Now, it became certain that Nara and Priesia would be joining Riley. After that, Riley decided to leave the rest to Rorona. Riley and others joined up with Nainiae and Sera.

“The four on the top of the list are here?”

Riley had the four people standing in front of him. He nodded as if he was liking the picture.

“They are all here.”

“Still, two people… are missing.”

Of the four, Priesia glanced around left and right and then tilted her head to the side as she asked.

“According to what you explained earlier, you are planning a counter strike with six people just like how the Six Parts from the world below came to cause problems in our world, right?”

Riley nodded. He then explained the current situation briefly.

“Of the six, five were gathered.”

“Five?”

Nara was standing far right of the group. He looked at the three people who were standing next to himself and then furrowed his brows.

“One, two, three… four including myself… There are four in total?”

“By any chance, does the six people include you, Young Master?”

As if he was confused, Nara mumbled. It seemed Priesia was also curious about this. She wiggled her eyebrows and asked.

“No. I’m not included.”

Riley started to explain about the one who could not be seen at the moment.

“The one who is not here is waiting at a place we promised to gather at.”

“A place we promised to gather at?”

“Of the six… This one was decided first.”

“First?”

“Even before Nainiae?”

“That’s right.”

It seemed the three people besides Nainiae were surprised. They had their eyes turned big as they stared at Nainiae.

“Nainiae… You knew about this too?”

“… Yes.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“I know, but… Yes… Won’t it be better to save this as the fun subject for later?”

Nainiae scratched her cheek and avoided answering. Riley also broke cold sweat and thought about the ‘red haired young man’ who was having a conversation with Abyss at Ansyrium. Riley was thinking about ‘the red dragon.’

‘I wonder what the two are up to…’

Riley was not sure about Abyss, but Andal was not liking the man, so Riley could only roughly guess that Andal was not going to sit quietly and become a good conversation partner with Abyss.

‘If we sit around longer, the letters ‘Ansyrium’ might disappear from the map. I think I should hurry before that happens.’

Even before something could happen because of Helena, Riley was having useless worries about half of the map needing correction soon because of Andal and Abyss. He folded his thoughts and said,

“Anyway, we will be moving right away to meet the remaining member. You packed your things right? I did say that it would be a brief moment in this world’s time, but we would be spending quite a while in the other side, so…”

Having heard his question, the four all looked at each other. They nodded as if they were ready. They all said at the same time,

“Yes!”

“Anytime.”

“By the way, who is the sixth person?”

“You’ll know that too when you get there.”

Riley looked at Nainiae and signaled with his gaze.

“Well then, I’ll open the dimensional portal…”

Under Riley’s order, Nainiae was about to open the dimensional portal to find the sixth part. However, she heard footsteps from behind her. She stopped the spell and narrowed her eyes.

“… Hey!”

The steps were not just one or two people. Not just Nainiae, but everyone else at the spot turned their heads toward where the voice came from.

“Is it those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds? The ones who picked fights with you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“They said they are from some merchant group. As if interfering with our work was not enough, they broke my Big Bro’s arm.”

Nainiae saw that they were a group who all wore unique desert fabrics wrapped all around their bodies.

“I don’t know which merchant group you all came from, but you cannot meddle with our business spot due collections.”

Of the group, a man who appeared to be the leader was holding a large metal club on his shoulder. He tapped his shoulder with the club as he walked to Riley’s group.

“Big Bro! Over there. It’s the brown-haired la.s.s over there! She is the one who broke his arm!”

Men who appeared to be subordinates pointed at Sera and started to grind their teeth.

“Oh?”

The man with metal club on his shoulder looked at her. As if he was impressed, he wiggled his brows and said,

“She looks quite innocent? How…”

The man looked at Priesia and then Nainiae. The man’s eyes were filled up with greed. He started to grin big time.

“About this… I was thinking I was unlucky, but it isn’t really the case.”

