Book 6: Chapter 4

Book 6: Chapter 4

The Two Boys

The desert town, Cutlass.

The ancient city ruins Resvel was bordered with the desert of death and Rost Mountain Range. This town was located half a day of travel from there. It was said that its name originated from the curved sword that the people of the desert preferred.

That town that was some distance away from the ancient ruins was a settlement that was built by people mired in greed.

Carlfan Empire was located around one month of one-way travel from there, but this town didnt belong to the empire.

That was why every kind of race and people was living in coexistence there.

Adventurer, grave robber, criminal, exile. The majority of them were Cruz people, but there were also dog and cat beastman and dwarf. Not only them, dark elf that was called evil race could even be seen there although they were few in number.

Just as could be understood from how the town was named after a weapon, this town that was formed by the gathering of adventurers and thugs didnt even have a feudal lord governing it, or soldiers to protect the public order. It was each persons own responsibility whether they stayed alive or dead.

The only way to protect oneself was to join one of the powerful organizations. This town was known as a lawless area where only people with strength could survive.

.

This town is that kinda shitty place without any order, but theres still the minimum rule. Cruz peoples Kirly Company that is selling food, the dwarfs Hogros Company that sell weapon and manage the adventurersthose two called themselves company, but both of them aint any proper merchant. And then theres the Munza Gang that is formed by the beastman thugs, and Riezan Family that controlled all the gambling and red district regardless of race. Dont go against these four organizations in this town.

The owner of the bar that we visited right after entering this Cutlass town said that without any amusement while bringing food to the counter where we were sitting.

He was a resident of this town so we couldnt trust everything he said but he also wasnt a malicious person. At the very least he had the conscience to tell us to leave this town when he realized that we were Melsenian woman.

The food he served was made from sorghum flour that was kneaded and baked. It was a type of bread like nan in that womans knowledge. He also gave us fruit water with light green color.

I called it fruit water but, it was just something made from peeling the leaf of a thick thorny plant that could grow in the desert and squeezing them. It only had a light bitterness and slight sweetness to it, but apparently it was nutritious.

I took sip of that grassy-smelling liquid and not pm the bread too to check that there was no poison, then I nodded at Elena who was sitting beside me that it was alright. She took a sip of the fruit water before talking to the bar owner.

Which organization do you belong to?

None of them. One place to drink will be gone if this place is destroyedIm just barely left alone because of that kinda stupid reason. Hows it? The meal here is bad right?

The bar owner asked Elena who had just tore a piece of the bread and ate it. Elena smiled vaguely with only her lips.

You can get proper food if you join Kirly Company, but the price is stupidly high, and theyll also demand tax if you open a restaurant. If your payments late, everything you got will get stripped off before you can even blink. Youll be just their slave. The dwarvesre relatively better but, those guys will go crush any strong fellow who aintdwarf.

The bar owner was fearful at the beginning after I killed the customers that picked a quarrel with us, but it seemed that he had calmed down or perhaps resigned himself. He taught us some things about this town.

When I asked it seemed that he was a former adventurer, but apparently he caught the eye of Hogros Company that took over the role of adventurer guild in managing the adventurers and got one of his legs crushed. It seemed his fellow adventurer at that time used Cure, but it couldnt completely heal his leg and his path as adventurer ended there.

The customers who I eliminated were underlings of Riezan Family that was in charge of the red district, but they were just the bottom of the barrel so the bar owner said that there wouldnt be any revenge coming for us. Apparently low ranked human adventurer would clean up their corpse. But Hogros Company would send a bill to this restaurant as the cleaning fee so the bar owner was at his wits end. Because of that I put down several more silver coins as information fee.

It seemed that improved his mood. Or perhaps because there was no other customer than us or he had free time, the bar owner warned us when we were about to leave.

You lass. I know that youre quite strong but, dont stand out too much. Fight between underlings is normal here but, if you do something to an organizations top brass, theyll come to crush you to maintain their face even if youre just a kid or a woman.

