Hunting the wind dragon had robbed us of our sleep and turned our sleeping schedule upsidedown, and so we decided to take the next day off. That being said, it just meant we’d take turns sleeping. The mountain peak had harsh winds, but there were no monsters. And so it was a good spot for resting, but we decided that someone should still stay up and watch, just in case.
As for the tent, there was no trace of it ever being there…
The next day, we went to the former bandit hideout on our way down the mountain. There was still blood all over the place. I couldn’t tell what was from the wind dragon, blood apes or bandits. But it all looked very ominous…
I folded my hands one last time in front of their graves, and then we started our journey back to the city.
□ □ □ □
We moved at a much more leisurely pace this time, and ended up bumping into the military who were on their way to investigate the east mountain. They had decided that the rumors could not be ignored. However, the truth of the matter was now in my bag.
“…And that’s how it went down. The rumors were true.”
“I see… But you two did it alone…”
I can’t believe it. He seemed to want to say. I was more than willing to prove it to him, and so I dropped my bag and was about to unleash the dragon corpse on him, when Daniela put a hand on my shoulder.
“If you do not believe us, you must go and witness the scene for yourself. The battlefield will tell you much. You will also see where we buried the bandits. And more than anything, I have the head of their leader.”
She said as she raised the bag.
“…Very well. We shall go and see this battlefield. We’ve come all this way, and we can’t return without more information.”
He chuckled and assured us that he was not doubting our account. Very convincing.
“As for your reward, the guild will handle that, so you should have that processed as soon as possible. Now then, we’ll be on our way.”
He saluted us and then returned to the other men.
I stared dumbly as the troops marched off to the mountain. It was actually the first time I saw the Empire’s soldiers marching. There was something satisfying about the precision in their movements. It’s no wonder they started doing parades.
“…We should go.”
“Yeah.”
Daniela pulled at my clothes as I watched them. And so I turned in the direction of the city, and started walking.
□ □ □ □
It’s now been a week since our return to the city. During this week, Daniela and I mostly acted separately, which was quite unusual for us. It had been a while since I spent so much time alone in this world. But I really didn’t have much to do, and so there was a lot of aimless walking through the city and occasionally stopping to take in the city sights. Of course, it wasn’t like I did nothing at all.
On our way back, I had told Daniela that I wanted to spend some time alone. She seemed to have sensed something and so she readily agreed. I was happy about that. And so it was with a lighter heart, that I ran. I carried Daniela all the way back to the city. It had taken us two days to get to the mountain, but the trip back was just one day.
After we returned, I went to the guild, reported the completion of the quest and had the wind dragon carved up.
It only took one day for that to finish. They had been quite happy to be able to work on a dragon. I chuckled at their undisguised enthusiasm. It was the same in every city. In any case, it meant I could take the materials to a tailor much earlier than expected.
The guild suggested a good place for me to go, and I ordered a set of clothes that were similar to my old ones. The tailor did not look amused at first, but that changed when I pulled out the materials. Materials were everything to a craftsman.
Still, tailoring was a process that took a long time. And so I was told it would take a week even without enchantments. As I had brought the materials in a day after our return, that meant the clothes should be ready tomorrow. I could hardly contain my excitement, but I decided that checking up on their progress now would not help them at all. That was too bad…
And so I decided to go out into the city. I thought of going to the guild and accepting a random quest, but then again, the tailor had my wind dragon gear, which made me anxious about my lack of protection. What to do…
“Uh… Where am I?”
Before I knew it, I had walked into an area that I knew nothing about. Well, I think I was still within the west district…
I looked around but there were no signs or obvious landmarks. Damn it…
“Oomph…”
I used Legs of the God Wolf to hop onto the roof of one of the buildings. This was the thing to do when in doubt.
“Hmmm… Ah, I’m right by the nobles district.”
I could see the wall to the east.
“You get a great view of the castle from here…”
The Iron Castle, Revance Reve. It was mostly black and gold with many spires. Very intimidating. As I sat on the roof and stared at it, something moved in the corner of my vision.
“…A child?”
A girl. She was walking alone. Judging by her clothes, she was clearly of noble birth…
From what I could see, she seemed to be lost. She looked around repeatedly and her fists were clenched anxiously.
“I can’t ignore someone like that…”
I wasn’t the devil. Surely helping a child wouldn’t result in me getting involved in anything… I could just help her back to the gate of the noble district. Yes, that’s all.
I jumped off the roof and landed in the shadow of a building. I would walk out casually as if I were completely oblivious.
With my hands in my pockets, I started to walk in her direction.
But on the opposite side of her, I could see that two men were walking in her direction as well.
“…”
I had spent quite a while in this world now. And something in my brain was raising an alarm. Those weren’t attendants or people with good intentions.
And so I turned into an alley and activated Presence Block. From there, I peeked out into the street.
They could just be guards who happened to look rough. I wasn’t all that experienced to have an instinct for these things.
“Now…”
What were they? The answer was about to be revealed.
“Ohhh…which way is it…”
“Little lady. Are you lost?”
“Huh?”
They were talking. She was lost after all.
“Uh, yes. I’m trying to get to the main street.”
“This place can be quite complicated. Hmm, I can take you to it.”
“Oh, that is very kind of you… Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it…”
He smiled. Hmm. Perhaps I shouldn’t judge people by their appearances…
And then the rugged man took the girl’s hand and started walking.
In the opposite direction of the street.
“It could be a shortcut…”
I couldn’t go around screaming ‘bloody kidnapper’ without knowing for sure. And so I decided to follow them.
I was careful not to rely on Presence Block too much as I allowed them to go on ahead before quietly following after them.
