Chapter 62
The morning sun shone on our freshly acquired armor, heralding the start of a quiet morning.
With Milheim’s imposing north gate behind us, we set foot on the road leading north.
A raised causeway cut straight through the wetlands.
Beyond the thin mist rising from the water, merchants formed a line, cursing as their heavy wagons lurched through the mud.
Alongside them, a group of pilgrims slowly made their way past, hems caked in mud as they murmured their prayers.
“This really feels like the start of an adventure. At last, our legend begins!”
Lyle led the way, turning back as he ran a hand over the hilt of his new sword.
He squinted against the glare and took an exaggerated breath of the damp morning air.
“Lyle, if you have time to run your mouth, move your feet. Look, they’ve passed us again.”
Elena gestured with her chin toward a merchant’s wagon as it rolled past, splashing mud.
Kai walked past Lyle, his steps betraying none of the weight of his large shield.
“Come on, you two, don’t be so cold. Noah, you say something to them, too.”
“Indeed. If you don’t watch where you’re going, the first page of your legend will read, ‘Leader gets stuck in the mud on the first day.’”
I said with a gentle smile, then quickened my pace just a little.
“Ugh... I really wouldn’t look cool after that.”
Lyle shrugged and turned forward again, this time keeping his eyes firmly on the road.
“Guess I’ll make sure we start off on the right foot, at least.”
Elena let out a small sigh at his words, though the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
Kai said nothing, simply nodding quietly.
We set off down the road, Lyle now facing forward.
By the time the sun had climbed high enough for our shadows to overlap at our feet, a cluster of enormous trees began to cover the road.
Deep green shade fell as if cutting off the dazzling sunlight, and the sticky sounds of mud came to an end.
I breathed in, feeling the firmness of dry earth beneath my boots.
The heavy dampness that had clung to my skin was gone, replaced by the forest air, rich with the scent of leaf mold and moss.
“The road’s finally easier to walk on.”
Lyle stopped and tapped the toe of his mud-caked boot against the dry ground.
With his hands on his hips, he gazed into the depths of the forest with satisfaction.
“It’s fine to be happy about that, but visibility’s poor, so you need to keep an eye on your surroundings.”
Elena chided him, her sharp gaze piercing the gaps between the trees.
Just then, my mana sense picked up a giant serpent rearing its head.
“Above us!”
At my shout, a giant serpent launched itself from a thick branch overhead, cutting through the air.
“Whoa?!”
Lyle narrowly dodged its fangs and kicked off the ground, leaping sideways.
As soon as he landed, he drew the brand-new silver blade from the scabbard at his waist with a sharp metallic ring.
The giant serpent reared its head again and lunged like a spring.
Lyle stood his ground and raised his bastard sword in middle guard to meet it.
“...Hah!”
With a sharp exhalation, the silver blade swept horizontally and struck the serpent’s raised head head-on.
Its head, robbed of all momentum, sailed through the air, while the rest of its massive body thrashed on the ground, spraying fresh blood.
Lyle lowered his sword, flicked the little blood from its blade, and stared at his hands in surprise.
“Huh, this thing’s great. ...It’s heavy, but when I swing it, it feels as light as a feather.”
The giant serpent’s thrashing body eventually fell still.
I expanded my awareness around us and confirmed that the waves of mana had calmed.
“...There are no more presences. It seems to have been alone.”
I crouched beside the giant serpent and gouged the magic stone from its cold, clammy corpse.
The small magic stone, just large enough to fit in my palm, held a faint glow.
I tucked it away, and we left the spot.
As we continued down the road, the trees gradually grew thicker, and their overlapping crowns blocked out almost all the sunlight.
The view around us shifted from dappled sunlight to the damp, deep-green shadows of the forest.
Then, at the edge of my outstretched mana, I sensed something out of place again.
“...It’s coming!”
Kai stepped forward, and I immediately cast ‘Enhance’ on him.
The bushes ahead exploded outward, and a gigantic beast covered in a steel-like shell burst out: an Armored Tusk.
The sound of its hooves gouging the ground with tremendous force drowned out the forest’s silence.
“...Hmph!”
Kai kicked off the ground and met its charge head-on.
His outthrust shield collided with the beast’s iron-boulder bulk.
——BOOM!
A heavy impact that reverberated deep in our bones shook the forest.
