Chapter 37: Do they plan to follow?
It didn’t take them long to gather all the wild beasts they had killed and hand them over to the girls for them to cook.
While Aisha and Echidna were busy taking care of their breakfast, Ash went back into the tent to train a bit, just like he does every day.
Kelvin, on the other hand, remained seated on the log, not uttering a word to anyone as he sat there in a daze.
Ever since he returned from the hunt, he had been like that, completely lost in thought and not responding to anyone when they called out to him.
Or at least, that was until they announced that the food was ready.
Kelvin was the first to pick up his share, tearing into the meat like a hungry animal while the rest were watching, seated on the other logs surrounding the fire.
"You must have been really hungry, huh?" Aisha uttered while chuckling a bit.
Kelvin didn’t respond. Instead, he continued stuffing his face with the delicious meat that was entering his mouth.
"He has a low tolerance for hunger because of his job skill. Ignore him," Echidna spoke right after, pity written on her face.
After taking a few more bites, Kelvin finally spoke, looking directly at the two girls.
"Huh? Why am I the only one eating? Are you guys not hungry?" he asked, his brows raised in confusion.
The girls were hesitant to reply, which then turned into suspicion when they soon realized they might be waiting for the same thing.
Before any questions could be thrown at one another, the sound of the tent opening echoed, causing both of them to turn around.
As expected, their faces lit up as they realized it was Ash who hadq stepped out of the tent to finally join them for breakfast.
Echidna was about to stand up to attend to him, but Aisha made sure she got the jump on her.
"Master~ I have been waiting. Come, breakfast is ready."
She took hold of his hand and pulled him over to the open seat from which she had just gotten up, leaving Echidna staring with a hint of jealousy on her face.
"What do you mean you were waiting? I can serve myself; I don’t need you doing that for me," Ash said as he sat down.
Aisha quickly found her place beside him.
"I didn’t want to eat if you hadn’t, but now that you’re here, we can eat together," a bright smile played on her face.
"I see..." Ash glanced at Kelvin, taking note of how he was viciously tearing the meat in his grasp.
Echidna had no choice but to bite her teeth bitterly and serve herself.
Aisha had beaten her to it; there was nothing she could do.
"Yosh, here you go. Eat up." Aisha stretched a full plate of meat and sauce towards Ash while holding her own portion in her other hand.
"T-thank you."
Ash took it from her and then began to eat his food.
...
Moments later, after they were done eating, Ash was still seated on the log, his eyes focused on the burning fireplace that they had used to roast the meat.
At the side, opposite him, was Kelvin, leaning his back on the log as he tried to digest the large amount of food he had consumed in one sitting.
Echidna was standing close to him, fanning him as a means of support.
Ash would rather be anywhere but here, but since Aisha was so adamant about changing in the tent by herself, he could not really argue much on the matter.
Their bags had already been packed and placed outside.
All he was waiting for was for Aisha to step out, and they would continue their trip to Othwood.
That said...
Ash looked at the duo on the bench.
’Are these people planning to follow us again?’
"Geez, why would you eat so much when you know we have an important trip today?" Echidna uttered, her brows furrowed in worry as she fanned him.
Barely able to move on the wood, Kelvin clung to the side, his voice shaking a bit.
"I—didn’t know we were—uff!" He held back a burp.
"Don’t speak and just work on recovering. You know we can’t hold Ash back, so hurry up and get better already."
Ash’s face turned deadpan as he now focused his eyes solely on Echidna.
’They actually plan on following us?’
In that same moment, Echidna suddenly looked in his direction, their eyes meeting. This was then followed by a question that left her mouth.
"Do you protest against it?"
"What?"
"I am asking if you don’t want us to follow you. I figured it was a great move since we are all heading to the same place."
Ash stayed silent for a while.
Just as he thought, this woman really rubbed him the wrong way.
Something about her was strange; his inner mind was simply screaming to avoid her.
Not even a second later, Ash stood up from the log, right after dropping the plate on the ground.
"Do what you want."
He uttered this as he walked away. Echidna could still be seen staring at him as the distance widened, a growing smile on her face with each passing moment.
...
After a while, the group was ready to head out to Othwood.
While Ash’s destination was Othwood, Echidna’s was two towns after that. But since both groups were going to pass through the forest known to be heavily surrounded by dangerous monsters, this was the best bet for them.
Ash was at the very front, walking slowly with his eyes constantly scanning the terrain, making sure they were not going to get ambushed by monsters.
Behind him was Aisha, sticking as close as she could.
At the very back, Echidna and Kelvin were there, chill for the most part, each of them looking at the two figures leading them through the terrain.
Kelvin sighed. "I can’t believe they actually agreed to let you leech off them again. Why can’t you just summon your logbook, and we could be good to go on our own?"
Echidna shrugged her shoulders. "No way, I still haven’t mastered it yet. Besides, it’s not like I can’t do magic at all. I can still do simple spells, you know."
"Okay, then why do we have to follow these people if you know damn well we can protect ourselves?" Kelvin shot her a judgmental look.
Before she responded, she glanced over at Ash’s back.
"Let’s just say I’m too curious to let this one go."