108 – Circulation (3)
The village chief’s story was truly a comprehensive story.
I didn’t even know it was inevitable.
“I’m sorry. It’s a story that has been passed down from generation to generation since my grandfather’s grandfather….”
If I were to borrow a memory from my past life, it is said that the incident that occurred on this continent was a story from the time when Tiger smoked cigarettes.
“Are all the stories in this book?”
“Yes. If you have any further questions, you should head to Viscounty Brann. It might be a little difficult because the real winter is about to begin….”
I expressed my gratitude to the village chief for his consideration in many ways, took out some gold coins from my pocket, and placed them in the village chief’s hand.
“I don’t know if this will help you.”
“You don’t have to do this!”
“It’s because I don’t feel at peace. “If I had camped in this weather, I would have been in trouble.”
The village chief rejected my case a couple of times, but when he realized that I would not give in, he brought us food to eat.
It wasn’t that great of a thing.
Because it was nothing more than a product made by roasting old crops such as potatoes or sweet potatoes in a fireplace.
But when we arrived here after wandering through the winter forest, there was no real feast.
“If you need anything, please call me anytime.”
After saying this, the village chief headed to the hall for merchants who occasionally visit the village.
Priscilla sneezed slightly and looked at the village chief with a slightly sorry expression.
“I’m glad we have money.”
“But be careful.”
It is winter, so the floating population has plummeted, and it is a small village with only about 100 residents.
“Accidents always happen in places like this in stories, right?”
“Yes, that’s the law.”
I said that and put some more wood into the fireplace.
“Could this be where the First Lord was born?”
“Well….”
Although it was only for a short time, I once saw the scene of the Emperor going to war.
It was a scene so terrible that it cannot even be expressed in words.
If it really happened and not a fantasy, could such a peaceful village exist?
However, it was not possible to conclude that this was not the continent where the founder was born.
This is written in the myth of the time when the first emperor founded the empire.
A winter so cold that even the lungs are frozen has come, casting the shadow of the end.
Charmed by the light of the sun, they set out to find a new continent, and eventually arrived at the new continent where the warm sunlight welcomed them.
This means that after leaving the winter continent and settling on the Arcradium continent, winter quickly turned into summer.
Are they continents that are separated from each other like New Zealand and Australia?
If you think about it that way, it’s not that strange that people live on this continent.
If it is a problem─
“If it’s not where the first person was born, then why on earth did the old woman send us here?”
Like Priscilla’s question, the question remains as to why they sent us here.
More than anything else, the problem was the letters written in the book the village chief handed over.
“This is the official language used in the empire, even if its form is slightly different, right?”
We can read the book the village chief handed us.
In that regard, the possibility that this is not the continent where the first founder was born has already been ruled out.
I don’t know what miracle happened, but over a thousand years, that nightmarish world became a habitable continent.
What kind of miracle happened?
“This should be considered the continent where the First Emperor was born.”
Then again, it becomes a problem.
Foreign media is called the shadow of the end cast over the continent.
Isn’t that entity targeting the continent of Arcradium from this continent?
How on earth did this happen?
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I thought one question had been resolved, but it felt like another question kept coming.
“… “What about the knights who were escorting us?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I left a letter in advance to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances.
There will be no disciplinary action against the knights.
Thinking like that, I read the book the village chief handed me.
However, as is usual with books containing mythology, most of the content was fictional, so it was not very helpful.
The fact that could be confirmed in the book was that a person with mana embodying light drove out a person with dark mana.
Is this a depiction of an invitation, or is it someone else?
I don’t think you can get a clear answer to that here.
Once I finish preparing for the trip, I will go to Viscount Brann, which the chief mentioned, and investigate.
As I was thinking this and looking through the book for any clues, Priscilla leaned her head on my shoulder.
She glanced down at him and saw that Priscilla had already dozed off.
While wandering through a winter forest with a cold wind blowing, I came into contact with the warmth of a fireplace.
You may feel sleepy due to fatigue along with tension.
Priscilla’s small breathing and the sound of wood burning in the fireplace.
Even the sound of the cold wind blowing outside the window.
Considering that I had moved on a continental scale, it was truly a moment of peace of mind.
***
The day has dawned.
I took a nap, wary of an unexpected situation, but fortunately, I didn’t have to wait for the kind of development that I often see in novels.
“Can I judge this to be a safe place?”
Priscilla muttered as she ate the cooked bean curd crop prepared by her chief.
“Maybe it’s a trap.”
