chapter 37

Peace returned after I reported the stalking actions .

Is what I would like to say . But like usual, the cook was glaring at me, and Neil continued to annoy me . No, I guess the cook was alright? His attitude was bad, but he still properly cooked food for me .

Thus, the problem was Neil . After I reported him to the guild master, it seems he was lectured, but despite that he was still following me . He ambushed me in front of the inn, tried following me to the gathering site (as expected his friends stopped him), and he even tried inviting me to dinner after I completed my sales at the guild . Rather, inviting me to dinner didn’t really make sense . Don’t you already have a lover? Invite her instead . Thanks to him, Tess was giving me harsh looks . Why? I didn’t do anything wrong .

Collie was as brazen as usual . She was acting like the two of us were friends rather than acquaintances . And she also said stuff like: please share some of your herbs with us, or I heard you’re good at cooking, make me some, and such . Which didn’t really make any sense . I pity Beck who had to keep these three people in check . But please continue working hard for my sake .

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I spent a week dealing with things like that, but I had reached my limit . Alright, let’s run away . Or to be more precise, I guess I would be taking a brief refuge? Rather, I was interested about the seaside village located towards the southeast that I heard in my eavesdropping . As such, I decided to go there .

I guess I should inform Lily first? In the morning, I decided to inform Lily before going to work .

“Lily, I will be leaving the inn tomorrow . Can I get a refund for the days I’ve prepaid for?”“Eh!? What do you mean!? Did I do something to upset you? Or did the cook do something again!?”

No, no, that wasn’t the case at all . And so I began explaining . That there was a disgusting stalker following me, and that I wanted to go to the sea for quite a while now, so I was just going to take a quick look . And that I was planning to return after that . I was also worried about the children .

The misunderstanding was resolved after my explanation, and I was told that there would be no problems with the refund . Apparently, there was also no cancellation fee, which made me a bit happy .

I briefly scanned my surroundings after leaving the inn . That person wasn’t here . There was no reaction from Detection . Good . I hurriedly exited the town .

After exiting the gate I look around for the children . But they all gathered immediately before I had to search around . And so we headed towards the forest near the river . The restrictions for the south forest had been lifted . But the forest near the river was much more abundant, so I ended up continuing to gather there . And if I were to go to the south forest, I would end up meeting Neil and the others…… . . as it seems they were mainly hunting around there, and thus that was the case .

We arrived at the usual gathering spot and start gathering . Now then, when should I tell them? I decided to tell them a bit later, so I broke the news at noon, but everyone was a lot more calmer than I expected . Rather, the reaction was more along the lines of it couldn’t be helped .

“I knew that the time would come someday, so it can’t be helped . ”“We will buy our own weapons to defend ourselves with, and we will do our best . ”“We can’t keep on relying on you . ”“From now on, we will gather in the shallower parts of the forest, that way we can escape more easily . ”

…… . Everyone was being quite positive . For some reason, I felt happy . Good, do your best .

On the way back that day, I gave two recovery potions to Shin and Yui . It wasn’t meant as a farewell . ……I just thought it could be used in place of an insurance if something were to happen . Even if these children were to get seriously injured, they wouldn’t have enough money to see a doctor . I couldn’t take care of them forever, but I also couldn’t abandon them at this point . I knew I was just being a hypocrite . I told them that they could also sell it, but judging from the expressions on the two, they probably wouldn’t do it .

Lily was crying when I returned to the inn after I finished my sales at the guild . Stuff about being lonely, food, and etc . I might have fed her a bit too much . I’ll reflect on that .

The next day I woke up a little earlier than usual and left the inn . I ate some bread for breakfast, then said goodbye to Lily . I wonder if she will be alright?

Before leaving town, I went to the guild . For starters, I should drop by and say goodbye .

If I could get an escort job that went towards my destination, then I could also earn money while I was at it . But escort requests could only be accepted by D rank or higher . Or to be more accurate, it was recommended to be D rank or higher, but I decided to give up since I was still only F rank .

The morning in the guild was like usual . The bulletin board was crowded and the counters were also crowded . Salena… . . I found her .

“Salena . ”“Oh, Ren? What brings you here today?”“I was thinking about heading south . ”“Eh? Are you leaving this town?”“Well, yes . But I’m planning to return here afterwards . Although I don’t really know when that will be . ”

“Is that so…… . ah, can you wait for a bit? It’ll be over quickly, so would it be possible for you to lend me your guild card?”“Yes?”“Ren, you’re being promoted to E rank, so I just need to process that . ”“Eh? Promoted? Isn’t it too soon?”“Ren has made numerous contributions, so the decision was made yesterday . ”

It would seem I was being commended on the stable and large supply of herbs I was bringing in, including rare ones, the sale of orc meat, for helping low-ranking child adventurers, and for eliminating an ogre . But still, it has only been a month since I became an adventurer, so isn’t it still too soon? Those under thirteen years old would usually have their adventurer rank kept the same . So I was supposed to wait two more years before being able to rank up .

“Alright, I have finished . Here is your new card . ”“Thank you very much . ”“Not at all . Then take care . ”“Yes . ”

Since Lily was acting up when I was leaving, I thought Salena might also be the same, but she was quite easy . Well, it would be difficult to start crying when there were so many people around .

After finishing my goodbyes, I exited through the gate . When I gave a brief glance around, the children were a bit further away in the distance . Upon noticing me, the children started waving towards me . I gave a slight wave back before continuing on my way . After seeing that, the children also began moving towards the gathering spot . Good, do your best .

Now then, for the time being, it would be just Norn and Bell again, so just us three . Norn said that Bell’s hunting skills have improved a lot, so I guess I could look forward to that?

And with that sort of feeling, I headed for the sea .