Chapter 249 – Reunion
If it had been as before, it would have been moving non-stop and arriving in two days.
Yes, scheduled.
Everyone makes a plausible plan and acts.
And all such plans are bound to collapse helplessly in the face of unexpected difficulties.
“I don’t think the wagon wheels would break…”
“Sorry… I should have driven more carefully…”
Natalya apologized with a sullen expression.
But it’s not her fault.
It was an unavoidable accident.
I really couldn’t have foreseen that the wagon’s wheels would break.
The wagon we rode in was a crude wagon converted from a huge old wagon. Besides, there were no horses to pull it off, so it was left unattended for a long time in the backyard of Thermia’s shop.
Of course, no one noticed that the wooden part of the frame that supported the wheel was damaged because it hadn’t been repaired.
In such a state, the wooden wheel, which does not absorb shock at all, got caught in a puddle and received a large vertical impact, and the frame that was in charge of the axis of the wheel was broken.
“Are you okay. No one was hurt and it wasn’t Natalia’s fault.”
“Still…”
“Even if it’s okay.”
The rich blonde gently stroked her pretty hair and looked around.
The straight road from Arpagon to the Westway is naturally made of trampled, broken grass and compacted soil due to frequent foot traffic. The place naturally off the road is a forest with thick trees.
“Fortunately, I don’t have a lot of luggage.”
“If you use mud golems and skeletons, you can lift and move them all.”
“But how far have we been?”
If you walk 12 hours a day from Arfagon to Westway, it takes five days. About three days.
“It didn’t come very often. If I keep walking like this, it will probably take about three days…”
I packed my bags with a plan to stay overnight, so if I moved on foot, I would not have enough to eat.
“Hmm… Wouldn’t it be quicker to figure out how to repair the wagon…”
Since there are trees all around, I thought about cutting down trees to replace the broken ones, but Elena, who was listening beside her, shook her head.
“The wood used as a part of the wagon is processed. Even if the trees here are cut down, they are not good enough to be used as substitutes…”
After listening to Elena’s answer, I stroked her chin and thought about it when I heard the voice of an old man who was squatting near her puddle.
“This, it looks like someone dug the ground on purpose. Look at this.”
She went to the old man’s side and looked at the puddle that had contributed greatly to breaking the wheel of the carriage.
As if crossing the road, the deep cuts were like scratches.
“This road is a solid ground that has been passed by people for a long time. Since there is no natural digging of the ground, it must be said that someone dug the ground.”
“Then is it a trap?”
“Hmm… It doesn’t seem like that, but…”
“But it’s an artificially created puddle?”
“If it was a trap set by the robbers, they should have attacked as soon as our wagon fell, but they didn’t and I don’t feel anyone around me, and besides, can you see the fallen leaves here?”
As the old man said, there are many red fallen leaves piled up in the puddle.
Perhaps these fallen leaves prevented Natalya from seeing the puddle.
“This is enough to say that the puddle has been around for quite some time…”
The old man, who took out a fallen leaf from the puddle and turned it around while holding the stem, looked around as he rolled his eyes from side to side.
“What if people didn’t do it?”
“Is it a monster? It’s quite big, and its claws are sharp… Hmm… Judging by its size, it must be about the same size as the drake we encountered last time.”
“It’s a monster of the same size as a drake, with claws sharp enough to make such marks on the floor… Is there anything like that around here?”
“Well, isn’t that the Drake who ran away last time?”
I remembered the moment I met Drake.
Agility, hard scales that don’t match the gigantic size… A long, sharp tail that was wielded like a whip.
If he’s around, he’s really dangerous.
When my expression became serious, Roin lightly tapped my shoulder.
“Who’s coming over there?”
“What?”
As I moved my gaze along the direction the old man’s fingertips were pointing at, a series of groups appeared in the distance on the road we had passed.
I instantly remembered the thief I mentioned earlier, and my alertness rose, but when I saw the carefree complexion of the group approaching, I realized that they were not hostile.
A procession of several double-headed wagons, the man driving the wagon at the front slowed down as it got closer to us, then stopped a short distance away.
