episode_0081

“I am Milicia Airgrants, who performs the duties of a saint in the Airgrants Church. I am lacking, but I ask for your help once again. And, it is nice to meet you again. I am Estil Sabre, a high-level adventurer. ”

Despite her fatigue, the saint greeted the adventurers she had not seen in a long time with courtesy. Soon after, Tiller and his party and Grimes approached the party that had arrived at the gray mansion. While Alina, Esther, Benedict, and others unpacked their luggage and patted each other on the shoulder, Saika spoke with a welcoming voice.

“Saint, it’s so nice to see you again! To be honest, we didn’t even know what was going on. We couldn’t approach even though a terrible energy was coming out of the forest… We just observed all day, retreated when the terrible energy approached, and watched again, so we thought we were going to die from exhaustion!”

First, it was Saika, who had the highest magical knowledge among the group, who lightly summarized the situation so far as if she was making a fuss. However, the girl who always looked lively and healthy had a slightly pale face. Now that I looked at her, her face seemed even thinner than before. It seemed like she had been suffering a lot.

“No, Saika. What’s going on? Why did she get so skinny? She was already skinny…”

“That’s true. I can’t believe I only realized this now…What happened, Saika?”

“Ah, yes. I have some work to do… This request is too difficult for my skills alone… I’m trying to fill the gap… The energy of that forest is much more vicious than I thought. Hahaha…”

“No way…Please stay by my side. I’ll cast a purification spell on you…”

“Ah, sir, saintess…you didn’t have to do that…ah…”

The saintess held the tired-looking Saika in her arms and muttered something. A soft light and warmth settled over Saika’s body, and Saika enjoyed the saintess’s embrace with an ecstatic expression.

‘Milli. You must be tired from the forced march too…Saika…I’m not jealous…’

Glenn, who had put aside his idle thoughts, glared at the remaining trio with a sharp and fierce gaze. In an instant, the male adventurer trio of Tiller, Mennie, and Grimes flinched. It seemed that something had pricked them.

“You guys, you’ve prepared a proper excuse for this situation, right? ”

“What, what. What’s going on all of a sudden, Glenn!”

“What the heck? Did you think I’d just let it slide after seeing Saika’s condition? You guys, you didn’t put a poison bottle on Saika, did you? ”

When Glenn pressed him, the three of them got angry and started explaining themselves in the order of Tiller, Mennie, and Grimes.

“What are you talking about, Uncle Glenn! There’s no way I’d be the only one burdening Saika!”

Your unconscious behavior is burdensome enough. Glenn swallowed his words.

“Oh, oh… That’s too harsh of a thing for me, sir, who only does things that make women happy… It’s hard to completely deny it, but…”

Hard to deny? Glenn swallowed again.

“Hey, yum. Glenn. You’re saying that because you haven’t been inside that forest, Inma! People like us who have no talent or connection to magic, we couldn’t even approach! If you approach with physical protection, you’ll die a violent death, right? The only ones who can get closer than us and analyze it are Saikas who can use magic, so far! Well… Estil has been here long before us… That, and Saika’s sense of responsibility! You know how devoted he is to his job, don’t you! ”

You said it so rudely, Grimes Imma!

Just as Glenn was about to say something, as if he was going to beat him up at any moment, someone interrupted him and spoke.

“Then you should have helped Saika and taken care of him that much, you idiots! The kid’s face turned pale, and you guys were running around and not helping him, what were you doing!?”

Glenn wasn’t angry. It was Briwen.

“Brywen is absolutely right! Let’s cheer up a little for the first time in a while. Okay?”

“Hee, heeek!”

The two adventurers, who had overcome many hardships as part of the saint’s party, launched a fierce attack on their three companions.

In particular, Glenn kept on speaking passionately, as if to say, “Come on, you guys, try it too.” Over the past few weeks, whenever the Saints’ party harassed someone, it was always Glenn himself who was the target.

“That, Uncle Glenn. Sister Briwen! You, don’t say anything to the three of you. Honestly, I was too distracted by the forest’s energy to just rest because I was tired…I just couldn’t rest comfortably!”

Saika defended Tiller and his party, unable to hide his tired expression. However, for some reason, Glenn could clearly see that Saika was protecting someone, as he focused his gaze on Tiller and made excuses.

Glenn and Briwen noticed Saika’s desperate(?) defense and looked at each other for a moment before nodding.

“Huh…Okay. If Saika says that…”

“There’s nothing we can do. Let’s just have Grimes take responsibility for everything.”

“Yeah, yeah! There was something like that…Glenn? Briwen?”

Grimes raised his voice as if he had regained his momentum, then lowered it again. He looked between the two veteran adventurers in disbelief. This was not the end of the attack by the Glenn and Briwen combo.

