"Oh! Hellank, Roba-daren? Why are only you two here? Where is everyone else?" Iri walked into the small tavern feeling refreshed and saw Hellank and Roba-daren drinking at the bar.
"Iri-meimei, are you done with your business? Everyone else has gone upstairs to rest." Roba-daren felt relieved seeing Iri return safely.
"..." Hellank didn't say anything, merely looking at Iri and 'revealing' a smile.
"I'm exhausted, barkeep, get me a glass of juice." Iri boldly ran straight to the bar, then climbed onto a chair that clearly wasn't meant for a child of her stature, and loudly called out to the barkeep.
Hellank and Roba-daren exchanged glances and smiled at the sight, but despite their amusement, they hadn't forgotten that their lives were entirely in the hands of this little Iri-meimei.
"Iri-meimei, have the teleportation scrolls been replenished?" Hellank asked casually when he saw Iri lift a large glass full of juice and gulp it down.
"They've been replenished, ugh… it doesn't taste good." Iri put down the glass and said with a displeased expression.
"They've been replenished? Iri-meimei, you just went to…?" Hellank didn't finish his sentence, and Roba-daren also understood Hellank's meaning.
Didn't she say they wouldn't be replenished until tomorrow morning? How could she say they were replenished as soon as she returned? It was obvious Iri was lying just now, and Roba looked at Iri with a surprised expression.
"Uh… yes, I did go trouble Arshe's parents just now. Anyway, they'd fall into the Blood Emperor's hands sooner or later, so I might as well vent my anger first."
Since they knew, Iri didn't intend to hide it. With the Blood Emperor's intelligence, he would definitely investigate the Four Strategists' backgrounds. Arshe was originally Fulda's student, so her 'exposure' was only a matter of time.
"Iri-meimei! Could it be that you…?" Roba-daren's 'complexion' turned a bit grim.
"No, no, I just taught Arshe's father a lesson, which was just a slap, I didn't take his life! I wouldn't do something like directly taking the 'lives' of a companion's parents." Iri said with a wronged expression.
Yes… she certainly didn't directly take the life of that scoundrel father of Arshe's, but indirectly… that doesn't count as lying, right?
"My apologies! Iri-meimei, for doubting you." Roba-daren immediately apologized to Iri.
"Roba, even if such a person dies, they aren't worth pity. Don't always be so overflowing with kindness." Hellank said after taking a sip of his drink.
"But… no matter what, they are Arshe's parents!" Roba-daren argued, also a bit displeased.
"They will fall into the Blood Emperor's hands sooner or later, and they will die eventually." Hellank said with a sneer.
"...This juice really doesn't taste good." Roba-daren had nothing more to say, he just silently picked up the large glass in front of him and drank it all.
"So, Iri-meimei, where are you taking us? To be honest… with our current situation, bringing Arshe's younger sisters is indeed a bit inconvenient, b-but of course I don't mean to doubt Iri-meimei's strength!" Hellank saw Iri pick up her sleeve with a displeased expression, and quickly added, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Back to the Kingdom!" Iri replied.
"The Kingdom, huh…" Hellank was a bit worried that it might really be back to Iri's old home, which was a demon's den!
"Don't worry, it's not my home. Although going directly to my home would be the safest, considering that Arshe-oneesan might not be able to handle it… so I gave up. We're going to Karn Village." Iri explained when she saw Hellank's troubled expression.
"Karn Village, huh?" Roba-daren muttered. Roba knew that village; it wasn't very far from the Katz Plains, and it was also very close to the Imperial border, and also very close to Iri-meimei's old home… Could it be!
"Yes, Karn Village is now under my family's management. It can be said to be the second safest place in the world." Iri replied.
"Under management…" Roba-daren 'revealed' a very uncomfortable expression. He had visited Karn Village on a quest before joining the Four Strategists Squad, and it was a very stable and harmonious village.
