Kairen who didn't have any mana left to cast spells tried moving his exhausted body back and hide. It was a bit difficult for him to breathe and his body felt heavy. But the moment he tried to move…
GRAAWWL
A monster he thought was killed stood up and jumped his way. Kairen who was momentarily frozen took a step back trying to dodge but he wasn't successful as the monster reached him and kicked him. The monster threw Kairen on the ground then stepped on his body.
'Oh, Shit! I don't have enough mana!'
Kairen struggled to move away but the monster's body was too heavy. He tried to gather the small remaining mana and use it but the monster was faster as raised its leg, its sharp nails shining dangerously.
'ASDJAPSDSAJSKDJ!!!!!!!'
The moment Kairen felt like he would really die this time, the monster's head suddenly fell on the floor.
"….."
Blood splashed on his face as a headless monster was stepping on him. Someone kicked its head-less body to the side. Kairen could now see Reyan glaring angrily at him, blood dripping down from his sword. Kairen grabbed his wildly beating heart as he stood up.
"Th-thank you…!"
This time, he really went back to hide.
The hardest part of the work was done when all the flying monsters were taken care of. After that, it wasn't so hard to kill them using magic, sword, guns, or any other weapons. Unlike Kairen's neat work with magic blades, the scene in front of him wasn't really pleasurable as blood and flesh splashed here and there.
After some time, the work was finally done. The leader and his assistant made sure that not a single monster escaped and made sure that all of them were dead.
"It's finished. Good job everyone."
The exhausted fighters plopped down on the floor or sat on the monster corpses to take some rest.
Kairen, who finally moved out of where he was hiding, saw Reyan approaching him, still angry. His clothes were dirty and torn and his face wet with sweat. His neat appearance was completely ruined. Others also showed up and gathered together like a bunch of ducks.
"Pheeww."
"It is finally done."
"I'm hungry!"
It was already lunchtime and they had all fought hard, so it was normal to be hungry. Kairen was starving as well.
"I'll contact the supervisor right now."
Reyan took out his phone from his backpack that was placed in the car and called somewhere. After the call was finished he turned towards them and explained.
"We don't have any missions for today and will rest in the military base of this area."
"Eh? Military base? Come on, can't they just book an inn for us?"
"The city residents have been evacuated. How are we going to stay in a closed inn?"
"AH!"
"So we have to wait for them to move…"
Everyone turned their heads towards the agents who were running around, gathering monster corpses and treating the injured. It seemed like they had to wait quite a while till they could finally rest. They chatted and ate snacks to kill time while waiting for others to gather.
Unlike their expectation, the military base in this small city wasn't bad at all. It had nice food and large rooms. They were even given two-man rooms to stay at night.
[So you guys are free until tomorrow?]
[Yeah]
[Tch. Then why do we have to move to another mission? Where is the fairness in this world?]
[Ha ha!]
Kairen was comfortably leaning against his bed and texting with Serria.
[How about your esteemed team leader? Is he still alive?]
Kairen peeked at Reyan, who was busy clearing his sword without looking at him. He hasn't talked to Kairen even once after the battle.
'Is he sulking now? What did I do wrong?'
Kairen sighed and shook his head, replying to Serria.
[Our esteemed team leader is safe and sound.]
[Oh? Hey, we have arrived. I have to go. Bye~]
With that message, her status changed to offline and no message came afterward.
"…."
Kairen stared at his phone for a while then threw it aside and lay down. He stared at the ceiling blankly.
'I'm bored.'
Kairen turned towards Reyan, trying to start a conversation.
"Hey, do you know what our next mission is?"
"…."
There was no answer.
"Ahem, but wasn't our launch really delicious?"
"….."
Again no answer.
"Serria said they had to do another mission now…"
"…."
'Really? He is ignoring me!'
"…."
"…."
"Ahem! Did you see my attack from earlier? Haven't I improved quite a lot?"
Kairen said again with an excited voice and sparkling eyes. This time, Reyan raised his head and glared at him angrily.
"…. What is it?"
"Oh? Nothing!"
"… Are you sulking?"
"What? Why would I sulk do I look like a kid?"
'You definitely do…'
Kairen kept his thought to himself as his friend seemed to be in a bad mood. Well, it wasn't hard to understand. They had to fight ugly things two days in a row without much time to rest. He also was the team leader and had more responsibility. Aside from that, he had a worrisome and annoying friend named Kairen beside him.
Kairen even felt bad for him for a moment. He didn't want to but his actions were really causing Reyan trouble. Even today, there were lots of talk about how a magic blade sliced monsters like tofu and bothered Reyan asking him about it as Kairen himself ran away.
So Kairen opened his mouth and sincerely apologized.
"Sorry… I won't cause any trouble anymore…"
"It doesn't matter."
"… ok."
Kairen didn't continue the conversation anymore.
'He will be reset to factory settings tomorrow anyway.'
****
And Kairen was right. The next morning Reyan was energetically explaining their mission's details.
"Ok guys listen. Our next mission is an escort mission. We will be given a week of rest after that."
"Whoaa! Suddenly moving from monster hunting to an escort mission and then a week of rest!"
"Who are we gonna protect?"
"He is a politician. He has to attend a few meetings starting this evening. The meetings will end the day after tomorrow. Apparently, he received a few letters, threatening him so he requested aid from the academy."
"Threaten? Why? And is it really in our field of activity to protect a threatened politician?"
"As much as I know, they have found nothing about the identity of the one who sent the letters and nothing has happened so far. On the other hand, the politician doesn't want a lot of commotion to rise. That's why we have to act as bodyguards for a few days. I wasn't told anything more."
"Hmm, how weird!"
"Right?"
"Are we going to travel by train again?"
"No, a car will come to pick us up in one hour. We are going back to Celinden so it will take a while."
Hearing that, everyone started packing their stuff. Meanwhile, Reyan slowly approached Kairen.
"I guess you know already but I guess I have to tell it again to make sure."
"… What?"
"We are going to act as bodyguards. That means if we have to fight, it will be inside the city, near ordinary people and the subject of protection, and our opponent will most probably be humans."
"Yeah."
"So, you shouldn't use that flashy and super strong spells of yours this time. You may accidentally kill innocent people or even the person you are supposed to protect, or maybe destroy buildings and ruin the city. You have to be careful not to recklessly act."
"….."
'What's with that now? Do you really have to explain it in such a scary way?'
"Do you understand?"
"Yes…"
"Good!"
"…."
'What was with that…'
When they packed their bags, the assigned car arrived. The driver didn't say anything as he drove the spacious car. After a few hours, they were standing in front of a bid house.
A man in a black uniform came forward after they got off the car and started explaining.
"Hello, sirs. Mr. Rhoads has sent me to guide you. Please follow me."
The man guided them to the guest room where they were served food. then he gave them black uniforms to wear while they work as bodyguards. After they all got ready, the man opened the door again.
"The meeting will start at 5 P.M. So you have to start moving now."
"Yes!"
By that, all of them left the house.