Ch. 129: Conversation during Travel
In the end, Loren was able to borrow a donkey to carry the food and medicine Rose provided to them.
It had resulted in him telling her that they could fail the job on purpose, but since it was a personal job from Rose herself, not the guild itself, it wouldn’t leave any bad marks on his career, so it was quite lighthearted.
Rose did have a sullen look on her face, but Loren felt that she wasn’t even being that serious.
After all, if one were to hire six iron adventurers it would take a few dozen silver coins, but the supplies they had received wasn’t even close to that amount.
“Wouldn’t you have been able to increase our payment if you tried?”
“Since they’re in a tight spot, they could think of countermeasures. It’s better to play it safe for these types of things.”
Lapis seemed dissatisfied, but publicly she was on the side that agreed with Klaus, so she couldn’t express her dissatisfaction loudly, so all she could do was whisper to Loren, but Loren shook his head.
Loren knew that greed would only bring more trouble.
He thought that they should be satisfied that they got something out of nothing.
From Rose’s description, the neighboring village was only a few hours away, so since they didn’t have anything to do while the villagers unloaded the carriages, they decided to head there.
“I don’t really want to go though.”
“I understand how you feel, but could you give in already?”
Layla said in response to Loren’s complaint with a troubled laugh, but what was on his mind differed from what she was thinking, so Loren shook his head, wanting to clear the misunderstanding.
“It’s not about the extra job. I made the village give us supplies, and I got extra payment. I still have complaints, but I’m convinced.”
“Then what are you thinking about?”
“About the neighboring village.”
According to Rose, the closest village to hers was to the north.
The size was almost the same, but farther north, past the village, was a slightly large forest, and when Loren looked at the map, he saw that the battlefield that the two nations were fighting at was past that forest.
“Nearing the battlefield means more danger. You’d understand why I don’t feel like doing this, don’t you?”
To a former mercenary like Loren, the battlefield was like an old home to him, but it wasn’t someplace he wanted to step close to either.
His words of not wanting to get close if he could, came from knowing the dangers of that place.
“Well, there’s a forest between, and it’s quite large, so wouldn’t it be fine?”
Roll said, looking upwards in a diagonal direction as if recalling the map in her head, so Loren replied as he scratched his head.
“Only if they were fighting head on with each other. But if they were to go around and attack from the side, the cavalry could go around a forest very quickly.”
Loren knew how scary cavalries were.
Their mobility and penetrating abilities were way more powerful than normal soldiers and weren’t opponents you would want to meet in battle.
“You’re so worrisome.”
When Ange remarked so, surprised at his attitude, Loren shrugged.
“You won’t be able to survive the battlefield if you aren’t.”
“I don’t really want to get near one then.”
“If you keep adventuring with that, wouldn’t you have to one way or another?”
When he nodded towards Klaus, who was in the front holding the reins of the donkey, Ange thought for a moment.
“Klaus is supported by the nation, so he would have to be in battle one day.”
“We’ll try to help him so that wouldn’t happen, but we don’t know for sure.”
A nation supporting distinguished adventurers or adventurers with potential did mean they considered them to help in battle, but more than that, they were also expected to find and explore ruins, as well as hunt down monsters to keep the nation safer.
Anyone could understand how foolish it would be to send someone who could do all these things to a battlefield, where only battles are waged, but there could still be times where they would have to face the enemy in war.
“I’ve started wondering if I should start thinking of switching parties.”
“That’s not my problem but…actually, I’m more confused why you haven’t left him yet.”
Loren thought that Klaus wasn’t a bad person.
He showed a bit of hubris every now and then, but he was a good person in general.
Being sloppy with women was a big fault in his personality, but the fact that if it was a woman, age or looks didn’t matter, he could be considered a philanthropist as well.
“So, he has a fairy tale protagonist kind of aura?”
The girls agreed to what Lapis had said.
Klaus, who was still leading the donkey, as well as the only one not participating in the conversation, turned back towards the other members who were talking about him with an ashamed face.
“Could you stop judging me like that behind me?”
“Think of it as a rare chance to find out what the girls think of you.”
With Loren cutting him of so directly, Klaus looked forward again, with the look still on his face.
Loren snorted as he looked at Klaus’ back, but Ange’s next words almost made him choke.
“By the way, how do you think of Loren, Lapis?”
“What would that mean?”
When Lapis calmly responded to Ange’s sudden question, Ange pulled on her sleeve with sparkling eyes filled with curiosity.
“You heard what we thought of Klaus, so this time you could tell us how you feel about Loren.”
“I’m not sure how it’s related.”
“I’m interested too. It’s nothing anything difficult. Just think of it as small talk until we reach our destination.”
Layla had joined in, and Roll nodded deeply next to her.
8
When Loren covered his face with his palm, wondering how the conversation took such a weird turn, Lapis calmly placed her finger on her chin and thought for a moment, and then replied with a smile.
“I’d like to invite him to my home sometime soon.”
“I see. You like him so much you want to introduce him to your parents.”
Lapis smiled at a surprised Layla and an Ange and Roll who were blushing and smiling happily for some reason.
“But I’m a priestess, so it’s also difficult to take that step. That’s what I currently think.”
It wasn’t that priests were forbidden to marry.
But since they served a deity, getting together with someone and breaking up repeatedly wasn’t good for their image, so they had to be very careful when choosing someone.
That was what Lapis was talking about, and although she felt that she liked Loren enough to introduce him to her parents, but wasn’t sure of him as a husband, which was a very humble way to express affection.
“Good to see that you two are getting intimate Loren.”
“Shut up and keep walking.”
As Klaus looked back at him again, smiling, Loren kicked him in the butt, making sure to hold back.
He thought he had held back quite a bit, but seeing that Klaus floated up in the air very slightly, he realized that he failed to do so, Klaus rubbed the part where he got kicked, putting a note in the back of his mind to make sure to use <<Boost>> when teasing Loren or he would really be hurt.
“That’s one of the troubles being a priestess.”
When Ange muttered so, watching Loren and Klaus with a glare, Roll said timidly.
“Umm Ange, I’m a priestess as well…”
“If you like Klaus you better be prepared. That’s not someone who could be content with loving one person.”
“That’s, umm…”
“He’s definitely going to make lovers and mistresses. I’m already determined to deal with it.”
As Layla said so proudly, everyone other than Klaus wondered what she was so proud of, but she herself didn’t notice.
“You should really fix that personality of yours. Isn’t Ange the one you love?”
Before, when Loren had seen Ange at the brink of death, he couldn’t believe that the worry Klaus showed towards was a lie.
But he couldn’t understand him hooking up with other women, and as that irritated him and made him want to kick him again, Klaus put some distance away from Loren and nodded with confidence.
“Of course, the one I love the most in this world is Ange. That’s a fact.”
“Then…”
“But loving Layla and Roll, and all the countless women that I haven’t met yet equally is the main duty of myself.”
“…Oh, okay.”
Loren was impressed at the courage Klaus had, to say something like loving all women equally, even though he didn’t want to feel it.
You couldn’t walk the battlefield without courage, and Loren was quite confident in his own as well.
But while Loren felt that he was no match for Klaus and felt a weird sense of defeat with a lack of frustration, he watched Ange and the girls all attack Klaus from behind him.