After entering E-Rantel,
the Rock party's escort job was essentially complete. Next, they naturally needed to head to the local Adventurer Guild to report completion and collect their pay.
However…
With Captain Dosari's leg now fully healed by Aaron's magic, he and the others exchanged glances, shame written on their faces as they quickly walked over to the wagon.
"Lady Bareare!"
"We're grateful for all your care along the way, and we didn't really do much to help. We'll be declining this commission's payment."
Dosari bowed deeply to Lizzie and spoke with sincere gratitude.
If she had not dealt with those two ogres, given their situation at the time, it was very likely the entire party would have died there.
Lizzie gave Dosari a flat look, and for the first time, a smile appeared on her wrinkled face for the Rock party. "Very well, understood."
Clearly,
saving on that payout had put her in a good mood.
Dosari then turned and thanked Nfirea on the wagon at length before finally returning to his team.
"Aaron, don't forget to come find me," Nfirea called, waving toward him as the wagon rolled away.
After all the intentional conversations Aaron had struck up along the way, Nfirea now genuinely saw him as a good friend.
"I will," Aaron replied with a smile, lifting his hand in return. His eyes, however, stayed very calm.
Truthfully,
Aaron felt deeply grateful to Nfirea.
It was from him that he had gained the general class "Genius," as well as the production jobs Apothecary and Alchemist.
Precisely because of that,
the longer he stayed close to Nfirea, the more likely Nfirea was to leak sensitive information about him one day.
If that ever happened—
Aaron's hand moved almost of its own accord to rest on the hilt of the short sword at his waist, fingers pressing lightly against it.
Only then, belatedly,
did the cold touch of the sword grip snap him fully back to himself.
What was he…
Was the pressure getting to him that badly?
"Haa."
He exhaled, then turned to look at the Rock party beside him. "Everyone, I'll be taking my leave as well."
"Hahaha!"
"You really helped us a lot on the road, Aaron. If you ever need anything, just say the word," Rand, the older twin, said heartily, thumping his chest.
Aaron quickly waved a hand. "If anything, I should be the one saying thank you. I learned a lot from all of you."
Clink, clink.
"Here, take this." Dosari suddenly pulled out a black cloth pouch from his chest. It jingled with the sound of metal as he shook it.
Before Aaron could react,
Dosari had already shoved it into his hand.
Feeling the familiar weight and texture inside, Aaron knew there were gold coins in the pouch.
"This is…" He frowned in confusion and lifted his hand to push the money back.
"I don't have much on me. Just don't think it's too little, and don't refuse."
"If it weren't for you, this leg of mine would be done for."
Dosari spoke with a thoroughly serious expression and then lifted the leg in question, stomping the ground a couple of times.
Given how completely the ogre had crushed that leg, the recovery potions they carried would have been nearly useless for an injury of that scale.
Out in the wild,
with who knew how far to the nearest city, even if they'd somehow managed to rush him to town and find a divine caster who could use healing magic,
by that time
his leg might have been restored, but there would definitely have been lasting aftereffects.
Without Aaron's timely treatment, Dosari was sure he would have had to say goodbye to his adventuring career.
Seeing that he had no intention of taking no for an answer,
Aaron fell silent for a moment, then stopped trying to refuse. "Alright. I'll accept it, then."
With that,
he nodded to the members of Rock and turned to leave.
Watching Aaron disappear into the crowd,
the cheerful look on Dosari's face gave way to a pained, bitter one.
"What a loss. This commission was a total bust," Bask muttered.
Rand and Ler exchanged a glance and sighed in unison.
They had kept close to Aaron the whole way with one goal in mind: once the job was done, they were going to invite him to join their party.
Instead,
just before they reached E-Rantel, that mess had broken out, they had nearly been wiped out, and then Aaron had ended up saving them.
Under those circumstances, the Rock party simply could not bring themselves to extend that invitation anymore.
"Why the long faces?"
"Sure, we didn't manage to recruit Aaron this time, but we at least know him now. There'll be chances in the future."
"We just have to keep working hard and get Rock promoted to a Gold-ranked party as soon as possible!" Dosari slapped his own cheeks a couple of times, then broke into a grin and spoke loudly.
"Yes, Captain!"
"Yes, Captain!"
"Yes, Captain!"
The three others echoed him with grins of their own.
On the other side,
in the Bareare wagon rolling away,
Lizzie glanced sidelong at Nfirea, who was clearly a bit down after the farewell, and gave a tiny, barely noticeable shake of her head.
Thanks to Nfirea's personality, her grandson had never had many friends.
That "Aaron" boy looked only a little older than Nfirea—basically his peer. On top of that, he was a talented divine caster.
It was not a bad thing for the two of them to be friends.
That said—
"Nfirea," Lizzie said calmly as she drove.
"Yes, Grandmother?" Nfirea looked up.
"If there's no special need, try to keep your distance from that Aaron boy," she said.
Nfirea froze, about to speak.
"I know what you're going to say, but this old crone has some eye for people. Grandmother won't harm you."
Lizzie went on. Knowing that at Nfirea's age, once he fixed on something he tended to get stubborn, she continued,
"That kid may look gentle and easy to get along with, but in reality it's the opposite. Deep down, there's a wall between him and anyone outside himself."
"That friendly face he shows you is something he's putting on."
"And with that level of wariness toward others, a person like that either has a very complicated background or is tangled up in serious trouble."
Nfirea straightened, his face flushing as he tried to protest. "But, Grandmother—"
"Sigh."
Lizzie let out a long breath and snapped the whip lightly across the horse's back, the crack cutting off his words.
"Nfirea, did you notice how Rock's attitude changed toward this old crone after I dealt with those ogres?"
He blinked.
Of course he had noticed—it had been impossible not to. The Rock party had treated his grandmother with deep respect after that.
Nfirea was not stupid. He knew she was not talking about their attitude.
She meant Aaron's.
Unbidden, his mind replayed Aaron's demeanor.
He had been respectful as well.
It was just—
remembering it now, Nfirea could not shake the feeling that Aaron's kind of respect had been different from Rock's, though he could not quite put his finger on how.
"Terrible actor."
"Deep down, he doesn't think much of this old crone at all."
Lizzie said it in a flat tone.
Nfirea opened his mouth, then closed it again and stayed silent.
______
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