CH 80

“Tch, I didn’t expect a magician to be waiting for me …..”

The young lady blatantly frowned and clicked her tongue at Tia, who stood in front of her. And to this young lady, the butler took three steps back and stood side by side with his guard up, and continued,

“Ojou-sama, I think it would be best if we retire for the moment.”

“Claude, do you really think I’m going to let a little girl like her beat me?”

“Who’s a little girl!”

Tia yelled in protest at the young lady’s words, but the butler ignored her and continued the conversation. The only thing that was in his line of sight was me leaning against a tree, hiding the fact that I’ve long since recovered, and looking at him. … Was it obvious?

“I wouldn’t say so, but from the blow I just received, I don’t think they are an easy opponent to defeat. And regrettably, mine was not finished with the blow I had just struck. Which means that …”

“… Ah, yes, that’s true.”

The lady’s gaze turned to the man who was still on his buttocks.If I, the butler, and Tia and the lady each faced each other, the reason of dispute, the man lying on the ground, would escape alone,… which meant there would be no reason to fight in other words. The young lady, who understood this correctly, easily broke it off and said to Tia.

“Okay. I’ll leave this place to you. But the next time we meet…”

“Ara, you think there’s gonna be a next time――” Tia said,

“Let it be, Tia.”

“Ed…, okay.”

I stood up quietly, and Tia withdrew her sword at my words. At this point, it would be better to let these guys go so that we have more options.

Or rather, if we defeat them poorly, we will not be able to make the next move, which would be really bad.

“Well, good day to you. Let’s go, Claude.”

“Ha. Well then, I’m off.”

When the lady, who had settled on a beautiful courtesy, turned away, the butler also bowed and left the scene. And so, when they were out of sight, Tia finally relaxed the tension from her body.

“Phew. That’s done for now.”

“Ah, yes. ……..”

I smiled at Tia’s smiling face, but I was inwardly puzzled. It was true that we got through the situation, but the problem was that we got through it in reverse …….

“U, um! Thank you for helping me!”

As I was fretting, a voice called out to me from behind. I turned around to see the man we had saved standing there, bowing deeply toward me.

“Well, that’s it for me! Thank you so much!”

“No, wait a minute.”

“…. um, still have anything for me?”

I decided to use this opportunity I got by letting the lady and her company go. If this won’t get through, I’ll be in a pinch… but I’ll think what to do when that happens.

“They only backed off because we were here, right? If you’re alone here, they’re going to attack you again, right?” I told him,

“Ehh!? T-That’s certainly true. ..?”

“Right? So, come on, let’s at least go to town together. I’m not going to force you to find out what’s going on or ingratiate myself with you and ask you to pay for it. Well, you could at least buy me a drink.”

“That’s true. If that’s about it, I…… understand. It’s just a little while, but please continue to help me out.”

“Ah, leave it to me!”

I responded to the unreliable man’s words with a thump on my chest and a smile, and inwardly I patted my chest in relief. Thank God, it seems I didn’t have to make the worst choice of sneaking around from the shadows.

“I’ll give you a quick introduction. I’m Ed and this is Tia. Who are you?”

“Ed-san and Tia-san, huh. My name is Toby.”

“Toby. We’ll be right behind you, and we’ll be your escorts as well.”

“Okay.”

Toby said this and started to walk away, and Tia and I followed a little behind him…..Tia’s fingertips gently touched my hand.

(Hey Ed, if we’re following him, does that mean this Toby guy is Hero?)

(Ah, yes. That’s right, but…)

(?)

Tia tilted her head and looked at me as I scratched my head with a bitter look on my face. It was a little embarrassing to suddenly confess to a huge failure, but there was nothing I could do to hide this.

(You know, that battle earlier, actually losing that was the beginning of my adventures in this world. ……)

According to my recollection, this was the 116th world. I came here for the first time, and in much the same vein, I challenged the duo to protect Toby. … As a result, I was easily knocked unconscious and Toby was robbed of his “important things”.

And with that, I went around to various places with Toby the Hero to get back the “important things” from that duo and fight with them …, which was how the first round went.

