EP4. The beginning of the journey (4)
“Thank you so much! How should I repay this favor!”
“Ah, ahahahaha, it’s okay. We just happened to pass by this place and found it.”
After the situation is sorted out. The merchant showed his gratitude as if he were going to bow to them. The two appeared to be in a group, but both seemed quite young to Kren.
The boy isn’t big enough to be called young, but his face is still young, and I’m not sure about the wizard, but he’s pretty small anyway.
Then the wizard opened his mouth.
“····Shaun, can we not pursue those bandits…?”
At that, the boy named Shawn seemed to ponder the question, but to Kren it wasn’t the point.
Because that voice was completely different from what he thought. If he is an ordinary magician, is he an old man who has mastered everything, or is he a slightly sullen man who has no interest in the world?
However, his voice was very thin and soft. The voice was that of a woman, no, that of a young girl.
I turned around and saw the merchant, but he looked pretty flustered too. Hmmm, it wasn’t just me. Perhaps he was thinking that way, the boy answered the girl as if he had finished his thoughts.
“Hmm, I guess chasing was the right thing to do? I think I might be able to catch it if I chase it now…”
At that, the merchant shook his head and denied their idea.
“No. Of course, I know you’re strong, but I don’t know how many of those guys will be in your stronghold, so if you go there for nothing, you might end up in big trouble. It would be much better to just let it go.”
At that, Sean nodded her head. Then Sean noticed something behind him.
“······Over there····.”
Following Sean’s gaze, the merchant turned his head and realized what he was looking at. If you’re young, there’s a good chance you’ve seen him for the first time. The boy might have been quite shocked, thought the merchant.
“This is what the thief just did. Well, it can’t be helped.”
However, contrary to the merchant’s expectations, the boy was quite calm. Although the mage’s side completely covered his face, so I couldn’t tell.
The merchant said to the benefactors who saved his life.
“If you see someone passing this road, are they on their way to Laes?”
At that, Shawn looked away from his dead body and nodded at him.
“Yes, that’s right.”
At Sean’s affirmation, the merchant clapped his hands and shouted as if it was a success.
“Oh! Then come with us! When I arrive in Laes, I will repay the favor!”
At those words, Sean looked at Levy and exchanged opinions. Levy gave him a small nod, and Sean said.
“That would be great for us.”
“Then let’s get going! Get in the carriage! Oh. I have to say thanks to you too. Thank you so much. Please come out then.”
When I thanked Kren, who was watching me while I was talking, he was momentarily taken aback and just waved his hand and said.
“Ah, well, that’s my job, and that’s about it…”
Looking like he was in the mood to leave, Shawn asked cautiously.
“By the way… Are you going to leave him alone?”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t it better to bury or do something?”
From noble mtl dot com.
Realizing what the boy was talking about, the merchant looked at the corpse of his coachman for a moment with a pitiful gaze, then sighed and said:
“Of course, I don’t want to do that, do I?”
“·······.”
“But that’s not a very good idea. The thieves who escaped might come back with a group at some point…”
The merchant said as if giving advice to a young boy.
“After all, in this troubled world, death is the only thing you are responsible for.”
“········.”
“Well, if I had been a precious person to this coachman, I might have left that and did it, but that’s not the case, so there’s no difference.”
“But,”
The merchant added to the boy, who looks like an adult but still seems to have an innocence.
“Looks like you lived a pretty peaceful life. However, death is common. It’s a very tiring time to put your heart into each and every one of these things.”
Since the merchant said so much, Shawn had nothing to say. When the conversation seemed to be over, the merchant tried to cheer up again and said.
“Come on, let’s get on! Even if it is a little narrow, please ride with three people. I will pull the carriage.”
So the merchant got on the front of the wagon, and after watching the other three get into the wagon, he started slowly.
*
Inside the narrow wagon sat the three of them: Levi, Shawn, and Kren.
After a moment of silence, Kren thought of expressing his gratitude.
“Thank you very much. I am alive thanks to you.”
At that, Sean, who was sitting in the middle of the two, said.
“No. As I said before, I was lucky.”
