Leo’s heart skipped a beat.
His gaze quickly swept over the team.
Something was wrong!
A bronze-rank team that couldn’t even afford decent equipment and lived on the edge of poverty—how could they penetrate deep into the core area and return with loot unscathed?
A brief, dead silence made the air feel thick and dangerous.
Lily, the female archer who had been observing from the side, keenly noticed the cloud of suspicion rising in Leo’s eyes.
She nonchalantly set down her water cup, a smile spreading across her face as she naturally picked up the conversation.
“Oh my, what a scholarly little sister~”
Lily sighed, spreading her hands in explanation. “With our strength, how would we dare enter the core area to seek death? That would be suicide.”
“However, a small earthquake occurred deep in the swamp last month. We only took this mission planning to scavenge a bit, and we actually managed to find some loot in a collapsed area.”
She shook the piece of jerky in her hand and laughed self-deprecatingly. “If we really had the ability to enter the core area, would we still be going through all this trouble?”
This explanation was reasonable and even carried a hint of the bitterness common to low-level adventurers.
Lucrezia nodded repeatedly as she listened, her previous doubts vanishing instantly. “So that’s how it is... You guys really have great luck.”
“Yeah, yeah, just luck.”
Seeing this, Captain Arno immediately took the opportunity to change the subject, loudly introducing his teammates.
“We’ve just been chatting; I haven’t even formally introduced everyone! I’m Arno, the captain of the Grizzly Bear Adventurer Team. This is our archer, Lily. Over there are the scout Raz, Talen the tiger-man, and Buman the lizard-man.”
Leo retracted the sharp glint in his eyes, putting back on his grateful smile as he followed up.
“I’m... Medivh, and this is my sister Lucie. We really owe you all this time; otherwise, my sister and I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
“Think nothing of it! Who doesn’t run into trouble when they’re away from home?” Arno waved his hand grandly. “Since we’re heading the same way, let’s travel together to Kent Town! Our mission is finished anyway.”
“Thank you so much!” Leo thanked them repeatedly.
...
After finishing the somewhat eventful lunch, the group set off again.
Leo carried the large backpack filled with supplies, and with his other hand, he firmly grasped Lucrezia’s hand without giving her a choice.
“You... what are you doing!” Lucrezia’s wrist tightened. Caught by that warm, dry hand, she felt a jolt like an electric shock and tried to pull away, her face flushing slightly.
“Don’t move.” Leo looked straight ahead, his voice flat. “It’s to prevent you from getting lost. If you fall into a mud pit, I don’t want to go down to fish you out.”
“Hmph! I’m not that stupid...” Lucrezia grumbled, but her struggle weakened, and she allowed him to lead her.
Along the way, Leo observed the team as if casually.
Although Lily’s explanation about the Red Salt Crystal sounded seamless, the cloud of suspicion in Leo’s heart did not dissipate.
The more perfect the explanation, the more it felt like a cover-up.
Once the seed of doubt is planted, any rustle in the wind becomes the nutrient that feeds it.
“About how far are we from the town?” Leo asked tentatively.
“At this speed, four or five days,” Arno said as he led the way, casually asking, “Kent Town is within the Solaris Duchy. Speaking of which, looking at your temperaments, you don’t seem like locals. Did you come from the Valerian Duchy?”
Leo’s heart tightened.
He knew nothing about this world’s geography. If he answered blindly, he would easily expose himself.
“Uh...”
“No!”
Before he could figure out a lie, Lucrezia beat him to it. “We... we are from Akhtar!”
As soon as she spoke, Lily, the archer walking behind them, suddenly chimed in.
She toyed with the arrow in her hand, looking at them with a half-smile. “Akhtar? That’s to the southeast, isn’t it? To get to Solaris in the northwest, you’d have to cross the entire Thousand-Tentacle Swamp. How did you two manage that without even a guard?”
Lucrezia’s expression froze instantly.
As a flower from a greenhouse, she only knew that Akhtar was a neighboring country, but she had neglected how ridiculous it was for two 'ordinary people' to cross the swamp.