The man raised the other hand that was not holding the metal club and flickered around his fingers. The subordinates behind him who were on standby all took a step forward with violent looks on their faces.

“Guys.”

“Yes, Big Bro!”

“Let’s let out our frustration today!”

“Huu huu!”

The men behind the one with metal club all started to laugh in creepy way.

“If you can, leave those two men alive as well. They have quite fair faces as too. We just need to sell them to n.o.bilities with strange tastes.”

Letting out their frustration, selling to the n.o.bilities… Riley’s group just vacantly stared at these men saying strange stuff. It was Sera who showed a response first.

“Ugh…”

Sera sighed big and stared at Nainiae with dumbfounded face. Sera said,

“This is why I told you earlier that it would be best to wipe off completely without leaving any dirty feeling behind.”

[TL: In case it was not made clear, I’m pretty sure Sera was making a reference to wiping one’s b.u.t.t after p.o.o.ping to make an a.n.a.logy about handling the thug earlier. This is similar to what happened with Beta and Hamil at the Lower Solia ages ago.]

Earlier today, it was Sera who was left in charge of handling the rest with the giant who Nara had a fight with. Because Nainiae said Riley was looking for her, Sera could not help it but to leave it be without finis.h.i.+ng it. Sera was now muttering that it was a mistake.

“I see. The right answer would have been taking care of the rest completely.”

It seemed Nainiae was ashamed. She turned to look at Riley. The look on her face asked what should be done.

“Why are you even asking? The answer is already out, right?”

With his arms crossed, Riley glanced at Nara. As if he was waiting for this, Nara cracked his neck left and right and grabbed his spear.

“Ms. Nainiae. There is no need for you to go easy on them. They only exploit powerless people. They are the sc.u.ms of the desert.”

In particular, the giant with metal club was infamous for being evil. He was well known even among the mercenaries. The man was most definitely the leader of the desert thieves, and he had a bounty on his head.

“When I saw what the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was doing at the pub, I just thought maybe, but… I didn’t know he had someone with a bounty among the group.”

With his spear on his hand, Nara was showing hostility. Riley was thinking hard about something. As if he wanted to tell Nara to wait a moment, Riley pulled Nara’s shoulder.

“… Young Master?”

Nara wondered what that was about. He floated a question mark on his face and looked back at Riley.

“Let’s save your performance for later.”

Riley looked at Nainiae. He narrowed his eyes to tell her not to step in either. Nainiae understood and nodded. She took a step back.

“Young Master, just why…”

Nara carefully asked. Riley looked at Sera and said,

“Sera, you didn’t get to wrap it up. I can leave this to you, right?”

Sera panicked and opened and closed her mouth like a fish. In a tone of voice that lacked confidence, Sera said,

“Excuse me, Young Master. Still… Fighting dozens of such big men would be too much for me, don’t you think? They are all wielding different weapons too… Perhaps if I had someone who will support me…”

Sera had worries on her face when she looked back at Riley. Riley shrugged and said,

“Don’t you remember that you don’t want to make me or Nainiae worry?”

“T… That was…”

“Try it out, alone.”

Riley narrowed his eyes and told her to try it alone. Thinking it could not be helped, Sera sighed and brought her hands to her waist.

“Y… Young Master. Still, asking Ms. Sera to fight all those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds by herself is…”

“Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds… It’s hard for me to just stand back and watch. Can’t you just let me fight?”

Nainiae and Nara asked if it would be all right if they helped out little bit. Riley watched Sera drawing her swords. He only kept silence.

“Young Master, in that case… how about healing…”

“No.”

Priesia asked if it would be all right if she used her Holy Power at least. However, Riley had a stern look on his face. In the end, Priesia had no choice but to look at the back of Sera while being very concerned.

“It’s just that there is no need for any of them.”

“No need…”

“… for any of them?”

Nainiae and Nara could not understand. They looked confused. Like Riley, they watched the back of Sera.

‘It’s not like… she is going to die from this, right?’

