Chapter 338: From Acceptance to Assault (1)

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In the end, Loren decided to accept Yuri’s commission directly.

If they accomplished the commission through the Adventurers’ Guild, it would be recognized as an achievement and their statuses as adventurers might be higher, but if he had Yuri submit the commission through the Guild, there was a possibility that adventurers other than Loren’s party would participate.

This could be avoided if Yuri submitted it as a nominated commission, but that required going through a complicated process, and judging from Yuri’s tone of voice, time was of the essence.

“You’re not very greedy, Loren.”

The next day, as they began their journey in a horse-drawn wagon arranged by the Empire army, Lapis told Loren in an exasperated tone, and he shrugged.

Looking out the window of the carriage, Loren could see the soldiers of the Empire army that were accompanying his party. As expected, even though the town they were going to, was close to the front line, Yuri did not want them to go alone, and had assigned a platoon of soldiers to act as their guards.

The soldiers, who were not their companions and were working under a different chain of command, looked more like escorts than guards, and Loren felt as if he had become a criminal in some way.

“This is a commission from a General of the Empire army, isn’t it? If it had gone through the Adventurers’ Guild, our names would have been well known, and our achievements would have been recognized.”

“Not interested. As long as I can make a living, that’s all that matters to me.”

“Are you a hermit or something? You talk like an old man.”

In the wagon, Lapis occupied the seat next to Loren’s as a matter of course. The seat opposite her was occupied by Gula, the so-called ‘Evil God of Gluttony’.

“As your name gets bigger, more troubles will come.”

“It seems to me that you’re already involved in a lot of troubles.”

“Not that I wanted to.”

When Loren objected with an offended look on his face, Gula gave him a wicked smile. Normally, she would have been beside Luxuria, the Evil God of Lust, but he was not here now; they had left without him.

In a previous commission, Loren and his party had captured a girl named Rage, the Evil God of Wrath. They were at a loss as to what to do with her, so they entrusted her to a young man named Klaus, who was famous as a promising adventurer and even more famous as a womanizer. And for some reason, Luxuria had insisted on working with Klaus’s party this time.

‘I feel a vibe of resemblance with me’, the guy had said and forced his way into Klaus’ party, whose members looked extremely displeased, and parted ways with Loren’s party. Loren felt somewhat refreshed by his absence.

Gula, however, seemed to decide to go there later to make sure Klaus didn’t know about Rage being an Evil God, and if things escalated to a certain extent, she would take Rage to the place where she and other Evil Gods resided.

Dauna, the Evil God of Sloth, who played a role in capturing Rage, had been idly lounging in a room at their inn, but had disappeared before anyone knew it, perhaps having become bored. Gula said that he had probably returned to his den, so Loren decided not to worry about it. But Sloth was so slothful that he was a little concerned about whether he had really reached his den or not.

“But where is this wagon headed?”

Gula, who had chosen to stay with Loren and Lapis, was following them without knowing much about the situation. Loren wasn’t sure if her blind trust in him was a good thing, but Gula herself did not seem to mind it.

“We’re supposed to be heading for the nearest town in the Kingdom’s territory. Uhm, what’s the name of the town?”

“Melchira? I’m not really interested in names.”

Lapis, who seemed to not care about remembering things she had no interest in, tilted her head and tried to recall the name, and Loren mentioned what he vaguely remembered. It was something that Loren himself was not interested in, and he had only remembered it by accident.

“The town had tens of thousands of inhabitants, but they had all disappeared before anyone knew it.”

“Did some sharks fall down from the sky or what?”

Loren wondered why sharks, but thinking that Lapis might be offended if he let it slide at this point, Loren gathered his thoughts for a moment before making a comeback.

“If that were the case, there would have to be a dead shark left, wouldn’t there?”

“I’ll tell you what, they must be swimming in the sewers or something.”

Lapis said, but in a tone that implied even she did not believe it.

Loren, who thought it was just a way to pass the time while the wagon was moving, decided to go along with it since he had nothing else to do.

“Then wouldn’t it be more realistic to say that a piper blew a pipe and took away all the inhabitants?”

“I know one Evil God who can do such a thing.”

The conversation started as a joke, but when Gula suddenly threw in an information bomb, both Loren and Lapis looked at her at the same time with a startled look on their faces.

“It’s you guys again?!”

“Wait, wait!”