.

We left the bar and headed toward the towns entrance that the bar owner told us the location. I called out to Elena who was showing a slightly pondering look.

What do you think?

Lets see. At the very least I didnt feel that he was lying. Though I also cant say that he told us everything.

Elena was in charge of negotiating. It was because she was more knowledgeable than me about foreign country, and there was also how my way of speaking had slight Claydale accent, so it would be better if I left this kind of thing to her who had experience in interacting with people from Carlfan Empire.

He didnt lie but, he was reluctant to give us information about the organizationsI guess that there are things that he cant say to keep himself safe. Either way, itll be dangerous to make decision based on information just from a single person, so lets gather more information after this.

Roger.

There were quite a lot of people even outside the fence that was surrounding the town. A lot of people turned their gaze at us who were hiding our face with hooded cloak, but nobody tried to make trouble with us.

It was this kind of city so there were many suspicious people everywhere. No matter whether they were adventurer or drifter, no decent person would come to this kind of place. Only criminal who was chased by their country or someone with shady past would come here.

With hooded cloak covering our whole body, it would be impossible to [Appraise] us accurately even if someone caught a glimpse of us. Perhaps that was why I caught sight of some other people dressed the same like us.

.

We walked for several hours along the outer wall surrounding the town before we found one of the gates to enter the town.

Rock dwarves wearing armor with strange luster were protecting the gate. They werent merely guards. They werent guards like in Claydale Kingdom who were approachable by traveler, but rank 2 warriors who were on guard against monster attack.

Them being dwarf might meant that they were member of Hogros Company that was managing the adventurer guild of this area.

If I was alone I could climb over the wall and hid myself inside but.

Aria, lets go from the front. Its not a good move to cause trouble without even knowing about the state of affairs completely.

Roger.

I followed Elenas opinion and stepped forward. Negotiation was Elenas field but I judged that if the other party was adventurer then it would be better if I stepped up.

Stop! Who are you guys, outsider!?

The rock dwarf guard raised his voice with a tone that sounded angry toward us who were approaching them.

Outside or inside huh? In other words, he was asking whether we were townspeople or not. Normal resident should cower if they got questioned with voice that loud, but I knew that this was normal for rock dwarf.

Were with merchant caravan. We went outside for some business.

You twowith just women?

The guard made a suspecting look for an instant. I intentionally spoke gently and slowly held out my right hand toward him.

Im bodyguard. Sorry to make problem for you. Sorry that I only have foreign money but go buy some drink with this.

Oo, its great if you know.

The rock dwarf saw that it was silver coin that I gave him and grinned. Then he told his friends to open the way.

It would become troublesome if the money I gave him was too much or too little. With our number and a rock dwarf as the other party then the cost of drink would be just right.

We entered the town and saw that it was completely different from Claydale Kingdom. The building was different. The people were different. There was no plant inside the town. The buildings were built with only stone. Cloth that was weaved from plant was hanged up toward the street to block the sunlight. It formed a townscape that was completely different than the kingdom.

And most of allthe eyes of the people inside the town were sharp as though they were hungering for something.

Stay close.

Yes.

We were searching for a relatively safe lodging in this town.

According to that bar owner, as expected using an organizations inn would be the best to buy safety in this town. And as long as we had money, then Kirly Company that was mainly handling food and daily life product wouldnt be hostile toward us. They also had several inns that were used by merchant from Carlfan Empire who visited this town.

When we entered one of such inn, there was a middle aged woman working as the receptionist. She was looking at us with suspicion but, she instantly became all smiles when we handed a small gold coin and treated us like VIP.

The cost of staying for a night without meal was two silver coins per person. It was a price that was close to a high class inn at the kingdom, but the room that we were given was at the same level of a countryside inn that would cost five small silver coins.

For now we would stay for two days with one small gold coin. I handed the rest of our money to the receptionist for two days worth of food, hush money, and tip. It was a lot of money but, a safe place to sleep was necessary so Elenas stamina could recover.

