Whatever. We were finally getting a party together, anyway.

“Bubba, bubba! What about me?” Keel was wagging her tail happily as she put herself forward. The last time we’d gone, we had to leave her behind because of wounds she’d sustained from one of the Spirit Tortoise’s familiars.

“I don’t want to take a whole army. And like I said, we might find ourselves fighting almost right away,” I replied. If she really wanted to do it, I wasn’t going to stop her, but I also didn’t want to leave the village undefended. “Sadeena can handle herself even at a low level, right? And she gets strong really quick,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s true. I bet Sadeena is mentally strong even at level 1!” Keel enthused.

“But what about you, Keel? Do you have the confidence to fight at level 1?” I questioned.

“Hmmm. Okay! I’ll stay here and support Fohl!” she said, quickly changing her mind and grabbing onto Fohl’s arm.

“Sure, okay,” he said unsteadily. I might have given it more thought if she had said something like, “You didn’t take me last time, so this time I’m definitely going along!” But she didn’t try that line.

I’d left peddling to Keel anyway, and it was going well. It wouldn’t hurt for her to just continue along those lines. I’d obtained considerable territory and wealth, but for the sake of the future, I wanted to maintain patrols and keep the peace while also conducting sales.

“Just keep doing your best!” I told her.

“I will! I’ll make so much money you’ll make a new sweet treat for me!” she yipped. So it was a sugar injection she was after? Sometimes I really thought I’d screwed up the way I raised everyone in my village.

“That should be enough,” I said, keen to get this stage of the process finished. Considering the situation over there, it was probably best not to take a huge number of people along anyway. There was strength in numbers, but taking too many for the sake of it could also lead to unnecessary deaths. After all, if we ran into someone that Rishia and I couldn’t handle, most of those here wouldn’t be any additional help. I needed to keep any losses down as far as possible.

So we were taking Filo, Rishia, Itsuki if possible, Sadeena, Raph-chan, and then S’yne. “Looks like we’ve got a party,” I concluded. Ethnobalt and I would round out the group.

It both felt like too many and yet maybe not enough. But there were still the waves and all sorts of other issues to resolve in this world. There was little leeway other than this group.

“Okay. From the four holy heroes, I’ll take Itsuki. Will that work?” I asked the shield. It shone again. Looked like I’d received permission.

If possible, I really wanted to just meet up with Raphtalia, save Kizuna, deal with the vassal weapon holder who had caused the problem, and get the hell back here.