Gula protested against Loren’s words, which sounded like a reprimand.

It was not surprising that Loren and Lapis would think ‘Oh, no, not again’ when told that one of the Evil Gods could do such a thing, but Gula denied it.

“I know the one who can do it, but there’s no way it was him! Because that Evil God is Luxuria. There’s no way he could have done that without us knowing.”

Loren asked Gula about the details, wondering why that name had come out of nowhere.

“The Evil God of Lust can do such a thing?”

Loren had hoped for something like ‘I’m just kidding’, but Gula nodded her head firmly as if to kill his hope.

“If a beautiful girl like me was running around the city completely naked, all the men would be chasing after her, wouldn’t they? If you have the authority of Lust, you can create such a phenomenon regardless of age, sex, or gender.”

Gula’s words made Loren imagine the scene: Countless people chasing after Luxuria, who was running around the town with his oiled naked body on display, and a look of obliviousness on his faces.

It was a hellscape, to put it mildly, and even though he didn’t have motion sickness, Loren involuntarily covered his mouth with his hand as he felt vomit rising in him.

[‘I feel sick… I think I’m going to throw up. But I can’t throw up.’]

Shayna’s thought was shakily transmitted to Loren as he was in the midst of feeling nauseous himself. As if sympathizing with them, Lapis, who was sitting next to Loren, suddenly grabbed his arm and began to bang her forehead against his shoulder.

“The image is in my brain! If I don’t get rid of it right away, my mind will be damaged!”

“Stop, Lapis, don’t shake me. I’m going to throw up…”

Loren’s body shook every time Lapis banged her forehead against him. Being jolted while feeling sick, his face gradually turned pale.

“Loren! If possible, please put your arms around me and squeeze me! If I can’t get rid of this image with your touch, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep my sanity!”

“What the hell are you talking about in the middle of all this?”

“I’m quite serious!”

As Loren would not give her a hug, Lapis at least tried to give one herself; she put her arms around Loren’s torso and hugged him with all her strength.

Loren felt sorry for her, but he also felt that he would truly throw up in the wagon if he was squeezed in the abdomen, so he tried to wriggle around to adjust the position of Lapis’ arms around him.

“I can’t believe that an imagination of it alone can inflict this much damage on these two people. I think the theory that Luxuria is the strongest becomes more plausible.”

“Why do you look so unconcerned?”

Loren asked Gula, who was watching him and Lapis with amusement, and Gula answered shortly as if it was nothing.

“I’m used to it.”

“So, you’ve already been contaminated.”

“Loren, how can an Evil God be uncontaminated?”

When Loren and Lapis had settled on the conclusion that this was indeed the case, Gula, lightly rising from her seat, pointed at Loren and shouted loudly.

“Stop talking about people like they’re not normal! I think I’m a reasonably sensible person among the Evil Gods!”

“Among. The. Evil. Gods… You don’t even mind admitting it. Only among the Evil Gods!”

“I mean, there are soldiers outside. What are you yelling about?”

“If I don’t protest here, you’ll lump me together with Luxuria and Rage!”

The wagon was well-built, and the soldiers outside would not be able to hear the conversation inside due to all the noises from the wheels and horses’ hooves. But even so, if they had a sharp ear, they might have heard Gula’s cries.

Although Loren and his party did not exactly hide Gula’s true identity, they also did not want to go around spreading the word openly, nor increase the number of people who knew about it.

“I already think you’re the same kind as them, Gula, even if you deny it now.”

“Lapis-chan~! Have a talk with big sis here until we reach our destination, won’t you?!”

Lapis pretended to look extremely disgusted and move away from Gula, but then inadvertently leaned toward Loren.

Gula, who tried to grab onto Lapis, stood up in the narrow wagon and was grabbed by Lapis by both wrists, as if they were in a strength contest.

Trying to get away from them, Loren leaned against the window sill. Nig, the spider clinging to his shoulder, lifted its two front legs as if to intimidate the two girls, who were now in a power struggle. In the noisy wagon, Loren could hear Shayna, something only he could do, sounding as if she tried to comfort him.

[‘It’s like this every time. It must be difficult for you, onii-san.’]

Shayna sounded somewhat amused, and Loren wondered if this was alright. Hoping the soldiers outside weren’t too interested in the ruckus inside the wagon, he looked out the window to avoid looking at Lapis and Gula, who were still grappling with each other.

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