“This...” She opened her mouth, momentarily at a loss for words.
“Haha...” Leo let out a dry laugh, reacting quickly as he took over the conversation, a trace of lingering fear appearing on his face.
“Don’t even mention it. We were forced by circumstances. We originally wanted to take the main road, but we ran into a blockade due to the war. We could only grit our teeth and take the back paths... Luckily, we didn’t encounter much danger along the way.”
He avoided the difficult points and used 'war' and 'luck' to gloss over the logical loophole.
“I see. That must have been quite difficult.” Lily gave them a deep look, the corners of her mouth curling into a meaningful arc, but she didn’t ask further.
Leo’s palms were slightly sweaty.
By evening, the group found a dry highland to camp.
Arno directed everyone to set up camp, pointing to the very center. “You two can set up your tent here.”
That was the exact center of the camp.
Arno, Lily, and the others’ tents were distributed in a triangular formation around them, surrounding them in the middle.
Leo and Lucrezia took out the tent materials from their bags and fumbled around for a long time, looking like two disabled people who couldn't take care of themselves.
“Pfft.” Lily couldn’t watch any longer and walked over with a smile to help. “You two clearly haven’t done manual labor. Come, let big sister teach you.”
With her help, the tent was finally set up.
“You two can sleep peacefully tonight; no need to stand guard.” Arno patted Leo’s shoulder and laughed heartily. “Since we’ve been paid a ‘reward,’ our Grizzly Bear team will naturally ensure your safety. With us blocking the perimeter, not even a fly will get in!”
“Then thank you, Captain. We’re really lucky to have met you all.” Leo thanked him with a grateful face, but the depths of his eyes were cold as ice.
The two crawled into the tent.
The moment the tent flap dropped, the grateful smile on Leo’s face vanished, replaced by a cold, heavy solemnity.
He quickly checked the surroundings, and after ensuring no one was close, he lowered his voice to speak to Lucrezia, who was tidying the bedding.
“Don’t sleep too soundly tonight.”
“Why?” Lucrezia was somewhat puzzled, patting the pillow as she muttered softly, “They’re actually quite nice. We don’t have to stand guard, and they even gave us the safest spot.”
“Safe?” Leo sneered, pointing at the layout outside through a gap in the tent. “Look closely. Putting us in the middle isn’t to protect us.”
“If it were for protection, they’d only need to arrange a sentry. This triangular formation surrounding us is, for our current situation, most likely a cage formation to prevent the targets from escaping. Of course, I can’t rule out that they actually want to protect us, but I don’t think that’s likely.”
“Furthermore,” Leo tugged at the shirt he had exchanged for, “these clothes may be old, but they are extremely clean. They even have a heavy scent of soapberry as if to cover something up. In a team trekking through the wilderness for a long time, who would carry spare clothes that are washed so clean and aren't even the right size? Especially that maid outfit?”
Lucrezia’s movements paused, and her face turned slightly pale. “You... you’re being too paranoid, aren’t you? Maybe they just like being clean?”
“Maybe.” Leo didn’t continue the argument. “But never let your guard down.”
Just then, a corner of the tent flap was lifted.
“Um... Lucie?”
Lily’s smiling face peeked in, holding two wild fruits. “I saw that you didn’t eat your fill earlier. Here are two fruits; they’re quite sweet.”
Lucrezia immediately put on a smiling face and took the fruits. “Thank you, Sister Lily!”
Leo’s previous conspiracy theories were instantly diluted by Lily’s warm gesture. Lucrezia even gave Leo a slightly triumphant glance, as if to say: See, you’re just being dark-minded.
Lily didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she sat at the tent entrance and chatted with Lucrezia.
From popular dress styles in town to which shop had the best snacks, her kind, older-sister vibe quickly made the insecure Lucrezia relax her guard.
Leo sat to the side, silently munching on a fruit without saying a word, but the corners of his eyes were constantly monitoring the movements in the camp.
Just as the two were chatting happily—
“ROAR—!!!”
A low, violent beast roar suddenly exploded from the darkness not far from the camp!
Rate on N.U.
