CH 29.1

With Lorian’s party joining the group, the stability of Ogre subjugation increased.

With the increased assurance, Count Lykel appointed a hunter who knew the inside of the forest as the guide.

With a guide in hand, there was no need to delay any longer, so we headed straight for the forest.

Me, Frillite, the eight including Lorian, plus the guide.

A temporary subjugation squad made up of 11 people. Among them, Frillite and the guide were walking at the forefront of the subjugation party.

It was only natural, as the guide had to show the way, while Frillite was questioning him about the surrounding features, just in case something unexpected happened during the real action.

I looked over at Lorian’s Party.

In the game, it was a party of 4 people, but now it consists of 8 people.

‘I thought a party can have only a maximum of 4 people?’

How did he get to 8?

Did he made two teams side by side?

It’s surely different from the game in many ways.

‘If that’s the case, the first team must be guys who walk proudly in front.’

And the 2nd group is probably the ones following them with slight reservation.

It didn’t take much effort to different the 2nd team from the 1st, but seeing that, it seems the party definitely has a hierarchy of some sort with its ups and downs.

For reference, Eri was in the 2nd team. She was walking at the back of the 2nd team.

It seems that her order comes at last.

It was when I was analyzing Lorian’s party, the punk came when I thought of him, it was Lorian who came up to me.

It’s already strange that he approached, but as soon as he got closer, he also let out a strange tone among his words.

“Cloud, let me give you one piece of advice.”

“Um?”

“I don’t know how you got close to Frillite. But I recommend you not to get any closer to her.”

“What the? Just say things straight, dude, tut.”

“…I mean literally. Know your place. You can’t and shouldn’t get along with her.”

“?”

“It would be good for your personal life to not ignore my advice. Again, know your place, Cloud.”

Lorian tapped on my shoulders and went back to his party. I pondered for a moment, then walked forward and poked Frillite on the shoulders. After examining the terrain around her, she turned her gaze to me.

“Cloud? Do you have something to say? I’m busy memorizing the surrounding terrain right now.”

“Lorian doesn’t want me to mingle with you.”

“..?”

Frillite tilted her head implying she didn’t understand my meaning.

Realizing that I had explained too briefly, I unpacked it so she could understand more clearly.

“That guy told me to cut contact with you. Otherwise, he won’t leave me alone, yeah, that punk.”

“Cut? Cut contact with me?”

“It means severing our friendship. If I cut contact with you, you and I will no longer be friends.”

Frillite’s expression hardened. Even her steps halted, her red eyes reflected my figure.

“…so what did you say?”

There was a hint of anxiety in the voice that seemed to have been squeezed through. Man, she’s even worried about something like this.

I curled up the corners of my lips.

“Of course I told him to piss off. I’ve been almost drinking and partying freely these days, does he think I’m a fool? I will always be your friend, unless, of course, you declare the end of our friendship first.”

It was then that her stiff expression loosened. She looks at me with a happy smile.

Yh? The reaction looked purer than I thought.

I thought that with Frillite’s personality, she would pull out her great sword and grab Lorian by the neck.

‘It’s a little regretful, but I can’t help it.’

I have no choice but to ensue plan B.

“Then, now that we have reconfirmed our friendship, should we do some shoulder-sharing?”

“Shoulder sharing? Is that what I think it is?”

""

“If you imagined putting one’s arms on each other’s shoulders, you are right.”

“Then I’m right. But why to do shoulder-sharing out of nowhere?”

“I just wanted to deepen our friendship a little bit more. If you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I don’t hate it, but…”

She rolled her eyes and looked around.

I can’t feel any strong monster’s aura. Even if one appears, Lorian’s Party will be enough to hold for a while. There will be plenty of time to release our shoulders and get ready for battle.

Frillite thought about it, then she nodded her head as if feeling convinced in her heart.

“I think it would be nice to bring our friendship closer.”

“Great. Then, right away!”

I placed my arm on Frillite’s shoulder. Frillite’s body trembled. Her hand reaching for my shoulder stopped as well.

