The Vegan Troll's Cabin (2)
It had been a week since they blindly headed north from Junk Town. They had reached a point where turning back was no longer an easy option, even if they wanted to.
Thanks to their relentless journey over the past week, the carriage carrying the two had finally left the barren wasteland of Junk Town behind and entered a rugged, mountainous terrain.
Sitting on the driver's seat and staring blankly ahead, Yohan suddenly turned his head to scan their surroundings. No matter where he looked—front, back, left, or right—there wasn't a single sign of human civilization. Only an endless chain of towering peaks and low hills stretched out before them.
"Are you tired? Want to switch?"
As Yohan looked around, his eyes naturally met Falco's in the passenger seat. She offered to take over, looking concerned for him, but Yohan immediately shook his head.
"Nah, I'm just a bit restless. Bored, too."
"We really haven't seen a single soul since we left."
Indeed, they hadn't crossed paths with another human being since departing. They were almost at the point of missing the bandits that used to roam the wasteland. For the first few days, they had tolerated it, but the journey was slowly becoming mind-numbing. After all, how were they supposed to spread the faith if they couldn't even find anyone to convert?
And that wasn't the only problem. Traveling by carriage during the day and camping under the stars at night for a whole week meant they were starting to worry about their food supply.
"Ugh, what kind of mountain path just goes on forever like this?" Yohan groaned from the bottom of his heart.
"If we keep going north, we'll hit the highlands," Falco chimed in, looking down at the map resting on her lap, which they had purchased back in Junk Town.
"We've already climbed so high. Technically, isn't this place already a highland?"
"Is it?"
They were already far removed from the developed heart of the continent, and to make matters worse, the terrain was absolutely terrible. Sitting on the hard wooden seat for hours on end made his buttocks ache. They say a breathtaking view is only beautiful when observed from afar, but a nightmare when you actually have to traverse it. Yohan couldn't agree more.
"You mother... You need to sit your butt on a hard wooden seat in a rattling carriage all day like us to finally snap out of it."
Must be nice to be a goddess. No pain, no exhaustion, just floating around in spiritual form.
"Hup." Yohan temporarily let go of the reins and stretched his arms. Feeling that wasn't enough, he stood straight up on the driver's seat to stretch his entire body.
"Sore butts are one thing, but the horses are the real issue," Falco said. Yohan nodded in agreement.
They had set their course north due to Wilhelm's subtle provocation, but at this rate, the horses pulling the carriage would collapse from exhaustion and turn into horsemeat before they could even lay eyes on those rumored man-eating trolls.
While they could fetch drinking water from nearby streams, long-lasting rations could only be procured from a proper settlement. As far as Yohan knew, Junk Town, despite its meager size, was the only town in this entire region.
Heading east from Junk Town would eventually lead to Balifield, but he had never heard of any villages to the north. Although nominally part of the neighboring nations' territories, the continental fringes were practically abandoned. Moreover, the harsh terrain made it highly unsuitable for human habitation, leaving little to no reason for any settlements to form.
Consequently, human foot traffic was virtually nonexistent here. In fact, people living in the developed central regions of the continent had absolutely no reason to visit this place.
Still, it wasn't entirely a bad thing. The same logic applied to the Inquisitors dispatched by the Holy Kingdom. In other words, this environment allowed Yohan's group to operate without drawing their unwanted attention.
Yes. It was the perfect environment to spread the Church of the Unnamed Goddess. If only they could actually find someone to preach to.
"The sun's going down. Let's keep going for about ten more minutes and then call it a day."
"Okay," Falco replied with a nod.
"You guys heard me, right? Hang in there just a bit longer." Yohan offered a word of encouragement to the two horses pulling the carriage.
Neigh— Perhaps understanding Yohan's words, the horses, which had been trudging along silently, suddenly let out a soft whinny and swished their tails.
After what felt like another ten minutes of traveling...
"Hey, wait. Is that... smoke?" Yohan squinted at a thin, hazy plume rising from the crest of the hill ahead.
"I—I think it is." Yohan wondered if he was seeing things, but since Falco saw it too, it couldn't be an illusion. Smoke was indeed rising from beyond the hill.
It didn't look like a wildfire caused by natural combustion. If the forest were on fire, the smoke wouldn't be this faint and localized.
"That looks like chimney smoke, no matter how I slice it. Let's head to the top of this hill and check it out." Since they needed to find a flat spot to camp anyway, Yohan flicked the reins he had been holding loosely. The sluggish horses picked up their pace in response.
"Holy crap, there's an actual house here? In the middle of these mountains?" Reaching the crest of the hill, a small cabin with a single chimney came into view.
Yohan and Falco exchanged glances and nodded in unison. Whoever was inside, they had to meet them. If the owner was someone they could reason with, they would ask if there was a village nearby, and if the opportunity arose, they might even pitch a faith in their slightly dimwitted Goddess.
