CH 82

“I see. That’s Nina’s…”

Emilia mutters this with her arms crossed.

I told Emilia everything I saw in that house.

The discovery of a skeletal corpse. About Nina and her family. The “goddess cult”.

Emilia’s expression became quite grim halfway through, but she quietly listened to the end.

“But “goddess cult”? From what I’ve heard, they sound like a very corrupt group of people…I can’t forgive them.”

“Yeah… I’ll definitely crush them with my own hands. We can’t have more children like Nina.”

But the problem is that we don’t know the scale of it at all. It’s not the same as destroying a band of thieves or criminals like the “Greedy Spider”.

When you think about it, it seems like it was a bad move to refuse the guild’s offer, but an ally with a lot of uncertainties is more troublesome than an enemy.

If they are in trouble, of course we have to help them. If that happens, there is a possibility that I and Emilia will be harmed.

But there is no option not to do it.

“……let’s just get a bite to eat.”

Well, let’s start with nutrition.

Eat when you can. It’s an adventurer’s cardinal rule.

“Ah, oh. That’s right. Please wait, I’ll get it out right away.”

Saying that, Emilia reaches out for her magic bag. She’s probably trying to serve portable non-perishable food.

“No. It’s been a while since I’ve made one… and I’ve brought my tools. It’s only easy to make something simple here.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll help you too. No, let me help you, please.”

Emilia’s expression changed to an apologetic expression for some reason. Is something wrong with her? When we were in a party, she was always happy to ask me about the menu, but…

Then we ate the food together. We could hear the sounds of the kidnappers’ bellies rumbling in the background, but we ignored them. It seems that they hardly gave food to the children they kidnapped.

The only mercy I can give you is to let you pass away without suffering in your last moments.

After eating, we took turns resting until morning.

I ask Emilia to rest first, and during that time I take care of my weapons and tools. A man who neglects to do this and is in a hurry when the time comes is no more than a third-rate adventurer.

In the first place, most people die when they fall into such a situation in the middle of a request.

Of course, he has not neglected to be vigilant of his surroundings.

“…”

After finishing the maintenance of the tools, I felt a gaze that was watching me while I was cleaning up.

Who are you? Is it an enemy? A passing traveler… should I move quickly? Well, they might just be on the lookout for kidnappers who are tied up.

I was wondering if I should search for enemies with magic.

“Gray. It’s time to switch.”

“Hmm, ah”

Saying that, Emilia, who was lying down, got up and sat next to me.

Emilia must have noticed the gaze too. In fact, there is still quite a bit of time until the changeover time.

“…Do you know how many people?”

“It’s not one or two, but I don’t know the exact number.”

Emilia and I converse in a low voice that only each other can hear.

“What do we do?”

“We don’t know what they want, so until they make a move, it’s probably best if we don’t make a move either.”

“I understand.”

Then I lay down as if nothing had happened to see how the other party would react.

I close my eyes, wary of my surroundings.

Then, after listening to the crackling of the bonfire and the sounds of insects and owl-like cries for a while, I heard something rustling in the bushes.

“Gray!”

Emilia stands up while calling my name.

“ah”

I immediately stood up and held my sword in the direction of the sound.

At the same time, a robed man rises from the bushes and shoots a ball of fire, a fireball, at us.

When I and Emilia avoided it, a ball of fire was also shot from another direction.

The fireball doesn’t go to us, but to the kidnappers, who are tied up and unable to move.

The ball hit the ground, and some of them turned into fire dummies and rolled around on the ground, screaming.

“Tch… Emilia!”

I don’t care if the kidnappers burn to death, but if the fire continues to burn, it could spread throughout the forest, so I magically create water to extinguish the fire.

Emilia, as I called her, ran silently to the man in the bushes.

….. are these guys trying to kidnap people?

I also ran to the place where the magic was shot from at the same time as the fire was extinguished.