Chapter 332: The Large Group Camp and Talk with the Party of Six

[A/N: My previous writing style on this one was becoming very lazy and bad, so I’m changing the writing style and giving it more work now. Hope you guys will like this writing style!]

Tokisashi averted her gaze awkwardly.

"Uu... S-sorry..."

Unable to withstand the stares from everyone except Storm, Tokisashi finally apologized.

Present were Azreto’s experienced adventurer party and Heinz’s novice adventurer party. With Fine and the other two having joined, Heinz’s group was now complete at six. Together with me, Tokisashi, and Storm, that made nine of us walking through the forest toward the highway.

"The trees... they’re so pitiful..."

Il looked around and muttered quietly. Her face was expressionless as usual, but something about it looked sad.

"I already said I was sorry!"

Tokisashi raised her voice at Il.

"..."

Il stayed expressionless, but quickly put distance between herself and Tokisashi. Heinz and the others also stopped and backed away.

Tokisashi had only raised her voice. She hadn’t tried to use violence. Still, Heinz’s group had been fighting her until just a short while ago and had been completely outmatched, so they were sensitive to the pressure she gave off. If that was the case, they should have stopped saying things that rubbed her the wrong way, but they probably had their own reasons.

Tokisashi stopped where she was and looked around at Heinz’s group with a confused expression. They weren’t holding weapons, but they had lowered their stances and were glaring at her, ready for a fight. Storm, standing beside Tokisashi, started to step forward, but Tokisashi raised a hand and stopped her. Then, still looking confused, she turned to me.

"...Haa. Tokisashi already apologized. How about you let it go already?"

Heinz’s group were the ones who had taken the beating, so I wondered if it would sound like I was treating it as someone else’s problem...

"Yeah. Their way of thinking might just be different from ours, and it doesn’t seem like she meant any harm."

Beata was the one who agreed with me.

"Besides, it’s because Hiiro said so, right?"

"Th-that’s not it! I-it’s not like that!"

Rita said it with a mischievous smile. Beata hurriedly denied it. Heinz and the others burst out laughing as they watched the two of them.

Tokisashi looked dumbfounded at the scene and turned to me again. I gave her a wry smile.

She didn’t seem to understand that she was being used as an excuse, but I could tell Heinz’s group was trying to cover up their own fatigue. They had been fighting a dragon, so they were worn out both physically and mentally.

"Alright, alright, that’s enough. Let’s get moving."

Azreto clapped his hands and urged Heinz’s group onward.

The three members of the senior adventurer party, including Azreto, had already received some healing magic from Beata. After that, one of Azreto’s companions—a priest-warrior of Urilmex—had used healing magic until they were fully recovered, so all the injuries Tokisashi had inflicted were gone. Their fatigue hadn’t been healed, but as expected of experienced adventurers, they didn’t look like they were forcing themselves the way Heinz’s group was. Or maybe I just couldn’t tell. They were probably still tired.

Not long after we started walking again, I sensed a presence and looked up. Floche had spotted us and was flying toward us.

...

"Um... Am I the only one here who knows everyone?"

All nineteen of us had set up camp by a small stream and were preparing for the night, each sitting wherever they liked.

Everyone had only gathered around the time the sun started to set, so we had moved to a suitable camping spot nearby without time for introductions. We lit a bonfire and prepared for wild beasts.

As usual, Kacha cast a barrier over the camp that made creatures hostile to us reluctant to approach. It was more of a placebo than anything else. According to her, the magic wasn’t particularly grand. The magic circle drawn on the ground was simple and used almost no mana. In exchange, if something had a strong will, held no hostility to begin with, or only saw us as food, it could enter easily.

When wild beasts attacked people, they usually saw them as food, so I wondered if the barrier would even help. But if we noticed them first and provoked them from our side, beasts that came to see us as enemies would often dislike the place and leave. So watches were still necessary, and it wasn’t impossible for something to get in. That was why it was only a placebo.

Kacha could use other barrier magics as well, but anything strong enough to completely block magic beasts used too much mana to maintain all night, and more importantly, the caster—Kacha—wouldn’t be able to sleep. She could also layer a barrier that detected entry and exit, but since she was the one who would sense it, it would still put a burden on her. She had offered to do it herself, but we politely declined. We couldn’t put that much strain on our client. There was also Chris’s glare, which looked ready to kill.

Anyway.

Since we were suddenly spending the night together, I thought it would be better to at least do introductions, but it seemed I was the only one who knew everyone’s faces.

"No, I don’t know them."

"Me neither."

There were at least two people who didn’t.

"Ah, let me introduce them. Over there is Matvei, and this is Gil."

Everyone, including the two being introduced, gave wry smiles at Azreto’s rough introduction.

"Damn it, give a better introduction."

"Seriously. You don’t sound like a learned magician at all."

The two men complained to Azreto, then introduced themselves in turn.

The man introduced as Matvei was human and a priest-warrior of Urilmex. He was skilled enough in healing magic that he had been able to fully recover everyone who had been injured fighting Tokisashi’s group. He was also apparently quite good with a spear.

The other man, Gil, was a dwarf. As expected, he was short and sturdy. He used a large axe and served as the vanguard of Azreto’s party.

After they finished, Azreto himself, Heinz’s party of six, and our group of six each introduced themselves. I had planned to do the introductions, but it saved me the trouble.

"My name is Kacha. I hired Master Hiroyuki and his party to escort me back to the Latius Holy Kingdom. This is my guard, Chris."

"...Chris."

Kacha and Christina—now going by Chris—introduced themselves last.

"Why was a young girl like you in Lübeck at a time like this?"

"Hey! Heinz!"

As soon as the introductions ended, Heinz asked Kacha. Ovnil scolded him.

"Sorry. I don’t usually ask things like this, but..."

"No, it’s suspicious, right? Leaving Lübeck in the middle of a war. Hiiro and the others are adventurers from Lübeck too. Shouldn’t they have an obligation to participate in the war?"

"Then that applies to us as well. We only left because we received a special request from the Adventurers’ Guild, right? Isn’t it the same for Hiiro’s group?"

"And the client of that special request is why Heinz is saying it’s suspicious, right?"

"Ah, right."

Rita argued against Heinz, Fine jumped in, and Rita accepted it. Then the eyes of Heinz’s party turned toward Kacha and Chris.

"Now, now. That’s rude. And digging into the identity of another adventurer’s client is something you shouldn’t do. Sorry. These kids are still beginners..."

Azreto cautioned Heinz’s group like a senior adventurer and bowed his head to Kacha and Chris. Chris openly frowned, but Kacha smiled and forgave them.

We watched the exchange with wry smiles.

There was one thing I needed to correct, though.

"The war is already over."

"Eeeh!?"

My single sentence made Heinz’s group and Azreto’s group cry out in surprise at the same time.

"It hasn’t even been that long!"

"But there were so many monsters!"

"There were dragons too!"

"Weren’t we supposed to deliver this because they needed reinforcements!?"

They spoke as if they couldn’t believe it. And honestly, it was hard to believe. A war that could have lasted days or even months had ended in a single day.

The cause of that was me. I decided to look off into the distance.

"Master Hiro... cough. It’s thanks to Lord Hiiro."

Giacomo muttered. For a mutter, his voice was loud.

Heinz’s group all turned to look at me at once.

Unnecessary...