Chapter 97

Chapter 97 – Road to Majil Mountains

Come to think of it, I never did get to see Erz at night. Stopping in his tracks, Wynn turned his attention to one of Erz’s belltowers, which looked tiny in the distance.

Wynn and his friends were walking up the sloping mountain road along the path toward the abandoned mine entrance to Lyon. Wynn stopped at a place where the trees on the left side of the slope parted and the view was clear. The sky was not a perfect blue, but it was a beautiful day nonetheless. Even with those, the summit of the Majil was hidden by a thin layer of clouds. The old man in the belltower was probably right when he said that they were fortunate to be able to see the Majil summit so clearly at this time. Wynn took a deep breath. The majestic flow of the Loom River. The abyssal forest that covered the area from the Imperial City to here in Erz. And the numerous belltowers that characterized the city. And the Majil Mountains, which they were now climbing. He had come a long way from the Imperial City of Simurgh, where he was born and raised. And now he was going through an abandoned mine road to the first foreign country he had ever visited, the Kingdom of Lyon. It might be inappropriate, but Wynn felt a thrill at the prospect of escorting Her Highness Princess Cornelia to a dangerous place that had been abandoned 60 years ago and was now inhospitable.

“What is it, Onii-chan?” Leticia, who was walking behind Wynn, gave him a curious look, as he had stopped.

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just that I had such a clear view of Erz that I couldn’t but stop and look.”

Leticia also stopped and looked in the same direction as Wynn.

“That’s right. Royce-san and the others, will everyone be all right?”

“It’s the captain we’re talking about, isn’t it? I’m more worried about the vice-captain, since he also stayed in Erz.”

When they arrived to the Kingdom of Lyon, a welcoming ceremony would be held as normal for Cornelia and Leticia. Normally, when a member of the royal family came to Lyon as ambassador, they would be accompanied by specialized civil or military officials, so the preparations for the welcoming ceremony could be left to them. In fact, the officials who accompanied Alfred while he was in Erz took on that function as well. But at the moment those officials were still in Erz. Cornelia, who was on her way to the Kingdom of Lyon, had only four novice squires as her personal guard with her. And Wynn, the most senior member, was in command of the situation.

“Don’t worry. You see, when Raul arrived in the Empire on his own, Lyon’s embassy in the Empire made sure he had the right clothes and accessories, right? There must be an Empire embassy in Lyon too, so why not ask the people there?”

“The embassy, uh…”

“There’s even Raul, and he’ll have enough contacts who will have information.”

“Yes, I know. Besides, there’s no point in thinking about the future yet. First, we have to get through the abandoned mine road safely and get to Lyon.”

“Yes. And if we don’t hurry, we’ll be late.”

Nodding, Wynn walked beside Leticia and began to ascend the mountain path again. Since they had stopped, there was a gap between them and Wedge, who was walking ahead of them. At the head of the group was Louis, who was very experienced and could also serve as a guide, with Oort, Locke, Eliza, Lino, Cornelia, Wedge and Wynn, who was more experienced as an adventurer, walking behind them, and Leticia last. With Cornelia as the priority escort, Eliza, who had little strength but a lot of magical knowledge, and Lino, who could use “body strengthening magic” in case of emergency, were placed in front. Leticia was also a noblewoman who should be a target escort, but due to her extraordinary strength and the fact that she was physically equal to or better than Oort and the others, she was in the back with Wynn.

They climbed up the steeply sloping mountain road and finally came to a dilapidated wooden square. It was the old mining town, which nobody visited now. The deteriorated wood used to be the posts and walls of the houses.

“Okay, we’ll stay here for the night.”

When Oort said this, Eliza and Louis started unloading their bags.

“Huh? But if the sun is still high in the sky…” Locke, who had also mimicked them unloading luggage, asked Wynn curiously.

It had been about two hours since they had taken a lunch break. The sun was slowly setting, but it was still high in the sky, so it wasn’t even time to call it a day for the afternoon.

