「Hey, lady! You're pretty strong! Do you want to join our party?」
Greaves asks Lian with excess volume of his voice as he sheathes his sword.
「Greaves!」
「…Party?」
She cocks her head to the side a little, looking down at Greaves while Will shouts at him.
「It's just a delusional little something Greaves came up with in his empty head. Ignore him, miss.」
「It's not delusional! She's strong, and we could use another member!」
Will shoots a sideways glare at Greaves. Greaves shouts back at Will, pointing at the spearwoman.
「Ah. You must mean an adventurer party, a group. I'm not really interested in this silly adventurer business…」
「See?」
Will says and raises his hand, to demonstrate his point.
「…But I don't mind coming along for a little bit.」
「See!?」
Greaves shouts and smugly smirks at Will as the woman finishes her previous thought. Will crosses his arms, less than pleased.
「But I have to say, that was rather impressive.」
「Hm?」
Will raises his eyebrows and looks up at Lian, who's looking straight at him.
「You don't strike me as an idiot. And there's very few mages who would choose to continue casting while under attack like that. You're pretty brave, I like that.」
She smiles gently, looking Will in the eyes. Will blushes a little and breaks eye contact by looking down.
「W- Well, thank you… My party has trust me and I have to have trust in them… S- Someone had to do it, so…」
He adjusts his glasses with his middle finger as they almost slip off his red face.
「And what about me!? I killed like three!」
Greaves looks up at the woman as well, shouting a question at her.
「Hm? You didn't do anything that impressive. You were just swinging your sword.」
「What!? But Will was jiggling like jelly, how is that brave!?」
He points at Will, still shouting.
「Shut up, Greaves!」
Red-faced Will yells at Greaves with an embarrassed expression. Lian glances at Will for a second, then looks back at Greaves.
「Well… He was afraid, and yet he fought and refused to stand down. That's much more impressive, knowing how dangerous something is, and fighting through your fear. Unlike being too stupid to understand the danger.」
「Wha-!? Are you calling me stupid!?」
「A little. Don't feel bad, you seem very genuine-」
「Tsk. Fine! We don't need a fourth member anyway!」
Greaves interrupts Lian, clicking his tongue loudly and crossing his arms. He rejects her, turning his shoulder to her.
「Actually… I'd be very happy if you'd join us, miss Lian.」
Will says as he adjusts his glasses again.
「What!? What happened to you being against a fourth member, Will!?」
Greaves's jaw drops, and he shouts at Will again. Will silently responds with a squinting side glance and a smug grin as he compulsively adjusts his glasses.
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「Wha- You little-!」
「As I said, I don't really mind coming along for a bit, but I am looking for my younger brother. He's here somewhere, in this kingdom. If we don't stay in one place for too long, and perhaps if you help me search for him as well, I could join you if you really want.」
She looks at each member of the party for a moment as she talks. Will extends his hand towards her.
「I'm looking forward to it in that case, miss Lian.」 「Will! You bastard!」
Lian takes Will's hand with a gentle smile, ignoring Greaves's angry shouting.
「Um… Shouldn't we move before the fire spreads?」
Alicia points at the burning trees, now entirely consumed by flames.
…
Elsewhere, a few hours later on a road between cities…
Straf and Cycelia walk side by side. In the distance, Straf can already see the rooftops of buildings stick out from beyond the hills. Ahead of them, a bush loudly rustles in the roadside thicket.
「Not again, I don't have time for this shit. Slimes?」
Straf sighs with a tired face, his hands on his hips as he and Cycelia stop in their tracks. Two very short, thin, green, pointy-eared and hook-nosed humanoid figures jump out from the bush. One wields an improvised sword fashioned out of a sharpened bone, and the other a long, thick stick.
「Goblins!?」
Cycelia exclaims in surprise as she hastily unsheathes her sword.
《A true RPG classic, encounter rates skyrocketing when you really just want to get to the fucking town.》
「Well, that was my second guess. Where were you little green shits when I first got here? Lia, I'm getting concerned we might be late. Goblins are really, really evil, right?」
Straf turns to Cycelia, who is surprised he's even asking.
「Yes! And while they're stupid and weak, they're incredibly cunning and dangerous in large numbers! Be careful, Straf!」
「Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you won't have any issues if I just kill them? No moral dilemma here? No misunderstood noble savage thing?」
Straf asks and glances at the goblins, who are now charging at him and Cycelia, with their weapons lifted into the air.
「What…? No! No, Straf! They're just plain evil! They can't be reasoned with!」
Cycelia shouts back, pointing the tip of her sword at one of the goblins. Straf takes a few steps forward and stops a little ahead of her, with his fists on his hips.
「Okay, just checking. Though, that's what people in my uh, kingdom, say all the time when pointing at people they don't like.」
He takes a quick peek over his shoulder at Cycelia and spreads his hands with a shrug.
「It's a slippery slope, I'm just saying.」
Two blobs of blurry air hit the goblins and unceremoniously disintegrates them with a horrible thunderous noise. The only trace of them left is an oval splatter of blood, scattered gory pieces of bone along with unrecognizable organs all over the road, and two items.
「Aaand that saves the artist at least two or three pages of drawings.」
Straf shrugs, and starts walking towards the unrecognizable goblin remains.
「Uwa… You're kind of scary, Straf.」
「Hm, am I?」
「No… Not really… It's just you're terrifyingly powerful. Goblins often poison their weapons, and it can make you horribly sick with even the slightest cut on your skin. You saved some guards or peasants a lot of risk.」
Cycelia comments on the brief battle, if it can be called as such, as she slowly sheathes her sword both impressed, and slightly unnerved. Straf squats down and examines the items on the road.
「Yup. The goblins were defeated, Straf's party receives 0 gold pieces, and presumably 0 XP, and…」
He says with audible frustration in his voice as he picks up the items into his hands, and focuses on the each of them for a moment. He looks up from the metal teapot and the wooden comb. He sighs, and his arms drop.
「…Two worthless pieces of shit. Why can't I get a sword or something?」
Straf mutters out under his breath. He opens his [Portable Storage] and throws both of them in, quickly standing up. He takes a peek over his shoulder, and nods for Cycelia to follow.
「Come on Lia, we're almost there. I don't want to miss it because of some speed bumps.」
「Don't worry, I think we still have a lot of time if you want to participate.」
「We better, or I'll become yet another reason why alcohol kills.」
Straf and Cycelia continue along the road towards the nearby city, the sun above their head scorching everything mercilessly again.