Reunion
We were shaken in the carriage for 3〇 minutes.
What came into sight in front is a large fortress.
Unlike a castle, it’s a fortress crammed with yellowed building stones.
“Egil-san, it came into sight huh. That’s the Goliath Fortress”
“Aah”
Its size in its entirety is probably about that of a small scale kingdom.
The entrance gates are at all four directions and one is able to enter from any direction.
However, because there are three inner gates before one finally reaches the heart of the fortress, it’s no easy feat to advance to the middle part regardless of where one enters fromーーinstead, they can probably better concentrate their firepower if they attacked from one direction.
And then, the towering fortress walls are made to overlook intruders and created to have predominance over the other side.
“Firstly, we’ll leave our baggage at the camp area, and afterwards, let’s go and greet those from the guilds who have already arrived, shall we”
The carriage heads towards the camp area that’s a slight distance away from the gates that trespass the fortress.
In the case of a Joint Quest, we make camp at a nearby location.
It resembles the camp area that we make use of even on ordinary quests.
However, in this camp area that’s right before the Goliath Fortress, there are only those who took the same quest.
So it’s relatively spacious and we’re able to make use of it peacefully.
We arrive at the camp area, receive instructions on the span that we can use from the person who’s managing this camp area, and carry on to pitch our tent.
“Uh……I will be using the camp by myself, so the three of you please freely use it”
Hart reservedly said while we’re pitching the tent.
“No, that’s dangerous, isn’t it. What will you do if you were to sleep alone and got targeted?”
“No, that’ll be fine. Here, there are also Adventurers who specialize in the camp area’s watch-keeping so there’s no worry”
“But”
“Besides, um……”
Hart who somehow looks like he wants to say something.
And then Eleanor unnaturally coughs, ‘Gohon’, and conveys to me softly.
“Egil-sama, let us presume upon Hart-sama’s goodwill here, shall we?”
“Goodwill?”
“……In short, I suppose Hart-sama thought he will be a hindrance if he is around. I suppose it struck him that there are various things for us to do at night”
And I realised.
“That’s what it is huh……but”
I look at Serina.
Seriina vigorously turns her face away while her face is turning crimson red.
“I, I am fine. Uh……I, will hold back”
“No, making you guys hold back is kinda……”
“N, noo! I didn’t mean hold back as in having the two of them hold back from doing it, I myself will hold back on masーーn, no, as I thought, it’s nothing! It’s fine, I said it’s fine!”
Serina, who stopped as she’s about to say something, suspiciously twirls her pink hair.
Because I only know of Eleanor’s moans, I don’t know if it’s loud or not, but I guess it’s probably pretty loud.
I look at Eleanor.
“……Let us presume upon both of their goodwills, shall we”
she smiles sweetly, and I feel some kind of pressure.
However, I can’t imagine Eleanor holding her voice back. Instead, it feels like she’ll moan by Serina’s earsーーI’ve come to understand Eleanor’s perverted antics little by little.
“This conversation, well, we’ll leave it to another time. For the time being, Hart, are you fine by yourself?”
“Eh, I’m fine”
I guess it’s fine if the person himself is saying so huh. Besides, using a tent alone is more spacious and that’s nice after all.
We carry on to move the baggage that we brought here inside when we finish pitching the tent.
The spaciousness of the tent is even more spacious than the last time. It’s spacious enough for three people to lie down and spread their legsーーbut, that’s about all the extra room there is, that’s how it is for a collapsible tent.
“Alright then, now that we’ve placed our baggage, I’ll bring you to the location where those from the others guilds await. It’s almost noon, the time for the meeting after all”
We headed towards a conspicuously large tent that’s in the camp area.
I guess it’s probably a tent that’s pitched for everybody to assemble in. I’ve participated in Joint Quests several times before as well so I’ve witnessed it being used for strategy meetings and such.
“ーーOh, somebody’s here”
A four-sided table was put together inside the tent and there are also several people who sat in chairs in a way that they surround that table.
