The five men were sat near a small fire, eating their hard bread with some watered-down soup made from whatever prey they'd found and salted orc-meat.
They were the ones responsible for buying food, but they were never told this was going to be a 20-day journey with no replenishment opportunities. Most of their supply of food and wine had already ran out, and they were only not out of water because they found a stream a couple days ago. Even if they had known there'd be nothing for them to do though. The group only had a single horse drawn cart and two horses. More than half of it was occupied with the cage for the prisoners...
"Please give us something to eat... We are starving..." Asked the woman inside it.
"Shut up! We barely have enough food for ourselves." exclaimed one of the mercenaries guarding the clearing where the group had freed the horses to pasture.
Kyle, however, stood up and walked towards the cage, his food in hand.
"Oi! You're gonna give our food to the slaves?"
"I'll take it from my own. I'm not hungry."
Some of the men rolled their eyes, they knew the kind of person Kyle was. However, in this situation, his attitude was just stupid, to put it simply. They had little food and were completely ignorant as to when the others would return, having to wait for them where they were. Once the food ended, it would become a nightmare.
"Come on, Kyle. Don't make us look like the bad guys here... We would've given them some had we known when we'd be leaving this place..." Said another mercenary.
"I know... But I'm not letting them starve. And also, I'm really not hungry."
Kyle walked towards the cage with a jug of water and his untouched bowl of soup.
"Thank you..." Said the hooded woman inside, gleefully. She was honestly happy he gave her not only a little of the leftovers like the other before, but some actual food she could share with everyone... The water was also very welcome... and not having it thrown at her like a dog was a plus. She looked over at Hyuna... The girl was better after some healing magic but... she still had the eyes of a dead fish. 'She'll probably never recover' thought the woman.
'I hope Mihara is okay...' she looked over in the distance, ignoring the heartwarming gaze Kyle was throwing her. She had already realized it, but he was the only one there who knew her identity. Kyle was native to Kaimon, and thus, he had seen the royal family a couple times in the past. She knew his reaction had nothing to do with her former position though. And would rather ignore it and focus on the current situation.
She gulped down some water before passing it around. Same with the food. And after everyone else had their share, she spoon-fed the unresponsive girl. It broke her heart to see her daughter in that situation... But there was nothing she could do. Every time she looked at her or recalled what happened a deep ingrained hatred grew inside her, consuming her mind.
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The name Jirou, which she once considered part of her family now was one to be despised and execrated. And she would pay whatever the price to see him squeal under her feet as she trampled him to his last breath.
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Three man were sitting around a fire, eating some meat they harvested from some of the wolves they had killed a day prior.
"Hey, Joe... Why the fuck didn't you hunt something better? This tastes like shit!"
"Haul your ass there and catch something then, aren't you our tracker? Track some decent meat then."
"I'm tired as fuck... I can't even annoy you properly."
"Hey, boys. Don't you think something's weird?" Asked a nervous Gabe.
"Huh?"
"What do you even mean?"
"Like... We've been roaming around here for 2 days now... Yet there are no monsters or animals... We only found the wolves. Wasn't this area supposed to be riddled with goblins or something?"
"Now that you mention it, we didn't spot even a single monster..." Said Kyle thoughtfully.
"Oh..."
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Reinforced Gabe.
"Well, on the bright side, we only had to fight small groups of wolves at a time."
"But Joe... You know wolves generally roam in large packs, right?"
"Huh? Was that a thing? Then, why would they be coming in such small numbers?"
" I don't know... But I'm also starting to get a bad feeling about this..."
"You two deal with your "bad feelings" then. I'mma take a nap, excuse me." Joe laid on the ground and turned to his side, sleeping right there. Kyle and Gabe kept staring at the fire, trying to maybe see if the flames would give them any clues as to what was happening. A bad omen could be felt by both, who still had no idea what it was about.
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Time's up!
I'm finally able to materialize my body. Apparently, it comes with my everyday clothes regardless of whether I was wearing those when dematerializing... I hope there's a way to change it later though... Always using the same clothes feels weird... I'm not some novel protagonist to be wearing the same shit all the time like it's some kind of uniform... Huh... Do they still remain where I was? Does this have the side effect of infinite clothes doubling? I'mma check that out later.
Anyhow, I better put her in bed... Welp... Let's wait for her to wake up instead.
I then proceed to clear up the bed, closing and putting all the hentai aside in a pile near the bed. God... Why doesn't she hire someone to clean this...? But there's no dust anywhere... The perks of not living in the real world are amazing...
I went around the room fixing some of the mess. Moving the crap, like cans and bags was bound to make some noise, but Gloria didn't even budge... The accumulated fatigue from these days must've been a huge deal... If I recall correctly, she's only able to sleep when I do... And this is the first night I slept since being reincarnated. She really must be tired...
I stacked up all the noodles' cups... Holy shit... I spent almost 5 minutes doing this... the pile is almost a meter tall... I'm worried about this girl's health. How's she... Oh, right, she's an immortal demi-god...
Welp, at least the room looks halfway decent.
I went ahead and took off her headphones...
"Nyoo~" She made a soft squeak and covered her ears with her hands, still asleep.
The cuteness paralyzed me for a moment. Holy fuck, she's very cute.
I got her in my arms in a princess carry and started taking her to the bed.
She started blushing and lightly squirming in my arms. Her eyes are half open... I guess she's awake... sorta.
"umuuu~ gun-niichan?"
Ho... never heard that one before.
"Yes, Gloria"
With my answer, Gloria woke up from her daydreaming and asked, beet red.
"Wa~ What are you doing here?"
"Didn't you say turn was yours next? I came to deliver what I promised."
"I-I didn't expect you to actually be able to come here..."
"Too late now isn't it." I said, laying her on her bed. "If you don't want it, I can go back."
"No, no, no! Please! Wait!... I... I do want you..." She raised herself from the bed on all fours and looked straight at me with kitten-like eyes.
"How much you want me then?"
There was no way I wasn’t going to tease her at least some bit, right?
She raised her body and stood on her knees with her arms stretched forward, inviting me.
"Ugh, fine! I guess you are my little pogchamp, come here."