Chapter 2 – Departure

“Please take good care of my daughter.”

“I wanna go play with big bro too!! It’s not fair—Marie’s the only one! Not fair! Waaah! I wanna go there too—!”

Dad hurriedly scooped up Lily and took her back inside the house.

Mom bowed her head to the adventurers, then chased after him.

Even our final farewell got interrupted.

At this point, it’s so ridiculous I can’t even cry—I’m just laughing.

I decided not to look back anymore.

We were arranging for S-rank adventurers to escort me all the way to Grandpa in the capital.

Considering my stamina and the mountain passes, plus their own schedule, it would be a long journey—somewhere between half a year to a full year.

I sat primly in the rattling wagon, surrounded by the four adventurers, leaving my village for the very first time in my life.

S-rank adventurers, no less.

In our village, even C-ranks were a rare sight, so I was bursting with curiosity.

Traveling, huh… I traced back through the fragmented memories of my past life.

“Marie-chan.”

“Just Marie is fine.”

“Alright, Marie. Let me give you some travel tips…”

The leader, Gain, had a muscular build and carried a long sword—he seemed like a frontline swordsman.

“…and that’s the gist of it. Basically, don’t act on your own, and in emergencies, follow orders without question.”

Despite his stern face, he smiled at me so kindly.

“Got it.”

“Is this your first time traveling, Marie?”

Heart, tall and slender with a bow on his back, narrowed his eyes.

He was young, but he seemed like a kid person—good sign. He’d make a great dad someday.

“Yeah, I’ve never even seen a monster before.”

“Then let’s register you in the party. You’ll level up and all that.”

Gain muttered something under his breath, and a panel appeared before my eyes.

Fascinated by the novelty, I fumbled around and selected “Yes.” The panel vanished.

“First time seeing one?”

“Yeah, I was shocked. To think I get to party up with S-rank adventurers—I wanna brag to someone!”

I let out a little giggle, and Gain ruffled my hair. “Finally cracked a smile, huh?”

I’d thought I’d been smiling the whole time, but when I touched my face, Sid the dual-wielder pinched my cheeks. “Your face was stiff from nerves.”

If you weren’t a hot uncle, that’d be unforgivable, I grumbled inwardly, then tapped his hand. “Let go~!”

“Hahaha, don’t tease her just ’cause she’s cute.”

Fernet, handling the wagon reins, was the youngest—a sleek, all-black-clad handsome guy.

As we chatted idly, a few brown, round, fluffy rabbits hopped out from the side… or so I thought.

But they were already dead.

Arrows pierced right between their eyes—Heart’s handiwork, no doubt.

His reflexes are insane.

*Ping*

Hm? Did I level up?

The wagon stopped, and Sid rinsed the fluffballs with water magic before dumping them in a heap behind me.

“Whoa, amazing!”

“First monsters you’ve seen?”

Heart nodded at the fluffballs. “They’re weak ones. With a weapon, even you could take ’em down, Marie,” he said with a sly grin.

Ehh!? No way, I can’t train or anything. I’m bad at exercise, and I already decided to focus on growing herbs!

But for my sake, Heart happily whipped up a wooden sword.

I… I can’t refuse this.

“…Thank you.”

Hahaha. Looks can be deceiving—he’s a total sadist in training.

Snap, crackle—sparks danced up into the darkness.

“So, the little sis has the Light Blessing, huh.”

“That’s right. That’s why we could hire you all with her tuition money.”

Sid the hot uncle poked at the campfire with a wry chuckle, his vibe all brooding.

“Little sis is gonna get a tutor for magic, reading, writing, math, etiquette—the works. You sure that’s okay?”

“Dad’s super smart, so it’ll be fine.”

I could tell they exchanged glances, at a loss for words.

They probably think I’m the heartless big sis who blew her sister’s money. But what can ya do?

It’s true. No guilt here at all. Teehee~.

“How long have you all been together?”

Gain said, “This party’s been around for about five years,” and everyone nodded along.

“Sid’s been traveling with a young Heart forever. Then Fernet ran away from home and begged to be his apprentice. Sid came to me—an S-rank solo back then—and asked me to teach ’em the ropes.”

“Heh. Aptitude-wise, Gain suited them better than me. Especially Heart.”

“Right after forming, we took down a dragon and jumped two ranks overnight. Fernet hit C, I hit A—crazy, right?”

“I said I’d never go through that again, but then we ran into an even bigger dragon!”

Everyone burst into loud laughter.

“We were fearless greenhorns back then,” Heart chuckled bitterly.

“Knew you guys could handle it,” Sid grinned confidently.

“I was busy protecting young Fernet,” Gain laughed,

and Fernet winked. “I believed in everyone.”

Aw, so cool. Comrades-in-arms, or more like family.

Hate to kill the vibe, but I’d taken a bucket bath, eaten dinner, and now I was sleepy. So I just turned in.

“So, what do you think of her?”

We were heading to the capital anyway. No rush.

That’s why we took the job.

But I had a bad feeling—something off about this girl.

I checked with her directly earlier: Little sis has the Light Blessing, but she doesn’t.

Matched what the parents said, but it still bugged me.

And hiring S-ranks just to cross some mountains? No way.

I figured I’d poll the others.

“For a saintess candidate sis, kicking out the troublesome big sis… but spending this much?”

“Feels like they never wanna see each other again.”

“Parents sending a five-year-old off alone are nuts, but Marie doesn’t even miss ’em. Way too detached.”

We all gazed at tiny Marie, who had dozed off without us noticing.

“Normal families go to the capital together for saintess training, right?”

“If the church calls sis for training, fine—but why’s Marie going?”

“Even if sis blew the tuition, subsidies cover moving and stuff. So why use that to separate them?”

Mysteries on mysteries.

Either way, Marie’s been ditched by her folks—no doubt.

And she knows it.

“How ’bout we look after her like surrogate parents on this trip?”

Figured Heart the kid-lover would say that.

“Yeah. Plenty of downtime on the road anyway—why not?”

Fernet’s close in age; good role model.

“Then let’s train her up in our spare time.”

Sid grinned eagerly.

At the farewell, neither parent spared Marie a glance.

Marie never looked back once.

Hoping it’s as easy as advertised.