“Well, isn’t it true that you saved me? Hey, my name is Cren. Is she that way?”
“Oh, I am Shawn.”
Sean, should I say it’s a fairly common name, Kren nodded her head and looked at her.
“Yes… Then, over there…”
Looking at the wizard for a while, did you feel his gaze? The wizard opened his mouth slowly.
“This is Levy.”
Levira, it sounds like a common name, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it…
One thing is for sure, it didn’t look like a mage’s name. If Kren thought it was the name of a mage, then Argasius… Shouldn’t it be about the name? Of course, it was just made up, so there was no special meaning or reason.
There was a little more trouble than that. It’s because I don’t know what to say now after asking about the name. Should I just stay still like I did with the merchant earlier? They say they’re almost there anyway…
As Kren was thinking about it, Sean spoke first.
“Mr. Kren, why are you going to Laes?”
“Oh, me? I will follow you as an escort for this wagon.”
“An escort?”
Cren answered Sean’s muttering.
“As a mercenary, I was entrusted with an escort mission. Well, actually, this job is not for the purpose of getting money, but for the purpose of going to Laes.”
“Aha, so… You mean Mr. Kren is a mercenary?”
“Yes. Well, he’s a mercenary, but he’s actually a free mercenary.”
“A free mercenary?”
As Sean asked back, Kren realized that the boy knew nothing.
“In a nutshell, a free mercenary is a person who does not belong to any mercenary group and works alone. In fact, the reason I’m heading to Laes is to join the mercenary group.”
Kren said, thinking of her own dream.
“There is a mercenary group called Silent Wolves in Laes, and they say their skills are amazing. They say the request rate is incredibly high.”
Kren is explaining quite meticulously, not fitting his personality, but Shawn still has so many things he doesn’t know. In the world of a small village, because of the vast amount of knowledge that can’t be known with just a few books.
“What types of requests are there?”
“Anything that makes money is a request. From escort missions like this, monster extermination, war. Or even a lot of unclean things.”
“Isn’t killing monsters what adventurers usually do?”
Ah, at the boy’s endless questions, Kren wanted to take a nap, but he couldn’t. She is the benefactor who saved her own life, but isn’t it too much to ignore?
Kren glanced at the wizard girl. But she seemed to have no intention of stopping the boy either. Rather, she seemed to be listening intently, pretending not to be herself.
“The work of adventurers and mercenaries overlaps quite a bit. But usually, people who simply catch monsters are not called adventurers.”
“Yes? Then how can I be called an adventurer?”
“When we talk about adventurers these days, most of them are those who make money by registering with the association, catching monsters, and submitting the evidence to the association. Of course, there must be adventurers who just personally catch monsters without registering with the association, but most adventurers mean the former.”
Oh, I thought Shawn was an adventurer when he just caught monsters, but it seems he isn’t. Levi probably didn’t know that either. Because she couldn’t know what Levy didn’t know.
Kren said, looking at the boy.
“Are you thinking of becoming an adventurer?”
“Ah… Yes that’s right.”
“Even Mage…?”
“Yes, I plan to become an adventurer too.”
Hmm, Kren said after she thought for a moment.
“What I said is pretty basic knowledge, where did you keep living in the countryside?”
Kren’s words were correct. Shawn and Levy have just come out of a small town their entire lives.
Rumble-
The uncomfortable riding comfort of the wagon, which had been forgotten for a while, reappeared.
“Profit!”
At the cute scream that didn’t suit the situation for a while, Kren was able to guess who the owner was.
Shaun and Kren couldn’t see, but Levy’s face turned red. I made an embarrassing noise!
Kren cleared his throat once, then cautiously asked her, who had been quiet all along.
“That… Mage…?”
“Yes.”
Her normally small voice had become so muffled that she couldn’t hear it properly unless she concentrated. Cren said she was steadfast in telling her what she wanted to say.
“Well, if you are from the countryside, how did you learn magic?”
Levy pondered over whether to answer that question, and told it so much that it was only possible to guess.
“I was just lucky.”
Sir, I wondered if I could learn magic myself, so I asked, but there’s no way that would be possible in the first place. Kren decided to just give up cleanly. Look, she doesn’t even seem to want to tell me.
