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　Peace returned after I reported the stalking actions.

　Is what I would like to say. But like usual, the cook was glaring at me, and Neil continued to annoy me. No, I guess the cook was alright? His attitude was bad, but he still properly cooked food for me.

　Thus, the problem was Neil.
　After I reported him to the guild master, it seems he was lectured, but despite that he was still following me.
　He ambushed me in front of the inn, tried following me to the gathering site (as expected his friends stopped him), and he even tried inviting me to dinner after I completed my sales at the guild.
　Rather, inviting me to dinner didn’t really make sense. Don’t you already have a lover? Invite her instead. Thanks to him, Tess was giving me harsh looks. Why? I didn’t do anything wrong.

　Collie was as brazen as usual. She was acting like the two of us were friends rather than acquaintances. And she also said stuff like: please share some of your herbs with us, or I heard you’re good at cooking, make me some, and such. Which didn’t really make any sense.
　I pity Beck who had to keep these three people in check. But please continue working hard for my sake.

　I spent a week dealing with things like that, but I had reached my limit. Alright, let’s run away. Or to be more precise, I guess I would be taking a brief refuge?
　Rather, I was interested about the seaside village located towards the southeast that I heard in my eavesdropping. As such, I decided to go there.

　I guess I should inform Lily first?
　In the morning, I decided to inform Lily before going to work.

“Lily, I will be leaving the inn tomorrow. Can I get a refund for the days I’ve prepaid for?”
“Eh!? What do you mean!? Did I do something to upset you? Or did the cook do something again!?”

　No, no, that wasn’t the case at all.
　And so I began explaining. That there was a disgusting stalker following me, and that I wanted to go to the sea for quite a while now, so I was just going to take a quick look.
　And that I was planning to return after that. I was also worried about the children.

　The misunderstanding was resolved after my explanation, and I was told that there would be no problems with the refund. Apparently, there was also no cancellation fee, which made me a bit happy.

　I briefly scanned my surroundings after leaving the inn. That person wasn’t here. There was no reaction from Detection. Good. I hurriedly exited the town.
　After exiting the gate I look around for the children. But they all gathered immediately before I had to search around. And so we headed towards the forest near the river.
　The restrictions for the south forest had been lifted. But the forest near the river was much more abundant, so I ended up continuing to gather there.
　And if I were to go to the south forest, I would end up meeting Neil and the others……..as it seems they were mainly hunting around there, and thus that was the case.

　We arrived at the usual gathering spot and start gathering. Now then, when should I tell them?
　I decided to tell them a bit later, so I broke the news at noon, but everyone was a lot more calmer than I expected.
　Rather, the reaction was more along the lines of it couldn’t be helped.

“I knew that the time would come someday, so it can’t be helped.”
“We will buy our own weapons to defend ourselves with, and we will do our best.”
“We can’t keep on relying on you.”
“From now on, we will gather in the shallower parts of the forest, that way we can escape more easily.”

　…….Everyone was being quite positive. For some reason, I felt happy. Good, do your best.

　On the way back that day, I gave two recovery potions to Shin and Yui. It wasn’t meant as a farewell.
　……I just thought it could be used in place of an insurance if something were to happen. Even if these children were to get seriously injured, they wouldn’t have enough money to see a doctor.
　I couldn’t take care of them forever, but I also couldn’t abandon them at this point. I knew I was just being a hypocrite.
　I told them that they could also sell it, but judging from the expressions on the two, they probably wouldn’t do it.

　Lily was crying when I returned to the inn after I finished my sales at the guild.
　Stuff about being lonely, food, and etc. I might have fed her a bit too much. I’ll reflect on that.

　The next day I woke up a little earlier than usual and left the inn. I ate some bread for breakfast, then said goodbye to Lily. I wonder if she will be alright?

　Before leaving town, I went to the guild. For starters, I should drop by and say goodbye.

　If I could get an escort job that went towards my destination, then I could also earn money while I was at it. But escort requests could only be accepted by D rank or higher. Or to be more accurate, it was recommended to be D rank or higher, but I decided to give up since I was still only F rank.

　The morning in the guild was like usual. The bulletin board was crowded and the counters were also crowded. Salena…..I found her.

“Salena.”
“Oh, Ren? What brings you here today?”
“I was thinking about heading south.”
“Eh? Are you leaving this town?”
“Well, yes. But I’m planning to return here afterwards. Although I don’t really know when that will be.”

“Is that so…….ah, can you wait for a bit? It’ll be over quickly, so would it be possible for you to lend me your guild card?”
“Yes?”
“Ren, you’re being promoted to E rank, so I just need to process that.”
“Eh? Promoted? Isn’t it too soon?”
“Ren has made numerous contributions, so the decision was made yesterday.”

　It would seem I was being commended on the stable and large supply of herbs I was bringing in, including rare ones, the sale of orc meat, for helping low-ranking child adventurers, and for eliminating an ogre.
　But still, it has only been a month since I became an adventurer, so isn’t it still too soon?
　Those under thirteen years old would usually have their adventurer rank kept the same. So I was supposed to wait two more years before being able to rank up.

“Alright, I have finished. Here is your new card.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Not at all. Then take care.”
“Yes.”

　Since Lily was acting up when I was leaving, I thought Salena might also be the same, but she was quite easy. Well, it would be difficult to start crying when there were so many people around.

　After finishing my goodbyes, I exited through the gate. When I gave a brief glance around, the children were a bit further away in the distance. Upon noticing me, the children started waving towards me.
　I gave a slight wave back before continuing on my way. After seeing that, the children also began moving towards the gathering spot. Good, do your best.

　Now then, for the time being, it would be just Norn and Bell again, so just us three.
　Norn said that Bell’s hunting skills have improved a lot, so I guess I could look forward to that?

　And with that sort of feeling, I headed for the sea.