Chapter 54 : Krio Dispatch (1)

“Saya, are you sick? Your expression looks uncomfortable.”

“..No, it’s nothing.”

Bandit group elimination was a primary duty as a Spirit Master, including vigilante activities. I thought I would do it someday, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon.

“In principle, it’s not allowed to send Spirit Masters who haven’t completed the academy, but you have long since surpassed that level. I’ll be accompanying you, so don’t worry too much.”

“…Where is the area we’ll be dispatched to?”

It was almost impossible for a bandit group to exist in the capital, Semal, so when taking on this kind of mission, there was a high probability of being dispatched to another region.

“It’s the Krio region located in the north. I told you about it once before, right? When Saya was very interested in things like brainwashing.”

At the word “brainwashing,” Carne flinched.

“..Brainwashing?”

I laughed, trying to quickly change the subject.

“Did I..? Haha… I don’t remember well..”

I wondered what would have happened if I had been dispatched to the Luden region and faced the Black Dog Bandits, and I was filled with dread just thinking about it. Fortunately, the place I was being dispatched to this time was the Krio region.

“So, everyone, put on some thick clothes. You’ll freeze to death in that outfit.”

His gaze, saying that, was strangely directed at my outfit.

After changing clothes, I got on the carriage with my teammates. The driver and Cled were in the front compartment, and Luna, I, Carne, and Yuri sat facing each other in the back compartment. As I rustled around, not used to the thick clothes, Carne said.

“You’re not going to jump out of the carriage this time, right, Team Leader Saya?”

“..If I hadn’t jumped out of the carriage on that first mission, we would still be playing around in F-rank!?”

If I hadn’t jumped out of the carriage and saved the princess and received S-rank that time, I don’t know how the development would have changed.

“..But, I’m the team leader?”

At the word she casually threw out at the end, I tilted my head and asked back.

“What’s so surprising? You wrote it down on the paper when we formed the team, didn’t you? Yuri said she didn’t care about that, and I hate troublesome things.”

“..Did I?”

Until now, I had always thought that Yuri was the leader.

“It seems like you all didn’t communicate with each other.”

As Luna said, we weren’t a team that talked to each other often, except for necessary words. It had improved a lot since the last incident, though.

“…”

While the three of them were talking to pass the time, Yuri was unusually quiet. She wasn’t usually the type to participate in conversations, but today she had a noticeably disturbed expression.

“Are you okay?”

“..Yes. I just have something to think about.”

‘..Is it because of Violet?’

Yuri, who was recently invited by Commander Violet to be his successor, had not yet given him an answer. Apart from Violet and Yuri, the only one who knew that she had received such an invitation was me.

‘..What is he thinking?’

He tried to kill her, but now he was trying to make Yuri the next commander of the Spirit Masters. If I could accurately grasp his identity, I might be able to know his intentions.

As the carriage passed Semal and entered a steep road, Cled lifted the tent in the front compartment and said to us.

“It’s going to be quite a long journey from here. I’ll mostly be awake, so everyone get some sleep.”

Unlike usual missions, Cled was with us, so I could sleep with peace of mind.

‘..I’ll sleep with peace of mind.’

Even when everyone, including me, fell asleep, Yuri seemed unable to sleep easily.

It took a full three days by carriage to reach Krio.

“…Ugh.”

I opened my eyes to the sound of the wind coming through the cracks in the carriage wall. I could feel the air becoming chillingly cold. It was a feeling that made me realize that I had arrived in the Krio region, where it snows all year round.

“Everyone, move. I want to finish this before our bodies freeze.”

It felt like the expression “bodies freeze” was no lie, and the cold was incomparable to southern regions like Semal. As soon as I got off the carriage, the deeply piled snow swallowed my shoes.

“If you follow the road straight, you’ll find the Krio Spirit Master Headquarters. You can leave your luggage there and rest.”

At the driver’s words, Cled shook his head and said.

“I don’t want to waste time. I’m going straight to the bandits’ hideout.”

Cled, who had done similar things many times before, just seemed to want to finish the mission quickly.

Following Cled, I took one step at a time on the snow-covered terrain.

“Frequently brush off the snow so your weapons don’t freeze. If you see anything suspicious along the way, tell me immediately.”

