Chapter 53

Translator: Willia

Valery and his companions walked through the night and did not make it beyond Eldeira's borders until morning.

There was no particular reason they had hurried this much. There was probably some reason deep down, but Valery did not think too hard about it.

They were now in Nearcaster, which bordered Eldeira to the south. More precisely, they were in the County of Westlanding, part of the Duchy of Nearcaster.

A vast plain stretched out before them. Low hills and flatlands continued one after another like gentle waves.

Unlike in the city, the sky seemed unusually vast. With no high mountains anywhere around, the horizon met the sky no matter which way they looked.

Most of the plain was covered in short grass reaching their ankles, while the trees stood apart in little clusters, as though like-minded friends had gathered together.

It did not look like rain, but clouds like thick cotton quilts covered the sky. There seemed to be more white and gray up there than blue.

And then there was the sunrise. With the wind blowing ceaselessly against them, Valery, Knut, and Yorik watched the sun rise far off in the east.

They saw clearly and unmistakably how the light swept away the darkness and illuminated the world.

Then they prepared to camp nearby. Camping first thing in the morning was a little absurd, but they intended to rest properly for a day and set out again the next morning.

An endless stone wall ran across the plain, built by who knew whom, when, or for what purpose. They settled beside it and pitched their tent.

After unloading their things and starting a fire, Yorik set a pot over it. The three ate and then immediately settled down to sleep.

The sound of the wind, the newly risen sunlight, and the crackling of the campfire felt like the most soothing lullaby in the world.

Valery reclined comfortably and began the training Sigrún had taught him. There was nothing particularly special about it.

He focused on his breathing, observed the energy known as Rune Power circulating through his entire body, and consciously imagined gathering that power into his heart before releasing it again.

He did it all within a single breath. Just as he would inhale as deeply as possible and then exhale completely, he repeatedly gathered all the power into his heart and then released every last bit of it.

Whenever he released the power, vitality surged through his entire body. Whenever he forced it back into his heart, he felt somewhat stifled and drained. In a way, it was almost like practicing holding his breath.

But as he repeated the process, he began to experience an unfamiliar sensation, as though he could vividly see everything around him even with his eyes closed.

He could feel every blade of grass brushing in the wind, Yorik's physical condition as he slept and snored, even Knut's emotional state from the sound of his heartbeat, all as clearly as though he could see them.

As he continued experiencing that strange sensation, the distinctive rhythm of his breathing began to maintain itself naturally, without any conscious effort.

Eventually, Valery could no longer tell whether he was asleep or maintaining an extraordinarily clear state of mind. Even his sense of time blurred, and his grasp on reality began to fade.

Huh? What if I lose myself like this?

The moment that unease surfaced, he woke as abruptly as though he had been floating lazily through the sky and someone had suddenly grabbed his ankle and yanked him down.

“Ah! You scared me. I was just about to wake you.”

Yorik flinched and spoke just before he could shake Valery awake, only for Valery to wake on his own.

The tent fluttered in the wind. The sun was already well above the horizon, and it was morning.

Had he slept three or four hours? Or had he been meditating? Valery felt strange, but his mind and body could not have felt more refreshed.

“Aren't you waking me too early? I think I could sleep a little longer.”

At Valery's words, Knut answered while stirring the pot with a ladle.

“What are you talking about? You slept all day. It's already the next day. You wouldn't wake up for so long that I thought something had gone wrong.”

“I slept all day?”

Valery looked around. He had definitely gone to sleep in the morning, but an entire day had passed, morning had come again, and enough time had gone by that it was now well into the morning.

He stood and looked over the stone wall. The wind swept across the plain, making the grass ripple like soft strands of hair.

“You must have been exhausted. Understandable, really. But unless we're planning to live here forever, how about we eat and get moving again?”

Yorik spoke. It was an obvious point, so there was nothing to argue with. The group ate a stew made by boiling together a haphazard assortment of ingredients.

After eating, they gave the pot a quick wash and took down the tent. They smothered the campfire with dirt and ground it out underfoot, then loaded up their belongings again and departed. It was around noon.

“Once we reach the next village, how about we buy a wagon first? We should hire a few people too. Someone to chop firewood and handle odd jobs. We're traveling a long way, so I think that would be better.”

Yorik spoke. Valery thought he had a point and nodded.