I had already woken up from talking so much, but there was nothing more to talk about. As you can see, I don’t think the two of them will talk much more. He said he would arrive today anyway, so he must be bruised and beaten.
When I thought so, the merchant sitting in the coachman’s seat looked back and said.
“You are almost there. If you cross this small valley here, you will arrive at Laes.”
At that, Sean stuck his head out of his wagon. Shaun admired the rather unusual terrain for a moment.
Isn’t it a space where two small mountains face each other, or two cliffs that are not that tall on both sides facing each other?
The merchant also started explaining this place.
“This is a well-known place in Laes. It feels like an entrance to Laes.”
It was exactly as the merchant explained. If the two cliffs had been much taller, everyone here would have been overwhelmed by the sight, rather than just coming and going.
The valley was quite narrow. Of course, this wagon was on the small side, so it was easy to get there, but if it was a fairly large wagon, it would be tight to get in here.
As we entered the valley, I had the feeling that the sides were a little more like ramps than cliffs. He was more bored than he thought from a distance, but it wasn’t too bad.
I must have passed halfway through the valley like that, when I suddenly heard a coo-gu-gung sound.
The merchant said in bewilderment.
“What? Is it an earthquake?!”
Oh sh*t. If the ground shakes like this, this must be an earthquake. That’s what Kren thought, but Sean thought differently.
“This is a sound from above.”
“What?”
From noble mtl dot com.
With Kren’s stupid answer, the truth was revealed. Large rocks are rolling down from the top left.
“Oops! f*ck. Die!!”
Kren finally let out the swear words he had been shouting in his heart and crouched down in the carriage.
However, he did not die. The landslide did not hit the wagon, but headed towards the front of the wagon.
How long did it last? Finally, all the rocks fell and everything became quiet.
Everyone in the wagon came out slowly. The merchant said, wiping the cold sweat from the fear of death.
“Is anyone hurt? Phew, a landslide. It’s really fortunate though…”
I said I was lucky, but in fact I wasn’t. It is because the front road of the valley is completely blocked due to the fallen rocks.
Of course, it wasn’t completely blocked by rocks, and there were some gaps, so I’m sure we could cross it somehow. But, that means people can. It is impossible for a wagon.
The merchant seemed to go dark before his eyes. No, he barely escaped the brigade of bandits, and now a landslide is in the way. Maybe he himself was cursed by God. He even had the same absurd thought.
The merchant said without hiding his despair.
“Then… I can’t do it, but that’s it. I’m going back, so I hope you all go to Laes…”
Levy asked the merchant in pity at those words.
“Can we go to Laes and call people?”
Even with those words, the merchant was still frustrated.
“No. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to clean it all up in one day. I think it will take at least four days… But the things I brought to sell are groceries, so in three more days they will all rot and will be unsellable…”
Sean asked Levy.
“Can’t you remove those rocks with magic?”
Levy shook his head at Sean’s words.
“I don’t know about a rock or two, but I can’t do that many.”
Then Kren spoke.
“Is there any other way other than here?”
The merchant seemed to think for a moment, then he said cautiously.
“There will be no roads. Still, it looks like Raes will come out if you cross this mountain…”
Kren nodded and said as if it were natural.
“Then let’s do it.”
“Yes? But·····,”
“I am an escort for this wagon. We will try our best to bring you safely to Laes. Well, it failed earlier, but…”
The merchant was troubled by those words. Okay. If I go back here anyway, it’s not something I can sell, so what’s wrong with trying it?
The merchant said to the boy and girl.
“Then everyone else…”
Sean shook his head.
“No, we will go with you. Are you okay, Levi?”
“Yes. Laes can go slowly.”
The merchant was moved and felt her eyes moisten.
“Everyone…! Is it so! Let’s go! Our adventure begins!”
In Sean’s opinion, Levy probably agreed because he felt sorry for the merchant. She was, of course, herself, but Sean had other reasons as well.
It’s because I seem to have seen it, at least vaguely.
Something standing on top of the cliff where the rocks fell.