“Uh, so… are we heading straight to the capital?”
On the way back after encountering the soldiers in the east, Sienna, who was driving Whitey ahead of me, asked.
“I’m still thinking about it.”
I had come back this way for now, but I was still contemplating my next move.
Should I just head toward the capital?
I didn’t necessarily have to enter the city. In the past, I would have simply taken a detour around it…
“It’s a bit tricky.”
I wasn’t sure what the current situation would be. The kingdom was at its most sensitive period right now.
Even in the east, soldiers and knights were patrolling everywhere. There was no way they wouldn’t be stationed around the capital as well.
And if something like what happened with that knight earlier were to repeat itself…
Once suspicion falls on me, escaping near the capital would be incredibly difficult.
Maybe back in the day, when I had all my original equipment and my body was at its peak, it would have been a different story.
But in my current state?
Even a few knights would be enough to catch me.
“Honestly, forcing our way through the east, where the devil worshippers are, might be the better option.”
“Uh… isn’t that dangerous?”
“That way, we can act openly.”
“Oh.”
If soldiers or knights blocked the road, we’d have to go through inspections and make up some excuse to get past, like we did just now.
But if bandits or devil worshippers were the ones blocking our path… I could simply cut off their heads.
No one would question killing devil worshippers later, and they wouldn’t be as troublesome as knights either.
The more I thought about it, the more I leaned toward heading east.
“Then, should we rest here for a day and break through toward the east?”
After all, it would only be a rough journey for a single day. It seemed like a reasonable plan…
“What do you think, Sienna?”
Since her opinion mattered, I asked for her input.
“Oh, me? Hmm, I’ll follow your decision, Rain.”
“Ah… then let’s do that.”
“Got it!”
…Though, in hindsight, there wasn’t much need to ask.
Sienna usually left all the decision-making to me anyway.
“Alright then, let’s get some rest early today.”
“Okay!”
After that, we set up camp to prepare for the next day.
It was an early camp, but there wasn’t much else to do here.
Might as well rest in advance and conserve our strength.
“Let’s grill the leftover venison for dinner.”
“Venison sounds good.”
For dinner, we decided to eat the remaining portions of the venison from this morning.
Even though it was a young deer, the amount of meat was more than enough for the two of us.
Even after building a fire and grilling a good amount, there was still some left.
“We probably didn’t even need to pack extra food.”
“I think we could sell the hide in a nearby village too.”
“Let’s check when we get to the next village.”
After finishing our early meal, we sat side by side on a log, using it as a makeshift bench, staring into the campfire.
“How do you like camping?”
With our stomachs full and feeling relaxed while watching the flames, I suddenly thought to ask Sienna.
“Camping? Hmm, I think it’s nice.”
“That’s a relief.”
To be honest, traveling like this for long periods wasn’t an easy task.
I still wondered if it would be better for Sienna to go to the Boyd family estate. It was something that weighed on my mind.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that instead?”
“Huh?”
“I used to tame monsters in the forest, but you were a knight, weren’t you?”
“Oh.”
Now that she mentioned it, I had been a knight once, hadn’t I?
Am I still considered one?
I had no idea what the Boyd family did about my status after I left.
“Well, I was born a commoner anyway.”
“Oh, really?”
“I was a slave gladiator.”
“Ah… I think I vaguely heard about that before.”
Not all knights were the same.
I had crawled my way up from the lowest of the low—true street-born.
Having risen from the filth of the streets, camping like this was nothing to me.
“There aren’t many people who’ve had a rougher life than me, so you don’t need to worry about that….”
Anyway.
As I was chatting with Sienna in front of the fire—
Rustle.
The bushes ahead shook, and I immediately sensed movement.
“Who’s there!”
I shot up from my seat, drawing the sword I had propped up beside me.
Devil worshippers? Soldiers?
As I debated how to react—
“Uh… hello?”
The bushes parted.
A group of four mercenaries—two men and two women—emerged.
One was a red-haired woman with her hair tied short.
The others were a bald man, a skinny man, and a muscular woman holding a bow.
…Sizing them up, they seemed strong, but only at a mercenary level.
Silver rank, maybe?
“What do you want?”
I kept my guard up and asked.
“Uh… we just saw the firelight and came to check….”
As she spoke, the red-haired woman tied her hair back.
Looking closely, she was in a terrible state.
Her equipment was in tatters, and there was no sign of any essential supplies.
“W-We were ambushed and lost everything… Could you spare us just a little food? A-And if you could lend us some matches, we’d be really grateful….”
Hmm… Mercenaries who were attacked and left wandering the forest?
I glanced at Sienna for her opinion.
She gave a small nod.
That meant it was fine.
Rustle. Thud.
I grabbed a pack of matches from my supplies next to the log and tossed it over, along with the leftover venison we had just eaten.
“You should leave now.”