Now… it was actually controlled by Iri-meimei's old home. Needless to say, the original villagers must have met with misfortune.
"Hmm? Hmm? Hmm? Roba-daren, please don't misunderstand! Nazarick's philosophy has always been coexistence and equality for all races. We don't rule with violence, oh. Karn Village is still a normal village! You can rest assured about that." Iri also saw what Roba-daren was worried about and quickly explained.
"I'm sorry! Iri-meimei, I doubted you again." Roba also apologized.
"It's alright. After all, strictly speaking, I'm not the same kind of human as you, so it's normal to be doubted." Iri put away her innocent smile from before and 'revealed' a very melancholic expression, of course… it was an act.
"No, no… I didn't mean that… Iri-meimei." Roba-daren and Hellank immediately became anxious. It was half an hour later that these two had apologized profusely and showered Iri with compliments to appease her.
Everyone in the Four Strategists had woken up early, even Arshe's younger sisters, but one person was missing… Iri hadn't appeared.
After waiting for a long time in the tavern on the first floor, everyone still didn't see Iri come down. Imina went directly to knock on Iri's door.
She knocked for a long time without any sound, and everyone became nervous. Hellank directly kicked the door open and saw Iri still wearing her clothes, spread out in a large 'X' shape on the bed, blowing bubbles.
Everyone felt helpless. Was this little Iri-meimei, who slept so messily, really a princess? Imina had knocked on the door for so long just now, plus Hellank's kick made such a loud noise, yet she still didn't wake up?
Hellank initially suspected if she had been affected by some magic, but Arshe stated that there were no traces of magic having been used. So, the Iri in front of them was simply oversleeping.
Finally… Arshe's younger sister directly jumped onto Iri's bed and pinched Iri's face, and only then did Iri wake up with a bewildered expression, which was truly exasperating.
"Ta-da! High-level Teleportation Scroll!" This time, Iri imitated a certain blue Fat Man's pose and took out a teleportation scroll from her small shoulder bag, saying.
The members of the Four Strategists looked at Iri with awkward expressions, not knowing what to say. Iri, of course, knew that they couldn't possibly know who a blue Fat Man was!
"Urelika, Kutilika, watch Big Sister perform a trick for you!" Iri said mysteriously in front of Arshe's two younger sisters.
"Oh, oh!" These two adorable little Iri-meimei also looked at Iri with anticipation.
"High-level Teleportation, activate!" Iri held up the scroll and shouted. As soon as her voice fell, the scroll in Iri's hand naturally floated up and then burned to ashes, while a burst of white light directly enveloped everyone present.
When the white light dissipated, everyone had already arrived in the suburbs, and it was a rather strange place. Although it was a Heigen, there were many scattered traces of people having been stationed there before.
The other members of the Four Strategists naturally had an impression of this place, and then everyone looked at Iri, who was still posing from activating the scroll, and again, various awkwardness ensued.
It wasn't the first time everyone had seen Iri use a magic scroll, but why did she have to make such an exaggerated pose to use it this time?
Normally, didn't she just throw it out and it would activate? And the current location had absolutely nothing to do with the village!
After all, this was the camp where the Four Strategists Squad had set up before invading Nazarick. Roba-daren knew the way and knew that it would take several days to walk from here to Karn Village!
"Um… Iri-meimei, did we teleport to the wrong place?" Hellank asked, wiping a bead of cold sweat.
"No, that's right! The destination I thought of was indeed here, uh… the people haven't arrived yet, it seems we arrived early." Iri looked around and said.
"Little Yi-chan!!!" As soon as Iri finished speaking, a rather strange sound was heard from a distance, and then a red 'phantom' that was almost impossible to clearly capture flashed before the eyes of the Four Strategists.
"No… Shalltear-mama… No… Don't… Someone's watching!" When the members of the Four Strategists noticed, they saw a beautiful girl in a red 'dress' suddenly appear next to Iri-meimei, tightly hugging Iri.
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