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Prepare thoroughly, pack light
230 ? Prepare thoroughly, pack light #4
A total of four people were assigned the emergency mission of destroying the abyssal rift and rescuing the missing.
me.
Hippolyte.
Antiope.
And one more person.
The remaining one is not definitely decided, so they have to meet up at the north gate before departure?
Since he was a party member carefully selected by Hippolyte, I thought he would definitely be a dependable and strong person. So, I was curious about what kind of person he was, so I looked around the North Gate.
“Hatsan-.”
I heard a familiar voice calling me from somewhere.
It was Luna.
Luna wearing a robe over her head.
“Luna, what are you doing here?”
Could the last person be Luna? Did Hippolyte change her mind? So I looked at Hippolyte’s face, and as if she had read my thoughts, she shook her head.
Luna said.
“Still, I think I should pick you up since you’re going to do something dangerous.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Here, take this.”
Luna somehow thrust something at me, whose nose was stinging.
When I looked to see what it was, I saw a tiny doll made of cloth, about the size of the palm of my hand.
The eyes and nose are also crookedly fastened with buttons, and the hair is made of pink thread and tied into two pigtails.
“Little… Luna.”
“That’s right. It’s a small protective totem. Even though I can’t go with you, I want to spend my heart with Hassan.”
“Protection totem?”
“It’s just a warding off evil. It might not be effective, but anyway… Anyway, I’m sorry, Hassan. If I were a little stronger, I could have gone with you.”
Luna seemed very concerned about her own shortcomings.
I’m weak too, so what-. I was about to answer like that, but then I closed my mouth. I wondered if there was a better and more appropriate word to say in this situation, so I just said what came to mind.
“I don’t know about other people, but we apologize to each other.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, just have a nice trip – that’s enough.”
“Uh, yeah. Now that I hear it, I guess so.”
Luna’s face, which had been so pale that it could be seen even in the dim dawn, only then brightened slightly.
Still, he looks quite tired.
“I’ll take good care of this.”
Me holding Luna’s doll and shaking it around.
Luna said to him.
“I worked all night to make it, so you shouldn’t just throw it around carelessly!”
“Okay, I got it.”
“… Then, I’ll go now. It’s okay if you make too much noise.”
Luna hesitates, hesitates.
I thought it would be nice if we could at least hug each other, but Hippolyte and Antiope were there too, so there were a lot of eyes watching us, and we parted ways like awkward friends.
Occasionally, Luna would look back and look at me as she walked away, so I waved my hand vigorously.
“I’ll bring you a souvenir when I come. Just wait quietly!”
And when Luna was finally out of sight, Hippolyta stood next to me and said something in passing.
“It’s nice to see you all. You all have expressions on your faces that you’ve never shown me before.”
“That’s… I see. For some reason, I’m sorry.”
“… Okay, that’s fine. So Actaeon hasn’t come yet?”
Hippolyte looked around. When I heard the name Actaeon coming out of her mouth, my heart, which had been slightly depressed until just now, seemed to rise.
If it’s Actaeon, isn’t he the only hero in Sodomora who wears a gold necklace?
If that was the case, I thought I could just be surrounded by them and do some kind of field trip. However, it wasn’t Actaeon who suddenly appeared through the darkness of dawn.
“That guy won’t come. He said he’s busy. Instead, I’ve decided to join this expedition.”
When he took off his robe, what was revealed was silver-white hair.
Not hair that has turned ashen like Antiope’s, but hair that lacks pigment from the beginning and sparkles like stars.
The face is white and the eyes are red.
A fairly long cane held in hand.
It was Elfriede.
Hippolyte smiles slightly, looking at Elfriede.
“Are you going to step forward yourself?”
“Because it was my party. It was an accident that happened because of my shortcomings. If I had gone with those guys, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Didn’t you say you weren’t feeling well?”
“It’s okay. I drank a magical elixir. It should be enough for two or three days.”
“Well, it’s okay if you don’t have the physical abilities of a wizard. It would be nice to have them. Just don’t get in our way.”
While Hippolyte and Elfriede were having such a businesslike conversation, Antiope, who had been watching the situation with her arms folded in a corner, moved.
Antiope circled around Elfriede like a feline beast that had found something interesting.
“Elf. White elf. I’ve seen many elves, but this is the first time I’ve seen a white elf. I’ve heard that you white elves have a strange power-.”
“… .”
Antiope and Elfriede looked at each other with narrow eyes. There seemed to be a strange war of nerves going on, but Antiope smiled and said.
“You’d better not think of disturbing the morals of the kingdom, you alien.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I heard that it could be finished in two days at the earliest.
It’s going to be a pretty horrible couple of days.
