Year 7442, Month 4, Day 30
It was the night of April 12th that I came to Keel with my parents. I went to Doritt for several days in-between but after a short 3 weeks I"m finally leaving Keel.
After watching the enforcement of the punishments yesterday I went to the job bulletin for adventurers in the government office, handed over the payment for the
sword and the tally then received the reward of 100,000 Z before returning to Bins Manor. On the occasion I was there I also checked if there were any good jobs on
the bulletin board but there wasn"t any in particular, after resting for one night I"m currently preparing to leave.
After organizing my luggage I store that away in the saddle bag of my horse. In the end I didn"t have a scabbard made for my sword. I"m sure it"ll be fine if I have
it made where I end up after this. Either way I"ll just have it in bayonet form while I"m traveling so there"s no problem even without a scabbard for the sword mode.
Rather if I had one it would just be in the way.
In the end Mary and Kuro decided to enter the knight group. Kuro had his own sword and while it was cheap some leather armor but Mary didn"t have any of that combat
use equipment. Putting aside armor she"ll definitely need a sword. I was a bit worried about if she could afford to buy one but it seems that her parents will pay
for it out of savings so there was no problem. Eh? Since you have money then you pay for it? Why? There"s no way I would go that far in taking care of them.
In the first place being able to enter the knight group is the same as not having to worry about their employment at all from now on, it"s the same as becoming an
elite. There"s no reason why Mary"s parents would oppose it. If she were to receive invest.i.ture as a knight then she can become a commoner as well, there"s no
mistake it"s all good things. They provide a place to live and food for no cost and even give you an education. In addition they even receive wages. That sort of
splendid environment, I went to the point of giving up on my reward to prepare for them. There"s nothing more than that I can do for them.
I"m sure they understand that, the two of them came early in the morning to see me off. It"s not like I have enough belongings to need help with packing though so
they really just came to see me off. It seems that they"re entering the Webdos knight group as squires tomorrow along with the changing month. After putting my
luggage together and sitting on the rubber cushion on my horse Kuro is looking up at me.
"Al..umm..I"m really grateful for everything. I"ll...give it my best. Since it"s a chance I"ve finally received. I"ll definitely make it my own. I won"t forget this
debt. I"ll definitely repay it.. it doesn"t seem like I"ll quickly be able to be of use to you but I"ll definitely pay this debt. "Thank you very much!""
After saying that Kuro lowered his head deeply. Kuro quit the company he was working at yesterday and is moving out of his inn today it seems. Mary is looking up at
me besides Kuro.
"Al, I feel the same way as Kuro. I don"t know how to use the sword, let alone that I"ve never even fought before but on this Orth I already know it"s something
necessary in order to live. I just didn"t want to accept that until now.. I"ve really been helped a lot by you... I"ll show you I can make the best use of this
chance as well! I"ll definitely return the debt. Thanks, no "Thank you
very much.""
After saying that Mary lowered her head deeply along with Kuro. I look down on those two from atop my horse and,
"Well, don"t worry so much about it. I can only do this much for you. It depends on how much effort you two put into it from here on out. It"s not as much studying
as you"d do in j.a.pan but it seems that training with the sword and horse is considerably difficult so try not to lose heart on the way. Well, remain
patient.. Then, I"m heading off."
After saying that I was about to pull on the reins but I remember one thing I had to add to that.
"I forgot to say one thing. In around 3-4 years I intend to come back once and check up on things. If I don"t show up in over 5 years then...think that I"ve died and
you guys can do whatever you want after that. Also..I guess so, I"ll give this to Mary. Since you get driven out of the knight group if you"re pregnant, be careful."
After throwing the rubber bag I pulled on the reins and tapped the horse"s sides. A well-trained war horse will go into a trot and the horse continues along the
road going Northeast. I didn"t face behind me. After all, I can imagine what kind of face they"re making.
I pa.s.sed through the streets of Keel, the number of houses has gotten spa.r.s.e. I continue along the road as it turns into a pastoral scenery covered in fields. The
fields that surround the river and road on both sides are tilled well and the ridge is properly stretching out parallel. As expected it seems that they"re using
horses and cows for agriculture and the farm-work is being done efficiently and {systematically}.
I can see horses and cattle pulling plows here and there.
The two villages of Rudo and Horug are at the end of this road and beyond that is the town of Kilug. After pa.s.sing Kilug you leave Marquis Webdos territory and enter
Viscount Penlaids territory. There"s roughly 65 km until the town of Kilug. If I put some effort into it I could arrive by night but I"m not in that much of a hurry.
If there"s an inn open at Horug village I"ll stay there, if there isn"t one open I"ll ask the lord if I can camp in an empty lot.
However, it"s that right. If you get used to these horses they"re really interesting. Just bey delicately controlling the reins they go the direction you want almost
as if they"re reading your mind. Right now it"s walking through the middle of the road but if I want to go to the left or right side just by pulling the reins
slightly it immediately moves just the amount I want it to.
Since the road follows along the riverbank there"s no problem with letting the horse drink water during short breaks on the way. Although in my case I can use magic
to make water as well so there wasn"t much to worry about in the first place. I leisurely let the horse walk as I listen to the stream of the river. I can probably
pa.s.s through Rudo by noon.
Pa.s.sing through the fields, I continue through the thick bushes. A bird is flying in the distance. There"s no need to be careful of monsters in this area when I"m
still this close to Keel. I had Kuro teach me about it but it seems that animals that existed on Earth are beasts and anything other than that on Orth is cla.s.sified
as a monster. Anything that would come at you to attack it"s fine to think of as being a monster.
