Ch.20The Mercenary Captain Who Dislikes Women (1)

“That’s right… But weren’t you heading north?”

“I was, but I couldn’t help worrying about you.”

Liberone looked south as she spoke.

“Since things have turned out this way, I’ll escort you to the village.”

“Really? Is that okay? You’ve already been away for several days.”

“It’s fine. The Order will understand.”

And so Liberone rejoined our group.

“But we’re missing five pigs.”

Mirella, who had been counting the pigs, spoke up.

The pigs had broken their ropes while struggling in panic when the goblins suddenly appeared.

“Let’s just take the ones we have left. How could we possibly find pigs that ran into the forest in the middle of the night? There might be more goblins out there too.”

“Heeeng, what a waste…”

* * * * *

We safely arrived at the village near dawn.

It was still too early for people to be awake.

The village was very quiet with a light fog settled over it.

As we approached the shop, I noticed someone standing in front.

At first, I thought it was a ghost.

What else could a tall woman with long black hair hanging like seaweed be, standing in the dim dawn light?

Liberone gripped her greatsword and said in a low voice:

“An evil presence blocks our path.”

She looked ready to charge forward and cut it in half.

But a moment later, we could see it was just the administrative officer standing there pathetically.

“Administrative Officer?”

“Jack… Jack… I’ve been waiting…”

The administrative officer ran to me quickly and clung to me.

“Are you okay? Is this because of the Healing Potion?”

“Quickly… give it to me quickly… I can’t stand it anymore…”

“Did you already finish what I gave you? And I told Sir Hostante to give you a potion if you came by…”

“I tried to save it but drank it all last night… They said you’d be back today, so I tried to hold out, but I just couldn’t…”

The administrative officer burrowed into my arms with a desperate expression, which was quite troublesome.

Sure enough, Mirella rushed over and pulled the administrative officer away.

“What are you doing?! He’s exhausted from a long journey!”

“Sorry… but I really can’t take it anymore…”

“Come inside quickly. She looks like she’s about to die.”

Mirella, who was about to snap at her, flinched when she saw the administrative officer’s hollow eyes and hurriedly opened the shop door.

“I feel like I’m dying… So tired and my body feels heavy… like I’m sinking into the floor…”

I dragged the administrative officer into the shop.

“Here you go, Administrative Officer. Here’s your potion.”

“Feed it to me…”

After opening the potion cap and putting it to her lips, the administrative officer began sucking on the bottle with a strangely sensual expression.

Watching this, Mirella’s face showed a complex mix of contempt and disgust.

“Phewww…”

Finally, the administrative officer pulled away from me, leaving a trail of saliva between her lips and the bottle.

“Thank you, thank you. Thank you for giving me the potion…”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes… Haa, just let me… rest a little…”

The administrative officer slid like a ghost to the old sofa in the corner.

Then she fell asleep, snoring softly.

“How can someone like that be an administrative officer?”

Mirella clicked her tongue.

“Well then, now…”

I turned to look at Liberone standing by the door.

“Is this really goodbye?”

I was sad to part ways, but we couldn’t keep a holy knight of the Order in our village just for our convenience.

Liberone had already been away from the Order for over a week, and staying longer would be a burden for her.

It was right to let her go.

“Thank you, Liberone. Thanks to you, we completed our task smoothly and, more importantly, survived.”

“I’m glad I could be of help.”

“Let’s stay in touch even after you return to the Order.”

“Of course, Guardian Angel. I will continue to support your noble mission and resolve from afar.”

I swept all the Healing Potions from the shelf into a bag.

“Take these with you. I don’t have much else to give, but since this is a potion shop, I can at least provide potions.”

“Thank you. I will think of you, Guardian Angel, every time I drink one.”

Liberone received the bag and stared at me intently.

“Farewell, Liberone.”

“Um, Guardian Angel.”

Liberone hesitantly opened her mouth as if about to say something difficult.

“Would you… hug me once…”

“Huh?”

“Please hug me just once…”

Liberone’s face turned slightly red.

“Since receiving my divine mission… I haven’t forgotten you for a moment… And now that we’re parting again for a while… Ah…”

When I hugged her with a smile, Liberone couldn’t continue speaking.

