Possibly, The Most Suitable…

The direction where those black dragons flew away.
The dragon’s roars.
I followed these and entered the forest.
Thanks to that, tracking these dragons weren’t difficult.
My running speed.
Stamina.
Is it thanks to the correction in my status?
Having both of them in my arsenal, it helped me arrive before anything bad had happened.
Seras slips out from under the man wearing a black armor.
I could exclude some target under my discretion while I’m designating multiple targets.
Therefore, she is not paralyzed together with the others.
My skill is quite convenient.

[To—]

Seras quickly closes her mouth.
It seems like she was about to speak out my name.
However, it seems that she has averted the situation where the man in armor hears my name.
It seems that she has earnestly thought what I said before.

[Umm… I guess I should thank you first for helping me out.]

Seras respectfully bowed.

[I’m glad I came right in time.]

After saying so, I turned towards the man in black armor.

[Is this one of those Black Dragon Knights?]
[Yes, they seem to be the Bakuos Empire’s Dragon Knights.]
[Is this guy one of those rumored Five Dragons?]
[No, though he called himself the deputy of the vanguard corps of one of the Five Dragons.]

Seras stands next to me.
I then turned towards the girl beside me.

[It seems that you’re in quite a mess.]
[Why did you come here…?]

Seras’ eyes were still towards the paralyzed dragon knight and that black dragon of his.
It seems that she’s still wary about them.
Before I answered her question…

[<Poison>]

I invoked Poison into the dragon knight.
For the time-being, I’ve only set it into non-lethal.
Though, I’ve applied lethal poison towards the black dragon.
Now that I’ve confirmed that the poison has been endowed towards them, I began answering her questions.

[Rumors about you has been flowing around Mills without pause. These rumors said that you had escaped. You even managed to escape towards this place. And so, I came into this forest again just to search for you.]

The seriousness on Seras’ face began increasing.

[That isn’t what I w- wanted to know. What I wanted to ask was…]
[Wait.]
[Eh?]
[<Sleep>]

I made both the dragon knight and the black dragon fall asleep.
If she were to ask some questions one after another, she may slip out something that others must not hear.
As if she felt a bit ashamed, Seras looked down.

[I- I’m sorry that I didn’t notice. If we were to talk about complicated things, you would have to deal with eavesdroppers first. Umm, then… Why are you here?]
[I hired you as my escort. Besides, according to the information I received in MIlls, it wasn’t like you’ve betrayed and ditched us.]
[Pii♪]

Pigimaru happily added his comment too.

[D- Didn’t you understand after this happened? If you were to stay with me…]
[I will also be chased by the Black Dragon Knights?]
[T- That’s right. That’s why, please get away from this place already. For now, it seems that they haven’t sensed your presence yet except for this man…]
[Can’t we just escape together after you use that Illusion Technique you’ve used before? Or is it that you can’t change your face other than to that face you’ve used before?]
[I can indeed use it to change into other faces but… the spirit that could use the illusion is currently confused right now after the effects of the Illusion Breaker. I can’t seem to be able to use its ability until it calms down.]
[When will its confusion subside?]
[…I don’t know.]

Seras takes out a pouch from her pocket.

[I’m sorry. That guard mission that we’ve talked about before, I will be canceling it. I will also be returning this Azure Dragon Stone back to you.]

I breathe out a sigh.

[Why is it suddenly canceled?]
[Like I said…]

Seras puts her hand over her chest.

[If you are together with me, you would be exposed to danger.]

She looks like she’s quite pained when she said this.

[To be honest, this is really quite troublesome.]
[Yes— That’s right! It would be quite troublesome if you were to go with me.]

I inadvertently scratch my head.

[That’s not what I mean.]
[W- Well then, what do you—]
[I mean, it’s a hassle for me to search for a guard again that equals or exceeds you in the requirements that I needed for my guard.]
[———–]

I feel like Seras’ words were stuck under her throat.
She took a brief pause…
And then after that, I could see some indications of her tenaciously facing me.

[I- If you were to go north of Mills, then you should be able to pass by the capital city of Urza before you get into the Demon Zone. You should be able to hire a skilled mercenary there. If you want to exchange the Azure Dragon Stone into money so that you could hire an expensive mercenary, I can also tell you about someone that I know that could exchange that jewel…]

As I thought, she knew of an under the table route to cash out this Azure Dragon Stone huh…

[Hey, Seras. Which of us has the problem here?]
[P- Problem…?]
[The reason for cancelling out our agreement. Is the problem on your side or in my side?]

Seras cast her eyes downwards.

[…I- It goes without saying. It’s my problem.]
[Then, there’s no problem with it. Our agreement shall continue.]
[H- Hati-dono!]
[Take off your clothes here.]

Seras’s time suddenly stopped.
Her eyes blinked out in surprise.

[—Eh?]

I put down the backpack I’m carrying.
I started taking out women’s clothing that I bought before.

[The size may be a bit different, but I have procured you some clothes. Those guys back in Mills should still remember the clothing that you’ve been wearing. Just in case, you would avoid wearing those clothes you’ve worn before until we’ve entered the Demon Zone.]
[Ah— S- So that’s what you mean…]

Seras seems to be a bit embarrassed.
Hmm?
Ah, I see.

[Did you get confused by the words I spoke before. I’m sorry about that.]
[That’s right… Though it was a fact that I’m a bit upset—]

Seras looks as if she suddenly became aware of something.

[P- Please wait! Our guard agreement would be going to continue for quite some time, but my problem is much bigger than you might be thinking…]

I turned towards the dragon knight that has been suffering in his sleep.

[I’ve heard about it before, that the Black Dragon Knights were supposed to be strongest. Was it something like the strongest Knight Corps in the whole continent? And, this supposedly strongest knights were chasing you. That’s why you have to escape while you have to keep yourself hidden from their sight… or something like that, right?]
[…………..]

Did I push it too far?

[Can I ask your real reason why you want to go to Jonato?]

I thought that she would probably not say anything and began suspecting me but…
After hesitating to speak out a few moments, Seras finally confided.

[From the port at the western borders of Jonato, there is a ship that goes towards the west continent. However, it requires a lot of money to get into that ship.]

I see.
That’s why she needed that 300 gold coins.

[Is that story about you’re participating in this call for the Monks not true?]
[Yes… I’m sorry that I’ve lied about it before.]

I’m not really that surprised.
I thought it was possible that she could have lied about some things.
Our conversation continues.

[To put it shortly, it should be fine if you could just hide yourself somewhere safe?]
[That’s right. That’s what I was—]

Seras grasps her hand tightly and places it over her chest.

[Because, that’s the last command I received from that person.]

It seems that there was someone who guided Seras’ escape somewhere.
The way she spoke about it…
Well, that place should be good enough.

[Thereupon, I have a suggestion for you.]

I spoke about the suggestion I have.

[How about trying to negotiate whether the Witch of Taboos can hide you?]