“Th-Thank you!”
The red-haired woman, who seemed to be their leader, hurriedly picked up the food and matches from the ground, seemingly surprised that I handed them over so easily.
“W-We’ll definitely repay you. May I ask for your name…?”
“Let’s not make connections in a place like this.”
“Ah… understood….”
There was nothing to gain from getting involved with mercenaries right now.
As I waved them off, they quickly retreated and disappeared into the darkness.
Once the mercenaries were gone—
“Will it be safe to camp here?”
Sienna, who had been watching their retreating figures, asked.
Well, if they were greedy, they might try to come back for more, but…
“They didn’t seem to have the will for it. Besides, it’s already too late to move far.”
Judging by their condition, I doubted they’d come back.
And even if we changed our campsite now, we wouldn’t be able to go far enough to make a difference.
If they were determined to find us, they would, regardless.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, and if they do come back….”
I left the rest unsaid.
If they came?
Well, they’d be welcome.
Unless they brought along a squad of knights, they wouldn’t stand a chance against us—two Aura users and a spirit beast.
“If you’re okay with it, Rain…”
“Yeah, no need to worry too much.”
And so, we decided not to relocate and continued camping in the same spot.
The night passed without incident.
By the time I woke up the next morning, nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Well, except for one thing…
“Mm… mmh….”
Sienna’s sleeping habits were just as wild as ever.
I peeled her thigh off my upper body and got up.
Wasn’t she the one worried about mercenaries returning?
Yet she slept like a rock.
Leaving Sienna to sleep in, I stepped outside the tent—only to find another animal carcass lying in front of it.
“Whitey, it’s gotta be you.”
I patted Whitey as I looked at the legless boar this time.
Now, where should I even start skinning this thing?
That was Sienna’s area of expertise.
Still, I decided to at least skin it roughly, so I pulled out my knife.
It was the one I had taken from that devil worshipper before.
A well-sharpened blade—should be good enough to cut through a boar’s hide.
First, I should drain the blood, right?
I pulled out a rope and tied it around the boar’s remaining legs.
“Haa…!”
Using Aura, I hoisted the boar upside down onto a tree.
“Huff… Haah….”
Damn, that was tougher than expected.
If my physical condition were still what it used to be, I wouldn’t have even needed Aura for that.
Drip. Drip.
Next, I stabbed the boar’s neck and let the blood drain.
Now… how do I skin it?
I tried cutting deeper along the wounded neck, struggling to peel the hide properly—
“What are you doing?”
A voice came from behind.
I turned around to see Sienna, now awake, staring at me.
“Oh, um… Whitey brought in a boar.”
“Oh dear… You should have woken me up.”
“No, no, you should sleep in.”
“Are you really going to keep doing that…?”
Hmm…
I glanced back and forth between the boar and myself.
It did look a bit gruesome.
“…Should I go wash up?”
“Yes… I’ll take care of this.”
“Ah, right. Okay.”
Yeah, better to leave it to the expert than mess it up myself.
Before Sienna could scold me, I quickly stepped away.
[You really go out of your way to suffer. For a moment, I thought you were finally offering up a sacrifice.]
…At least Sienna would appreciate the effort.
With that, I headed toward the river to wash up.
“Wow, you caught all this?”
“Yeah, this lady here…”
Hearing some commotion nearby, I glanced over and saw the mercenaries from yesterday gathered around a fire.
Oh, so they camped here?
It looked like they had caught some fish and were grilling them.
…Smelled good.
Since I had given them matches and venison, I thought about asking for a piece in return.
But getting involved with mercenaries still didn’t seem like a great idea, so I simply walked past them and focused on washing up.
“Haa…”
I splashed cold water on my face, feeling refreshed.
Then, I stripped off my clothes and gave them a light wash.
Might as well do laundry when I had the chance.
After washing, I laid my clothes out on a rock to dry and took a short break.
“Hah…”
Still, my stamina was really lacking.
Just doing laundry had me slightly out of breath without using Aura.
Once I got out of the kingdom, I needed to settle down somewhere and properly recover.
The only question was when I’d be able to leave.
But once I made it past the east, getting down to the south should be easy enough.
As I reviewed my plans again, lost in thought—
“…Aaaargh!”
“You bastards…!”
Suddenly, shouting erupted from across the river.
It sounded like those mercenaries from earlier.
I stood up and moved closer toward the commotion.
“Kyaaa!! Jane!”
“You sons of bitches!”
There they were.
The mercenaries from last night were being ambushed by another group of mercenaries.
“Hmm…”
…Honestly, I didn’t really want to get involved.
My gaze shifted toward the fire near the mercenaries.
Golden, crispy fish grilled to perfection.
Yeah, might as well do a good deed and earn myself a meal.
I picked up a nearby rock and made my way toward the riverside where the fight was breaking out.
