Negai o Kanaete Moraou to Akuma o Shōkan Shitakedo, Kawaikattanode Kekkonshimashita ~ Akuma no Nīdzu

After what was a bit of a long night for the four, the sun rose and it was the morning of the second day.

They divided their duties again, meaning the couple prepared breakfast and the two partners packed the tents.

After they were done, they got to eat Theo’s delicious breakfast.

Helvi sent their luggage flying into the sky again, something the other three were used to seeing by now.

“Now that our stomachs are full, let’s continue!”

Said Xena energetically, and the four continued walking towards the top.

“I’ve never had such a pleasant sleep while traveling.”

“Yes. It’s all thanks to Helvi’s magic.”

The barrier around the tents stood firm, even after all that agitation.

It even prevented bugs from reaching them, so they slept without a care.

“I slept well too. Thank you Helvi.”

“Hn, yes, that is good to hear.”

Theo was nervous when they went to bed, but he was too tired to stay awake for long.

Helvi on the other hand, was still feeling hot after her massage, and her heart raced every time Theo turned in his sleep.

Theo tossed and turned a little in his sleep, and would touch Helvi from time to time. He even hugged her once.

Obviously, he was not aware of this, since he was sleeping, but it made things more difficult for Helvi.

She praised herself for not assaulting him… Or rather, she herself wondered why she didn’t, under those circumstances.

But when he hugged her… Without going into detail about what she did, her hot body cooled down a little.

(I did not assault him… I licked his neck a little, and touched a little… But not below.)

Thought Helvi, though no one was questioning her.

They continued their way towards the top, but everyone besides Theo quickly sensed that something was not right.

(Helvi, can you hear me? Did you notice?)

(Yes. I can, and I did.)

(The ground is too smooth. It’s like someone was hiding something…)

It was unnatural for the ground to be smooth and without undulation in the middle of the forest.

Someone probably passed by before them, and hid their footprints.

(They are probably somewhere, waiting to attack today.)

Thought Helvi, and the other two nodded.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Hey hey. The sun’s already up.”

Said one man, sounding irritated.

He sat in a big, old looking chair, and had his legs up on a desk.

The men around him were frightened by his bad mood.

“S-sorry.”

“How come you couldn’t find them all night? They were drawing so much attention to themselves!”

The man’s orders were to find whoever entered the mountain, kill them if they were men, and bring them back if they were women.

In such a big mountain, it would usually take them some time to notice people entering it, but not this time, since they stood out so much.

They saw their luggage flying up into the air, and coming back down.

Obviously, bandits were always going to go after them, but even though they tried to find them at night and attack them preemptively, the dozen or so men searching could not find them.

They could tell by the footprints that it was a group of four, and judging by their size, they imagined it was either a group of four women or women and a small boy.

They knew all this, but were still unable to find them.

“Are you people that useless?”

“I-I… I’m sorry.”

All he could do was apologize to the irritated man, the strongest among the bandits, and likely their boss.

He was strong enough to defeat all other bandits there, even if they all ganged up on him.

“…Ahh, fine. I know you’re weak, but not completely useless.”

The boss sighed, took his legs off the desk, and instead placed his elbows on it and started thinking.

“It’s not natural that so many people were looking for them and couldn’t find them. We even know more or less where they are.

That means these people are using some kind of high level concealment magic.”

The boss’s underlings were relieved to hear this.

Some reacted as though they were just realizing this, and were glared down.

“Any idiot would know this.”

“S-sorry.”

All the others knew.

“So you knew this and still couldn’t find them… Looks like we’ve got ourselves some pretty stubborn prey this time.”

“Yes. We were thinking we could use your help boss.”

The other men were not weak, some were even stronger than the average mercenary. Yet they would still not beat their boss even if they all attacked together. The boss’ strength was simply on another level.

“Am I going to have a good opponent for once… Haha! I can’t wait.”

The boss stood up and laughed.