Chapter 17
In addition to the commotion that began this morning, the villagers' insistence on properly repaying us ultimately kept us in the village for another night.
“Clear skies today.”
“…Master. Don’t you think this is a little unfair?”
“Who knows? I’m not sure what you mean.”
Listening to Lucy complain as she carried the considerably increased load of luggage compared with when we had arrived in the village, I gazed up at the clear sky.
“Take care, little one.”
“We’ve been indebted to you. I’ll definitely come visit again later.”
“Hehe. So I can look forward to that?”
“Yep. Of course.”
Our mercenary corps’ motto was to repay both grudges and favors threefold.
“Can I hug you just once?”
“…Just this once.”
Seeing the lonely look on Carol’s face as she asked me,
I embraced her as she approached.
“You have to stay healthy.”
“Don’t worry. I’m as healthy as they come.”
Though it had only been three short days,
Carol had showered me with so much affection that I wondered if this was what having a family might be like.
“Then I really should be going.”
After patting her back one last time,
“Bye-bye! Big Sis Ren!”
“Thank you so much for saving our husband.”
“Come visit us again!”
I waved my wings at the villagers who had come out to see us off.
“What an unexpected connection.”
“Life is fun because you get unexpected connections like this.”
It sounded like something an old man would say,
but just as Huey had said,
“That’s the charm of traveling.”
I turned around and took in the sight of the village as it gradually receded into the distance.
The feeling was so different from my bleak life as a mercenary that I found myself smiling.
“It’s flooded after all.”
“Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Before long, we saw that the road leading to the quarry was still flooded by the torrential rain that had fallen until yesterday.
-Flap!
I spread my wings and lifted myself into the sky.
“Grab my legs.”
“Thanks.”
I felt Huey grip both my ankles with his hands,
then beat my wings several times to gather the wind.
“There.”
“…This is going to be addictive, isn’t it?”
“Don’t say something scary.”
I set Huey down on the other side.
This time, I was greatly taken aback when I tried to take flight with the intention of carrying Lucy over.
Even after accounting for the weight of the coffin Lucy was carrying, I felt a weight far beyond what I had imagined as I tried to lift off.
“Whoa, damn. You’re heavy.”
“How rude.”
Judging by the weight, it felt about as heavy as the coffin trailing below her.
It was clearly much heavier than Huey, at the very least.
“Oh, so that’s why I couldn’t get out from under the mount.”
“…May I take that to mean Ren wants to be mounted too?”
“I’ll pass.”
If I were pinned down by that weight, there was no way I could escape in my current state.
“There. We’re here.”
After bringing both of them across, I landed on the ground.
“Hup.”
I’ll have to get a little more used to landing.
“I never thought we’d be delayed for three whole days… Ren, we’ll still be all right if we’re late, won’t we?”
“I think we have at least a month to spare.”
“That’s quite a bit of leeway.”
Although our commander may look lazy, they’re meticulous about things like this.
They specify deadlines for every job that needs to be resolved within a month.
“And besides, Frederica probably knows where we are anyway.”
They said they had even engraved tracking magic into the artifact we used for communication.
“So there’s no need to worry.”
“If you say so.”
If it were urgent, they’d contact us first anyway.
* *
-Tap, tap….
It had already been two days since we left Brody Village.
“Not yet?”
“Wait just a little longer.”
“Honestly, you’re so impatient.”
With about half a day’s travel remaining until Swinford,
we found a suitable clearing in the forest, so we lit a campfire and prepared to make camp.
“That smells incredible….”
“You’ll regret eating now, so wipe your drool first. Munch.”
“How mean, eating it all by yourself.”
I complained to Huey, who had been leisurely fishing until a moment ago, then skewered the fish he caught on a branch and roasted it by himself.
“I definitely said I’d give you some, but you said you didn’t want any.”
“Get your facts straight. I didn’t say I didn’t want any; I said I’d eat the meat first.”
“Same thing.”
“…They say men are children no matter how old they get.”
And Lucy was sipping cocoa beside us, looking at us as though we were pathetic.
…Does she like cocoa that much? She’s making do with that for dinner now, too.
“Ugh, I’m hungry.”
“It’s almost done, so hang on a little longer. Once we reach the city, I’ll make you something incredibly delicious, too.”
“Really!?”
“There’s something I’ve wanted to let you try at least once.”
That sounds like something to look forward to.
