chapter 142
The girls smiled brightly at the cry of the doll girl, who was pleasant to hear. Carrot, who had held hands with Gran, who had come to greet her, now saw Venus standing across from her.
Carrot, who walked in front of him on foot, reached out his hand first.
When Venus bent down a little and held her hand, Carrot, standing up on tiptoe, whispered in Venus’ ear.
“I hope your dreams come true.”
Carrot let go of his hand and said with a smile.
“Time goes faster than you think! i’ll wait!”
“of course.”
Venus nodded.
After saying goodbye, they left the village, leaving behind the people who still felt sorry for them.
“I’m fine!”
“Bye!”
“bye!”
While the people who couldn’t forget the afterglow of farewell climbed up to the window or roof of the automatic wagon and waved their hands eagerly, Crank sat back in his seat and let out a huge sigh.
“Whoa! This time it took longer than expected.”
“Are you lumping this matter into one word? It was an unforgettable memory for me. Did everyone hear? Godive says he will erect a statue of us someday.”
“and! really?”
“Heh, a statue.”
While everyone was feeling excited, Crankman covered the helmet’s face with both hands and sighed.
* * *
The season was late spring, but the pouring sunlight boasted a power comparable to that of midsummer.
If it was a wagon, the horse would have been hard and would not have been able to speed properly, but the automatic wagon with a roof rode home at a steady pace regardless of whether it was hot or cold.
“arrive-!”
“and! You are finally home!”
It seems like yesterday when we set off in the warm spring breeze, but when we returned, it was near the middle of spring and summer.
Corby and Carrot, who were on the roof of the wagon, screamed at the familiar sight.
Upon arriving in the Ark City of Argon, the first group to stop by was the guild.
It was to receive the settlement along with the quest completion report.
After briefly talking about what happened after the interim report using the message scroll, Crank took out the letter and held it out.
“This is a handwritten letter from Princess Giuseppe, the 3rd Princess of Lisnet, who came as a member of the Bourne Mountains Penetration Cave Investigation Team in Wales.”
Looking at the letter on the desk, the guild master frowned slightly and raised his gaze. Crank added.
“You asked me to deliver this letter to the Countess. I have a story to tell the lord personally and separately, so I request an interview.”
The guild master nodded and handed the letter back to him.
“All right. Come back tomorrow morning.”
Marvin, the guild master who stood up, spread his arms and shouted.
“Anyway, I’m so glad you’re back! Hopes of Argon! Oh, you can get the settlement from Orion downstairs.”
Geo’s party, who had been to the guild master’s office for the first time, were surprised to see him suddenly screaming out loud, but the others didn’t think it was a big deal as if it was a common occurrence.
The guild master called and stopped Carrot, who was turning around while the party had finished greeting and went out into the hallway.
“Carrot.”
“yes?”
When Carrot looked back, the stern guild master winked. Carrot, who noticed the meaning, answered with a wink.
In a room located on the first floor of the guild building, the leaders of each party, Crank, James, and Geo, shared the commission fee and received the settlement, while the rest of the people waited outside and chatted with the adventurers they had met after a long time.
“Come to think of it, there have been a lot of people looking for Ariete lately.”
“Oh, Ariete?”
Ariete, who was looking at the guild notice board, looked back.
“me?”
Bita, who happened to have bought ice cream in both hands from a street vendor, introduced Ariete to the bald men who had followed her.
“Ariete, are these people looking for you?”
“hmm?”
There were three men who looked to be in their late 30s or 40s, all wearing prosthetic arms and legs that looked like armor. They pointed at Ariete with grim faces.
“Are you Ariete?”
Ariete, who opened her eyes wide and took a bite of the ice cream cone, nodded. Perhaps thinking it was a fight, Lotte sneaked up to escort me.
But the men’s reaction was dramatic. They grimaced and rubbed their eyes with the backs of their hands, then held out their metal hands.
“I am Ga-il Ga-il, an adventurer who returned after receiving an automaton prosthetic arm this time! Thanks to!”
“this-!”
Ariete’s face flashed with surprise, then widened with joy.
Remembering how she donated her skills to the maintenance guild, she hurriedly grabbed her hand and shook it. Every time they moved, they could hear the friction of the armor plate, but to those who got their arms and legs moving again, it sounded like a charm.
Gael looked at Ariete and chatted happily.
“The guild said that the finished product came out because you tested it! thank you! thank you so much!”
“Nothing, I am in a position to be saved.”
Originally, her body was completed thanks to Crank and Tuna, so it was a little dissatisfying that the guild took that halo, but Ariete pretended not to know because there was a backdoor deal.
Even so, they expressed their gratitude with their whole bodies for a long time, and unfortunately, they bought a lot of ice cream cones from the ice cream stand on the roadside and sprinkled them on the people in the guild.
“We brought it back to life under the name Living Dead. Call me whenever you need help!”
“The ones in rehabilitation will come back one after another!”