The three followed the lone road across the vast plain. Every time Valery looked around, the sheer openness of the landscape was enough to clear his head.

After walking for some time, they spotted a flock of sheep out on the plain. That meant people could not be far away. There was no shepherd in sight. He was probably sitting somewhere out in the fields, taking a rest.

By late afternoon, a village surrounded by a wooden palisade came into view, just as expected. Once they entered, it did not look like a place where everyone merely farmed for a living. It was more like a small town.

Then there was the smell. Some foul mixture of rot, piss, and shit hung in the air, immediately curing them of any longing they might have had for the smell of human habitation.

There was a merchant in the market selling butchered raw meat. Flies buzzed around it, and some of the pieces looked half-rotten.

Judging by the people, they did not seem to be starving, but there was something about them. They lacked any sense of liveliness or vigor. When two mounted outsiders entered town, the looks they received were hardly friendly.

After asking around, they made their way to a tavern that also served as an inn. They left the horses in the stable, fed them carrots, and first filled the trough with water.

The tavern was packed with people. Strangely enough, very few of them looked like locals. There were far more armed outsiders.

Most had swords at their hips, while polearms stood propped against the walls. Dice, cards, coins, and the like lay scattered across round and square tables.

They gave Valery's group a cursory glance and showed little interest. Though Valery's handsome face did draw a few eyes for a moment.

Valery went straight to the bartender and spoke.

“We're travelers coming from the north. We'd like to get a wagon and hire a few people. Someone to chop firewood or handle odd jobs.”

“......You look awfully highborn for a northerner. Seems you rode here too. Are you of the nobility?”

“No.”

Valery did not bother mentioning his or Knut's status. It could cause unnecessary trouble.

The bartender nodded as though he understood and said,

“Try talking to the Village Head. Wouldn't get your hopes up, though.”

“Where is the Village Head?”

Instead of answering, the bartender jerked his chin toward one side of the room. Valery turned and saw a middle-aged man sitting somewhat crookedly in his chair. The man raised a hand toward them in greeting and wiggled his fingers. Apparently, he had already been watching Valery's group.

Still, whether it was his face or his general air, he did not look much like a Village Head. He looked more like a Thug.

Valery headed toward him, weaving around people because the tavern was so crowded.

On the way, someone tried to grab Valery's ass.

“Fucking bitch, you're pretty as hell.”

But the man never managed to touch him. Valery caught him by the wrist.

“Ooooh!”

The people around them chuckled and cheered. The man who had tried to grope him grinned filthily and said,

“How much? I'll pay you a full Bounty's worth. How much for one night?”

Valery was not angry. This was far from the first time someone had acted like this because of his face. More than anything, he was simply a little irritated by the hassle.

Valery did not bother answering. Instead, he drew up his Rune Power. In an instant, his grip tightened.

Crack.

The man who had been grinning filthily and pulling that shit went deathly pale. A scream burst from him a moment later.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

Only then did Valery release his wrist. The man's broken wrist hung limply, and the people who had been laughing around them abruptly lost their smiles.

“What the hell? What happened?”

“Randy's wrist is broken.”

“Yeah, so why the hell is his wrist broken?”

“Hey, so you've got some moves, huh?”

People around him started shouting, but Valery ignored them all and continued toward the man who was supposedly the Village Head.

Then someone shouted from behind him and tried to smash a wooden cup over Valery's head.

“Hey, bastard! You ignoring us!?”

Valery wheeled around and smashed him with the back of his clenched fist. There was a heavy smack, broken teeth spraying through the air as the man collapsed onto someone nearby.

The man who caught him recoiled in shock at the sight. His jaw was completely ruined. Eyes wide, he looked from Valery to the unconscious man, then back again.

The others nearby reacted the same way.

Valery turned back to the Village Head and said,

“I want a wagon for our luggage. And some people to handle odd jobs.”

“......”

The Village Head looked at Valery, glanced once at the unconscious man sprawled behind him, then looked back at Valery. The playful smile he had worn earlier had vanished without a trace.

For a while, he studied Valery closely. He was tall and well built, but he did not look strong enough to break a man's wrist with grip strength alone and destroy another man's jaw with a single punch. The discrepancy left the man somewhat bewildered.