* * *
It’s true that I was a little worried about what would happen in the future between Antiope and Elfriede, who had been fighting strangely from the beginning.
Surprisingly, the moment they left the North Gate, they shut their mouths as if the static electricity they had been exchanging with each other was a lie.
Just walk silently.
Walk and walk.
If you walk like this for about half a day, you will come across a huge valley where the ground has been dug up as if it had been scraped away by a giant rake.
Thud, thud-.
All I could hear was the sound of footsteps and the clatter of our weapons and luggage. Of course, most of the noise of the luggage was coming from my side.
Crunch, thud, bang, thud.
Elfriede, Hippolyte, and Antiope had only a water jug, holy water, and weapons with them.
In my case, the luggage that Luna packed for me was a huge pile. The bundle was full of various items with different uses, so it was quite noisy because they all bumped into each other.
Of course, it’s probably just the silence that makes it more annoying than it really is. What was Luna thinking when she took care of these things?
In silence I had such thoughts.
Still, the very idea of what to do with this member is incredibly awkward.
I never thought that Elfriede, who was my client, would personally participate in the expedition. Moreover, Antiope and Hippolyta are women who know a lot about me.
I’m quite concerned.
An awkward and tense atmosphere.
I heard that in times like these, people are usually divided into two types?
The first is the person who cannot stand silence and is the first to speak up, and the second is the person who just keeps his mouth shut until someone speaks to him.
I belonged to the latter.
So, as I was hoping that this silence would continue, Hippolyta, who was walking in front, spoke quietly to the rear.
“Did you say Elfriede? You should take charge of the right and rear.”
“So you’re using B-type tactics? Okay, I get it.”
“It’s good that you understand quickly. It seems like it’s not a stretch to say that you were a high-ranking adventurer in Calcutta, is it?”
“Not as famous as you, but I guess I’m famous.”
As Elfriede was about to answer with such a suitable feeling, Antiope, who was listening from the side, snorted.
“Huh, well, I guess I’m just taking the guys who get lost in the abyss with me as my party members. What a waste.”
“Antiope.”
“Sister, did I say something wrong? You’ve only caused more trouble. High-ranking adventurers need to know exactly what they can and cannot do.”
It seems that Antiope’s first impression of Elfriede was not very good.
From Antiope’s perspective, it may be natural for her to be angry, as Elfriede may have taken away one of her few holidays.
However, there would be no good to come from getting on Elfriede’s nerves.
I’m quite interested to see how the ill-tempered Elfriede will deal with it.
“… .”
Elfriede surprisingly didn’t say anything. It was more like she was deliberately ignoring her words rather than being speechless, so Antiope growled even more as if she was on edge.
“Anyway, wizards. They only think they’re great. I really don’t like them.”
Does Antiope hate magicians?
I’ve often heard that there are some warriors who dislike wizards, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in person.
In the first place, magic itself is a talent that only the chosen ones can use. You could say that it’s an expression of an inferiority complex toward those who were born with talent.
Didn’t Antiope also receive grace and have exceptional lineage as a demigod?
Those kids who are there are doing it more.
* * *
“Probably, it came down to around here.”
When Luna, Paranoy, and I explored the Valley of the Manticores, we discovered an entrance hidden in the rocks under the guidance of the Two-Headed Demon.
If not, it seems that there was an official entrance to this Manticore Valley, and people were coming and going through it.
A steep path on the cliff of a valley.
In front of it was a daffodil flower engraved into the rock.
“Is this the sign of Pluto? I have to go to a place like this.”
Antiope grumbled as if she didn’t like the fact that she had to go down this path. Hippolyta, however, calmly looked around and narrowed her eyes.
“This is the path that the priests of old Pluto used when they patrolled. Here, there are more signs.”
On the rock is carved a picture of a daffodil with an X ? made with a sword or similar sharp object underneath.
“It was carved not long ago. Elf, do you know anything about it?”
“It’s the mark of my colleagues.
Swish-.
Elfriede poked her head over Hippolyte’s shoulder and ran her palm over the mark. Did Elfriede sense some kind of secret code or magic power that only they knew?
The fairy, Elfriede, said.
“Probably, there are these markings engraved at regular intervals. Lily’s marker is special.”
“If you say Lili, are you talking about that blunt swordsman?”
“That’s right. Edwin is a sorcerer. Lily is a martial artist. And Delphina is a swordsman. There are three of them.”
“Anyway, we can start searching from the point where we left off following this sign. Fortunately, things won’t be too difficult.”
We walked slowly along the steep path leading to the cliff.
It was a steep slope, but it was extremely dangerous, like the rough hiking trails on high mountain ridges that often appear in the Continental Something series.
Bassuk, degururur-.
I feel like if I twist my ankle just a little, I’ll be thrown into that deep abyss.
