Chapter 1093: Girls, Meet Carrey

Well I got to say, that definitely went way better than I expected, despite the fact that we had a surprising encounter with a Hobgoblin as well.

And I have to point out... Jenna looked so infatuated with Inara I thought she was just going to straight up propose to her right there and then.

I was a little worried about them but it didn’t look like Inara was against it so I chose not to say anything either.

Well... I don’t want to be kicked by a horse so I’ll just keep my mouth shut.

We simply went back to the Guild to report the Request completion and I wished them both good luck.

If we were to meet again, most likely it would be at Aerialla Academy itself.

We left the Guild just as the sky was getting dark so it should be time to head back to the inn.

"Umm... Mistress?" Carrey suddenly spoke up as we were about to leave. "Did I... Did I do good today?"

I giggled, "Ehehe~ Of course you did, Carrey. That was some great shooting back there! I was really impressed!"

"Thank... Thank you, Mistress!"

Of course, I didn’t forget about my ever present personal maid...

"You too Katsuki! Did you also get faster? I can barely see you when you took down those Goblins! That was so cool!"

She bowed, "It was nothing, Mistress. I live to serve."

Even though she says that, her tail was wagging quite a bit behind her. So cute~

I really want to just cuddle her right now but since we’re in public, I’ll refrain from doing that.

We made our way back to the inn and I felt a metaphorical weight leave my shoulders the moment I stepped through.

I stretched my arms overhead, "Nnngghh... That felt like a really long day... Oh right, Carrey! Ermm... I guess that bow wasn’t really a good one right? I’ll let you use another bow tomorrow. I have a better one."

"Eh? Ah! That... Thank you very much, Mistress!"

Looks like she really likes bows eh?

Well, the bow I was thinking of was the [Tornado Bow], the same weapon I also got from that Off-Worlder who first tried to kill me so long ago.

I’ve loaned it to several of the girls a few times but they all end up not using it and I’ve just kept it in my Bangle of Folding the entire time.

I guess it’s time for it to have a permanent owner.

We went back to my room and it looks like the rest of the girls were already back, including Emilia so this works in my favour as I could just introduce everyone now.

Delmare was the first one to notice me at the door and she immediately jumped into my arms.

"Aster! You’re back! Welcome back!"

She kissed me so I hugged her and kissed my Siren back, enjoying the taste of her mouth for a good moment before letting go.

"Mmm~ Did you enjoy your day off?" I asked, licking my lips.

"Umm... It would have been better if Aster was there too though..."

"Sorry, sorry. Maybe next time."

"Aster?" Emilia called out while pointing behind me. "Who’s that?"

Right.

I stepped away from Delmare and gestured to Carrey who was standing as still as possible like a deer that was caught in the headlights.

"Everyone, this is Carrey. She’s a slave I bought from a slave store I visited and she will be occupying the role of our ranger. Carrey, this is my party, the White Dragon’s Sword Maidens."

She quickly bowed her head, "Ple... Pleased to meet you! I am Carrey! I may be inexperienced but I am honoured to be allowed to join this party!"

"Oh, at least she knows some manners," Lisa muttered.

I then gestured at the others in the room, "You already met Katsuki who is my personal maid and the assassin of our party. The dark skinned beauty with the killer abs is Odeta who plays the role of our tank. The really sensual and sexy Infrid there is Lisa who is our mage and alchemist. The really cute Nekomata with really great style is Emilia who is our resident merchant and vanguard. And this beauty over here with the absolutely angelic voice is Delmare who occupies the role of our singer and vanguard as well."

I then noticed something and turned back to the girls, "Eh? Where’s Ather?"

Emilia crossed her arms and scoffed, "Probably still painting her stuff somewhere. You know how she is."

Right...

I turned back to Carrey, "There’s one more person who isn’t here but--"

"I’m here."

All of us looked past Carrey to see Ather casually standing behind her as though she had been there all along.

"Since when were you there?" Emilia asked a little accusatorily.

Ather shrugged and chose not to answer.

I recovered quickly and gestured towards the Mahun, "Oh, ummm... Yeah, this is Ather, she’s a temporary party member right now but she’s an artist and her position can alternate between a vanguard and a ranger."

Carrey bowed once again, "I am honoured to meet all of you."

Lisa then got up from where she was seated to walk up to her, "Hmm... This is quite surprising, Aster... I didn’t think you would go out and find a girl to bring back on your own~ Was it her face that attracted you?"

Carrey couldn’t help but take a step back from my Infrid who was inspecting her up and down like a piece of meat.

I already know what Lisa was trying to do so I stepped in between them.

"Hold up, hold up. She’s still new so don’t bully her too much ok? She was a Debt Slave and she owed quite a bit of money after getting scammed. Her deadline to pay back the money was today and since we were missing an archer in our party anyway, I decided to buy her. We went on a Goblin subjugation Request earlier and I can testify to her marksmanship skills!"

The girls looked at each other before shrugging.

"If Sister Aster approves of her, I don’t have a problem either."

"Mmm... She does have a pretty face so I guess that’s fine."

"I’m fine with what Aster decides too."

"Well, I obviously wouldn’t say no to more manpower either."

Ather was the only one who didn’t say anything, though I believe it’s both because she actually didn’t have an opinion and also because she was busy sketching me right now.

Speaking of which...

"How is that group, Emilia?" I asked, referring to the Karen party.

She immediately knew who I was talking about and smirked, "No need to worry, Boss. I got them packed up and headed straight towards one of our stores where they will be trained to work off their debt to us~"

I don’t know why but I suddenly got the image of them being sent off to work in a mineshaft or something.

"Is that alright though? Especially since we’re not overseeing them directly?"

"Oh, that’s not a problem Boss! I have trusted people there to look after them and I already sent a letter ahead to inform them about it!"

As expected of Emilia, meticulous as always.

The other girls gave me questioning looks but I think it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell them Emilia basically scammed those karens into a debt slave contract especially when Carrey is also a Debt Slave so I just kept my mouth shut.

Instead, I went ahead to change the topic, "Anyway... What’s our plan now? We were supposed to find a Grey Walker here to transport us to Frostiminir Kingdom but now the place is shut down because of a certain group and we don’t even know when, or if, they will be back."

Odeta raised her hand immediately, "Ehh... Sister Aster, I think at this point, it’s fine to just give up on it. Like I said, I don’t really need it. Who knows? We might find something even better if we fight some boss in a Dungeon and get it as a drop!"

Well... It certainly does feel like events were just conspiring against us to impede us from getting to that place... And I did feel like at this point, it might be a better idea to just head to Aerialla Academy and pick up Smithing or something to make a pair of gauntlets for Odeta myself.

I sighed, "Alright then... I suppose let’s change our plans again. We’ll head directly towards Aerialla Academy, how about that?"

All the girls nodded their approval.

I then brought out the map again to check our route.

Hmm... We should be heading to Haugwell City next but we have the option of going north to Asttol City before heading east to that city... Or we could head East first to Dolg Mining Town before going north to Haugwell City.

Well, I was intending to head to Dolg Mining Town since I’ve never been there before... But I think a certain Marchioness would be upset that I didn’t at least visit her before I left the Kingdom so I guess Asttol City it is!