“Hikari, I’ll definitely be stronger than you the next time I see you. Come back some time!”
“Hn, and I’ll beat you back. But I don’t know if I’ll be back.”
Yes, that really is undecided.
Sirk is hit with reality and reacts with shock like he was struck with a hard blow. That’s just how Hikari is, straightforward for better or worse.
“You’re welcome to come again too, Sora. Yuini was really happy with your cooking.”
“Sahana! You’re making me sound like a glutton.”
Ah, that’s probably the first time I’ve seen her looking mad.
She’s grinding Sahana’s head with her fists, and Sahana is crouching while holding her head.
“Ahh, you’re going to have to be a little more mature. Well then everyone, please stay safe. And if you find Eris, please send us a letter.”
“Y-yes. We will report back to you.”
Chris squeezes Yuini’s hand and nods.
We were completely out of clues and had nowhere to turn to, but we see a light of hope again.
The dark forest… The area monsters call home.
I imagine it will be dangerous, but I can’t see that stopping them.
We were thinking about going back to the Kingdom of Elesya too, but our destination’s been set.
Mia looks pale. I’m sure she’ll go where I go, but it looks like she’s still scared of demons. But there’s also the fact that being with Sera, Chris, and Rurika has made her sympathetic to how they feel. She probably feels conflicted about going there.
After saying goodbye, we board the ship.
We wave back to the people waving at us, and after a quiet ride, we reach Marte.
But wait, before getting off the ship, I should probably put on my mask.
We try not to disturb their work as we get off the ship, and head straight to the northern gate.
It’s after noon, but if we keep going like this, we should reach the foot of the mountain before the end of the day.
We’ve discussed before that we’ll spend the night there, and start climbing the mountain tomorrow morning.
But along the way, I hear an unexpected voice calling me.
“S-Sora. Hold on!”
I turn around and see someone struggling to run as fast as possible. It’s Yan, the guildmaster of the alchemist guild in Marte.
“Are you all right? I mean, we’re in a hurry, so…”
“Y-yes. I heard all about it. No, wait. We received a message from Bozen. Come back to the inn where you were staying, quick!”
I’m not sure about this, but after seeing how frantic he looks, I oblige.
Once we get near the inn, Hikari grabs my sleeve, and when we go inside, we see people that I really didn’t expect to see here.
It’s Fred, an adventurer we said goodbye to in Majolica, along with party Goblin’s Grief.
“Oh, Sora! Thank goodness, you got the message!”
Yells Fred when he sees me, and everyone else is surprised too.
I’m the one who’s surprised. I didn’t expect to see so many people in the inn.
“What message? And weren’t you going to Prekes?”
“Yes… Wait, you didn’t get the message? We’ll talk about it more later, but for now, come to the second floor. Miss Leila and her party are there.”
Leila and her party?
I don’t really understand what’s going on, but let’s go.
But a message… Did something happen?
Fred knocks on the door, and Luilui opens it.
As soon as she sees me, she takes my hand and pulls me inside. That’s rare for her.
What I see when I enter the room, is Casey sleeping on a bed and Leila next to her, looking at her with a worried expression.
“Big sister! Sora is here.”
Leila raises her head and looks this way.
There are bags under her eyes, and her cheeks look kind of puffy.
It feels like she lost the strength she had in her eyes when I met her.
“S-Sora, Casey is…”
I cast Appraisal on Casey.
Her condition hasn’t changed, but she looks smaller than before, probably because she’s lost weight.
Her face looks thin too, and not healthy.
“She gets weaker every day, and I don’t know what to do anymore. I heard you couldn’t get the material you needed, so…”
I reported everything to Bozen, and I guess it reached Leila’s ears too.
“I understand. Is she sleeping?”
“Yes. But up until just now…”
“All right. She looks stable, so we should probably not wake her up. You should rest too. I don’t think Casey can rest well either when you’re looking after her in that state.”
It sounds a little cold, but at this rate, Leila might end up worse than Casey.
I guess it was hard for Yor and the others to force her away.
Hikari then steps in and takes Leila by the hand to another bed.
Not long after Leila lies down, I hear her sleeping.
“Our big sister’s barely been sleeping… Thanks.”
“The rest of you should take turns resting too. You’re not as bad as Leila, but you look tired too.”
They all look at each other, and silently nod.
“Sera and Mia, can you look after Casey, and tell me when she wakes up?”
I can’t imagine they’ll be able to rest well with me in the room.
My party members are used to it, but that’s different.
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Is that the person under the petrification curse that they were getting the remedy for. Wow they really didn’t let him speak I guess uncget that sometimes in jp series but just comes off as annoying or maybe it’s when it’s couple with people who can’t seem to communicate.
Well I guess her party coming to him means they don’t have to go to them and speeds up trip to dark forest but is it me or did the wording in start of chapter make it seem like they would go to dark forest then city with petrification girl?
Thanks for the treat.