「Ah! Milly-san! Zeph-kun!」
Although we should have been too far to contact each other via guild messaging, they probably noticed the smoke coming out of the bonfire and drew closer to us. With that, we were finally able to come into contact with both Lydia and Claude through the guild messaging system.
They probably looked for us all night long as they ran around escaping from the monsters. The two of them were coming towards us from a distance and they seemed worn out as their movements were sluggish. Even so their smiling faces did not show how tired they were.
The Wanaruta City Ruins was quite the high level dungeon, so in normal circumstances, beginners like these two girls would not attempt to hunt in this place just yet. This fact was the same for Milly, and I was starting to think that perhaps I may have pushed them too hard…
「...Zeph」
Milly looked in my direction and even though she was speaking quietly she was talking in a strong tone.
「All of us came here, because we wanted to, so… Don't blame yourself, okay?」
Milly was smiling as she said this to me. Does she know what I was thinking? That is truly surprising.
「....I suppose Milly is not one to be underestimated」
「Well, after all I am the leader of the group♪ So its fine if you want to rely on me, okay?」
「I suppose so. The fact that I have been able to accomplish my objectives at such a fast pace is all thanks to everyone's hard work」
「Your objective?」
「It's the same as Milly's」
Milly was looking at me in wonder so I started to rub her head, and then I hugged her.
「Wh….wait...! Stop it! Zeph! Everyone is coming…..」
「Isn't this what we normally do?」 You don't have to worry so much, Milly」
「Normally….You don't go that far….」
Milly was looking down as she meekly protests, but the last part of her words seem to vanish.
I truly have good companions. My eyes were moistened slightly, and the appearance of Claude and Lydia who was coming to approach us was distorted.
—-No, something is wrong.
The ground was distorted and the dust in the air clouded my vision.
「Both of you get away!」
When I shouted at Claude and Lydia who was coming towards us, they both got shocked and stopped their movements. I was still holding on to Milly's head as I immediately flew backwards.
Blue light rises from the ground as the space is slightly distorted around the area, from the light, two shadows resembling humans comes out.
「Nn〜Where could we be? Azelea senpai? It seems that we are in a dungeon of some sort…..?」
「You need to get your act together, Grain. In the eastern continent, there aren't many well-known dungeons with so much magical density. We are obviously at the Wanaruta City Ruins」
The two people who appeared from the spatial interference was a woman and a man.
Her black long hair flutters, and she was looking at me with a strong gaze, she was the woman called Azelea. The man who was alternating his gaze between Claude and Lydia had a menacing posture, he had ash colored hair and he was called Grain. The both of them had white coats on them, and underneath their coats they had light armor equipped.
They had a symbol of the Magician Society Organization imprinted on their chest, and on that symbol there was a star which showed their ranking within the organization, Azelea had two stars, Grain had one star.
—These two, were people dispatched from the Magician's Society....!
I had a bad feeling running along the muscles of my spine.
Judging from the strength of the magical aura they were exuding, they were magicians from the reputable organization. However, why was such people being sent to a place like this...?
Was I their target? Did I do something to aggravate them?...…I don't have anything that comes to mind but, the fact that they sent out two people from the magician's society, probably….means…..
「You guys….Ahh, the boy with the silver hair over there. You seem like the leader. Allow me to talk to you for a moment」
When the woman called Azelea called out to me, my heart felt like it would stop. I couldn't stop myself from sweating, and just like my body had been paralyzed I couldn't even move a muscle.
I was like a frog being stared down by a snake.
This was the same for both Claude and Lydia, they too were unable to speak and their movements had halted. I was looking downwards and Azelea was staring at me in silence as she began to approach me, when she took a step.
Whoosh! The magic which came from Azelea exploded outwards and envelops me. It was like being put in an extremely cold environment, the torrent of magic was so powerful that it made my body shiver. My body wouldn't stop shaking, and I embraced Milly firmly.
Step…..She took another step towards me.
「Do you have business with us!?」
She took another step, Milly raised her voice to question Azelea as she continued to draw near. Before I noticed it, Milly had already slipped out of my arms, she folded her own arms as she stood right in front of Azelea. Her feet were slightly trembling but she was able to remain composed even though she was being suppressed by their strength.
「....I am the leader. I am the guild master of the Blue Sky Hunters, Milly Reyad」
「.....Fumu, so the leader wasn't the young boy over there? Has my eye's gone bad....? There was just a little thing I wanted to ask you about…..」
「I already introduced myself, but you won't even voice out your name?」
Milly glared at Azelea head on. Seeing such a scene, the man called Grain, whistles in the background.
「Little lady, you seem to have quite a bit of courage don't cha〜? Being able to be so bold in front of Azelea Senpai is quite the formidable thing. You will have a promising future it seems…..At the very least, it seems to be much brighter than the kid pissing his pants over there, don't you think?」
Saying such a thing Grain gave me a thumbs down. The man called Grain briskly makes his way towards Milly, with a grin on his face he tried to place his hand on top of Milly's head.
「Don't touch me!」
Milly used her small hands to brush of Grain's hand, for an instant he was surprised, but his face soon distorted into his usual smile. Suu….His forefinger was brought closer to Milly breast, and in the moment that he tried to touch her…
「Stop it Grain」
Azelea's voice interrupted him and Grain stopped his movements, he clicked his tongue in disappointment and straightened his back. When he straightened his back, he was actually quite tall.
「...Excuse my impoliteness. I have been dispatched by the Magician's Society, my name is Azelea Sylphid. Have you seen a woman dressed in black around here? She has short black hair, and is a woman dressed in a black coat」
Instantly an image of Seruberie crossed my mind. Are these two magician's looking for Seruberie? No, I know that she can act a little excessively sometimes, but she doesn't really get involved with other people, and she's not the type of person to stir up trouble. The Magician Society doesn't usually dispatch people unless there has been a major dispute among the humans….
「Who knows? Since I have come here, I haven't met anyone else. So I can't help you」
Azalea continues to stare at Milly, and after a while of silence, she spoke.
「Is that so? In that case, I'm sorry to have disturbed you」
「Eh…? Ah….. Yeah….」
Azalea backed down from the situation quite easily, Milly was caught off guard by such an anticlimactic response.
「If you see her around here, it would be a great help to the Magician's Society if you could let us know」
「...…That person, is she someone that is being chased by the Magician's Society?」
「Not really, we just wanted to have a little chat with her」
At my question, Azelea laughed lightly and casually answered. Just talk….? I don't really know if she's telling me the truth of if it's a lie, but, if I continued to question her any further than this, it might put me in danger. Therefore I just responded to her words with silence.
「Let's get going Grain」
「Yeah, yeah, I understand... Well then, I'll see ya later you shitty kids」
So as to make sure that Azelea did not hear his final words, he only mouthed out the words using his lips.
「I'm going to open it, Azelea Senpai」
「Yeah」
Holding his hands up in the air, Grain starts to mutter an incantation, as another blue light rises from the ground below forming a space distortion in the air, Grain uses his feet to step into it.
「Nevertheless she's made it really hard for us this time around hasn't she? That shitty bitch」
「Don't talk in such a vulgar way, Grain. We are representing the Magician's Society. Stop it with those kind of remarks that could make us lose face」
「Yeah, yeah, I know already. More importantly, you need to hurry up and enter, otherwise the portal will disappear, you know? Azalea Senpai」
「I suppose so, shall we go?」
Both Grain and Azalea vanishes after stepping into the blue light, and we were the only ones left in this place.