「 Get away from Euphie! 」
I shouted at the figures that suddenly appeared.
Wait, aren’t these two the bald guy and the hunter-hat adventurers who were trying to tangle with us the other day?
「 What are you planning to do with Euphy 」
「 Ah? Shut up! Do you want this lass to die? 」
「 Gyahahaha! Look at this Gonz 」
They kneeled near Euphy and lifted her arm which still had an arrow on it.
「 Is she okay? She’s not dead, see? I haven’t done anything yet! 」
「 Oh, it must be a slow-acting poison. Gyahahaha! This is bad
Poison?
That arrow was tipped with poison?
Oh, so that’s why Euphy was suffering so much./
She was unsteady. That’s why.
No way…
As I was feeling sorry for having Euphy fight at such a state, the hunter hat guy called me out.
「 Bro, look after your kind. Gyahaha, Gonz, look at this woman 」
The hunter hat said as he scurried around for some reason.
「 What are you doing? 」
「 Just do as you were told, look at her corpse, and you should find the antidote! 」
Antidote?!
W-Wait, it’s the kind of thing that someone who uses poison would have just in case!
I don’t care about their goals for now, the priority for now is to deal with the poison on Euphy.
I did as I was told, I searched through the belongings of the dead adventurer I just killed but found nothing that looked like it.
I impatiently checked if I could take off the armor to see if I find anything but the hunter hat spoke up.
「 Hey, this guy has it. Gonz found it! Gyahaha! 」
The hunter hat holds up a vial of some kind next to the corpse of the beast man adventurer.
Oh right, he’s the one who shot the arrow.
「 Hurry up and give it to the girl 」
「 I want to, but the girl’s no longer conscious. This is bad 」
「 Hey, hurry up and come here! Have the girl drink it, and feed her with your mouth 」
Gonz came over and put his arm around my neck, then started dragging me to Euphy.
What’s this stupid strength?
I can’t even get away.
After being caught and released in front of Euphy, they gave me the vial.
「 Go ahead, if you don’t feed her the antidote, I’ll do it. Gyahaha 」
This is an emergency so it’s fine if others do it, but I’d prefer it to be me.
I raised Euphy’s collapsed body and looked closely at her face. Then I see her pale, breathing in agony.
It’s a miserable sight of Euphy, who usually smiles at me. It made me freeze as if my heart is grabbed by the hand.
「 Hey, hurry! 」
Gonz rushed me, so I hastily poured the vial into my mouth, opened Euphy’s lips, and placed my lips on hers.
Then, I tried pouring the antidote into her mouth, but there was no reaction at all.
I was panicking about what to do, but then Euphy’s tongue touched mine.
Then, her tongue began to move, as if seeking something, and she began to swallow the liquid in her mouth.
I hurried and have her drink the whole bottle. I watched Euphy in my arms, worried if the antidote will work or not, then the paleness of her face is getting better and the painful breathing has calmed down.
Did it work?
「 Phew, that was close. If we didn’t come, the girl would’ve died you know 」
「 Gyahaha, isn’t that great, brother? I told you we’ve got splendid knowledge! 」
「 As expected of Chuck. You did well seeing that poison 」
「 Gyahaha! Right?! Well, I use that stuff a lot too 」
「 Y-You use them? 」
「 Yeah. The lass seems fine now, her face has a better color now. Take off the arrow back in town. She might just bleed for nothing if you pull it here 」
「 Y-Yeah. Let’s do that. Thanks 」
「 The veterans help out the new adventurers! Don’t worry about it, besides, the guild lady asked me to do you guys a favor. If she died without me teaching her anything, she’ll get angry at me 」
Huh?
These guys were serious about helping out before?
Isn’t that just great!
I almost see halos on their heads.
Especially Gonz, he’s so bright that I can’t look at him.
Gonz had been smiling, but his expression had turned serious, and looked this way.
「 So, what did you do? 」
That said, I remembered that I killed two people.
I used these hands to kill them, right?
But, why do I feel like it’s nothing?
Was it because of Euphy’s training?
No, that’s true, but that’s not the whole point.
These guys tried to take Euphy away from me, so I had no hesitation in taking them out.
Euphy’s the only one I trust in this world, and I can’t imagine a world without her.
I don’t know if you’d call that dependence, but I’d say that she’s an important existence to me.
Oh well, I just killed someone who understands what I say and yet I don’t feel anything about it.
Even if I’m surprised, I made up my mind and responded to Gonz.
「 They attacked us. So it’s self-defense 」
「 Thought so, Chuck. Have you ever seen this woman? Who’s this? 」
「 Once or twice. I don’t know about the woman, but these two are newcomers to the capital, right? Why would they attack newcomers, gyahaha 」
The three of them weren’t comrades?
No, more importantly, they don’t think of anything about why I attacked them.
「 You just believe that? 」
「 From our perspective, it’s them who attacked you. Once in a while, this trash aims at newbie adventurers. Sorry, we didn’t make it fast enough 」
Gonz turns cold eyes toward the corpses, thinking that these assailants were hunting newbies.
