255: Always worrying about where the others are, huh?

My name's Raidock. You remember that, right?

Leading what I claim is the strongest party in Goldendown.

Right now, I'm part of a temporary party, guarding a high-ranking official from the kingdom as we head toward the empire.

Guess it's been a while since we've traveled without Eva, but Solar's been closer than usual.

Oops, I know what decency is, so I don't get all lovey-dovey in front of everyone. Sure, when we're out of sight from the others, I might get a little closer—she's just Solar, after all. What's the harm?

Besides, I know how to be considerate of others.

While out on advance reconnaissance, far from the group, Solar wrapped her arm around mine.

"Is there no way to keep Eva and Craft from ending up together?"

Solar always says this when Eva isn’t around. I guess I do think the two of them fit well together.

(From what I know, Eva’s got a real soft spot for Craft.)

She acts like she’s into me, but I figure it’s just that thing—starry-eyed crush nonsense, the kind you get when you’ve never been in love before.

Besides, I’ve got Solar already. Can’t really answer back to her feelings.

“Guess it’ll just have to work out however it does.”

“Why not keep Craft in the party, then?”

“Don’t you think the Cassper sisters would be better off gone?”

“U… uh…”

We’re the ones who’ve got the top-tier sigils, so only the three sisters can truly sync up with us. I’m not doubting the strength of the three we’re with—Bep, Bardak, and Mora. If anything, their power’s been rising fast. Right now, they’re probably top-tier in the Golden Dune party rankings.

Still, even with their best, they can’t keep up with us, Solal, and the three sisters. That’s how much of a gap the top-tier sigil powers create.

“Honestly, Craft’s not even a proper adventurer.”

“Yeah, sometimes I forget that.”

“Either he’s screaming about alchemy in the Merchant Guild or off on some big adventure. Either way, it’s a mess.”

“Right? What’s an adventurer supposed to do with that?”

"From what he said, originally, the production guild had adventurers on staff—like, that was the normal setup. If anything, being able to do alchemy’s the odd part, isn’t it?"

"Thinking about it again, it just makes less and less sense."

If we’re serious about pairing those two off, we’d have to get Eva into the production guild or something. No way. Pulling a magician like that out of the adventurer’s guild? The higher-ups’d lose their minds.

Honestly, the best option would’ve been to just bring Craft into our party...

"Though if anyone suggests bringing Craft back to the adventurer’s guild, the production guild’ll throw everything they’ve got at stopping it."

The higher-ups in the kingdom wouldn’t let it happen. If Craft ever left the production guild, you’d see every single organization in the realm scrambling to steal him. I wouldn’t even dare say it out loud.

Funny thing is, Craft being in the production guild? That was the calmest, best possible outcome.

“Evah’s one thing. What about Leifan though?”

Still playing the bystander, but I’m curious about the dynamic between Craft and Leifan. They seem like they’d fit well together, in a different way than Evah.

Soral hums in response to my muttering.

“Honestly, those two? Hard to tell. Acting like they’re aware, but not really. But from the outside, they just look like a close-knit brother and sister.”

“That’s the most accurate take.”

Besides me, there are others who’ve taken an interest in Craft too.

“What about that lizardman, Shururu? At least it’s clear Shururu’s head over heels for Craft, right?”

“Look, Raidock. I’m not trying to pair Craft with anyone. I just want to get Eva hooked up with someone.”

“Ah… sorry about that.”

Guess I got caught up in the details and lost sight of the real issue. Craft’ll probably find someone fine on their own, but with Eva… I reckon I oughta help out before she gets all twisted up about it.

“Talking about Craft again… then there’s Maina-sama—”

“No, Raidock. Don’t go thinking about that.”

“O-oh.”

Guess it’s best not to dig too deep into the connection between Maina-sama and Craft. Seems like I’m being told not to meddle at all. Best leave it to the ladies’ judgment, I suppose.

From Kyle and the king’s point of view, they probably think the best thing would be for Maina and Craft to get together. But Craft’s not someone you can just push around with power anymore.

Guess I’ll have to work behind the scenes to keep him in the Production Guild. That’s about all I can do.

“In the end, it’s all up to Craft. Wasting time thinking about it’s pointless.”

“I was talking about Eva, though.”

“Uh… sorry.”

I press my lips lightly to Solal’s forehead, trying to calm him down.

Just then, a communication golem from Craft pings me.

Not a scheduled check-in. Something must’ve come up.

‘Raidock, can you talk now?’

‘Yeah, sure. Psychic Link — Craft.’

Through the golem’s magic, Craft shares his vision with me. He’s seeing what I’m seeing.

‘…Still doing well with Solal, I see.’

"Sorry, Solal. Step back a bit."

Craft saw through my eyes—so he must’ve been looking right at Solal’s close-up face. I felt a little awkward, so I gently pushed Solal aside.

"What’s up?"

‘Ah, I’m planning to move on securing the World Tree in a few days. How’s your schedule looking?’

"Still going smoothly. But it’ll take a while yet to reach the imperial capital. If just me and Solal go ahead, we can manage. Problem is, we can’t carry the portal gate with us then."

The portal gate was tightly packed and loaded onto the wagon. If Eva or Craft were here, we could’ve stored it in space, but that’s a luxury problem.

‘Ah. So if the gate’s already set up, that’s why I was planning to come.’

"Even if we made it to the capital, there’d still be negotiations on post-war cleanup. Setting up the gate safely? That’s way down the line."

Yeah, fair enough. Got it. I’ll try something over here, but if things go to hell…

Got it. I’ll set it up hidden somewhere. Just means I’ll have to destroy one teleport gate to do it.

'Van'll handle something around there, I reckon.'

Thinking of dumping responsibility and budget onto His Majesty? He’s soft on Craft and Kyle, so it should be fine.

Be ready to move, keep your mind on being there when it counts.

Ah. Good to have you.

But you’re calling me like there’s something to worry about?

The monster the alchemist village had been tracking—high chance it’s hostile.

...If it’s too much, just call me right away.

'Got it.'

Once the transmission ended, I filled everyone in on the situation and tweaked the route settings a bit. That way, if we ever need to, we can set up a transfer gate deep in the woods—somewhere no one’ll see it.

The mage Bardack, who’d been listening to the orders, narrowed his brows.

“What’s going on over there?”

“Ah, there’s some nasty monster near the place where the World Tree is. Seems we’re the ones who’ve gotta go in.”

We’re keeping the World Tree stuff vague for everyone else—only I got the full report. The state’s involved.

“Call for reinforcements?”

“No. We only got one transfer gate, and we’re not joining up.”

“Alright with that?”

“Yeah, fine. Nobuna’s over there. Persia. Camille. Even just the front line’s a solid force. Add Craft and Eva to that. As long as we don’t slack off, even a demon lord’s no problem.”

“True enough.”

We nod at each other, and just then, the kingdom’s elite troops burst in.

“Don’t you lot—Craft and all—get a grip on your own damn strength!”

We glanced at each other, then just sighed and let our shoulders drop.