Mistral must also be keenly interested in this incident . She want to see it through for herself . These bandits were trying to do bad things while calling themselves dragon tribesmen . As a real dragon tribesmen, there’s no way Mistral will stay silent .

“Captain,”

The patrol soldiers finally appear . You’re all way too late .

“Ah, you all, go round up all of them lying around here . ”

“W-what happened here?”

The patrol soldiers are shocked upon seeing the more than twenty buff men collapsed on the ground, .

“What, that’s not a big deal . For now, take them away . I will…”

Ludriad-san looks at us .

“I guess I’ll go home and drink today . ”

“Ha?”

Even when everyone directs a cold gaze at Ludriad-san, he laughs loudly .

“It’s already night . If we are going to move, let’s do it tomorrow . ”

“Us too, should we head back for the night?”

I want to go there immediately, but right now I should probably stay patient . I decided to follow Mistral, who can judge things calmly, and Ludriad-san, who seems like he has approved our traveling with him . Ruiseine nods, expressing that she also agrees .

“Nnmtto, Priscilla is hungry . ”

“Nyaa~”

Priscillchan’s belly growls . That’s right, we haven’t had our dinner yet .

“It looks we’ve come to an agreement . Now then, let me know where you are staying . I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning . ”

“Okay,”

I tell Ludriad-san the name of the inn and he leave without helping the patrol soldiers . Geez, that person is seriously unmotivated to do anything . We all look at each other with strained smiles . Thus, we also leave the matter to the patrol soldiers and return to the highway . I was worried they would detained us, but they let us leave without any trouble . I did feel them glancing as us, though .

Upon returning to the highway, we find a suitable restaurant for and then head back to the inn . This is my first time sharing a room with girls, but I am not excited at all . Instead, I spend the whole night thinking about Ristia . The girls don’t say much to each other either . We all turn in early .

Priscillchan and Nymia feel asleep right after dinner . They must have been exhausted with everything that happened today . As for me, I can’t sleep . Morning comes without me even noticing .

Next morning—

We check out from the inn early and depart with Ludriad-san who came to pick us up as promised . Priscillchan seems to still be sleepy . She is dozing within Mistral’s arms .

Actually, I wanted for Pricillchan to stay some place safe . Unfortunately, no one wanted to stay behind as her babysitter . Mistral rejected the role on the grounds that she would worry about me . Ruiseine, on the other hand, complained about being treated as an outcast despite all we’ve already been though . Seriously, treating girls is very hard .

Since it can’t be helped, we bring Priscillchan together with us . Naturally, Nymia as well . Still, if I’m being honest, being near Mistral is the safest place for her to be . Ludriad-san was puzzled upon discovering we’d be traveling with a child, but relents upon hearing Mistral will be responsible for her .

Ludriad-san alone came to pick us up .

“A small, select, group should be enough, right?”

That’s what he said, but I wonder how he determined our strength . Also, if he says that without bringing any of his subordinates along, won’t that imply that everyone in his patrol unit is very weak?

Ludriad-san is just as irresponsible as always . While he wore some fine armor last night, today he isn’t wearing any at all . He’s in just his casual clothes . All he carries is a magic sword by his waist . Other than that, he’s empty handed, not even bringing a canteen .

In comparison, we’re have a lot of luggage . Although, the cause is me . Since I brought too much useless baggage, everyone else is helping me by carrying part of it . I am really sorry .

Since we didn’t properly introduce ourselves last night, we start with exchanging our names and then take off . Apparently, Ludriad-san learned of were we need to go last night . He pulls out a map and leads the way .

So he brought a map, huh .

With a whimsical conversation, we make way down the highway . We reach the side road just before noon . After walking south for a bit, a river comes into view .

“Eetto, is it this way?”

Watching Ludriad-san lead the way while staring at a map gives me a tinge of uneasiness . Still, I choose to believe in him since he’s our guide .

The dragon forest can be seen of in the distance . Although it’s obvious, but if you travel east and then look over from the south, it will appear endless . That’s something I’ve only ever heard about before, but now that I’m seeing it with my own eyes, I’m astonished by the vastness of the dragon forest .

We take a break at noon before pressing forward again . As expected, Ludriad-san didn’t bring any lunch . As such, we all eat the rations that I brought . I’m glad that I can be a little useful .

Noon pa.s.ses and we finally reach our destination .  After taking cover behind a rock, we observe the situation . Before our eyes is the entrance to a cave along a steep cliff . Traces of life are there . We can see firewood along with iron kettles on the arranged stones . There’s no doubt that this is the base mentioned by that bandit .

As we are making out the situation, a young man emerges from the cave .

“Ah . ”

I choke on my breath .

The one who appears is undoubtedly Ristia himself .