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Chapter 11 – To the Kingdom of Perdis
I went back to the lodging to wrap up my things, then headed to the trading company to thank Bacchus for all he did for me.
“Oh, Mr. Haruto. What brings you here today?”
“I’m going to leave for the Perdis royal capital today at around noon, so I came to say goodbye.”
Bacchus looked at me with a forlorn expression.
“Oh, I see…you’re leaving already. I plan to go to the Perdis kingdom in the near future too, so hopefully we will meet again somewhere.”
“You have stores there too!? Your trading company sure is huge, Mr. Bacchus…”
“Yes, well, I have stores in all three great states, after all.”
“Your company’s scale is really large, isn’t it.”
“Oh, it’s nothing special, really.”
While talking with Bacchus, I heard Barnar, Norkas and Oorde’s voices from behind me.
I didn’t see them in their rooms in the morning: they had apparently left early.
Barnar, probably because he was the leader, was the first to ask me about my departure.
“So you’re going already?”
“Yeah, I just accepted an escort request to the kingdom of Perdis. I’m going to leave today at noon.”
“I see…it was only a short while, but we owe you a lot. I’m going to treasure this sword!”
So said Barnar while tapping the sword at his waist, then Norkas and Oorde nodded in agreement.
“See you guys again someday.”
“Take care!”
After expressing my gratitude to Bacchus one more time and bumping fists with Barnar and his guys, I left the trading company.
~
I went into town to buy some miscellaneous items, secure emergency rations just in case, and eat lunch. I then headed to the designated meeting point near the north gate.
Among the flux of people coming and going, I spotted a group waiting next to the gate.
There were several merchant-looking people, five horse carriages, and five adventurers…that was probably the group that I was supposed to escort.
The number of adventurers seemed pretty small, but maybe the others were still on their way.
So I thought while I approached the group.
After noticing my approach, a man, probably in his fifties, came up to me.
“Are you one of the adventurers that took our request?”
“Yes, my name’s Haruto.”
“I see, very well. My name is Youte, I was the one to send the escort request to the guild. We will be counting on you. As you can see, we have many horse carriages and are likely to stand out, so there is a high probability of being attacked by monsters or bandits…but the request was really sudden, so only a few adventurers accepted it. Our escort is those five adventurers and you, so only six members in total. They’re discussing how to organize their duties, so please join them.”
“Understood, you can count on me.”
So that was the reason behind the low number.
I did as I was told and walked towards the group of adventurers.
There was a group of four — two men and two women — in their twenties and a hooded person…? Wait, I saw that hood before…
I was trying to recall who the hooded person is when one of the adventurers called out to me.
“Ehm, you are?”
“My name is Haruto, I took the escort request too. Nice to meet you.”
“So now everyone’s gathered…I’m the leader of this four-member party, Ryan. No need for titles or honorifics, just call us with our names. Our adventurer rank is B.”
Ryan introduced himself first, then his party members followed.
“My name is Nathan, I’m a swordsman.”
“My name is Anita, a magic user.”
“I’m Iraly, and I’m a magic user too!”
Just like Barnar’s party and Finne, it looked like adventurers didn’t care much for polite speech. It made it easier to talk, and I didn’t really use it much in the first place, after all…
Ryan then gestured towards the hooded person.
“She took the request like us but isn’t a member of our party. She’s a solo adventurer— ”
“Mr. Haruto, we meet again.”
Finne removed her hood after speaking.
Fancy meeting her again so soon.
“So it was really you, Finne. I thought I had seen that hood somewhere.”
“Yes, it’s me. So you took this request too?”
Finne replied with a kind smile on her lips, then I nodded awkwardly.
“Yeah, well, I thought of going to the Perdis kingdom, you see. And this request was right up my alley.”
“Oh, I see. I picked it based on the reward.”
“Now that you mention it, it is pretty generous.”
Ryan then joined in our conversation.
“You guys knew each other? Finne, under that hood you’re really cute, though.”
“Yes, we met before…”
Finne blushed again after Ryan called her cute.
Ryan seemed to enjoy her reaction and continued.
“Oh yeah, could you both tell me your adventurer rank?”
“I’m rank C.”
“Sure, I’m rank A.”
“RANK A!?!?!?”
Ryan’s party reacted loudly, so the nearby group of merchants looked our way.
Ryan then started talking to me in a sort of patronizing tone.
“You shouldn’t tell lies that can be found out right away, you know.”
“I’m not lying, though?”
So I said as I took the adventurer card out of my pocket for them to see.