It is a small village with only about 100 people.
They may have decided that they cannot deal with someone who appears to be a knight who controls mana, so they may be sending us to a city where they can deal with us.
It was impossible to let down one’s guard.
The problem is that if you stay here, you won’t get any answers.
“We should secure the minimum level of safety and then leave for Viscount Brann.”
We decided to briefly understand whether these people were really human.
I couldn’t spend that much time, so I ended up helping them with their pastimes and making simple observations.
After taking a full day to judge, I couldn’t find anything that felt uncomfortable about them.
The most certain way was to see blood, but we could not ask for that from those who showed such kindness to strangers.
After staying in this place called Logger Village for a total of two days, we started our journey to Viscounty Bran, which the village chief had told us about.
“May God’s protection be with you on your way.”
“Don’t forget this favor.”
After saying that, I gave the reward money to the village chief again and left Logger Village with Priscilla.
Priscilla let out a sigh of relief as she watched the logger village gradually getting further away.
Priscilla’s breath from her mouth colored the early morning air pure white.
“It’s cold.”
When the guard post reached a distance where they could no longer aim at us with their bows, Priscilla carefully clung to me.
Just as Priscilla said, it was so cold that it chilled even her lungs.
At this point, most mountain animals would have gone into hibernation.
As the village chief said, I thought I only had to worry about frostbite or hypothermia.
“I never thought my dream would come true in this way.”
If I get the chance someday, I want to go on a trip just the two of us.
We had a conversation like that before.
It was just a conversation we shared in passing, but I never imagined that my dream would come true in this way.
“Priscilla.”
“Yes, Maximilian.”
“If you’re tired, tell me anytime. “It seems like a bit of a rough environment for travel.”
The village chief said that if it is spring or fall, if you walk diligently to Viscount Brann, you will be able to reach it by evening.
However, even though it is winter now, it is setting early, so there is a high possibility that we will not be able to arrive even when the sun sets.
If this were the same as Akradium, the castle walls would be closed after sunset and no outsiders would be accepted.
There was a need to hurry a little.
***
We walked the mountain path diligently, not even talking to each other.
Unlike the villagers, we were able to use mana skillfully, so we were able to arrive at Viscount Brann much earlier than the villagers expected.
“Are you okay, Priscilla?”
“Yes, Maximilian.”
“From here on, let’s go back to being commoners.”
“Yes.”
It is very rare to leave the village in winter like this.
If you are not a peddler who has to work hard to save money, this is a perfect situation to cause misunderstanding.
So we cautiously approached the gates of Viscount Brann.
“Stop!”
As we approached the gate, a guard came towards us.
“Reveal your identity.”
“We come from Logger Village.”
“Hmm…. “Logger village?”
The guard looked at me and Priscilla with a suspicious expression.
I held out my hand to the guard, who was becoming more and more suspicious.
Then, just as the chief of the logger village had instructed, he put five silver coins in his hand and tapped the sword sheath hanging on his waist with his hand.
“Hmm. “If you have some money, go to the Silver Fox Inn. If you don’t, go to the Fur Deer Inn.”
Tapping five silver coins and a sword sheath is the greeting method of a mercenary wandering aimlessly.
Apparently what the village chief had told us was true, and the guard was kind enough to introduce us to the inn.
“It’s an interesting culture.”
“That’s right.”
There is a lot of money.
However, it is a currency that is not used here.
I had spent half of the silver coins I received from the village chief as a reward, so I first needed to go to an antique dealer or jeweler and exchange the imperial gold coins for local currency.
We asked a citizen of the Viscounty Territory for directions and went to an antique dealer.
After a lot of fighting there, we managed to raise funds and headed to the Silver Fox Inn, which the guard had introduced us to, to unpack.
“Is it okay to eat in the room?”
The innkeeper stared at the two swords hanging on my waist and nodded.
If he didn’t have a knife, he looked like he would have been scolded and scolded for saying such nonsense.
I gave the innkeeper a silver coin from this continent as a tip.
Then, with a noticeably brighter expression, he stroked his beard.
If the continent of Acradium is a world that straddles the Middle Ages and modern times, this was a medieval fantasy straddling the line between barbarism and romance.
It is a dangerous place because the security is quite bad.
However, there was also a sense of relief.
If they had been dominated by foreign media, they would not have been able to show such vivid humanity.
‘First of all, is it a cathedral?’
I hope you can find a clue to save the empire there and a way to return to the continent of Akradium.