“If we go into the tunnel now, we’ll have to camp inside anyway. Then it’s better to spend the night here and go in the next morning.”

“Wynn is right. And also, because I want to collect some of this.” With a grin, Oort smiled toward Wynn and the others and walked over to a piece of wood nearby. In his hand was a weapon, a battle axe. He swung it vigorously at a piece of wood that had formerly been a pillar.

The wood shattered with a loud cracking sound.

“Let me help.” Understanding Oort’s intentions, Wynn also unloaded his pack and picked up the pieces of wood in poor condition that were scattered on the ground.

The wood from the abandoned houses was dry and perfect as fuel. They prepared for their journey in the town of Erz and the mining town at the foot of the mountain, and he finally understood why they hadn’t bought anything to use for fuel there. If they could get firewood here, there was no reason to add more weight to their packs with the hard climb up the mountain ahead of them. They built a fire with the scraps of wood they had collected, and by the time they finished preparing dinner, the sun was beginning to set.

After frying bacon, turnips and turnip greens in a pan with oil, they poured in water and simmered it all until it began to boil, then added plenty of cornstarch and seasoned it with salt and spices. Then, they soaked bread that had dried and hardened for long-term storage in the thickened soup to soften and eat.

“Come to think of it, the night we met Wynn and Leticia, we also sat around a campfire like this.” After taking a sip of wine from his canteen, Oort looked at Wynn and Leticia.

Wynn was nine years old and Leticia was seven. That was when they rescued Ifelina, an Avian girl who was orphaned after her village burned down.

“I heard Paul retired from adventuring because of a leg injury, how is he?”

“He works in the Imperial City as a clerk for the eastern branch of the Simurgh Adventurer’s Guild. He is already married and has children.”

“I see. For him, it was the end of the road in the midst of pursuing his dream… but very few people can survive and start a new life. If he has a wife and children, I hope he can make the most of that life.” He took another sip of wine, and then wore a sad smile.

Wynn nodded. Watching carefully, you could see the deep wrinkles in Oort’s bearded face, which was now well into his fifties. As an adventurer and mercenary, he was old enough to have thought of retiring long ago. The specialty of Oort and his party was to venture into unknown territories to find and explore ruins of the ancient Kingdom of Rentheim. He had traveled not only in the Lemmrousell Empire, but also in many other countries. They settled in Erz when Louis and Eliza became a couple. There might have been ruins from the time of the Kingdom of Rentheim deep in the Majil Mountains that no one had ever set foot in, but it could also be that they had not set up their base in Erz with the intention of exploring them, but to retire from the business of adventuring in this city. They had already saved enough money from their many successful adventures to live without having to work, and with the experience they had gained over the years as adventurers, they could be hired by the guild as staff or as instructors to the lord’s knights if they so desired. Wynn felt a twinge of regret that he had trusted Oort so easily, just because he knew him from before.

Perhaps noticing the expression on Wynn’s face, Oort said in a cheerful voice.

“Don’t worry, Wynn. I know what you’re thinking, and I thank you for bringing this request to my attention. I have always had two dreams. The first, to be an adventurer and see the world. I want to discover a world that no one has ever seen before. That dream came true for the most part, but I thought I was going to have to leave the other dream unfulfilled.”

“The other dream?”

Before they knew it, everyone else was listening to the conversation between Oort, Wynn and Leticia. Lino and Cornelia, who had just fed a canary they had bought in the mining town at the foot of the mountain, were also attentive.

“It’s all about protecting a princess on her journey!” Oort said, smiling and turning to Cornelia.

“The dreams of aspiring adventurers are always the same, aren’t they?”

“You’re right.”

“Yes, that’s right! Oh, well… come to think of it, it’s true. We’re on a journey to protect the princess, aren’t we?”

Eliza and Louis started laughing as well. With that exchange as a trigger, they talked about the mother-daughter pair of Laura and Ifelina, and everything Wynn and Leticia had done in their childhood, until they fell asleep.

