Episode 37 – Midnight Raiders
Today I spent all my time checking the safety of the area we took shelter in.
I inspected the wall by striking it with the scabbard, and using magic to see if there was a trap.
Fortunately, it turns out that there are no traps or hazards here.
I see the sky turning red as the sun disappears over the mountains in the distance.
That meant that the time was now approaching when we had to hide inside a safe building and go to sleep.
“Let’s move to a safe place today before it’s too late.”
“Yes, Captain!”
To my words, the crew responds with a spirited voice.
I feel a bit out of place, and my voice sounds like I’m a little nervous, but when I saw that they faithfully listened to my request, it seemed that they were really good people.
Anyway, we had to get to a safe place before it was too late.
Finally, there was a building we found while investigating this place.
In that building was our temporary shelter for five days.
The temporary shelter we chose was the basement.
It was a place invisible to other people, only visible to my eyes.
After investigation, it is said that the entrance to this basement has an illusionary magic that hinders perception.
Entering the cellar, we set down our luggage and checked the luggage each of us had brought.
“Wow. Everyone, eat.”
“Oh, thank you. Miss Astella.”
Miss Astella, the magician in charge of support magic in our group, opened a door on one side of the basement and brought something to eat inside.
As it turns out, this place must have been a warehouse for storing groceries.
At least a thousand years have passed, but the grocery store’s storage function is still functioning properly.
Ingredients from a thousand years ago were as fresh as if they were freshly made today.
Miss Astella brought white bread, smoked pork hind leg, and fresh milk.
Bread, meat, milk.
It could literally be said to be the best food to soothe a tired body.
Simply putting meat between bread, the salty meat complements the taste of the plain bread.
Indeed, it was an appropriate meal to complete a meal.
We gathered together and ate the bread, ham, and milk Miss Astella brought.
Despite being made a thousand years ago, it was very fresh.
No, maybe it was made before then.
Do the people who are eating this now know this?
Well, it’s delicious, so that’s enough.
With the luggage we brought, there was no shortage of food for five days.
“I think the food I found here tastes better than the food in my bag.”
“The food in the bag was dry and dry, like beef jerky or biscuits, probably for preservation.”
Vallen, the member of our group and the swordsman in charge of the avant-garde, was evaluating the food in the bag.
“The beef jerky and biscuits delivered to the Royal Academy use only special breeds of cattle and separately designated breeds of wheat. It will taste much better than store-bought beef jerky. It is not intended to be stored for several years, but only used for a specific period of time.”
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“Valen knows about this kind of food, right?”
“Oh, yes. Chief. My family has been making and supplying biscuits and beef jerky to the military for generations. So I can proudly say that I know more than anyone else.”
Oh my god. You’ve been supplying biscuits and beef jerky to the military?
“The beef jerky and biscuits made at the store run by my family are so much better than those made at other places that I even received a medal from the country.”
“Oh, is that so? Then, could you send me some of Vallen’s homemade beef jerky and biscuits? I will try it myself, and if the quality is good, I will arrange a place for you to deliver it to my family.”
“Are you sure?”
At my words, Valen leaned over with her eyes shining.
It is definitely an honor to deliver to the military.
However, I have heard from merchants that in the military, you have to secure a large amount of goods at a minimum cost, so you literally only have enough money to live on.
So, merchants who supply goods to the military mainly sell their products to adventurers and mercenaries.
It was to wait for the so-called publicity through word of mouth.
But there is something more certain than that… It was to deliver goods to noble families.
Aristocratic families had their own troops and knights who guarded their territory.
In particular, families that produced famous knights or were known for their swordsmanship had more knights than other territories.
Of course, the preserved foods such as beef jerky and biscuits given to the knights are selected with much more care than those given to the troops guarding the territory.
And, because the selection process is very difficult, most of the items that were eliminated in this process.
There were even those who bribed the examiner to make a backdoor deal so that the goods they made could be delivered.
As you can see from these examples, if you supply to a noble family, you will gain great fame.
So, Valen must have hoped for my proposal.
