Chapter 37: Off to Yuri’s Place!
When I arrived, people had already gathered.
I called out to the man sitting on the driver’s seat of the beast-drawn cart and showed him the tally.
“Hey, youngster, even if you bring a cart, I can’t exactly haul that for ya, y’know?”
“Ah, it’s fine,” I said, taking out my hand luggage and the box of potions, then made my own cart disappear.
“This is all my luggage.”
“Huh, so you made it with magical power? Pretty skillful.”
After that, he showed me the space I could use, and I put my luggage there.
I just needed to sit inside, but I was curious about what a Hunter’s job was like, so I observed the people who were likely the escorts.
It was a five-person party: three men and two women.
They looked to be in their early twenties.
Unlike what I expected, they all had slender builds.
“What’s up, kid?”
“Well, I’m a student at the Hunter Academy, so I was curious about your work…”
“Oh, a junior of ours, huh! Sure. You come over here too!”
She wasn’t… beautiful, but the kind-looking older sister-type called me over, so I trotted over and joined their circle.
“What year are you in?”
“I’m a first-year. It’s been decided I’ll graduate this year, so I’m heading out.”
“No way, the fastest is two years. Are you really an academy student?”
They stared at me suspiciously, but then they looked at the backpack hanging from my waist and seemed startled.
Then one of them suddenly looked right at me.
“…Hold on a sec. Could it be the scholarship student who exceeded the special evaluation criteria?”
“Ah, that’s it,” I replied, and they exclaimed, “Oooh!” and clapped.
It seemed they were good-natured people.
Since I had the chance, I asked them what kind of monsters appeared outside and how frequently.
“It’s not frequent, but you should assume monsters up to about the thirtieth floor of Oldam Academy’s dungeon can appear.”
“Ah, that’s good. That’s right around where I’ve been going.”
“Seriously…? Well, either way, you’re a passenger this time. Just relax and enjoy the ride.”
I replied to his voice and boarded as we departed.
At this rate, I won’t need an escort next time I head to Razbel.
Or so I thought, but as time passed and the sun began to set, I realized I wouldn’t be able to camp alone.
Well, it’s apparently a two-day journey, so maybe it’ll be fine if I plan to travel through one night without sleep?
That also depends on the distance, but they’re moving at a relatively relaxed pace, so it seems possible.
As I was thinking about that, the girl sitting next to me spoke.
“Um, you’re Rui-san from Class A, right?”
“Uh, yes, I am, but…”
“I’m Kyouko. I transferred in the other day and joined Class A.”
Huh, what a coincidence to be sitting next to a girl like that on a shared beast-drawn cart.
“So you were in the same class… But sorry. My classes got canceled, so I haven’t really kept track of who’s in my class. I’m scheduled to graduate in a few months, but it’s nice to meet you, Kyouko-chan.”
“Eh? Your graduation is decided?”
“Yeah. With that Special Evaluation thingamajig. Apparently, I don’t have to go to school anymore. Though I do plan to go.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. You’re so talented.”
Oh, I got praised.
Both the escorts and the person next to me seem like good people. I’m lucky.
It looks like this will be an enjoyable journey.
While thinking that, I chatted with Kyouko-chan as the cart swayed, and around the time the sun began to set, the beast-drawn cart stopped.
“We’ll make camp here for tonight.”
When the driver called out, everyone got out and stretched their bodies.
I wondered if we’d be having preserved food for dinner, but it was just normal soup and bread.
It wasn’t exactly delicious, but it wasn’t bad either; a decent meal.
That part was fine, but the sleeping arrangements were tough.
I was faced with two choices: sleep sitting up in the cart or sleep exposed outside.
Having no choice, I created a bed outside and lay down.
“Hey, you… why does that look so soft?” one of the escorts called out to me.
“When I materialize it, I convert it into a soft material.”
“Wait a minute, you can do that…? You, this… seriously?!”
When he made a fuss, all the escorts gathered around and started prodding and poking the bed.
“Hey, this is woven to create elasticity. All the way through…”
“This is impossible. You have terrifying control, you know.”
Since everyone had gathered around, I got worried and asked, “Is the watch okay?” to which one of the women replied, “Of course, it is,” while walking to the other side of the cart.
Listening to the sounds, I thought it was quite far, but I could still hear something out there.
I knew it, so I wanted to tell them beforehand, but because of my promise with Yuri, I’ve been asked not to say anything in situations like this unless it’s critical, so I’m pretending not to know.
“Hey, can’t you make another one?”
“It’s our turn to sleep, you see.”
Making another bed wasn’t a big deal, so I created another one a few meters away, and the three men huddled together and lay down on it.
Feeling somewhat sorry for them, I expanded it to about the size of a double bed.
“This helps a lot! It’s even better than I expected! More comfortable than an inn bed!!”
“Hey, don’t be so loud. You’ll bother the passenger.”
“My bad, my bad. I was just too surprised.”
Ah, that voice made the monster move, I thought, and instinctively sat up.
It’s definitely heading this way.