The cold, hard feel of her holy armor.

Yet somehow, I could feel an inexplicable warmth from it.

It must be because holy power flows through Liberone’s body.

They say holy power is God’s love for humans.

Perhaps that’s why it feels so warm.

Liberone’s gauntleted hand awkwardly patted my back.

“Stay healthy, Liberone.”

“I will, Guardian Angel…”

I am not Liberone’s Guardian Angel.

It was just a lie I told on the spur of the moment to prevent my head from being cut off by her greatsword.

But does it really matter whether I’m real or fake?

Liberone believes I’m a real Guardian Angel and draws strength from my encouragement.

A lie that harms no one isn’t necessarily bad.

“Well then… I’ll really be going now.”

Liberone mounted her warhorse Gasinanté with a regretful expression.

“I look forward to meeting you again someday.”

“I’ll write to you.”

“Write to me…? Really?”

Liberone’s face brightened.

“I’ll be waiting for your letters!”

“Take care.”

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Holy Knight.”

Liberone gave a faint smile at Mirella’s farewell.

“Young lady. Become a swordswoman. Never neglect your talent.”

“Okay. I’ll think about it. If my brother refuses to marry me.”

“Ha, what nonsense is this little one talking about?”

Mirella pouted when I gave her a light tap on the head.

“Well then, goodbye everyone. Until we meet again.”

Liberone turned her horse toward the northern road.

We waved until Liberone’s figure disappeared into the fog.

“She’s really hard to describe.”

Mirella spoke up.

“Scary and stern, but also kind and caring.”

“The god watching over us must be like that too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he punishes us when we do wrong, but still loves us despite that.”

“Haa. Look who’s become a high priest.”

I gave Mirella’s head another light tap as she giggled.

The holy knight has left, so now it’s just us again to run the village.

* * * * *

The abandoned pigsty on the outskirts of the village.

Renovation work is currently in full swing.

Though “renovation” just means bringing in Potion Knights members to pull weeds, clear garbage, fix broken fences, and patch holes in the roof.

There aren’t any proper materials in the village yet, nor residents with skills that could be called those of a craftsman, so we have no choice.

Evan the junk dealer does have some manual skills, but not enough to call it “construction.”

For now, we’re making it temporarily usable, and later we’ll bring in experts from outside to properly fix it.

The administrative officer came to see the pigs.

“The pigs are slimmer than I am…”

She muttered gloomily, looking down at her large chest.

“Aren’t you more of a dairy cow than a pig?”

Mirella snickered, giving the administrative officer a sidelong glance.

“A dairy cow… That’s an insult to dairy cows, Miss Mirella… Dairy cows produce milk and become meat when they die, but I’m just useless waste…”

“You can produce milk too, Administrative Officer.”

The administrative officer’s eyes widened at Mirella’s words.

“How…?”

“If you have a baby, you’ll produce milk. Someone your size could probably fill a whole bottle every day!”

“T-then… I really am a useless body… Maybe I should get pregnant and at least produce milk… I could also contribute to increasing the village population by having children…”

“But what would you do with the milk? You can’t even sell it.”

The administrative officer glanced at me with hollow, gloomy eyes.

“Since I’m getting potions for free, as repayment…”

“Don’t say such crazy things!”

Mirella’s eyes nearly popped out.

“Just try doing something like that! I’ll tie your chest up tight with rope!”

“I’m sorry, Miss Mirella…! I really am no good after all…!”

The administrative officer, mentally collapsing, sat down on the ground wailing, startling all the workers who turned to look at us.

“All I have is this fat butt and these unmanageable breasts… And the nipples are buried inside… I even have too much body hair, so no one will ever like me…! Someone like me should just die…!”

“Administrative Officer, it’s time for your potion.”

As I handed her the potion, Mirella opened the cap and shoved it into the administrative officer’s mouth.

“Ock! Ogooock! Ogock!”

What a crazy woman.

Shaking my head, I turned to look at the pigs.

The fifteen pigs we brought back are wandering around the pigsty, blissfully unaware of everything.

So we need to raise these well and increase them to hundreds or thousands…