No to Being the Suffering Heroine!

I woke up three hours later.

Clatter, clatter.

“Ugh….”

I let out a low groan as I slowly opened my eyes.

My head swayed back and forth. Every time the wagon wheels clattered over the gravel, the helmet I was wearing pressed down on my comfy body in a strange way.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Through the foggy view obscured by the visor, I locked eyes with Amy, who was using her lap as a pillow.

Fatigue and curiosity mixed in her brown eyes as she looked down at me.

“…yeah.”

My groggy consciousness suddenly cleared like a lifted fog. Only then did I realize the situation I was in.

‘Did I pass out as soon as I got on the wagon…?’

It seemed that after the repeated battles and high-speed runs, I had worn myself out so much that the moment I relaxed, I fell asleep without a second thought.

…Yeah, I was really worn out.

It was a bit creepy, to be honest. We were still basically strangers, having just met for this quest, and yet I had fallen asleep so defenselessly in front of them.

There was no excuse for such carelessness.

If they had bad intentions, killing me while I was blissfully snoozing would have been as easy as twisting a child’s wrist.

But now, there was no reason for them to do something like that.

“Ah, sorry. Your leg must be numb.”

Anyway, I immediately sat up.

Just lying on a regular lap for hours makes your legs numb, let alone with a helmet on.

For Amy, it was like sprinting down a bumpy road for hours with a steel dumbbell resting on her thigh.

Her legs were probably so numb that she couldn’t even feel them.

What a nuisance I had been; I felt utterly ashamed.

“You could’ve stayed there a bit longer.”

Despite her somewhat disappointed tone, Amy said that…

“No way, I can’t do that.”

Wasn’t that a courtesy to make me feel more at ease? It was a kind of white lie.

“Hmm….”

With a hint of understanding, Amy smiled slightly and pointed to my thigh with her finger.

“Then I can rest a bit, right?”

“Uh, uh?”

Before I could even respond, something heavy pressed down on my thigh. It was Amy’s head.

“Uh, wait? You can’t sleep like this!”

I panicked at the sudden weight and heat, glancing down at my thigh while shrugging my shoulders.

Her vibrant red hair sprawled out over her tight black pants.

Against her freckled cheeks, her playful brown eyes looked up at me, drawing soft curves.

“I just need a favor. I’m really tired too…”

…There was no way to refuse.

Just a moment ago, I had relished my beauty sleep on her knee for a good three hours.

How could I refuse when the one who lent me her knee was so tired she wanted to rest a bit too?

That would just be against my conscience.

Of course, if a big black dude had clung to me like this, it would’ve been “bye-bye conscience” straight to the guillotine.

“Yaaaawn….”

What was I supposed to say when an eighteen-year-old girl claimed she was about to fall asleep?

Saying “Sit up and sleep” felt way too harsh.

“Ha.”

So in the end, I let out a short sigh and allowed her to rest her head on my thigh.

An hour later, as the wagon rolled endlessly without a pause, we finally approached the walls of Vespians.

…This girl, Amy, really had a habit of using pillows.

◆◆

“Miss Swordslayer? Could you wake up the others?”

The coachman, having arrived at the gates of Vespians, turned to me to talk.

The other three were sleeping soundly, totally oblivious like a princess pricked by a spinning wheel.

“Amy, wake up. Bolton and Kikel too. We’re here.”

I gently shook Amy’s shoulder and shouted for Bolton and Kikel to wake up.

“Ugh….”

“Ah… I must’ve dozed off. Is this Vespians?”

Amy stretched her arms and sat up, while Bolton, who had been resting his head against the wagon wall, startled awake and shook his head.

“YAAAAWN…”

Kikel also let out a breathy yawn that could either be a roar or just a yawn as he woke up.

We bid farewell to the coachman who brought us here and lightly stretched out our stiff bodies while discussing our next steps.

“You all worked hard. Now, we just have to report to the guild and sell off our loot.”

“That sounds good. Amy, are you heading right back to the Magic Tower?”

Bolton asked as he looked over at Amy.

“Yeah, I need to show the ‘Book of Spirits’ to the examiner who’s waiting.”

