Chapter 59: Third One

I rushed into the inn and barged into the room we had rented.

“Emergency deployment! We need to check out and leave right now, so get dressed! I’ll explain in the carriage. Hurry!”

I urged the others to get a move on as they looked at me with puzzled expressions, then let the receptionist know that we were leaving. She offered to refund a portion of what we paid for our stay, but I told her to use it as a tip for the stable keeper and get the horses ready right away, and she ran off as fast as she could. Heading toward the stables, I think...

The others had changed from their relaxed clothes to their traveling outfits and approached me after some time, so we headed toward the stables together. Hang and Scary were ready to go already, so we hopped on, then the stable keeper and receptionist sent us off with deep bows. Mine, Aral, and I rode on Hang, while Reiko, Ellie, and Fria rode on Scary. Three riders for each horse. We were over capacity.

“Sorry...”

“What are you apologizin’ for? We military horses run around with grown men fully equipped with weapons and armor on our backs. Three unarmed kids are pretty much the same as nothing at all. Who do you think we are?” Scary replied.

“There you go being rude again... But Scary is right. Please understand there’s nothing to worry about... Besides, we will be using the carriage once we leave the city, will we not?” Hang said.

Although their demeanors were completely different, they both had good hearts. They were definitely descendants of Ed, that’s for sure. And just as they said, I would pull the carriage out as soon as we left the city. The carriages I had stored in the Item Box stood out far too much to ride with just us kids; we’d just be asking for criminals to mess with us. That was why we always put them back in the Item Box before reaching a city, then switched to riding horseback.

Though, even that looked unnatural now that we had so many people in our group. If we kept this up, soon we’d have four riders for each horse. That was a bit much... Maybe we could have the kids ride horseback while Reiko and I held the reins...

Wait, I don’t have time to be thinking about this right now!

We quickly pressed forward, then stopped at the first empty clearing away from the city. After making sure no one was around...

“Merkava, come out!”

Bam!

I summoned Merkava.

I decided to avoid the heavy-duty Panzer because we were in such a hurry. The Penelope was rather delicate, and it would be a bit difficult to fit six passengers in a carriage designed for two, even if they were all kids. Maybe that would work for quick trips but definitely not for longer ones. That was why I went with the Merkava.

I actually wanted to get the carriage running right away and explain everything inside, but I couldn’t do that. This was because we had to discuss where we were heading to first. Since we were heading in the opposite direction, we would end up losing some time. And so, I had to get everyone on board and explain myself.

“So, that’s why we need to find Lucy quickly and make sure she’s safe before those hired thugs get to her.”

The carriage fell silent after I finished my explanation. However, there was no time to waste. I produced a single map from the Item Box. It was one of those maps that only showed mountains, rivers, forests, the sea, and villages, with no regard for scale, like the kind you might find as a bonus item in a Japanese fantasy game. Accurate maps were probably considered military secrets in this world, so I had to work with what I had. Still, it was better than having nothing at all, which was why I had bought it in the first place.

I spread the map out onto a table.

“There are three routes away from here. One leads to the royal capital, one leads to the country to the west, and one goes back to our home country, the one with the former orphanage that’s currently known as Little Silver. The road going back goes all the way around the first and passes between the forest and some rocky mountains. Which direction do you think we should be heading?”

Reiko and I had no basis to determine which route Lucy would have picked. If we were trying to figure out what I would have done, I would try to come to a logical conclusion after putting thought into it. However, I had no idea what a seven-year-old orphan who had lost everything would do in this world. The only people who might have an idea were...

“Here! Lucy would go this way!”

“Yeah. This is definitely the path that Lucy would take!”

“There’s no way she’d take any other route...”

The three girls who knew her best all pointed at the same road. It was the path leading back to the former orphanage where they had once lived together. Their fingers traced not the path that went all the way around the woods, but directly through the deep, dangerous forest full of wild beasts and monsters...

“Wh-Why...?”

I mean, I had suspected that it would be the route leading back to the orphanage. If she was clever and decisive like Mine, she probably would have looked into the surrounding geography and figured out the way back to her former home in secret. I had brought this up to discuss it with the others only as a precaution. It was still possible that Lucy was a pessimist who would assume the orphanage had sold her and thus head to another country, or maybe she was a reckless child who would seek a new, unexplored world...

Going back to the country that she came from was the most obvious choice, so that wasn’t a surprise in itself. But why would a seven-year-old girl choose to walk right through the perilous forest?! It didn’t even have a proper road going through it!

“She would try to go back to the orphanage for sure.”

“Horses and carriages would catch up to her in no time if we followed the road, and she’d be easily spotted.”

“So, it would be better to go somewhere dangerous with low visibility without a road for carriages or horses to ride through. That would decrease her chances of getting caught. And...”

“She just has to make the loss that’s risked by going after her outweigh the benefit of capturing her. That would make her pursuers give up.”