“I-it’s a real card…you’re so young and you’re already rank A…? When did you register with the guild?”
“About one week ago.”
“ONE WEEK AGO!?!?”
Ryan’s party shouted, again. Finne already knew because of our conversation the day before, so she wasn’t as surprised.
“Just one week…I mean, for us…”
“Hey, Ryan!! Don’t get all depressed now! Haruto is just a bizarre case!!”
“Right, right!”
“That’s gotta be it!!”
“You guys…! (sniffle)”
Er, can we drop the drama, please? And stop stealing glances at me?
We then discussed how to organize our formation for the journey: soon enough, it was time to leave.
“It is time to leave, everybody.”
Following Youte’s announcement, we all took our posts.
There were five carriages in total, so we didn’t board one carriage each, but split in this manner: two on the head carriage, two on the second, and two on the tail one.
Ryan and Anita went on the first, Nathan and Iraly on the second, me and Finne on the last one.
The convoy thus left Vaana, heading towards the Perdis royal capital.
As the carriages slowly proceeded, Finne and I engaged in casual conversation.
“By the way, Haruto, you don’t seem to carry any luggage with you?”
“It’s all in my Magic Bag.”
“You have a Magic Bag? I’m so envious…”
We were chatting in such a leisurely mood, when my Detect Presence picked up something.
“Hmm, monsters ahead…eight of them.”
“Monsters!?”
“Yeah, looks like they’re hiding in the bushes up ahead. They’ll jump out any moment now.”
“We have to warn the others!”
“Nah, no need, I’ll deal with them.”
“Eh?”
I formed a gun shape with my hands and used Magic Power Manipulation to gather magic power on my fingertips.
“I’ve never seen anything like this…what magic is it?”
Finne asked me, her tone filled with surprise.
“This? It’s a magic bullet.”
“Magic bullet?”
“Yes. You gather magic power from your body and shape it into a bullet. Then you just shoot it at the enemy. The major characteristic is that since it’s not elemental magic, it’s not weak to any element, I guess.”
After explaining, I shot eight magic bullets.
The bullets flew through the air without a sound and blew off the heads of the monsters hiding in the bushes ahead.
Eight headless Goblin corpses then collapsed on the road.
Shocked by the sudden development, Ryan and the other passengers on the first carriage reacted loudly.
“What the!? Goblin corpses!?”
I raised my voice too, urging them to relax.
“Sorry for worrying you! I detected their presence in those bushes, so I dealt with them in advance!”
Ryan and the others, however, looked at me like they couldn’t believe their eyes.
What’s with you guys? It’s better if we don’t have to actually fight, right? So I thought, a bit miffed by their reactions, but at least Finne was looking at me with admiration in her eyes.
“Sir Haruto, you’re amazing…to hit them from such a distance…”
“Well, haha, yeah.”
I blushed a little, then we started chatting again.
“By the way, how old did you say you were? I’m seventeen.”
“One year older than me, then. I’m sixteen.”
“I see. Well, I’ll be counting on you on this journey.”
“Likewise, sir Haruto.”
I did think we were probably close in age, but just one year difference, huh. We might become good friends.
~
The horse carriages advanced some more, then stopped when the surroundings turned dark.
“We will be camping out here today. Please make the necessary preparations, everybody.”
Following Youte’s orders, we started setting up camp. The veteran adventurers showed their expertise here, so I didn’t have much to do…it couldn’t be helped, right?
After dinner, we discussed how to organize guard duty during the night.
We were split in the same pairs of the carriages and only had to decide the order, so it was an easy process.
The road was well fortified compared to the ones in the Glicente kingdom, so there wouldn’t be many monster encounters. On the other hand, since many travelers trusted its safety too much, there were more bandits and thieves prowling around.
The next day, we crossed the border without trouble and entered Perdis kingdom territory. During the following four days we continued our journey towards the capital, stopping in towns and villages along the way, but in the end we were not attacked by monsters or even by bandits, who were supposed to be numerous in the area.
The sixth day after we left Vaana, during a break, Youte approached us adventurers.
“The area we will be entering shortly has become the turf of a large band of thieves, apparently…we will arrive at the capital in about half a day, so it would be ideal if nothing happened, but I ask you to be even more alert than the usual.”
Ryan and his party answered Youte’s request proudly.
“Leave it to us!”
“Bandits are nothing to worry about!”
“Even if they come out, they’ll run off the moment they see us!! Hahaha!!”
“Right, right!”
So said Ryan and his comrades, laughing.
You guys know that this is called “raising flags”, right…?