◇◆◇◆◇

The sun had not yet risen. After reheating leftovers from yesterday’s dinner for breakfast, they headed to their destination, the entrance to the abandoned mine road. The area was covered with long grasses, and the abandoned mine road opening into the mountain cliffs was very large, although they could only see the top. The side walls and top were reinforced with wood. Nearby, a wooden cart was lying on its side, probably used in the past to transport the ores from this tunnel. In the center of the tunnel, which was wide enough for five adults to stand in a row, were wooden planks that had deteriorated. A wagon full of ores must have come and gone this way.

In those days, when the mine was in its heyday, many slaves were used to haul the ores to the tunnel entrance in wagons. Today, slavery was no longer practiced in the western part of the continent, including the Lemmrousell Empire. Many of the slaves came from countries that lost wars, but due to the large-scale invasion of the demons, there was no time for people to be at war with each other. Slavery was abolished when all human nations allied and fought under the Great Temple of Emerdia. Although the exodus produced a large number of refugees from the war, the abolition of slavery was one of the few blessings humanity had gained from the war against the demons.

Intrigued by the wagon, Wynn bent down to examine the wheels, then stood up when he heard footsteps approaching from behind. He looked and saw that Leticia and Eliza were coming.

“I was looking for you, Wynn-kun, and Leticia-sama said you were here. I couldn’t find you because you were crouched down.”

The area around the wagon was covered with tall grass, as was the entrance to the tunnel. Because he was crouched down, Eliza couldn’t find Wynn from the open space in front of the tunnel.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s something I wanted to ask you.” When Wynn began to speak, Eliza looked at both Wynn and Leticia before opening her mouth.

“You’re knights, aren’t you, Wynn-kun? Then you can use magic, can’t you?”

“I can’t use much magic myself. At most, I can strengthen my knight sword…” He stammered a bit embarrassed about it. “Oh, but who can are the others, Cornelia-san, Locke, Lino and Wedge.”

“Yes. And there’s also Leticia-sama.”

“I see.”

Leticia nodded.

“I’m sure Leticia-sama knows from experience, but can you tell the others what I’m about to tell you? Don’t use high-powered attack magic in the tunnels, especially magic involving explosions and fire magic.”

In the narrow space of the mine, there was no escape from an explosion, and the pressure from the blast would spread back and forth from the hypocenter. If this happened, not only the enemy but also their friends would be caught in the blast. In addition, the tunnel itself could collapse. The same was true of fire magic. If used in an enclosed space, it would quickly heat up the surrounding air, causing the place to increase in heat and fill with steam. It also consumed a large amount of valuable air.

“The others are still fine, but it’s hard for me to tell Her Imperial Highness, can you help me?”

“Okay.”

“And also…” Eliza wrinkled her brow, stuck her index finger in Wynn’s face and said in a loud tone. “Wynn-kun? You seem to feel inferior because you can’t use magic, but don’t put yourself down so much. If you think less of yourself, it’s like saying that those who trust you and recognize you are nothing but fools.”

Wynn looked at Leticia, who stood beside her with a flushed expression on her face. She had her gaze fixed on Wynn’s face. Wynn turned his head to Eliza and nodded decisively.

“Well, it looks like we’re about to leave, so come to the entrance, both of you.”

Saying this, Eliza turned her back to them and was about to walk away when her eyes met Cornelia’s, who was looking at her. She immediately looked away, but, even without knowing the situation very well, she realized at once that the princess had feelings for Wynn.

The Brave and Her Imperial Highness. The fact that the unmarried princess has a single commoner knight by her side, I wonder if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has high hopes for Wynn-kun. You may not be able to use magic, but you have earned the trust of many people… Eliza looked over her shoulder towards Wynn. This is Wynn’s power, which is much greater than magic. Although he doesn’t seem to be aware of it….

Thinking about this, Eliza couldn’t help but smile. She, like everyone around Wynn, found it impossible to contain her expectations of him.