I was nervous about the bandits who might appear from anywhere, but for a moment, it was difficult to even secure my vision because of the swirling blizzard. Carne, who was walking in front of me, grumbled.

“Are there even bandits in a place like this? I don’t see any traces of people, let alone bandits.”

You might think that bandits hide near people’s residences, but it’s the opposite. Even if the harvest decreases, it’s normal to prefer remote places because if their whereabouts are discovered, it’s over.

“It’s easier to hide a hideout in a place like this. And there’s only one supply route, so it’s perfect for attacking carriages.”

“..How do you know that so well?”

At my answer, she asked me curiously.

“…I studied. I studied.”

“Studied..?”

While being interrogated by Carne about various things, I arrived at the entrance of what appeared to be the bandits’ hideout.

Cled said, removing the makeshift cover roughly placed at the entrance with his hand.

“..It doesn’t even look like they’re trying to hide it.”

It was an entrance that smelled fishy no matter how you looked at it. Cled, who cut down the large cobwebs hanging at the entrance with a sword, took the lead and said to us.

“Luna will walk in front with me, and the rest of you follow in order.”

It was a more efficient judgment to put Luna, who had a lot of experience in interpersonal combat, in front.

The inside of the hideout was truly silent. Even though I had almost reached the main base, I couldn’t even see the shadow of a person.

‘Isn’t there even a patrol..?’

At this point, it was time to think that they had already emptied the hideout or abandoned it and moved to another place.

When Cled, who was walking in the lead, stepped on something, it made a crunching sound.

“…This is..”

What he picked up was what appeared to be a human skull.

“..Instructor, there seem to be more over there.”

Following Luna’s gesture, I entered the main base, and an even more bizarre sight unfolded. The bandits who should have been guarding the hideout were all lying on the floor with only their bones remaining.

“I don’t understand. Did they commit suicide as a group? Otherwise, there’s no way so many bones would remain.”

I wanted to see if they were civilians, so I examined the remains closely, but judging from the clothes they were wearing and the equipment scattered on the floor, they were definitely the corpses of bandits.

“..Wouldn’t it be better to go back to the Spirit Master Headquarters first? The Spirit Masters there might know the situation.”

At Yuri’s suggestion, Cled nodded and said.

“Yuri is right. Let’s get out of here first.”

Thus, the exploration of the bandits’ hideout ended, leaving only mysteries.

After a big miss at the bandit hideout, the exhausted team members slowly walked through the blizzard and arrived at the Krio Spirit Master Headquarters. When Cled knocked on the door, a man’s voice was heard from inside.

“Please state your identity.”

“Cled, 1st Class Combat Instructor belonging to the Armonia Academy. I came here on a dispatch for a mission.”

I heard the sound of flipping through something like a bookshelf, and then the man’s voice came back.

“…I’m sorry, but there’s no such name on our list..”

“Cled? That jerk came here!?”

Then, a bang sound was heard, and a woman’s voice was heard loudly.

“Camilla-nim, this is troubling..!”

“Get out of the way, you idiot!”

“Ugh..!”

A moment later, the door opened with tremendous force, and a red-haired woman in armor hugged Cled.

“You’re alive, you bastard!”

Cled, whose face was crushed by her armor, pushed it away with a serious expression and said.

“..Keep your dignity, Camilla. I came here on a mission as a Spirit Master. I didn’t come to see you.”

“You’re still so prickly. Well, that’s part of your charm.”

The woman with distinctively tall stature and red hair seemed to be an acquaintance of Cled’s.

“Are you acquainted, Cled?”

“We used to work together for a while here during our mercenary days.”

“Yeah. And we were lovers, too?”

“Camilla..!”

Cled was flustered and covered her mouth. It was the first time I had seen him so flustered.

“…Lovers? With Cled?”

I thought he was a person who was only interested in swords and Sarkas, but he had a lover.

“…It was only for a very short time. It’s not worth mentioning..”

“Cled in those days was, how should I put it.. passionate. Hehe.”

The fight between Cled, who was trying to cover her mouth somehow, and Camilla, who wanted to say even one more word, seemed like it wouldn’t end, so we ignored them and entered the headquarters. The sound of the two bickering was so loud that it echoed throughout the Krio Headquarters.