One person amongst them, a man with brown hair and a comb back hairstyle, is looking over here.
Hart, who saw that man, made a slightly displeased-looking expression.
“……Fabiola. Even though your comrades were killed by monsters, you still intend to participate huh”
“Hah, I don’t wanna be told that by you. I’d thought that your side had your comrades killed by the traitor but……was I mistaken?”
“……I didn’t say they were killed. They were only wounded”
“Heh, is that so”
The man called Fabiola sneers while reclining into his chair.
I guess he’s probably the Guild Leader of somewhere. Judging from his good quality-looking armour, I can tell that he’s a vanguard occupation.
And then I guess the multiple women who stand at the back are that guild’s members.
It appears that the older ones are in their late 3〇s and younger ones are in their early 2〇s.
However, those girls are…….
“Those fellows around you is a bunch that wasn’t there previously huh. Newly joined members?”
“Since there was about two weeks of rest time, I properly went to replaced my comrades”
“Not replaced, bought, right?”
Fabiola raised the corner of his mouth and laughed,「It’s the same meaning, right?」.
I guess this is the fellow Hart was calling,『Adventurer who’s all talk』, previously huh. All four who stand in line around him are slaves. And thenーーit doesn’t look like they’re serving their owner that loyally. To put it bluntly, I can tell by the looks of it that they were bought by money and unwillingly brought here
Incidentally, by the looks of it, Fabiola and Hart are on rather bad terms.
“B, both of you, will you guys leave it at that?”
A man who stands between us, who were standing still by the tent’s entrance, and Fabiola.
He has intellectual facial features and wearing silver-rimmed spectacles.
He’s wearing a violet robe for his attire so I guess he’s probably a rear guard Magician-related occupation.
His characteristics are that he’s hunchback and sickly in some respects, even though his height is about the same as me.
“Hart-san and guys just finally arrived, right? In that case, here, please sit down”
“Thank you, Relic-san”
As we sit in the empty chairs, the man called Relic approaches and slightly suspiciously grabs his left wrist tightly.
“You must be tired after your long period of travel. Would you, like some tea?”
“Ah, I’ll do it myself so please sit down, Relic-san”
“N, no no. Ah, confections and such as well, um……would you like some?”
In response to the slightly overly-concerned Relic, Hart also couldn’t settle down.
Thereupon, Fabiola gave out a loud voice to the extent that it resounded inside the tent.
“Oi oi, just let him do it. That coward is so so worried that you might be the traitor that he’s being considerate with the meaning of, ‘At least don’t kill me please'”
“Wha, I, I am not……”
“Just stop with your obvious lies. The you, ever since you found out that there’s a traitor, have been weird, haven’t you, an?”
I guess it’s probably right that he’s being cautious of Hart, and that he’s a coward.
Relic mutteringly says something softly and Relic’s guild members glare at Fabiola, ready to attack him with their regularly used weapons at any time.
However, the slaves, guild members that Fabiola bought, are also ready to retaliateーーbut, that’s exclusive of one person.
Only the girl, who wore a silver barrette above her left ear on her transparent and beautiful light blue long hair, was watching over the developments of the event with cold eyes that looks like she doesn’t care.
A tinderbox atmosphere
It’s the worst Joint Quest.
“You people, I understand that you are delighted from your reunion after a long time, but how about you guys quiet down any time now?”
A new one opened their mouth again.
It’s a woman with light purple hair grown until her chest, and then she’s quite the child, her appearance is the figure of a young girl that may or may not have reached 1〇 years old.
However, judging from the way she speaks and sits, I was able to comprehend from the aura she possesses that she’s spent quite some years as an Adventurer.
“If you are afraid of the traitor, then how about you retire from this quest? There are plenty of quests out there, no?”
“So noisy, kids should shut up”
Without delay, Fabiola flares up at that woman.
But the woman laughed and brushed it off.
“Haha, how rude to call me a kid. I am 15 even though I look like this, I am no longer a kid, you know?”
