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「I’m back.」

I knocked on the leader’s office door and entered the room without waiting for a reply.
After all, he’s likely concentrating on his paperwork at this time and wouldn’t even bother replying.

And as I went through the door, sure enough, he’s fixed to the table and is writing down documents.

「Leader.」
「…… Hm? Ahh, Nera-kun. Good work on the expedition. You’re still exhausted, aren’t you? I’ll pour you some tea, so feel free to sit down.」

I assume he decided to hear my report right now while taking this chance to rest. He halts the table work, takes two cups from the shelf, and begins pouring tea. He usually has others do it…… which is natural, considering the fact that he’s the leader, but when people come back from long missions, like today, he considerately serves tea himself. Moreover, even though he can be tactful sometimes, he’s usually weirdly careless, leaving everyone dumbfounded. As such, he’s absolutely a handful.

「Thank you very much.」
「Phew…… Now then, I’ve heard the gist of it from the periodic reports but I’d like to hear the details once more this time.」
「This is only mere speculation, however, the numbers and the composition of the bandits are just as reported: they number from 40-50 and I believe that 30% of them are in charge of the chores or odd jobs while the other 70% consists of the group’s action unit and lookout.」
「30% in charge of chores, huh…… They’re quite organised, aren’t they?」

A normal group of bandits wouldn’t assign certain members to do chores. They’d simply pass the chores around somewhat randomly. Even with only these facts, they’re already problematic enemies but……

「…… In addition, one of their lookouts almost saw through my concealment.」
「…… What?」

His hand immediately stopped carrying his cup to his lips and he looked at me with a sharp gaze.
That’s a natural reaction, considering that, up until now, not a single person has seen through my concealment magic, even the leader.

「With that said, the lookout was a beastkin man. He seemed to have noticed something from our smell. However, he was the only one that nearly noticed us.」
「Nera-kun, your concealment also makes scent unrecognizable, correct? And if I remember this correctly, even the other members that have keen noses weren’t able to bypass your concealment. And he still noticed you…… A extrasensory perhaps?」

Extrasense, also referred to as the sixth sense beyond the five senses. Extrasensory individuals are said to be quite rare but…… I can’t think of any other reason that the lookout saw through my concealment, so the possibility of him being one seems to be high.

「If that was an extrasensory, then it’s going to be a problem. I’ve encountered them two times before, but in both times, their movements were so bizarre that you’d think that they can see the future. They’re definitely not the type I’d like to fight with, if you ask me.」

The leader encountered these rare cases two times? Was it before I joined the order? If so, then it should be a considerably long time ago.

「Considering this, if we aren’t careful with forming the subjugation party, it’s even possible that the party would get annihilated instead.」
「True, the magic used to hide the hideout was on a considerable scale as well. In this respect, we can’t let our guard down.」

The problem isn’t just that man, there’s definitely an individual that can use magic as well. If we let our guard down thinking that they’re simply common bandits, we’re going to regret it.

「Also, about Natsuki-san……」
「Is there an issue with Natsuki-kun? ……. Come to think of it, she’s not with you.」

You noticed it too late. Like I thought, you’re really inattentive.

「Natsuki-san was extremely fatigued so I had her go home immediately. Also, this is related to Natsuki-san’s issue but…」
「Ahhh, I see what you’re hinting at. She couldn’t sleep well because Ruti-kun wasn’t by her side, correct?」

I’m shocked. When it comes to matters of love, I definitely can’t call the leader attentive and yet…

「Aren’t you thinking of something rude?」

Ooops, excuse me. It seems like my thoughts showed in my expression.
Still, since the leader realized this, then perhaps……?

「It seems Ruti-kun also hasn’t been able to sleep well recently. So I had her take a break from training.」

As I thought. Since Natsuki-san was in that state, it’s not surprising to know that Ruti-san was affected as well.

「Since you’re aware of it, then this should be quick. This time, we had no other choice but to go with this mission, but I believe that separating Natsuki-san and Ruti-san would lead to various issues. In the future, it would be best to treat them as a pair if unless there are particularly important reasons.」
「I know. Frankly, I didn’t expect them to be this dependent on each other. This won’t happen again.」

Then that should be fine. Seeing Natsuki-san grow weary day by day was… definitely not good for the heart.

「Still, Ruti-kun was really a problem. It was maybe about two days after you two left, she told me that she really should go too. Moreover, she even insisted that she could just wait in the town if she can’t join the investigation.」

Maybe remembering that time, he had quite the tired look on his face. Ruti-san likely pressured him constantly at that time.

「Still, I can’t repeatedly give out flight permissions, and in the first place, both of you arrived at the town with abnormal speed. So I told her that, since she would be walking on foot, there’s a higher chance that you two would come home before she even reaches the town.
And then this time she began pressing me to teach her teleport, you know?」

The leader’s specialty, teleport? Teleport magic itself is heavily dependent on one’s imagination and the user also needs a clear image of the place they want to teleport to as well, so it’s considerably difficult to learn. After all, I know the principle behind it but I still can’t do it.
Currently, I only know of several people that can use short-distance teleportation and only the leader can use long-distance teleportation.

「And so, well, I taught it to her since it should come in handy in the future anyway but…… she immediately got the hang of it. I almost lost confidence in myself at that time, really.」
「That’s……」

As usual, those two really are beyond the norm. Particularly in matters concerning magic, Ruti-san seems to be a cut above the rest.
Still, she already learned teleport but I wonder why she didn’t come to the town.

「Is Ruti-san still incapable of long-distance teleportation? We didn’t see her in town after all.」
「No, she can already go for long distances…… but, you see, it seems like she hasn’t been to the town the two of you were staying at. In other words, that’s the answer.」

There’s a need to have an image of where one wants to teleport to but she hasn’t been to that town yet, which meant she couldn’t visualize it……
She likely wanted to see Natsuki-san so much that she forgot about that fact.

「Ever since she realized that, she was really depressed. And since there’s already the issue of her not being able to sleep, I decided to let her rest.」
「I see. Ah, it’s a retroactive report but Natsuki-san will be having a break for a while.」
「Got it. Ruti-kun is also on break right now, so I hope that both of them can get a good rest with this.」

With this, I’m done reporting and since I’m on my break tomorrow as well, I can relax for a bit.

…… Now then.

「Leader, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? I was thinking of going to a place one of our mages told me about the other day but would you like to come as well?」
「Mhm, it’s already that time, huh…… Sorry, there’s still a lot of paperwork left, so I’ll need to decline today.」
「They don’t really seem to be high priority, though?」
「If you think of it that way and underestimate it, there’ll be a pile of them before you even notice, you know? Even if they’re not high priority documents, I still need to get them done now.」

…… Haah. Well, I already expected that. We’ve already had similar exchanges in the past after all.
Still, I can’t help but think of this.

「You’re just so dense……」
「Hm? Did you say something?」
「No~pe, I didn’t say anything.」

Geez, absolutely a handful, aren’t you?