The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary

Translator: Lizz    

Proofreader: Xemul    

The party left Kapha city, and their journey so far was a little better than expected, though they didn’t manage to get far on the first day . All they did during the day was following the main road and exchanging greetings with the occasionally passing travelers .     

Since they couldn’t go farther than planned, they decided to set up a camp on the plain along the main road and called it a day .     

“Is it just me, or we’re going a little slow?”    

“No, everyone feels the same, except for one person . ”    

“The reason is… surely that . ”    

Lapis said, as she was looking at two exhausted donkeys . Everyone could see that they were a bit overloaded and, Gula, the reason of this increased baggage load, showed a weak, apologetic smile:    

“Sorry . I eat a lot . ”    

“It’s alright for us, but the donkeys are pitiful . Apologize to them . ”    

“Sorry guys . I just eat a lot . ”    

Gula said and repeatedly bowed to the donkeys . Tizona just smiled wryly but Lapis, who knew Gula’s true identity, watched the unbelievable scene with a perplexed expression . Lapis didn’t know who called them Evil Gods for the first time, but she wondered how that person would feel seeing such a being bowing to a pair of donkeys .     

Lapis’ expression became even more perplexed when Loren stacked up the huge amount of branches he had cut and picked from their surroundings into a pile .     

“Tizona, light these up . ”    

Loren thought that as someone nicknamed ‘Hellfire Sword’, Tizona would be a master in using fire . But she protested with a merciless expression:    

“Wait a minute, I’m not a tinderbox . Besides, there’s green wood mixed in this, isn’t there?”    

“Can’t you dry them?”    

“It’s not that I can’t, but… Well, you know my nickname, don’t you? Should my ability be used for things like this?”    

Tizona asked with a rather pitiful expression . Surely this was a too lowly work to ask of a twice-named mercenary, wasn’t it?     

Loren calmly replied:    

“I don’t care . If you don’t want to do it, then buy firewood in the next town . Of course, this will be added to our expenses, and given that we will be camping a lot due to the round trip, you need to buy enough for future use . Alright?”    

“…Just let me do it . ”    

Buying firewood would further increase the expenses, and so Tizona reluctantly changed her mind . She then lifted her hand over the tottering pile of wood gathered by Loren .     

“Can you dry the green wood?”    

“It’s alright if I just heat them up and do not burn them, right? In the worst case, I can force them to burn . ”    

“Isn’t that magic?”    

Asked a priest of the God of Knowledge, who suddenly became curious about the process .     

It didn’t look like Tizona intended to hide anything, so she answered while scowling at the pile of wood:    

“It’s my blessing . Another one aside from <> . ”    

“That’s really convenient, isn’t it? To be able to use magic to dry things…”    

“I’m not sure, but it’s not supposed to be used like this . Rather, you should be more surprised about me having two blessings . ”    

“Now that you mention it…”    

Aside from Tizona, Lapis hadn’t met any other person with a blessing… except for a certain adventurer named Klaus . He had a blessing called <>, which allowed him to increase his own power and the power of those he touched . Klaus had never mentioned having another blessing, so Lapis wasn’t sure if he was hiding it or if Boost was the only one he had . However, judging by the way Tizona spoke, it seemed that for one person to receive two blessings was extremely rare .     

“I have not only one, but two rare blessings . And now I’m using one of them to dry your firewood…”    

“You’re using it for a peaceful purpose though?”    

“Why does it sound like you are trying to give a noble purpose to my blessing here? Isn’t it strange?!”    

“What blessing is it, by the way?”    

“It’s called <> . I’m using it to dry firewood now, but this is what I used to burn our employer’s troops . And it’s where my nickname comes from . ”    

Said Tizona and her left hand twitched by a small spark that immediately turned into the fire . As she clenched her hand into a fist, the fire started to grow and took a shape similar to a sword .     

“This is how <> is originally used . ”    

Tizona opened her left fist, and the sword disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared . There was no actual need to draw a sword, she simply wanted to show it to them .     

Lapis exclaimed, truly impressed:    

“You really don’t need a burner at all . ”    

“You’re the first one ever to have that kind of reaction after seeing <> . ”    

Tizona continued silently drying the firewood, but her shoulders now had slumped in disappointment .     

After solving the issue with fire, Loren and Lapis managed to somehow prepare Gula’s dinner . But when Tizona checked the amount of wood left, she became utterly surprised:    

“Wait, how could you use up almost all the firewood?”    

Tizona dried up quite a lot of firewood, but the amount left was barely enough for a bonfire . She was even unsure if it could keep fire going throughout the night .     