Aria. Can this become money?

We entered our room and could finally relax after confirming the safety of the place. Then Elena said that and handed a knife to me.

That was the knife that Elena had with her for killing herself. It was something that noble daughter carried around with them. The knife that belonged to a princess like Elena had jewels embedded in it so they could be exchanged for money when pushes came to shove. From what I heard before, they could be sold for five big gold coins in a proper shop, but I quietly pushed back that knife to Elena.

Were not that troubled for money yet. Carry it with you until its really necessary.

Understood.

Elena seemed to realize the meaning of my vague words. If two woman drifters exchanged such pricy thing for money, there was a risk that we would catch someones eyes. If we were going to use it, we would need someone and a situation where it was possible to disclose Elenas identity to some degree.

I could give out my name that was a fake name from the start, but Elenas name still had to be kept secret.

Elena understood that and tightly held the knife on her chest. She quietly nodded.

Lets confirm our plan.

The final objective was Elenas return but, first we had to send the news of Elenas survival to Claydale Kingdom.

It had to be done within three months at the very least. We had been discussing our plan to some degree on our way to this town but, the method of borrowing communication magic tool from adventurer guild seemed impossible based on this towns situation. In the first place no matter the country, the communication magic tool would be under the control of the country. It was possible for guild or high ranked noble to have one, but the possibility of merchant having it was exceedingly low. Even if they had it, if they found out Elenas identity it was possible that they would kidnap her to be used for political bargaining.

We had also considered asking a merchant who came to this town to allow us to go back with them until Carlfan Empire, but there was a distant of one month from the empire until her. Any merchant who came to this kind of place would definitely be connected to Kirly Company or Hogros Company, so we would require serious connections if we wanted to go that route.

If possible Elenas identity should be kept secret until we reached Carlfan Empire. Elena and I agreed on htat. If we wanted to head to Carlfan Empire while keeping Elenas identity a secret, I also considered the method of working as adventurer doing bodyguard request, but most likely the merchants here already had their own personal bodyguards seeing how far the distance they had to travel.

That one month distance was also problematic if we wanted to travel by ourselves. There wasnt any inn town midway. Elenas stamina wouldnt last if we had to cross the rocky areas and desert by walking alone.

Elenas stamina had decreased greatly even just from these several days of walking. She was acting to be fine in front of me, but even the amount of food she was eating was decreasing. I couldnt force her anymore than this.

Itll be better to rest already for the rest of the day. You havent slept much right? Lets think again tomorrow.

Yes

Elena too seemed to have felt the limit of her stamina. I applied Clean on her and the bed, then she obediently sat on it. I had also worked as maid after a fashion, so I moved to help her changing her clothes, but she refused saying that she wanted to do it herself.

Also, use this. Sorry that its my secondhand but it has defensive capability.

T-this is your thing!?

What I handed her was underwear. They were created by Gelf. There were thin tights and garter belt made from mythril fiber, then bustier also made from mythril fiber. They had white or black color with five sets of each. I handed the white sets to Elena because of my impression that it would suit her more. But those werent all, Elena spread open the small silk panty that had to be tied at the sides using string to wear, which was something that I got from Gelf too. She turned bright red and froze.

Whats wrong?

No, umm

Come to think of it, this type of underwear came from Dandall, so it had only been accepted by female adventurers and some noble ladies. If I remembered correctly, Elena was usually wearing short drawers, so perhaps she had reluctance to wear a new type of underwear.

When I looked at her while wondering what to do, Elenas stare went back and forth between me and the underwear several times. She turned bright red until her ears, then she looked down and murmured with a small voice.

P-please help me wear them.

Roger.

***

The next morning we had breakfast with a stew of potato and bean that the innkeeper brought us. Then we headed toward Hogros Company where adventurers gathered.

The bar owner said that it was relatively better, but we couldnt let our guard down. Even then we were heading there not only to earn money, but also to raise our reputation as adventurer, which was our main reason.