The truth is, they wanted to get Euphy out of a personal grudge, but do I need to explain that?
They helped us so far, but I’m still hesitating. Then chuck brought in an envelope-like object and handed the paper to Gonz.
「 Oh, Gonz. These guys seem to be these bastards, don’t you think? 」
「 Found something? 」
「 Yeah, I guess we have to tell our brother about this now, gyahaha! 」
Gonz brought the paper to me.
I lowered my gaze to check and, I found instructions to kill Euphy.
Her name, her features, and her current location were written on paper.
The client’s name isn’t mentioned.
Does that mean that apart from the female adventurer, someone sent a request to the guys?
I feel sickened by this unknown entity, and at the same time, I feel angry.
「 I see. This girl’s a survivor of the Adicilton house? That’s troubling 」
「 You didn’t have to say that. Euphy’s house also went through a lot 」
「 Well yeah. If you had taken the initiative, I would’ve punched you in the face for being an idiot 」
Scary.
No matter how you look at it, if you hit me in the face with your skill, my face would cave in.
I don’t want to die yet.
「 So the lass became a slave. The young lady has good looks, which could’ve made her a plaything, and yet the nobles were so afraid of the Adicilton house that they don’t know what to do with her 」
「 Afraid? Just what did the Adicilton house do? 」
「 You don’t know? The family of the young lady there is from the Countess of Mugdam, they resisted for a long time in the last war and they continued fighting to the end. Even a commoner like me knows about these noble families 」
Gonz said and glanced at Euphy.
She probably hasn’t regained consciousness. Seeing that, Gonz continued.
「 Well, they’re famous against the knights, they’re so fiercely loyal that they’re called avenging demons 」
「 That sounds like a bandit group name 」
「 The knights of Adicilton always took revenge on the soldiers and those who commanded to have their masters killed. It’s a famous story that they killed a head of a family and his wife even after their capital had fallen. The Duke, who was in command of the King’s army, and his entourage were murdered one after another. They started with assassination, burning, and killing them in the bedroom while hiding out with prostitutes. They do care not about the methods nor their lives when they carry them out. I heard that the entire army had been forced to back down heavily from the former royal capital, which they were occupying in fear 」
So that’s why the auction house was noisy when the Adicilton name came up.
They’re people who take on revenge if their master is killed and will do anything to achieve it.
「 After that, when they skewered the captured eldest son to set an example, they killed everyone who was present in the execution, from the nobles who led the squad to a single soldier, all of them suffered the same fate 」
I see. So that’s where this female adventurer’s brother came from.
「 Well, I heard that most of them were defeated, but the survivors were rumored to be hiding somewhere. They’re known as the Bloody knights, and the nobles are still afraid of the Adicilton house. Well, seeing that a cute little girl was also from that family, it got cold on my feet 」
Gonz look unfazed, but there was fear in his tone.
「 I went on and told you a lot of stuff, but I should let you know at least this much because of the danger. You don’t know about it, right? It must be hard for the lass to tell you about herself too 」
「 Right. I got caught up in a lot of stuff, but I didn’t want to pry into it or make Euphy sad so I didn’t ask. That helped 」
If you ask me if I could avoid this case by asking her, I don’t know.
Maybe not knowing it put us at a disadvantage since I would’ve moved a bit more calmly.
「 So, what will you do? from the looks of it, these guys are just disposable, hired by money. It won’t end after this. If I were you, I won’t go back to the capital, you know? 」
Hearing that made me think about it.
There could be a lot of adventurers who can easily take us down.
Going back to the city, who knows when they’ll attack us.
Gonz is right about it.
「 Right. I’ll talk to Euphy, but I don’t think we’re going back to the capital for now 」
「 Wise choice. Chuck, bring out your meds. I’ll pull out the arrow from the lass 」
「 Gyahaha! I knew you’d say that. It’s already here 」
Chuck had handed me a ceramic vial he was holding.
「 If the arrow had pierced through, we could’ve just cut off the end and taken it out. I’ll pull it in one go, and put that on the wound right away 」
「 O-Okay 」
Gonz made eye contact with me, turned his gaze at the arrow in his grasp, and pulled it out with blinding speed.
It was so fast that I was taken aback, but I hurriedly poured a healing potion on Euphy’s arm, which was overflowing with blood, and the arrow wound healed in no time at all, probably due to the effect of the red liquid.
I treated a minor cut before with a recovery drug, but this drug seems to be more effective than that.
For a moment, Euphy’s brow furrowed in pain, but her expression turned calm. Probably because of the recovery medicine.
「 This is a good medicine 」
「 What do you mean? The money for the medicine gets paid off once we strip them off. Let’s fish 」
A smiling Gonz made his way toward the fallen female adventurer and kneeled down to loot the corpse.
「 Is that not a crime? 」
「 Huh? What’s wrong with looting the people who attacked you? 」
Ethics and values are completely different.
I gently lay in my arms on the ground and loot the corpse of the male adventurer too.
Not that I don’t feel sorry for him, but he’s already dead, and he tried to kill Euphy so I don’t have to worry about it.
However, I don’t know what to take, so I collected anything anyway.