“Yeah, Glenn. I agree.”

“Excuse me, excuse me. Two of you?”

“What will be the penalty?”

“The two of us dodge a hundred punches. How about that?”

“What, what?”

“Good, Glenn?”

“Right? If you get hit once, you have to start over again… for a three-hour course.”

“Hee, heeeek! Wait a minute! That’s a bit…!”

“What? You don’t like the three-hour course? Then…five hours.”

“It’s gotten longer, Inma! How are you going to dodge my fists! If you swing it once, let alone five hours, I’ll go to hell, you punk!”

“The road to hell? Is it good enough to die for? Okay, let’s get started right away?”

“Hee, heeek!”

It was Glenn who had a meaningless chat with Grimes after a long time.

“Okay, okay. Our elf tribe honestly has nothing to say in that regard, so don’t scold them too much. Wena and the escort knight?”

The one who stopped Briwen and Glenn was the elven priestess Sieta, who had been enjoying the adventurers’ banter for a while. The one who guided them into the roots of this tree was the one who had shamelessly led the party through the elven territory after having covered up his own mistake in front of his parents and the strict adjutant.

‘I recommend that you meet up with your colleagues today, unpack, and rest! I would like you to solve the forest problem right away, but… asking for help when I’m so tired won’t be effective, right?’

So, with an unexpectedly cool judgment, he guided the group to their lodgings. The lodgings the group was guided to were quite large and spacious, as they were places that had been used as the palace of the elven kingdom in the past.

Glenn suddenly thought that there could be more than a hundred people living in this place without any problems. The place they entered was a large reception room the size of a huge plaza. The reception room was two stories high and had countless doors. Of course, as expected, all the furniture was made of tree roots.

“Saint, I, the Benedix monks, and Alina will pack up our luggage. Let’s talk slowly…”

And then, Sister Esther, who had been silent behind the scenes, finally took the initiative to speak. Glenn suddenly realized that the presence of these three people was barely noticeable.

“Yes. Thank you always. All three of you.”

“Yes, Madam. Now, Monk? Do you know?”

“Then, Your Majesty, I will leave for a moment.”

The Benedictine monk smiled and agreed with Esther. Glenn’s younger sister Alina looked around blankly, perhaps because she was tired or couldn’t keep up with the situation, but soon came to her senses and answered with a startled look.

“Yes, yes? Oh, oh, right! That was my job, wasn’t it? Leave it to me, Saintess!”

After suddenly saluting even though she wasn’t even a soldier, Alina was dragged away by Sister Esther, along with the group’s numerous luggage.

The four adventurers who entered first guided the group to the seat with the most chairs in the reception room.

“Come on, please take your seats slowly. We have thoroughly prepared seats that are suitable for beautiful people! ”

“What are you talking about, Grimes. This isn’t your house. You don’t have a house, but…”

“Ah, that, Glenn Yamma! You can’t even read the mood… Hehehe, just leave the mugwort here. Now, this pattern is a pattern that prays for the promotion of women’s health…”

Then, Grimes suddenly explained the patterns carved into each of the chairs that had been prepared, but it seemed that the three of Tiller, Saika, and Meni were not paying any attention, so it seemed that there was no need to pay much attention. In fact, Sieta also pretended not to hear anything and just kept chattering away next to the saintess.

“Dad and Mom… No, no. My parents will bring refreshments with Silion. You just have to rest and wait for a moment. The fruit we prepared is so sweet that once the guests taste it, they won’t be able to eat any other fruit! When I was little, I tried to eat only that every day…”

Glenn turned his head away from the chattery Sieta and the nodding Milicia, who was listening to her words, and approached his high-level adventurer friend whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Even amidst the commotion around him, the high-level adventurer, Estil Sabre, only frowned and silently wrote something down on the paper in his hand. He didn’t even give Glenn the slightest glance when he approached.

“Long time no see, Sabre-san.”

“Yeah, traitor. Don’t call me by my last name. It’s a new thing.”

Traitor! Is this kid still in hiding?

As written in the letter he received almost two weeks ago, Estil firmly believed that Glenn had a similar disposition to himself. It was Estil who advised the guildmaster that, despite the tragic events, it would be better to live with a book rather than being depressed.

However, recently, Glenn was resurrected and was flirting with the saintess, which shocked him greatly. No, he was glad that he had returned to the front line. However, unlike her, he was a man who was close to being a celibate and actually lived like that, but he suddenly heard the news that he was flirting with the most beautiful woman on the continent.

So when I sent the letter to Glenn, I called him ‘traitor’. It sounded a little bit like a curse word.