“Looks like it’s about done.”
“Oh.”
After saying that, Huey poked the meat several times with the skewer he was holding, then nodded at me.
“Let’s eat!”
I lifted the meat that had been roasting over the campfire, supporting both ends of the bone with my wings,
then marveled at how appetizing it looked.
“This is incredible….”
“Hey, hey. What if you drop it?”
“…Judging by the look of her, even if she dropped it, she’d probably eat it off the ground along with the dirt.”
No matter what they said beside me, I simply tore into the meat.
When I took a big bite of the huge chunk, its juices burst out.
“Mmm….”
At first, I had been secretly displeased when Huey tossed the meat into our luggage, saying he would marinate it well in sauce.
From now on, I decided to follow Huey’s advice without question whenever it concerned food.
“How is it?”
“Mmph. Tasty….”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Today’s lesson.
Patience can be an excellent seasoning.
“Whew, that was delicious….”
After finishing our meal,
“Hey, slow down. You’ll get an upset stomach.”
“But what can I do? It’s delicious.”
“Master. That idiot bird has nothing going for him except his sturdy stomach, so there’s no way he’ll get an upset stomach.”
“What did you say, punk?”
Now that a few days have passed and she’s gotten used to us, she’s really letting loose.
“What else would you call someone who kicks first without checking because they’re curious?”
“I was pretty startled when you disturbed that beehive earlier, too.”
“Ahem.”
No, of course, I had been a bit of a klutz….
“Got a problem?”
“…No.”
How underhanded, fighting with facts.
After that, Lucy kept needling me for quite a while.
“Okay, okay. It’s in the past.”
“Tch.”
Only then did Huey intervene with a chuckle.
You’re the worst, you bastard.
“As we decided earlier, we’ll take turns standing watch. Let’s set out early tomorrow and rest at an inn.”
“Understood.”
“Okay.”
I went to bed first, then gazed up at the sky with a slightly aggrieved feeling and made a vow.
The commander was entirely to blame for my being treated this way.
I would definitely get my revenge.
* *
Just as I’d feared, we were stopped by the guards again, as we had been in Dublin.
“Damn those beastkin bastards. If I ever catch them….”
“I didn’t expect to get stopped at a checkpoint here, too.”
“They must be a fairly capable group. They’ve been operating without getting caught until now.”
If I ever got my hands on those bastards, I’d break every bone in their bodies.
“Calm down. Let’s find a place to stay first.”
“Yeah… Sigh.”
“Shouldn’t we meet that Frederica person first?”
“Ngh.”
It might be better to go see Frederica first, but….
“Forget it. Let’s just rest today.”
I needed to be in good enough shape to go meet her in this state.
We passed through the busy district and entered a street lined with lodgings and taverns.
-KABOOM!
With a deafening roar, I saw the door of a tavern in the distance fly off.
“Tch. Looks like some idiot or other is causing a ruckus in broad daylight. We’d better stay away from there.”
“Goodness. Look at all that dust flying. Master, let’s avoid that way.”
“Sometimes, you two really are alike.”
Huh, what was he talking about?
“Who’s like whom? Are you blind?”
“Are your eyes just for show? How can you say Ren and I look alike?”
“…Let’s not talk about this.”
Huey shook his head in disbelief, then
“Hey, we’re going together!”
“As usual, whenever he runs out of things to say, he runs away first.”
He soon began striding ahead on his own.
Then….
“Oh, this place looks good.”
Before long, Huey suddenly came to a halt.
“Eek!”
“Pfft!”
Because Huey stopped so suddenly, Lucy, who had been following him, couldn’t stop in time and buried her face in his back with a strange sound.
“Ah, sorry.”
Huey deliberately ignored Lucy as she trembled with her head bowed in embarrassment and fled into the inn as though running away.
Then Lucy followed him, running both hands back through her hair.
“…I’ll get my revenge. I swear.”
I definitely saw it.
The murderous glare Lucy shot at Huey, as though she wanted to kill him.
“That guy’s a dead man.”
Even after we checked in and went upstairs to unpack, I could feel the weight of Lucy’s unrelenting gaze on Huey.
“Then let’s each rest on our own and meet in the dining hall on the first floor before dinner.”
“Sure.”
After saying that we had rented one room per person for once, I watched Huey hurry into his room and muttered,
“I hope we get to see him alive again.”