Amy answered, patting the backpack on her back.

Though we didn’t clear the entire dungeon, we still managed to grab the magical tome, so she figured she’d get recognized as an official mage.

“And once I get it confirmed, I’ll torch the book. Just like I promised.”

“Would it be okay if I accompany you? A magical tome with spirit magic? I don’t think I’ll sleep well until I see it go up in flames.”

Huh, he had been sleeping perfectly fine in the wagon. I chuckled to myself, finding it amusing.

“As long as you promise not to have a seizure.”

“Seizure? That’s just pure faith…”

Bolton started rambling on with nonsense.

Pure? Come on.

He was rolling his eyes and making weird sounds; how could that even be considered pure faith?

If that’s pure, then the chuckle of a prostitute must be pure love. That’s not purity; that’s just lowly.

“Hey—no, Hilde. I have a question!”

Kikel twisted his neck to speak to me.

“What is it?”

“I need a shield, to buy one. Cheap and good. Where? You know good armor!”

Sounds like he wanted me to recommend a blacksmith with good prices and quality.

That question itself proved that Kikel was still a novice adventurer with a lack of experience.

A cheap and good blacksmith? Hah.

“There’s no such thing. Not at all.”

I waved my hands emphatically.

A blacksmith that offers low prices and decent quality? There’s no way such an ethical shop exists.
Weren’t all merchants part of guilds and price-collusion schemes?

An ethical merchant is like a parent to orphans.

They might have existed once but now, they were as good as dead.

“Really?”

“Not at all. So, there’s an alley behind the guild building, right? If you turn left there, you’ll see… wait.”

I was about to suggest a shop that at least didn’t commit outright fraud, but then I thought I didn’t need to explain it all.

“We’ll go there together in a bit. We have to stop by anyway, so we can go right after finishing the report.”

“Thanks! You’re nice!”

“Not at all.”

I shrugged with a chuckle. It’s just basic politeness.

If I were with someone I’d never see again, I wouldn’t need to bother with etiquette. But since that wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t hurt to show some kindness.

I figured Kikel had potential; once he gained some experience, he might even reach the level of a solid companion.

With the unique physical specs of a lizardman and combat sense, he was better than most—though not quite on par with beastfolk—still quite remarkable.

Once he figured out the cold issue, he’d handle double the workload of ordinary associate adventurers.

The lizardman right in front of me had that potential.

So it wouldn’t be a bad thing to form a party with him and work together more often.

He seemed to have a decent personality, unlike his fierce appearance, and most importantly, he looked like he wouldn’t turn against me and attack.

As long as he didn’t do that, he’d be a reliable candidate, comfortably within the top 30% of adventurers from my perspective.

Sure, it was tough to understand his speech and he was a bit of an idiot, but… well, I could always cover for him as needed.

So there was no problem at all.

◆◆

“It looks like your quest went well, Hilde. I see all four of you returned together.”

After three days—or was it four? Either way, it had been a while since I’d met the reception lady, who greeted me with a big smile.

To be precise, she seemed more pleased that the other three were fully intact than anything else, given how her eyes darted behind me.

“The quest went fine. Just a few issues left.”

“Issues…?”

“Ah, hold on. I should explain that.”

Amy suddenly interjected our conversation, dropping her backpack right in front of the reception lady.

“So… do you see this book? The quest to search for the magical tome is complete. So please pay the reward you’ve set for me.”

“Yes, I’ve confirmed that. Please wait a moment.”

The reception lady called over another staff member to fetch the payment for Amy’s quest.

Payments had to be processed through the guild. Even if the client traveled alongside the adventurers in a guard quest.

That was the principle of the matter.

If a client handed money directly without going through the guild, it would create an issue: the guild couldn’t track the actual flow of money…

‘What if the client carries around too much cash? The guard might turn into a robber.’

With a walking money sack right there, why would anyone risk their necks guarding it for days?

They could just stab and grab the purse and run off.

So when assigning guard quests, it was reasonable to choose someone whose credibility was thoroughly verified, or alternatively, completely empty-handed and leave the cash somewhere safe.

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