Chapter 115 Leaving the empire 5 (2/2)

”what happened? how did you beat them?”

”it was this swordsman that drove the bandit's away”

mister Baker turned his head and looked at Mars with a aporving look on his face before he walked over and reached out with his hand

”my name is John Baker, I'm a humble merchant”

Mars shifted Varvei so he had a hand free and reached out and shook the merchant's hand

”my name is Mars, I'm a steel ranked merch this is Varvei”

”...hello”

”oh so a frail maiden and a handsome swordsman, truly a match made in heaven, please by all means join me in my carriage if you are also headed south?”

”we are, we would be glad to join you mister Baker”

”oh wonderful! then please join me in the carriage, after you Mars”

Mars walked in and sat Varvei down on a seat before he sat down next to her, the inside of the carriage was surprisingly comfy and wide, clearly John Baker was no mere 'humble' merchant, as soon as John sat down the carriage begun moving again

”I really must thank you once again Mars, ifyou had not come to my aid I would likely have been taken prisoner by those foul bandits”

”no need to praise me mister Baker I only did what I thought was right”

”I see, such a admirable sprit... Although it might be rude I would like to ask into miss Varvei's condition, is there anything I can do to help her”

Mars looked over at Varvei and discovered she was fast asleep before he spoke

”i'm afraid not mister Baker, it's simply malnothison that has made her frail, she was imprisoned for a long time you see”

”ah, I that case my company has some nurtistion pills, when we reach the branch in Ely I should be able to provide some free of charge of cause”

”that would be much appreciated mister Baker”

Time passed and eventually night fell and the carriage stopped, they were still in the same forest, the 2 mercenaries prepared camp while John showed his skills at cooking by making a marvelous dinner for Mars, Varvei and himself, as for the 2 mercenaries they could only munch on biscuits and dried meat while watching enviously after dinner one of the merchs came over to John and raised an issue

”night watch is it?”

”yes sir, it's hard when there's only the two of us”

”hmm... this is trouble...”

”mister Baker I believe I have the solution to our problem”

”oh, please speak Mars”

Mars didn't speak, he turned towards the dark forest and called out

”Victoria!”

soon after he called Victoria jumped out of the brushes and showed herself to the group with her horns flashing while she walked over to Mars

”what... is it?”

”can you help with the night watch?”

”sure...”

”good, Victoria says she can help with the night watch, if we include me that's 4 people on night watch that should be sufficient”

”but Mars I would hate for you to stand night watch, you are after all our saviour”

”I truly don't mind John in fact I will get uneasy if I didn't help out”

”...if that's how you feel then it's fine I guess”

”thank you mister Baker”

”no I should thank you Mars”

Mars and John exchanged smiles meanwhile Varvei gave a sigh and looked down into the ground, Mars spotted this and sat down next to her and after some time passed he asked

”what's wrong?”

”...it's nothing”

”...don't make me tickle you to find out”

Varvei blushed and tried to move away from Mars, but was quickly grabbed by the arm

”if you don't tell me I don't know how to make it better”

”...fine”

Varvei gave another sigh before she spoke in a small voice

”...it's just I feel so useless”

”that's because you are useless”

Varvei sent Mars a glare

”how cruel! how could you tell a maiden such as myself that!”

”well it's the truth, you are useless right now, in fact you're a burden”

Varvei's face sank, tears begun to from in the corner of her eyes when Mars spoke again

”but that doesn't matter right now your only job is to get better”

”...really? you won't throw me away because I'm useless?”

”no, why would I do that when I went through all the trouble of rescuing you?”

Varvei started at Mars' face before she gave yet another sigh and broke eye contact with a light blush on her face

”...fine”

”that's good, now get some sleep”

”okay...”

”you want me to tuck you in?”

”n-no I'm fine”

”okay then”

Mars got on his feet and walked over to the campfire a little ways away and sat down and looked into the fire, Victoria quickly came and took her usual spot on his lap while she purred lightly as the night grew longer...