I’m at the entrance of the barracks as I wait for the four adventurers to arrive. Coming here took less than a second for me but for them many kilometers of travel it’ll be quite a lengthy trip. Now that I have my mind off things… Well besides the clearly massive and no doubt devastating event that is about to take place in two or three days. The fact that the time isn’t certain is rather concerning, I could easily be blindsided even though she did told me about it beforehand.

Before I think anymore about that I should get in contact with my employer again. He seems rather inclined to give me information so I better play with that. He seems rather cooperative so I should pay in mind if he gets into trouble, and should at least bail him out once if things ever go wrong.

...I could see the vehicle with them on board coming over. Since they’re getting close I might as well go in now to make it known to the knight. Just walking in while none of the guards interfere.

Walking down the corridors and to that man’s office there’s nothing out of the ordinary so far and no suspicious act for me to latch on to. I should just chat up with the knight before doing anything further.

*Knock* *Knock*

I knocked on the door and waited for a response.

“Come in” A voice inside rings out. I opened the door and went in. The man on the desk looking through some papers all the while he himself is in an official uniform and not the heavy armor he wore the first time he met us on the first day.

“State your purpose” He asked as he looked at me, keeping the professional air he always has.

“Well I caught sight of the crew and here notified you of that. Another thing is an update on the whole expedition, any more information on that?” I answered and kept a nonchalant tone.

“I see. For your question there is no update on it just yet. Apologies for the lack of progress on that front” He answered. Even he’s fully aware just how lackluster the progress of these plans are. I can easily see why it would frustrate Maova if even a loyal knight of the kingdom makes note of it.

“I see. Then shall I go meet the soldiers?” I asked as I didn't have anything else to say myself.

“Of course. I’m sure they’ll be eager” He said without any clear sign of sarcasm. What exactly have those people been telling him? I mean we weren’t brutalizing them or anything but our way of training them was certainly quite rough and not pulling much punches… Well for me I have to do so out of necessity since I’m not planning on killing anyone here.

“Then I’ll be going then” I said as I walked away and out of the room back into the clean corridor. Walking from the room to outside and onto the training ground where I saw some soldiers. Seems not all of them are present just yet, probably have to wait until those also get together as well. I should maybe try to strike a conversation with them first before any formal training starts.

“So… How are you all today?” I asked no one in particular as many of them took notice and some tried to ignore it, possibly out of fear or just being a bit nervous.

“We’re… fine” Some of them said, sounding rather hesitant. Seems they’re still a bit fearful of me after all is said and done. Can’t exactly blame them on that front.

“Good to hear! I’ll just go wait in the corner until the rest came around” I said as I walked over to one corner of the training ground and sat on one of the unassuming chairs, just waiting for everyone to arrive and then start with the training, and then everything will just continue like normal.

 

#####

 

“Got here early again I see” Gina commented as the four entered the training ground all the while the soldiers stopped their independent training.

“How did you always get here first?” Elrick commented as he looked rather unnerved by that fact. Just from the few days I’ve seen him it’s plenty clear he’s pretty observant and paranoid.

“I have my own way of doing things” I said dismissively not planning on giving anyone a clue on my ability if I can help it.

“Lame answer. Anyway when are we starting?” Gina commented and asked.

“Hmm… Well if we are all here then we should get started right away, of course I’m not sure if that’s the same as the other side or not, need them to line up for us to count” Elrick noted. We were informed of the number of trainees so thankfully we have that information on our hand. 98 soldiers in training. Now how would I divide that? Seven and fourteen? Seven and fourteen.

“Okay all of you! Line up in a line of seven!” I announced as I stood up and shouted, ordering the soldiers who were present to line up for easy counting.

All of the soldiers obliged easily as they rushed over and lined up in a neat line of seven for each row. Let’s check… Yep fourteen rows of seven. No lines that have less than that.

“Good! Now time to start our training! It’ll be like yesterday. You four deal with this” I announced as I walked off and let the four adventurers deal with this, since they are the one who should do the work according to them. I’ll just observe and maybe chat a bit with someone if anyone is free. They aren’t all training at same time after all.

“Haaah…” Elrick sighed as he and his team walked over to the group of soldiers all still lined up. I’ll just be here in the corner just watching and not exactly doing my job.

