Chapter 23: Passing Adventure Party
It was only then that Sethe realized he had been talking to Cecilia on the bridge all this time. He looked up at the sky; the sun was about to set.
Raising his claw, he directly grabbed the girl's hand.
"Uh~"
Cecilia smiled back and followed Sethe's lead.
They walked to the clearing in front of the tree house.
In the clearing at the tree house entrance, Sethe had cleared a space and built a simple outdoor wooden shed.
Inside was a small, rudimentary wooden table, a fire pit, and several well-shaped stones serving as seats.
This place was Sethe's kitchen, although it was rarely used.
As a lizard, he could eat raw or cooked meat. Although cooked was more delicious, it was too troublesome.
Instead of roasting meat, he usually just sliced and smoked it.
Leading Cecilia into the shed, he pressed her to sit on a stone.
"Uh~"
After greeting her, Sethe went to the smokehouse.
Cecilia watched Sethe throughout, knowing that he was preparing to entertain her.
For a juvenile magical beast, Sethe was definitely the smartest she had ever seen.
Taking out three pieces of smoked meat from the smokehouse, Sethe went to the stream to wash them.
Because he was entertaining Cecilia, Sethe washed them more carefully this time. When he looked up, he realized the sun had completely set, leaving a night sky full of twinkling stars and a crescent moon.
The girl sitting under the wooden shed had already lit a fire and was waving at him gently.
With three pieces of cleaned smoked meat, Sethe walked back into the shed.
With Cecilia's help, he skewered the meat onto the grill.
After eating and drinking their fill, it was already over an hour later.
In front of the fire pit, a blue-haired girl sat, with a magical beast that looked like a lizard but wasn't quite one, lying on the ground. Its round head was resting quietly on the girl's legs, and the girl would occasionally put a skewer of cooked meat into the beast's mouth.
*Rustle, rustle~*
The sudden noise of footsteps broke the tranquility.
"Captain, it's already so late today. Shouldn't we camp here?"
"Huh? There's a fire up ahead."
"It seems to be humans. Should we buy some food from them?"
With the noisy footsteps and conversation, a group of adventurers, mostly orcs with a few humans mixed in, arrived at the fire.
Opening his eyes, lifting his head, standing up straight, and facing the group of adventurers, Sethe slightly grinned, with sparks splashing in his open mouth.
"Wait, wait, we're just passing by, we mean no harm."
A one-eyed wolfman walked out of the group, raising his hands over his shoulders to indicate that he was not a threat.
"Sethe, they're just passing through."
Hearing Cecilia's words, Sethe slowly closed his open mouth, but his gaze remained locked on the group of adventurers.
For some reason, seeing these adventurers made him feel uneasy, just like when he saw that group of adventurers last time.
Noticing the hostile gaze of the beast, the wolfman did not approach further and stood still, looking at the human woman sitting by the fire.
"Hello, miss. We are an adventure party from the Western Continent. We took on an escort mission to escort a batch of goods to the holy city of Goya. We got lost due to an attack by goblin monsters on the way, and we have no malicious intent. We just want to buy some food from you."
Cecilia scanned the group of adventurers in front of her with her eyes, finally resting on two wagons.
They were very standard cargo wagons, covered with cloth so she couldn't see what was inside.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any food for you here, but if you cross this stream and go forward for half an hour, you'll reach the holy city of Goya."
"Really?"
The wolfman, who was a bit disappointed, suddenly became excited, and the pine wolf tail behind his butt also swung left and right.
In the goblin attack, they lost a lot of supplies, including maps and food.
But they managed to save their boss's cargo.
Without a map, they could only move forward based on feelings, and they had been wandering around in this ghostly forest for half a month.
And now they were finally about to leave this ghostly forest.
"Yes, Mr. Adventurer, deceiving you doesn't benefit me in any way," Cecilia said.
"I'm sorry, I'm actually not questioning you, I'm just too excited."
"It's good for adventurers to be cautious."
Being exposed, the wolfman could only awkwardly scratch his head.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
After thanking three times in a row, the wolfman turned and left.
His teammates were already full of energy.
They had just heard the conversation between their captain and the human lady; the holy city of Goya was not far ahead, which meant they were finally going to leave this ghostly forest that had tormented them for half a month.
At this moment, they seemed to have already seen fine wine, delicious food, and attractive opposite-sex companions beckoning to them!
"It seems I don't need to say anything more."
"Captain, stop dilly-dallying, I can't wait."
"Fine wine, roasted meat, females, here I come!"
A minotaur shouted out.
The wolfman walked up and kicked the minotaur's butt.
"Stop howling, and hurry up to push the wagon."
"Why are you kicking me again, when everyone else is howling."
"Are you going or not?"
"I'm going, I'm going!"
The minotaur happily ran to push the wagon across the stream.
From the smiles on their faces, it seemed like this was just their usual banter.
With all his teammates crossing the river, the one-eyed wolfman turned back, bowed to the fire pit with one hand over his chest, then turned and caught up with his teammates who had already crossed half of the stream.
Watching the adventurers who had walked far away, Sethe's tense body slowly relaxed.
Cecilia, who had been silently observing all these changes, spoke up.
"It's getting late, Sethe, let's rest."
Rest? Can he sleep with Cecilia again?
Sethe looked at Cecilia.
The campfire illuminated the girl's cheeks, making them as red as apples. The excitement in Sethe's heart vanished instantly when he met Cecilia's gentle gaze.
"Uh~"
"What's wrong? You suddenly seem a bit lost."
"Uh~"
With a howl, Sethe walked upright to the girl and turned around.
Seeing Sethe's back facing her, Cecilia lay down directly.
Feeling the familiar weight on her back, Sethe climbed up to the treehouse using his claws as the best climbing tools, with sharp claws that could easily pierce the bark to grip.
Climbing all the way back to the treehouse, Cecilia raised her right hand, and a light orb appeared in her small palm, dispelling the darkness inside the treehouse.
The treehouse was the same as when she last visited, with almost no changes.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone