I woke up from my sleep three hours later.
Clunk, clunk.
“Mmmm…”
I slowly opened my eyes while letting out a soft groan.
My head swayed back and forth. Every time the carriage wheels crushed gravel with a jolt, the sensation of my helmet pressing against the soft flesh was peculiar.
“Ah, you’re awake?”
Beyond my blurry vision obscured by the visor, my eyes met Amy’s, who had been providing her lap as my pillow.
Her brown eyes looking down at me were mixed with fatigue and interest.
“…Yeah.”
My consciousness, hazy from sleep, became clear as if a fog was lifting. Only then did I realize what kind of situation this was.
‘Did I fall fast asleep as soon as we got in the carriage…?’
Apparently, due to the repeated battles and full-speed running, I was so exhausted that as soon as the tension eased, I fell asleep without thinking.
…I must have been really tired.
Honestly, it was a bit chilling.
Even though we were party members, we had just met for this request, yet I fell asleep defenseless in front of them.
There couldn’t be a greater carelessness.
If they had ill intentions, killing me while I was sleeping obliviously would have been as easy as twisting a child’s wrist.
Though there was no reason for them to do such a thing at this point.
“Ah, sorry. Your legs must be numb.”
Anyway, I immediately sat up straight.
Even with a normal lap pillow, lying down for hours would make the legs go numb, let alone with me wearing a helmet.
For Amy, it was no different from having an iron dumbbell placed on her thigh while rushing down an unpaved road for hours.
Her legs must be not just numb but completely without sensation.
To have caused such inconvenience, I felt ashamed.
“You could have stayed lying down a bit longer.”
Amy’s own tone sounded a bit regretful, but…
“No, I couldn’t possibly do that.”
Well, wasn’t that just her being considerate so I wouldn’t feel burdened? A kind of white lie.
“Hmm…”
Amy slightly raised the corners of her mouth in a smile as if understanding, then pointed at my thigh with her finger and said:
“Then, can I rest a bit too?”
“Huh, what?”
Before I could answer, something heavy pressed down on my thigh. It was Amy’s head.
“Wait, what? You’re going to sleep like this?”
I shrugged my shoulders in surprise at the sudden weight and warmth, looking down at my thigh.
Fiery red hair spread out lavishly on top of my tight black pants.
Above the two cheeks marked with freckles, mischievous brown eyes looked up at me, drawing gentle curves.
“I’m asking a favor. I’m quite tired too…”
…There was no way to refuse.
Wasn’t I the one who had just enjoyed a sound sleep on her lap? And for a whole three hours at that.
Someone who had lent her knee for three hours, enduring the weight and sensation of the helmet, was saying she was too tired and needed to rest a bit herself – how could I firmly refuse that? It was impossible on grounds of conscience.
Of course, if a man had clung to me like this, conscience or not, I would have had no choice but to separate his head from his neck…
“Yaaawn…”
What could I say to an eighteen-year-old girl whining that she was dying of sleepiness?
Telling her to sleep sitting up because it’s uncomfortable seems too harsh, doesn’t it?
“Haah.”
So in the end, I had no choice but to let out a short sigh and lend her my thigh.
For one hour after that, until the carriage that had rushed without rest finally reached the walls of Vespian.
…This Amy woman had a habit of feeling around her pillow.
* * *
“Miss Swordswoman? Could you please wake up the other members of your party?”
The coachman who had arrived at the gates of Vespian turned towards us and spoke to me.
The other three were sound asleep like princesses pricked by spinning wheels.
“Amy, get up now. Mr. Bolton and Mr. Kikel too. We’ve arrived.”
I gently shook Amy’s shoulder while shouting at Bolton and Kikel to get up.
“Mmm…”
“Ah… I fell asleep. Is this Vespian…?”
Amy, who had opened her eyes, stretched out fully as she got up, and Bolton, who had been leaning against the carriage wall with his head down, shook his head in sudden surprise.
“Kaaaak…”
Kikel also woke up, opening his mouth wide and exhaling a breath that could have been either a yawn or a roar.
After bidding farewell to the coachman who had brought us this far, we lightly stretched our stiff bodies and discussed the remaining tasks.
“Good work, everyone. Now, we just need to report to the guild, dispose of the loot, and then disband.”
“That should do it. Will you be returning directly to the Magic Tower, Miss Amy?”
Bolton turned towards Amy and asked.
“I suppose I should? I need to show the ‘Book of Necromancy’ to the examiner who’ll be waiting.”
