## Chapter 185 – 185. Amelia Clarisse Orsia (3)
#185. Amelia Clarisse Orsia (3)
Sometimes, statements that break expectations and common sense can fluster the other party.
‘…What did that woman just say?’
That was exactly how I felt.
“T-That’s not what I meant!”
Amelia, sensing my gaze, hurriedly stood up.
Her eyes, which had seemed so earnest just a moment ago, were now shaking as if an earthquake had struck.
Even as she stammered, Amelia tried desperately to salvage her words.
“I-It’s not what Hyunwoo-nim is thinking! I was just saying, as compensation… Ah! Engagement! How about an engagement with me, on the premise of marriage, as a reward for safely escorting me to my destination?”
Watching Amelia, who was rambling so desperately, almost made me burst out laughing.
“…Isn’t that the same thing?”
I half-expected it, but this woman was offering herself as the price for negotiation.
It wasn’t a proposal one would expect from a duchess of a duchy, logically speaking.
I thought she’d be like Chun Yeo-hwa or Sylvia, but now I saw she was just a naive noble lady who didn’t know the ways of the world.
‘Well, even Sylvia is like that…’
She’s fine most of the time, but her personality gets a bit strange when there are humans or men around.
Her expression turns sour.
Last time, the men who were eyeing Sylvia with lecherous gazes had their eyeballs gouged out. I was going to do it, but Sylvia’s incredible reaction speed beat me to it.
After that, Sylvia never took off her hood outside.
‘I don’t get it. She doesn’t seem thoughtless enough to offer herself as compensation with talk of engagement and all.’
Not knowing the ways of the world is one thing, but making rash statements is another.
It seemed my saying we should part ways early tomorrow morning was the root cause.
From Amelia’s perspective, she must have felt she didn’t have much time left, which made her impatient.
“Hmph… Engagement with some adventurer who could have crawled out from anywhere? Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
I know she’s a duchess of a duchy, but Amelia knows nothing about me.
At most, she knows I’m a knight who can create sword energy?
Of course, there’s no escort as good as me for her, a penniless woman, to safely return to her duchy, but for a duchess of a duchy to offer engagement as compensation to a knight who’s treated as a mere quasi-noble in this world’s standards?
There’s a limit to unfair transactions.
“Since you seem to be a noble, let me tell you this: don’t make such promises lightly. If you don’t have any money, you can use your family name and provide a guarantee to the Adventurers Guild to hire an adventurer without a deposit.”
“…I can’t.”
Seeing her stubbornness, I decided to change my attitude.
At this rate, the conversation would only go in circles.
“Let me be blunt, Duchess.”
At the title of Duchess, Amelia looked at me with wide eyes, seemingly taken aback.
“I don’t have the luxury to escort you to your duchy.”
“…You knew.”
Amelia quietly swept back her hair.
Her blue-gray hair and blue eyes were indeed characteristic of the Orsia Grand Duchy.
‘I was going to make something up if she asked how I knew.’
Looks like men should just go for it first and worry about the aftermath later.
“As someone who needs to get to the Santala Kingdom as soon as possible, I can’t be with you, Duchess, whom the Orsia rebels are desperately searching for. Forget crossing the border, a pursuit squad of knights will be on our tail.”
If the border guards are cooperating with the rebels, crossing the border will be even more difficult.
“So, hire a high-ranking adventurer from the Adventurers Guild…”
“What if!”
“?”
Thump, Amelia suddenly jumped up from her seat.
Looking at her inadvertently, I saw a bright smile on her face.
She looked like a negotiator who had found a solution.
Amelia’s eyes were shining brightly with a blue light, just like when I first met her in the alley.
“What if I have a way to quickly cross the Sutra Desert?”
Amelia’s eyes were shining brightly with a blue light, just like when I first met her in the alley.
***
The next morning.
From early in the morning, attendants from noble families came to find me.
“Sir Knight! If you come to our family, we will guarantee you wealth and honor!”
“Hmph! Are you trying to buy the knight’s honor with mere riches? Sir Knight! We will give you the ancestral sword of our family and the family’s secret Mana Cultivation Technique!”
“Sir Knight, what about marriage?! Our family’s Miss Celli is such a great beauty that there is no one in this area who doesn’t know her! Above all, she is only 15 years old this year!”
The men gathered in the room were shouting, spitting at each other, making it no different from a marketplace.
Above all, there was an assassin mixed in.
‘15 years old? That crazy bastard is trying to make me a child molester.’
I was a little annoyed, but I couldn’t treat the nobles’ representatives carelessly.
