episode_0128

When Iris, with a relaxed expression, was hugging Lian, a red-haired hunter stealthily approached Lian.

Iris, sensing the presence belatedly, quickly turned her head towards where she felt the presence, but it was already too late.

“My dear cousin!”

Jess, who emerged from behind Lian, brightly smiled and embraced Lian’s shoulders.

“Eek!”

Feeling a soft touch on the back of his head, Lian blushed and urgently covered his mouth and nose with his hands. Fortunately, no blood spurted out.

“Back off!”

Iris shouted at Jess with an axe-like glare. In response, Jess innocently tilted his head.

“Huh? Why?”

“You’re my brother!”

“But I’m his cousin?”

Jess, much smarter than his peers and quick-witted thanks to his animal-like instincts, could sense how far he could go and where he could push his luck.

Lian’s behavior made Jess hesitate, as she firmly said, “You can’t do this anymore!” while ambiguously accepting the skinship.

Perhaps without Iris or Noah, Lian would have been dragged to their honeymoon home after exchanging pet names.

Knowing that Jess’s usual ear-twitching and head-tilting act was a deliberate ploy to weaken Lian’s resolve, Iris could only glare. She grabbed Lian’s waist and glared at Jess.

“Oppa looks uncomfortable. Back off.”

“Huh? Joo-in… uncomfortable?”

With ears perked up, Lian’s eyes softened into a fierce, puppy-like expression. Unable to easily pull away, Lian’s lips hesitated until the soft touch on the back of her head jolted her awake like a splash of cold water after being caught in the rain.

He cleared his throat and spoke softly.

“Um, well… I guess that’s how it is?”

“Look. Oppa says he’s uncomfortable…”

“So let’s both drop it. Okay?”

…!

In this situation, suggesting Jess to drop out was not fair, and since it was only a matter of time before it was revealed that they were not siblings upon arriving at the mansion, Lian thought it necessary to reduce intimacy with Iris.

“If the knight reports this appearance at the mansion… Even if I took care of Iris, I’ll be dragged to prison.”

Though unlikely, this was a class society. There wasn’t a single noble who would view Lian, a slave born of no value, more favorably than Iris, born of noble blood.

Rather than gratitude, avoiding being killed for erasing a decimal point was considered fortunate.

“At least Iris’s mother isn’t like that, so hopefully our lives aren’t in danger.”

If Lian said that she lied to calm Iris down, I would understand and express my gratitude. But even that had its limits.

“.. If it’s known that you insulted the future lord who should succeed the duke, no matter what grace you received, your head will roll.”

For this reason, Lian pushed Iris away.

“But, brother…”

“Iris, as I mentioned before, we are adults now. While light hugs may be fine, it’s better to stop being so close like this.”

By modern standards, Iris was not yet an adult. She was probably between 15 and 18 years old. However, in this world, she was considered a full-fledged adult.

Lian didn’t really think of Iris as a true adult, but she deliberately said, ‘Now that you’re all grown up~’ to separate her.

Iris seemed on the verge of tears, but Lian had to be firm today.

‘Now we should start preparing for our parting.’

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it couldn’t be helped.

‘If Iris becomes a novelist, I… should help her as much as possible from afar.’

Even if there were hardly any traces left of the original, Iris had the blood of a hero, and there was no change in the fact that she would become a hero in the future.

Heroes need all sorts of obstacles and opportunities for growth. Having a sidekick like a jokester villager who was no different from a cheat was not helpful at all. Cheat codes should only be used in truly dangerous situations.

That’s why Lian planned to help Iris only when she was in danger, keeping her distance.

Thanks to her firm resolve, Iris, who shed tears, could barely be pushed away. At that moment, Iris looked up at Lian with a shocked expression.

“Hing…”

While Iris, shocked with a blank face, stood apart, Jess, on the other hand, just wandered around nearby with a sullen face, away from Lian.

Feeling as if he had become a father who had discovered his five-year-old daughter wandering around with a sullen face holding a letter saying ‘Daddy, you were wrong’ for the first time, Lian’s heart ached, but he managed to endure it.

What was truly terrifying was that Jess had already calculated pushing Iris away within her plan. Her approaching Lian and expressing desire(?) freely were all part of a scheme to drop Iris.

In front of her master, she was a gentle lamb, but behind him, she was no different from a wolf. She was a means to an end who spared no effort to win her mate.

Jesse frowned at Lian, who didn’t pamper herself, but smiled satisfactorily.

She couldn’t approach, but Iris couldn’t stick around because she was also a sister.

If it had been usual, Iris would have quickly noticed Jesse’s mood and angrily turned her eyes away. Instead, she just stared at Lian with a dazed face.

Her eyes sank as if she had discovered the Spirit King. Somehow, her hair seemed brighter than before, but no one noticed.

Noah felt a pang of jealousy even towards Lian’s younger sibling.

Iris was greatly shocked by being pushed away by Lian.

Jesse, whose tail drooped because the owner didn’t pamper him as well as before.

The atmosphere among the three wasn’t good even with empty words, but their journey was very peaceful. Of course, there were occasional monster attacks, but compared to the Demon King’s land, it was nothing more than a walk in the park.

“Lay down the details a bit more, yes!”

“Huff, puff…”

How peaceful it was, the monsters that appeared were at the level of practice materials for children with little practical experience.

After moving through the forest for a while, they were able to arrive at the village where people lived.

“Ah…!”

“T-This is the village!”

Unlike the Demon King’s land, under the blue sky and warm sun, lay the peaceful village.

Everyone was speechless in awe of the serene scenery they had never seen even in their dreams.

“…Let’s go.”

Starting with Noah, everyone began to enter the village. As nearly a hundred people rushed into the village, figures presumed to be guards came running from afar.

The village requested to show identification badges, as it was larger than expected. In this world, not many people had identification badges, but traders and mercenaries traveling between villages always carried them.

Growing up in a secluded area made them wary of outsiders.

“Here it is.”

They had prepared for this situation since planning to flee to the empire. Making a mercenary badge in Cardysan, where all sorts of crimes thrived, was relatively simple, albeit costly.

Expecting the guards to be refugees fleeing from another village, they anxiously inspected over 90 badges one by one.

It was an unheard-of group, a family unit of mercenaries. With many children around, having about 100 mercenaries was intimidating.

“We are mercenaries, but we will leave as soon as we fill our supplies in the village, much like refugees.”

As Lillie spoke, she discreetly slipped silver coins to the guard, leaving him stunned. It was a significant sum, nearly half his monthly salary.

Before he could respond properly in his confusion, another silver coin joined the first. As his eyes widened to their limit, Lillie smiled softly and handed money to another guard who had come along.

“W-well then…”

“D-don’t cause any trouble!”

In this rotten world, the guard decided to turn a blind eye to the massive group of almost 100 mercenaries. Reporting them as passing refugees should suffice.

Once the guards left, the mercenaries began entering the village. To avoid drawing too much attention, they split into groups of ten and entered slowly.