 

#####

 

Once the training begins other soldiers stay far away from the action and mainly either talk among themselves or just wait and relax. I wonder what they’re talking about, rather chatty for me to hear it from the other corner. I stood up and walked over to them just to acquire their gossips.

“How come they’re so much stronger than us? Your thoughts?” One soldier asked another while I was still out of their view.

“I mean we have just sorta been stuck here not doing much I guess. Maybe we’re just not getting enough actions until now” The one being asked replied.

“Sure as hell doesn’t explain why that purple lady is- Ah! I-I mean yeah that makes sense!” The one asking muttered before realizing my presence, getting a scare and tried to derail the conversation. Too bad for him I already heard that.

“Sure have a lot of guts to talk about someone within the same place” I said a bit jokingly seeing how rude his words seem. He doesn’t retort but still stands there staring at me. Seems I scare him a bit to the point he can’t even reply, not even my intention.

“Look, it’s fine to talk about such a thing, just maybe not within a possible earshot” I added seeing as he won’t say anything further. The other conversations also halted as they noticed my presence as well. Despite not having a harsh training they are all clearly stressed out about something else instead.

“There’s nothing stopping you from talking so why bother stopping?” I asked, seeing as no one said anything in return. They really won’t say anything are they? I was hoping for some sort of insightful conversations here and it’s all just gone, reduced to nothing.

“Disappointing. I guess you’re all just too much of a coward to say anything. When there aren’t even any possible consequences you all still cowers. It’s like you regress, but in a different direction, not going towards your overly arrogant self but over to overly humble and cowardly. Hope this doesn’t come up in the big fight, you’ll need it then more than now” I gave them a long speech seeing as no one will interrupt me anyway. After I said that I just went back to my spot and resumed watching the training on hold.

The four continued to hold out very well against the group of soldiers despite being outnumbered as always. Having a good formation and plan in mind while the soldiers are still trying to figure out how to overcome it. It’ll probably be a while before they came up with anything substantial.

 

#####

 

“Can I join in now?” I shouted out seeing the training over and them taking a break for the next session. I’m not getting anything done so far and I would like to actually get to do something, otherwise I’d rather leave and go hang out with a girl or two. Well there are only three people that really came to mind.

“I… Like I said maybe act as mediator so nothing goes wrong? I don’t think you need to join in” Elrick said, hesitating slightly probably trying to not slight me.

“Alright then!” I replied. Probably better off going around roaming the building. My role be damned it’s not even that important.

I just stood up and walked out of the training ground back into the corridor. In the building now I should go around looking for any possible activity, instead of just sitting there doing nothing.

There’s a second floor to this place but it’ll probably be too conspicuous on my end to go up there, maybe just around on the first floor and it probably wouldn’t raise any alarm, just maybe someone thinking I’m a bit bad at directions.

Let’s see here. I already look through the left side of this building so to the right side it is. I’m not really sure what else is there besides maybe a few more rooms of knights and paths to other training grounds. Let’s just walk around and take a good look.

I walked around the right side of the barracks and haven’t encountered anyone so far. On the nameplate on the door I could see where it leads to. This one at the corner is another knight’s room, and one of the doors on the right wall leads to another training ground, probably for a completely different group of soldiers. Oh right here is where the weapons are stored, it’s not that important of a find. Guess that’s all there is to the right side as far as I can tell. There is also the cafeteria but really it’s just a cafeteria, maybe I’ll see some important faces but that’s about it. Maybe I should actually go upstairs? Probably where all the true big wings are and maybe they have some information on whatever is going on inside. Then again Maova already gave a lot of insight already, in that they aren’t all too competent. Maybe I should just go back seeing all I can see for now, not to raise any possible suspicion… Actually maybe I’ll request to go back early since I’m not really doing anything anyway. Yeah let’s just do that.

I turned around and walked over to the knight’s room. Hopefully he’s still there for me to request going back early.

Before I could knock on the door I heard a conversation happening behind it. Seems someone is keeping him occupied, whatever could this be about? One thing for certain I shouldn’t interrupt the conversation, would be quite rude to just knock on the door interrupting whatever flow of the conversation they have.

…Well there aren’t any loud arguments inside of worry about at least, still this is taking a while…

*Creak*

The door finally opened with a man in a similar uniform to the knight coming up. Seems to be a fellow knight as well. He seemed to take notice of me but didn’t say anything, just ignoring me. That’s fine, I’ll just go into the room and ask the man for early leave.

