Chapter 1325: They Want An Escort

I returned to the outpost carrying a wet Tsara and Ira and a naked and laughing Odeta.

"Wahahaha! That was so funny, Sister Aster!! You sure showed them!!"

Shush Odeta... Don’t antagonise them anymore than necessary... I’m pretty sure they would start fighting again if they had another reason to and I don’t want to have to drop them into the lake again...

We descended back into the outpost and it seems like the Amrap we had saved had also just arrived on foot.

Tsara and Ira then left to wash up and thankfully, it looks like both of them had cooled down enough that they weren’t biting at each other now. But just in case, I made Eins follow along in the shadows to watch over them just in case they tried to fight again.

The Trasif merchants immediately rushed up to us when they saw us coming down from the sky.

The leader looked at me in worry, "Did you manage to help her?!"

I nodded in the direction of the outpost’s entrance as the Amrap strolled in with a grin on her face.

The Trasif merchant let out a sigh of relief before she bowed deeply, "Thank you for helping us! You saved our lives!"

I waved at them, "It’s alright. It’s something that should be done."

The other Amrap came over to us and chuckled, "Ahahaha! I would also have to thank you all for saving my ass! I thought I was a goner!"

Odeta grinned, "That’s Sister Aster for you! Wahahaha!"

The Trasif then looked a little embarrassed as she peeked at me, "Umm... I don’t mean to be rude but... You don’t look like an Amrap? You’re a Meslatar aren’t you?"

I nodded, "That’s right. Before you ask... No, I am not actually part of the patrol group. I’m a traveller that is on my way towards the Wrunch and Amrap villages."

The Trasif poked her fingers together, "Ah... That’s what I thought... I hate to ask this of you after you just helped us with this but... We are also travelling in that direction and... We realised that we might be very unprepared for this journey... If I may ask, could you escort us the rest of the way?"

I shifted my gaze towards the other Trasifs behind that were also looking at us expectantly, most of them clearly not combatants and were most likely tourists or merchants seeing that their stats were not even in the hundreds range.

I turned back to the Trasif convoy leader, "Well... That creature attacking you was already something that was out of the norm. Under normal circumstances, that creature would not have even appeared to begin with so you were just really unlucky."

"After experiencing something like that... I would say none of us would be able to sleep peacefully or even just continue the journey without fearing that it might happen again... If I don’t do something about it, I doubt most of the others with me would even want to continue..."

One of them rushed over, her eyes wide with worry, "We’ll... We’ll pay you! Please!"

Oh wow... She really looked traumatised...

Actually... Now that I think about it... These people basically lived under the protection of the Tree of Life where they didn’t need to worry about being attacked by monsters since the tree would stop monsters from even reaching their cities and villages.

This group of people must have lived their entire lives under its protection and ventured out for the first time today. And the first thing they saw was some giant monster that almost killed them.

The convoy leader seems to be experienced in leading groups through this path and knew that a monster attacking them would be a rare occurrence so she took minimal guards with her.

But she obviously could not account for the appearance of a Leviathan since that should have been an impossibility.

I guess it would be weirder if they didn’t get traumatised from that.

I thought about it for a moment, "Hmm... Where are you headed then?"

A look of hope appeared in the Trasif’s eyes, "We’re heading to Shield village before going to the Strongest Arena Clearing to watch competition. Are you also heading to the arena for the event?"

I turned to look at Odeta who grinned and gave me an enthusiastic nod.

Ok... This is the first time I even heard about this but I guess Odeta intended to take us there from the start anyway.

I turned back to the Trasifs, "We are headed there too so I guess we can accompany you as your escorts."

The Trasifs who had obviously been eavesdropping on our conversation let out a cheer when they heard that.

But before they got too excited, I decided to point out a particular problem.

"Umm... Just saying... If you girls are intending to return back along this path... I’m just going to say that we have no intention of coming back... So this would be a one way trip for us... We will head towards Arwan Territory after that so unless you’re also going that way..."

The cheers of the Trasifs immediately stopped and they looked at me with a mixture of horror and despair.

The Amrap we had rescued let out a laugh, "Ahahaha! You don’t need to worry! You can also hire escorts while you are at the Arena! They will be able to protect you on your return trip! And as Sister Aster has said, a Leviathan appearing is already something that shouldn’t have happened so you shouldn’t meet another one on the way back!"

The Trasifs let out a collective sigh of relief while I’m just glad that I didn’t have to worry about them pleading with me to escort them back as well.

Since that was settled, the Trasif convoy leader told me that she would make it an official Guild Request so that we could also profit from the Guild as well before they retired to the other building, which I now realised was another guest house, for the night.

The Amrap we just rescued tried to invite me for a round of drinks but I declined stating that it was already late and we should be resting now.

Especially since Odeta was still completely undressed and I was in my nightgown.

I’m going to need another bath before I head back into bed...

I’m actually surprised they had a bath here though it was basically just a small room in the guesthouse with a hole dug out in the ground and its sides lined with rocks.

Water would flow down a pipe that I assumed came from a Mana Crystal somewhere enchanted with hydromancy magic and the excess water would flow out into a drainage pipe that led to somewhere else unseen.

Of course, Odeta insisted on coming along with me and the both of us barely managed to squeeze into the small bath where I had to sit with my back pressed against Odeta and her boobs resting on my shoulders on either side of my head.

"Wahahaha! First day crossing over to this side of the continent and we already met with so many incidents! Sister Aster really is special!" Odeta laughed.

If I wasn’t familiar with Odeta, that would have sounded like she was mocking me but I knew she was actually being genuine.

I let out a sigh, "I’m glad you’re having fun at least."

"Wahaha! Any day with Sister Aster is always fun! There’s never a boring day with you!"

"Ahem... They mentioned something about the Strongest Arena Clearing, didn’t they? Are we also headed there?"

"Of course! How can I guide you here without at least visiting the Arena itself?! That’s where all the strongest of the forest would come together to compete! There’s no way I’m letting everyone miss seeing Sister Aster’s strength!"

"Err... I don’t really need to but... I guess we can go check it out?"

"Wahahaha! You will love it, Sister Aster! It’s so fun!! You get to challenge strong opponents and the winners get prizes too! Just you wait!"

"What about your sister? Is she here?"

"Oh! You mean Sister Ardiolyta? I believe she is! The last time I sent a letter to her, she was around the area so she should be coming back to meet you as well!"

That’s nice, it’s been a really long time since I last saw her too.

I do have one question though, "I just want to make sure of something... You’re not going to get me involved in some massive orgy with your sisters or something, are you?"

Because from what I’ve already come to realised, their society is basically fighting and fucking... So Odeta might even be trying to get me involved in that too.

Sure enough, the only response I got out of my Amrap lover was a slow, lazy smile appearing on her lips before she spun me around to kiss me on the lips.

...

Fine then... If that’s what you want...