Money and strength were needed to buy safety here. But, Hogros Company would crush anyone not dwarf who showed their strength. Even so connection with Kirly Company would be needed if we were going to show our strength.

If we showed our strength as adventurer and formed connection with Kirly Company, the possibility of being able to accompany a caravan to Carlfan Empire would be born.

There we were thinking to sell medicine in order to obtain that. According to the innkeeper who we tipped, the life necessities in this town were really expensive. It was difficult to gather ingredients in desert, while Kirly Company was importing necessary potion from Carlfan Empire, so the ordinary people couldnt even use them often.

But, in the handwritten book that was entrusted to me by master, a dark elf who lived in this region, there was writing about the ingredients and the method to create potion that wasnt common in this region. I too had learned it.

There was also dark elf in this city, and it was possible that they too understood that method, but this method was using monster part as some of its ingredients, and it was unthinkable that a dark elf living in obscurity in this kind of town could be a better alchemist than master.

We would accept quest as adventurer that wouldnt make us stood out, obtaining money and materials.

Then we would create high class potion using monster part, bring that to Kirly Company to make connection with them, and then the potion would flow toward the adventurers, putting us in a position where they couldnt touch us.

The problem was the two mafias but, we couldnt predict how they would move in the current situation. Just us being Melsenian young women would already make us stood out, so there was a risk that they would try something with us because of that.

In the worst case they would harm ElenaI would crush them if that happened.

.

But Ariathis isnt the adventurers gathering place isnt it?

Yes. First we need to buy equipments for you Elena.

Hogros Company was replacing adventurer guild but, they were fundamentally merchant. The adventurer guild was right next door to Hogros Company.

Weapon, armor, and other metal items, all of them were being handled by Hogros Company, so naturally the companys building was selling weapon and armor.

The dwarves of Hogros Company didnt tolerate high ranked adventurer of other race because they would make it difficult for them to monopolize the materials. But perhaps even the exclusionary dwarves of this place wouldnt refuse business. The shop also had quite a collection of armor for human.

Armors and weapons were lined up in a space that was as big as a dance hall, but just from a brief look there was no armor or weapon that was as good as Galbas or Gelfs creation.

The stubborn rock dwarves were working as gate guard but, it was mostly mountain dwarves like Dalton who were good with carving who had appearance like adventurer.

The weather must also be playing a factor. Heavy armor wasnt preferred in desert. What the shop had was mainly hard leather armor using what seemed to be lizard hide or armor with strange luster like what the gate guards wore.

Most likely that was made from beetles carapace. It seemed that in this area the insect monsters could grow bigger than dungeon monster. It was lighter than metal but heavy armor would be disadvantageous for Elena. I chose leather armor that mainly protected the vitals, gloves, and boots. I also found a smallish short sword and purchased them all with four small gold coins.

Elena was hesitant to use money in our current situation, but this was a necessary expense.

Do they suit me?

Despite her reluctance, wearing adventurer equipment that she should have never the chance to put on because of her position as a princess made Elena smiled. She asked me that question while twirling in high spirits.

But, it was then

Eh? A Melsenian girl. Thats unusual.

We heard that voice and turned around. Standing there was a Cruz boy our age wearing a friendly smile and

Behind him was a slender dark elf boy, staring at us with a sharp gaze.

tsu

Elena hurriedly put on her hood and hid her exposed face.

We were careless. Standing there were a duo of a Cruzian and a dark elf. From appearance both of them looked our age, but there was no guarantee that their appearance and actual age matched just like us.

It was especially difficult to judge the age of the long lived elf race based on appearance. The sharp gaze from the dark elf made me stepped in front of Elena to hide her from their gaze. The Cruz boy noticed that and lightly tapped the dark elfs shoulder.

Elena.

There was no law in this land. Strength was the only law. Law was decided by organizations strength.

That was why we had to decide ourselves what was right.

