Chapter 6.
Groups 1 and 2 that pa.s.sed through the second campsite were currently near the vicinity of the fourth campsite. The site closest to the edge of the rift was the sixth campsite. Therefore, if the two groups that were ahead fanned out and started from the rift to the sixth campsite, then, alongside the group that discovered Denburg’s track, they could hunt as one group.
Hestia tied the paper with this strategy onto the messenger hawk"s leg and sent it on its way.
-o-
Ring, ring!
Surprised by the sudden sound, I woke up and moved my body.
"Ahhh!"
As I moved my body around, I almost fell off the tree branch twice the size of my body. In the end, I managed to keep my balance and looked around.
It was still dark in the forest. Still, looking at the sky turning dark blue in the distance, one could see that it was almost dawn.
Ring, ring!
I took out my watch and turned off the alarm, relieved to find out that the sound was from the clock inside my breast pocket.
5:45 a.m.
I rubbed my face to wake up.
By relying on the constellations last night, I moved until it was eleven. Then, I decided that it was too dangerous to continue moving forward, climbed a tall tree nearby, and slept on its branch.
Ugh, it was cold. Even though it was almost summer, nights in the forest were too cold for just a thin sheet of blanket. In fact, although I called it a forest, the area behind the village boasted one of the tallest mountains in the world and the forest itself was half-mountainous.
I packed my bag and climbed down the tree. Despite covering myself with the blanket, I was s.h.i.+vering from the cold. I wanted to make a fire to warm myself up, but creating one with my current situation was no different from creating a self-inflicted wound in front of a hunting dog to effuse the smell of blood.
I took a piece of jerky out of my bag and put it in my mouth. I then carefully tilted my water bag and poured water into a mithril cup carved with magic. Managing the water supply was critical while being chased. It was impossible to know when I would be able to replenish water next, so even a drop of water could change the outcome of the chase.
I poured water into the mithril cup and injected mana. The cup had no reaction. As expected from one of the continent’s seven restricted lands, it was difficult to properly infuse magic power into the cup.
After I forcefully injected more magic power, the magic engravings on the cup finally lit up faintly. The water in the cup started steaming slightly. If this much magic power had been injected into the cup in the village, the water inside would have instantly evaporated. In this current environment, however, it was hard to even raise the temperature to body temperature. I had to reserve magic power in case of an emergency, so I didn"t dare to heat anything beyond a cup of water.
My home village was located in the middle of Olympus Forest, also known as the symbol of Mount Olympus. It was no exaggeration to say that this forest was a land of death for magicians. Magic power jolted around crazily inside the forest. The flow of magic power within the jungle was constantly changing. Due to this, if a spell was cast to create fire, it wasn’t uncommon for the fire created to be similar to one from a match stick. In extreme cases, the magician’s body could catch fire and burn himself to death.
In the village, it was easy to use magic because generations of magicians had carved and maintained runes that stabilized magic power. Outside the village, however, it was difficult to use magic. That was why Father regarded magic as mere tricks.
I drank the warmed water and put the bag back onto my shoulders. The sun was rising in the distance, turning the sky red and blue at the same time.
It was time to move forward again.
-o-
At dawn, information arrived that the pursuit squad would be starting their pursuit again.
Gawain was spearheading with his warrior squadron, while Gallahad leading his guard division brought up the rear. Following the route on the map, the pursuit squad was heading to the sixth campsite as per Hestia’s command from the night before. No matter how fast Denburg was, he couldn’t be faster than those traveling on a well-maintained road.
Hestia, however, still decided to prepare a backup plan just in case.
-o-
It was past one-thirty in the afternoon. I decided to take a rest and eat a late lunch.
I took out some beef jerky and dried bread from my bag, gradually moistening it with saliva to prevent myself from choking up. Alongside, I slowly skimmed through the map.
Learning how to read maps in the military during my past life turned out to be more useful than I expected. Although I wouldn’t ever go back to the military (not that I could now even if I wanted to), I was enlightened by the fact that there was nothing to lose from learning.
I thought about joining the empire’s imperial army when I was making plans to leave. My uncle held a high position in the military, so I thought that I would be able to live a comfortable life under him if I joined.
I thought it was a good idea at first, but after some reflection, I realized it was actually a horrible idea. I must have been crazy when I thought of the idea. It was the military. Even in the Korean Military, which was built on the premise of modern warfare with jets flying in the sky, six hundred thousand foot soldiers were trained by camping in the mountains and going through all sorts of trials and hards.h.i.+ps.