Sometimes, it was extremely uncomfortable to have to crawl sideways while lying flat on the rocks of the cliff.
Swish, swish-.
How many minutes had it been since I had been walking like that?
“Ugh, my chest hurts. I wish I didn’t have breasts!”
Antiope, who was walking sideways with her front part of her body pressed against the cliff, grumbled. The reason was that her breasts, which were bulging beyond her leather clothes, seemed to be constantly being scraped against the cliff.
Hippolyte said to him:
“It’s more comfortable if you wear armor like me.”
“I don’t like stuffy things. I heard that the old Amazons cut off their breasts. I can understand why they did that. I don’t shoot arrows or anything.”
“What kind of primitive tales are you talking about, Antiope? Anyway, don’t open your mouth. If you slip, even we won’t be able to survive.”
Swish-.
Swish-.
Elfriede also has fairly large breasts. I looked at Elfriede, who was walking ahead, wondering what she looked like.
Then, Elfriede’s armpits, spread wide open to the left and right, were revealed. Next to the armpit area, the soft, plump flesh of her breasts could be seen.
Swish, swish-.
“Ugh-.”
Elfriede also seemed to be feeling a little anxious. Thanks to that, the boy also seemed to be in a lot of pain as he took each step.
A woman’s body must be uncomfortable.
When I was thinking like that, I realized I was screwed.
Was it a problem that I was looking at Elfriede’s armpit?
Shudder, shudder.
Something dangerous was starting to protrude between my legs.
Shit, I’m screwed.
“Why do you suddenly stop, Samaritan?”
Hippolyte, who had been following right behind me, stopped walking and spoke to me as if she was puzzled.
“What’s the problem?”
There was a problem.
How can you tell that it’s very difficult for Juji to stand and crawl sideways?
“Sister, what’s going on?”
“No, Samaritan suddenly stopped.”
“Excuse me, wait a minute. Wait a minute-.”
I desperately tried to sing the national anthem in my mind. But perhaps because my stamina had increased, the thing that had grown once showed no signs of slowing down.
Climbing off a cliff in this condition? Oh, crap-. I didn’t have the confidence to handle it. So I was wondering what to do, and then I thought of Paranoy’s face.
Mr. Hassan, those ants over there are invading my yard…!! I, I will chase them all away…!!
When he thought of Paranoy’s face, Juji shrank back down as if he had never been angry before.
Of course, Paranoy is a helpful guy in many ways. I should buy him a piece of candy later.
“Well then, let’s set off again.”
So, again, some more walking continues.
Finally, we were able to step into a fairly wide space for a steep slope.
Should I describe it as a cave dug into the middle of a cliff? I think the skeleton knight’s hut was also built in a place like this.
“Fairy, there is a mark here too. Is this the wound inflicted by your companion?”
Hippolyte points to a corner with her finger, shaking off the dust from her body.
At the end of her gauntlet was a black hole, a gaping hole in the rock like a bear’s den, and an X-shaped mark next to it.
“That’s right. It looks like it went inside here.”
“Ha, now the real exploration begins. Before that, my chest… .”
Gulp-.
Antiope unzipped her leather garment. She opened the flap of her garment as if to check her breasts, which had just been rubbed, revealing her rather plump and large breasts.
“Ugh, it’s all red. Ugh, it hurts-.”
Blink, blink.
Antiope lifts her breasts and licks them with her tongue. She has big breasts, so she can do that. I never thought I would see that in real life.
Of course, I was very embarrassed by that sight.
I feel like blood is rushing to my face and lower body.
Was Hippolyte also confused?
“When there’s a man here, don’t show off your chest anywhere!”
“Why, it’s not like it’s worn out. Can’t you show me your chest instead of your feet? Besides, I’ve already shown him a lot of things. And your feet too.”
It was Antiope, touching her chest and looking at me with sly eyes. I could tell that Antiope was teasing me.
Maybe he’s trying to get revenge on me for teasing him by calling him a god of the underworld.
So, while Elfriede was checking the sign while she was quite flustered, she frowned.
“What the…?”
[Work Review]
A luxurious party crowd… Will they be riding on something called the Hassando Bus?
As a side note, I’m thinking of pruning away some of the ongoing storyline that’s been sprawling out here and there in this episode…
I feel like it’s not easy to move the story to a mid-length story because there are more things to consider than I thought…
As I write, I feel like I still have a long way to go, but at the same time, I feel a little hopeful because I think there is still more room for improvement in the future…!!
Nevertheless, I am able to write with enjoyment because there are always readers who read with enjoyment and support me… I bow down flat on my face…
I want to offer my condolences, but it’s too hot to write, so please forgive me by bowing…!!!
Hyoong….