But it would be pointless if we made decision randomly. It was Elena who decided our action policy. I asked her what was her decision as princess. Elena took a short while to sort the situation, her emotions, and everything in her mind before she turned her gaze to the approaching beetles and beastmen. Then she spoke quietly.

Lets wait.

Elena said that we would stand on the road and observe the beastmans reaction.

If he was a decent people, they would hesitate to involve other people, which should show in their reaction. It was fine even if they only had a sliver of conscience. We would stay uninvolved if they had anything like that.

But

Aria!

The moment that cat beastman saw us, he threw the bag he was holding toward us without giving any warning. So it was a scented bag! The beastman threw the insect lure toward us and grinned while running past us and climbed up a dilapidated building.

I confirmed that he was definitely hostile and threw a scythe shaped pendulum at the bag in the air. The bag was caught by the blade and I rotated the pendulum to toss back the bag toward the beastman.

What!?

Pain

That beastman stiffened from the illusionary pain and slipped down from the building he was climbing. Most likely he prioritized getting rid of witnesses but, the swarm of beetles that were attracted by the insect lures scented bag that fell nearby drowned the death throes amidst them.

Lets help them, Aria.

Roger, Elena. Can you use it?

If its just activating it

Got it. Im going ahead.

I checked that there was no monsters presence near Elena and dashed away in order to reinforce the duo who we had decided to help.

Originally I shouldnt leave Elenas side as her bodyguard. But, I also knew that Elena had been putting in effort in order to escape this situation.

That Cruzian boy and dark elf were being attacked by ten odd insect monsters.

From what I saw they were barely holding there. The dark elf looked like he was strong enough to endure, but the Cruzian boy wasnt as strong as him. The dark elf was fighting to protect the wounded human boy, so he couldnt use big technique like Battle Skill that would create opening after use.

Insects that were lured by the scented bag wouldnt run away because of their excited state. That was prolonging the current deadlock but, Id have them maintain that deadlock while I went to eliminate the cause that was creating this current situation.

I rushed through the battlefield while focusing my eyes.

It was blending among the presences of the duo and the insects who were fighting but, I discovered it through the magic particle colors. I snagged my pendulums string on a dilapidated buildings wall and then ran up the wall. I leaped out in front of the two cat beastmen hiding there.

Wha-!?

The two beastmen tried to lift up their bow with a shocked expression, but in that moment the scythe shaped pendulum that I had pulled back and rotated tore the carotid artery of one of them deeply.

T-this woman, do you know who we

Dont know.

But I had a guess. From their action that immediately tried to eliminate witness like us, I assumed that they were from Munza Gang, the mafia that united the beastman thugs.

I didnt know the relation between Munza Gang and those two. But, these guys casually tried to kill witnesses in order to trap those two.

But we were the same. Now that we had got on the way of Munza Gang, there was no meaning of letting these witnesses to go home alive.

Little girl!

The beastman drew a curved sword with single edge and slashed. I slipped through it and stepped into his bosom in a single step. I crushed the mans throat with an elbow strike before snapping his neck by putting my arms around it.

There was a reason why I didnt use blade. The man that I killed at the start had the smell of blood on his thing, but when I checked the possession of the man whose neck I snapped, I was able to find a scented bag that was still sealed.

If they wanted to eliminate witness, I thought that they would have a spare in order to lure the insects once more. I found it just as I thought and tore the seal before throwing the scented bag to the distance. Several of the beetles attacking the two caught the scent and moved away from the two.

But that too was only a temporary measure. The insect lures scent would disperse after some time passed. The insects would gather here again so I would end this before that happened.

High Heal

The two got some leeway after several of the insects left. Elena who was following them casted healing sorcery at them.

The Cruzian boy who received the high recovery showed a surprised expression. Two beetles showed were excited seeing the new prey and turned toward Elena.

Water Ball

Elena fired water sorcery after the healing, stopping the beetles. The water ball burst and a lot of water scattered until Elenas feet. There she gathered even more mana and slammed her hands on the mud.

