Uryuu sighted down his arrow. Adjusted his aim. Fired.

The lone goblin shrieked. Fell. Faded into a swirl of light.

“I got it!” Hanae shouted as she hopped down from the seat of the wagon and darted over to the little pile of treasure the defeated monster had left behind.

Uryuu nocked another arrow and scanned the area again, searching for any stray monsters, thankful for the clear view that sitting atop the wagon gave him. He hated this habit the kids had!

(If he missed even a single monster…)

(If he was even a heartbeat too slow—)

(No!)

“Aww, I wanna see what goblins drop,” Jun muttered petulantly, leaning around the wagon to peer back at his sister. He wiggled a bit when Osamu’s hand came down to grip the back of his shirt, then leaned over even further until only Osamu’s grip was keeping him in place. “Hey! You better show me!”

“I’ll do what I want!” Hanae yelled back as she swept the treasure up into a small bag, running her hand over the ground a couple times to make sure she’d found it all.

Uryuu clenched his jaw and forced himself to breath out. She was so close to the underbrush… if something was lurking beyond his sight—

“She’ll be fine,” Sho murmured in his ear, then swayed backwards when Uryuu gasped and tried to slam an elbow into him. He raised his hands, palm out, and smiled softly. “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“You can’t know that,” Uryuu hissed, ignoring Sho’s apology in favor of gesturing towards Hanae who was currently racing back to the wagon. “You hired me to help guard you and—”

“And my kids are capable of fending off the usual monsters and demihumans along this route long enough for one of us to rescue them,” Sho said calmly as Osamu leaned over Jun and swept Hanae off the ground in a casual display of strength. “Nothing truly dangerous makes its home this close to Akiba, after all.”

Uryuu grimaced and looked away from Sho’s earnest expression. He knew the man was right — all the best hunting grounds were well away from large Adventurer cities like Akiba — but it didn’t stop him from worrying. This was not the Elder Tales that he knew; how much of his knowledge was obsolete because of that?

(Could monsters leave their zones now?)

(Was there anything between the NPC villages and destruction, now that Theldesia was real?)

Fingers brushed against his elbow, drawing him from his thoughts.

“We’ll be fine out here,” Sho reassured, a small, kind smile on his face. “To be honest, I hired you because with an Adventurer as an escort we can visit remote villages off the beaten trail. Places that don’t get merchants more than once or twice a year. I try to do it whenever possible, but not many strong Adventurers take me up on it.”

Of course high level Adventurers wouldn’t take a caravan-guard quest, Uryuu numbly acknowledged, scanning the area to give himself a moment to process. Caravan quests paid little and took time better spent doing, well… anything else.

(How many Adventurers would be doing anything for Landers now?)

(Would anyone…?)

At his side, Sho hummed, leaned back, and came back up with a short bow in his hands. “I’ll stay up here with you for a bit,” he said, shifting around to settle with his back against Uryuu’s. “It’s good practice for when we reach the more dangerous areas.”

Uryuu froze at the contact, at the warmth seeping into his back, and warily eyed the man’s tails where they curled around and brushed against his legs. He didn’t—he couldn’t—how was he supposed to react?!

(Sho’s fur looked so soft—)

(No!)

“We won’t reach the first village before nightfall,” Sho commented idly, leaning against Uryuu a bit more. “I know Adventurers prefer to get everywhere quickly, but—”

“N-no, it’s fine,” Uryuu interrupted, doing his best to relax. “It’s… I don’t… really have anywhere else to be right now.”

“I’m glad. You coming along is a big help.”

Uryuu fidgeted with his bowstring, uncertain how to react. He knew how caravan duty went, but this…

NPCs rarely chatted during quests, and never got as close as Sho currently was. This… this was more like adventuring with other players and he couldn’t help but think of them as people.

Which just made it more awkward.

(Why was Sho leaning against him?)

(Was this just… something adults did? Or Landers did?)

(Was there something he was missing?!)

A rustle in the underbrush made Uryuu straighten, relief crashing through him at the distraction. He raised his bow and focused, hunting for any betraying movement—there!

A flash of tan drew his eye, slender limbs and barrel body and—oh.

Embarrassed, Uryuu lowered his bow with a huff, staring at the Theldesian deer-beast as it broke through the underbrush and bounded across the road. They could be dangerous if provoked, but… mostly they just wandered around and ate plants. They weren’t even very useful for materials; certain monsters had better hide to make leather of, and only chefs could use the meat to cook with. Almost anything a deer could provide, a monster could provide better.

Sho shifted against his back, tails twitching, and Uryuu had one heart-stopping moment to brace against the mocking comments sure to come and—

“We’ll stop just before sunset tonight,” Sho said as if Uryuu hadn’t almost shot a deer like it was a monster. It was… puzzling. Had the man… not noticed? “There’s a ruined building just off the road that a bunch of us merchants have taken to using as a stopover. We’ve got repellent charms set up, so we won’t need to set a watch tonight.”

Was Sho going to wait until then to tell him everything he’d done wrong so far? Or… well… maybe as an NPC he didn’t notice? Except he’d noticed Uryuu’s focus on Hanae and had come up to talk with him about it, so either game-rules didn’t apply or there was some logic to it that he didn’t understand.

Sho twisted around to peer at Uryuu, tails curling around Uryuu’s body as he did. “You alright?”

“I… yes. Sorry. I was just… thinking about the differences between Landers and Adventurers,” Uryuu fudged, trying not to focus on the tails in his lap. One brushed against his hand, warm and soft and plush, and it was all he could do to keep from burying his fingers in Sho’s tail-fur. “Do you often set watches?”

“Do Adventurers not?”

Uryuu lifted his hand away from temptation and wriggled it in a so-so gesture. “Sometimes? But not when we’re just traveling. Either we press on or we sleep in tents that protect us.”

At least, that was the meta. In truth, they just logged off if they got tired. Had logged off.

(Log off didn’t work. They couldn’t get out. Did the tents still work or did they need watches now?)

(Shit, was death real? Could he actually die here?)

(Adventurers resurrected at the last Cathedral they’d visited, but… did that still apply?)

Sho straightened back up, though Uryuu doubted he was satisfied with Uryuu’s stumbling excuse. The man seemed sharper than that.

“Ah. I’m sorry for tying you to our pace. If you want to—”

“No!” Uryuu winced internally at how desperate his interruption sounded, and cleared his throat to try again. “No, it’s fine. I’m fine. It’s… a bit of a relief, actually. Having something concrete to do.”

“Good, I’m glad. We truly do appreciate your presence, Ayumu.”

Uryuu wanted to scoff, wanted to call the man on his lie, except… except he couldn’t. Sho’s words were plain and to the point, his tone sounding nothing like the myriad ways Uryuu had learned that adults could lie, and…

He wanted to believe it.

(Damn-fool traitor heart.)

(He was going to get hurt, he knew it.)

“I’ll do my best,” Uryuu murmured in agreement.

Sho leaned into him, a solid, reassuring presence. “That’s all we ask.”