The steel hemisphere mounted at the center of the shield sank deep into the Armored Tusk’s forehead.
The giant beast froze for an instant, as if time itself had stopped, then collapsed into a lifeless heap.
Once he saw it fall, Kai slowly pulled back his shield.
“That’s great! It’s not just good for defense—the thing hits hard, too!”
Lyle hurried over, brimming with excitement.
“I’m glad we bought you two that gear. Let’s have this for dinner tonight.”
Lyle looked puzzled for a moment, but quickly understood what I meant, and his face lit up.
“Oh! Wild boar tonight. Sounds great!”
“...I’ll do it.”
Kai said briefly, then leaned his large shield against an enormous tree.
He drew the knife at his waist and, with sure hands, slit the Armored Tusk’s hide, then skillfully carved out its fattiest haunch.
Beside him, I cut the magic stone from deep within its still-warm heart.
As soon as Elena pointed her fingertips at the freshly cut chunks of meat, a thin layer of ice began to coat them.
With a pleasant weight added to our packs, we set off north along the road once more.
The canopy that had covered the sky broke apart, and the view opened up.
We managed to leave the forest before the sun had fully set.
Ahead of us lay a small settlement, its faded timber houses huddled close together.
In the square at the settlement’s center, a merchant’s wagon piled high with cargo was parked. Nearby, the horses drank from a trough, snorting softly.
Elsewhere, the pilgrims had gathered around a bonfire.
Beyond the sparks that leapt from the flames, their low, overlapping prayers drifted up into the sky.
We found an empty corner, too, and set down our packs.
The weight of the straps digging into our shoulders was gone, replaced by the pleasant chill of the dry stone paving beneath us.
“All right, let’s get things ready.”
Kai neatly stacked the firewood and dropped a small ember onto it.
The fire spread, crackling as it filled the cooling square with orange warmth.
Lyle stripped the bark from thick branches he’d gathered nearby, then threaded large chunks of wild boar onto them.
A satisfying sizzle rang out, and the rich aroma of roasting fat rose into the air.
“...All right, it should be ready soon.”
At Lyle’s signal, I took a small leather pouch from my pocket.
I placed a few dark little lumps from inside onto a flat stone and crushed them with the handle of my knife.
I gathered the crushed pieces with my fingertips and scattered them over the meat, glistening with dripping fat.
The moment they touched the hot juices, their fragrance burst forth, filling the air with a sharp, refreshing scent that tingled in the nose.
Lyle’s eyes widened, and Elena leaned forward in surprise.
“Noah, that smell just now... Is that pepper?! Where did you get it?”
“It’s a thank-you gift from Hans-san, remember?”
I returned Elena’s surprised look with a gentle smile.
“Come on, let’s eat before it gets cold. We should thank Hans-san for this.”
At my words, the four of us picked up our skewers of meat.
Lyle was the first to sink his teeth into a big chunk.
“Hot...! But, wow, this is good!”
Juices dripped from the corner of his mouth as he puffed and panted, his face breaking into a smile at the pepper’s bite.
“...No complaints. It’s enough to make all the fatigue from that muddy road disappear.”
Elena’s cheeks flushed slightly, and a satisfied gleam lit her eyes.
Kai silently chewed through his thick piece of meat.
He looked at me just once, then nodded deeply.
I took a bite of my own portion.
The pepper’s sharp bite prickled my tongue, and the meat had a satisfying chew.
The fragrant aroma of the smoke rose through my nose.
With every bite, the wild boar’s robust flavor burst across my palate, balanced by the vivid bite of freshly ground pepper.
Once we’d finished all the wild boar, we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks and lay down.
Above us, the night sky glittered with countless stars.
“...The Heavenly Inversion Tower. I wonder what kind of dungeon it is.”
Lyle’s murmur faded into the darkness of the night along with the sparks from the bonfire.
“It’s a huge upside-down tower that stretches deep underground... Apparently, no one knows how far it goes.”
I answered, recalling what I’d read in the Guild archive room.
“Huh. Then let’s see how far it goes ourselves.”
Lyle smiled across the bonfire.
“Well, it’s more fun to dream big.”
Elena smiled, sounding exasperated, yet still looking somehow amused.
The conversation ended there, and only the twinkling stars quietly watched over our night.