“Why stop? Just confidently put your arm around my shoulders. If I’m the only one with my arms around you, how can it be called shoulder sharing?”

“I, I see. Don’t rush, wait for me…!”

Frillite’s hand began to move slowly again, and she placed it gently on my shoulders, then she coughed lightly to erase her awkwardness.

“…It’s more embarrassing than I thought it to be, this shoulder sharing thing. Do all friends usually do this?”

“Indeed, miss. Same-sex friends do.”

“Same-sex? Then…”

Frillite’s eyes narrowed little by little. I laughed and talked.

“Even if we are friends of opposite sex, don’t we go well together?”

“You tricked me…”

“I didn’t cheat. After all, we’re not just normal friends, are we?”

“Aren’t we normal friends?”

A puzzled Frillite asked. I whispered in her ear.

“We are friends who might get married someday.”

I looked at her and winked mischievously.

Frillite was at a loss for words, so she looked blankly at me, and then broke into suppressed giggles.

“Really, I don’t know where your boldness comes from.”

“You don’t want to share shoulders with me? If you don’t like it, just let it go.”

“Leave it. What will change if you come and solve what you have already done? Stay like this for as long as you want.”

“As long as I want… Then is it okay to stay like this for all day long?”

Frillite replied with an impish smirk.

“Didn’t ask, do as much as you want. Just like you got drunk and kept your word, I will also keep my word. Especially if it’s something you said to a friend.”

“Hey, come on, it was just one big bottle.”

I answered with a smile and glanced back to have a spectacle of my work. Not surprisingly, Lorian was staring at me with eyes that could kill.

Woohoo! Chap looks pissed, guess he’s gonna move?

It seems like a pretty interesting situation would unfold, but I decided to put up with it.

Because there are too many people watching now.

Must try next time.

* * *

After travelling through the forest for all day, the sun was setting, but we were still far from reaching the inner lake.

Now, we couldn’t go any further, for the sun was going to set soon.

Moreover it’s too dangerous to travel in the forest in dark.

Restricting one’s field of vision is a bigger disadvantage than one can think. What if you are unfortunate enough to run into the ogre in such a situation? Just be prepared for complete annihilation.

Therefore, the subjugation squad decided to camp overnight and move again the next morning.

“Hey, light fire.”

Quite an overbearing tone, as if beating people with words.

But whoever spoke those words, her status deserved it.

Because she was the first princess of the Kingdom of Carta and the younger sister of Hero Lorian, Lorraine.

She resembled Lorian, with long chestnut brown hair and round orange eyes. She had a cute dimple with a face that was also round and beautiful.

But her personality was not round.

Far from being round, she was villainous.

“…yes.”

Eri ignited the firewood pile that she had gathered with magic.

“I’ll start cooking.”

A man with a large, clunky-looking impression trimmed the ingredients. He placed the well-prepared fresh ingredients into the pot and started cooking.

It didn’t take long for a delicious smell to float in the air.

The finished soup was received by Lorian first.

He’s a Hero as well as the heir to the throne, so it was natural for him to receive it first.

After Lorian, it was Lorraine.

She is the first princess of the kingdom.

She holds the second strongest power after Lorian, so it was only natural for her to receive it in next order.

Next is Princess Lisbeth.

After that, Princess Marietta.

As the distribution progressed, Eri’s turn came at the end. She didn’t even had anyone to distribute the soup to her. She had to scoop out the soup by herself and place it into her bowl.

‘Still, there’s quite a bit left today.’

Most of the times, there was hardly any soup left for her, so she either had to chew on jerky or nibble on hard bread. Sometimes when none of them were present, she had to prepare her meals by herself.

But today, they left quite a bit of soup. Among the other ingredients, there was also meat.

Probably because of the presence of other two Heroes.

Especially since Frillite was also present, it seems that they couldn’t show discrimination with food.

Eri felt a little bit joyful in her heart, she was going to eat properly after a long time.