But this time we skipped over the premise of ” being robbed of something important”. Since nothing was taken from him, there was no point for Toby to work with us, and as a result, we would not achieve our goal of joining the hero’s party. I was trying to let us accompany him, but I was having trouble with that. … When I explained this to Tia, she looked at me with a very mixed expression on her face.

(What the hell is that!? Then why didn’t you say so in the first place!?)

(No, it was hard for me to remember too. I mean, the moment I remembered, I got a blow from the old butler, and after that, you came out before I could say anything.)

(…. perhaps I picked the wrong time?)

As Tia’s shoulders slumped in disappointment, I gently put strength into our joined hands.

(No way. I was just an idiot. But, well, how to turn things around from here is the question)

(Is there anything we can do?)

(I’m frantically searching my memory right now, but it’s difficult. I’m sorry, but can you please have a chat with Toby? I’ll pick up some information from that conversation and we’ll work out a plan so that we can somehow accompany him, before we get to town.)

(Okay.) “Hey, Toby. Do you have a minute?”

“Fuiyaa!? Wh-What?”

Toby was blushing as he spoke to the beautiful woman who suddenly started talking to him at a distance where their shoulders were almost touching. … Oh, I better make sure I say that right later. I’ve already seen more than enough people getting crushed because they misunderstood Tia’s closeness to them.

Nevertheless, this gave me both miscellaneous information and time to think. Then I’ll first sort out the information I had in my mind.

The man in front of me was Toby. He was the hero of this world and seemed to be carrying “something important” ……, but I didn’t know what it was. He didn’t tell me until the end of the first round, and by the looks of him, he won’t tell me honestly this time either.

In contrast, the young lady with blonde hair and ringlet curls was named Palm Moischa. Commonly known as “Greedy Princess”. Formerly a noble or royalty of some sort, she was banished because of her vice of “always getting what she wants,” but now she was a bandit who went around the world wreaking havoc, because she no longer felt bound by the shackles that restrained her before.

She was a wanted criminal with a very high bounty, but she had not been caught because of the strength of her follower, Claude, as well as because she herself was an excellent magician. They stole whatever they wanted, and they always returned the favor to anyone who tried to take it from them. … They were a very troublesome presence, but they were also troublesome because they were not an enemy that could simply be defeated, considering the future course of events.

Incidentally, the reason why Toby had been safe so far from such opponents was because of his talent for “escape”. He had the talent to be a ” hero of escape,” so to speak, but even so, he was not skilled enough to always escape from any enemy at present. In fact, the reason he was being hunted down this time was because he used up all of his escape gear in order to get away from Palm and the others.

(Hmmm, I guess the key is to know what Toby is carrying and where. If we can figure that out, can we …… get some guidance along the lines of escorting him to his destination?)

“Heh, you are equipped with all that stuff?”

“W-Well, sort of! I was a little underprepared this time, but normally I could have left those guys behind in a jiffy!”

“Great, great, great! Then can you show it to me in person sometime?”

“Fine! Then, first of all, shall we go to the next town together?” 

(T/N: The town after this one from what I can make out)

“Yay!”

“……………………”

In front of me, Tia easily made a promise to accompany Toby on the road. I couldn’t help but smile with a dumb expression at Tia, who looked at me for a moment and winked at me.

Ah, yeah. That’s right. If a cute girl asks him to do something, he’ll do it, instead of me trying to come up with a shitty plan. Hahaha ….

“I’ve taken the liberty of deciding, but You’re okay with it, right Ed?”

“Yeah, of course I’m in. It’s just another chance for us to be together.”

“Ah, I see. Ed-san is also with you…”

“That’s right! Let’s have a nice journey together, the three of us!”

“Yes, yes!  Let’s have a good journey together!”

“……Well, yeah. Let’s Have fun.”

Thus we easily succeeded in joining Toby’s hero’s party, despite the fact that we made a huge mistake in our first move. … Well, Tia-san, you’re really not half bad!

(Chapter 85 (locked) is up on Fox 18)