On top of that, there was something slightly boyish about Valery's face. He even began to wonder whether Valery might be younger than he had assumed.

“What's your name?”

“Valery.”

“A foreigner? Your name doesn't sound northern.”

“We came from Eldeira.”

“......Let's go outside and talk.”

The man rose from his seat. He said something to the people at his table and gestured a few instructions to them, then walked straight out of the tavern.

Valery swept his gaze across the room once. Everyone he looked at flinched.

“Some people only come to their senses after getting hit. Maybe next time we ought to beat one of them first and then start talking. Ptooey.”

Yorik spat on the floor as he spoke, then followed the others out of the tavern.

Yorik and Knut went back to the stable and brought the horses out again, while Valery followed the Village Head. The man crossed the market and entered a nearby house.

Dust had accumulated throughout the interior, and papers lay scattered across a desk that appeared to be used for work. He roughly gathered them together, tossed them to one side, and said,

“Name's Oder. I'm the Village Head here in Benholm. Good to meet you. Sit wherever you like.”

Valery answered with a nod. Knut and Yorik entered soon afterward.

“You said you're looking for a wagon?”

“That's right.”

“Unfortunately, we don't have anything like that here. It's not a matter of price. We genuinely don't have one. You'd have to go to the farming village to get one, but that place has been occupied by Thugs.”

“Thugs took over a village?”

“Swordsmen, mercenaries, Adventurers, call them whatever you like. You know the type, people who walk around carrying blades. Westlanding's attracted plenty of that sort for a long time. So villages getting taken over isn't all that rare around here.”

To the west of Westlanding lay Hord, an incredibly vast and dense forest whose end seemed impossible to find. Monsters lived within it, and the forest stood almost like a boundary between their domain and the lands inhabited by humans.

As a result, many outpost villages like Belfort stood along the forest's edge, and armed outsiders often came there in search of work.

When such people drifted into the region, sword fights broke out from time to time, and occasionally villages were even seized. Naturally, people who made a living solving such problems came as well.

Swordsmen, mercenaries, Adventurers, whatever one chose to call people who went around carrying blades.

“So you're saying you'll give us a wagon if we deal with them?”

“Good, you're quick on the uptake. That's right. Basically, it's a Job.”

“The tavern looked pretty crowded.”

“Not a single useful man among them. You looked a little better than the rest.”

Valery looked over at Knut, silently asking for his opinion. Knut neither nodded nor shook his head. He simply closed his eyes once and opened them again, meaning he would leave the decision to Valery.

Valery turned back to Village Head Oder.

“All right, for now.”

“Mm. Glad you're open to it. They're not people you should take lightly, but if you can smash a man's jaw with one punch, you might have a chance. Sleep here tonight. The tavern's crawling with bugs and rats. You might wake up missing a toe.”

The last part was an exaggerated joke, but their brief visit earlier had already been enough to make it clear that the tavern was an unpleasant place. The Village Head's house was hardly a fine residence, but it was certainly better than the tavern.

Village Head Oder rose and headed for the door as he said,

“Make yourselves at home. Just don't stay too long. If you've got any questions, come find me at that tavern from earlier. And come see me again once you've finished the Job.”

He practically handed his house over to Valery's group and left. There was something refreshingly decisive about him.

“I've got a bad feeling about this.”

Knut spoke the moment the Village Head was gone. Valery agreed. He walked over to where Oder had been sitting and examined the papers. A quick glance showed that they consisted of all sorts of Job requests and documents.

Extermination of wandering Goblins, forcible debt collection, tracking criminals, Bounty payments, barrel production and delivery, oat import contracts, and more.

“Looks like it's been a long time since anyone used this fireplace.”

Yorik spoke as he tried to light a fire in it. Valery silently looked around the house before saying,

“This wasn't originally his house.”

“Looks that way. It had another owner before him.”

“What kind of man is he? He doesn't look like a Village Head, and I thought he might just be a Thug, but he seems to be doing a Village Head's work all the same.”

“How about we sleep for today and ask around tomorrow? I bought some fresh meat at the market earlier, so I'll make us a proper feast.”

Yorik spoke. He had a point.

Unfortunately, while his suggestion had been sound, dinner itself was not especially delicious. Still, taste was hardly the greatest concern while traveling, so they ate their fill and went to sleep.

It was their first proper night since leaving Eldeira.