Reiko stared at them with a stupid-looking expression on her face, her mouth wide open. I probably had the same expression on my own face. A few seconds later, we raised our voices in sync.

“You kids are scary!!!”

A few minutes later, Merkava began moving to the east with abnormal haste. Although it wasn’t as swift as the Penelope, Merkava had been made with titanium, duralumin, FRP, and carbon nanotubes, making it extremely light and resilient despite its seemingly normal appearance. With the two top-class horses of the Silver breed juiced up on my special potions, we were absolutely flying. Wild beasts, monsters, and bandits were of little concern to us. We were too fast to catch, and even if they blocked our path, we could blow them to smithereens in an instant with magic or my nitroglycerin-like potions.

The power of KKR was unstoppable when it came to saving cute little girls! This was true even back on Earth, when we didn’t have any cheat powers. Not even the gods could stop us in this state. What if that girl wasn’t cute, you ask?

Little girls who aren’t cute don’t exist in any universe! Little girls are cute just by being little girls! It has nothing to do with appearance!

Just like how kittens and little birds are cute, all girls are adorable. End of discussion!

“So, this is the border of the forest...”

“From here, we take the long way around the forest to the left side. That is, if we’re riding down the road...”

“Yeah. If we’re riding down the road...”

Everyone got out of the carriage and took a look around. The forest was directly in front of us, but the road veered off to the left as if to avoid it. We were about to go directly through this forest.

“Let’s move into the forest a bit and park the carriage at a spot where it can’t be seen from the road. Reiko, Mine, and I will form a search party. Sorry, Mine, but we need you to explain things to Lucy, so you’re coming with us. The others will wait at the carriage. I’ll surround the carriage with a barrier with a ten-meter radius, but it shouldn’t interfere with your grazing. Hang, Scary, watch over the kids for us. Make sure they don’t leave the barrier, no matter what! It will keep enemies out, but I’ll make it so you can leave it from the inside, just in case.”

I repeated the same message in human and horse language, then...

“Huh? The hell are you talking about?”

“I’m afraid I cannot obey that order.”

Hang and Scary denied me.

“We are the Goddess’s horses. There is no way we could let our master roam around while we stay somewhere safe and await your return!”

It wasn’t as if we had much of a choice...

“But horses can’t walk through such a dense forest, especially since it hasn’t been maintained. There’s uneven footing, mud, grass, vines, fallen trees, and other obstacles along the way. You could easily get your foot caught and break a bone...”

“And?”

“Huh...?” Hang asked as if he didn’t understand what I was saying. His expression? Well, I didn’t know how to read the look on a horse’s face...

Then, Scary spoke up. “Don’t you get it, Missy? That’s not nearly big enough of an issue to get in between you and us. Many of us Silver horses have dreamed of fulfilling our duty to serve you, and we’ve been waiting over seventy years for the opportunity. A few broken legs or a broken neck aren’t gonna stop us.”

“The moment we fall, another Silver horse will rush to replace us. When they fall, another will rise to the occasion. It will go on until the very last of the Silver breed has fallen.”

“That’s the wish of our great ancestor, Ed!”

How foolish. Ed was a fool, and so were these two for trying to carry out his wish. I mean, I could heal them with my potions if they got injured, though they would still experience the pain that comes with the injury. And if I left them behind, there was no telling what they would do. Actually, that’s not true; they would definitely leave the barrier and try to follow me. They’d leave the carriage with Aral, Ellie, and Fria behind too... If I sealed them inside, they’d probably go wild and try to break out.

I couldn’t leave such young kids alone by themselves, even if there was a barrier covering them. After Hang and Scary left the barrier, I could make it so it also prevented anyone inside from leaving it, in addition to keeping others from entering, but I wasn’t sure if three kids who weren’t even ten years old could endure waiting for us to come back when they wouldn’t even know if or when we’d return.

The impending darkness of night... Distant, eerie howls of monsters... We’re nowhere in sight, even after a day or two have passed... And the sight of fervent beasts and monsters surrounding the barrier... Yeah, that would be terrifying.

I thought it would still have been fine if Hang and Scary were around. Those two were pretty responsible for their age, and having big horses nearby to protect them would probably give the kids a great sense of safety. Plus, there was no way we’d just go somewhere else without coming back for Hang and Scary, so the kids would be reassured that we weren’t going to abandon them.

They may not think it strange for someone to abandon some orphans, but they definitely wouldn’t think anyone would leave two fine horses and a carriage behind. Though, the whole reason we were here was to find and help orphan kids, so that wouldn’t really make sense... But I couldn’t blame them if they felt that way, considering they’d been betrayed by adults so many times at such a young age...

All right!

“Change of plans! We’re putting Merkava away, and we’re all gonna go look for Lucy on Hang and Scary! Hang, Scary, can you guys each carry three of us and walk through the forest?”

