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nProofreader: Xemul

nAfter the meeting with Yuri, Loren and Lapis paid a visit to the clinic. The purpose was to check up on Gula, who was undergoing treatment.

nLoren had been a patient at the clinic until he regained consciousness, so the practitioners working there immediately showed him to Gula’s room when they saw his face and heard him mention Gula’s name.

n“We are very sorry to tell you this, but… We think it’s time for you to take that large mister away.”

n“I’m really sorry about this, but something happens on our side, and we may have to ask you to look after him for a little while longer.”

n“We’re not sure how this will affect the other patients…”

n“We understand. It may be a waste of time, but we’ll talk to him properly this time.”

nAs the young female practitioner nervously discussed this with Loren and Lapis while leading them to Gula’s room, Loren wondered how hard he needed to hit Luxuria with his greatsword in order to make him tone down his behaviors a little bit.

nIn the hospital room, to which Loren and Lapis were taken, they found Gula wrapped in a comforter on clean sheets, breathing heavily in her sleep.

nLooking only at her sleeping form, Gula was a beautiful woman with very well-defined features, and her proportions were so perfect that even through the quilt, one could see how stunning she was.

nAs soon as Loren thought that he wished she would stay sleeping forever, Gula breathed out a puff of pitch black smoke. The smell of something burning filled the room, and Lapis, frowning, walked over to the window and opened the slightly-ajar window fully, then began to fan the room with her hand, trying to drive the smell out of the room.

nThe fire from the Evil God of Wrath that had attacked Loren and his friends was still burning in the stomach of Gula’s authority, and no one knew its location.

nBy this time, Loren did not know whether to be afraid of the authority of the Evil God of Wrath, which kept burning for such a long time, or to be amazed at how stuffed the stomach of Gula’s authority was that it could keep burning for this long. But since this was what kept Gula in such bad shape, it was no laughing matter.

n“Hey, Gula. Can you get up?”

nLoren said in a subdued voice as he walked up to the bed. Gula opened her eyes a crack, then sat up when she saw that Loren was calling out to her.

nLoren gestured that she could stay lying, but Gula waved her hand as if to say she was fine.

n“What’s the matter?”

n“First of all, how’s your stomach?”

n“I’ve gotta real bad case of heartburn.”

nGula held her hand over her chest and frowned, black smoke leaking out of her mouth again.

nIf she had been a human being, it would not have been possible for her to survive, since the fire was still burning inside her body.

nIt was such a strange phenomenon that even the medical practitioners were puzzled by it, and Loren was concerned that Gula’s true identity might be revealed. However, since the examination showed that her body wasn’t burning from inside, they were able to argue away the phenomenon as being caused by some force that no one understood at the moment.

n“Nothing bad. We’ve been asked to do a little something, and we were thinking of asking you to go with us.”

nLoren was thinking of asking Gula to accompany them on Yuri’s commission. Lapis believed that she and Loren could manage it, but Loren thought that no matter how powerful Lapis was, he was just a mercenary, and the more people they could mobilize with would be the better.

n“I might be able to if I push myself, but what’s wrong?”

n“Well, I’ll explain while you take this.”

nLoren reached into his jacket and pulled out an ornately decorated glass bottle that looked expensive. Inside the clear bottle was some kind of liquid.

n“Is it medicine? But there is no such thing as a medicine that can cure my illness, is there? No medicine can put down Wrath’s fire. It would have to be some kind of elixir.”

n“It is an elixir.”

nLoren replied casually, and Gula looked at the bottle in Loren’s hand with a surprised look on her face.

nThe bottle was something Loren had requested from Yuri as a necessary expense for this commission. Apparently, this valuable medicine, which cost one gold coin a bottle, was within the reach of a General of the Imperial Army, and Yuri was willing to give it to Loren upon his request.

n“Can you manage with this? If not, I’ll get a few more from the Commander’s.”

n“You got them from him? I might be able to make do with something on the level of an elixir.”

nWith these words, Gula took the bottle containing the elixir from Loren, pulled out the stopper, and gulped down the contents without hesitation.

nAs Loren and Lapis watched to see how effective the elixir would be, Gula, who had kept her eyes closed for some time, finally exhaled a long, thin breath of white smoke from her mouth and opened her eyes to look at them.

n“Alrighty. Now I’m good to go.”

n“Are you sure you’re okay? If you’re having a hard time, even just a little, I’ll tell the Commander and he’ll give us a few more bottles.”

n“I’m fine. Besides, this is expensive, isn’t it? I can’t drink it without feeling like I’m adding to your debt, Loren.”

n“It’s a pretty little thing compared to all the debts I’m saddled with.”

