CH 84

“…… I see. If it’s a simple emotion, there is certainly nothing I can do about it. Claude.”

“Ha”

Palm, with a small sigh, glanced at him and gave him instructions. Then Claude started to move, and I became more alert, nonchalantly protecting Toby.

“Oi oi, are you planning to do it in a place like this?” I asked,

“No, Not that. If it was something I could not get otherwise, I would make that choice, but now is not the time yet. Because it’s true, no? It would take four months to transport it to the temple, no matter how quickly. With that much time, there are a lot of things we can do.”

“In other words, you have no intention of giving up?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I am the only one who deserves it. So … take good care not to let someone else take it from you.”

“Ojou-sama, we’re ready.”

“All right. Well then, everyone, have a good day.”

I thought they were just preparing for battle, but it seemed they were working on taking down the stalls. Palm, grabbing the hem of her skirt and bowing, left the scene with Claude, who was pulling the stall. I finally relaxed when I couldn’t see their backs.

“Fuu. …Tia?”

“Yeah, It’s fine.”

“Okay.”

“What? Um, Ed-san? Are you alright?”

“Hmm? You drew us to such a prominent place. It’s only natural to be on the lookout for surprises, right?”

I shrugged my shoulders and told Toby, who looked at me curiously.

The reason why Tia did not join the conversation was not because she was in a daze. She was concentrating on using her spirit magic to search the surrounding area and be vigilant, leaving the head-on negotiation to me.

“I checked the roofs and even the shadows of the buildings, but I didn’t see anyone who looked like them. If they’re not skilled enough to fool me with their magic, it looks like they’re really the only two people left.”

“That’s good news, because if there’s a lot of people, that’s a disadvantage.”

“Do you really need to be that vigilant!?”

“Of course there is. If there is an obvious adversary in front of you, your attention will be drawn to him no matter what you do. If you are attacked from a blind spot at that time, you will die easily, and if that happens, they can easily get the treasure by fishing in your pockets under the pretense of taking care of the fallen Toby, or by carefully searching through the rooms of your rented inn. I mean, I’m rather surprised you didn’t take that kind of precaution before. How did you manage it all this time?”

“Hahaha, I seem to have a good instinct for that kind of thing. … I try to avoid dangerous places as much as possible.”

“Intuition, huh.”

This was my own theory, but a hunch was a collection of uncomfortable feelings that a person was unaware of. The more knowledge and experience you accumulated, the closer your “intuition” becomes to solid proof, and at the same time, you become aware of things that you could not feel before as “intuition.”

In the end, good intuition, being able to get through a predicament with intuition had room for growth. I knew he was talented with the [Rainbow Glasses] but if we could calmly analyze the basis of his “intuition” after we have ensured his safety, his ability to sense danger will grow exponentially.

“I’ll train you to develop that ‘intuition’ too. Only if you’re willing to ask for an escort.”

“I-I’ll do my best. …”

Toby replied with a wry smile, having unexpectedly demonstrated his ability while also raising a sense of urgency. After that, it would have been nice if the financial problem could be solved as the person himself said… but that was also solved by Toby, who came out of the Adventurer’s Guild and had a nice smile on his face.

I wasn’t too worried because I knew that Toby had received financial support from somewhere in the first round, but anyway, this was a relief for both the parties.

The only time we had a close call was when we were asked to escort Toby through the guild, and the receptionist who received the real guild card we presented asked, “Are you sure you want these two guys to escort you?……Normally, an adventurer who had just registered would not be asked for an escort job. ……, but Toby himself knew what we were capable of and told them it was okay, so we got away with it. Perhaps they mistakenly thought that we originally knew each other and went out of our way to register as adventurers in order to receive this escort request.

And so, officially Toby’s comrades…we were recognized as members of the hero’s party and began our journey to the next town, with some light training for Toby……

“Run, run, run! Toby, smoke ball!”

“YY-es”

At my command, Toby, running at the front of the pack, slammed the smoke ball down on his feet. Smoke immediately formed around Toby, but it did not matter if the smoke was enough to cover a single person on a plain with good visibility.

“Tia!”

“――Reveal [Clingfield]!”

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“What?”

But it depended on how you used things. The smoke generated by Tia’s magic clung to the faces of the black-clad men who had attacked us. It was not real smoke, so it was not effective in suffocating, but it almost completely took away the enemy’s vision for about 10 seconds until the smoke dissipated.

“This one is payback!”

I took a knife I had picked up from the [Stranger Box] and threw it back at the enemy. It grazed the enemy’s arm, and the black-suited man, who was shaken up, fell to the ground.

Ah, so it was coated with poison after all. Well, they probably prepared the poison themselves, so if this kills them, they deserve it.

“Shii! Come on, Toby, hurry up! Just run through the woods!”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Without checking to see if the enemy was alive or dead, We started running again. We managed to get into the woods along the road, found a good spot where the raised ground prevented us from seeing behind us, ducked down, and finally exhaled a long breath.

“Whew……… are you two okay?” I asked,

“Yes, yes,…… haha, somehow,………… haha.”

“I’m fine too.”

“Well, …… damn, they must be stupid! Are they stupid enough to attack us openly in an open area along the street!?”

Even though I was relieved by the two’s replies, I couldn’t stop the cursing words from my mouth.

“If they were going to attack us, they should have done it in a more obscure place! Why would you come up to us in broad daylight in a horse-drawn carriage and attack!?” I exclaimed,

“Ahaha… well, it felt like they didn’t care at all even if there were witnesses.”

“It’s the first time I’ve felt that bad…”

It was not unusual for a horse-drawn carriage to pass by on the road connecting towns. Although I was always on the lookout for such a thing, if I overreacted, they would think we were robbers, so I did not pull out my sword but held it at least at the ready.

And it was daytime now. The best I could do was to stay a few meters away and try not to get pulled in. … There was no way I could have imagined that a group of armed men would jump out of that carriage and attack us.

“Black in the daylight … means it wasn’t about hiding appearance, it was about not being identified. No one happened to be there by accident, but if anyone had been, they probably would have killed everyone. Sorry Toby, I completely misjudged the situation. I never thought the Ojou-san would resort to such blatant measures――”

“Ara, could you please stop talking about people like they’re villains?”

“What!?”

With a rustling sound, I heard a familiar voice coming from the top of the wall against me. Toby was startled by it, Tia looked on calmly, and I lifted my chin in exasperation and looked up. ……

“Quite an exciting reunion, isn’t it, missy?”

“Fufu, I did properly warn you――”

“No, that’s not what I meant. …… White.”

“White ……!? Claude!”

“Ha!”

“Uhyah!?”

At Palm’s instruction, with her face bright red and holding back her skirt, Claude dropped a large stone at my face. I barely avoided it, and as I tried to walk toward my friends, ……

“Ed-san, …”

“You’re the worst.”

“Huh!?”

Toby with a complicated smile and Tia with eyes that looked at me like I was horse shit. It seemed the wonderful friends I trusted with all my heart were not on my side. … I don’t get it.