Chapter 447 – Return
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I woke up feeling an unknown discomfort.
When I opened her eyes… A beautiful girl wearing glasses was staring intently at my face.
-Horrible. Terrible…
“… Is it an assassination?”
“Yes? What do you mean?”
Louise looks pretty.
There is no reason to feel bad when a girl like that looks at me intently.
However…
It’s a different story if the girl is holding a knife with her blood on it.
The blood splattered not only on the knife but also all over the face creates an even more bloody atmosphere.
Since it was me, this was the reaction.
If she were a normal person, she might have fainted from surprise.
“… It’s nothing. What happened?”
I got up and looked around.
The day was already bright.
The remaining bonfire was only smoking weakly, and the other party members were already awake.
When I looked at the place where the ogre’s body was, there were only red lumps of meat lying there.
It seems that Louise stayed up all night dismantling the ogre.
“Bark~”
Louise suddenly calls me warmly.
The sight of her holding a bloody knife and pushing it close to her face could seem threatening to someone who doesn’t know her.
“…?”
“Can’t I stay here just one more day?”
Today is the day of return.
You must leave early in the morning to reach the city before the gates close.
But she seemed to want to postpone her return date.
“One day?”
“Yes~ Please give me just one day~ I haven’t been able to dig up Araune yet because I’m dismantling the ogre body~”
Louise makes a noise as if she is blind, and grabs the neck of her own shirt and slides it down. A few of her top hem weights are loose.
You can see her plain cleavage.
“…”
It seems like she is quite a beauty.
I feel sorry for Louise, but with her flat breasts…
Well… The way she shows off her cuteness is cute.
Anyway, she knew why she wanted to extend her time.
It seemed that Louise was being trampled by her eyes because she hadn’t figured it out yet.
She glanced at Hilda and Raffard.
The two people who were listening to the conversation between me and Louise nodded as if they understood the meaning of my gaze.
It seems that Louise has already finished recruiting Hilda and Rappard. Since there were no ogres, I think they felt at ease and allowed it.
There is no reason to go to Ramona early.
This means that if you kill enough time for one more day, you will receive additional compensation that is not unpleasant.
They say they are protecting Louise, but this place, which was the ogre’s territory, has been like a safe zone for a while.
“Okay, I allow it.”
“Bah, Bark!!”
Louise was moved and hugged my head. The scent of her body mixed with the faint smell of sweat and the smell of blood.
… And I can feel her soft, slightly puffy breasts.
Still, it seems like she didn’t have breasts at all.
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The next day.
Early morning before dawn.
The group was carrying heavy luggage one by one.
The ogre is big.
There were a lot of skin and bones that came out of it.
It was impossible to put everything in Louise’s subspace bag.
We decided to share the ogre skin and bones that could no longer be placed in the subspace bag.
Although there was a bit of baggage, there were no complaints.
Anyway, I decided to share the profits from the ogre by-products with Louise.
The more I carry, the more my profits increase.
“Okay! Then, let’s go back home!”
Louise, who was carrying a load bigger than her own body, shouted with a bright smile on her face as if she was not tired.
Honestly, among us, it is Louise who has done the most for a long time.
After receiving my permission, Louise clawed at Yeongcho Araune in a prone position all day yesterday.
Still, she didn’t feel any signs of fatigue on her face. Rather, I feel quite happy about the large harvest.
Other than her, the group was in good condition in other ways.
As it was the ogre’s territory, the monster was not even seen with its nose removed, and it was no exaggeration to say that it rested all day.
Since everyone was in good condition, the return took place quickly.
Even though Louise was carrying that heavy ogre’s byproduct, she kept pace with us without any signs of lagging behind.
Monsters occasionally appeared, but they were as insignificant as wild animals.
Because Hilda and Rappard had been here once before, we were able to make a reasonable guess that they were moving around and avoiding dangerous places.
That’s how we were able to enter Ramona before the sun set.
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“Is this your store?”
“Yes! It’s my home, my lab, and my store!”
On one side of the alley in Ramona’s shopping district, there was a wooden sign saying Louise’s Pension Store.
I followed Louise into the store.
The inside looked like a typical alchemist’s shop, with potions and glass bottles containing unknown creatures on display.
