We went to the room where they had spent the night, and there, I explained to Sarah and the others everything I had kept secret until then. I told them about our eting with Equidna, what she had said, and my suspicion about Leo.
"So, because she knew about the Lost Temple, you suspected she had gotten in contact with Leo?" Sarah asked .
"Yes. I didn’t know for sure what kind of relationship she had with him, so I asked Diane to keep this secret for until we were certain."
"I’m sorry, Sarah." Diane bowed her head to the red-haired woman, but her posture remained focused on what we were saying. Sarah’s expression was hard to read. Luckily, she no longer seed furious with .
"I decided to look for the right people to pass information to, a gang of rcenaries specialized in that. Their na is the Ghosts of the Roads."
The na didn’t seem familiar even to Sarah, but Alicia, Erina, and Justine reacted as soon as they heard the group’s na. As expected of the kingdom’s princess and two forr mbers of the army.
"What? Do you know where their hideout is?" Justine was startled by what I had just said. "Their leader is a wanted man with a high bounty on his head!"
"Seriously?! I was there and had no idea it was them!!" Erina cried, completely shocked.
The group changed locations now and then, staying in one place for a while before moving to the next. My luck was that I knew where they were most likely to be thanks to my reading of SCRL.
"Can we trust them?" Alicia asked in a fragile voice. I patted my princess’s head affectionately.
"Don’t worry about that. Vulcan, their leader, is our ally, at least for now." I thought about it for a mont and then corrected myself. "Actually, we’re his clients. As long as we pay him, he’s willing to support us with information."
"But Leo, what did you find out about him?" Sarah asked , still focused on that topic.
Leo this, Leo that. It bothered to see her so worried about him. He was our friend, but he had abandoned our party without even looking us in the face one last ti. It made want to expose Leo as a worm.
I took a deep breath to let those thoughts go. I decided to tell Sarah in a neutral way, leaving it up to her to believe whatever she wanted. But I wouldn’t downplay his actions or cover for him.
"He ca to this city and was rejected by Silver Fang. That was when he t Equidna."
"The woman from the Night Apostles who attacked us in the forest?"
"That’s right, except she spoke in a very different way from how she spoke to us in the forest."
"What do you an?" Sarah asked .
"She tried to seduce Leo."
"Eh?" Sarah’s mouth fell open in surprise.
"What bad taste," Justine said, adjusting her glasses. "Trying to seduce a stranger to get what she wants."
A malicious smile appeared on Erina’s face. "So that witch from the Night Apostles is kind of a bit—"
"To be honest, he didn’t fall for her bait because of her assets, but because of her offer to let him join Silver Fang. But she asked him to tell her about the greatest adventure he’d ever had, and that was when Leo told her everything. The dungeon we went to, the Lost Temple, the blessing, my na, yours. He told her absolutely everything. Regardless of my blessing, handing the Forster na over to her, of all people, was the sa as putting a target on my back." I told her everything that had happened in one go.
Sarah was speechless, unable to look in the eyes. Even so, I continued.
"Even then, he didn’t know she was one of the Night Apostles, but giving us up like that for his own benefit... He ended up putting us at risk because of it. That alone is unforgivable."
"W-What do you plan to do about it?" Sarah asked .
"I’m going after him, rescuing him from the Night Apostles, and beating him to a pulp."
"Don’t you an beating the Night Apostles to a pulp?" Erina asked .
"I know what I said," I replied to her. "I’ll punish him for acting like an asshole. Saving him in the process is just a consequence. Silver Fang or the Night Apostles, it’s better for everyone if Leo doesn’t fall into either of their hands."
"I-I see," Sarah said in a fragile voice.
I wondered if I had been insensitive sohow, since an awkward silence hung over our room for so ti. I was about to try saying sothing else to break the tension in the air, but I was stopped when Sarah took a deep breath.
"Aaaah. Honestly, what a ss our forr companion got himself into," she said to , sounding sowhat annoyed.
"So you agree with my plan?" I asked her.
"More or less, except for the part about beating him up. I just don’t feel right abandoning him just because of his behavior. So let’s at least rescue him."
I nodded to Sarah. Although my suggestion was to save him, it wasn’t out of the kindness of my heart like Sarah’s. Leo had a certain divinity inside his body, and if the Night Apostles wanted him, that ant he had so use. I believed that taking him away from them would interfere with their plans, so I would be killing two birds with one stone.
"Ah, but in a way, I’m relieved," Sarah said in a more cheerful tone. "For a mont, I thought you had gone out to have sex with a woman outside the party."
I froze where I was. I had forgotten to say that I had, in fact, had sex with Tanya, Diane’s sister.
"I’m sorry, Rick," Sarah continued. "I was wrong to doubt you. Hmm, why are you making that face—Don’t tell ..."
"I-I’m sorry, I ended up doing it."
"You pervert! Don’t tell you did it with so random rcenary bitch?!" Sarah shouted at .
"It wasn’t sothing like that, Sarah," Diane interceded. "Rick didn’t do it with just any rcenary."
"Then—"
"He did it with my sister," Diane said, her voice sharp as a razor, leaving all the other Valkyries silent for a while.
Sarah, dumbfounded, looked at her in surprise. "W-What?"
"I said that he did it with my sis—"
"I heard you!" Sarah cut Diane off. "But I didn’t know you had a sister in the first place, so hearing that is quite a shock."
Diane explained that one of Vulcan’s closest subordinates was actually her younger sister, and that after a fight where I had to use Ero Boost, I was given a mission that required Tanya’s help.
"Aah, what a troubleso situation," Sarah said, annoyed. "What’s wrong with those missions, bringing in soone who has nothing to do with you?"
"There was nothing that could be done under those circumstances," I said, avoiding the gazes of my Valkyries, all of them staring at with suspicion.
"You certainly enjoyed it, didn’t you?" Sarah said with an accusatory look.
"You probably enjoyed doing it with two sisters at the sa ti, didn’t you?" Alicia, who was usually so cute, attacked with words so sharp and so close to the truth.
"As expected of a pervert," Justine said coldly.
"You didn’t even think of inviting us to that. How cruel, Master," Camula said while twirling her pink hair.
"anwhile, we spent an entire night without sex," Erina said, clearly in a bad mood.
I looked at Diane, the Valkyrie who had been helping in secret until now, but she acted as if it wasn’t her problem, her eyes avoiding mine.
’Hey, what’s with that attitude, Diane?’ I thought inwardly. ’Abandoning at such a delicate mont. I thought our bond had grown stronger, so why...?’
I scratched my head. They were certainly irritated by my absence and envious of Diane and Tanya.
"Just wait until we leave the city. I intend to make up for my absence," I said, a little awkwardly.
"Fine, but think carefully about your mistake and don’t make it again," Sarah said to , puffing her cheeks, and the other girls followed along.
I sighed, relieved that our conversation had co to an end. Now my only concern was getting to Backwater City as soon as possible. Or so I thought, but Sarah’s gaze, staring at before constantly looking away, pulled out of my reverie.
"Hey, Rick," Sarah said to , her cheeks flushed. "That sword... is it new?"
"Ah, yes." I had forgotten that I hadn’t told them about my new weapon.
I drew my beautiful sword from its sheath and showed it to them. Cries of wonder ca from my Valkyries, impressed by my new sword.
"What an incredible weapon!" Sarah said, impressed. "How did you get it?"
"Eh!" I froze. I had forgotten that I had gotten my new blade by satisfying Freya and Brandish.
Sarah quickly noticed my expression. "Don’t tell ..."
It seed our discussion about being with other girls wasn’t going to end as soon as I had hoped.
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