In Africa, India, and China in the mountains there were things like lions, leopards, and tigers, dangerous beasts that would attack you but it seems that he hadn"t
heard of any dangerous carnivorous beasts in this area. If there was anything dangerous it would be monsters. And those monsters are for the most part not seen in
the surroundings of Keel, and it seems that there"s rarely only a bit of damage from them but I can probably take a nap until I get to around Rudo.
Thinking that as I doze away and I reached Rudo by noon. After pa.s.sing Rudo, not quite as much as Bakuddo but it seems there"s more damage from monsters so you need
to remain cautious. I"ll have a meal in this village. I"ve prepared preserved food but I want to eat proper meals when I have the chance. There was a restaurant in
the middle of the village so I entered there and had a meal.
Since Webdos Company periodically has caravans running between Keel and the Capital of Rombertia, they also end up doing trade with Viscount Penlaid"s territory so
there"s a demand for restaurants, and along the roads between Keel and other territories any place there"s houses I won"t be troubled finding a meal. After eating a
lunch of a porridge with wheat, eggs, and some vegetables and a black bread sandwich with pork-ham or something like psociutto on it I pick the vegetables stuck in my
teeth out, get on my horse again, and leave Rudo village.
I"m heading for Horug today. There"s roughly 20 km from here to Horug. I should think of these 20 km as similar to the km from Bakuddo to the neighboring village of
Badett and proceed cautiously. I confirm the bayonet tied up to the back of my saddle and continue moving forward carefully. For the time being it should be fine not
to pay attention to the river flowing by on the right side. I focus my attention on the left side and continue at a leisurely pace as usual along the road.
Without being attacked by monsters I arrived at Horug village before night.
I took an inn without problem, ate a pork steak and oatmeal for dinner, and went to bed early.
Year 7442, Month 5, Day 11
Just like this I pa.s.sed through the suburbs of the town areas and tensed myself up as I entered the outskirts as 2 weeks (12 days) pa.s.sed by. Right now I"ve already
pa.s.sed through Viscount Penlaid territory and I"ve traveled several hundred km down the road after entering the King"s territory. I"m heading for the town in the
vicinity of the capital, Baldukk, I think it will still take around 10 days probably. And, if you"re wondering why I"m saying things like this as I s.p.a.ce out, it"s
because roughly 500 m ahead of me there"s two people, I found them walking in the same direction as I am.
Since they"re still too far I can"t tell what gender they are but they somehow look like children. One of them seems to be a man form his figure. It seems like he
might have a firm build so while he looks like a child but it might just be a dwarf. The other one looks thin compared to their companion. Either a child or a woman.
If I continue walking like this I"ll probably get to within 10 m of them in about 20 minutes.
Up until now I"ve been attacked by groups of hobgoblins and goblins on the way but I didn"t meet any thieves. In any case, the time is still before noon and I have
no other choice than to pa.s.s by them. I guess it would be best to just be cautious and quickly pa.s.s them. Just as I was getting my horse into a trot to pa.s.s by them
I thought it would suck if they misunderstood it as an attack so I decided to just keep going like this.
I hang my bayonet on my shoulder again and have the horse continue walking. If you continue along the road from here it was bushes on both sides of the road but it
seems that it becomes a forest filled with broad-leaf trees. If possible I wanted to pa.s.s them before entering the forest. They walk surprisingly fast. It seems
they"re quite used to walking. In the end I continued for another 25 minutes and entered the forest. If they spent the night in the same village as me last night
then they must have either left quite early or come from a different path. There were several roads that merged into this one after all.
The two who were in front of me once turned around looking back here. It seems to be a man and woman. Just as expected the man is a dwarf and while he has a solid
build his height is short. He looks to be about the same size as the woman. It feels like they"re around 150 cm. From her statue it seems that the woman isn"t a
dwarf but either a human or an elf. She has hair down to the middle of her back and it"s not tied up so I can"t see any ears.
The woman"s hair is black. However, while it"s uncommon it"s not as if there aren"t people with black hair. Ah, that"s right, I already found out that there"s almost
no people who dye their hair. It was really true that there were people with unbelievable hair colors like pink, green, and blue. By the way, the hair of the dwarf
man is a light pink color.
The two of them are carrying something like a large backpack. They might be peddlers. It seems they don"t have swords at their waist but axes. It might be a large
hatchet but that shape is an axe I"m sure. It"s probably a one-hand axe that can be used with one hand. Then I guess they also use that axe for cutting through
bushes as well?
For a while now the road has had some sudden curves but it"s gotten straight ahead again. They once disappeared from my field of vision but I saw their backs
carrying their luggage again. There"s only about 100 m left until I catch up to them. They"re still walking at the same pace. Hmn. If their walking speed is this
fast then we both might end up at the same village that I was planning to arrive at by tonight. Just as I was thinking that it happened. Several wooden spears
{Javelin}"s came flying from the forest. Ah, not at me, towards the two person group ahead of me. It seems that luckily the throwing spears didn"t hit either of
them.
Wait just a minute, it"s not the time to be casually giving explanations. It"s an attack by someone! I don"t want to get caught up in it but unfortunately this road
only goes in one direction. I wonder if the attackers have recognized me? If they have recognized me then there"s the option of turning back as well but in that case
I probably won"t make it to the next village before night. If they"ve recognized me then even if I turn back at this point there"s not much meaning to it. If I run on
the horse them I don"t they would catch up but in any case I have to follow this road to get to the next village.
If I leave and return then in the end if I get ambushed like this then it"s the same. I guess it would be best to help them here or run past on my horse huh...I"ll
decide if I help them out or not after getting a bit closer and checking the ones doing the attack. I made the decision in an instant and lower the bayonet on my
shoulder, I raised the horses speed a bit so it would be fine no matter which direction things go.
"Zenom, on the right!"
"Ah, Ralpha, you watch my back!"
I hear the yells of the two of them.