The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

"Pipe agrees! Piper can't walk anymore! Nobody cares how hard it is for Piper to keep up with you guys!"

The short man immediately slammed the hammer into the ground, plopped down on his bottom, and said aggrievedly.

Eileen chuckled softly, amused. She was indeed a little tired from walking, so she leaned her staff against the tree trunk and bent down to rub her calves.

Seeing that no one objected, Lorraine took the tent off his backpack and found a relatively flat spot to spread it out.

The expensive roll-up tent was really useful; he set it up in no time. He patted the dirt off his hands and said, "All done."

Lorraine glanced at Piper, then at Eileen, and realized the problem.

They only brought one tent!

"How about you take the first half of the night shift, and Piper and I take the second half?" He cautiously looked at Eileen and asked tentatively.

Eileen leaned against the tree with her arms crossed, looking at him expressionlessly, and said, "No, I can't sleep if Piper snores."

"Pipe doesn't snore!" The little guy blushed.

This time, Lorraine couldn't speak up for him; the guy's snoring was just too loud. He didn't even know how he managed to fall asleep after working the first half of the night last time.

"What should we do then?"

"You and I will work the second half of the night, and Piper will work the first half," Eileen said quickly, as if she was in a hurry to finish her sentence so she wouldn't have to change her mind.

Lorraine's expression was priceless, practically screaming "You've finally stopped pretending."

"Shall we go together?" he asked.

"Otherwise what? Thank you for thinking so highly of me, but you actually let a mage stand guard alone at night?" Eileen looked at him like he was an idiot.

That's true. Mages do tend to be flustered when faced with unexpected situations. Lorraine nodded, finding her statement flawless.

[Human hair, female, age approximately 20-25, nervous and anxious]

It's not without flaws...

"Okay, then let Piper sleep first, and we'll take over in the middle of the night," he said.

Piper sighed, picked up the firewood from the ground, and didn't argue further.

A campfire was lit, dispelling the darkness.

The three of them ate some dry rations, and Piper grumbled as he went into the tent to sleep.

Less than a minute later, even snoring sounds came from inside, like someone was sawing wood inside a tent.

Lorraine and Eileen exchanged a glance.

Eileen moved to a more comfortable spot to sit, raised an eyebrow at him, and looked quite smug.

Lorraine sat down next to her, pulled out the rusty throat, and placed it beside her for easy access.

Dusk fell completely, the sky turned a dark gray, and countless stars appeared in the night sky, like silver nails nailed into black velvet.

"I heard from that person that you used to be a mover?" Eileen glanced at him and asked.

"Yes." Lorraine nodded, feeling there was nothing wrong with saying it.

Eileen didn't press the matter. She lowered her head and fiddled with a thin string on her staff, as if she was thinking about something.

After a long while, she suddenly spoke:

"You're learning magic faster than I expected. Don't waste your talent..."

She seemed to have something left unsaid.

Lorraine turned to look at her, the firelight reflecting on her profile, making her expression appear somewhat complicated.

"Thank you," he said.

"I'm not praising you," Eileen quickly added, "I'm afraid you'll become arrogant and slow down the progress."

"understood."

Lorraine lazily propped herself up on the ground and half-reclined, watching the firewood in the bonfire slowly burn, her thoughts drifting away.

The silence continued for a while.

Piper's snoring suddenly stopped, then changed tone, as if a buffalo had suddenly taken up residence in his throat.

Eileen closed her eyes resignedly and said, "How could you sleep when you were with him in the bar?"

"Being poor is something you get used to."

Lorraine took two hard biscuits, crunched them in her mouth, and then handed one to her.

Eileen took it and bit into it, almost breaking a piece of her tooth. She frowned and simply put it in her mouth.

"Lorraine".

"Um?"

Have you thought about what you want to do in the future?

"I want to improve my strength, see interesting things around the world, and find a scenic place to retire when I get old," Lorraine said after thinking for a moment.

"And you?" he asked, looking at Eileen.

"I want to pursue the path of truth and become a great magician," she said earnestly.

"That's a wonderful wish. I wish you success."

"Hmm..." Eileen was silent for a moment, "It's time to wake Piper up."

Lorraine glanced at the sky; it was already past midnight. He nodded, walked to the tent, and woke up the little guy.

"...Just five more minutes of sleep..."

"Hurry up, it's time for night duty."

Piper rolled over, opened his eyes a crack, and looked at the pitch-black night outside the tent.

He sighed, sat up, rubbed his eyes, and said, "Pipe's up. Piper isn't snoring."

"Heh." Lorraine ignored him.

"Pip's on night watch, you guys go to sleep." The short guy sat by the campfire, hammer in hand, and slapped his face hard.

The two crawled into the tent.

The space inside wasn't large; after they lay down, they were only a fist's distance apart, so close that Lorraine could smell the faint rose scent in Eileen's hair.

"Goodnight," she whispered.

"Good night."

......

"Get up! It's daylight! How come you two can sleep even longer than Piper!"

Lorraine struggled to open her eyes and saw the short man's head peeking out of the tent, his hair a mess like a bird's nest.

"Pip has called you several times, but you two are sleeping like the dead." The short man looked at him with a hint of malice.

"Get up, get up."

Lorraine responded, then found that her body was somewhat unresponsive, and her left hand seemed to have disappeared.

It took him several seconds to figure out the situation.

Eileen nestled in his arms, her cheek pressed against his shoulder, her breathing even and slow.

The warm breath fell on his neck, making him feel a little ticklish.

He looked down and found that his left arm was being rested under Eileen's neck, while his right hand was resting naturally on a soft spot, where he could even feel the curves rising and falling with her breath.

Lorraine grabbed at it as if possessed.

"Um..."

Eileen's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her nostrils twitched, as if she had smelled a scent that didn't belong to her.

She opened her eyes with a frown.

His gray-green pupils slowly focused in the morning sunlight, and the blurry face before him gradually became clear, along with the tactile sensations emanating from his body.

Eileen's body tensed up abruptly, her heartbeat slowing down. Her hand on Lorraine's waist twitched slightly, as if to confirm if she was dreaming.

She didn't know what she touched, but her face turned red at a visible speed. She quickly shook off her hand and scrambled to her feet, looking disheveled.

"The tent is too small."

She hurriedly gathered her disheveled hair with her hands, her fingers trembling slightly with nervousness.

Eileen didn't dare to look him in the eye. She straightened her clothes and quickly bent down to crawl out of the tent.

A blast of cold air hit her face, and she finally felt the burning heat on her face subside a little.