Visiting Adelia (1)
Three days later, I stood fully armed with a backpack slung over my shoulders, ready to depart. Everyone had gathered in front of the tent to see me off, their faces etched with worry.
“Master, please don’t go! I’m begging you, don’t leave!”
“Do you really have to? Huh? Waaaaah……!”
“I’ll be back soon.”
I pulled Haida and Evynee into tight hugs as they cried like they might never see me again. Then I said my goodbyes to Jane and her daughter Peggy, telling them to take care while I was gone.
After that, I shared a firm embrace with Pasvachio—the only other member of the Fifteenth Squad besides myself—and looked at him with eyes full of trust.
“I’m counting on you to look after the Fifteenth Squad until I return.”
“Leave it to me, Captain. I wish I could go with you, but with no one else left in the squad, I have no choice but to stay behind. It pains me greatly.”
“I’m sorry you can’t come along too. But if you left as well, there’d be no one here to protect Jane and the children.”
“If only my leg were healed, I would have sent Pasvachio with you,” Marcus grumbled as he cut in, clicking his tongue.
I turned to him with a quiet smile before looking back at Pasvachio and lightly tapping his chest.
“When I get back, I plan to head into the city to recruit new members. It’ll be tough handling everything alone until then, but I’m counting on you.”
“You managed everything by yourself before I even joined, Captain. Tough? Nonsense. It’s not hard at all. I get to spend every day with my family, so I’m nothing but happy. Anyway, I know a decent fellow. You have to come back alive so we can go meet him together. He’s truly skilled—I really want to introduce you.”
“If he’s that good, I’m looking forward to it. Let’s meet him together when I return.”
“I’ll send him a letter in advance. You must keep that promise.”
“Don’t worry.”
I patted Pasvachio’s shoulder and turned to Marcus. His eyes were red and he kept sniffing, doing everything he could to hide it. Seeing this rare display of humanity from the old man brought a warm smile to my face.
“Who’s going to deal with your grumbling while I’m gone?”
“Then don’t go, you idiot. Why insist on walking such a dangerous path? Do you even know how terrifying Chen is?”
“You already know what this mutant of a bandit is thinking, Marcus. I see it as the first gateway to achieving my goals. If I fear and avoid even the first hurdle, I’ll never accomplish anything in my life.”
“Ugh.”
Marcus let out a deep, frustrated sigh as if venting all his worries. I understood his feelings better than anyone. He was probably terrified that after losing Phelton and Harry, I might be next. Who could have imagined the old man would show this side when we first met after I had just joined the bandits? Back then, Marcus had been incredibly cold.
“Here.”
He pulled a necklace with a cross-shaped pendant from his pants pocket and held it out.
“What’s this?”
“What do you mean, what is it? It’s the mark of the Marcus family.”
“It didn’t look like this before, did it?”
“You were the last member to join while I was still captain. So I spent a long time refining the design and added a few functions. It can fire poison needles, emit a whistle, release smoke bombs, and even shoot flames. The flame only lasts a second, but it should be enough to startle an enemy.”
“Whoa.”
With an excited expression, I took it and hung it around my neck.
“I should make something like a Marcus family token too and hand them out whenever new members join.”
“Do whatever you want. But you’ll have to survive and come back first to do any of that.”
“I will come back alive, so stop worrying so much.”
Marcus turned to Dana, who stood beside me.
“Take good care of this guy. You’re the only reason I can feel even a little at ease.”
He had long noticed that Dana’s level of magic was quite high.
“…….”
For the first time, Dana slowly nodded in response to Marcus’s words. He looked genuinely surprised. He hadn’t expected an answer, assuming she would ignore him as usual. Her reaction clearly caught him off guard.
“Heh heh. In all my years, I never thought I’d see the day……”
I smiled and glanced at Dana. At first I had planned to leave her behind, but she had stubbornly insisted on coming along, so I had no choice but to bring her.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
Dana and I turned to everyone for one final farewell.
“Take care, everyone! I promise I’ll return safely!”
“You turned away Mr. York without even telling me? You should have dropped everything and come running to report it immediately!”
“I still don’t know all the VIP faces yet……”
Kelly was currently being scolded by the branch manager, her new boss at work. That morning, while he had been enjoying time with his mistress in his office, an important guest had arrived unannounced. Mistaking him for an ordinary visitor, she had sent him away.
“Um… would it be all right if I went to apologize to him this evening……?”
“You think an apology will fix this?! We lost a major deal!”
The branch manager continued shouting, his face flushed with rage.
“Are you trying to ruin our entire company?! Do you have any idea how I feel right now? I want to throw you off the rooftop!”
After enduring such harsh verbal abuse from her superior, Kelly worked with a downcast expression until quitting time. Even as she packed her bag and left the building, the manager glared furiously at her retreating back, still fuming.
“It’s tough everywhere……”
Kelly walked down the street with her head lowered, drained of energy. The market was crowded with people. Most had come to see the criminals tied to wooden pillars. One man, suspended from the middle of a post, had his eyes tightly shut as furious citizens pelted him with filth and excrement. He cursed at the crowd around him.