The last part was directed at Hang and Scary in the language of horses.

“Not a problem! Compared to carrying soldiers with full armor and weapons, three kids will be like nothing at all!”

“Exactly! We shall run through the roadless forest as if it were an empty field of grass!”

“Ah... No running, please...”

Hang and Scary had replied with great confidence, but running in the forest would have been a bad idea. But hadn’t Scary said something like that earlier...? Maybe it was his catchphrase or something. Anyway...

“All right, then; everyone off of the carriage. Just carry your canteen with you, okay?”

I didn’t want to use my ability every time someone became thirsty, and my potion creation power was supposed to be a secret.

And so, I put Merkava away, put the kids on Hang and Scary’s backs, then Reiko and I each hopped on...

Off we go!

Hang said he’d run as if we were on an empty field of grass, but we just kind of...clopped along at a much slower pace than usual. If we rushed through a place like this, we’d fall over after just a few steps and break a bunch of bones for sure.

Lucy had gone ahead of us, but she was only seven, so we should be able to catch up before she got through the forest. Yes, I know we could have followed the road, looped around to the other side of the forest, and waited for her to come out. It would have been many times faster for a carriage to run down a road compared to a seven-year-old making her way through a forest.

But that method only would have worked if Lucy was capable of overcoming monsters, beasts, injuries, hunger, thirst, fear, her pursuers, and everything else in her path to get through the forest safely. It was highly unlikely that the thugs following her would enter the forest, but the chance of that happening wasn’t zero.

And even if we were sure Lucy was going to be safe, we still would have chosen this route. Whether she could get through the forest or not, I wasn’t gonna let a little girl spend the night in a forest trembling in fear without doing anything about it! And, of course, there was no guarantee that Lucy would be able to make her way out of the forest unharmed.

In fact, it was far more likely that she wouldn’t. This wasn’t Japan. Monsters and wild beasts lurked within forests in this world. Not to mention, I had no idea how well-equipped Lucy was. She’d need water, food, camping gear, medicine, and more... I had to get to her as fast as possible. In short, we had no choice but to choose this route. So choose this route we did!

“Lady Kaoru, we should proceed a bit more to the left!”

“Huh? But this route leads straight through the forest from one side of the road to the other. Lucy must have spent a long time researching her escape route, so I’m sure she would go this way...” I said in response to Mine’s suggestion, then...

“Yes, but if there are any pursuers, they would think the exact same thing, so Lucy would change course. The question is whether she would go right or left. The right side leads back to the road at a point that’s a bit farther compared to going in a straight line, which is the quickest way through. The left side would take us to a point that’s a bit closer...”

“Then wouldn’t she go to the right so she wouldn’t lose any distance?”

“Yes, but the pursuers would think the same thing, and I don’t think Lucy ever intended on getting through the forest using the quickest route. If she had, she could have ended up getting caught the moment she got back on the main road. I suspect she will hide in the forest for a few days until her pursuers give up...”

“The hell?! Are you kids in the special forces or something?!”

Seriously, what’s up with them... They’re scaring me here!

But considering they had received the same education and lived together for many years, her way of thinking would be much closer to Lucy’s than whatever we could come up with. Regardless of whether it was logically sound or not, it was the most likely option that Lucy might take.

“...Okay. Let’s go a bit more to the left.”

I gave the instruction to Hang and Scary to change course a bit, using a compass to make sure we didn’t lose our sense of direction in the forest. Of course, there was a potion inside it. I asked Mine how Lucy would keep track of her direction, and she said there were several methods, like using the sun, stars, tree stumps, and more...

According to her, counting the rings of a tree wasn’t a very accurate method because it varied depending on the topography and environment, but using it as a point of reference was better than nothing. Supposedly, she learned all this from the original director of the orphanage... Seriously, who the hell was he?!

“Stop!”

Ellie, who had been staring straight ahead from Scary’s back this whole time, suddenly shouted for us to stop. Hang and Scary couldn’t understand our language, but they were intelligent enough to make decisions based on the situation, so they stopped in place without me needing to translate the order.

“That broken tree branch is unnatural. It’s too high up for a small animal to break. And if it was a large animal that broke it, there should be more obvious traces. That means it’s highly likely that within the past few days, a tall animal—perhaps a bipedal one, like a human child—could have passed through...”

“You too?!”

I guess they were all birds of a feather...

Scary, who was carrying Ellie on his back, led the way to follow the traces left on the branches and grass. Then...

“Oh, it leads this way...”

Even I could tell there were traces of something having passed through the vegetation. Just as I said it out loud...

“Those were purposely left there as misdirection. It’s too obvious. The real path is this way. There are faint traces of someone having covered up their passing.”

“Gimme a break...”

Fine, you kids handle it! I’ll just shut up and follow, okay?!

“The traces end here. She may have moved between branch to branch, or made makeshift stilts with wood and vines to get across...”