Hunting the wind dragon had robbed us of our sleep and turned our sleeping schedule upsidedown, and so we decided to take the next day off. That being said, it just meant we’d take turns sleeping. The mountain peak had harsh winds, but there were no monsters. And so it was a good spot for resting, but we decided that someone should still stay up and watch, just in case.
As for the tent, there was no trace of it ever being there…
The next day, we went to the former bandit hideout on our way down the mountain. There was still blood all over the place. I couldn’t tell what was from the wind dragon, blood apes or bandits. But it all looked very ominous…
I folded my hands one last time in front of their graves, and then we started our journey back to the city.
□ □ □ □
We moved at a much more leisurely pace this time, and ended up bumping into the military who were on their way to investigate the east mountain. They had decided that the rumors could not be ignored. However, the truth of the matter was now in my bag.
“…And that’s how it went down. The rumors were true.”
“I see… But you two did it alone…”
I can’t believe it. He seemed to want to say. I was more than willing to prove it to him, and so I dropped my bag and was about to unleash the dragon corpse on him, when Daniela put a hand on my shoulder.
“If you do not believe us, you must go and witness the scene for yourself. The battlefield will tell you much. You will also see where we buried the bandits. And more than anything, I have the head of their leader.”
She said as she raised the bag.
“…Very well. We shall go and see this battlefield. We’ve come all this way, and we can’t return without more information.”
He chuckled and assured us that he was not doubting our account. Very convincing.
“As for your reward, the guild will handle that, so you should have that processed as soon as possible. Now then, we’ll be on our way.”
He saluted us and then returned to the other men.
I stared dumbly as the troops marched off to the mountain. It was actually the first time I saw the Empire’s soldiers marching. There was something satisfying about the precision in their movements. It’s no wonder they started doing parades.
“…We should go.”
“Yeah.”
Daniela pulled at my clothes as I watched them. And so I turned in the direction of the city, and started walking.
□ □ □ □
It’s now been a week since our return to the city. During this week, Daniela and I mostly acted separately, which was quite unusual for us. It had been a while since I spent so much time alone in this world. But I really didn’t have much to do, and so there was a lot of aimless walking through the city and occasionally stopping to take in the city sights. Of course, it wasn’t like I did nothing at all.
On our way back, I had told Daniela that I wanted to spend some time alone. She seemed to have sensed something and so she readily agreed. I was happy about that. And so it was with a lighter heart, that I ran. I carried Daniela all the way back to the city. It had taken us two days to get to the mountain, but the trip back was just one day.
After we returned, I went to the guild, reported the completion of the quest and had the wind dragon carved up.
It only took one day for that to finish. They had been quite happy to be able to work on a dragon. I chuckled at their undisguised enthusiasm. It was the same in every city. In any case, it meant I could take the materials to a tailor much earlier than expected.
The guild suggested a good place for me to go, and I ordered a set of clothes that were similar to my old ones. The tailor did not look amused at first, but that changed when I pulled out the materials. Materials were everything to a craftsman.
Still, tailoring was a process that took a long time. And so I was told it would take a week even without enchantments. As I had brought the materials in a day after our return, that meant the clothes should be ready tomorrow. I could hardly contain my excitement, but I decided that checking up on their progress now would not help them at all. That was too bad…
And so I decided to go out into the city. I thought of going to the guild and accepting a random quest, but then again, the tailor had my wind dragon gear, which made me anxious about my lack of protection. What to do…
“Uh… Where am I?”
Before I knew it, I had walked into an area that I knew nothing about. Well, I think I was still within the west district…
I looked around but there were no signs or obvious landmarks. Damn it…
“Oomph…”
I used Legs of the God Wolf to hop onto the roof of one of the buildings. This was the thing to do when in doubt.
“Hmmm… Ah, I’m right by the nobles district.”
I could see the wall to the east.
“You get a great view of the castle from here…”
The Iron Castle, Revance Reve. It was mostly black and gold with many spires. Very intimidating. As I sat on the roof and stared at it, something moved in the corner of my vision.
“…A child?”
A girl. She was walking alone. Judging by her clothes, she was clearly of noble birth…
From what I could see, she seemed to be lost. She looked around repeatedly and her fists were clenched anxiously.
“I can’t ignore someone like that…”
I wasn’t the devil. Surely helping a child wouldn’t result in me getting involved in anything… I could just help her back to the gate of the noble district. Yes, that’s all.
I jumped off the roof and landed in the shadow of a building. I would walk out casually as if I were completely oblivious.
With my hands in my pockets, I started to walk in her direction.
But on the opposite side of her, I could see that two men were walking in her direction as well.
“…”
I had spent quite a while in this world now. And something in my brain was raising an alarm. Those weren’t attendants or people with good intentions.
And so I turned into an alley and activated Presence Block. From there, I peeked out into the street.
They could just be guards who happened to look rough. I wasn’t all that experienced to have an instinct for these things.
“Now…”
What were they? The answer was about to be revealed.
“Ohhh…which way is it…”
“Little lady. Are you lost?”
“Huh?”
They were talking. She was lost after all.
“Uh, yes. I’m trying to get to the main street.”
“This place can be quite complicated. Hmm, I can take you to it.”
“Oh, that is very kind of you… Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it…”
He smiled. Hmm. Perhaps I shouldn’t judge people by their appearances…
And then the rugged man took the girl’s hand and started walking.
In the opposite direction of the street.
“It could be a shortcut…”
I couldn’t go around screaming ‘bloody kidnapper’ without knowing for sure. And so I decided to follow them.
I was careful not to rely on Presence Block too much as I allowed them to go on ahead before quietly following after them.
