The New Isabella!

“That ended more anticlimactically than I expected.”

Inis said while looking at the corpse in front of her. Her face showed not a trace of guilt. If anything, she seemed relieved.

In contrast, Isabella hung her head with a gloomy expression. It made sense, given that she hadn’t contributed much to the fight.

“Check if there’s anything useful.”

I entered the tent that had been reduced to ashes. It barely maintained its shape thanks to retrieving my magical power midway.

Their tent was filled with cards, various foods, and alcohol.

“Oh.”

Among them, I spotted bottles of fairly expensive liquor. Whether they had looted them from someone or purchased them themselves, I couldn’t tell.

“I’ll do it…”

Isabella stepped forward and began gathering items. It was impressive how she packed all the valuable items into the bag.

“Master. Here.”

Inis, who had been searching the bodies outside, brought me pouches and jewelry.

When I turned the pouch upside down, magic stones and gold coins fell out. There were only three coins. The number of magic stones wasn’t particularly high either.

“Seems they haven’t been in the labyrinth long.”

“Or they might have deliberately avoided fighting monsters. They were a bandit party, after all. Look at this.”

She handed me another pouch. It looked heavier. When I emptied it, various precious metals and accessories poured out. There were even rings that had been taken with fingers still attached.

“Looks like they looted other parties in the Sand Desert or Greenskin territory.”

“I think so.”

I was relieved they were even worse scum than I’d thought. It felt like we’d just cleaned up worthless filth from the world.

I had felt a bit of guilt earlier, but even that disappeared.

“Master. I’ve brought everything here.”

Isabella, who had been searching the tent, placed a backpack in front of me. It was filled with jerky and bottles of alcohol.

“Is this all there is?”

“Yes. I searched thoroughly, but this is all I found. There weren’t any artifacts at all.”

“Somehow they managed to cross the desert with this equipment.”

They must have had some skill after all. I suppose that’s why they thought they could ambush other parties.

“If we’ve checked everything, let’s head back.”

“We’re not taking the swords and armor, right?”

“No. They’re too heavy and cumbersome to carry. Plus, it’s difficult to dispose of such equipment as stolen goods. And we wouldn’t get a good price.”

To avoid being tracked, we’d have to sell them to a blacksmith for little more than the price of iron. Unless the equipment had special effects, which these didn’t.

I pointed my finger at what remained of the tent. When I uttered an incantation, the debris began to burn again. After setting fire to all the corpses as well, we crossed the oasis.

“At least since we killed them all, we won’t be tired from keeping watch.”

“That’s fortunate.”

We stopped by the oasis on the way back to wash off all the blood. Inis, who had been particularly splattered with blood, cleaned herself especially thoroughly.

Upon returning to our tent, we went straight inside. Thanks to the small fire we’d made earlier, the interior was nice and warm.

“Isabella. How should we handle the watch?”

“I’ll take the first shift. Senior, please go in and get some rest first.”

“Alright. I’ll wake you in three hours. Good work.”

Isabella put on her robe and went outside. Her drooping shoulders troubled me somewhat.

“Will she be okay?”

“Yes. I’ve had conversations with her before. She’ll be fine.”

“What kind of conversations did you have?”

“That’s a secret! Well then, Master. Sleep well!”

Inis said this and then lay down in her sleeping bag. I thought about forcing her to tell me, but decided against it since she probably hadn’t done anything harmful.

“Sleep well, too.”

I closed my eyes and immediately fell into a deep slumber.

2.

A cold wind blew through the oasis. Isabella sniffled and crouched in front of the campfire.

Crackle, crackle—

She stared blankly at the flames flickering in the wind, then turned to look toward the tent.

Isabella was feeling tremendous guilt right now. Or more accurately, a sense of indebtedness.

During the recent battle with the bandits, what had she done? Nothing. Absolutely nothing!

‘Idiot!’

Of course, she had initially noticed the adventurer secretly approaching their tent. She’d shot and killed him too.

But honestly, she hadn’t felt any guilt then. After all, she was just following her master’s orders.

The master told me to handle it. So this isn’t my fault, it’s the master’s fault. Right?

The one who shot the arrow was Isabella herself, yet she was placing the responsibility on her master. What kind of crazy slave does that!

