Pauline and I persuaded Garuda and shielded the Giant Centipede.
Seeing the wounded Centipede, Pauline looked sad.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go with everyone.”
“It’s fine. Are these the companions you mentioned? I knew that and still tried to stop you. I’m sorry for locking you up.”
The Giant Centipede, having lost its family, probably just wanted someone to talk to. I felt reluctant to take away that only friend. That’s right, I had a good idea.
“Why doesn’t Tomoe stay here? If you’re not going back to your flock, you can live here together.”
Tomoe glanced at the Centipede.
“I don’t mind. It’s much better to live here than to live feeling out of place. But what about you?”
“I don’t mind, but there’s nothing interesting here.”
Pauline’s dejected face regained her smile.
“That’s great! Then please build a house for Tomoe later too.”
“I’ll take one of the Ant Nests. Leave the hunting to me; I’ve even taken down a bull by myself.”
The Giant Centipede seemed somewhat happy with its new friend. Elana, with whom we had fought together, arrived.
“That’s great. As expected of someone who aimed for the throne. I’m impressed.”
“Heh, you were tougher than I thought. Even though you’re so small, you can actually fight.”
“Seriously, holding a centipede in your mouth and swinging it around. I could never do that, ugh.”
“What?!” With Tomoe angered behind her, Elana waved a hand.
“That woman, I still can’t understand her. What’s so good about her?!”
As we left the Centipede’s nest, the bandit group was waiting for us. The boss bowed his head and thanked us.
“I’m sorry I was useless in the battle. We were completely saved.”
“You’re right, you just kept screaming, weren’t you?”
I nudged Nina, who had muttered a complaint. She turned her face away with a hmph. Kia came out from beside the boss and bowed her head similarly.
“Everyone, and Sharin, I’m sorry. Especially Sharin, I’m sorry, I was wrong. You genuinely accepted me as a friend. But I betrayed that feeling. I was childish. If you’d like, will you still be my friend?”
“Hmph, of course. I was so happy you came to help. And that we were able to come up with a special move together. Let’s meet again.”
With that, the two shook hands firmly. Applause broke out from the bandits.
“Please stop stealing from now on. The merchants won’t go easy on you.”
“Ah, I understand. From now on, we’ll try to make a living by hunting, I guess.”
We left, waving goodbye to the bandit group. Ah, it’s finally over. This battle was even more tiring than usual. I guess I’m getting used to thinking like this.
“Ah, I want to go home quickly and take a shower. And I still have a room, right?”
“Well, you said you were going to extend it. I want to wash my face.”
We managed to return to town as the sun began to set. Since the number of people had increased, we rented additional rooms for them. After taking a shower, I lay down on the bed. Come to think of it, is my face okay? I looked in the mirror and saw that my nose was red and injured. That explained why it had been hurting so much.
After a good night’s sleep, the next day, I went to report to Navis.
“Oh, you guys came back alive. I thought you were dead.”
Suppressing the urge to shout, I told him everything that had happened.
“Ahaha, you fought a centipede? This is an unexpected stroke of luck, defeating it too.”
“Did you know?”
“Hmm? Ah, but I never expected to run into it. Now we can do business safely. I’m grateful to you, Hiroaki.”
This rich man, if he knew, he could have given us a warning. He must have known about the fierce beast called the Manticore as well.
“Uh, you’re welcome. Do you have any information about my companions?”
“Hmm, no. Perhaps they ended up in a different town? For example, there’s a Naga Village to the north of here. Why don’t you go there? As a reward, I’ll provide a carriage.”
Indeed, thinking about it, that possibility existed. And he offered to provide a carriage. It was frustrating, but it seemed I had no choice but to borrow the power of this rich man.
“Thank you. Please do.”
“Hahaha, then it’s settled. Hiring mercenaries isn’t cheap, so please take care of us.”
Damn it, he intends to use us as mercenaries. I could only say “yes” to him, who winked.