“Children! relax! My brothers are back!”
When he lifted his arm made of special metal and swung it around, the guild adventurers who were licking the ice cream cheered.
“Oh oh!”
“Welcome! Brothers!”
“Please buy me another ice cream! Brothers!”
“welcome! Seniors!”
As expected, Ariete, who had an ice cream in one hand and a rare kind smile, greeted them as the guild representative.
“I’m glad you’re back. Let’s go on an adventure together.”
The men who had heard the story of the female knight who had her limbs amputated at the maintenance guild and was fitted with a prosthetic arm, felt their hearts be moved when they saw her bright smile in front of her as she returned to the field of life earlier.
After a while, the Cranks, whose payment was delayed due to the Kata lump, which is the raw material for the Potion of Courage, came out and saw everyone laughing and eating ice cream cones.
“Geo! I got yours! Uncle James too! Ahh! melts Melt!”
When Vita made a fuss and brought a half-melted ice cream cone, the two began to suck on it while gurgling without knowing why.
Carrot held out an ice cream cone to Crank and said.
“Arriete’s fan club visited.”
After hearing the circumstances, Crank nodded and looked at Ariete.
“Good.”
“hmm.”
Ariete, who was sitting next to Tuna and licking an ice cream cone, grinned.
And Crank made a big announcement.
“It seems that the final settlement will be delayed. I had to dispose of the items I brought with the guild.”
“Oh, you mean that lump?”
“hmm. If we get a call, let’s all go together and receive it.”
Crank said while looking at James and Geo. Meanwhile, James had a sullen expression on his face.
“I could have gotten a better price if you had left it to me.”
“Even if I get a little less, I wanted to pay safely.”
James eventually nodded his head at Crank’s remarks, which always seemed kind but had a subtly stern side.
“Anyway, I’m glad you came back safely. okay.”
“Replay! Dining together!”
Carrot shouted.
The people gathered at the words are also laughing hihi. Usually, adventurers who returned from an adventure would have dinner together, thanking each other for saving their lives.
“After taking a break today, let’s grill meat in front of our workshop around tomorrow evening.”
“Ugh! Are you going to grill monster meat again?”
As Boris frowned, Crank replied pitifully.
“Unfortunately, I ate them all. I will prepare it with other meat.”
When the story was over, Geo’s party retrieved the wagon they had left and returned to the hideout, and James pulled the automatic wagon through the alleyways to the cranks’ workshop.
“How are you? Is there something in the yard?”
At James’ words from the driver’s seat, Crank pushed his helmet over his shoulder. In fact, a large automatic transportation vehicle is parked in the yard of the warehouse area where the workshop is located.
“It must have come from the top. Didn’t you come often to bring in and out of the nearby warehouse?”
Carrot clinging to Crank’s back poked out his head. He nodded his helmet and stood up from his seat while hanging the carrot. Coincidentally, their vehicle also stopped near the workshop.
Chick-!
At the same time as the car came to a stop, there was a sound of compressed air escaping, and the door opened and people got out.
“Oooh! Now wait a minute! No, I’ll open the door!”
While the others unpacked their luggage, Tuna took only one bag and rushed to the entrance of the workshop, put her palm on the tightly closed door, muttered something, unlocked the lock with the key worn around her neck, and opened the door wide open.
Then, with his arms outstretched in front of the door, he gently closed his eyes and opened his nostrils.
“Sniff sniff! W, of course, our house is the best.”
“Ooh ooh! Wow! Don’t cover the entrance and get out of the way!”
“Yes.”
Carrot, with her face buried in Tuna’s big ass, whimpered, and she stepped aside, startled. I was moving a large backpack and a pile of luggage I didn’t know where it came from, and people came out one by one from a vehicle parked in the corner of the yard and approached me.
“excuse me. If you are a resident here… … ?”
While talking while looking at the man’s ass in the lower luggage compartment of the automatic wagon, the party with me recognized a blonde female driver carrying a backpack.
“omg! Ariete?!”
“hmm?”
When a stranger called her name, Ariete turned her head.
that face! It is certainly! The man immediately turned around and ran to his vehicle.
Soon after, a woman with platinum blonde hair ran out, and Ariete, who recognized her face, was frightened and threw down her backpack and started running away.
A woman who had just come running shouted with an angry face.
“Ariete-!”
“Ahh! Do not come! Lotte! Charles! Carrot! Stop it!”
Feeling the urgency in their voices, Lotte and Charles stepped forward. Seeing that, she put her finger in her mouth and whistled, and two automatons rushed at breakneck speed from behind the waiting vehicle.
Kang-!
“Ahh! What are you guys?!”
As the automatons drew their longswords out of nowhere and clashed their swords, sparks began to fly in an instant.
Chacha chacha chacha!
While James, who was staring blankly at the fireworks display in broad daylight right in front of him, belatedly startled and sang the crank, Carrot turned around to chase after the woman who had followed Ariete.
“Ariete!”