Clatter— The carriage came to a halt near the cabin. Yohan and Falco leaped down simultaneously and strode toward the dwelling.
"Is anyone inside? We'd like to ask for directions!" Yohan called out loudly, knocking on the wooden door. Falco stood a few paces behind him, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword just in case.
"Who is it?" Before long, a young man's voice echoed from behind the door. Yohan's face lit up, and he nodded eagerly to himself.
"Just travelers passing by!" Yohan shouted back. Blurting out something like "Do you believe in our Goddess?" right off the bat was a surefire way to get the door slammed in their faces. He chose a response that wouldn't provoke the owner while still piquing their curiosity.
"Please wait a moment. I'm in the middle of making dinner." Fortunately, the owner didn't tell them to get lost or yell that they didn't care for solicitors.
"Ah, sure." Judging by the voice, the owner seemed to be around their age. Yohan imagined a gentle, pleasant-looking young man busy cooking in the kitchen.
Thud, thud— Footsteps approached the door, and the firmly shut entrance swung wide open.
"It's quite rare to see travelers passing through these parts." The owner's gentle voice drifted out as the door opened. Yohan quickly plastered on his most amiable, friendly smile.
"..."
However, the figure emerging from the doorway was nothing like the human youth Yohan had envisioned. Beneath his worn clothes was a physique so monstrously muscular it looked ready to burst. His skin was a thick, green hide that seemed impervious to ordinary blades. And to top it all off, massive fangs protruded from his lower lip. How on earth was this a human? Yohan froze solid.
"U-Um, excuse me?" Flustered by Yohan's reaction, the owner asked in a worried tone.
"M-Ma..." Yohan muttered, his eyes wide with shock.
"Ma?"
"MAN-EATING TROLL!"
"Calling an innocent person a man-eating troll... you do realize that's incredibly offensive, right?"
"I-I'm sorry..."
"No matter what kind of rumors you've heard, there are things you should and shouldn't say to someone's face."
"Yes, yes. You are absolutely right..." Faced with the owner's completely justified grievance against racial profiling, Yohan had no choice but to bow his head in apology.
Beside him, Falco silently cast her gaze downward. It seemed she had harbored similar thoughts.
"Hey, you thought the exact same thing as me, didn't you? Huh?"
"At least I didn't scream it out loud like you did."
"Dammit." Yohan tried to drag his companion down with him to share the blame, but she coldly drew the line.
"Well, I suppose it's understandable given my appearance." Fortunately, the owner's capacity for understanding was as vast as his massive thighs.
"And well, it's true that I am a troll." At his words, Yohan studied the owner's face closely. The tough-looking green skin and protruding fangs were indeed the classic physical traits of an orc or a troll.
"Still..." No matter how he looked at it, the structure of the head was remarkably human. Frankly, if one ignored the skin color and the fangs, he was actually quite handsome by human standards.
"He's probably a half-breed," Falco answered, reading Yohan's mind. The owner nodded in agreement.
"My grandmother was a troll. I only know that much, though; I've never actually met her."
Ah. A quarter-troll, then. Yohan finally understood why the owner had such a unique appearance.
"Well, anyway, it's nothing major. We were just passing by, saw the house, and wanted to ask for directions if anyone was home..." It was time to get to the point. Yohan carefully stated their business.
"Are you two travelers?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"We came from Junk Town. It's a settlement in the southern wasteland. We've been traveling for a week straight, and our food supplies are running low," Falco explained. The owner nodded understandingly.
"There is a village nearby."
"Oh!" That was the best news they had heard all day. Yohan and Falco's eyes lit up simultaneously at his response.
"To be precise, there are two villages... but you'd better avoid one of them."
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Yohan tilted his head, questioning the owner's warning.
"One is just an ordinary village, but the other is a Troll Village."
"..."
A heavy silence fell over the room. Yohan felt a cold sweat trickle down his spine.
"Don't tell me that Troll Village is..."
"Yes. It's inhabited by trolls who actually eat humans." The rumors Wilhelm had mentioned weren't a lie. But that wasn't the main issue. Yohan sensed something deeply unsettling about the owner's story.
"Wait, something doesn't add up." From the way the owner spoke, the human village and the man-eating Troll Village were clearly located close to each other.
"If there are man-eating trolls living nearby, why haven't the villagers packed up and fled? Why on earth do they keep living around here?" At Yohan's question, the owner's expression stiffened.
"..." Falco remained silent, but her hand drifted back to her sword.
"Well... humans aren't the staple food of the trolls in that village."
"What's that supposed to mean?" For some reason, the owner didn't answer immediately. He let out a heavy, troubled sigh, rubbing his face with both hands.
"Every year, the Human Village offers a living sacrifice to the Troll Village."
"Holy shit."