As if Sera could not feel the gazes from the four people behind her, with her piercing gaze, Sera glared at evildoers who were making their way toward her. She was wielding her dual swords.

‘Be calm. Hu… Be calm.’

Her swords were relatively short and thin. When her swords revealed themselves, Nara’s eyebrows bent the wrong way.

‘Dual swords? She uses dual swords?’

Although Nara had not lived long, he had met many people so far and seen all sorts of weapons through his life as a mercenary. With intrigued look on his face, Nara put the spear back over his shoulder.

‘I think she has a pretty good stance. As expected, even though she is a maid, she is from Iphalleta.’

Nara was examining Sera’s stance who appeared to have the basics down. It seemed Nara was not satisfied with doing just that. He checked how many of the thugs were coming.

‘The number of opponents she can handle by herself is roughly… about thirty. I really don’t think she can handle them all without a special weapon?’

Riley did order them to just watch. However, it seemed Nainiae was ready to save her at a moment’s notice if Sera ended up in danger. With serious look on her face, Nainiae had a protection spell ready.

‘Ms. Sera…’

It was when Nainiae was mumbling Sera’s name in her mind. One of the desert thugs who were approaching Sera started to charge in screaming.

“Ha, how arrogant of you to stand alone!”

“It looks like we will have to make you feel the bitter taste!”

“On bed!”

One large man was swinging a hook on a chain. There were others charging in with unique looking axe or blades. There was another one coming with a metal net.

‘I think it would be easy if Ms. Heliona was here.’

Sera was thinking about how she fought the guards who were brainwashed by Reutrina during the last winter. Back then, Sera was protected by Heliona, the summon spirit. As if Sera was whipping herself, she shook her head and fixed her grip on her swords.

‘No, don’t falter here, Sera. Young Master asked me to go with him, didn’t he? If I don’t want to become a burden after going to the other side, then I need to work hard starting now!’

Sera was glaring at the front with her eyes wide. The net was thrown at her first. With her swords on her hands, she twisted her upper body in a large motion.

‘First, one of them.’

She avoided the net by leaning back. She locked her gaze with the thug who was rus.h.i.+ng in first. She swung her swords and neutralized him. She then quickly moved her steps.

“You stupid… Uk!”

The thug who was just behind the first one clicked his tongue after watching the man being subdued. However, the second thug was surprised to see his own body falling over to the front. He screamed.

“Kuk!”

“Kuuuaaak!?”

Afterwards, third and fourth thugs fell over or knocked unconscious by Sera’s swords or kicks. The thugs’ leader, the man with metal club, kicked his tongue.

“Fools. You guys can’t even handle a la.s.s with petty tricks.”

The evildoers were feeling anxious after hearing their leader clicking his tongue. It seemed they judged that this was not going to work. Some got out of the frontline and fell back.

‘It looks like this la.s.s knows how to handle sword a bit… Let’s see if you are going to still run around all excited and have fun once I get a hostage.’

Sera was chasing after weapons that surrounded her. However, she saw a few thugs were slipping out of the formation. She started to think hard about this.

‘What should I do?’

She wondered if she should let them head to where Riley’s group was. She was hesitant.

‘It’s not like something would happen if I left them be. There’s Nainiae there too. Also, there’s Commander Nara and even Young Master. However, if I leave these thugs to get there…’

Sera wondered if that was still considered handling the situation alone if she left these ones to slip away and reach Riley’s group.

‘However, in this situation, there is no way…’

She had her hands full from just fighting off the surrounding formation. So, she was about to give up on the ones who slipped away. It was at that moment. Sera could feel it.

‘I really…’

Sera felt something strange zapping through her left hand.

‘No, it will work.’

She felt like she found the answer to the question she was thinking hard about. Sera was holding one of the swords in reverse. She spun it and held it to the front on her left hand.

‘I can stop them!’

She was constantly being attacked. She had no moment to catch breath. However, in that situation, she found a brief moment using her ‘feel’ alone. She swung her left arm with all of her strength.