Hello Work – Volume 8 Chapter 9 (2/2)

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Chapter 9 – Border village Part 1 (2/2)

The room we got was fairly big and we even moved the other furniture to the sides so we could bring more beds in.

Sati helped me get out of my armor, so I changed into something more relaxed. Then we sat down in a circle on the floor and started the debrief, but…..

Francesca was present. I also said we would be deciding what we would be doing tomorrow. It would be kind of awkward to chase her out right now, but I guess it doesn’t matter that much in the end.

“Well then. This was our first battle after our new members joined, so does anyone have any thoughts they would like to share?”

“I think they did quite well.”

Ellie expressed her opinion, which the rest seemed to be in agreement to.

“I agree, but I also think we could have fought a bit more safely.”

Besides, it would be best if we had some kind of tactic that would funnel as much xp as possible to the two of them.

“But we need to gain proper live battle experience before we reach Hiragis as well, so shouldn’t we keep fighting like today? Some degree of danger is unavoidable.”

I think that getting strong by earning xp safely wouldn’t be so bad either, but it would be best to ask their opinions first.

“Will, Syrah, what do you two think? Today we made you fight orcs right at the get go without any warning.”

“I’m fine with even more dangerous fights, Master.”

“I think this much is plenty enough for me.”

Their opinions differed.

But, I guess today’s degree of danger seemed to be within the tolerance levels, so that will be fine for now.

“I wouldn’t mind if I was positioned closer to the front lines as well,” Francesca also spoke up.

And I would like you to be a bit more restrained if possible.

“But we promised to the Duke that we will not expose you to more danger than necessary.”

“If you’d let me use my own armor, then something like an orc would not pose any danger to me.”

That’s true, but letting her use that sparkly shiny armor would be a bit…. During a normal hunt Francesca should not be getting a turn either way.

“Our job is to guard Fran-sama, so she shouldn’t even need to fight, right?” Sati expressed her opinion. A rare occurrence.

“However, can you afford to let an asset like me languish like that?”

“In that case, if an enemy shows up that we can’t handle by ourselves we will be counting on you, but until then we should keep fighting like we did today for the time being.”

“Understood.”

That’s unlikely to happen. To be considered as a crisis for us, it would need enough firepower to destroy a country.

“What should we be doing with your portion of the rewards, Fran? You fought a bit today and you plan on fighting after this as well, right?”

“I don’t need the reward.”

Well, Francesca is pretty rich as well.

“Therefore, I don’t mind any burden you wish to place on me.”

“You took down one today, right? With that you can brag about how you defeated an orc while fighting next to adventurers.”

“It’s just that I finally managed to embark on a journey like this. I wouldn’t mind experiencing a battle a tad more arduous…..”

She can only say that because she was never close to death in battle.

“In that case, I can be your opponent at any time.”

“I would rather face off against Masaru. He’s stronger than you, right Sati?”

Now I somehow got implicated in this. Though it would be good training if I go light, so I wouldn’t really mind.

“If we have some free time.”

If we keep up today’s pace, I don’t think we will have any though. If we fly for eight hours a day, with proper breaks in the meantime, adding the time we take with battle and other various things, it would mean we could be traveling from dusk till dawn. In fact, that’s what basically happened today.

“About that. After flying the whole day, the spirits still have plenty of power left. I was thinking we could increase our flying speed.”

So we could shorten the time of travel from five or six hours instead of eight, without actually changing the traversed distance.

“To be honest, flying for eight hours a day is pretty tough.”

That, I can understand. For those just along for the ride it’s much easier than traveling on foot or by carriage, but for the caster it’s pretty tiring to keep up the spell, even if the bulk of the work is done by spirits.

Though decreasing the time I would need to keep watch would be helpful for me as well….

“Then we should have enough time to set aside for it. I’m looking forward to it!”

I guess it would be nice to have some payback. I’ve seen how Francesca fights a lot since then and with me in optimal condition I may be able to face her with only my sword.

“Speaking of battle, the villagers here said that the number of monsters have increased lately. They think that they may be coming in from the direction of Hiragis,” Ann said.

“Isn’t Hiragis pretty far away from here still?”

It’s a distance that takes two month by carriage to travel.

“Exactly because it’s so far away that they only recently increased in number.”

It’s been about five month since Hiragis fell. The monsters managed to make it all the way here through the hole Hiragis left.

Does that mean that we will be bumping into one monster after the other if we keep to the shortest straight line route we started traveling on?

“If something like that is already happening, then why don’t they start the reclaiming operation sooner than this?”

I understand that in order to gather a large force it takes time, but in five month it should’ve been possible to carry out a number of operations already.

“It’s almost the rainy season in Hiragis, so that might be the reason.”

According to Will, sometimes it rains so hard there that some places might get entirely submerged in water. If an army were to move deep into Hiragis and get its movements cut off due to that, it might be a matter of life and death.

I see. That’s why the exact starting time of the operation is deeply dependent on the weather and therefore still up in the air.

“Is there something else to discuss? No? Then bath first. I will go with Sati. Syrah, want to come along as well?”

I need to inspect every inch of Syrah-chan’s body to make sure her ill fitting armor did not do any damage to her.

It seems Tilika and Lilia are coming with us as well. It will be somewhat cramped with five people, but that’s also nice in its own way.

I thought that there would be no sexy time during our travels, but letting off some steam in the bath should be fine, right?

Ann and Ellie went in after us.

Will and Francesca were…. outside it seems. I could hear the sounds of wooden swords impacting each other.

“Shall we swing our swords a bit as well?”

“Yes, Masaru-sama.”

It was time to practice that technique Sergeant-dono showed us before. I had no intention of showing it to Francesca though, so I quietly led Sati and Syrah-chan away from the duo.

He only showed us once, but there are some hints we can use. The stance and the footprint left behind.

It’s something that Sati noticed, but an abnormally deep footprint was left behind under Sergeant-dono’s pivotal leg that time.

He most likely used that powerful leg movement to increase his charging speed explosively and transfer it to his swing, but currently we were unable to replicate the speed of the move, so we are left with just a simple powerful attack.

“We are not using enough power. The footprint left behind by Sergeant-dono was deeper than this.”

We are of course using everything we have, but it’s still too shallow. Even if the ground here is just earth, it’s a well trodden ground of a training field. It’s not something that easily allows footprints to be created.

Despite that he pushed off with so much strength that a deep footprint was created. That must’ve put a lot of strain on his leg. Sergeant-dono has a bad knee and I didn’t hear anything about it being fixed.

Perhaps it was because his knee couldn’t take it anymore that he only showed it to us once.

“The way of the sword is really profound, huh.”

“Yes. I can’t wait to train more.”

“It seems dinner is ready. I guess we should leave it here for today.”

I heard the voice of someone from the village chief’s house who came to call in everyone.

As we got back to the village chief’s house, Francesca was just coming from the bath, with steam still wafting off of her a bit.

“That Will is quite skillful. That was fairly good practice.”

Well, his Swordsmanship is at Level 5 after all. It should be good training for Will as well.

Though, Will taking the attention of Francesca would be excellent. For Will himself as well, it would not be a bad thing to make some connections with a neighboring country’s royal family.

“Right right. I can tell he has talent. With proper training, he might be able to fight on the same level as me.”

Well, it’s true that compared to me he should be a lot more talented.

“Hohoh.”

That seems to have piqued Francesca’s interest a bit.

Excellent. Let’s put Will on Francesca duty during our trip. He’s royalty from the empire. If something were to happen between me or someone else and Francesca, that would be very bad, but even if something happens with Will, he’s royalty so it should be fine.

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