Amy answered while patting the backpack she was wearing.
Although we couldn’t explore the entire dungeon, she said she should be recognized as a formal magician since she did manage to secure a grimoire.
“I’ll burn it right away after getting it confirmed. As promised.”
“Would it be alright if I accompany you? A grimoire with necromancy recorded in it… I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep properly until I see it burn and disappear.”
You were sleeping just fine in the carriage. So deeply that you wouldn’t have noticed if someone had carried you away.
I chuckled, finding it ridiculous as I listened to their conversation.
“If you promise not to have a fit when we get there.”
“A fit? That was just a pure expression of faith…”
Bolton made an implausible excuse.
Pure? What nonsense.
Rolling your eyes, twitching your tendons, and even letting out strange noises – how is that pure faith?
If that’s pure, then a prostitute’s laugh is pure love too. Not pure, but beastly, beastly.
“Woman- no, Hilde. Have question!”
Kikel turned his neck towards me and spoke.
“What is it?”
“Need shield, buy. Cheap and good. Where? Your armor good. So you know well!”
It seemed he was asking me to recommend a blacksmith that was cheap and of good quality.
That question itself proved that Kikel was still an inexperienced novice adventurer.
A blacksmith that’s cheap and of good quality? Ha.
“There’s no such thing. It doesn’t exist, it doesn’t.”
I shook my hand and asserted.
A blacksmith that’s cheap and of good quality? How could such a conscientious store exist?
In a world where all merchants have formed guilds or associations to engage in price fixing.
A conscientious merchant was like the parents of orphanage children.
They might have existed once, but now they’re nowhere to be found.
“Not exist?”
“They don’t. So, you know the alley behind the guild building, right? If you turn left there, the first one you see… no, never mind.”
I was about to introduce a store that at least doesn’t cheat, but then I realized there was no need to explain verbally.
“Let’s go together in a bit. I needed to stop by anyway, so we can visit right after finishing the report.”
“Thanks! You kind!”
“It’s nothing.”
I shrugged with a slight smile. It’s not kindness, just basic courtesy. This kind of thing.
If we had been together and it was unpleasant and we’d never see each other again, there would be no need for courtesy, but if that wasn’t the case, there was no harm in showing goodwill.
From my perspective, this Mr. Kikel seemed like he could earn a copper tag if he just gained some experience.
With the physical specs and combat sense unique to lizardmen, and senses that were quite good even if not as good as beastkin.
If he could somehow solve his cold problem, he was a warrior who could easily do the work of two average copper tag adventurers. This lizardman in front of me.
So, it didn’t seem bad to form parties and move together occasionally in the future.
Unlike his ferocious appearance, his personality was quite decent, and above all, he didn’t seem likely to turn into a looter and attack me.
If he just didn’t do that, from my standpoint, he was a reliable talent in the top 30% of adventurers.
Of course, there were drawbacks like his speech being hard to understand, and him being a bit of a pitiful friend in terms of intelligence… but well, that’s something I could cover for appropriately.
So there was no problem at all.
* * *
“It seems things went well this time, Miss Hilde. Seeing that all four of you have returned together.”
After three days… no, was it four days? Anyway, the receptionist girl who I met again after a long time welcomed me with a bright smile.
More precisely, she seemed to be welcoming the fact that the other three party members were in one piece. Judging by how her eyes were busily scanning behind me.
“The job went well. Though there’s a bit of a problem left.”
“A problem…?”
“Ah, wait. It would be better if I explained that.”
Amy, who had been behind, suddenly interjected into our conversation, and plunked down the backpack she was carrying in front of the receptionist girl.
“So… you see this book here? We’ve completed the search for the grimoire that was the content of the request. So for now, please pay these people the reward I had left.”
“Yes, I’ve confirmed it. Please wait a moment.”
The receptionist girl called another employee and instructed them to bring Amy’s request fee.
Request fees had to be paid through the guild without exception. Even if it was an escort request where the client was accompanying the adventurer.
That was the principle.
If the client directly paid the request fee without going through the guild, the guild would have no way of knowing how much actually changed hands, and…
‘If the client carries too much money, the escort might turn into a robber.’
In a situation where a walking money pouch is right beside you, why bother with difficult escorting for days?
You could just stab them, take the money pouch, and leave.
Therefore, when commissioning an escort request, it was a rational choice to either select those whose credibility had been thoroughly verified, or to leave the money pouch elsewhere and move empty-handed.