Yeah, yeah...

I had already gotten used to it.

“Kaoru, were the Eyes of the Goddess like this too?” Reiko asked.

“Like hell they were!” I immediately snapped back.

“She said ‘the Eyes of the Goddess’...”

“She sure did...”

“Hm? Did you say something, Aral, Mine?”

“No, nothing!” they replied in unison.

The kids were whispering among themselves, but there was nothing wrong with that. It was natural for employees to complain or talk crap about their employer, and it was even healthy to do so from time to time. I hoped they weren’t saying anything too bad about me...

“Ellie, do you see any traces of someone going after Lucy?”

Monsters and beasts were dangerous, but the biggest threat to Lucy was human pursuers. With monsters and beasts, there weren’t really issues as long as they didn’t lock on to you as prey. But with human pursuers, she would be their target from the get-go, and they would persistently hound her and attack.

“I don’t see anything so far. If several adults had rushed through a forest without regard for leaving traces behind, there would be some obvious marks. However, this only means that we haven’t found any signs of anyone having pursued Lucy yet. That doesn’t necessarily mean they haven’t run into her via a different course, or that we haven’t simply missed any evidence that they left behind...”

Is this girl really ten years old?! Anyway, we need to catch up to her, quick...

“Having said that, she’s probably fine,” she added.

“Huh?”

“A normal thug wouldn’t go into a forest to go after a seven-year-old girl. Considering the order was to find her dead or alive, I doubt her pursuers are licensed hunters. A guard wouldn’t accept a job like this either. That means they have to be goons who didn’t measure up as soldiers or guards. Someone like that couldn’t last several days in a forest, conducting a search without the proper know-how or equipment. No, they would just stick to the main road for their search. And even if they did enter the forest, Lucy would notice their talking and noises before they saw her. It won’t be easy to find a seven-year-old hiding in the bushes or behind a tree.”

Mine and Fria nodded along to Ellie’s explanation.

“...”

Reiko and I found ourselves at a loss for words. The blank look on Aral’s face was actually comforting to see. Come to think of it, he wasn’t from that mysterious orphanage. He was one of us! Good, good...

I patted Aral on the head, and he smiled happily.

Well, aren’t you adorable...

Mine, Aral, and I were seated on Hang in that order, so I could pat him as much as I wanted. Though, Mine was looking back at us and staring intensely at Aral and me for some reason... She’s gonna hurt her neck and back positioned like that... Maybe she was worried I had taken the “big sister” role from her?

More importantly, we had to keep moving forward...

We moved to a spot where the trees were more sparse, and I pulled the carriage and tent out from the Item Box to prepare for camping. We could recline the seats back to turn them into a comfortable bed, but there wasn’t enough room for six kids with just the Merkava alone, so I brought out Panzer too. I also brought out the big tent to use as a spot to eat and hang out after dinner.

It was already pre-built, of course, so all I had to do was pull it out. I would put it back away when we went to sleep, so we didn’t dig a drainage ditch or secure it to the ground with pegs. It was strictly just for eating and chatting.

I then gave Hang and Scary some fodder. It was a mixture of oats, soy, pulses, and hay, with some healing potion sprinkled on top. For dessert, they had all the apples, corn, carrots, and sugar cubes they wanted. I heard horses could get diabetes if they were fed too much sugar, but they wouldn’t have to worry about disease as long as they were with me.

I then brought out a cooking table, tools, water tank, and ingredients, and started the prep work. Since we were in a forest, I avoided using fire to prevent starting a forest fire, attracting monsters, or alerting any possible pursuers, so it would be a simple meal without any grilling or simmering. We had already camped several times since picking up Ellie and Fria, so they were used to it by now. Just like with Mine and Aral, we already told them Reiko and I were mages, so there were no problems on that end.

We had already made good time getting from the city to the forest on the main road, so we should have made quicker progress than Lucy even after we entered the forest. If we kept this up, we might even catch up to her tomorrow. I wanted to make sure this would be the last time a little girl like her spent the night all alone in a place like this. That was my hope and my duty.

As per the request by the orphanage trio, Mine, Ellie, and Fria slept in Merkava together. That left Reiko, Aral, and I in Panzer. It seemed kind of imbalanced, but they probably wanted to have a chat with just the girls from the orphanage. It might have made me sad if it was split between the four kids in one group and Reiko and I in the other, but we had no complaints since Aral was with us. And so, I decided to tell some Japanese nursery tales arranged for this world’s setting to Aral, who usually spent his time stuck to Mine.

“...So, I know it sounds questionable, but we’re going to act as if Lady Kaoru and Lady Reiko are mages. Whatever you do, don’t call them goddesses or angels!”

Ellie and Fria nodded in response to Mine inside Merkava.

“Also, this ‘mage’ story is only for us Little Silver employees. To others, they’re supposed to be charitable rich aristocrats who bought out an old orphanage and just hired orphans for fun.”

