Everyone was very enthusiastic about the hot springs trip.
Early the next morning, they were making a noisy commotion in the lord’s mansion without pause. They were even more anxious than Adam.
"Hurry up, Adam! We’re going to be late!"
"Yes, yes, yes. Seriously, Aqua, do you have any idea how much we need to prepare for a family trip?" Adam complained to her.
There were too many people; an ordinary carriage couldn’t accommodate everyone.
But that wasn’t a problem. As long as you had enough Eris, you could rent any kind of carriage. So to avoid inconveniencing the female members of the party, Adam specifically arranged for a luxurious carriage that could hold 10 people.
"Even so, aren’t we supposed to leave with the first merchant caravan heading to Arcanletia this morning?"
Aqua was right. The carriage issue was easy to solve, but they had no idea about the route.
Besides, how could he, as the lord, drive the carriage himself? No, rather, none of them knew how to drive.
So for convenience, Adam decided to depart with the merchant caravan and find a coachman to drive their carriage.
"Everyone, are you ready?"
After everyone gathered, they rushed in a swarm toward the merchant caravan’s departure point.
"Oh my, my lord, you’ve arrived."
"Ah, boss, I’ll be troubling you this time."
"Hahaha, you jest. With the Hero Party accompanying us, I’m sure we’ll be very safe." The merchant boss laughed heartily, actually thanking Adam instead.
The merchant caravan was substantial, and they had also hired other adventurers as escorts.
Since Arcanletia was far from Axel — about a day and a half journey — they would even need to camp outdoors for one night.
On such a long journey, there was no telling what monsters might attack. Any monsters or bandit groups that would attack a large merchant caravan would naturally be powerful, so adventurer escorts were necessary.
When the other adventurers heard that Adam would be traveling with them, they felt somewhat embarrassed and wanted to withdraw, but Adam clearly stated that he wouldn’t intervene and was just an ordinary customer this time. That reassured them.
Under the admiring gazes of the other adventurers, Adam boarded his rented luxury carriage. If they didn’t have their duties, he suspected they might have wanted to join him in his carriage.
"Hey, Adam, I want to sit at the front of the carriage!"
"That’s fine..." Aqua’s request wasn’t a big deal, so he agreed without hesitation.
Then everyone boarded the carriage. The luxurious carriage could accommodate 10 people with room to spare, and their luggage was tied securely to the roof. Kazuma even sprawled out in the back.
This lazy guy would lie down even on a trip. Unbearable!
Though he complained inwardly, Adam didn’t bother with him because the other girls were crowding around Adam himself.
Aqua on his left, Darkness on his right, Megumin in front, Yunyun on the front left, Wiz on the front right, and Beatrice on his lap. Surrounded by beautiful women and all that.
...What kind of divine life was this?
As Adam marveled, the carriage slowly started moving.
After leaving Axel, he gazed out the window. Through the luxury carriage’s window, he carefully appreciated the passing scenery.
Come to think of it, since arriving in this Parallel World, he had never actually left the village.
The town where they lived had completely disappeared from view, replaced by unfamiliar landscapes he had never seen before.
It really was... a long time since he had enjoyed life so leisurely.
Not just him, but Darkness, who was kneeling on his right, also stuck her head out the window, looking outside like an excited child. An unstoppable smile spread across her face, her eyes sparkling with wonder.
The standard behavior of a noble young lady on her first long journey... Well, except for her personality and abilities, she was similar to other young ladies, rarely having contact with the outside world.
He unconsciously placed his hand on her head. This sudden action surprised the perverted young lady but also delighted her.
"Ah, I just feel that Darkness is essentially still a noble young lady... that’s what I think."
"Adam thinks I’m a gullible noble young lady, so he takes me on a trip to ignite my rebellious spirit, then makes me leave the Dustiness family with him... I think I’ll be happy, but actually, I’m deceived by the scoundrel Adam! The well-hidden Hero finally reveals his true intentions, abandoning me after taking me out of town, forcing me to sell myself just to survive painfully... Ha, haha... how wonderful—!"
"Stop! Get that waterlogged nonsense out of your head — what kind of melodrama is this?!"
Adam hurriedly interrupted her delusion, loudly refuting and stopping this perverted female knight from continuing her fantasy.
Although everyone in the carriage knew it was fake, they couldn’t help but look at him with strange gazes.
His reputation was damaged...
"Huh? What are those?"
Kazuma, who had been lying down enjoying the scenery, suddenly noticed something. He flipped over and ran to the back of the carriage to use 〔Foresight〕.
"What’s wrong, Kazuma-kun?"
"Adam-senpai, look over there."
Following the direction of his finger, Adam saw dust rising in the distance.
The dust cloud grew larger and approached the caravan at an extremely fast speed. The distance was visibly closing.
"...It’s a Running Hawkites."
"Hey, don’t look at me with that suspicious gaze." Noticing Kazuma’s dubious expression, Adam explained, "I understand the name sounds ridiculous to you. They’re not ’running’ while doing ’high kites’ as you might think. These monsters are actually called Running Hawkites because they sprint like hawks and leap like kites."
"...I see. Sorry, Adam-senpai. It was wrong of me to doubt you." Kazuma apologized promptly and decisively.
"They’re probably targeting Darkness."
Everyone’s expressions were remarkably consistent. They didn’t understand why Adam would say this, nor why the monsters were targeting Darkness.
Adam continued to explain, "Although they’re birds, unfortunately they can’t fly. Instead, they excel at sprinting and high jumping with astonishing leg power. Once they find prey, they’ll leap and pounce directly — they’re relatively dangerous monsters."
"...So why is Darkness the target?"
"To attract female birds, they do the ’Chicken Run’, where they find a very hard object and jump over it with barely enough clearance... This life-or-death daredevil competition is a unique courtship behavior... By the way, spring is coming soon — the season when all things revive."
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