Dig Volt

The level 3 composite magic of wind and water element, Dig Volt ran through the mud and burned the beetles nerves. They screamed and shook.

GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

Insect type monster had dull sense of pain. It was rare for them to escape from enemy smaller than themselves. They would keep attacking without care about some amount of damage. Even elemental sorcery of wind or water element couldnt inflict much damage on them. Even fire or earth element wouldnt be effective unless it had wide range. Even ice element could only slow down their movement. They were a troublesome opponent.

But it was a different story with lightning sorcery. It could bypass their hard carapace and directly attack the nerves of the insect monster that was insensitive to pain.

Elena had lost her fire element but, to make up for that she was putting in effort so she could use lightning sorcery that was a combination of water and wind as her attack method. Right now just activating it was still making her hands full and she also couldnt make it strong enough to defeat the beetle monster, but that was enough for now.

I jumped down from the buildings rooftop like a monster bird with my cloak flapping from the wind.

My aim was the beetle that was stopped in its track. I stabbed my black knife into its neck borderline, then I continued with lobbing off the head of the second one.

Insect wouldnt die just from getting its head crushed, but they became unable to attack after losing their control tower. Sooner or later they would die.

Those two were still fighting at the street ahead, but the number of insects had decreased and the Cruzian boy got healed by Elena. Because he could protect himself now, the dark elf boy could finish off the wounded insects with his two short swords.

Because the insects number decreased even more, the Cruzian boy could also join with eliminating them. And when only several wounded insects remained, the dark elf boy suddenly rushed out from inside their encirclement.

*GAKIIINN!!*

My black dagger clashed with the short sword of the dark elf who closed the distance like a gust of wind, creating a piercing sound.

Whatre you scheming, woman.

Thats my line.

*GIN!*

We didnt lock sword. We moved apart at the same time while slashing at each other. Sparks scattered once more from the blades colliding.

The dark elf swiftly kicked the sand on the ground toward me. I took distance by rotating my back toward him while pulling out a knife from my thigh that I threw at him. The dark elf blocked it with his short sword.

Aria!

Kamil!

The voices of Elena and the Cruzian boy resounded. The dark elfKamil radiated killing intent as though to drown those voices. In respond I too switched my focus into lethal combat.

I assigned body strengthening to my speed and dashed forward, but Kamil met my rush with his sword. I didnt avert my eyes from the sharp blade and dodged it in a hairs breadth. Kamils eyes widened for the first time seeing that.

Kamil jumped back to dodge my dagger that rushed at him. When I threw several throwing knives in respond, Kamils posture broke and he lashed with a black chain from his sleeve. It struck down all the throwing knives.

It was a small weighted chain made from magic steel. The female evil race who I defeated at the village between mountains also used it, but it should be stronger than my pendulum in strength if he had a control skill. Kamil didnt pause and swung the chain in succession, smashing the ground and rock

*GAN!!*

I read the trajectory of its tip that was swiveling in high speed and intercepted it with my weight type pendulum. They made an ear-piercing sound.

We both used similar weapons. The chain and string entangled with each other the moment we inhaled air.

Both of us didnt let go of our respective weapon and pulled with our left arm. We both sensed the mana of the others rising, but at that moment when we both took a stance for Battle Skill

Enough!

Stop!!

Yells for us to stop entered our ears again from close by. Our blades stopped still right in front of each others brow ridge as our Battle Skill ended up unfired.

Wait wait, Kamil!

The Cruzian boy seemed to have finished dealing with the remaining beetles and cut in between the two of us. Seeing that I used string control skill to disentangle my string from the chain and stepped back fro the two of them. Elena came to my side with a grave expression.

Whats the meaning of this?

Elena spoke with a really thorny voice from anger. She seemed to be very furious. Her whole body was filled with mana that was just a moment away from being fired. Static electricity was making her wavy blonde hair to stand on ends.