We, the Maidern family, are a renowned swordsmanship with a sword master as the head of the family, and have a tremendous knights’ order with children from other noble families serving as knights.
What if my family buys something made by a certain merchant?
The trade association will publicize it extensively.
‘The very object chosen by the sword master!’
“Even though it looks like this, I also ate beef jerky and biscuits until I got tired of it while wandering around. If I taste it and it’s a good item, I’m sure the head of the family and the knights in my family will give it a good evaluation.”
“Okay. Chief. As soon as this monster hunt is over, I will send you one or two boxes.”
“No. One box is enough. Instead, since you can’t get it for free, I’ll pay for it.”
“Joe, Captain… ….”
Valen seemed very moved.
The other team members also changed their eyes when they looked at me.
If it was a look of fear before, now that fear has disappeared a little bit and should I say it’s a look of caution?
‘Hmm?’
After the conversation, while continuing to eat, I felt a strange energy approaching this place.
‘What is it?’
This aura was the aura of Lord Ren she felt at her freshman welcome banquet not long ago.
‘By the way, can one person feel two energies at the same time?’
Unless an evil spirit with an evil grudge possessed Lordren’s body, the two energies could not be felt at the same time.
But, does an evil spirit with an evil grudge exist in the Royal Academy?
I’ve never heard of such a story.
First of all, there was a high possibility that Rodren’s coming here was never a good reason.
Why?
On the day of the welcome banquet for freshmen, the guy started a fight with me, but instead only insulted me, and then she got scolded by Elizabeth and ran away.
Perhaps she had a grudge for what happened that day and came to avenge her.
“Everyone. Everyone stay still here without moving a single step.”
“Yes?”
“Someone is coming here with impure intentions. Just in case you don’t know, each of you take up your arms and look at the entrance to the basement.”
I gave a brief explanation to my teammates, then took my sword and carefully exited the basement.
I reduced the sound of footsteps as much as possible and lured him to another place by making noise on purpose so that he wouldn’t know where the members were.
Likely, there was a large clearing far from the basement.
Because it was surrounded by walls on all sides, it was a place that did not attract the monsters around it because the sound did not escape well.
I went to the clearing first and waited for Rodren.
As I turned my back at the entrance to the clearing and was still, I started hearing the sound of Lordren’s footsteps.
Did he even know that I was waiting for him?
Rodren’s gait showed that even the slightest bit of hesitation had disappeared.
The sound of Rodren’s footsteps trudging along stopped.
“So, what brought you here, Prince Arcus?”
“I came to avenge all the disgrace I suffered on that day.”
His voice was full of anger towards me.
I turned and looked at where Lordren’s voice came from.
“It’s a disgrace, wasn’t it something I suffered first?”
“Ha ha ha. Yes. Guys like you always try to avoid danger with lies like that.”
“It seems that only the sophistry has increased, not the skill.”
“You will only know if it is sophistry or not.”
Rodren didn’t get excited at my provocation, and calmly responded to my provocation with words.
I started talking to him and checking to see what level he had reached.
“Originally, it is said that the more timid the dog, the louder it barks.”
“If I were a dog, you would be a gutter rat.”
Rodren’s skills were at least Intermediate Sword Expert.
“You little rat, do you know that a mouse bites a cat when cornered?”
“Does that mean you admit that you are a rat?”
Perhaps, there was a possibility that he would rise to the level of a sword expert master, in the worst case, a sword master like me.
“You can think whatever you want. However, since I can feel the two energies, I don’t think you’re Prince Lordren, do you?”
“Think freely. Since when did prosecutors fight with words?”
“Yes. Prosecutors don’t talk.”
I ran forward and swung her sword at Lord Ren.
-Cheong!
“A swordsman speaks with a sword.”
“Keuhehehe, yes. That’s it! If I defeat you with a sword, I can become the strongest in the Royal Academy!”
We started fighting sword to sword.
To restore one’s insulted honor, to prove oneself the strongest.
For the other person, to find out the unknown aura felt in the other person.
We started a fight from which we could never back down.
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