Anyway, since everyone in the group had decided to return, we packed up our things and turned towards Vespian.
Just like when we had marched here, not just our party but all the other parties together.
It was Bardu’s suggestion.
He said if we returned separately by party, we might fall victim to bandit attacks, so we should all go back together like we came.
Hadn’t we already dealt with all the bandits on the way here?
That’s not likely.
Bandits are essentially the same as fruit flies, so even if it seems like you’ve eradicated them all, as soon as you turn your eyes away for a moment, they multiply again.
In the first place, we had only cleared out the bandits who attacked us, not swept away all the bandits on the trade route to their roots.
So, the possibility of encountering new bandits on the way back wasn’t zero.
If they were just weak ordinary bandits, it wouldn’t be a big problem, but if copper token adventurer-turned-bandits popped up like last time…
Our party might be fine, but Bardu and Jane alone wouldn’t have a way to overcome them. Bardu would be killed and Jane would be dragged off to their lair.
The two of them must have thought the chances of that were high, so they suggested we return together. Saying it would be much safer that way.
“Sure, that sounds good.”
“Thank you for accepting.”
“It’s nothing.”
Objectively speaking, this was half riding on me and Friede… but there didn’t seem to be any reason to refuse.
Because it would leave a bitter aftertaste if Bardu and Jane, whom we had gone to the trouble of saving, ended up as bandits’ spoils.
Imagine if we sent the two of them ahead first and rested a bit before returning slowly, only to reunite with a decapitated and mutilated Bardu a day later.
It would prick my conscience like a needle and make me lose my appetite completely.
If only Bardu’s corpse remained and Jane’s was nowhere to be seen, the unpleasantness would be even greater.
…No, would it be an even more terribly unpleasant sight if Jane’s corpse was there too?
It certainly wouldn’t be in a normal state. Like the corpses I had witnessed before.
In the early days after possession, when I was cutting down marauders and heading north across the border, I had witnessed the corpses of women killed by bandits a few times…
…Ugh.
Their appearance was so horrific that even thinking about it now almost made me feel nauseous.
It made me keenly realize what beings with malice, intelligence, and creativity could do to others.
Although I’ve become somewhat used to it now and can calmly move on, when I first witnessed it, I vomited so much my insides felt like they were turning inside out, and I had to skip meals for a while.
…I shouldn’t have recalled that. It’s unsettling.
Anyway, my point was that Bardu and Jane ending up like that wouldn’t be a very pleasant thing for me.
…Why do I keep mentioning only those two? Weren’t Amina’s trio still alive too?
Who cares about those guys.
I had already come to regard them as something less than human.
Those shameless, materialistic bastards who didn’t even get angry at Amina’s death, who had taken care of them in her own way, and only desperately tried to save their own lives.
Moreover, even after the battle ended, they only cared about their own injuries and didn’t even think about burying Amina, who was left lying there.
It was as if they couldn’t even come up with such an idea?
In the end, it was only when I personally started burying her body that they approached with faces that seemed to have just realized, asking if there was anything they could help with.
With faces that clearly showed they had hastily come forward not out of mourning for Amina, but because they felt they would be treated like trash if they didn’t help.
It was at that moment that I decided not to treat those guys as human beings.
A person should be humane to be considered a person. If we treat such guys as human, wouldn’t it make the value of humans too cheap?
So I didn’t care whether those things lived or died.
But… Bardu and Jane were different.
The two of them were not only flawless in terms of skill and character, but they were also magnanimous enough to willingly give up two wagons to us.
The trio had been lurking around the wagons with faces that suggested they thought they had some share in them too, only hastily backing off when Amy threatened to burn their eyeballs.
It was really a stark contrast in character.
“Um… Hilde, may we return together with you…?”
“Do whatever you want.”
So, I blatantly clicked my tongue while looking at the three people who approached me with a stiff attitude to request accompanying us, as if looking at insects.
In a voice that suggested they should be grateful I was refraining from telling them to get lost and die out of courtesy.
“D-Don’t talk to Hilde. Don’t even come close. It’s unpleasant.”
Friede, seeming to share my sentiment, showed quite overt contempt.
An aggressive attitude completely different from her usual timid appearance.
It wasn’t even this bad when she argued with Amy. It was like she was facing an enemy.
“Y-Yes…!”
The three men turned pale and hastily retreated three or four steps back.
“Ka-kachak! Kekik!”
Kikel laughed at the sight. It sounded a bit different from his usual laugh when he was in a good mood, so I thought this might be the Lizardman equivalent of sneering.
* * *
On the way back.
After asking our permission, Bardu and Jane climbed onto the cargo area of one wagon, while our party settled on top of the other wagon.
After moving some of the cargo to Bardu’s wagon to balance the weight, considering Kikel’s body weight.
What about the remaining trio?
They did ask to ride in the wagon. Asking if they were the only ones who had to walk like this.
They even asked if we couldn’t at least let them take turns riding, one at a time…
“I don’t see why we should let you ride. Or are you asking us to create a reason?”
Before I could answer, Amy stepped forward and firmly refused. Saying if they really wanted to ride the wagon, they should be prepared to part with their two legs.
In the end, the three of them had no choice but to trudge along, diligently chasing after the wagon without even getting a chance to ride.
* * *
About eight hours later.
“I think we should stop here for today. It’s getting too dark.”
