E-Rantel.
The city closest to Kain Village.
Originally, Tsukasa had not intended to come to this city. She had planned to return directly to the Empire from the border and leave the Kingdom as quickly as possible.
However, they inevitably needed to restock supplies. When the Theocracy's troops attacked Kain Village, Hanta and Alice had already headed to E-Rantel.
At their pace, they could cover the distance from Kain Village to this city in a single day at full speed, moving even faster than an average carriage. However, by the time they arrived, the incident at Kain Village had already concluded, and the sun was about to set.
Alice looked disdainfully at Hanta, who was lying on the ground like a drowned rat, soaked in sweat. She pulled away slightly to avoid the stench of sweat before saying, "I have already contacted the Master. The Master wants us to restock supplies in this city and wait for them to arrive for a rendezvous."
"Cough, cough... U-understood... Lady Alice... C-c-could you... l-let me... catch my breath..." Hanta was drenched and his face was covered in sweat as if he had just fallen into a lake. He was so pale he looked like he might die at any moment, and he pleaded with Alice in a weak voice, "I'll rest a bit... b-before moving..."
He couldn't walk anymore. He couldn't take another step, and he didn't even have the strength to stand up.
Hanta never imagined that a journey that normally took three days would be forced into a three-hour sprint. Even if an Adventurer's stamina was superior to an ordinary person's, it couldn't withstand such consumption. Yet, every time he was about to lose heart, he would see Lady Alice's calm expression. Although Lady Alice said nothing, he always felt as though he appeared quite incompetent.
But now, what little remained of his manly pride had long since vanished to who-knows-where.
Because compared to him, Lady Alice not only hadn't complained of fatigue, but there wasn't even a single drop of sweat on her. Furthermore, after running the whole way, that maid outfit—which seemed ill-suited for movement—didn't have a single speck of dirt on it. Just how arrogant had he been before to think he could avoid being a burden to Lady Alice?
Alice sensed Hanta's vital signs and said nothing, simply standing nearby and waiting for him to recover. When the guards of E-Rantel saw the performance of these two Adventurers, they said nothing either, as they had seen from the city walls that these two Adventurers had arrived running. The man's current state was exactly what one would expect after collapsing from exhaustion.
Alice also wore a Mithril Adventurer's badge. Although Alice's strength was more than enough to become an Adamantite Adventurer, she lacked any significant achievements or reputation within the Guild, so even the Guild Master couldn't break protocol to give her a higher rank. However, the status of a Mithril Adventurer was already sufficient; it allowed her to enter and leave cities of various countries freely, unless she encountered a place with special regulations.
Hanta gritted his teeth and pulled a small bottle of healing potion from the travel bag at his waist. Although using a potion just to recover stamina was an outrageously extravagant practice, he didn't dare make Alice wait for him too long. He also knew that in his current state, if he waited for his body to recover naturally, it would take at least half a day. As for the cost of the potion? Fortunately, the Guild Master was covering all travel expenses this time; otherwise, Hanta might not have been willing to be so wasteful.
Drinking the healing potion, Hanta could clearly feel his body regaining its vitality.
Although the exhaustion couldn't be erased, his stamina had indeed been replenished to some extent.
"Phew... I'm rested."
"Mhm, let's enter the city."
Alice didn't say much; she didn't care at all about whatever emotions Hanta held toward her.
Though she appeared human, she was actually a doll. Her body was assembled from various materials, and even if she looked no different from a human thanks to the wonders of Alchemy, she was fundamentally different. The most obvious point was that Alice could not get pregnant. Although Tsukasa had indeed equipped her with all the organs, she truly did not possess that function. Furthermore, she had no stamina limits; she could basically keep running as long as she had mana, and Alice herself had a mechanism to automatically absorb mana. It was only natural that Hanta's stamina couldn't compare to Alice's; he had no idea what he was even comparing himself to.
Hanta's stamina could not compare to Alice's as a matter of course; he had no idea what kind of existence he was competing with.
E-Rantel was a border city.
However, it wasn't as heavily guarded as one might imagine. Alice and Hanta simply presented their Adventurer identification and entered without any hindrance.
Although the Kingdom had previously intended to intercept them in the capital, after they left the Royal City, the nobles and the King did not issue any arrest warrants. Hanta wasn't surprised by this at all. Setting aside whether the Kingdom's soldiers could even take them down, if the Kingdom really dared to do such a thing, he could guarantee the Empire would get serious the very next day.
It was even possible the Emperor would lead the army personally, because the Sword Saint held such a high status. The Empire's Sword Saint was equivalent to the Empire's face abroad; where would the Kingdom get the courage to put a bounty on her?
One had to realize that the situation between the Kingdom and the Empire was already very clear: it wasn't that the Empire couldn't conquer the Kingdom, but rather that the Empire didn't want to do so yet.
That Blood Emperor was deliberately using this method to drain the military strength of the Kingdom's nobility. He likely wanted to wait until he conquered the Kingdom so he could purge the noble faction without any effort. Additionally, the Kingdom's Warrior Chief was indeed very strong; without the Sword Saint taking the field, it was still somewhat difficult for the Empire to deal with him. However, the Empire's victory was essentially predestined; the Kingdom's fall was merely a matter of time.
Those nobles always had to consider their future fallback plans; whether the Kingdom was destroyed or not wouldn't affect them too much. They could still join the Empire. Therefore, even if the old King wanted to put a bounty on the Sword Saint, these nobles would be the first to refuse. The actions of these nobles were very contradictory; if given the chance, they certainly wouldn't mind killing the Sword Saint, but if anyone wanted to issue a warrant for her, they would definitely step in to stop it. In short, they both wanted the Kingdom to defeat the Empire and were simultaneously considering how to defect to the Empire after the Kingdom's defeat.
The two of them arrived at the Adventurers Guild.
After announcing their identities and using the Guild's authority to establish a connection with nearby merchant guilds, Hanta unhesitatingly purchased a large amount of the best fodder and dry rations. In any case, these expenses were being reimbursed by the Guild Master. Based on the hints the Guild Master had given before, they were to spare no expense and use the most lavish spending possible; in short, they were to wait on the Sword Saint and her companions until they were comfortable, and money was no object.
Besides, the black card the Guild Master had given him had yet to hit a spending limit; God only knew how rich the Guild Master was.
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