The military from my past life was peaceful due to a truce. The current Imperial Army struggled with holding back monsters and demons which the demon king brought 120 years ago. Except for patrolling troops, the defense force of the capital, and the border guards, the Imperial Army invested its entire manpower to stop monsters and demons from coming down from the northern borders.
If I were to enter the Imperial Army by relying on Uncle, it was possible that he himself would drag me to the northern borders and force me to spend the rest of my life fighting monsters and demons.
I could never let that happen. Why did I expend so much effort leaving the village in the first place? Wasn’t it for a peaceful life without any violence?
My ultimate dream was to generate a reasonable income by doing something akin to administrative work and live a fulfilling life.
I got up again after the brief lunch.
Let"s cheer for a bright future!
-o-
"Captain."
Mac, the vice captain of the warrior force, called out to Gawain while they were pursuing Denburg.
"What is it?"
"There’s just one thing I don"t understand."
"What?"
"Although it’s Youngest Master that ran away from home, do we really need to invest this much manpower for one person? Did Youngest Master run away with a precious treasure of the village?"
What Mac pointed out was correct. Gawain had been so focused on pursuing Denburg that he led the warriors without giving a proper explanation of the situation. However, there was one thing that nagged him.
"Why didn’t you ask when we were leaving?"
While scratching the back of his head, Mac replied, "Well, I just didn"t think about it at the time. It’s not like us to think it through before moving."
Gawain sighed at the subordinate giggling to himself and said, "Why are you thinking about stuff you don’t do normally. Is the sun going to rise in the west tomorrow?”
"Kekeke. I know, right. I guess tomorrow"s sun will rise from the west."
Mac, who was still giggling, suddenly asked with a little serious expression, "When we go hunting, I usually don’t think about anything else because of the tension. However, we’re not in any danger this time. We’re just catching Youngest Master and bringing him back to the boss. It’s just surprising that those turtles that don"t step out of the village are with us this time."
Turtle was a nickname of the guards that rarely came out of the village. They were slower compared to the warriors and the guards not coming out of the village resembled a turtle hiding inside its sh.e.l.l. Hence the moniker that someone coined spread and eventually everyone called the guards turtle.
Obviously, the guards were furious, but it wasn’t an unreasonable idea.
“So when Denburg ran away from home, he took away a treasure of the village with him?"
"Yes, that’s what everyone is thinking,” Mac answered straightforwardly.
"Well, that"s not completely wrong."
"What?! Is the Youngest Master really running away with treasures?! Oh my G.o.d! I"ve been living in the village all this time and I didn"t even know a treasure existed."
"Why? So that you could run away with it if you knew?"
At Gawain"s question, Mac lightly waved and denied his words. "Hey, Captain and Youngest Master are Boss’s sons, so you guys will only be punished lightly if you get caught. But if I were to run away with a treasure, I would be executed on the spot.”
"No, if you stole an important treasure that would cause a pursuit of this magnitude, even we wouldn’t escape with a simple punishment.”
Disregarding Gawain’s words, Mac asked, "So what did Youngest Master steal?"
"Nothing."
At Gawain"s reply, Mac whispered with a sly smile, "Hey, it’s just me and Captain. Let the little man know."
"It’s really nothing. It"s just some dried food and a map that he took with him."
He also took some money and a blanket, but that wasn’t important.
"What? But didn"t you say he stole something?" Although he said that, Mac"s tone seemed to be asking why he was lying.
Gawain snorted. "When did I? I said he did something similar, but I never said he stole anything.”
"Then what is it? Captain, are you telling me some bulls.h.i.+t story that Youngest Master himself is the treasure?”
“That"s right."
At Gawain"s words, Mac stopped looking for tracks and retreated from the man with a weary expression.
"That"s ridiculous. I didn"t know that you were such a pervert!"
"Who’s a pervert!"
‘I think I might just pull that G.o.dd.a.m.n goat beard out.’
While Gawain was thinking this, Mac suddenly covered his beard and said, "That was an eye aiming for my awesome beard!"
Rather than questioning whether Mac knew mind-reading techniques, Gawain was angry that he was guarding his beard instead of his jabbering mouth.
Gawain decided that he was really going to pull it out later. Then, he asked, "What do you think is the most important thing in the village?"
Mac answered the question with no signs of pondering. "The most important thing, of course, is Boss."
That was the correct answer.
No one in the village could replace Doomstone. To the villagers, any divine weapon, or magic, was nothing but sticks and tricks compared to Doomstone, who led the village.
"Then how important would it be if Father had a successor?"