I glanced towards the older sister-type wondering if she’d noticed, but she was looking in a completely different direction.
Figuring I had no choice, I pretended to go to the toilet and walked in the direction the monster was coming from.
I stepped into the shade of some trees for a moment. Relying on the sound, I ran back from a point that I judged to be the line where the monster would become visible.
“Something’s coming!”
“Eh? Where?”
When I pointed, she immediately raised her voice.
“Enemy attack! Mize, wake those guys up!”
“Nah, we’re still awake, obviously. How many?!”
“I don’t know yet. But you can tell something’s in that tall grass over there, can’t you?”
When she asked back, I thought, “No way.” Was it completely hidden then? I’d assumed it would be plainly visible since it’s a grassland.
“Kid, I think you’ll be fine, but stay near the cart. It’s a pain if the area we have to protect expands.”
I nodded at his voice and moved back as instructed. The other passengers had also come out and were watching anxiously.
I watched, my heart pounding a little at seeing combat outside a dungeon for the first time.
What leaped out from the tall grass was a single giant centipede.
It was quite large. It looked to be nearly eight meters long.
Combined with the night backdrop, it looked even more grotesque.
“Tch! A troublesome one has shown up. We kill it, now!”
When the man who seemed to be the leader gave a shout, two others leaped out without a word, slashing with their extended swords.
Their target was its legs.
The one who had shouted leaped up and thrust his greatsword into a joint in its torso.
“Mize, I leave the rest to you!”
“Roger!”
As he called out, a magic circle slowly began to form beneath the monster. As he disengaged, a pillar of fire erupted, and the unpleasant, grating sound the insect made changed to the crackling of sparks.
The passengers who witnessed it offered words of thanks and praise before returning to the beast-drawn cart.
When I strained my ears, I could no longer hear any sounds from afar, so I lay down on the bed again, and someone patted my head.
“Thanks for telling us. If that thing had ambushed us, we might have gotten injured.”
“Ahaha, I have good ears. It’s quiet now, so I’ll get some sleep.”
“Yes. Leave the watch to us. Good night.”
Even as she said that, she continued to gently pat my head.
“Huh… come to think of it, how can you keep that bed materialized from such a distance?”
The leader-like man sleeping a short distance away posed the question, but I, thoroughly pleased by the older sister-type’s head-patting, ignored it and pretended to fall asleep.
The next morning, when I woke up, the two women were sleeping on the bed a little distance away.
Hmm. Maybe I could have made it a little closer.
While thinking that, I returned my own bed to magical power and stored it in my backpack.
I couldn’t just keep staring at the sleeping women, so I approached the men who were still on watch and spoke to them.
“Good morning. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Oh! You can maintain your Maso even while sleeping, huh? You’re so multi-talented, it’s surprising.”
“Yeah, yeah. We noticed when we woke up and had a laugh.”
“Well, it would’ve been funny in its own way if your magical power had dispersed and you’d fallen off the bed, though.”
Saying that, they laughed, “Hahaha.”
Watching them, I felt a little envious, wondering if Hiroki and I could have been like this if we had become Hunters without any incidents.
“Where are you headed, kid?”
When I replied to his question that I was going to Margrave Razbel’s estate, they suddenly became very formal.
“No, I’m just an ordinary commoner. I’m just going to pay a visit to a young lady I befriended at the academy.”
“Ah, so that’s how it is. Treasure that connection. It’s not a link you can easily get.”
“Eeeh… I can’t think of a friend as a ‘connection’.”
“Hahaha! So young! Well, you actually are young!”
While we were talking, breakfast was ready, and as soon as we finished it, we departed.
Unlike yesterday, the escorts also boarded the beast-drawn cart, and we set off at a considerable speed.
Apparently, they’d intentionally made us walk so we could spend the night on the plains where keeping watch was easiest. It also seemed quite normal for the escorts to ride in such situations.
Well, it would be tough to be told to keep up at this speed the whole time.
The Beast-Drawn Cart, driven at a considerable pace, reached its destination around the time the sun began to set.
When passing through the gate, I showed my student ID and stated it was a short-term stay, which got me a one-month stay permit.
It seems that if you have a reason and it’s approved, you can extend your stay considerably, but I don’t need that right now. Even one month is more than enough leeway.
I don’t intend to stay that long anyway, but having some leeway is comforting.
As I was mulling this over, we arrived at the Hunter Guild, and I was dropped off.
The male driver said, “Thank you for your hard work. We look forward to serving you again,” and disappeared into the guild with the escorts.
I wondered for a moment why I was dropped off at the Hunter Guild, but then I figured it was probably for them to complete the procedures for the escort request, which made sense.
I also went inside, just in case, checked the price and schedule for the return trip, and then left the guild.
“Lad, are you getting an inn?”
“Yes. I can’t very well just impose on them and expect to be put up.”
In reality, I don’t even know if I’ll be able to meet them.
“Well then, shall I introduce you to a good inn?”
Taking him up on his kind offer, I spent the night at the inn he introduced me to.