I appeased them appropriately and sent them back.
There was one guy who kept whining until the end, but when I leaked a little bit of killing intent, he ran away in a hurry.
With that, things were roughly settled, and we boarded the carriage to go to the Partal County.
Thump, the carriage ran along the main street. Passing through the city gates was instantaneous.
I glanced out the window for a moment and then turned my head to the corner of the carriage.
There, Sylvia was looking at the opposite side with a sulky expression.
“What’s wrong?”
I moved to sit next to Sylvia.
As soon as I spoke, Sylvia glared at me with a fierce look.
“…Why did that woman join us?”
“Amelia?”
Sylvia’s gaze was directed at Amelia, who was sitting there.
She was talking to Iris amicably. They both looked happy.
“She’s definitely a noble, and a woman with complicated circumstances at that. To bring such a woman along in a situation where time is of the essence, are you out of your mind?”
“Oh, I was wondering what it was.”
Yesterday at dawn, after consulting with Iris, we decided to move with Amelia.
Amelia’s proposal was that attractive.
Of course, I was going to consult with Sylvia too, but she was avoiding me even at dawn, so I couldn’t help it.
“You don’t think I brought her along without any thought, do you?”
“Maybe not, since you can’t resist pretty women.”
How perceptive.
“That’s why I can’t resist you either.”
“?!”
Thwack! The moment I tried to hold Sylvia’s hand as usual, Sylvia shook my hand off.
She hadn’t refused to hold hands recently, so I wondered if she was in a bad mood, but then.
“…?”
Inadvertently, I saw Sylvia’s face was as red as if it would burst at any moment.
Above all, her eyes, shaking as if an earthquake had struck, showed how flustered she was right now.
Sylvia, meeting my eyes, moved her lips several times, then turned her head away.
If it were usual, she would have scolded me for saying vulgar things.
‘What is it?’
Sylvia’s reaction, which I was seeing for the first time, made me feel awkward too.
To change the atmosphere, I changed the subject.
“She said she can shorten the time it takes to cross the Sutra Desert.”
“…What?”
Sutra Desert.
It’s the most difficult obstacle in this journey.
Border? If necessary, we can break through with force.
Pursuit squad? If too strong guys are chasing us, I can get stronger in another world and then come back and kill them.
But I couldn’t think of a good way to deal with the Sutra Desert.
A vast area of subtropical climate, powerful monsters targeting travelers, and even a curse hanging over the entire desert.
According to what the butler told me last time, it was treated as a huge barrier across the southern part of the continent until the founding king of the Santala Kingdom pioneered the sea trade route.
‘Even so, the sea route takes too much time to be useful.’
Roughly three months at least, and if we miss the merchant ship, it could take almost a year.
We’re not going on a cruise trip now, there’s no way we can invest that much time.
In the end, we decided to cross the desert.
“Evidence?”
“There isn’t any.”
“…Are you out of your mind?”
“Uh-huh!”
Grab! I grabbed the increasingly cheeky Sylvia’s butt.
“Hic?!”
Sylvia immediately let out a shrill scream.
Iris and Amelia’s gazes were focused on Sylvia.
“Sylvia? What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Sylvia sat back down as if nothing had happened.
Of course, my hand was still grabbing her butt. I stroked or kneaded her bouncy butt as if I were touching her chest.
“You’ve been getting cheeky lately?”
“You…”
Sylvia glared at me with murderous eyes.
“Is that okay? I have a recording of you acting cute last time.”
“…Recording?”
When I mentioned her embarrassing past, Sylvia’s complexion immediately turned bad.
She didn’t know what a recording was, but it was enough information to make her uneasy.
I showed Sylvia my phone.
“Recording is saving the scene or movement that’s happening now as it is. You can take it out and watch it again later. And this is like a magic tool that allows you to record.”
Sylvia’s expression changed every moment as she listened to the explanation.
Her complexion gradually turned pale, and in the end, she was shocked and even her hands trembled.
“Let’s behave before we all watch the recording together?”
“…”
“Answer me?”
“…Yes.”
Sylvia finally lowered her head, thinking it was time to back down here.
But I had no intention of stopping here.
“That’s not it. We’re talking alone, so shouldn’t the title change too?”
Sylvia bit her lip at my words.
Her face, which was flushed red, was so clear that she couldn’t hide it.
“…H-Honey.”
I was satisfied with the shy word that finally came out of her lips, and I patted her butt.
Unlike Sylvia’s reaction, who looked like she was dying of embarrassment, I had a smile on my face.
The road to the Santala Kingdom is long, but at least I won’t be bored during that time.
