Ossan Boukensha no Jimichi na Isekai Tabi - CH 53

One Day of a Journey

Trot-trot-trot.

Hyuga’s hooves kicked the dirt as we advanced. It wasn’t that I was going at a leisurely pace.

After all, this time, there was someone waiting for my arrival. So it was different compared to all of my other journeys.

However, since this was to be an incredibly long one, I was prioritizing being able to maintain a pace, rather than to go at a faster one.

I was going to travel through four countries, which was supposed to take more than a month. However, it would likely be more complicated than that.

As we continued through the forest road, I saw a clearing to the side with the lights of campfires.

And so I raised my hand and greeted the group of people from a carriage that had stopped to camp for the night.

“Ah, you are late.”

“There were forest wolves behind me.”

I spoke to the Adventurer guard.

“Ah, you have my thanks.”

Had I not stopped to fight them, then they might have attacked the carriage instead. And so he thanked me.

“Bah, we help each other.”

I attempted to land lightly after getting down from Hyuga, but I lost my balance and fell.

While I was getting used to it, I still had a ways to go.

Now, I just had to give Hyuga some water, and then prepare my own camp.

The good thing about traveling alone was that you could prioritize your own needs. However, that also came at a great cost.

However, this meant you would be more tired, which increased the danger.

And so when traveling through lands where I knew I would be camping out, and where there were known to be bandits in the area, I would attach myself to passenger carriages like this one.

Well, I was like a parasite, in a way.

However, having some unknown Adventurer attach themselves to you was a great annoyance to the guards that were already hired for that job. They would dislike or be suspicious. You could not complain if they attacked you.

And so when I knew I was entering a dangerous area for someone who is alone, I would look up the carriage schedules in town, and contact the driver and escort Adventurers in advance. ‘I’m going down the same route on the same day, so perhaps we can cooperate.’ And I would show them my Adventurer plate.

Like this, I could go from being a ‘suspicious person who is following us,’ to a ‘person we can use to make things easier for us.’

At the very least, introducing myself properly was better than following them silently.

If we used each other, then you could say it was a cooperative relationship. Sometimes, I would fight for them, and they would put me in rotation with the night watch.

And so I continued to gain experience as an Adventurer.

However, in order to do this, I always had to stay the night in a town and leave the next day.

Not only that, but I also had to stop at the Adventurers Guild to make a report, as well as to gather information on the road.

Hyuga also had to rest, and I had to do maintenance on my equipment, as well as earn some money for travel expenses.

It wasn’t like a letter that just went from one town to another. At this point, I thought that I’d be lucky to reach my destination in two months.

My journey took me across the Razsita border and into the Fia Kingdom.

I hadn’t been in the Fia Kingdom for over three years, but as my route took me down the Suimel Road, and not the familiar Kijifei Road, I did not feel any nostalgia.

After passing the border town of Mazur, I was now on my way towards Fialit, which was the royal capital of the Fia Kingdom. Unfortunately, I only planned to pass through as well.

They had put me in the night watch rotation this time as well, and so I was able to get enough sleep.

Adventurers who guarded passenger carriages were very reliable.

Because they always did the same job. It paid well, in spite of not being that dangerous, but since there was a lot of importance on trust and character, you were usually not hired unless they wanted you specifically.

Of course, you could not lower your guard completely, but this system of shared passenger carriages would not work without a degree of trust. And so I did not hesitate to get some rest.

The next morning, I waited a short while for the carriage to depart, and then I also set out. This was so that we could maintain a certain distance. I could only see them when the view ahead was open. I didn’t want to get in the way or be a burden to the guards.

Like this, I continue on through a gentle valley between hills, and along a small river.

I saw an animal with its children crossing the road as they went to the river. It was the size of a racoon, but had a long snout and a flat tail like a beaver. I didn’t know its name, but it was not a monster.

The summer sun was high in the sky, but the trees offered enough shade, that it wasn’t too bright.

Here, winters could be bad enough that it would be difficult to travel, but the summers were not too hot. I suppose it was like an area with high latitude back on earth.

While I had to stay on my guard, the sunlight glistened as it reflected on the river water, and a gentle breeze swayed the trees.

I was just thinking about how calm the day was, when I suddenly heard a rustling coming from the bushes alongside the river.

“!”

Just in case, I pulled the reins and stopped.

“Piiiiiii-eeeee!”

Came the high-pitched cry as a large bird, the size of a pheasant, emerged.

“Piii!”

A horned rabbit leapt out from the bushes on the side, and skewered the bird with its horn.

It landed on the ground with the bird still pierced. And then it held the thrashing bird down and pulled its horn out before biting it and hopping away with its prey in its mouth.

“What a surprise.”

Even if it was just a big rabbit, watching a carnivorous rabbit in a shocking hunting scene would evoke such a reaction.

I was stunned for a moment, and then came back to myself, and urged Hyuga on.

But in my mind, I raised the threat level of the horn rabbit by 1.

As I had fallen behind a little, I rushed in order to bridge the gap, but it did not take as long as I expected.

However, something was strange. The carriage had stopped, and the Adventurers were moving around.

And what were those squirming green things in the area… Gobs?”

“Hya!”

I kicked Hyuga’s stomach to make him run. As there seemed to be a lot of them, I decided to help.

And so from a distance, I unleashed some arrows. My precision was still bad, so it was harassment at best. I just hoped that I could retrieve the arrows later.

It did not take long for the Adventurers to annihilate the goblins, and they started to search the area to see if there were any more.

I saw one of them raise their hand in my direction. The sign that it was finished.

I raised my hand in reply.

Then I picked up what arrows I could find, and then put my foot into the stirrup and climbed back onto Hyuga.

As for the stirrup for my prosthetic leg, I had attached a slipper-like support that the toes could fit in. And so my overall stability while on horseback was the same as before.

However, in spite of this, I decided to not use a spear. I was no good with mounted combat.

Once we reached the next village, we would be close to being in Fialit territory. And then there would be fewer monsters in the area.

And so we continued to travel along the river and were able to reach the village before sundown.

It was not a very big town, and so if I stayed at the inn, I would have to meet the people who rode in the carriage. Also, I would be around the Adventurers until we reached the Fialit Guild, so I decided to communicate with them.

“Hahahaha!”

“And so you kicked a giant spider’s head and had your leg torn off.”

This was my best story. It always got people’s attention.

I had dinner in the dining hall at the inn, and drank with the escort Adventurers.

“Well, you now know something embarrassing about me. So tell me something interesting about Fialit!”

“Fine. Maybe it’s already well-known, but have you heard about the story about the Giant Tree of the Great Forest?”

“No, I haven’t. It sounds interesting. Tell me.”

“Aye, there is a reason why people can not enter that place…”

This talk with the Adventurers ended after a short while. We had an early morning tomorrow.

And like that, a day in my travels passed. One could not arrive at their destination so quickly.

But every day, I was a step closer.