They nodded again.

“So, once we get Lucy, we’ll all swear loyalty to them, then we’ll teach everything we taught from Daddy to Aral, and we’ll all seize a happy life together!”

“Yeaaah!” the girls cried out together.

Meanwhile, Aral was laughing happily as Kaoru and Reiko played with him, completely oblivious to what awaited him...

The next day, we had a quick breakfast with some precooked food from the Item Box, then put the two carriages away and got moving. We wouldn’t be able to make any progress once the sun set, so we needed to find Lucy as soon as possible after it got bright. I didn’t want to end up saying, “If only we left ten minutes earlier...” or “If only we left right away instead of drinking tea...” and dealing with regret.

And so, we continued on with our search and pursuit, taking breaks and meals in between, and once the sun started getting ready to set...

“I’ll try calling for Lucy.”

“Huh?”

Ellie had suddenly spoken up, seeming to suspect that we were getting closer. It didn’t seem like any thugs were actually coming after her, and it wouldn’t be too big of a deal if there were. The most important thing right now was to find Lucy as soon as possible and make sure she was safe. She wouldn’t be able to hear us from far away even if we called her name in this forest, but we should be able to spot a child from a closer range than our voices would carry. We could always quench ourselves with potions if our throats went dry, so we figured it was better to try it out.

“Oh, okay, then. Go for it!”

Kids’ voices have a higher frequency than adults’, so...wait, everyone in this group was probably about the same in that sense.

Piiiiiiiiiiii!

She whistled with her fingers?!

She wouldn’t end up killing her throat this way, and the sound carried much farther than her voice could. But even if Lucy did hear it, she would need to recognize that it was a signal from her allies.

“I whistle at a specific tempo, so she’ll know that we’re friends,” Mine whispered next to my ear as if she understood what I was thinking.

“Oh... Right...”

...Seriously, what’s with you kids?!

Ellie and Mine occasionally sounded their finger whistles as we advanced forward. Although Fria could do it too, she wasn’t as good as the other two, so she let them handle it. Considering Lucy’s life was in danger, it made sense to let the ones most suited to the task take care of it.

Many Japanese people could whistle with their lips, but not many of them could whistle with their fingers. Most people could in places like America, though... Maybe it was because America was a big place, so they needed to use it as a way to signal others when they got lost or something? They should make finger whistling a thing in Japan, in case people get attacked at night or lost while climbing or camping...

And after the finger whistles were sounded several times...

Piiiiiiiii!

I thought I heard a similar, faint whistling noise from somewhere else.

“It’s Lucy. That signal means ‘Healthy, no problems.’ It came from that way. Let us hurry!”

“Oh... Right...”

Seriously!!!

Hoot! Hoot, hoot!

As we moved toward the whistling noise that had responded to us, we started hearing some sort of nocturnal bird, like an owl.

“She’s close.”

Reiko and I shared a silent glance.

They even had signals for that...? Though, it was true that enemies would be less likely to catch on if you signaled with bird noises. Maybe they learned it in the girl scouts or something?

By the way, I wonder if “girl scout” came from scouting girls with significant talent, or because girls were trained to become scouts? They’re probably both wrong...

They continued to signal and adjusted our trajectory accordingly, then...

“I’m in here!”

I heard a young girl’s voice from a nearby bush.

“Lucy!”

“Ellie?”

“Mine and Fria are here too!”

“Thank goodness...”

Lucy must have known that a friend, maybe someone from the orphanage, was trying to communicate with her, but she seemed relieved from the bottom of her heart to finally confirm it. She may have been brave, but it had to have been terribly lonely for a seven-year-old girl to spend the night in a dangerous forest by herself.

Then, I heard the bushes rustle...

“Ellie, Mine, Fria!”

The silhouette that jumped out of the bushes leapt into Ellie’s arms.

“Sorry for the wait!”

“You’re here! You’re here! Ah... Waaahhhh!”

Lucy finally seemed to let herself relax, and her emotions came pouring out as she cried. I couldn’t blame her. She must have been fighting so desperately with her mind on high alert the whole time...

Ellie and Mine were crying too. It had to be tough for them too, since they had been sold off...

“So, who’s coming to rescue us?” Lucy asked once she calmed down.

“Huh?”

Ellie looked at her with a confused stare.

“Oh, I mean, where are the adults? You guys are here to guide the party, right? Aren’t there adults to protect us against monsters and wild beasts?”

Ah...

That was a logical assumption.

“There aren’t any. It’s just us,” Mine interjected.

“Huh? What? Whaaaaaat?”

Lucy’s mouth hung open in disbelief.

“Then if it came to a fight with monsters, beasts, or my pursuers, we aren’t much better off than when I was alone! They’d just be happy that there’s extra prey for them!”

Yes, I understand, Lucy... Wait, what’s that?

“Lucy, your foot...”