n“That’s not something to be proud of, okay?”

nJudging from Gula’s jab at him, she seemed to be really okay, so Loren nodded.

n“I, for one, would be very happy to see Loren’s debt increase… But it certainly doesn’t seem to make much sense to add one more gold coin to it now, does it?”

n“You are so merciless, Lapis-chan. And using such expensive medicine to ask me to go with you, what did you take on, and from where?”

nLoren began by telling Gula, who was smiling wryly, that the leader of the mercenary group he used to belong to was now a general in the Empire, and then went on to explain the discussion they had with Yuri.

nYuri’s commission to Loren and his team was to obtain the means to fight against a being who called herself the ‘Evil god of Wrath’.

nYuri said that there was a cave further north from the town where Loren and his group were currently residing, and that there was something inside that would help them fight the Evil God of Wrath. Yuri then added that Loren was the only one he could ask to do this, but Loren could not understand why.

nIt was also unclear where Yuri had obtained the information about the existence of such a thing, but the Yuri Loren knew was not the type of person who would say things without meaning it. So Loren believed that there really was something in there, and that Yuri had some kind of reason to commission Loren and his team.

n“That’s why we had to go on a trip.”

n“I see. So you want me to accompany you on that trip.”

nLoren nodded to Gula, who got out of bed.

n“Because more people are always better, of course.”

n“Although I would be more excited by the idea of being on the road with Loren alone, but I agree that more people are better.”

n“What, it seems that Lapis-chan doesn’t give me much of a welcome.”

nGula said with a laugh, and Lapis silently cast her eyes down without denying or confirming.

n“I’m good. What about Luxuria?”

nGula asked, stretching lightly as if to check her own condition, and both Loren and Lapis showed their reluctance at the same time.

nThey both wanted to leave him behind if possible, but as they had been told by the nurses earlier, the clinic wanted them to take Luxuria back as soon as possible. They understood that it was not possible to leave him at the clinic forever, so leaving him behind was not a good option.

n“We’ll have to check up on him… Though I don’t want to.”

n“It’s a tough call, but he’s a guy I have a certain amount of faith in as an asset.”

n“If we weigh the advantages and disadvantages on a scale, I think the disadvantages will be heavier. I wonder why he was not consumed by Miss Wrath’s flames?”

nLapis mumbled to herself that she wished he had been reduced to ashes. Loren nodded his head repeatedly in agreement, and Gula laughed as she watched them.

n“Luxuria is one of the toughest ones amongst us. Well, the toughest of all must be the lazy guy.”

n“I’m surprised he’s tougher.”

nLoren tilted his head at Gula’s words. This was something he struggled to imagine from the name ‘Sloth’. Sloth, to begin with, gave the impression of not doing anything as much as possible. Loren wondered what Sloth’s authority was, and Gula gave a simple explanation.

n“If Sloth wants to, he will have full resistance to all attributes, plus a defense so strong that even if a dragon steps on him, he will be unharmed. In return, he must not move at all.”

n“So he can be a superior flesh wall?”

n“The only way he can use his authority to its full potential is to lie completely flat, so he can’t be used as a shield. There’s another heinous effect that more than makes up for it, but whatever.”

nGula said as she bent her body, then her elbows, and clenched her fists. She must have felt stiff after sleeping for so long.

n“I’m good enough to help you. As soon as we are ready, let’s head for that cave or whatever it is. I’ll ask Luxuria about it, and you two make preparations for departure, all right?”

n“I heard that the Commander is taking care of all the preparations for departure and the arrangements for supplies. As soon as we are ready to go, all we have to do is pick up our supplies and transportation at the north gate of this city.”

nYuri was not sloppy about making preparations. It seemed that he had already arranged for those things before he approached Loren and Lapis. Everything was ready, and all they had to do was go to the designated place with only their own personal belongings.

n“Who is this Yuri, ex-commander?”

n“To me, he’s just a kind old man.”

n“I don’t think he’s just an old man.”

n“He’s an old man who used to be the leader of a mercenary group.”

nLapis and Gula looked at each other as Loren seemed not to care much about the situation. The man had come up with a countermeasure against Wrath immediately, knew of the existence of a cave that no one else knew about, and was already prepared for departure when he approached them with a job offer. Both of them thought that this was no mere old man’s work, but it was also true that Loren’s comment of ‘It’s just how the Commander is’ seemed strangely persuasive.

n“Well, is this alright?”

n“I’m sure we’ll have to look into him sooner or later, but for now, I think it’s alright.”

nWhen Gula, who seemed to be feeling somewhat uneasy, asked Lapis, she answered without thinking too deeply and shrugged her shoulders.

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