Will Nay return?

"Haaa…."

Seeing the doors close after the girl, I heaved a long sigh and slowly slid down the wall.

I was tired.

After all the distance we made in the last two days with the constant pressure of enemies waiting behind every shadow, I was reaching my limit.

Not the physical one. I could still keep on going for days if not weeks… But my mind needed a rest.

Some time to recover from the constant worry about our tail catching up to us.

I wasn't a delusional man, after all. And what I've learned about this world so far made one thing obvious.

The moment we directly clashed with the nobles would be the moment our lives would be forfeit. Against the near-infinite gap of power between our ranks, not even the most devious ploy I could come up with could help.

'Still, those ranks are really weird,' I thought, searching for a topic to distract myself from the extremely depressing reality. 'What would happen if someone of a fifth rank sliced the head off the neck of a rank tenth? Or fiftienth?'

I took a deep breath… Only for this useless worry to remove itself, letting the devastating realization take the reins of my soul.

The escape was now over. With all of the money gone, I could no longer overpay for everything just to squeeze the most out of the situation.

Without money, I could no longer rely on the imperial express. They were a business, not a charity, and the moment they would learn that I'd lost the bill, they would likely be more than happy to sell me off to the highest bidder.

'How come I'm more nervous now than I was when rushing to escape our pursuers?' I asked myself, suddenly puzzled by the strange way in which I reacted to the stress.

When my head was on the line when I had to do my absolute best just to escape… I remained relatively calm and composed.

After all, I would only have myself to blame for the results of my actions.

But now?

"Do you think she will come back?" the kid asked after staying silent in his bed through all this time and encounter with Nay.

And judging from the tone of his voice, there was no doubt in his soul that we would never see Nay or our money again.

While honestly speaking, I was of the same inclination… I didn't confirm the kid's premonition.

Because the more I thought about it, the better our situation grew in my eyes.

'I could understand if they chased after us for the revenge sake… But to have that damn saintess take part in the pursuit?' I shook my head a little. 'She's way above a random noble's pay grade. The Theocracy doesn't lend out its saints all that easy, so for her to be chasing after me anyway…'

The more I thought about it, the simpler our situation came to be.

"It's not the two of us that those nobles are chasing. It's the fortune they had to come up with to pay for our prize that makes them so desperate to catch us."

This was my one and final reply to the kid's inquiry.

"If she runs with the money, then our pursuers will lose the only reason to chase after us," I breathed out a heavy sigh. "In a sense, that doesn't sound as that bad of a deal, as we would simply return to be mercenaries that we were before all this mess."

Thinking about it, it didn't seem like all that bad of an idea.

Rather than chasing around the empire while trying to escape the wrath of the nobles, I could shed all this unnecessary attention and just take my time adjusting to this world at my own pace!

The more I thought about it, the better of an idea it seemed to just accept the loss and move on…

But deep down, I knew it was nothing more than my habit of looking for excuses.

'No!'

An inner voice screamed out from the bottom of my soul.

'I can't let myself be like this! There's still a chance…'

What kind of moron would believe that working as a regular mercenary would be better than having the riches an entire legion would spend for over a years worth of provisions?

'There's still a chance she will come ba…'

My thoughts ceased when I, once again, realized that I was simply trying to enchant reality with my wishes and look at the world through extremely pink glasses.

Because now that she was bound by nothing but her own word, what business did Nay have in return, when she could easily live the rest of her days in luxury by snatching the bill?

"So will she steal it or not?" the kid asked, clearly annoyed with a lack of a simple, obvious answer.

I raised my eyes and looked at my younger brother.

'How amusingly naive,' I thought when realizing just how simple his train of thought was.

Nay either stole the money or not. So, there are only two scenarios that we had to plan for, greatly limiting our mental workload! And since two scenarios to consider were still a lot, that kid clearly wanted me to tell him which one was more likely, just so that he could work as little as possible!

'Well, if I were in her shoes, there's no way I would return,' I thought, admitting to my own sinful nature before the tribunal of my own soul.

And if I wasn't the type of a good man to let this opportunity go past me, how could I expect a damn slave to do any better?

'Well, it's not like I could've stopped even if I tried,' I thought, once again escaping into seeking excuses.

Yet, the one downside of looking for convenient reasons for my failures was how powerless it made me feel. Distanced from the steering wheel of my life and left at the mercy of the whims of others.

There was no way the provisional slavery pact would hold Nay back. Being of a thirteenth rank, she had to possess a real rank, the real imperial blessing that I lacked.

And how hard it could be for someone capable of using mana dust to free themselves from someone without that ability?

Before I knew, rather than being angry at how Nay likely left us to die, my wrath redirected towards the imperial blessing that although convenient at times, was quickly getting on my nerves.

'Just what the hell is up with a system that so strictly splits people into ranks?! Where's the place for luck? Randomness? Chance?!'

I took a deep breath, ready to slowly sigh it out to calm myself down…

Only for the doors to the room to burst open followed by extremely self-satisfied Nay.

Without saying even a single word, she took a few steps inside the room before kicking the doors closed and pulling out a small stack of papers.

"The bill of promise, the signed confirmation of authenticity, and a letter of introduction," Nay listed out with a smug smile all over her face, dropping one paper after another on my bed while staring me down.

Yet, rather than teasing or making fun of my worries, Nay simply turned around only to drop herself on the very same bed where she threw the papers before.

"Now, we wait," she said, only to grab the edge of the sheets, pull it over her body and curl herself up into a ball as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

I took a quick glance at the kid to my side. Then, I breathed a long sigh of disbelief mixing with exasperation.

"Now, we wait," I repeated after the girl, only to stand up from the place where I formerly plummeted to the floor, take a few steps and then stand above my younger brother. "But you," I added while a small smile formed on my lips. "You are going to take the first watch."