I’ll leave the assessment to these people.
I asked if I should bury the bodies, but I was told to line them up in a distance and leave them alone.
Digging a hole for three is impossible without the right tools.
「 Hmm, this is within expectations. They don’t have anything good 」
「 Well, this guy only has two swords, so that’s about it 」
Gonz and Chuck look at the looted items laid on the ground.
Eight gold coins, weapons, armor, small amounts of food and drinks, and other small items, like ropes and fire-making tools.
They’re lightly dressed as if planning to return to the capital after this.
By the way, “two swords” meant that the guild crest on the right hand has two swords.
It seems that the drawing of the tip of the sword pointing outward at the goddess is proof of one’s ability after doing some service and effort.
I was curious about Gonz’s previous statement that he’s got “three swords” so I asked Euphy to teach me.
「 Then, we’ll take the gear for the potion. They don’t have any magic tools so I think that’s fair. You don’t want to use the equipment of the people who wanted to kill you because that’s bad luck, see? You guys would have a hard time taking it with you, and selling it would be a hassle too 」
Are they Gods? They’re not touching the easy profit and went for the equipment, which takes time to profit.
I don’t want the equipment of people I’ve killed because I might get cursed, so I thank god for that.
Let’s take the money and thank their generosity.
「 Then, we’re heading off. Girly, take care of yourself 」
「 Let’s have a drink next time we see each other, gyahaha! 」
Gonz and Chuck, carrying the swords and armor, turned their backs and left gallantly, saying that they were done with their business.
I’m sorry for thinking of not wanting to see you again at our first meeting.
I’ll be sure to show my gratitude next time we meet.
When they left in the woods, it was just Euphy and Me.
I sit down to Euphy who still hasn’t woken up, watching her pretty face for a while, then her eyelids started twitching.
Her eyes slowly open, and her shapely lips open as she gazes at me.
「 Daiki…sama? 」
「 You’re awake? How are you feeling? 」
「 Huh? I…ha?! What about… 」
Euphy’s eyes opened wide and she looked around.
「 Don’t worry. They’re disposed of 」
「 Y-You won against three?! As expected of Daiki-sama! 」
「 No, you dealt with the last one Euphy. You don’t remember? 」
「 It was hazy, so I don’t remember 」
「 Seriously? Sorry Euphy, I made you do the extreme. I’m really sorry 」
「 Why are you apologizing! Please raise your head! 」
I feel bad for asking her to fight when her memory’s already hazy.
I look up at Euphy who desperately tried to stop me from lowering my head, I gave a brief explanation of the events from the time she was shot with a bow to the present.
「 Then, the people who we met before helped us… 」
「 Yeah, if not for the two, it would’ve been bad. I didn’t know that you were poisoned after all 」
I was about to tell the next part after Gonz and Chuck but then Euphy was suddenly tearing up.
「 U-Uhm, Daiki-sama… You got involved because of me. One wrong move and Daiki-sama would’ve died… I’m sorry…I’m sorry… 」
Euphy clung to me and started crying.
Her expressions were heartbreaking to watch as if she were on the edge of despair.
I grabbed Euphy by the shoulders and hugged her as she cried.
「 You don’t have to worry about that 」
「 But, but! Uuu, Daiki-sama, please send me away 」
「 Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no need for that 」
「 T-That’s right, Daiki-sama, please send me to the people who commissioned them! If you do so, you’ll get rewarded! Please! 」
「 What are you talking about. Man…you’re just making me want to hold you more. I’m not the kind of guy who wants to do things when told to do so. When you tell me to let go, you’re just making me say “never” 」
「 But, the troubles… 」
「 Sure, there’s someone out there who wants to get you. Maybe they’ll track you if you go somewhere else. So, why don’t we leave the country? 」
Euphy’s eyes fluttered at what I said.
「 Eh? Why? I thought Daiki-sama’s waiting for his time to return home?! 」
「 How do I say this. It sounded fishy to me. I’m wondering if they can even send me home. Therefore, why not leave the country altogether? If we leave the country, they won’t be coming after us. I have places I want to go. So, will you come with me, Euphy? 」
「 A-A place you want to go? 」
「 Yes, I want to go to dungeons. We can get skill orbs there, right? If we become stronger, then we can fight back the assassins or whatever, right? That’s two birds with one stone. Euphy, I’m taking you with me even though you don’t want to. So don’t say things like that anymore. It makes me sad thinking that you don’t like me anymore 」
「 Gusu… I understand… I’ll follow Daiki-sama forever 」
She’s still in tears, but she’s showing me a smile.
A smile looks better on cute girls.
Honestly, I don’t know if Euphy following me is a good thing.
But, if I let her go, I don’t know what will happen to her after that.
Then, we’ll leave the country together.
I still don’t know where to go or how to get there. Any road trip with Euphy shouldn’t be too hard.
「 Geez, you finally stopped crying. Let’s go now. Euphy 」
「 Yes, Daiki-sama! 」
We left the forest, where there were signs of death, back to the road.
Then, we started to leave the country of Nyhied, the country that summoned me, to an unknown place.