Althea saw that they were amicable to her words and continued to push her own agenda. "Isn’t it tiring to have to follow family arrangements all the time?" she asked and they nodded solemnly.

"You are already years into adulthood and you’ll even have your own family soon. You deserve to control the direction of your own life," She added, and they nodded again.

"Most importantly, you’d have to ask yourself: Do they truly care about you, or do they care more about the benefits you could bring them?"

The couple’s entwined hands tightened around each other, a renewed determination already forming in their minds. Althea, seeing that her brainwashing—er, enlightenment—session was a success, nodded in approval.

"Think about the next step after you land in Acero Town. We can accompany you as reinforcement guards if you wish to talk with the Lord there. If you want to elope, I can help you settle down as well."

If they decided to let go of their attachments and elope, that was also fine. It was definitely less of a hassle for Althea.

Though without family support, they should still have decent funds to settle in a ’lower’ territory.

That said, they’d have to handle this well. Even if they decide to speak with the nobles there, things could get hostile. The groom was, essentially, left at the altar after all. If they wanted to settle down on a different location, that’s fine too, as long as they paid and it wasn’t out-of-way from their destination.

The two looked at each other and nodded in the end. Since they could not head back for now, they could at least take advantage of the guards that had already been paid for anyway.

The carriage was now gone and destroyed, so the couple also had to go on foot. At this point, everyone was very tired, so they found another place to rest.

This time, they found a cave. It had a few monsters, but none too strong. Fortunately, they were now in the village zone—considered as ’buffer areas’ between towns or cities—so the beasts were more manageable.

The cave was located on a hill facing their destination, so they had a better vista, not only to study their path, but it would also be easier to guard against monsters.

Each team handled their own food as usual, except a lot of people were side-eyeing a certain couple while they set up their camp.

Most of them ate the system restaurant’s food which had a decent shelf life of about 3 to 4 days in their spaces. It was tasteless and rough, but it was enough...until they started comparing with others.

Anna and Wilem noticed the abnormalities and also looked at the other couple at the side. They were setting up a small tent, but it wasn’t like the usual tent they knew. It seemed like it expanded on its own and looked very comfortable to sleep in.

When they started setting up their fire and some metal contraptions, Anna even heard audible slurps at the side.

The last time they camped, the carriage and Wilem were on the other side of the party and were also upwind, so they were not privy about the previous camping situation of the married couple.

They were quite curious though, so while eating their dry bread, they also watched along with them.

Soon, Wilem and Anna understood their sentiment. Ten minutes later, they joined in swimming in that tantalizing aroma that goaded their stomachs.

They also had to endure the lovey-dovey scenes of the married couple, like when the husband added some more meat and vegetables into his wife’s bowl and even wiped her lips when there was nary a mess.

Similarly, the woman would often feed the man with her own utensils, blowing away some of the excess heat before doing so.

The lonely mercenaries: "..."

Singlehood hurts!

The Alterran couple looked unaware of the ’greedy’ eyes targeting them. They were focused on cooking barbecue again, but they added some vegetables to the skewers to make kebabs.

They made just enough for the two of them, and others assumed the spices were extremely expensive—they always were—so no one dared to ask for some share. Not to mention, the two saved a lot of lives, so they didn’t have the face to ask for more favors.

In fact, a lot of them had wanted to ask the last time, and they almost got their answers, but the monster mob arrived, so that conversation was cut. Now, everyone was too shy to open it up again.

Except for the employer side, who at least had some confidence because they paid for the service. Anna couldn’t help but scoot over.

"Uh...do you have more of those? I can pay for...twice the amount you bought it."

Althea’s eyebrows rose as she looked at the woman, and then shifted her gaze to the rest of the party. Every eye was comically fixed on the stick in her hand. She wondered if she were to move it around, would their eyes follow it wherever it went?

"It’s a Town called Alterra town. For C-Class Mercenaries, it’s just a matter of one trip from Illyan," she said. There were always open missions in Alterra, but mostly F-class, so they were cheaper. There were more people heading into Alterra than heading out, after all.

"It has several cooperations with Holt City, but you can go directly."

This place was nearer Alterra than Holt, however, so she invited them over to her region directly. The world was so big. Even if the market were in a single territory, a businessman wouldn’t be at a loss if they sold Alterran products.

"Alterra? That sounds familiar..." Wilem uttered at the side. He then looked at Althea and Garan. "Would you know which industry Holt partnered with them?"

"It should be the cafe."

Illyan Town was a subsidiary of Holt. Even if it was far away, they could travel there, maybe even by mercenary hall, and it had been a while, so it was perfectly possible for them to have heard of Alterra.

Not to mention, they were also a supplier of high-quality farming tools to Holt and their subsidiaries, so Wilem himself had been to Holt a few times before.

"AH! Yes! The cafe!"

He looked at Anna. "I visited there with my mother. I was on business, while she went to see her distant cousins," he said, looking at Althea and Garan. "The products there were extremely popular. My mother had to pay tens of gold extra just to squeeze into the queue.

Althea vaguely knew that this cousin was actually Cauis and that their mothers were second cousins or something. It wasn’t that Cauis mentioned this explicitly, but he mentioned that they were distant relatives and could use his name if they got into trouble.

In retrospect, they could use that to help this couple out, but that seemed too much meddling. This would serve as a good lesson for them as well. Besides, they had a mission to complete. Losing a month of Hall usage rights was out of the question.

Anyway, Althea and Garan graciously made a lot more sticks of kebab, giving at least two to each person. They were so happy their eyes were almost glistening in tears.

"It’s called free samples," Althea said. "I’m giving it to you so you can buy things from our territory in the future."

"Those things were from that territory? Do you live there?" They had assumed they just bought from there.

"You eat this every day?" another gasped, especially after seeing a stick was gone in the blink of an eye.

The taste, the texture, and the aroma of each one were to die for!

"I’m so envious!"

Lipin, in particular, seemed to suddenly have a life goal.

He would visit Alterra one of these days!

...

Everyone who had plans outside the territory generally had at least a fabric to keep themselves comfortable.

Wilem had a soft cushion that was waterproof, made from the leather of some level 20 monster. It could fit two people well, and Anna shyly entered the cushion, and the two were shy but lovely.

The other mercenaries just had blankets, while some sat down with their backs resting on rocks or tree trunks. Anyway, at their levels, a few hours of sleep was sufficient to work the next day, though not necessarily sustainable especially in the long term.

This was something the mercenaries got used to but, like with the food, suddenly felt uncomfortable after comparing with Althea and Garan.

Look at them! They were sleeping in covered tents with controlled temperature!

It was another thing they felt envious of!

"You can also buy these in Alterra and associate territories," Althea said. "We welcome everyone who’s willing to spend money."

Then, she paused. "I do have a few copies in excess," she said, taking out four more sets of tents. Althea was too reluctant to part with the sauces and condiments (their trip was long), but this one she could share with them.

"I was planning on trading them in a bigger town for more gains, but..."

"I’ll buy one!!"

"Me too!"

"SELL IT TO ME AT 2x THE SELLING PRICE!"

Just like this, Althea gained at least a hundred extra gold to spend.