“Get lost, you bastards! Go away! Ptoo! Ptoo!”
Kelly stopped walking and stood there for a while, staring blankly up at the criminal. Watching him being attacked by the mob suddenly brought a certain person to mind—the man she had parted with four months ago.
Kang Hyun-woo.
‘I wonder if he’s still alive……’
She thought the chances of him being dead were high. That was probably why there had been no news. If he were alive, she had secretly hoped that because she had helped him so much back then, he would come see her at least once out of gratitude. But as one month passed, then two, three, four, and still no word, her hopes gradually faded and her anxiety grew until she had finally given up entirely.
“After escaping the city, they must have been caught and eaten by monsters. Mr. Marcus wasn’t in good shape either, so it would have been impossible for them to make it out alone.”
With those thoughts in mind, she continued walking. On her way home, she stopped by a bakery to buy something for dinner and stepped back outside. As she walked the short remaining distance, the memory of the branch manager’s verbal abuse earlier that day forced its way back into her mind, which in turn brought up thoughts of Hyun-woo again. The days when she had called him Master inside the bandit camp.
“I was happier back then. I didn’t have to think about anything—I just did what Master told me to do. I wasn’t alone like now. There was someone protecting me, and meals were provided for free……”
She arrived in front of her house feeling drained and gently pushed open the door to the fruit shop. The bell attached to the door jingled, and the owner inside greeted her with a smile. After exchanging greetings, she was about to head up the stairs when the shopkeeper said something surprising.
“You have guests waiting in your room.”
“Guests?”
For a moment, Kelly thought it was Hyun-woo and a radiant smile of joy spread across her face. But the shopkeeper’s next words made her tilt her head in confusion.
“A handsome young man and an absolutely stunning beauty. They’ve been waiting since this afternoon.”
“Pardon……?”
Kelly hurriedly ran up the stairs. She flew past the second floor, opened the door to the attic on the third floor, and peeked inside. The moment she saw who was there, she covered her mouth with both hands, unable to contain her shock.
“H-Hyunwoo!”
Hyun-woo, who had been sitting on a chair with an unknown woman, stood up and gave her a bright smile.
“It’s good to see you, Miss Kelly. Have you been well?”
His face looked slightly different—somehow even more handsome than before. Kelly dropped the bag of bread she had been holding without realizing it and rushed straight into his arms.
“Why did you take so long?! I missed you so much!”
The dramatic embrace with Kelly went on for quite a while. Dana, who had been watching me, narrowed her eyes. Her face clearly showed her displeasure, as if she found the situation extremely irritating. The atmosphere felt like thunder and lightning were about to strike right above our heads.
Well, I could understand her expression. Until Kelly arrived, Dana had been complaining that she was hungry. We had come straight here the moment we reached the city, and after entering the attic, we had waited for Kelly for several hours without eating anything. Her inner thoughts were probably something like this:
No time for hugging—let’s go eat already!
Before Dana got angry enough to blow up the entire building, I quickly pulled away from Kelly.
“You’ve been staying healthy, right?”
“Yes! Did you make it back to the mountain camp safely that time?”
“Of course. If it weren’t for you and Flavio, we wouldn’t have been able to escape. I was truly grateful. And……”
I took out a money pouch from the backpack I had set on the floor. It contained a full thousand veni.
“It’s not much, but please take this.”
“What is this?”
Kelly’s eyes widened in confusion.
“It’s a token of gratitude for taking care of us back then. Especially you, Kelly—if you hadn’t bought healing potions from the temple, Marcus’s life would have been in danger. Thanks to you, he survived. I’m truly thankful.”
“You don’t need to give me anything like this. I was just returning the help I received first. It’s fine, really.”
“Please accept it anyway. It’s from the heart.”
Even though Kelly strongly refused, I forced the money pouch into her hand. She held it with one hand, repeatedly saying thank you while wiping the corners of her eyes with the back of her other hand.
In the meantime, I glanced at Dana. Her expression, unlike before, was now completely blank yet somehow serene. It was her usual face. What was going on? Had she finally overcome her hunger and reached enlightenment?
“Who is this person?”
Kelly, still sniffing, turned to Dana and asked.
I smiled and answered.
“She’s a comrade.”
“Ah, a new squad member?”
“Something like that.”
I gave a light reply and avoided giving any specific details about Dana. After continuing our happy conversation for a while, I decided the timing was right and finally brought up the main reason I had come here. Repaying Kelly’s kindness was one thing, but there was another purpose for this visit.
“I’m sorry, but I have a favor to ask of you, Miss Kelly.”
“What is it?”
The moment the word “favor” left my mouth, Kelly’s eyes sparkled so brightly it was almost excessive. She didn’t seem burdened at all.
“Could you look after Dana for a few days? I know it might be inconvenient, but you’re the only person in this city I can trust.”
“Pardon……?”
She blinked a couple of times before asking.
“What about you, Hyunwoo? Where are you going?”
“I……”
I smiled softly as I answered.
“I plan to visit the headquarters of the Lion Heart Unit tomorrow morning. Once I’m inside, I probably won’t be able to come back out for several days.”