“Oh, I sprained it... I must have been dragging it since, then cut it open on a sharp rock or something...”

There were vines wrapped all around Lucy’s left ankle to keep it immobilized, but I could see they were stained with blood.

“Didn’t you signal that you were healthy and there weren’t any issues?” I asked, and Lucy made a suspicious face.

“...Ellie? Who’s this kid?”

Oof!

A seven-year-old called me a “kid”...

“They are Lady Kaoru and Lady Reiko, the people who saved us. They’re business owners, and they hired us to work at their office, Little Silver. Oh, and this is Aral, a boy I brought with me during my escape. He’s from a different orphanage than us, but he has a similar background,” Mine said, jumping in to concisely introduce everyone new to Lucy.

Then...

“...Business owners?”

Yeah, it made sense that that part would raise an eyebrow, considering we looked like we were twelve...

“Whaaaat?! You own a business at your age?! And you got our old orphanage in a hostile takeover?”

“Like hell I did! I paid good money for that place!”

We had moved a small distance away into a little space between some trees to sit down and explain the situation to Lucy. She had had that sudden outburst while we were explaining how we had met Mine.

“I-I’m sorry, she can be a bit hasty at times... Lucy, you need to let others finish talking before you go off like that! You’ll bring all kinds of monsters if you raise your voice in the forest at night like that!”

“Eep!”

Lucy made a startled noise and quieted down, not because of the part about the monsters, but because she saw the look on Ellie and Mine’s faces. Yeah, their expressions were scary, all right.

What? My face looks scarier? Shaddap!

It was remarkable how Mine and Ellie seemed deeply grateful to Reiko and I for saving them, though. Moreover, they knew that the futures of all five orphans, including Mine, Aral, and Lucy, rested on our shoulders, so they couldn’t stand idly by as Lucy made comments that could upset us. Of course, Reiko and I weren’t bothered in the least by a child’s careless remarks.

“But just look at her, this lady has the face of an evil villain...”

Everyone suddenly went quiet.

“Why won’t anyone deny that?!”

Lucy finally seemed to understand once we finished explaining.

“I look forward to having a wonderful relationship with you,” she said.

What, are we getting married or something?!

I mean, I hadn’t even agreed to hire her yet... She was probably saying that to speak it into existence before I said otherwise. She knew what she was doing. Of course, I was already planning on hiring her from the get-go.

...Wait! What am I, stupid?!

I hadn’t done anything about Lucy’s foot! She acted as if it didn’t bother her, so I ended up getting too busy talking and forgot all about it. There was no way she wasn’t in pain. In fact, it had to hurt really bad. So much so that she couldn’t walk without wrapping ivy tightly around it and dragging her foot. She had even cut it open on a rock. It was painful just looking at the purplish, blackish, swollen mess.

“Show me your foot!”

“What...?”

“Just do it! Let me see your left foot!”

Lucy seemed hesitant as I demanded to see her foot. Maybe she was afraid of what I would do, or she was just being modest. Mine gave her an encouraging look, and she gingerly extended her injured foot toward me. I was careful not to touch her damaged ankle and supported her calf from below as I assessed the injury.

“Didn’t you signal that you didn’t have any problems?”

“I mean, this isn’t anything I can’t handle. It’s not a deadly injury, and it wasn’t as if I was immobilized, even if it did slow me down a bit.”

Was she stupid or something? It would only get worse if she ignored it and could cause permanent damage. Bacteria could get in the wound, making it fester or giving her tetanus. So...I quickly reached into my bag.

Healing potion, come out!

I then took hold of a potion bottle inside the bag.

“Here, pour this on it!”

With that, I pulled the potion out to hand her. Two bottles, just in case. One was for pouring onto her wound, and one was for her to drink, just in case bacteria had gotten in her body already. Just drinking it would have sufficed, but it would have been suspicious if her wound healed up just from taking oral medicine.

However, Lucy didn’t accept the bottle I offered. Maybe she didn’t want to use the medicine when she had no idea what it was, or maybe she was afraid I would force her to work without pay for years in order to make up a heavy price. I couldn’t blame her. These kids had gone through far too much to easily trust a stranger they had just met.

So, I had no choice. I decided to do it myself. I opened the potion bottle, then gently poured the contents over Lucy’s left foot. First, I went over the gash she had cut on a rock. Then, onto her swollen sprain... Finally, I gave her the other bottle to drink. I practically had to force it down her throat.

“What...?”

She stared blankly.

“Ah...”

Shock overcame Lucy’s face as her wounds healed before her eyes, while Mine and Aral looked unsurprised, Ellie and Fria stared wide-eyed, and Reiko looked exasperated.

“Ang—Urp!”

“Go—Erg!”

Mine covered Ellie’s mouth as she was about to say something, and Aral followed suit by covering up Fria’s mouth. Ang? Go? What were they about to say? And why had Mine and Aral covered their mouths in such a fluster? Meanwhile, Lucy still hadn’t moved an inch...