Kamil was wary toward Elena who was in such state and moved to step forward, but the Cruzian boy stopped him with his hand.

I told you wait. Were the one in the wrong here. We were saved by them you know?

We didnt need it.

This is why you, well, our bad, Melsenian ladies.

tsu

The words of the affable Cruzian boy made Elena noticed that the hood on her head was out of place. Her hand quickly reached toward itbut Elena stopped her hand and chose to keep glaring with her exposed face.

Perhaps Elena too had noticed. For kist a moment, the boy turned a sharp evaluating gaze toward her.

About the apologycan I take it that youre the one in charge of negotiating? Is it okay if I ask your name?

You arent going to introduce yourself first even though youre asking a woman her name?

I guesscall me Ron.

Then, you can call me Lena.

It sounded completely like a fake name, but there was no point telling them Elenas true name here.

It wouldnt be a problem if it was a name like mine that was a fake from the start to be registered as adventurers name, but it would be wiser to not say Elenas name as the princess.

Even though it was a self-introduction that was riddled with falsehood, the boy who called himself Ron also didnt look like he was bothered at all. This time he bowed his head with a serious face.

My thanks for your assistance. We caught the eyes of a slightly troublesome bunch you see.

Perhaps you two had done something bad to invite such reprisal?

Elena spoke while playing ignorant about Munza Gang. Ron smiled a little bitterly.

We just crushed one of their businesses. But the two of you will be alrightI guess? Even the men who were remaining here had been eliminated by the girl over there after all.

Rons gaze turned toward me. His eyes were slightly narrowed.

Youre really strongthis is the first time I saw a girl who can fight Kamil equally.

I feel the same with him over there.

Kamil was strong. I couldnt accurately gauge his combat strength because he was wearing a cloak just like me but, I felt that he was as strong or even more so than me.

I didnt intend to lose even if that fight continued but, Kamil must also felt the same. Judging from the feeling I got when we exchanged blow, he too was still hiding his trump card.

Are there many skilled fighter like you two in that town I wonder?

How can that be. If strong guys like Kamil are wandering all over that town, I would have run away already from there. But if you dont know about that, does that mean the two of you only arrived to that town recently?

Is that important to know?

Elena replied to the probing conversation and words coldly. Ron shrugged and smiled faintly.

It doesnt really matter. Its justyou two look like a young lady and her bodyguard from somewhere.

Elena too didnt change her expression hearing those words and put on a cold smile.

My, just like the two of you?

Elena and Ron were staring at each other while smiling coldly. Beside them Kamil and I were glaring at each other wordlessly.

This is enough right?

The one who broke the tense atmosphere was unexpectedly Kamil. He placed his hand on the shoulder of Ron who was looking at his with a hint of dissatisfaction in his face. Then he flicked a coin at me.

I grabbed it at midair and opened my hand. It was a large gold coin that I had never seen before.

Its Karlfan Empires currency. Now theres no problem right?

Isnt it too much?

If this was equal to Claydale Kingdoms large gold coin, it was a really great amount for a reward to save them.

Its also to apologize for Rons rudeness.

Kamil, youre saying that?

Ron directed a half closed gaze with a pathetic expression toward Kamil who was shelving what he himself had done. The atmosphere was relaxing somewhat. Then Elena plucked the large gold coin from my hand and turned a slightly nasty smile toward them.

Isnt this too little to apologize for the rudeness?

Elena was putting on a sweet smile like a blooming flower. Ron also smiled wryly and tossed another small gold coin toward me.

What a really pricy help eh, well, its a cheap price for our life though. Then lets leave from this place already. The insects are going to come again.

Yes, lets do so. Are you fine with us being strangers even if we meet again at the town?

That way will be better butwell then, I have a little warning.

Rons words made us who had started moving to end the conversation and leave stopped for a moment.

Dont trust anyone in that town. Doesnt matter whether its kid or old man, theyll be your enemy tomorrow even if theyre smiling today. Of course, that also includes us.