Nainiae had her right hand raised towards Nara and her left hand resting on the handle of the sword on her waist, she asked him, “You know Mr. Ian?”

“Of course I know who he is--there isn’t a man who makes a living mercenary who doesn’t know his name.” Basilisk answered her, the tip of his spear pointed diagonally at the ground, his eyes are still hard.

Nainiae looked over at me with with a question in her eyes.

I met her eyes with a slight smile, before finishing my sandwich, dusting my hands off and stood up.

“So?” I look at him and walk over next to Nainiae, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Why are you aiming your spear at me? You even mentioned Ian’s name. You probably know that I’m a Young Master of a count’s house, don’t you?”

“...The Mercenary Hero…” Basilisk narrowed his head and said, “Ian was--the mercenary that I admired the most.”

He tightened his grip on the spear, and spoke with narrowed eyes, “However, when I heard that a hero of him retired, and is now at some noble house as a butler--it felt like something inside me shattered.”

Again Basilisk grimaced, “So I want you to show me…prove to me that he made the right decision to become a butler.”

Basilisk raised his spear and charged at me.

I felt Nainiae tense, Mana starting to gather around her. Just as she was about to use Magic and burn the charging young man into ash, I used Telepathy.

<There is no need.>

Instantly she relaxed, letting go of the gathering Mana, stepping back slightly.

Basilisk’s spear charged though the air and towards my face, slicing through the air--it stopped a centimeter in front of my nose.

“So, what you’re saying is that you just want to have a fight?” I took a step forwards--Basilisk took a step back, stopping his spear from actually hitting me.

“I--” Basilisk seemed to shrivel a little.

I slapped the flat side of Basilisk’s spear, and turned around, walking back to the carriage, “Nainiae, I wish to have a nap--please wake me when we get there?”

My eyes met Nainiae’s, she quickly nodded, and subtly wiping some drool from her chin.

I heard Basilisk gritting his teeth behind me.

“Commander. Wait! Wait!”

One of his companions called out.

“This isn’t the time to be waving a spear around.”

“Have you forgotten about the ogre that you hunted down a moment ago? We need to pack up and move.”

It seems that the others couldn’t afford to let this continue.

Two of the members of Lightning Boulder, Basilisk’s mercenary group, moved forwards and grabbed his arms, starting to drag him away.

“You think Ogres matter in a moment like this? Let go! You guys remember Mr. Ian too, don’t you? You haven’t forgotten him, right?”

“He is our mercenary Hero, of course! Still, it isn’t time to be indulging in such nostalgia! Don’t you see?”

“Commander! If we idle around like this here, what are you going to do if more Ogres come and attack?”

Basilisk complained more, but he let them drag him away--Reitri was relieved that the situation hadn’t escalated.

The carriages finally started moving again.

***

Coming out of the forest, the carriages were running through an open field; their destination was Rainfield, a city of endless rain, the perfect location for hot summers.

“As expected of an Ogre, we hunted it together and still took around 30 minutes to kill it--it really was tough.” Basilisk was driving his carriage and talking about the Ogre he ran into in the forest.

“...After a long battle, the final blow was delivered by my spear; it was a clean end.”

“Wow!!” Horai was listening to the tale with admiration.

The three carriages were driving side by side, Horai was sitting next to Reitri on the drivers seat of the carriage on the right.

“Horai, if you keep leaning over like that, you might fall from the driver’s seat.”

“Ah, come on, Uncle! It’s fine.”

“Hahaha! Mr. Reitri, please don’t worry--I just need to catch him when he falls!” Basilisk spoke with a laugh.

“Gosh, I said I won’t fall!”

Nainiae was driving the carriage to the right.

“Ms. Maid.”

Hearing the voice to her left, Nainiae slightly turned her head, “Yes?”

It was a dry and uninterested response, she was still annoyed by Basilisk, because he pointed his spear at her Master.

“What do you think? I’m talking about how our mercenary group killed an Ogre.” Basilisk was asking with a proud face, “You’ve heard of it right?”

“Yes, I have heard of it.”

Well, she did run into one earlier in the day.

“As expected! Actually, now that I think about, it would be odd if someone didn’t know what an Ogre is.”

There was an old saying that if you tell a crying child an Ogre would come if the child didn’t stop crying--the child would stop straight away--it was such a famous Monster. The sound of the ground shaking from its steps, was fearsome and famous for its size and strength.

Ogres were about as famous as Orcs, the main foes of the Human race--and of all females.

“Well, we’re always ignored because there are very few off us. But, after this mission is over,  when we show off this Ogre’s head in front of the Guild, even the Guild Members will see us in a better light.” Basilisk spoke as though he didn’t notice Nainiae’s coldness.

She ignored him.

“Miss maid, you work at Solia’s Iphelleta mansion…so at the same as Mr. Ian, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“How is he?”

“What do you mean?” Nainiae, her face still serious turned her head and asked Basilisk, almost radiating wariness.

“I wonder if he is still in good health, he is quite old now.”

The Mercenary Hero, almost a god to mercenaries.

Nainiae struggled because she couldn’t think of a good way to respond, eventually she just answered truthfully, “He is doing just fine--if you don’t count the fact that his back is giving him a bit a trouble.”

“Is that…so?” Basilisk seemed to feel a bit awkward, scratching his cheek and looking away.

Noticing this actually helped Nainiae ease her wariness a bit, though she still felt angry that he attacked her Young Master, but she knew that there was no maliciousness behind it.

“Do you admire Mr. Ian?”

“He is so cool! If we were to talk about all of his exploits during the Great War, there would be no end to the conversation.”

“That much?”

Because Nainiae had heard about Ian from Sera and Iris, she knew that he was a skilled warrior. However, she always subconsciously believed that the stories were slight exaggerated.

“Single-handedly capturing a drug field, rescued a kidnapped queen, slaughtered orcs, hunted down the Silver Witch--as well as several dozen other exploits. He saved hundreds of towns. Despite all of that, he had no greed for wealth or titles. That’s why he is even more legendary.” Basilisk spoke with a tone of pride.

Nainiae could help but feel impressed, and thought about Ian who had stayed behind at the mansion. He seemed to be weak, and nagging, in front of her Young Master--he was much different from the great man that Basilisk was describing.

“So, what do you think of the Ogre we killed? Our small group managed to take it down in 30 minutes.”

With just three mercenaries from Lightning Order, killing off that Monster in just thirty minutes was definitely a jaw dropping event.

“Yes, well…”

The problem was that Nainiae was the one being told the story.

Well, she was the maid of the greatest Young Master, one who even had a Silver Dragon as a friend. She was also a 14 year old Sixth Circle Mage.

“30 minutes is pretty fast right?” The was no maliciousness in her tone, just curiousity, as she tilted her head.

“Yes.” Basilisk flinch as he answered, “It definitely is. Well, I said before, I will show you the type of power required.”

Basilisk stopped the wagon, signaling Reitri to stop as well; getting down, he took his spear in his hands and looked at Nainiae, “…Fight me!”