“15 is pretty muchーー”
And then she looks at him piercing eyes.
“ーーI am stronger than you. Care to test it out?”
In those overbearing eyes, it’s like she’s strong and has the confidence in her own strength to the extent that you can’t feel her appearance’s childishness.
And after a short pause, Fabiola clicks his tongue and folds his arms.
“……Tsk, no way I’m doing it, right. Troublesome”
“Hmm, hmm, what a pity. I thought I could have a little fun though……. Well, so be it”
“Levia, how about you leave it at that? If you’re overly aggressive to the surroundings, even we, are gonna to be in danger”
“Yeah, that’s right, I don’t really wanna cause trouble”
“Uh huh, if you people say so”
those, who sit in line beside the young girl who’s called ‘Levia’, are making slightly troubled expressions.
Two men and one woman. Even from a quick look, they don’t look that strong.
Why the woman called Levia is teaming with those three, is the question.
And thenーーthe expression of Eleanor, who sits beside me, changed.
“……What’s wrong?”
I ask, and Eleanor whisperingly muttered.
“……It is those three”
An unusually low tone of voice that’s packed with all kinds of emotions.
With just that, I could guess what she wants to say.
“……Your childhood friends?”
“Yes. I do not know the young girl, but those three beside her are”
She puts in her strength and grasps her fists that she placed on top of her thighs tightly, and her blue eyes that are visible from the hood that completely covered her face glare at the three of them intensely.
The three of them, who don’t notice that gaze, were having a conversation while laughing.
I hold Eleanor’s hand.
“Now’s not the time. When that time comes……”
“What is the matter with me, I am sorry……. When I saw the three of them laughing blissfully, a wrathful emotion that I have never experienced before welled up inadvertently. But I am fine now”
Eleanor returns to her usual calm expression while she exhales a lengthy, ‘Fuu’.
“That one with an intellectual atmosphere is Kurd. The short one with red hair is Mordret. That freckled girl with a braid is Muslena”
“I see……and, that woman called Levia, is the leader amongst those three huh”
“Likely. It is somebody whom I have not seen before”
She hasn’t seen before means that it’s not somebody she encountered at the Cornelia Kingdom huh.
“ーーSo, are all the guilds gathered with this?”
In the middle of talking with Eleanor, Fabiola looked over the surroundings.
The members who are currently here, are 5 people for Fabiola’s guild that gathered female slaves. 8 people for the guild the timidly silver-rimmed spectacles leader, Relic, is leading. 4 people for the young girl called ‘Levia’ and Eleanor’s childhood friends’ guild.
Adding us, it’s 21 people altogether. It feels slightly few.
Thereupon, Hart opens his mouth.
“Not yet, right. The guild that’s directly under the Kingdom of this quest still hasn’t come yet. Moreover, a newly joined guild as well”
“Aah, come to think of it, that’s right huh. I’ve completely forgotten”
I guess a guild that’s directly under the Kingdom, is likely a guild that undertakes only quests that the Felistina Kingdom commissions.
And a lot that newly come……well, I think the lot that newly come aren’t the traitors.
The need for being careful isーー.
“ーーOh, already here huh. Are we perhaps the last?”
A voice that contained a slightly pigheaded laugh, was heard from the entrance.
And then I looked at the owner of the voice.
Exactly as the voice’s impression, shady facial features. A man who’s probably in his 4〇s with a plump figure that’s unlike an Adventurer, along with a thick beard around his mouth.
Howeverーーsomeone like that man, doesn’t matter.
What’s important is behind him. The figures of the two girls, who had a conversation with me before, were there.
“Why……”
It’s the twins, who suddenly disappeared before me.
Her, with a cream colour ponytail that’s dangling like a horse’s tail, and her, with an impressive cream colour fringe that covered until her eyes along with the hair in the back that’s grown until her shoulders.
“Why are they here……”
Those two were, Sana and Runa, whom we did quests together with.