For a few moments I idly stared at Valerian’s eyes, like a cobra that was mesmerized by a flute. But his deadly looks soon lost their effect, when he shook my shoulder.

“Ah… That… A girl should have her own secrets~…” I coughed and turned away, showing that this topic is closed.

Everyone looked at me with a bit of concern, but since I was not going to yield, the party proceeded with mundane discussions. We (everyone but me) talked about their plans for the next quest, what to bring, where to go, what to subjugate…

Since the nearby forest enigmatically became devoid of monsters and most animal life, it was decided that we are going to venture quite far away from here, all the way to the next major city.

“And for how long will this trip last?” I asked simply for the sake of showing that everyone’s words didn’t go in one ear and out the other, and that I actually cared about their quests.

“Was it four days long?” Placid pondered while gazing at the ceiling.

“No, no, just three.” (E)

“Mhm…” I mumbled some sort of an acknowledgement, and returned to ignoring the chatter around.

I was totally engrossed in my own thoughts, for example, what to do with the ever-growing hive. At this point I commanded a few hundred aliens, at least half of which were large and bloodthirsty drones.

The hive slowly expanded from the moist s**thole where my chamber lies, all the way to the caverns above it. And because of this continued grow I was more and more concerned with the occasional intruding Homo Idioticus, which steadily increased the biomass by one or two every day.

At this point there was no more way of simply keeping the formerly same species away through keeping the xenomorphs away from the tunnels at the top. Stupid monkeys, and I could find no other way to describe those who steadily go underground, were already exploring deeper and deeper, sometimes even trying to inhabit the former bandits’ lairs. Only to be dragged down by even less pleasant neighbors.

While I was pondering on the solutions to my predicament, the party’s voices became quiet, and they achieved some sort of a decision.

“Let’s go?” I asked.

Everyone looked at me in a daze. All eyes were focused on me, with a mixture of surprise and shock showing in their glances.

Finally, after some silent exchanges of glances, Erbrun lightly knocked the table with his fist, and stood up.

“See, Val? Even little Amelia says we’re going! You ain’t going to chicken out, are you?” The brawny man grinned in triumph.

“Fine… Fine…!” Valerian rolled up his eyes, and glanced at me.

“If you want to go, then let us… I will go ask dad for permission, and join up with you. Buy the supplies, we’re stepping out at the break of the dawn.” The blond mister Handsome reluctantly grumbled, and after he patted my back he stood up, heading towards the exit.

The others headed their own separate ways, leaving only me and Jeanne in the inn. We headed upstairs, and Jeanne started packing luggage.

“What are you doing…?” I asked her, when the girl proceeded with packing Wolfgang’s bag.

“What?” Jeanne asked in confusion.

“Can’t he pack his own stuff?” I grumbled.

“He can, but since I’m the only woman in here, that’s my job.” She answered calmly.

“Ah, right…”

The conversation died on the spot.

The room was filled only with rustling of two females packing bags. I only packed some jerkies and only into my own bag, while Jeanne was finishing the last bag that was not her own.

“So, what did you decide?”

“What do you mean?” She answered without even looking my way.

“Where are we going?”

‘Pom’

A small pan fell out of her hands.

“Wait a darn…?” The girl started raising her voice, but then she calmed down like nothing happened.

“You didn’t listen, not at all…? Right…?” She answered with slight annoyance.

“Um.”

“Brilliant… So, what do you think about spending an entire week on foot?” (J)

“No, thanks.”

“Yes, thanks.” She answered, now with obvious irritation.

“Just your voice was enough to tilt the voting in favor of a long expedition. Congratz.” Jeanne sighed and returned to her work.

Meanwhile, I was screaming and bashing my head against a wall, in my mind that is…