"Hey, hey... Don't be so mean, Ms. Kurea," Lynn grumbled, complaining to Kurea for denying her request.
"You only talk to me with respect when you need something from me, don't you, Lynn?" Kurea muttered, restraining herself from smacking Lynn on the head for clinging to her and preventing her from walking away.
"Isn't that what friends are for? To use them for your benefit, to your heart's content!?"
"Don't confuse friends with lackeys!"
As for what Lynn and Kurea were discussing, it involved the meeting called by the commander of the expedition for all the leaders representing the different organizations participating in the Annual Caravan.
After the defeat of the Lycan, the cavalry—along with the rest of the Annual Caravan's fighting force—easily wiped out the remaining swarm of kobolds and werewolves before the sun set on the horizon and the southern forest road was engulfed by the incoming darkness of the night.
The commander then issued the following commands:
To collect only a handful of kobold remains as loot for each group, along with all the werewolves and the Lycan. The rest were to be burned by flame mages or buried by earth mages to avoid any incidents of the dead monsters resurrecting as undead due to the Curse of Envy corrupting their monster cores.
And to move forward—despite the impending darkness on the road—to distance the Annual Caravan from the battlefield and find a less dangerous location within the southern forest road to camp for the night.
Once the Annual Caravan had chosen a location to camp after moving forward for about half an hour, and the sky had completely turned to night, the commander then called for the meeting Lynn and Kurea were discussing.
"Just let me and Mr. Arezu join the meeting."
Since Kurea was the stand-in Guild Master for the Adventurers Guild, Lynn was pestering her to bring them out of curiosity.
"I already have Mr. Rust and his party as my escorts, so I can't bring anyone else."
Though she was the youngest silver-rank adventurer at the age of 18, Kurea didn't have her own adventurer party, which led her to temporarily join Rust's party during the Annual Caravan Quest and, at the same time, have them act as her escorts.
"Then let us take their place instead!"
Hearing Lynn's rather rude suggestion, Arezu couldn't help but look awkwardly at Rust's party and offer an apology.
"I'm sorry about her audacity."
Since they were the seniors in both rank and age, seeing the younger ones squabbling over, as Rust put it, a boring meeting, he couldn't have been happier to ditch the responsibility.
"It's not like you need our help for that meeting, Ms. Kurea. Just take Ms. Lynn and Arezu and let us handle setting up our camp," Rust said, before turning around and giving a secret thumbs-up to Arezu.
He was followed by Raven and Blaze walking behind him.
"Wait, I haven't agreed to this yet!" Kurea complained, but after Lynn whispered something in her ear, she ground her teeth and gave her response.
"Fine!... But you better give that to me later, Lynn!"
Following Kurea toward the commander's makeshift office tent, Arezu asked Lynn out of curiosity.
"What did you promise her, Lynn?" he whispered as he walked beside her.
Lynn, on the other hand, just gave a cheerful smile in response to Arezu's inquiry.
At the meeting, inside the makeshift office tent, the commander Brandon Von Guttur sat at the front center behind his desk, wearing a simple yet formal outfit still tailored for minimal combat.
In front of him, seated at a circular table, were the leaders representing the different organizations participating in the Annual Caravan. Standing behind each leader were their escorts—which, for Kurea, were Lynn and Arezu.
"It seems like I'm quite fortunate to have the young leaders this year," Brandon said, giving a slight laugh to ease the tense atmosphere in the tent after noticing the nervousness of the said young leaders.
As Brandon had said, the leaders from the Adventurers Guild, Merchants Guild, and Crafters Guild—with the exception of those from the Church and the Magic Academy—were indeed quite young, only a few years older than the youngest, who was Kurea.
Regardless, their age wasn't a concern for Brandon to question their positions or capabilities.
However, something else caught his interest as he looked in the direction of the Adventurers Guild.
This better not escalate into something troublesome, Arezu grumbled to himself, unsure whether the commander was looking at Kurea, Lynn, or—he could only hope not—himself.
The agenda of the meeting wasn't exactly concerning. Even the appearance of a high-level monster near the capital's boundary was something the cavalry had expected. After all, one of the goals of the expedition was to clear the threat of monsters along the main road from the capital all the way to the southern border.
The only matter discussed in full detail was the sharing of loot from the kobolds, werewolves, and especially the Lycan.
The meeting ended with the assurance that no one had died during the first encounter with the monsters and that everyone who sustained injuries was currently being treated by the priests and priestesses of the Church's group.
Returning to where their carriage and camp were, Lynn and Arezu found the four students doing what was left of the tasks Lynn had assigned them, and Beatrix, who was currently busy cooking vegetable soup as a side dish for dinner.
Inspecting the students' finished work of setting up the tents, Lynn promptly took a logbook from her enchanted bag strapped to her belt and wrote in it.
"Not bad for a tent, but what I asked for was a shrine, wasn't it?"
Leo, Cliff, and Casey could only look depressed, wondering how they were supposed to make a shrine from camping equipment, while Senna kept looking displeased with how Lynn was treating their group.
"If this was part of their graduation exam, then at least be reasonable about it, Lynn," Arezu said, remembering what Lynn had told him earlier as they headed back from the meeting.
Regarding the escort quest Lynn had taken, it not only involved guarding the four mage students during the Annual Caravan Quest, but also tasked Lynn with acting as the examiner for the students her party was escorting.
To put it simply—
"—It's up to me what score I'm going to give for their performance, Mr. Arezu," Lynn said, flashing a mischievous smile—one she made sure the students could see, especially Senna.
"But don't expect them to build you a shrine."
"Why not?... Even you built one for me before, right?"
"And when exactly did that happen?"
"The first night we were together..."
Unbeknownst to Arezu, his conversation with Lynn was creating even more misunderstanding in the minds of the students regarding his relationship with her.
"Hey! I'm done with the soup, bring out the rest of our dinner so we can finally eat," Beatrix said, interrupting Lynn and Arezu's conversation about their first-ever quest together.
As for the rest of the food Beatrix referred to, it included a massive takeout order of Burger Queen, fried chicken, roasted meat, pizza and fries, and, secretly, puddings and cakes that Lynn had ordered from Moon Pavilion as their food supply for the duration of the Annual Caravan Quest.
Thanks to the enchanted storage Marionette had lent them—now attached to their carriage under the driver's seat for safekeeping—all that takeout could last for more than two months without spoiling.
The only question on Arezu's mind was whether that takeout would be enough.
And his only worry was what kind of unreasonable tantrum Lynn would unleash when the puddings and cakes ran out.
"Lynn! Where are the pudding and cake you promised me earlier!?"
"I said pudding or cake! Not pudding and cake!"
Those puddings and cakes will definitely run out, Arezu thought, watching Kurea and Lynn brawl over a set of desserts.