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I appear in the forest near the war zone and start walking towards one of the few blue dots with a name in the area.

The person I am looking for is Victor, Delia’s former bodyguard.

A few days ago, I hinted to him that maybe I could hire him to take care of Delia in the capital while she worked at her new job.

But now that I know the story of Alessia’s past and the delicate situation we are in, I would be stupid to willingly bring a stranger into our daily lives.

I know Victor is a decent person, but I really can’t trust him for this.

So I’ve thought of another, simpler way to compensate him for making him lose his bodyguard job.

But I haven’t decided on the amount of that compensation yet.

“Hey, Victor, how have you been doing these days I haven’t seen you?” I say as I see him sitting on the ground in front of a small tent, looking like he’s just woken up.

“Emir! Long time no see. I guess you could say I’ve been doing well, all in all…” he says, sipping from the steaming mug in his hands.

“… The dangerousness of my work has diminished quite a bit since we’ve been in this sort of momentary truce, but the pay of an ordinary soldier is still insufficient to keep my siblings well fed.”

“Sorry about that,” I say, as a sting of guilt hits my stomach.

’Damn!…

What is it about this person that awakens this feeling of guilt in me every time we talk?…

I mean, it’s true that I was the cause of him losing his job…

But, still, his job was just a temporary solution to his situation…

I’m not the one to blame for him having who knows how many siblings to support!’

“You have nothing to apologize for. You and Emilia are very good people, and you have no responsibility for my particular situation…” he says, gesturing for me to sit next to him.

’Exactly! You see, Emir, there’s no point in feeling guilty about him. Victor himself says so’

“… Besides, I can’t complain. Soldier is the most profitable job I can have, considering my financial situation and my humble blood…” he says as he pulls a second cup from his storage ring and pours a small sachet into it.

“… And that’s why I’m happy that the chances of getting out of this war without any permanent injury have increased. Once I get back home, I’ll see about finding a second job to increase my income…”

He then takes the kettle with still hot water, which is next to him over some coals, and fills the cup with water, after which he offers me the cup.

“… Would you like to drink some tea? You don’t look so good. I can’t offer you much to eat, apart from some stale bread, but I think you should eat something.”

’What a strange situation this is… He must not have much for himself, yet he shares some of what little he has with me… Shit, he’s a very nice person’

“Thank you…” I say as I accept his cup of tea and pull some venison roast from my inventory and hand him a steak, plate and all.

I then pull out a second portion for myself and add, “… I’m sorry, but our protector thinks it’s not a good idea to hire a soldier to act as Emilia’s bodyguard in the capital.”

“Yes, I had already figured that would be the answer, considering it’s been several weeks since I’ve seen you…” he says as he greedily eats the venison steak.

’Isn’t the army supposed to keep its soldiers well-fed?…

Why does Victor seem so damn pleased with that little piece of meat?…

I guess I’m not the only one who has been negatively affected by the corruption of some of the people in the army.’

As I recall the rock that I had once believed was my payment for my work for Commander Cael, an old vengeful feeling resurfaces for a few moments.

’That person who stole my pay that time better hope I never found out who he is, because then he’s really going to regret it.’

I don’t really care about the money, but nobody likes to be robbed.

Later, I’ll talk to Cael about Victor’s situation to make sure he’s getting paid properly.

“… That’s why I didn’t get my hopes up when I saw you, nor did I ask you about it. Still, I thank you for taking the time to come and tell me personally.”

“However, our protector thinks you deserve a reward for taking such good care of Emilia during the whole time she was in the war zone,” I say as I think about how much money I could give him so he could leave the military and provide for his family in an easier and safer way.

“That was nothing special. I was just doing my job,” she says humbly.

“It doesn’t matter. You can’t refuse this reward, since I’m just the person delivering the message, and in this case the money.” I say, pulling out a bag with 150 gold coins.

Certainly my money sense is not the best in the world.

But I suppose, with this, Victor will surely be able to set up a business of his own, and live without having to worry about money for a few years.

“Th-this…” says the light brown-haired man as he looks at the bag, dumbfounded.

