Chapter 34 (1/2)

Another difficulty arose the next morning, just as they were about to depart.

The adventurers that were riding with Shayna the day before refused to ride in the same caravan as her.

Minus the two that died, the remaining five adventurers had all regained consciousness before morning and were able to move around on their own. But all of them explained that they weren’t sure when and how they went unconscious, and absolutely refused to ride with Shayna for the second day.

Everyone understood that it couldn’t be helped that they felt that way.

Two of them had already died just by riding in there.

There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again, and it was natural to think that you might be the next victim.

But that didn’t mean it was okay to leave the client all alone in the caravan.

Since the quest was to escort her safely, they were supposed to protect her immediately if something were to happen, so it was out of the question not to have anyone around her.

“This isn’t good.”

Broas grumbled but didn’t look like he wanted to ride there himself.

As Loren thought that it was an obvious way of thinking, Lapis spoke up like she just thought of it.

“Then what if we ride with her?”

“That’s…”

Lapis clapped her hands together as if it was a good idea.

Loren was fine with it if Lapis didn’t mind, but he still had some worries in the back of his mind.

It seemed that Lapis understood what he was thinking, but she said to Loren enthusiastically.

“We were fine last night.”

The night before, Loren had invited Shayna over to their tents for dinner.

He couldn’t stand watching Shayna being alone, and also didn’t like the idea of a ten-year-old girl sleeping alone, even if it was in the middle of camp, and after discussing it with Broas, moved their tents near Shayna’s.

Although Shayna said she didn’t feel like eating and didn’t eat much, it seemed like she was delighted by Loren’s consideration, and was even more delighted when Loren and Lapis had moved closer to her tent. But the fact that she didn’t feel like eating anything told Loren that she was quite strained mentally, so he did his best to continue to talk to her.

Even after spending a whole night with her, there was no sign of him losing consciousness or feeling ill at all.

That was why Lapis suggested that it would be okay for them to ride in the caravan, but Loren couldn’t make up his mind.

“Are you saying that Shayna should stay inside a swaying caravan all alone?”

“Of…course not.”

When she put it like that, Loren had to think again.

Leaving a young girl like Shayna, who must be very anxious at this point, all alone in the caravan wasn’t something Loren wanted to do, and wanted to avoid doing that at all costs if it could be avoided.

He had learned how hard it was to be alone the hard way when his mercenary group disbanded.

“Then I think this is where you should speak up.”

After Lapis told him that, he walked over to Broas and suggested that the two of them ride with Shayna.

“You guys okay with that?”

“Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with us even after spending a night near her. I don’t think there’s a problem with Shayna herself.”

“If you’re fine with it, then I guess we’ll do that. In fact, it’s quite helpful as well, since leaving the client alone isn’t the best thing to do.”

“I guess it’s settled then. But aren’t the other caravans already quite full?”

“No one wants to ride in that one, so they’ll have to endure being cramped. Rather than that, if anything happens, call me immediately, okay? It’s going to be a lot more troublesome if something happens to you two.”

Loren’s suggestion was accepted quite easily.

It was mostly because no one else wanted to ride with Shayna.

“Ah, Onii-san…”

As Loren and Lapis climbed up into the caravan, Shayna looked at them with a mixture of surprise and delight.

Loren waved his hand as he climbed in, trying not to let her feel uneasy, but soon left her in Lapis’ care, sat behind the driver, and started keeping watch over the driver and the inside of the caravan.

Although the driver was feeling a lot better than the day before, he still didn’t look too well and it would be a problem if he couldn’t drive properly. Along with that, it was a good position to call for help if something happened, but to the others it looked like a male adventurer who was thinking he shouldn’t sit close to a girl of high status, so no one said anything.

Soon enough, they cleaned up camp and started on towards Hanza.

“Hey, we got to be careful from here on out!”

There was a good reason for Broas to shout out to everyone.

All the messengers that the guild had sent out to Hanza had disappeared on the second day.

That meant there was a high chance that they would encounter it during that day, so it was obvious that everyone was on high alert.

“Is everything, going to be okay?”

The tension and anxiousness seemed to have reached Shayna as well, so Lapis gave her a smile and told her.

“It’s going to be fine. We’ve got an incredible mercenary on our side.”

“Is that supposed to be me?”

“Who else would there be, mister Slaying Wind?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not me, you know?”

Lapis’ smile turned into a grin as she called him by that t.i.tle, but Loren denied that it was his.

Loren scratched his head and continued awkwardly as Lapis gave him a blank look.

“I get that a lot, though. But there’s no way someone like me would have such an extravagant t.i.tle.”

“So does that mean you haven’t met Slaying Wind before?”

“Of course not. If I did I wouldn’t be alive right now.”

As Loren shrugged, Lapis pressed her finger against her chin and thought for a moment, then asked Loren with a searching gaze.

“By the way Loren, do people every call you dense?”