! Very normal! Couldn't be more normal!!"
Sura said eerily: "But just now, you clearly wanted to say 'came here with someone,' didn't you?"
"You definitely misheard! I never said I came here with Nasha!!"
"..." ×3
the air suddenly fell silent.
Even the young and innocent Chris could hear that something was off in Morgan's part of the conversation.
Are "onii-sans" in this world all idiots?
"Who is Nasha?"
Morgan didn't answer, but Chris saw his face... no, his entire body, rapidly turning red.
Sura looked at Morgan's back, a meaningful smile appearing on the corners of her mouth: "Nasha is the most beautiful female cat in our tribe. Her pursuers are numerous enough to circle the guild!"
Upon hearing this, Chris's mind immediately began comparing the size of the guild to the Exceed...
Circle the guild once?
That truly is a lot!
"Right! She is also the store manager of 'Cat Catering' Shop No. 3, responsible for running a coffee house. She is quite popular in town!"
Cat Catering is the enterprise created by the Exceed with Weston's financial backing and the policy support of the Mayor of Magnolia.
After ten years of development, this enterprise has reached a significant scale in Magnolia, opening various shops involved in the catering industry such as "Cat Cafe," "Cat Milk Tea Shop," "Cat BBQ Stall," "Cat Restaurant," and "Cat Bar."
Since everyone from the managers to the servers in these shops are members of the Exceed, they are quite unique and have become a major selling point for Magnolia's tourism industry.
Originally, with Weston's wealth, he could have made this brand even larger and stronger.
Regrettably, the population of the Exceed is far too small; even including the children born over the last ten years, they haven't reached five hundred.
To avoid ruining the reputation of the "Cat Catering" brand, Weston had to give up the idea of further expansion.
"So... is that female cat named Nasha Morgan's girlfriend?"
Chris suddenly felt that the relationship between Morgan and that Nasha was much more interesting than this examination.
Unfortunately, Morgan clearly had no intention of answering that question.
"Why is a brat like you asking so much about adult matters?"
"Ask any more and I'll complain to the Guild Master that you're picking up bad habits!"
Chris let out a "Tch": "Papa wouldn't believe your nonsense! And he loves hearing about this kind of stuff the most..."
Morgan hurriedly interrupted her: "Alright, stop talking. We're here!"
The Exceed flies very fast. In the time it took for their idle chatter, the human and two cats arrived at a riverbank toward the eastern side of the mountain range's center.
"This is it!"
"When I came here last time, I saw many animals coming here to drink!"
Now that they had a direction, all they needed next was care and patience.
The human and two cats remained divided into two groups, carefully searching along the river's flow on both sides of the bank.
In a short while, they made a discovery.
"There really are footprints, and lots of them!"
"But which of these footprints belongs to the 'Beast King' we are looking for?"
"That's simple!"
Chris's eyes rolled as an idea came to her: "Since Papa chose them to be the 'Beast King' to serve as our opponents, their strength must be greater than ordinary beasts. In the wild, powerful beasts are usually larger in size. So, if we follow the largest footprints, we can't go wrong!"
Oh—!!
The siblings Morgan and Sura's eyes lit up simultaneously.
That sounds very logical!
As expected, a fresh brain is indeed useful!
Inspired by Chris, the three immediately crouched on the ground, seriously and meticulously comparing the footprints.
"12 centimeters, 16 centimeters, this one is only 8 centimeters..."
"Ah—!"
"Come look, everyone! This footprint is huge!"
Hearing Chris's cheer, Morgan and Sura hurried over. Sure enough, they saw a row of long and wide footprints.
In this row, the distance between the left and right prints exceeded three meters, and each individual footprint was over 50 centimeters long and 30 centimeters wide. The prints even showed claw marks and paw pad impressions. Amidst the jumbled mess of footprints, they stood out like a crane among chickens—striking and unique.
"This looks like a bear's footprint, doesn't it?!"
"Speaking of which, I remember there's a large brown bear in this mountain range!"
"A brown bear this big—it would be unreasonable not to be considered a 'Beast King'!!"
The three looked at each other, their eyes shining with the light of anticipation.