31 – Brains

They kept running away from the guards. Since Igor already knew every corner of the city, they could always avoid the armored people.

"Climb on my back." Alan crouched down with his back to Ivan after giving the rabbit to that boy. "Come on. You're exhausted, right?"

Ivan was already so out of breath and sweating a lot. At first, he was hesitant but finally followed the young man's orders.

"Thank you," Igor spoke while catching his breath. "And sorry, I'm not physically strong enough to carry my son…. Ah, but don't worry, we'll be there soon."

"Let's go." Alan motioned for the others to run back when he heard the approaching footsteps.

Only a few yards away, they arrived at the reception gate. After passing through the gate, they passed a long bridge that led to a land. Brunch was sitting with his back to them in that place.

"It really is a wyvern." Igor hissed. "You guys really tamed it."

Celia smiled. "She is not our pet, but our friend. We don't tame her."

"It's a she?" The shop owner widened his eyes. "The female wyverns are more aggressive than the males."

"That creature is truly magnificent." Haruna hissed. "But not as magnificent as you, Al."

Alan has no idea why the rogue said that.

The female guard who had greeted Alan and Celia this morning looked over from Brunch's body. "Hey, it turns out that she is very friendly. Now she is eating jerky with me."

The wyvern turned her head back while chewing.

Alan immediately whispered something to Haruna, who immediately winked.

Upon arriving at the land, the guard frowned. "Well, your numbers are increasing…. Do you want to cross over? Unfortunately, the raft driver the raft has finished his shift. I'm still here because the person on the night shift is sick…."

She stopped her words, then narrowed her eyes at the soldiers who came running from the distance.

And suddenly, Haruna wrapped her arms around the guard's neck from behind. Brunch was about to protest, but Alan immediately calmed her down. "Relax, we don't mean anything bad. We just don't want her to be in our way."

The scaly beast only tilted its head at Alan. Meanwhile, Haruna had managed to knock the female guard unconscious, then put her on the ground.

"Are you able to control the flying raft, sir Igor…." Alan was stunned when he found that the vehicle was close to the bridge's other end.

And the other guards started to cross that bridge by running.

Alan felt more and more stupid.

"I saw that thing earlier but didn't think about using it." Celia patted her forehead. "I'm an idiot."

"We broke the bridge, then!" Alan took out his knife and began cutting the bridge's ropes. Others did the same, including Igor and his son. Even Brunch participated by nibbling on the rope.

One jump can't cover the distance between the guards and Alan's group. The bridge was also wobbling, throwing them off balance.

"This is why I have repeatedly proposed recruiting guards with range attack capability!" One of those guards grunted. "And we have some mages just for trivial things like amplifying our voices!"

The guards were forced to retreat from the bridge, which broke up moments later. Brunch then hurriedly pushed the land.

"Hey, there's a flying raft!" Another guard pointed at an object made of wooden planks with a cockpit and propeller. "We can use it!"

"Why didn't anyone notice that!?"

"Because this place rarely becomes a transit point for visitors."

"Why are we even chatting!?"

As soon as several guards boarded the vehicle, Alan gave an order to the wyvern. "Smash it, Brunch."

The winged beast turned around, flying fast towards the raft. Because the vehicle couldn't be started immediately, the soldiers returned to the land and couldn't do anything about it when Brunch rammed that thing to pieces.

"Ha ha ha!!!" Igor pointed at those guards with a look of joy. "You can't steal my son's pet anymore!!!"

"Noms!!!" Ivan caught the rabbit that was about to fly again. "Don't come back to that city!"

Celia sat on the ground while Brunch pushed the land again.

"Another incident that almost made my heart stop." The female fighter took a deep breath.

"Have you ever experienced anything like this?" Haruna asked. "I only found some monsters I can still handle, although sometimes I get a little overwhelmed."

"You are lucky." Celia's mouth curved into a bitter smile. "In the early days in this world, we fought a huge deadly wasp, escaped from a giant spider that almost ate me, and ran from people who were zombies but weren't really zombies."

Haruna was silent for a moment. "I must admit, you two sure have real adventures in this world."

They then moved to Alan's land and left the female soldier behind. Then, Brunch pushed on full speed ahead.

"Hopefully, someone will save her," Celia commented.

"At this speed, they won't be able to overtake us." Igor looked at the guards, who seemed to be getting smaller, then turned around to go to his belongings wrapped in black cloth. "Now, it's time I made you the propeller."

"But you must be exhausted after running around the city like that." Alan didn't expect the craftsman to do that. "Maybe you should rest first. You don't have to think about it."

"I want this to be over quickly before we reach our destination." Igor started arranging some wooden parts. "This is my thanks to you guys for saving me and my son."

"You've given instructions for building that thing, so….

"I insist." Igor interrupted while busily dealing with the parts. "You guys have done a great service to us. We don't know if we can survive without you."

Alan then crouched beside the man. "Let me help then. So I can absorb your knowledge better and maintain it myself later."

"Sure." The ex-shop owner wore a big smile.

"Whaattt!!!???" Suddenly the female guard who was left behind screamed. "Why am I here!!??