Chapter 810: 810: Assembled Bonds

「......I suppose we can't keep silent after they call us cowards.」

Behind us was an adventurer who wore a look of excitement not matching the tone of his voice.

「......The guy from the party.」

「It's Kozon, little lady.」

The man was Kozon, the Rank B adventurer who was said to be one of the most influential people in Nocta.

「After eating and singing together, we're now friends. In that case, isn't helping our friends the right thing to do?」

Kozon smirked after saying that.

「Kozon. You――」

「Submaster, I'm sorry for doing this to you at a bad time. But Nadia-san took good care of me when I was a rookie.」

I see, it was currently the antidemon season. The adventurers were needed to defend their own home of Nocta.

This wasn't the time to be heading to Castel......

Still, Kozon and a few others stood up for us. I'm sure they had no other reason than duty and debt of gratitude. But that was exactly why I was glad to see them.

They were apparently planning to accept the request since the very beginning, since they already had all the preparations ready.

「You can count on us, Meat Girl!」

「We're coming too!」

「Nn. Let's do it.」

「「「Yeah!」」」

Fifteen adventurers from Nocta joined us, making a total of about eighty. That should plenty in terms of strength, though we didn't reach a hundred――

「Hey. Did you have enough people?」

「Eh?」

Yet once more, people came into the guild. I did see someone peeking in from the front of the guild earlier...... Maybe they were waiting for the right moment to enter?

At the head of a group was a girl that looked familiar.

「You are......?」

The submaster didn't seem to recognize the girl's face, and he tilted his head. That meant she was not an adventurer who worked in this town.

「Call me Sophie.」

The one who appeared was Sophilia, the girl who didn't pay for her food. Behind her was a group of bulky warriors.

They were obviously under Sophie's command.

「I looked all over for you, and that's when I heard you put up some crazy request at the Adventurers Guild. Seems like you were needing some help, so I'll join in too.」

「......Are you sure?」

「Just enough to repay my debt.」

Sophilia confirmed her intention, but the man behind her was panicking.

「P-Please wait, Sai――Sophie-sama! Didn't you say you just wanted to give her some words of encouragement?」

「Wrong. I'm going with her.」

「You can't accept such a dangerous request! You just can't!」

Sophie's expression turned cold as she listened to the man's desperate plea.

「Who are you to say what I can and can't do? I don't need your permission, or anyone else's for that matter.」

「If she finds out about this, we'll be the ones to get in trouble!」

「Are you trying to say the will of a mere tool like myself is not worth considering?」

「N-No, that's not it at all! Why would you say such nonsense......?! Please just remember her words!」

Was she the daughter of some noble after all? While the man treated Sophie as a complete superior, there seemed to be someone he was even more afraid of.

「......Enough of this. I didn't expect anything from you all anyways.」

Sophie let out a disappointed sigh.

「If you don't want to come, just go home. Or what, are you going to take me back by force?」

「......W-We will accompany you!」

「Okay, so do you mind including ten more people? We may look unreliable, but I promise I will be of use.」

「......Nn. You're more than welcome.」

「Good to hear.」

Come on girl, at least settle your drama before joining us. Well, I guess these guys look decently strong. We can put them in charge of defending the casters in the rear at least.

That brings us to a total of ninety. We've come this far already, might as well try to find ten more.

If we had the full hundred men, we could go rescue Nadia without breaking any promises.

As I was thinking about this, I noticed a group of more than ten people stopped in front of the guild. Don't tell me――

「I thought this might happen...」

「Mulsani!」

「Hello Fran, about three days since we last met.」

It was Mulsani. With him were a group of veteran adventurers.

「Fran-chan, you seem quite similar to Nadia in her younger days. There is something about you that just naturally attracts people. I somehow thought that even at a time like this, people might gather for you......」

He looked sad and even troubled. But after making a somewhat happy face, Mulsani continued.

「These are adventurers hired by my trading company. Please take them with you.」

「Nice to meet you. My name is Zehard.」

A tall, dark-skinned man with a huge spear on his back was the leader of the adventurers Mulsani had brought with him.

He smiled in a surprisingly friendly manner as he asked to shake Fran's hand.

「Mulsani-san is paying me a lot of money for this, so I won't hold anything back.」

「Please come back alive.」

「Nn. Of course.」

「Zehard-san, please take good care of her, won't you?」

「No problem. Worst case scenario, I thought it would just be the ten of us. Now that it's a small army? Leave it to us.」

He had apparently brought in some of his best adventurers from other towns and cities to let Fran go to Castel with a small group of elite adventurers.

They were to accompany Fran as her escort.

And there were ten of them in total. Which means――

「We've got a hundred!」

『Yeah. We really do.』

Sorry Nadia. Looks like our little Fran had more popularity, connections, and luck than either of us imagined. There's just no stopping her now. You'd better sit tight and wait to be rescued.