Like this, a few weeks passed.

To her credit, Grisella blended in quite well with the group.

At first, she naturally feared most of them. Their status as irregular monsters still haunted her mind, but through grit and perseverance, she eventually lowered her guard. Strangely enough, this was due in part to her somewhat egotistical personality.

After losing quite miserably to the wolves, she devoted herself towards redemption. During rare moments of leisure, Grisella constantly engaged them in a battle of wits. Basically, she kept challenging them to board games, specifically Checkers and Othello.

Of course, she lost. She always lost. Even when she introduced a new game (which was basically just Connect Four but with a few other rules sprinkled in), she still lost. Not even the boardgames of this world could prevent her defeat.

At this point, Ellis could not really tell whether Grisella was just bad at games in general or if the wolves had simply gotten too strong.

Either way, the healthy competition fostered friendship.

She got along particularly well with Wight. Ellis did not really know what prompted their relationship, or why the two connected so much with one another. It frankly caught him off guard, not that he minded though. Getting along with each other was always a good thing.

Ellis encouraged their friendship.

Grisella also gradually grew accustomed to the absurdity of the group’s fighting strength. They truly were future calamity-class monsters. After Ellis had informed her of the true reason for that day’s sudden sparring session, she decided to stop using the monster repellent.

As a result, they entered the familiar cycle of constant battle. It was kind of comforting, actually. He found pleasure in the monotony of violence. To Ellis, it was somewhat similar to being in a tower defense game. Well, except that there was no tower and there was nothing to defend. Really, the only thing remotely similar here were the endless waves of enemies.

During this time, Ellis grew curious. How strong was his new companion? He wanted to see her in action. Unfortunately, the wolves were just too damn efficient. They did not let even a single monster get past their line of defense.

Still, Ellis was determined.

He took his dilemma and ran to the only other person who could help him. The demon feared by all, the tiny menace with nine-tails, the one and only Ena.

He concocted a scheme with the little fox. Ena, who loved to play pranks on people, happily agreed. With their two amazing minds working together towards one goal, they managed to set up a simple plan.

A few more days passed.

Around midday, when the forest was at its brightest, the group was once again assaulted by a large crowd of monsters.

This time, their assailants were an extended family of giant bears. There were at least one hundred bears in total, all belonging to three different species. In the first place, bears were supposed to be solitary creatures. Why the hell did these dumbasses attack like a pack of hyenas?

It was honestly an absurd sight, but Ellis had grown used to such a thing over the years.

During the battle, Ena ‘accidentally’ let a monster slip through her defenses.

As the closest body available, it naturally made a beeline towards Grisella.

He watched as the distance between both parties rapidly shrunk. Ellis subconsciously balled his fists. Sorry to have to do this to you Grisella, but I really want to know. It might be a bit cruel, but I can finally see just how strong you really are.

Granted, there was probably an easier way to do this (namely just asking Grisella to demonstrate her powers for him), but Ellis found this method to be several times more entertaining. Maybe Ena’s bad habits were rubbing off on him.

To his surprise, the solitary witch reacted quite differently from the original scenario that played out in his head. Instead of using her broom, chanting a spell, or pulling out some weird alchemical concoction, Grisella simply just ran away.

“…”

He almost couldn’t believe it. This woman, she turned her back towards the approaching monster and sprinted away from it. What was even more surprising was the fact that she ran straight towards Ellis!

In his shock, he couldn’t even react as she suddenly jumped forward and attached herself onto his back like a bloodsucking leech.

“!”

Immediately, he felt her soft skin pressing against his own. The soft, pillowy sensation on his back, the distinct scent that flooded his nostrils, and the warm breath of air that tickled the back of his neck… it was an overload of sensations.

For a moment, his brain shut down. It had been such an unexpected attack that Ellis had been unable to prepare any countermeasures for it. His mental defenses were breached. He felt his IQ points dropping with every second that passed.

Upon discovering that its prey had disgracefully run away, the bear from earlier naturally shifted its focus. This time, it headed straight towards the two people currently stuck in a very compromising situation.

Seeing it approach, Ellis couldn’t help but twitch in frustration.

He wanted to take his time and enjoy the squirming of a certain someone clinging to his back. If only this current moment could last even just a second longer. Time freezing also seemed like a good alternative. Unfortunately, the bear was obviously here to interrupt them. It paid no mind to Ellis’s secret desires.

He hesitated.

On one hand, if he did nothing, then Grisella would be forced to make a move and his curiosity would finally be quenched. On the other hand, as a man, shouldn’t he properly play out this scenario and rescue the damsel in distress.

With such a moral dilemma in his hands, he entered a short period of indecision. Eventually, Ellis was forced to do what any man would do in this current situation. He attacked the bear. It died from one punch, but that wasn’t important.

After the very brief confrontation, Grisella eventually let go. He somewhat regretted their parting, but no such emotion appeared on his stoic face.

She took a step back. Ellis immediately noticed that she was breathing somewhat heavily. Her face flushed, but he did not know if that was from physical exertion or purely from embarrassment.

Grisella mumbled out an almost inaudible thank you.

Ellis graciously accepted her thanks with a nod of his head. He acted as if he did not just plan for a monster to ‘accidentally’ attack her.