It was a neatly decorated store that was neither big nor small.
It seemed like there was a faint medicinal scent.
Louise took us to a warehouse-like area at the back entrance of the store.
“Thank you all for your hard work. You can leave the ogre’s by-products here!”
Following her instructions, I placed the ogre’s by-products in the warehouse.
“Bark, it’s difficult to pay for the ogre byproducts right now. If you come by later, I’ll give you the amount for the amount you disposed of.”
I had something to ask Louise, and she had to come back anyway, so she nodded.
Although she was Liliana’s student and her greed was a bit excessive… I still didn’t think she was a woman worth taking money from.
“Would you like to go and have a meal?”
“… It’s done.”
She thought about it for a moment, but she didn’t think Louise would be good at cooking.
Since she had been eating beef jerky for four days, she wanted to go to the inn and taste some food from a professional chef.
“Okay, see you next time.”
“Yes! Goodbye!”
Louise bowed her head with her bright face and said goodbye.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
As she left Louise’s store, Hilda and Rafferd bowed to me and left for somewhere.
Since they said they were natives of Ramona, I think they might be returning to their residence.
After returning to the inn, Karen and I decided to shower first and then have dinner.
After rolling around in the mountains for 4 days and 3 nights, the mustiness was no joke.
Feeling refreshed, I came down to the restaurant on the first floor and tasted decent food for the first time in a long time.
I was just chewing beef jerky, but when I tasted the food made by a professional chef, it was delicious.
“Are you Bark?”
“…?”
While I was having a nice meal with Karen, I heard a man’s voice.
The person who spoke to me was a skinny, ordinary young man.
“The Homan mercenaries asked me to tell you this to Bark.”
The young man bowed to me and handed me a neatly wrapped envelope. He doesn’t look like a mercenary, but rather a guy running errands.
‘What is this again? Homan mercenaries?’
For a moment, the Homan mercenaries thought about something.
And… I remembered.
Bald mercenary… And I think he said the guy who scammed me was the Homan mercenary group.
‘The name… What was it… Re…’
I can’t remember anymore.
But since I remembered his face, I was hoping to look after his hand someday when I met him.
‘… Is this an envelope of apology money?’
In that case, I had the heart to think again with a broad mind.
But was there paper money in this world too?
With that question in mind, I opened the envelope and took a look.
“My name is Homan, leader of the Homan mercenary group. I heard that he took care of one of our mercenaries. As a mercenary leader, this is something I cannot overlook… Blah blah blah…”
In short, I want to restore the honor of the Homan mercenaries.
I want to meet with you tomorrow and talk about something important.
… Something like that.
I looked through the envelope to see if there was anything else, but no matter how I looked, it wasn’t the envelope of money.
‘What is this guy? You really want to criticize that bald guy for getting beaten up? ‘Are you crazy?’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand it.
There is nothing good about being a knight and a mercenary group. Still, saying such bullshit was like saying that you see me as a complete piece of shit.
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Originally, I tried to log out, but in the end I couldn’t do it because of the mercenary group who thought they were Homan or Hogu.
The next day, as written in the note, the leader of a mercenary group named Homan came with two henchmen.
Homan was a handsome guy with an impressive mustache.
Is he around 30 or 40 years old?
“I want to restore the honor of the Homan mercenary group. I formally propose a duel with our mercenary group.”
Homan’s words were polite, if polite.
But it made my head pound.
“Are you saying this even though you know that I am a knight?”
“Our Homan mercenaries cannot give in, even if they are knights! It is okay if you refuse. If Lord Bark makes a proper apology to our Homan mercenaries, I will step down.”
“…”
I was dumbfounded and speechless.
I wasn’t even angry.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not scandalous.
‘What should I do with these guys?’
I thought about taking a quick look here.
As an upgraded person, I was confident that I could cut off these guys’ heads in 10 seconds.
I don’t know what confidence these guys have in doing this.
A knight is a being for whom the saying “100 per day is 100 per day” Is not absurd.
The knight’s thick armor cannot be used by a mercenary’s sword, and even his movements cannot be seen.
‘Uh? So is that so? Could it be that he thought it was worth a try since he was wearing shabby leather armor? Do I really need to buy a knight’s armor?’