“Uuugh…”

Isabella covered her face with both hands and groaned. She felt utterly pathetic.

Senior Inis always said:

“Isabella. Finding such a good master is truly a stroke of luck.”

“What master in the world would give you your own room and provide good equipment? Moreover, he’s given us blessings and abilities through his contracted devil!”

“I think we should be willing to sacrifice our lives for such a master. No, anyone with a sense of decency should naturally feel that way.”

At that time, Inis’s eyes had gleamed with fervor. But she wasn’t wrong. Where in the world could one find such a master?

But could she really do that? To be honest, she couldn’t go that far. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. But shouldn’t she at least pretend to try!

Slap, slap—!

Isabella smacked both her cheeks. She hit herself so hard that tears welled up, but she bit her lip firmly.

‘From today, I’ll be reborn!’

The indecisive, weak, self-centered, selfish Isabella ends today!

From now on, she would be a resolute, powerful, master-devoted, altruistic, slaughter-ready adventurer Isabella!

“…Isabella. Is something wrong?”

Startled by the sudden voice, Isabella jumped. Looking back, she saw Inis poking her head out from between the tent flaps.

“N-nothing at all!”

“Alright. Let me know if something comes up.”

“Yes! Even though there definitely won’t be any problems, I’ll definitely tell you if there are! So leave this to me and rest well!”

“Okay.”

Isabella began diligently surveying the surroundings with a stern face. Because of this, she didn’t see Inis nodding with a very satisfied expression.

‘Everything according to plan.’

3.

Dawn, though it was arguably still too early to call it morning. We emerged from the tent and had a light meal.

“Let’s go.”

Starting at dawn was best since the desert days were extremely hot. The sun was just beginning to show itself, so the weather was still relatively cool.

“Yes.”

We packed everything up and began walking through the desert again. It was a morning like any other. Or rather, there was one small difference.

“Master. Let me handle this!”

Isabella had started to take a more active role. She, who wouldn’t even pick up her bow against sand soldiers before, suddenly began firing arrows indiscriminately.

“Oh.”

By luck, she actually managed to hit a sand soldier’s magic stone and defeat it. However, it took much longer than if Inis had handled it, and was far less efficient.

“I’ll take care of it!”

“Uh, okay.”

When another sand soldier appeared, Isabella rushed forward. Inis tilted her head slightly, as if to say this wasn’t her intention.

After another desperate battle, Isabella managed to defeat one sand soldier. It took a whopping 18 arrows. The epitome of inefficiency.

“I’ll take care—”

“Isabella.”

When another sand soldier appeared, she raised her hand high. Sensing she was about to volunteer again, I called her name.

“Yes?”

I glanced at Inis. The look meant she should handle the soldier while I dealt with this. Understanding my intention, she rushed toward the enemy.

“Why are you so tense? Just be yourself. Like you normally are.”

“But… if I act like I normally do, I won’t accomplish anything. Even when we fought the bandit party, I just stood there…”

“What do you mean you just stood there? You were the one who detected the enemy’s infiltration and took care of it.”

“Anyone could have done that…”

I grabbed Isabella’s hand as she lowered her head. She flinched slightly and raised her gaze a little. Our eyes naturally met.

“No. That was something only you could do. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have noticed that adventurer. In the worst case, all of us might have been killed by that one person.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. So have confidence. You’re already doing well enough. There’s no need to push yourself to do the work of two people. We’re comrades, aren’t we?”

“Comrades…”

Her eyes sparkled brightly. She clenched her fists and nodded with a determined expression.

“I understand! So that means I’ve been doing well enough all along! And it means I’ll continue to do well?”

“Huh? Uh, yes? I guess so? Let’s go with that.”

“Alright. I’ll have confidence as you said, Master. But that doesn’t mean going back to how I was before. I’ll return as a new Isabella. The New Isabella!”

“Uh, sure.”

“Here I come! Labyrinth! Wait for me—!”

Isabella shouted, looking far into the desert. Inis returned with the magic stone and gave me a puzzled look.

Her eyes seemed to ask why Isabella was acting that way. I just shrugged my shoulders.

‘I have no idea.’

I had just tried to comfort her, but I don’t understand how she came to that conclusion. Still, isn’t it better if it’s better? Right?

‘I hope it’s better…?’

Managing party members is not easy!