“Still, couldn’t you have done something against that thing?” He asked. “I mean, you were pretty bold there earlier, and it’s not that I mind or anything, but… I think you definitely stood a chance against that monster.”

Ellis only had a vague grasp on her abilities. Still, it definitely surpassed the bear from earlier.

“Um, yes, if I tried, I probably could, but…” Grisella hesitated for a moment. “Um, what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“???” He tilted his head in confusion.

With her face slightly bit more flushed than usual, she suddenly asked, “Wasn’t it good?”

“What was?”

“My s-service.”

“Service?”

“Mm,” she nodded her head. “Y-you enjoyed it, right? When our bodies were pressing against each other and stuff….”

“Wait.”

“You had such a happy expression on your face too, so I’m certain that you enjoyed it.”

“Wait, wait, wait a minute.”

“Ah, I couldn’t really tell because all the blood was rushing to my head, but your ears… weren’t they slightly red?”

“Okay! That’s enough! That’s definitely enough!” Ellis desperately shouted. The wave of post-hand embarrassment nearly caused his personality to crack. “So, you’re trying to tell me that you did all of that on purpose?”

“Yes. My master once told me that men like to posture in front of women. They also like to take advantage of them (women) during dangerous situations, so I just…”

There’s definitely something wrong with your master’s teachings! Of course, Ellis did not say this out loud.

“Still, why did you do it?”

Grisella tilted her head. “You told me that I shouldn’t give up my body to you, right? Well, I can’t think of any other way to repay you, so I thought this might work for the time being.” She paused for a moment. She looked up at him with almost watery eyes. “Is it working?”

“Er, well… it’s um, it’s certainly working, but…” He let out a strained cough. A part of him knew that he should try and prevent any further ‘incidents’ like this from happening again. At the same time, there was also another part of him that enjoyed Grisella’s quirky displays of gratitude.

Should I listen to my logical mind or fall to my baser instincts? This is truly a conundrum…

He discreetly glanced over at the solitary witch. She squirmed around in place, not knowing what to do. Her slightly panicky expression made it almost impossible to believe that she was someone with more than one hundred years under her belt.

Just then, a new desire sprouted in his heart. Maybe next time I’ll be the one to go on the attack?

While he deliberated over this incident, all the monsters eventually died out. The wolves had finished their battle.

“Ah,” Ellis soon noticed a certain nine-tailed fox.

Ena was giving him quite the death glare. He did not know whether she was mad that the ‘prank’ was ruined, or if she was mad that Ellis and Grisella were interacting. He felt a bit guilty, although truthfully speaking, he did not really have anything to be guilty about.

Either way, today could be chalked up as a failure on his part.

****

This was how their journey progressed. Fighting, food, and sleep. For the others, instances of ‘gaming’ were also added to the mix.

Aside from that, a few notable events did occasionally happen along the way.

One such event was when Ena accidentally found another Boss-class monster. Naturally, the group decided to hunt it down.

Unlike usual, they received a pretty mixed reception from such a decision.

Grisella was deathly afraid. She knew full well of the creature that lived within the surrounding area. It was an Overlord tier monster that resembled a giant sloth. The sloth looked a bit more benign than most other overlords, but for some reason, its arms possessed zero bones. They were fibrous, something comparable to a tentacle, but instead of a suction cup at the end, it had a pair of sharpened claws. It possessed exactly eleven such hairy ‘tentacles.’

Ellis was naturally fascinated by such a weird looking Boss, while Grisella’s face turned a shade of white. Her body quivered like a cat fresh out of water. Ena, on the other hand, did not really care for it, mostly since it was not a dragon. Meanwhile, the wolves were eager for a fight.

Everyone expressed very different reactions, but the subsequent battle went as you’d expect. The group won and Grisella once again confirmed another suspicion of hers: Ellis and the group really did possess the capability to hunt down Overlord tier monsters.

Anyway, that was a short episode within their long journey. Eventually, a full month passed.

Right now, night had fallen. They were sitting around an open campfire. The smell of food drifted through the air.

“Something’s wrong with me.” Grisella suddenly announced. She was currently in the middle of eating a bowl of green soup. The soup was something that she had brought with her on this journey. As she shoved another spoonful into her mouth, a deep frown morphed her face.

“What’s wrong?” Ellis asked.

“I… I think something’s wrong with my tongue.” She hesitantly stated. “This soup here, in the past, I quite liked it, but now… it tastes kind of bland.”

“What have you been eating recently?”

“Ah, not much. Just the food that you’ve been cooking.”

As much as it pained her to admit it, she completely lost to Ellis’s shabby cooking skills. The food that he pulled out was truly heavenly.

Of course, she did not really lose in terms of cooking ability, but her ingredients were simply no match. She was thoroughly defeated. The worst part about all of it was the fact that she could not stop eating her rival’s (Ellis’s) food. It had gotten to the point where she actually developed an immunity to Hydra poison.

While this was certainly a good thing, at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel that she was going down the wrong path.

Ellis looked at her with an expression of sympathy.

This poor girl, she’s been hooked.

As Grisella continued to mumble about the food, he shed a silent tear for his new culinary comrade.