To answer her astonishment, Loren wearily pointed at Gula:    

“We used more than half of it to cook… Complain to the big eater over there . ”    

“I’m not even half full . ”    

Gula said sadly while rubbing her stomach . Tizona saw her devouring enormous amount of food, yet could not fire out where the hell did all go . Even more strange was that fact that her stomach didn’t even look bloated .     

“I have a feel that we’ll need to stock up once more before reaching our destination . ”    

Lapis muttered in dismay while opening her map . The donkeys’ load was quite heavy, but it lightened up considerably after just one camping and the donkeys now looked somewhat happier . However, if this continued already after the second camping they would run out of food . It wouldn’t be possible to reach their destination if they do not stock up at a village or a town along the main road .     

“Physical activities increase appetite, huh . ”    

“Loren, is this really okay?”    

Lapis pointed at Gula, who procured a toothpick from somewhere and was chewing on it . Loren was unable to give her an answer .     

Saying it was not alright would mean throwing Gula out . What bothered him about doing so was not her being indispensable but the prospect of her actions afterwards . Rather than dumping a dangerous crate of combustibles without knowing where it would end up, it was better to spend some money and keep it within sight .     

“It can’t be helped . We won’t find any solutions even if we try to . Rather than that, let’s decide the order to keep watch, then go to sleep . ”    

“Well, let Gula keep watch for the whole night then . ”    

“Wait a minute! I want to sleep too . ”    

Gula spat out the toothpick and protested, to which Loren and Lapis looked back at her dumbfounded . Unsure if she said something strange again, she faltered a bit .     

Lapis asked her, sounding rather confused:    

“Do you even need to sleep?”    

“I do?! I’m still a living being, you know?!”    

“Haven’t you had enough sleep to rot your brains off? Not sleeping for a few days is still alright for you, isn’t it?”    

“You don’t even intend to let me sleep even just once?”    

“Please work as much as you eat . ”    

Lapis said matter-of-factly, and Gula’s expression turned sad .     

Thinking that she couldn’t let things progress like this, Tizona intervened:    

“I’m not sure how serious you are, but she’ll die if she doesn’t sleep for four days . ”    

“But she won’t . At most, she’ll just have some hallucinations . ”    

“Why don’t you just let it go? The one whose pocket hurts the most is me, isn’t it?”    

Gula hung her head at the poison secretly hidden behind those words .     

Seeing that Lapis had no objections, Tizona took out an hourglass from her luggage:    

“The sand will run out in exactly two hours . Since there are about eight hours left until morning, let’s take turns and keep watch for two hours each . ”    

“Should we draw a lottery?”    

“No, I proposed it, so I’ll go first . ”    

And so the order of keeping watch was decided like this: Tizona ⇾ Gula ⇾ Loren ⇾ Lapis .     

Hearing this, Gula energetically leapt at Loren as if her dejected expression earlier had been all a lie . Loren didn’t have any time to dodge her advance and ended up having her clinging tightly to his arm . He tried to shake her off, but she held on firmly with both arms, making it impossible for him to push her away .     

“In that case, sleep with me, Loren . ”    

“Why should I?”    

“Cause our sleeping bags are the normal type, while yours are high-quality . It’ll surely feel different, right?”    

It was true, but that didn’t mean he should comply with her wish . Gula embraced him in bed just recently, and the situation back then was really dangerous . If she did that within the tight confines of a sleeping bag, he would simply burst .     

However, he didn’t think that Gula would accept a refusal . Thinking that he was just human, Loren proposed a compromise:    

“You can use my sleeping bag then . The normal one is fine for me . ”    

“But that’ll be meaningless . Two people will be warmer, right Loren? Right?”    

Gula rubbed her body against Loren . At this very moment, Lapis approached her from behind and covered her from head to toe with her sleeping bag . She even neatly tied Gula up with a rope while Loren watched on in astonishment . Like this Gula wouldn’t be able to come out when her turn arrives . While Loren was wondering about such things, Lapis tossed a tightly-packed Gula into her tent and turned to look at him .     

“What?”    

“You don’t feel regret or anything, do you?”    

“Thank you for saving me . ”    

Hearing his thanks Lapis looked relieved . She then bade Loren and Tizona goodnight and crawled into her own tent .     

“Sorry, it’s quite a trouble but when it’s Gula’s turn, can you take her out of the sleeping bag? I think she won’t be able to get out on her own . ”    

“I-I understand…”    

“Well, I’ll leave it to you then . ”    

Loren waved lightly at a nodding Tizona and slipped into his tent . A day of walking had worn him out, though not as much as the matter of Gula’s appetite, and sleep came soon after he crawled into his own sleeping bag .     

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