Chapter 34: Utarou’s Pilgrimage
“Uhm, sorry about the uh… things sir… Was just following orders and all…” Hans muttered awkwardly as Utarou stretched after getting off his horse.
“Huh? Oh yeah right you had the key didn’t you.” Utaoru remembered, looking the man up and down properly. Though he was a much meeker man than Utarou had imagined, shorter and thinner with a dainty face and doe eyes, a squeaky voice.
“I still have it if you uh… want it.” Hans offered meekly. Utarou laughed and brushed it off.
“Don’t worry about it, as long as you follow my orders like you did Henrek we’ll be fine.” Utarou shrugged as he entered his tent.
The squad had split into three teams, May and Hope focusing on the reconstruction and preparation during the winter back in Dryholm, Julia, Barney and Henrek were going to try and establish diplomatic ties with Lolcons in order to secure some military assistance, while Utarou with a selection of 4 doggedly loyal guards were making their way to Avotica, the city the Pope of the Avoisan Church lived in.
Hans wasn’t the strongest soldier but he was the most competent navigator and most theologically knowledgeable man Barney could trust.
Rufus was the undisputed third strongest man in Dryholm, not as skillful as Henrek and not as strong as Barney, though that wasn’t to say he lacked in either department.
Penelope wasn’t a soldier at all, but she was the only person in Dryholm with any magical ability; she'd also insisted on coming on the pilgrimage to further her studies by escaping the backwater that was Dracons.
Finally was Garf, the strong silent type who preferred tending to the horses than talking with people.
All 3 of the soldiers were approved by both Barney and Henrek and given strict orders to listen to Utarou, regardless of whatever hair brained scheme he might come up with. Penelope was May’s friend so she got added in as well.
Though all of them hoped it wouldn’t come to that, including Utarou who just wanted everything to go smoothly for once.
“R-right, yes sir…” Hans muttered as he returned to his shared tent with Penelope.
“You should learn to knock, a lady could be changing in here.” Penelope teased, looking up from her grimoire with a relaxed smirk.
“O-oh sorry! I didn’t think, I’m not used to sharing, uh, spaces with girls.” Hans explained awkwardly. Penelope laughed.
“Relax! I know you wouldn’t do anything.” Penelope cackled as she shut her book, swiveling on her stool to talk to Hans better.
“Yeah I guess…” Hans laughed nervously as he sat down opposite the woman.
“So, he accept the apology? Any hard feelings?” Penelope asked curiously.
“He didn’t even remember me…” Hans sighed, taking out the key.
“Yeesh! Harsh! Probably has other stuff on the mind. I heard he managed to fix Julia, any idea how?” Penelope asked as she casually started flipping through her skill tree, seeing if she had anything interesting available to unlock yet.
“Oh uh, something to do with a tier 4 skill I guess…” Hans shrugged.
“Ho oh? I’ve gotta get a private audience with the guy at some point.” Penelope smirked as she rubbed her hands together.
“H-huh?! Why?” Hans asked incredulously.
“Uh, hello? Magic and skills basically go hand in hand, and I don’t think the Holy Path turns girls into slime.” Penelope retorted.
“Y-yeah but, well I dunno… he’s weird.” Hans countered meekly. Penelope rolled her eyes.
“Please, when I lived in Kolob I was dealing with real weirdos. Trust me magic fetishisation is a real problem in our society.” Penelope declared sarcastically.
“R-really?”
“No, I was a young orphan girl in a small village with more handsy old perverts than nice grandmas. Only reason I didn’t end up baring a bastard to one of them was because I can shoot fire out of my finger tips thank you very much!” Penelope explained with a sardonic smirk.
“Oh god that’s awful…” Hans muttered tearfully. Penelope rolled her eyes again.
“Crying isn’t a good look for a guy you know.” Penelope sighed as she left the tent to get to know her fellow travelers better.
The caravan was fairly light, they only had three tents and minor furnishings being carried across two wagons. Utarou only asked for a desk and his note books so he could keep formulating theories on how Julia’s evolution actually occurred.
Penelope and Hans slept in one tent, with a stool each and a candle for light while Garf and Refus slept in the other.
“Knock knock knock, not doing anything to scare a young maidens eyes are you?” Penelope shouted as she approached the mens tent.
“Not unless the horse man’s breath counts! Good lord he stinks.” Rufus mocked gagged, trying and failing to get a reaction out of the ever stoic Garf.
Entering the tent Penelope found it identically bar, except somehow still messier than hers and Hans’.
“Yeesh, you sure that isn’t you Rufus?” Penelope teased as she took a seat. Garf, without saying anything, got up and left.
“Oh wait, you don’t have to go!” Penelope apologised, quickly standing up but it was too late.
“Aah don’t worry about him, he’s not comfortable bein’ around people.” Rufus explained.
“Right… Well I just wanted to ask if you had any idea about Utarou’s method.” Penelope asked casually.
“Huh?” Rufus replied, entirely clueless what the young woman was on about.
“You know, how he figured out that tier 4 skill? Turned Julia into slime? Like what’s the idea. You guys were the guard. I figured you’d know him better than lil ol’ me.” Penelope explained, fluttering her eyelashes. Rufus blushed, the witches beguiling spell working despite not using any magic like a charm.
“Ah shucks, I mean I know of the guy, seen him a bit more than you probably but he ain’t exactly the easiest guy to understand. Talks a lot but I don’t understand much of any of it.” Rufus admitted as he looked away, scratching the back of his neck.
“Boo, well I’ll suppose I’ll have to introduce myself properly then.” Penelope shrugged, quickly leaving the tent. She saw Garf sitting near the horses as she left the tent and made her way to Utarou’s.
“Time to get some one-on-one time with the former governor, once executed and now a loyal vassal to King Barney…” Penelope thought to herself as she opened the mans tent.
“Hello! Not indecent I ho-” Penelope began, opening the cloth to reveal Utarou, stripped of his clothes, as a gray blob of goo was aggressively pulsating around his legs.
“It’s not what it looks like.” Utarou panicked, the goo stopped pulsating.
“Also, run.” Utarou added.