“We’ll be camping here tonight.”

Everyone nodded. With their agreement, we settled on this place for our camping spot. It was near the place we had found Lucy, where the trees were spaced out somewhat sparsely.

I brought the carriage out as usual, followed by the pre-built tent, cooking table, water tank, food ingredients, chairs and tables, and more... We decided to have the kids sleep in the two carriages while Reiko and I slept in the tent. I could already tell we wouldn’t be able to sleep with the kids getting excited and catching up on what they’d been up to.

Anyway, I could worry about that later. First, it was time for dinner!

...Are they really trying to keep it a secret?

Hmm... Well, whatever the case, I think we should still pretend not to notice for a while... Isn’t that how it is in the stories? The characters take a long time to catch on, even if the secret is glaringly obvious.

Ah, guess so...

“Aral, Mine, did you say something?”

“No, nothing!” they replied in unison.

“Oh? Then let’s get started on dinner. You kids help too, okay?”

For some reason, the three newcomers looked frantic as they nodded.

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast with some ready-to-eat stuff from the Item Box and departed right away. Lucy’s safety was guaranteed now that we had grouped up with her, but we couldn’t let such young children spend too many nights camping in the forest.

As such, our plan was to go straight out the other side of the forest and onto the main road, then head directly to Little Silver. Of course, we would have to camp out on the side of the road, stop at an inn in town, and check on the trading company where Mine used to work, so it wasn’t really a direct route...

Either way, Little Silver only handled dried and smoked food along with nonessential grocery items, so taking a week or two off wouldn’t cause any trouble for anyone. We even had official support from the local lord, so we could stay out even longer if we wanted. Besides, it was completely normal to take a few days or even a few weeks off to stock up on goods in this world. Of course, that didn’t really apply to Little Silver, considering we could restock locally without issues. Anyway...

“Stop!”

Whoa!

Hang and Scary came to an abrupt halt in response to Reiko’s order in their language. We had been going at a pretty easy pace, so the stop wasn’t too jarring for the riders. Mine, Aral, and Fria were riding on Hang, while Ellie and Lucy were riding on Scary. Four riders was a bit too much, so Reiko and I were walking. Boohoo...

Mine insisted on walking so Reiko and I could ride horseback, but I ordered her as her employer to get her butt on Hang’s back. Sure, it was a bit strange for them to be on horseback while their bosses walked on foot, but maybe she was more worried that we were too frail to be walking through the forest. She probably thought she could handle it, having been through hardships as an orphan...

That might be true under normal circumstances, but we had potions for recovering from fatigue, so it wasn’t an issue. We might cut ourselves on plants and small trees, but my potions would make quick work of those wounds too.

All hail potions!

“Four medium-sized monsters approaching quickly! They’re heading right for us! Group up, everyone!”

Reiko gave the order after detecting monsters with her magic, and I brought Hang and Scary closer with the kids still on their backs. With this done, Reiko cast her spell.

“Barrier!”

There was really no need to call out her spells like that, but we decided it would be better to name them out loud whenever possible to give the kids a sense of safety and to emphasize what kind of magic they were being protected by at the time. Honestly, though, the real reason was because it sounded cooler that way.

Of course, if we were dealing with humans and we didn’t want them to know what we were up to, she would have opted to stay silent. My potions weren’t all that useful at times like these... It wasn’t that they were useless, though! I could patch us up right away, so we could shrug off any injury as long as we didn’t die outright, which was incredibly reassuring to know.

But when it came to enemy ambushes or self-defense, my potions weren’t always the best option. If a monster jumped at us from behind a tree at breakneck speeds, I couldn’t just create a nitroglycerin-like potion and catch it in a well-placed explosion. The monster-warding medicine was useful for sprinkling around the camp at night, but it wasn’t all that helpful while in motion, and although its smell triggered a sense of aversion, monsters would attack us anyway if they saw some soft, easy-looking prey. Like they were now.

Firearm-type potion containers? No way! I’d probably end up shooting my own allies in the back or blowing up my own finger. Besides, I wasn’t some sharpshooter capable of instantaneously landing a shot on a monster or beast that leapt at me from behind a tree at close range.

Not to mention, I didn’t like the idea of using a gun in my daily life. I was fine with getting a little wild with the Goddess’s miracles or bringing down the Angel’s wrath. Such powers were completely and utterly out of reach for mere humans. But what if someone saw me using a gun? They would think, “I could be just as powerful if I have that thing.” I couldn’t have that.

Still, I knew I couldn’t be picky like that when it came down to it. In the meantime, I have Reiko. So there. The right person for the right job. We would each do what we were good at to cover each other’s weaker points. That was enough for now.

“Ray Gun!”

Pew, pew, pew, pew!

