Northern Lands.
Great Sanft Forest.
By the gurgling stream.
Three listless men were sitting casually on the green grass.
"What the heck..." "If anyone's washing, it should be us first, alright?"
Wirbel complained, pulling out a small blade of grass beside him.
And chewing on it.
"Ladies first, men step aside."
Yulian took it in stride.
It had been almost a week since he last bathed.
A few more minutes wouldn't make a difference.
Earlier, when they were in Saum Marshes.
Due to constant rain, the water quality there was truly moving.
He had endured until now.
Yulian had already become habitually resigned.
Plus, he had his own cleansing Magic.
Although he was quite uncomfortable.
It was still barely acceptable.
"Speaking of which, Ehre must be the most uncomfortable."
Scharf remembered Ehre's thick, long hair.
"I saw her hair all stuck together yesterday."
Wirbel and Yulian imagined according to Scharf's words.
Coupled with their current empathy, they couldn't help but shiver.
"Alright, go ahead."
Ehre, looking completely refreshed and clean, pushed aside the grass.
She tied up her hair and came before the others.
"I didn't say anything bad about you!"
Scharf's expression was tense, and he couldn't help but straighten his body.
"Seriously, if you said it, you said it."
Wirbel pouted.
This guy.
Being a total wimp was one thing.
But he was also dense.
No wonder his Magic was all that kind of steel Magic.
"Alright, alright, hurry up and go."
Ehre touched her forehead.
She had originally intended to let the dummy off the hook.
But wasn't he just asking for it?
"I really didn't say it!"
Scharf showed a wronged expression.
Begging Ehre for forgiveness.
"Hurry up and go, before I can't help but hit you."
Ehre smiled gently.
Her small fists were clenched tight.
She shook them in front of Scharf.
"Let's go."
Wirbel hooked his arm around Scharf's neck.
And dragged him towards the stream.
"Mr. Yulian, you..."
Ehre looked at Yulian, who was standing quietly in place.
She blinked her eyes curiously.
"I..."
Yulian touched his nose.
He said somewhat awkwardly.
"I'm not really used to bathing with others."
With girls, it was fine.
But with two others who were also men.
Yulian showed an awkward smile.
Extremely difficult, forcing someone to do something they don't want to.
Just thinking about it sent shivers down his spine.
"I see."
Ehre nodded lightly in understanding.
According to her understanding, people from the Central Lands were like this.
Unlike the men from the North, three people?
Even a dozen people were fine.
Even...
Ehre blushed slightly.
When she was little, she had even bathed with Wirbel in a large bathtub.
Wait.
Why are you blushing like that!
Yulian's eyes went wide!
Didn't he just say he wasn't used to bathing with others?
Why the expression!
Who knew, who knew!
Yulian looked at Ehre with a strange gaze.
Was this girl a fujoshi?
"Ahem..." Noticing Yulian's gaze.
Ehre's face turned slightly red, then she lightly coughed.
Changing the subject, she said.
"Mr. Yulian..." "After we finish bathing, we can go to the inn and see if they have any extra horses."
"If we're lucky, we can borrow one or two to travel faster."
"Inn?"
Yulian had heard them talking about the inn a few days ago.
But Yulian wasn't sure where the inn was.
So they were arriving at the place they called the inn so quickly?
"Yes, that's right."
"The inn by the fork in the road."
Ehre's expression returned to normal.
She extended her slender white finger, pointing in the direction not far away.
"We have a good relationship with the inn Boss."
"If he has any extra horses he uses for stocking up."
"Most likely, we won't need to walk anymore."
What was originally a two or three-day carriage ride.
Was dragged out to a week by the few of them walking.
They had wasted too much time.
They could only hope the inn Boss could be of some help to them.
"Let's go take a look later."
Yulian nodded lightly.
And smiled slightly.
He was also a little looking forward to it.
"Then the next step is the road to Neutrall Port..." "By sea and land, we can quickly reach the Imperial Capital's seaport."
"By then, we'll have completely reached the Northern Plateau and can understand the war situation more clearly."
Ehre spoke to herself.
She didn't like war.
But for peace, she chose to join the war.
Join the Northern Magic Unit, join the war.
Stop war with war.
Protect more innocent people.
"Aren't we going by land?"
According to Yulian's memory.
Originally, the few of them planned to go by land.
After all, that way they could meet up with the troops dispatched by the Northern Lands.
And go to the Northern Plateau together.
That way, he could also get some information about the Northern Lands' military strength and so on.
No matter what happened next.
Yulian felt that would be quite advantageous.
"Mr. Yulian wants to know about the Northern Lands' troop deployment, right?"
Ehre smiled slightly.
Her words made Yulian's slightly guilty expression tense up.
But immediately after, Ehre praised him again.
"As expected of Mr. Yulian, you're already concerned about the fight against the Demons even though you've just joined us."
Saying this, Ehre shook her head again and sighed.
"Unfortunately, too much time has been wasted..." "If we need to hurry back, we can only go by water."
Little horse...
Why did you have to die...
Ehre and Yulian thought with a simultaneous sigh in their hearts.
If the little horse were still alive.
The few of them would naturally have ample time to hurry back by land.
But time had already been delayed.
"The Imperial Capital's seaport is near Kino Gorge, right?"
Yulian asked.
After all, his memory was a bit blurry.
"Mm-hmm, that's right."
Ehre nodded.
"The seaport is located near the border fortress city of the Empire's Kino Gorge, about tens of kilometers in the direction of the Imperial Capital."
"By then, we can take the Empire's dedicated carriage to Kino Gorge and meet up with the Northern Magic Unit."
She was slightly surprised by Yulian's understanding of the situation in the North.
But when she thought that Yulian was a First Class Mage.
She felt relieved.
It was normal for a First Class Mage from the Continental Association to appear there.
It was also natural for him to understand the situation in the North.
"I hope time passes quickly."
Yulian lowered his gaze.
He calculated.
In that case, the fastest time to reach the Northern Plateau would still be about two weeks away.
This was if they went by sea and land.
If they went by land, without one or two months.
Don't even think about it.
"We're back."
A refreshed Wirbel returned, carrying Scharf, who looked like he had been drained of all his strength.
Yulian's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.
"What did you guys do? Why do you look weird?"
Ehre asked before Yulian.
"Just rubbed his back for him and he ended up like this..." "This guy..." "He's such a wuss!"
Yulian's body instinctively shivered upon hearing that.
He was even more glad he didn't go with them...