“Your reason to come here early?” He immediately asked as I walked into the room.

“Well right now the other four are getting their groove together and I don’t want to interrupt that. If I may, perhaps I could leave early?” I answered nonchalantly.

“Hmm… Very well” He said not trying to put up an argument. Good that he let me go that easily.

“Thank you… Ah” Before I actually walked out and leave I began thinking about what I should say to him before and remembered something,

“In about two or three days the Demon Lord will come to remind you all of the fateful day” I said as I walked over to the door.

“What do you mean?” He asked, sounding a bit more erratic than usual.

“Exactly as I said. Soon the Demon Lord will come back, just to make sure you all are doing your job. Go say so to your superior if you want” I said as I opened the door.

“How did you know that?” He asked not wanting me to leave so easily after saying something so important.

“Because I actually do my job, and you all better as well” I said as I exited and no longer tolerated any interruption. Closing the door behind me and walking out of the barracks. Walking out and making sure no one is able to see me teleporting away. Making sure the coast is clear and for me to teleport away. Seeing that no one is around, it’s time to go back… but to where? Maybe I’ll just go back to the sister’s home for now, just maybe surprising them with an early arrival, making them jump a bit will be quite fun.

*Zoom*

“I’m back!” I proclaimed as this time I teleported to the bedroom instead of the outside. I would’ve thought I’ll see both of them but apparently not. Maybe they’re out and about hunting? Seems to be what they’re doing around this time yesterday. If that’s the case then I should go find them in the woods, just to greet them a bit more suddenly.

*Zoom*

Teleported to the outside of the house now where are they exactly? Obviously not within the inside of these walls, so they’re out but going to be hard to tell where they are outside with the thick forest making navigating from far away difficult. Then I should do this instead. [Spirit Detection].

Hmm… I found two souls outside of the walls and a bit far away from this place. Let’s go there and say hello, just one sudden greeting.

*Fly*

I fly towards them, quickly and look from the bird's eye view. Let’s see if I can see them from up here… lowering myself a bit I could hear some struggle down there, hopefully not of the girls themselves since if there is something as dangerous as they are it’ll be rather troubling.

Getting just slightly above the trees I can see them fighting a few boars. Thankfully they’re not struggling against this thing like I feared, it’s just that there are a surprising amount of them and they’re taking their time taking them all out.

Rumel and Floria are actually going through them very easily, if still taking it slow and not trying to rush things and lower their guards. Rumel doesn’t actually use any weapon as she is unarmed and works rather well while Floria uses her two blades to cut through them easily and wildly.

A lot of corpses are about as they go through these beasts like it’s no big deal, probably will be a lot of pain to clear or collect, so good thing I came to see them right now since I can collect them easily.

Waiting around up in the sky as I wait for them to finish their fight, just making sure nothing came up to interrupt my greetings… Okay, now it’s time to meet them.

“Hello there” I said as I nonchalantly dropped down from the sky and waved at them.

“Wha!?” Rumel screamed out as she backed away a bit while Floria did so silently but jumped back way much more, almost hitting the tree nearby and stepping on one of the dead boars.

“Hehe. Funny reaction you two have” I said with a silly smile on me.

“I didn’t expect you to even come back right now!” Rumel snapped back.

“Yeah I can see why. I just feel like coming back home early today. Good to see that you two don’t have any trouble hunting around here” I said disregarding her comedic lashing out.

“Worried about us?” Floria commented as she regained her composure.

“Yeah of course I am. Like I’ll just let you two get into any possible trouble” I said while giving them a flirty smile. Both of them blushed a bit and walked closer to me.

“Thanks for worrying” Rumel said for both of them. I would continue talking to them and getting all the more heartwarming but I don’t think this is the best place for it, with all dead boars about.

“No problem. Okay let me collect all these dead animals first, don’t want them rotting on us do we?” I said as I walked to the pile of meat and collected them all quickly and made sure none got left behind.

“Thank you” Floria said this time around with her usually rather calm and shy voice.

“Like I said, no need for that. Let’s all go back home and enjoy a meal shall we? You two have been hunting for a while no doubt, let’s go back and get some rest” I said as I reached my hand out for them. They both look at it, at each other, and then both reach their hand and touch mine. Three warm hands lovingly touching each other. Time to go back home and relax, to enjoy our time together with just us three.

*Zoom*