239 Ardi's Mercenary Group

After explaining the entire situation to Emilia and bringing everyone up to speed so far, Ardi decided not to try and claim the bounty on Emilia's head after all and even decided to help us in chasing down Emilia's ship.

Since Ardi was here with her Mercenary team, she had her own ship that we could hitch a ride on. That was just perfect considering Emilia had informed us that she was not able to find a ship that would be able to take us on her own.

Of course it wasn't for free and Emilia agreed to hire her Mercenary group through The Guild as a request with proper compensation as well.

The two of them started discussing the details of the request seriously.

I didn't really listen to the conversation in detail since I was fully engrossed in eating the cookies that Emilia had brought.

Hey, the cookies were really good, ok?!

Ardi then left us to return to her group to share the news with them, informing us to meet her at the harbour in the morning.

There were only two beds but it didn't really matter since we still had sleeping bags. Since it seemed like the room was something Maurice kept for Emilia's personal use, it made sense that she would get one of the beds.

I was fine with making use of the sleeping bag and letting Delmare and Odeta decide who would use the bed between the two of them, but they were surprisingly against it for some reason. Yet, neither of them wanted to use the bedroll or share a bed with Emilia.

Only when I asked if they would like to share a bed with me did they happily agreed to it.

I have to mention that it was a normal single bed instead of a queen sized one. What's more, it's a Mahun's standard of single size so it was already too small for Odeta's figure.

In the end, I had to lay down on top of Odeta while Delmare cuddled beside me, the Amrap hugging the both of us to her chest to keep us from falling over.

It really confused me why they would be ok with sleeping like this but I definitely wasn't complaining since I got to squeeze Odeta's abs to sleep.

When morning came, I woke up to find my face being squeezed in between Odeta's bosoms with the Amrap looking really satisfied.

I tried to get up but like before, she was hugging me tightly to her and I wasn't able to move an inch away from her embrace.

I did manage to tilt my head over to the side to see Delmare laying on the floor and curled up into a ball, her hands hugging her tail as she slept.

Oops… Did I do that?

This is why I was against sharing a bed in the first place…

"Slept well?" Emilia asked, already dressed and ready to go.

"Umm… I guess? I don't remember anything…" I admitted before pointing at Delmare who was still asleep on the ground. "Did I do that?"

"Heh, that would be your companion actually. Miss Odeta basically pushed her off in her sleep and just started hugging you. I guess the good thing was that Miss Delmare slept through it and didn't even notice she rolled off. Anyway, we should get going soon, I wouldn't want to keep that Amrap waiting."

And as though on cue, the door to our room burst open and slammed into the wall with a loud bang.

"WAKE UP!!!!" Ardi roared, loud enough to cause the bed to vibrate.

Odeta was instantly awake and she sprung out of the bed while still hugging me to her chest to stand at attention.

"I'M AWAKE BIG SISTER!!!" She shouted just as loudly.

Something tells me that this was what happened on a daily basis while Ardi was training her.

Ardi nodded at her, "I see you haven't been slacking off! That's great! Are we ready to go?!"

"Yes, big sister!!" Odeta lied.

"Alright, then let's go!"

"Yes, big sister!!"

You're still wearing your pajamas…

She would have actually marched out through the door if I didn't start mumbling into her chest, causing her to look down and realise I was still being hugged.

"Oh! Good morning sister Aster! Are you still sleeping?"

"Mmnngghhh…" I muttered into her chest.

She got the idea and let go of me, allowing me to breathe once more and stand on my own feet.

"Puaahh! I'm… I'm good. Although I think you should change out of your pajamas, Odeta…"

She at least have the decency to scratch her head in embarrassment while I went to console Delmare who had been shocked awake by the two Amraps' shouting.

Once everything was packed and ready, we followed Ardi to the harbour where she told us her ship was moored. Once again, Odeta was giving Delmare a piggyback ride there.

Though the streets weren't exactly empty since it looked like a number of people were preparing to set sail, everyone we came across gave us a rather wide berth when they saw Ardi leading the way.

I'm guessing that she caused quite a stir last night within the town or something, which wouldn't surprise me to be honest, given the fact that Odeta probably got her penchant for challenging strong people from her big sister.

Thus, we managed to reach the harbour without anyone giving us any problems.

I had seen her ship before when I was still young so I was excited to see if anything had changed and I was not disappointed,

Previously, her ship was about the same size as the caravel that we had sailed here with, now, it was just a little smaller than a frigate with a main mast and a foremast and two levels below the main deck.

I estimate that there were about eighty to a hundred crew manning the ship, all of them being Amraps of course.

There were several Amraps already waiting to receive us and a few of them brightened up when they saw us.

"Little Odeta!!"

"It's little Odeta!!"

"Our little Saviour of the Village!"

"Dragonslayer Odeta!!"

Odeta laughed and gave her fellow Amrap sisters a wave.

There was no sign of arrogance in her, but more like she just thinks they were being endearing to her.

So cute~

That was when they noticed me and a few of them gasped.

"Is that… Aster?"

"Dragonslayer Aster?"

"No way… She really is beautiful…"

"They said that she managed to kill a dragon with her bare hands when she was not even ten years old!"

"As expected of the one who taught little Odeta and Head Trainer to be stronger."

"Woah, wait… I heard she beat Head Trainer Ardiolyta in a duel, so that story was true?"

"Of course it is!"

"That's so cool~ Do you think she'll teach all of us how to be strong as well?"

"I hope so!"

Hey, hey… They're saying some really weird things over there… Is that because of you two spreading some weird stories about me? Ardi? Odeta?

Why are the two of you even looking so proud like they were praising you?

Emilia and Delmare turned to give me weird looks and all I could do was shrug my shoulders at them.

One of the Amraps even ran up to me excitedly, "Si… Sister Aster! I… I didn't get to thank you for what you did last time!"

I scratched my cheek, "Umm… Sorry, what did I do?"

"Wahaha! You saved us from the wyvern, remember? It might not have been a big deal to you but we wouldn't be here without your help!" Ardi laughed while slapping me on the back.

Oh! She was one of the people in the group of Amraps that was with Ardi when the Wyvern attacked them!

Since they went back to their ship for medical attention immediately after I killed the wyvern, I didn't get a good look at their faces so I don't remember them.

The Amrap nodded at Ardi's words, "Yes! If it wasn't for sister Aster back then, I wouldn't be here today! I've wanted to thank you for a long time but we never got the chance! So thank you, sister Aster!"

Now I'm feeling a little embarrassed…

Ardi then turned to the other Amraps, "Is the ship ready to set sail?!"

"Yes, Head Trainer!" All of them shouted out in unison.

"Good! Then prepare to cast off! Remember, this is an official Guild request, so I want everyone on your best behaviour!! They are our clients first!"

"Ye, Head Trainer!!"

I found it a little ironic that Emilia seemed to run her ship like some kind of yakuza family while Ardi ran hers like a military.

The other Amraps ran up onto the ship while Ardi escorted us up the gangplank.

"Is this ship… Full of girls?" Delmare asked.

"The Amraps are an all female race," Emilia explained. "And I believe this ship only has Amraps on it so yes, it is."

"Oh… Ok… That's good I suppose?"

I suppose that would be better since she wouldn't need to worry about males going crazy when she sings her song and go around raping the closet person they can find…

Speaking of which… I think I forgot to tell Ardi that Delmare is a Siren…

Meh… I think it should be fine.