“Someone said… Hansung! Long time no see.”
“Hmm… ?”
An elderly man who came down to the coachman’s seat spoke to me as if he was happy to see me.
However… Who?
I couldn’t tell who it was, so I tilted my head with my eyebrows furrowed, and the old man next to me stabbed his side with his elbow.
“I’ve been asked to escort a company to the West Way before.”
“Escort of the upper division to Westway… ?”
“It’s Jake from the Merchant Guild who transported wagons full of magic stones.”
“Magic stone transport wagon… Mr. Jake… ?”
“That, a request I made with Dixon’s gang.”
A request to escort the upper tier to Westway, a wagon carrying magic stones, Jake, Dixon…
I can’t remember the man’s name, so I might as well say it like this.
“The first request I met with Mr. Fade.”
“Fade… ? Hmm… Ah…”
I seem to remember it roughly.
A group of arch-mercenaries called Dixon’s gang planned to attack Natalya and Roin, so a giant wild boar induced them to attack and sent them down the nether road.
The elderly man with a smile on his face saying he was happy to be approaching was clearly a merchant named Jake who was running the guild at the time.
Back then, he was quite happy that I had saved up money for the mercenaries because I had dealt with Dixon’s gang.
Other than that, it must have left a pretty good impression on him.
“Ah, long time no see. Mr. Jake. How you doing?”
“Of course. But, from the looks of it, it looks like you’re in a difficult situation.”
“Ahaha… The wheel axle of the wagon got caught in this puddle here and broke. I was just thinking about what to do.”
Jake looked at the puddle as he kicked the puddle right next to him.
“Gee, if it weren’t for you guys, we would have gotten stuck in a puddle. If you don’t fill it, it will be difficult to pass. Hey! Everyone come and help with this too!”
At Jake’s cry, the others in the back grabbed the shovels attached to the wagon and gathered in twos and threes and began filling the puddle.
I looked around, watching the puddles being filled.
All the people now holding shovels and filling the roads are those who got off the driver’s seat. At the far end of the carriage, I saw a stern-looking man.
He could tell just by looking at his face that he was a tough guy. Perhaps the author is a mercenary escorting this guild.
But other than that, no one else was visible.
“Jake, how many mercenaries are escorting you?”
“There is only one man in the back of the carriage.”
“One? Is he a good mercenary?”
“It’s true that he’s a second-class mercenary, so his skills are good, but other mercenaries haven’t come at all.”
“Hmm? Can’t you find a job?”
“All of the other mercenaries have been driven by requests from the deforestation camp. It’s a request from the lord, so everyone knows that we can secure our share. Thanks to that, the mercenaries didn’t gather for the other job.”
If it was a request from the deforestation camp, it would definitely be a request to find traces of an unknown monster.
However, for that request, we have already uncovered the identity of the monster.
The other mercenaries seem to be making porridge without knowing the identity of the monster has been revealed.
“How did you find a second-class mercenary when you said you couldn’t find anyone?”
“The author got caught accidentally because he was going to the West Way. However, there is something uneasy about entrusting it to just one person…”
This is good news
If you speak well, you might be able to get a carriage for free.
“Are there any empty seats in the carriage?”
“Hmm? This time, we don’t have a lot of goods to carry, so one wagon can fit a person…”
Jake, who was still talking, looked at the damaged wagon on our side and seemed to understand what I meant.
“Besides, the puddle dug here on this road, it smells very stinky.”
“A stinky smell?”
“In the middle of this road, someone has artificially damaged the road to obstruct the passage of carriages. That’s not a good sign, is it?”
“Hmm… That certainly is.”
“It’s good that we can get a wagon and ride, and Jake can get a necromancer’s escort for ‘free’, but how… Shall we go together?”
I knew that merchants couldn’t be bothered with freebies, so I emphasized the word free.
In addition, if the reliable escort increased just by giving them a ride in the wagon, it would be a considerable benefit on the other side.
“Hmm… Certainly, it sounds like a bad condition for each other. Instead, don’t you pay for the escort?”
“Sure.”
After shaking hands lightly with Jake, I loaded Jake’s wagon.