But as time passed, he regained his judgment and composure. Estill, who concluded that it was not right to judge based on only fragmentary letters, waited with a slightly anxious heart for the arrival of reinforcements(?).

And finally today, after meeting Glenn in person, Estil decided to keep that title. Even he, who was clumsy when it came to romantic activities, was able to realize it in an instant. The way Glenn and the saintess looked at each other was not ordinary. Even in the appearances of the warriors he had seen before, especially when the warrior and the saintess looked at each other, they had never shared such affectionate gazes.

Of course, the warrior unilaterally sent affectionate gazes to the saintess…

“How’s it going, Estil? Are we on time?”

“Don’t break the contract. When the refreshments are ready, you can slowly bring up the story. Traitor. ”

“Seeing you acting so relaxed, I guess it’s not so bad.”

“Not at all. Right now, Nana Sieta and the elves have no way to stop the energy seeping out from deep within the forest, so they just give up. Traitor. ”

“Traitor, traitor at the end of every sentence… Can’t you be a little more moderate?”

“If you ever start living alone again, I’ll do that to you. Traitor.”

Hey, this kid? He was about to point something out to Glenn, but he shut his mouth when he saw Estil’s rather serious face. Frowning, his hand that was writing stopped, and Estil muttered something that seemed to have been quite a bit of thought.

“Here…I should write that it’s recommended to try using the 2nd-grade World Tree sap…but I’m worried that it won’t be enough to protect you…and to deal with mental attacks…”

No, he was just so lost in his own world that he didn’t have time to pay more attention to Glenn. As a high-level adventurer, Estill had solid achievements and outstanding skills, but once he got lost in his own hobbies or areas, it was difficult for anyone to rescue him.

‘That weirdo wasn’t acting all that crazy for nothing. He was trying to save this guy.’

Suddenly, memories of the guys who became high-level adventurers together came to mind. Estill sitting on a chair, burying his nose in a book, and a boy next to him chattering nonstop until he finally grabbed Estill’s hand and dragged him along…

Glenn’s memory was of a man who had achieved the feat of becoming a high-level adventurer in the most bizarre and outrageous way possible.

And then, as if trying to provoke him, he said the person’s name.

“If Berzhev sees this, he’ll drag you on again. Especially in a situation like this.”

Stop. Estill, who had been quietly mumbling and moving his hands, stiffened when he responded to that particular name. Slowly, Estill turned his head toward Glenn, still maintaining a frown on his face.

“Why is his name suddenly mentioned? Traitor.”

Again, another traitor… Okay. Then I’ll go until I get there! Glenn decided to tease his mouth to its limit for the first time in a long while.

“Belgef dragged you away every time you were stuck in a corner like this. If he hadn’t forced you to do it, you would have turned into a bookworm, let alone a high-level adventurer. You, I mean.”

“The exaggeration is too much. I do my job properly and diligently. Traitor.”

“How can you say you did the right thing by staying there until the day before the request and barely getting out to solve it? Even the fact that you got out was because Belzef told you cleverly, and you barely realized the request. ”

“Better than you who’s been stuck there for over a year. Traitor.”

“I didn’t take a request like you and then abandon it until it was too close to home. More importantly, a traitor… Who knew that you blushed while being dragged around by Belzeph? Even Shuven and those guys didn’t say anything, but they figured it out, you know. ”

“Ugh! Hey, be quiet. Traitor…”

It was agitating. This was the Achilles heel. Glenn didn’t stop.

“Eolreri Kollerri. Don’t you know that you’re being manipulated by the neighborhood boys, smart corner scholar Estil Sabre?”

“This, this… You traitor who played around with the saintess so presumptuously…”

“Are you going off topic? Can you tell me that it was a relationship that grew out of a legitimate request?”

“While breaking his own words…’For now, only fists are my lover. I only trust fists to satisfy my desires.’ on that topic.”

“What? Hey! Don’t distort things so carelessly! If someone hears me, they’ll think I’m a fist-lover!”

“That’s right. You betrayed your own hand… no, your ex-girlfriend too.”

Look how far this is crossing the line! A girlfriend! A hand that’s your girlfriend!

“You’re making such a loud noise! I clearly remembered that time! ‘Right now, nothing is on my mind except for fists. There’s no way I can move forward without believing in this one thing,’ I said. For sure! ”

“It seems a little different…’No one likes a man who lives in this kind of fighting, so I’ve lost interest’ he added…what a traitorous remark…”

“Ugh! You have a damn good memory! But it’s distorted, man! To be exact…”

“As soon as we met, we started arguing over something trivial. We really get along well.”

The two people’s amusing and unmoving bickering finally came to an end when they heard the half-elf’s voice coming from the side.