“… This is ridiculous…”

’Hmm, I thought that amount was right… Did I make a mistake, and it turns out that it is actually a very small amount of money? Should I give him 150 gold more?’

“… I can’t accept this. It’s too much.”

’Ahh… false alarm; it looks like he was just surprised.’

“Remember what I told you a moment ago. I can’t take the money back to my protector, because that would look like I’m failing at my job…” I say with a smile as I think about how really helpful the name of our fake protector has been to me and Delia all this time.

The mystical figure of Saint Delia.

Best of all, it’s not a lie entirely, as Delia is on my side.

But never, not even in his wildest dreams, could Victor imagine that Emilia, the person he had been protecting all this time, is actually Delia, the Saint who supposedly protects Emilia and me.

“… If you want my advice, you could take advantage of that money to buy a place in the capital or somewhere else and dedicate your time to something less dangerous. Imagine what would happen to your siblings if you were wounded in this war.”

“If anything happened to me in the war, Commander Cael assured me that my family would have a generous pension paid by the kingdom…” explains Victor, looking at the money bag with a dreamy smile.

’Maybe that’s why his food is so bad…

It would make sense if he’d come to some kind of special arrangement with Cael in case something happened to him…

Still, if I were Victor, I wouldn’t trust that damn stalker so much…

But I guess he knows what he’s doing. It’s his life. Let him do with it what he wants.’

“…But I understand what you mean. I’m going to take your advice. I can’t thank Saint Delia enough for this, but let her know that, should she ever need a soldier, I will be more than happy to serve for whatever she needs.”

“I’ll relay your words to her. Do you have any ideas in mind about the shop you could open?” I ask as a spontaneous idea pops into my mind at Victor’s words.

’It’s true that I can’t fully trust him at the moment, but I find it very convenient to keep in touch with someone like him…

One never knows…

Perhaps in the future I will need to use his skills as a bodyguard’

“Not at the moment. This… This took me completely by surprise,” he says, as he continues to stare incredulously at the bag of money in his hands.

’Hmmm… If he’s still that stunned by the money, chances are it’s going to get stolen. First, I have to try to get him to wise up a bit’

“Shouldn’t you put that bag somewhere safe?” I ask with a meaningful look.

Although no one is directly observing us at the moment, we cannot claim to be in a place free from prying eyes.

“That’s right!…” says Victor hastily, stowing the bag of money in his storage ring.

“… I will have to speak with Commander Cael about allowing me to keep this ring until I can safely reach the capital. I’m sure he will be thrilled that I can finally leave the army.”

’How much confidence Victor seems to have in the stalker commander!…

Perhaps Cael is not as acidic with others as he had been with me until recently…

I suppose he won’t have any problem with Victor leaving the army, since that way Cael is sure to have a spy in the capital to send him reports on my and Delia’s movements…

But if Victor runs a shop, he won’t have much time to spy on us, and he will have much less precise information than he would have if he were working as Delia’s bodyguard…

Regardless of the outcome, we all stand to benefit. Everyone except Cael, of course. But he deserves it for having threatened me’

“Ahh, well… As for the type of shop you could run, you could open a shop that trades in the materials obtained from the labyrinths…”

As I speak, I think about the mountains of loot I’ve had stored in my inventory for ages.

“… If you do, I could be your first customer and investor, since I’m going to be living in the capital for a while,” I say without giving much more explanation about it.

So far, I’ve been saving the majority of the loot I’ve collected from the labyrinths and only selling the runes, as the common loot isn’t valuable enough to justify the time I would have to spend looking for a suitable place to sell it.

And selling the scrolls is not an option either, as it could be problematic, since they are quite rare and expensive, and I could not justify having so many.

“It’s as good an option as any, and that way I’d already have an reliable customer. I think once again I’m going to take your advice,” Victor says, looking at me with a smile full of illusion and hope.

“Good. Now that I’ve done my job, I’m retiring. I have other things to do,” I say, trying to look like the diligent servant of a Saint I am supposed to be.

’Another item crossed off the to-do list…

Now I just need to go check on my girls for a few minutes…

Before heading back to the labyrinth for a few more hours…

And… haa… start back up again with the routine’

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