Bardu, who had stopped the wagon, suggested camping as he looked up at the night sky, which was so cloudy that not a single star could be seen.
“That sounds good.”
I agreed with this as well.
In a situation where even Amy’s light orb magic, which we had been using as a substitute for headlights, had run out, it wasn’t a very wise decision to continue on this night road relying only on torchlight.
Moreover, the horses, exhausted from carrying the full load of cargo plus our weight, needed sufficient rest and sleep.
So we stopped the wagons, got off, and diligently began preparing to camp for the night.
“Let’s set up a campfire here—”
“This luggage here, it looks like pepper…?”
“How should we arrange the night watch—”
From gathering dry firewood and lighting a campfire, to taking out a couple of spices from the goods loaded on the wagon and adding them to a stew made with dried meat, to deciding the order of night watch.
Since everyone was experienced with this, the preparations were finished in no time.
Our party and Bardu’s party sat around the campfire, warming ourselves with meat stew seasoned with pepper and salt, while the remaining three huddled in a corner, chewing on dried rations to stave off hunger.
“…Maybe we should have shared some dinner with them?”
I muttered as I glanced at them.
Although they were guys I didn’t care whether they lived or died, I wondered if discriminating with food wasn’t a bit petty, no matter how you look at it.
“Huh? Do we… really need to do that?”
Friede turned her head to look at me and asked back. With a face full of genuine puzzlement.
It was an expression that seemed to lack even the concept of how malicious it was to discriminate with food, as if she couldn’t even understand it.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Amy also nodded next to her as if it was obvious.
“It might be different for Bardu and Jane, but those kinds of guys aren’t the type to remember kindness shown to them, are they? Their true nature has been completely exposed, so why bother?”
“Th-They wouldn’t even be grateful…”
They’re really on the same wavelength.
Both of them had reactions that said, why are you even worrying about such things?
“…I guess so?”
Was I being too sensitive?
Is it because I come from a country where discriminating with food is considered, half-jokingly, as one of the worst evils in the world?
“In the first place, you should take care of your own food. That’s the basics, isn’t it?”
“Well… that’s true.”
It was an irrefutable point.
Unless it was a situation where the client was providing meals, it was the principle that each person was responsible for their own food.
If they wanted stew with plenty of pepper, salt, and meat, they should at least show the courtesy of paying for the food.
We gave Bardu and Jane a bowl each out of goodwill, but there was no reason to extend such kindness to those guys, so we should at least charge them money, right?
Since the two of them were saying that, I decided to just go along with it instead of arguing further.
We had already eaten it all anyway.
It was delicious.
* * *
That dawn.
A very small, whispering-like voice leaked into my ears as I woke up a little earlier than my party members.
Reneom and Hamill.
The two who seemed particularly close among Amina’s trio had woken up early and were chatting in whispers.
“Those fucking bitches putting on airs…”
“Hey, are you crazy? What if they hear us?”
…No, should I say they were exchanging curses?
“What’s the big deal? They’re all fucking asleep, who’s gonna hear?”
“Still, keep it down. If those bitches hear us, we’re both dead.”
…I can hear everything, you know?
These insane bastards.
Although they acted timidly on the outside, it seems they had been harboring quite a grudge inside, as their way of speaking was truly something to behold.
“Honestly, you feel shitty about it too, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true. Hah, really, if it weren’t for that magician, I would’ve gone in and stabbed them.”
“What were you going to stab with?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
Wow, wow. Just look at how these bastards are talking.
They say even the king gets cursed behind his back, but there’s a limit to it.
First cursing, and now lewd talk about someone who could be considered their lifesaver if you only look at the results? Their character was so admirable it almost deserved applause.
To think Amina kept such things as party members, she really had an eye for people no better than a buttonhole.
Well, she was the type to choose party members based solely on looks. That’s why she ended up with bastards like these whose character and skills were both subpar.
“…Tch.”
I frowned and clicked my tongue in disgust. Thinking that I was hearing some really shitty talk first thing in the morning.
“Why listen? Don’t mind. Just insect noise.”
When had he woken up? Kikel quietly muttered while slightly lifting one eyelid.
Saying it was noise no different from bugs chirping, not worth listening to, so I shouldn’t bother paying attention.
“Should we just get rid of those things?”
I turned slightly to look at Kikel and asked. In a low voice tinged with anger bordering on irritation.
Judging by the way they were talking, it seemed they wanted to change their address to the afterlife, and I was more than willing to help with that.
“Why do yourself?”
Kikel chuckled.
“Rude humans, no long life left. Neglect, automatic death.”
He meant that being so rude, they wouldn’t live long anyway, so if we left them alone, they would die on their own. So there was no need to dirty my hands.
It actually happened that way.
Although it might be a bit inaccurate to say they died on their own.
“Bandits! Everyone, grab your weapons!”
During the bandit attack that occurred that afternoon.
Kikel didn’t bother to block an arrow flying towards the back of Reneom’s head, and Friede’s greatsword, while cutting an enemy in half, scraped Hamill’s shield and broke it beyond use.
Even Amy’s defensive magic had an unusually narrow casting range today. Just enough to protect our party.
…Looks like they were all awake.
* * *
The bandits who attacked us were soon annihilated. Leaving only twenty-seven corpses behind.
Twenty-five bandits and two iron token adventurers.
It was a not too bad exchange ratio. Both objectively and psychologically.