As soon as the opponents came into view, Reiko formed the shape of a gun with her index finger outstretched and thumb up, then shot a beam from her pointing finger. I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a laser or maser, but ray guns, heat guns, and blasters were pretty common in science fiction novels. The military was even working on using them as practical weapons... Though, maybe the technology had already been in common use by civilians by the time Reiko had died. I decided to ask her about it later...

But come to think of it, I wouldn’t really call that magic... Though, they do say that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. It probably had nothing to do with the Reiko Hadoken. Probably.

“Wow!”

“She took down a forest wolf in an instant...”

“Amazing, Lady Ang...I mean, Lady Mage!”

“A-mage-ing!”

The heck is that...?

And so, we went back to moving forward. Maybe it was because we were moving loudly and in a big group, but we ran into some more monsters and beasts, even though Lucy had been able to evade them by moving quietly by herself. Anyway, Reiko made quick work of them without issues. Such convenience! Every household should have its very own Reiko.

Now that Lucy had joined us, there was no need for her to kill time in the forest to avoid anyone who might be going after her. As such, we had changed course a bit to the right to save some time, then moved out of the forest and back onto the main road.

Since the sun was already starting to set, we had decided to camp by the side of the road and get back on the carriage tomorrow. We had settled on a spot that was some way into the forest and out of sight of the road, rather than using the empty lot that was intended for travelers to camp overnight.

I brought out both Merkava and Panzer for the kids to use instead of tents. Reiko and I were just going to use the tent again, but we could deal with it later. It wasn’t as if it needed any set-up, so we could just bring it out right before it was time to sleep. I decided to spray some repellent for monsters, beasts, and bugs around the campsite, then got ready for dinner.

I didn’t want to use fire much in the forest, and since it could also attract unwanted guests, I began pulling out some raw vegetables and fruits from storage. This was the first time I’d be making Lucy a proper meal.

All right, let’s do this!

I brought out a simple furnace, a cooking table, a grill, and other items, then got to work cutting and grilling a bunch of meat and vegetables. The kids were giddy with excitement. This was probably the first time they had experienced something like this. Not just the food quality, but this sort of event.

After some time, a delicious scent filled the air...

Hm?

I thought I felt someone staring at us from the other side of the kids...

“Whoa!”

There she is.

There was a long, silent pause.

“Leia...”

Yes, it was Celes’s cousin...though, she was even more useless than our airheaded Celes due to her being a low-level, inferior offspring. This problem...child, was staring directly at me...no, at the barbecue table.

Ah...

“Fine, fine, you can join us for dinner. So? Why are you here?”

I mean, I did have a hunch...

“Really? Yay! Well, I was watching you so I could gather more intel, but the food looked so good...”

Leia’s initial, child-like reply seemed like her honest reaction, but she immediately assumed her arrogant demeanor afterward. That said, she did seem to be much less of a pain compared to when I had first met her.

She was probably incredibly old, just like Celes, but that only really applied to her core and her higher-grade offspring. Even if she had vast memories and incredible powers, it was just recently that this offspring with human-level intelligence came to be. This one’s body was probably far superior to ours, but it wasn’t as if she was as tough as steel or anything...

Plus, she didn’t want to use her mysterious powers out of fear of being found by Celes. That was why she had bugged me for money despite having the ability to do anything she wanted. She ended up costing me a lot! Hmph! So, it was probably better to just treat her normally without overthinking it.

Celes seemed to be happy about that sort of treatment too. I figured that, unlike our overlords, an entity like the Celes and Leia we knew had lowered their intelligence and mental processing speed to enable themselves to communicate with creatures of the world, and thus possessed emotions that their cores had already lost a long time ago.

That was why Celes had a personal interest in me and even had some feelings for that special someone. These emotions may have been granted to them for the sole purpose of giving them the ability to communicate with the native creatures of this world, but these emotions were also a part of Celes and Leia, so I didn’t think too deeply about it.

Anyway, I introduced Leia to everyone. Of course, I only revealed info about her public persona. The story was that she was supposed to have been sent as our supervisor, but she was also a free-spirited noble girl who wanted to have some fun away from her parents.

“Is she an angel too?”

“Who knows... She may just be a relative of Lady Kaoru or Lady Reiko. I doubt the Goddess would turn just anyone into an angel...”

“I see...”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” they replied in unison.

Maybe it was just my imagination...

Anyway, it would be a good experience for Leia to spend some time with other kids who appeared to be around her age. It would be great if she could develop some love for us so-called lower beings, even if it was something akin to the love one might have for their pet.

I got back to cooking to get everyone excited again, but then...

“Hey now, that’s some tasty-lookin’ food you’re eating here...”

What now?!

Actually, I had just started grilling, and we hadn’t started eating yet. Not that it mattered.

In any case, some suspicious-looking men appeared before us. There were four of them, each looking like a stereotypical thug you’d see in stories. Maybe these were the guys looking for Lucy?