"Uhhh... I know that we are not in any immidiate danger, but can you please carry the injured man, instead of me?" Kana asked angrily while struggling to carry Dallius who was injured.
"Tell him to get up on his own tail and swim by himself and not to fall for his tricks." Soren said emotionlessly while patting Lavenza's head.
"Hey! This kind of injury is pretty serious for me and I can barely move a muscle thanks to pain." Dallius said while looking at Soren emotionlessly.
"Cut the act before I turn that act into reality." Soren said with a serious and slightly dark look on his face.
"Tsk. I wanted to take advantage of my sister for a bit more." Dallius clicked his tongue with a slightly annoyed expression on his face.
*smack* "Then I think we need break his other arm as well to make sure he is injured, so he can have a reason to be carried." Kana said with a smiling yet sinister expression on her face, while punching Dallius on the head with her right hand.
"Hey, calm down. You don't want to do someth-" *smack* Just as he tried to defend himself, he got punched again.
'These two... Talking about being lively.' Soren thought to himself while smirking at the Longinus siblings. It has been around twenty minutes since they had separated themselves from Duchess Diana and the guards. Although there was the chance for something to appear in the main road, Lavenza was more than capable enough to take it out with a single water ball, all by herself. As the four of them were swimming, after convicing Dallius to start swimming by himself, they saw the city gates close to them and once they got near that place, Soren also noticed a few men with blue attires who were about to prepare and leave with a carriage. Once the four of them were in the range the men in blue, a couple of them who were wearing helmets, came out of the carriage and went to greet them. Soren couldn't reckongnise them, since he had only seen them once, but those men in blue were actually Sea Knights.
"Miss Kana Longinus. Mr. Dallius Longinus. We were awaiting for your return, per your lordship's orders." The two Sea Knights said simultaneously while bowing in front of Kana and Dallius.
"Good. Did you prepare a way of transportation for us?" Kana asked with a serious and stern expression, completely different compared to her actual personality.
"Yes miss. We also have prepared the doctors to heal lord Dallius upon returning to the mansion." One of the knights said seriously, once the two of them stood up.
"Alright then, let us get moving then." Kana spoke after the knights before she and Dallius started moving with the them. After a couple of moments, she saw Soren and Lavenza just waiting and staring at the wall and asked them:
"Wait, are you two going to come or not?" This actually suprised the two knights who were escorting the two of them.
"Huh? Do you need something else now?" Soren asked while having a slightly serious expression now. In reality, he was just going to wait for the two of them to leave, before he goes and takes care of his business, so this question actually caught him off-guard.
"I can't leave my benefactor without repaying him back." Kana answered back with a serious expression, while also sounding slightly happy.
"And here I figured out that our business would be already said and done, once we reached Crystalia City." Soren said while smirking and crossing his hands.
"Don't assume your own conclusions Soren. You helped mother fend off the assailants and even managed to catch a couple of them alive. I think you deserve a reward from me at least." Kana spoke with a smiling expression while sounding serious.
'Honestly, here I though she was just a normal teenager.' Soren thought to himself while feeling slightly annoyed. He hoped that he could at least, separate from them without much trouble or say their goodbyes and be on their way.
*sigh* "Fine, I guess I can't turn down your offer. Lead the way." Soren answered back reluctantly before him and Lavenza started following Kana and the rest of them.
"Miss, is it ok for the young m-" Just as one of the knights was going to ask, Kana then shot him a menacing stare, which caused him to nearly flinch.
"I-I see... Let us escort you to the carriage." The knight spoke with fear in his voice.
"Kyuu~?" Lavenza was rather curious about this current situation, so she decided to ask Soren.
"Don't worry little girl. We are going to hang out with Kana and Dallius for a bit longer. That's all." Soren answered back with a gentle and calm tone, while smiling and patting Lavenza on the head.
After that, the two of them entered the carriage and made their way inside Crystalia City. As the carriage was moving, Soren noticed that this carriage shook less than when he was in the carriage with Diana and was in general, more comfortable. This allowed Soren to relax for the first time in this entire day and finally felt the aftereffects of the battle. Mainly, his body was in pain now, due to the fact that he strained himself in battle when he shouldn't, but aside from that, he was also fatigued since he had been swimming for hours and never got to fully relax his body, except when the two of them would rest for a bit to eat or catch their breath and the situation from before didn't exactly provide any relaxation.
All of those factors not only led to Soren feeling a powerful wave of pain and fatigue than nearly caused him faint, but he also coughed a small cloud of blood out of his mouth. This sight suprised both Kana, Lavenza and Dallius. They were worried about him, so they decided to check on Soren by examining his body.
"Guys, stop. It's not as bad as you might-" Just as Soren was about to complete his sentence, he suddenly felt a chill on his spine and saw that both Kana and Lavenza were looking at him with a dark and menacing expression.
"Fine, I concede. I was already injured thanks to named monster that loved throwing Mana Burst upon Mana Burst upon Mana Burst. I think I had taken around 20 of those before I decided to just end it without a hint of mercy. Happy now?" Soren explained with a hint of frustration on his face.
"How? How are you still alive in the first place?" Kana yelled in suprise. She couldn't believe that Soren had taken over 20 of those, when an ordinary adult merman would barely be able to take six to seven before dying.
"Wait, what was the named monster that you fought and what were your levels as well?" Kana asked anxiously.
"It was a named Mer-Hobgoblin at level 13, while I was at level 9 and I was just about to level up as well. Lavenza was also level 8." Soren explained while wiping his mouth a bit from a little bit of blood that was coming out of it.
"Wait, a Mer-Hobgoblin with Mana Burst? Do you have that corpse with you?" Kana asked while looking slightly nervous.
"I mean, yes I do, but that corpse is supposed be for a quest. I can't give it away right now." Soren explained calmly to Kana.
"Oh, I see." Kana answered back dejectedly.
"Actually, speaking of the quest, can we stop quickly by the Adventurer's Guild? I would like to turn in the quest today and I could always pick up the reward later. I just want to get that out of the way, please?" Soren asked the two of them while bowing.
"Hmmm... Fine, but be quick. Coachman, take a slight detour towards the Adventurer's Guild and make a quick stop there." Kana decided to give in and allow Soren to complete his quest. After reaching the guild, Soren left the carriage for a couple of minutes and came back while rubbing his head.
"Alright. Take us to the residence now." Kana said to the coachman once Soren got in.
"Say, what was that quest of yours that required a Mer-Hobgoblin?" Dallius asked out of curiousity while looking at Soren with a slightly suspicious glare.
"Hunt down 7 different species. I hunted down the five Tier 1 monsters and two Tier 2 monsters. So five and two make seven and that marks the end of that hellish quest." Soren explained while still rubbing his head a bit with a dejected look on his face.
"I see." Dallius stared at Soren with a stoic expression, but in reality he was rather amused with Soren. As he was staring him, the carriage started moving towards the residence that Kana mentioned. After that, the carriage was silent for a little while and during that time, Soren decided to get a quick nap so he could rest for a bit.
"Hehe..."
While resting, Soren heard a chuckle from a voice he had never heard before and raised his head to look around and asked:
"Did someone laugh?"
"No, no one laughed. In reality, no one has made a noise." Kana answered back with a calm expression.
"I see..." Soren then decided to rest again, but he felt weird due to the weird laugh, so he decided to not think much for now, since he thought that this is just his fatigue causing to hallucinate a bit.