This left Sean unable to answer.
In theory, it wasn't wrong, but not all energy in this world could be converted between forms, and some losses were irreversible.
"Some things can't be equated..." Sean said.
"Does Lord Sean have research on this as well?"
"Otherwise, the people who've fallen at my hands would have dragged me into hell long ago!" Sean said with a smile at the other.
Their conversation never directly answered each other, but both understood what the other meant.
"It's precisely for this reason that alchemists keep trying to explore the true 'Gate of Truth'..."
Whether wizards or alchemists, the most common thing Sean had heard so far was their desire to seek the truth of the world. Probably when magic reached a certain level, it couldn't advance further, so they all wanted to see what higher realms looked like.
"But I still don't quite understand. What is Master Alphonse's purpose in heading to the southeast this time?" Sean asked again.
"Isn't my purpose quite similar to Lord Sean's?"
I'm about to throw down!
And here I am playing guessing games...
If it weren't for the fact that the other's favorability was currently [Friendly], Sean would have thought there was something wrong with this person.
He figured it was like Lucille back then—she had her own thoughts, but relying on a mercenary squad made things easier both in daily life and in battle, as long as their interests aligned.
Just then, Jonathan and the others returned with breakfast. Everyone mounted their horses and hurried southward.
……………………
For Sean, this was his second long journey. The first was when he followed Freya to Rietis...
The road was long. According to Jonathan, it would take about ten days of continuous travel just to enter the southeastern territory, and then more time to reach the Tacoma region.
In his spare time, Sean occasionally took out a map of Taylemian to look at...
It was already summer now, the hottest time in Taylemian Town.
Sean hadn't been there long enough to experience that season, but he'd heard from the household servants that during this time, the townsfolk were quite lazy, mostly staying home and sleeping, rarely going out.
But from what he'd seen lately, Luke was still managing the town well. Now, looking at the forested areas east and south of the town, he could see clearly cleared wasteland.
The seedlings were probably too small to show green yet, but at this rate, the town's peaches might be ripe by next year.
"Why does Master Sean always like studying maps?" A voice would inevitably ask at times like this.
Sean turned around...
It was Rast.
The only ranged archer in the team. This girl often came to ask him about combat techniques, though most of the time Sean brushed her off.
Probably because archers were also hunters, so she respected him as a senior!
But...
What a pity.
Sean knew he wasn't a real bounty hunter master, but the others didn't, and they kept asking him tricky questions.
"Just checking the terrain. Someone once told me that if we both commanded armies, I wouldn't last a month against him. I wanted to see what this so-called terrain advantage really meant, so I found some maps to look at."
Bluff, bluff away.
They wouldn't know anyway...
"So that friend of Master Sean's is a strategist!" Jonathan chimed in with a [Surprised!] expression.
"Something like that."
Seeing the others all looking at him, Sean began to feel that he could act quite naturally under their gaze.
"Having Master Sean with us really puts us at ease!"
Jonathan added one more compliment at the end.
Heh~
Rast always liked to stay close to him, and having someone around made Sean uncomfortable when studying the map.
"Is something the matter?"
"Am I bothering you, Master Sean?"
Frowning, since she knew, she should have left earlier, but Rast showed no sign of moving away.
Instead, she fixed her eyes on the backpack behind Sean...
"I wanted to ask, Master Sean, what's the most important thing to watch out for when surviving in the wilderness?" Another one of those wilderness survival questions.
If Sean hadn't seen no [Testing!] status above her head, he would have thought she was here to cause trouble. Someone already at Order Level 5 still needed to ask about this?
This was probably the most basic question.
"Depends on your habits. Some people can survive with just a knife."
"People like that really exist?"
"Of course. I know someone named Bear Grylls who's pretty impressive," Sean said.
Probably because it hadn't rained, the team was in good spirits. Heading south, they encountered many mercenary teams along the way... It was said the mission reward was shared—any team that brought useful information would get gold coins at a certain ratio.
If the matter was fully resolved, highly rated mercenary squads could even get extra rewards.
In Sean's view, this was almost like a public quest...
Prince Philip and the Grand Duke were clever, using mercenaries to investigate. Even if they couldn't help much, just entering that place often counted as assistance.
Unknowingly, they were already helping the empire!
And from Jonathan's account, the total number of mercenaries in the two big cities, Rietis and Sedia, wasn't large either. Lower-level ones wouldn't participate, and fixed teams with special missions might not come, so the total wasn't huge.
But even if ten thousand people took on this mission, each would get 500 gold coins on average—equivalent to a high-level mission's pay for an ordinary mercenary. That's why many free mercenaries chose to band together to complete the task.
The first two days of travel were uneventful. Every inn along the southeast road was fully booked.
Since mercenaries were after the bounty, they saved wherever they could... If cheap inns were full, the squad would camp in the wild.
This was the one thing Sean, used to comfort, found hard to adapt to...
With so much money in his pouch, he sometimes wanted to generously say, "Tonight's on me!"
The days were pretty dull...
But on the third day, the clear sky gradually turned overcast.
No rain, but it stayed gloomy.
And when they checked into an inn, they heard that some mercenary squads had already returned because the road ahead was shrouded in mist, and the mist felt unsettling.