Chapter 334: Night Watch Conversation and the Red Lights (2)

It’d help the story a lot!]

"Could they have been demonfolk?"

The next morning, after I reported the red eyes, Niagara asked that.

"Do demonfolk have red-eyed races?"

"Yes. Vampires have red eyes, and some of the demon dragon race do as well. Don’t you all?"

When I asked back, Niagara answered as if it were obvious, then turned the question on us.

Did we have red-eyed races on this side too?

"Well, there are humans with red eyes from mutations."

Azreto answered.

"Um... do large groups of people like that gather and move around at night?"

Regina asked Azreto carefully.

"...No. I’ve heard that people like that are persecuted, but I’ve never heard of them gathering night after night to hold meetings."

Azreto shook his head.

"There aren’t any settlements around here, and there probably aren’t that many of them."

We all tried to figure out what the red eyes had been, but in the end we couldn’t come up with anything convincing.

"Since we don’t know the cause, we need to stay careful."

Matvei, one of Azreto’s companions, warned both Azreto’s party and Heinz’s party.

Azreto’s group and Heinz’s group were splitting off from us and heading back to Lübeck. Even though the red eyes had been on the opposite bank of the river, their destination was the same as ours. One night of rest wasn’t enough for a full recovery, and recovery magic didn’t heal mental fatigue. They needed to be cautious.

I would have preferred to go with them, but we had our own job.

"Be careful."

"Yeah. You too."

"Thank you."

I called out to Azreto’s group and Heinz’s group. Heinz answered us. Azreto bowed and thanked us last.

Just as I was about to turn around—

"Hiiro!"

Someone stopped me.

Beata was running over.

"...B-be careful."

She fidgeted in silence for a while, then suddenly hugged me. She whispered the words and lightly patted my back.

"You too, Beata."

I wasn’t sure what to do for a second, then put a hand on her back the same way and patted her lightly. Her body jumped.

What was that?

I grabbed her shoulders and gently peeled her off. She had frozen in place with a bright red face.

...Had I done something inappropriate?

"I-it’s fine, it’s fine."

"Yeah, yeah, this is fine."

Rita and Fine immediately said that, grabbed the frozen Beata, and dragged her back to Heinz’s group. The others were watching us with wry smiles.

I still didn’t understand what was "fine." When I turned around, Giacomo and the others were grinning too.

Grinning.

"...Haa. Let’s go."

I walked past Giacomo, who was wearing that unpleasant grin, and continued forward without understanding any of it.

...

After that, we weren’t attacked by beasts, magic beasts, bandits, or demonfolk. There were no assaults from Lilli’s former companions or from anyone targeting Kacha’s group either. We covered the remaining two weeks of the journey without incident and arrived at the border town of the Latius Holy Kingdom.

"That’s Ostrov, the border town."

Chris explained to Kacha the moment the town wall came into view.

Kacha was the highest authority in the Holy Kingdom, but she apparently didn’t know every part of the country. In other words, this town might not have been particularly famous even inside the Holy Kingdom.

Even so, it had a proper checkpoint with a large gate set in a solid wall, and inspection was underway in front of it.

This road crossed the border, but it wasn’t a major highway. It was closer to a mountain road. There weren’t even villages along the way, let alone towns, so anyone traveling it had to camp the way we had been doing. Because it was a mountain road, the temperature was low. By the time we arrived, both Regina and Marika—the Dules—were already wearing cold-weather clothing that covered them completely.

Giacomo muttered something about how hard it was not being able to see Marika’s breasts. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking, but they both looked cold, so there was nothing to be done about it. Regina’s armor had a temperature-regulating function, but she was wearing the extra layer too because she looked cold.

...That said.

"Regina, you should take off the armor. Dules get body-searched there."

Early on, Chris had referred to Regina and Marika as "that" and "this," like objects. By the time we reached here, she was using their names. Everyone had told her to correct it, but Kacha’s warning in particular seemed to have worked.

Anyway.

What to do with Regina’s armor.

I pulled out the large hemp sack I had prepared in advance. The plan was to put the armor in there for now. From this town onward the road was supposed to be somewhat maintained, so I intended to buy a horse or donkey to carry the luggage.

We left the road and moved to a spot where the trees hid us from the checkpoint.

"This should be fine."

"Anywhere is fine for me."

Regina said that, then took off her cloak and began removing her armor in front of me and Giacomo. She took off all the armor and the underlayer. She wasn’t wearing underwear, so she ended up completely naked.

Under the cold sky, the naked Regina looked extremely cold. Goosebumps rose on her skin and she was trembling slightly. I put her cloak back on her, then draped mine over her as well.

"Master Hiroyuki..."

"You’ll be cold like that."

"...Thank you."

She stared at me for a while, then bowed her head and thanked me.

"Ah, right. I forgot."

After raising her head, she opened her backpack and started searching for something. She pulled out a wooden board and handed it to me.

"This is my lending certificate. It’s needed to cross the border."

"Lending certificate?"

I looked at what she had given me. It was a wooden board with visible growth rings. A crest-like mark was carved on the surface, and below it was written in one line: "Lending out Dule Regina."

"Originally the period, Master Hiroyuki’s crest, and Master Hiroyuki’s name should be written on the back, but..."

She trailed off and lowered her head a little.

...I see. With this, she could be lent out to anyone. In other words, even if she was handed over to someone else instead of me, she wouldn’t be able to complain—or rather, there would be no problem. It might also have been prepared in case it became inconvenient for me to be listed as the borrower when crossing the border.

Looking at her expression, she probably hadn’t thought that far ahead.

"I’ll make sure not to lose it."

I considered her feelings, patted her shoulder, and looked over at the other Dule, Marika. She had also stripped completely before putting on a thick cloak. Giacomo had been blocking my view, so I hadn’t seen her change.

Preparations were done.

Giacomo carried Marika’s clothes. I carried Regina’s armor. Regina’s greatsword was slung on my back, overlapping with Destroyer.

"Isn’t it heavy?"

"This much is fine."

Regina looked surprised when I said that.

"As expected of Lord Hiroyuki."

"...Monster."

Giacomo didn’t look surprised. Floche sounded exasperated.

"I can carry that too. Let me see."

Tokisashi said that, so I handed her the greatsword I had just put on. She lifted it easily with her thin arms.

"See?"

She wasn’t boasting. She said it as if it were obvious.

As expected of a dragon.

"Then you hold that, Tokisashi."

"Fine."

She answered immediately when I asked. We weren’t going to use it, so she could carry it as luggage.

Ah, right.

"Storm, you hold this."

"Why me!?"

Storm snapped back, looking irritated.

But—

"Just hold it."

"Yes. Understood."

The moment Tokisashi said that, Storm answered obediently, as if her earlier irritation had never existed.

"Hmph!"

When I actually handed her the luggage, though, she snatched it.

Tokisashi listened relatively well. Storm did not. It made sense that she listened to Tokisashi.

I just hoped it wouldn’t become a problem later.