The Merchant Caravan
Standing on the hill, the merchant caravan's line stretched out in the distance. Carriages moved in a serpentine fashion along the road, coiling like a snake. It resembled an endless line of ants marching in unison.
Yet the movement lacked a single, unified purpose. It was not an army advancing under one commander's direction.
Closer inspection revealed that the merchants' carriages were clustered in small groups—two or four or six together. Several wagons trailed behind them.
Some were shabby, like those of the Red Sword, carrying little cargo. Others were piled high with large sacks. The heavily laden wagons appeared to hold food and supplies essential for the journey.
Men moved around the wagons and carriages at varying speeds. Some rode horses, but most walked on foot. These men were clearly adventurers. Despite their differing attire, an unspoken similarity bound them together.
As Juhwan's party descended the hill, the men escorting the caravan turned to watch them warily.
One man broke away from the moving line and approached Juhwan's carriage. He asked,
"What business do you have here?"
The question was not directed at the Red Sword but at Juhwan. Gender discrimination was evident even here. Juhwan smiled bitterly and replied,
"We are from the Adventurer's Guild. We have come to find the Miller Trading Company."
"Ah."
The man scanned Juhwan from head to toe.
"I have heard the rumors. Are you a healer mage?"
"Yes."
"You seem like an ordinary adventurer. First, show me your guild necklace. Without it, I cannot let you approach this caravan."
When Juhwan pulled out the necklace, the man stared at the number 3. Then he pointed toward the front of the caravan.
"Keep going straight until you see the largest group. That is the Miller Trading Company."
"Thank you."
The man glanced at the axe on the driver's seat and continued,
"I heard that the escorts for this merchant caravan work solely for their own employers, but they have contracted to provide healing magic to everyone, including me. Is that correct?"
"Ah, yes. That's what I understand. That's why we receive separate compensation per person."
The man exhaled as if relieved.
"I see. Good to know."
"Is something wrong?"
Juhwan asked. The man frowned.
"I haven't received exact information yet, but it seems there are rumors of bandits. This caravan includes many merchants selling expensive goods."
One person from the caravan gestured toward the man. He nodded and looked at Juhwan.
"It should be fine. It's just a rumor that passed by. The owner of the Miller Trading Company is personally participating, so they must have called a healer mage to be cautious. The other merchants are just riding along."
The man then returned to his position.
Jessie, who had been quietly listening, muttered,
"So that's why they called a healer mage in the middle."
Karin, the leader of the Red Sword, suddenly spoke from the wagon driver's seat.
"Since the guild didn't mention it, it might just be a rumor for now. If there was solid information, the guild would have notified us, and we would have discussed it."
Karin looked at Juhwan's face.
"We came here as escorts, so if bandits appear, we will fight. But remember, you are a healer mage. Unless it's to protect your own body, you should not fight. Conserve your mana and be ready to respond immediately if someone is injured."
"Understood."
Juhwan replied. Karin shook the reins to get the horse moving.
"Then let's go."
The women of the Red Sword all had tense expressions. The atmosphere had changed slightly from before meeting the merchant caravan.
The shoulders, which had seemed a bit slack during the journey, now stood straighter. Their backs were straightened to appear more imposing, and their voices became sharper. Their eyebrows were raised as if annoyed. It was as if they had put on invisible armor.
Perhaps the mood had spread. Lizzie in the carriage also looked tense. She was pressed against the hole at the back of the driver's seat, quietly watching the merchant caravan.
Juhwan moved his carriage alongside the merchant caravan and advanced forward.
Every time the Red Sword's wagon passed, a whistling sound rang out between the caravan and the escorts.
Sometimes vulgar words were thrown at the Red Sword. Even without understanding the meaning, one could guess. It seemed to refer to words about relationships between women and men.
The Red Sword kept their heads forward rigidly, as if ignoring such words.
'Ah...'
Juhwan muttered to himself. They had lived this life all along. The rough reactions of the Red Sword party women toward him suddenly made sense. After living like this for a year, two years, several years, anyone would change.
Juhwan looked around at the men. Some of them seemed to know he was a healer mage, or perhaps the relationship between men was different, as a few waved and greeted him with a smile.
A good person to me might be someone who wants to kill others. Even if someone is a killer to women, they might be a kind colleague among men.
Juhwan lightly raised his hand in response to the men's greetings. Thinking of Lizzie and Dorothy in the carriage, his heart felt a bit heavy.
Where the Miller Trading Company was located became clear as they got closer.
While other merchant carriages numbered four or five or fewer, this one had nearly ten carriages. There were many wagons following them.
The posture and atmosphere of the men guarding the carriages also seemed superior to elsewhere.
A man on horseback was beside the line of carriages moving along. His presence was different from the others around him.
Juhwan turned his gaze to the man.
He wore clothes with a luxurious feel. The fabric and shoes seemed different from ordinary ones.
He must be over fifty. He was definitely older, but he didn't look frail. It was as if a sturdy man had aged only in his face.
Despite his different clothing, appearance, and age, he somehow resembled Gus. Juhwan felt strange.
Upon noticing Juhwan, the man on horseback turned his horse and approached.
"You are the healer mage?"
His accent sounded refined. Juhwan mentally repeated the man's pronunciation and slightly bowed his head.
"Yes. I am Juhwan. My wife and daughter, members of my party, are riding in the carriage."
"I see. I have heard. I am the owner of the Miller Trading Company. You may call me Leonard."
Leonard quietly observed Juhwan's face and body.
"You seem more like a mercenary called to the battlefield than a healer mage."
Leonard chuckled and glanced at the Red Sword party. He spoke as if addressing everyone, without particularly talking to the women.
"I hope you have the skills to match the compensation you receive. Now, starting from now, we are resting. Let's exchange greetings with our group."
A middle-aged man who had been watching from a distance approached after gauging the end of the speech.
"I am Gordon. I am the person in charge of this escort. If any problems arise, please tell me."
Even as the escort commander, he was not referring to the entire caravan. Gordon commanded only the Miller Trading Company.
Most merchant caravans were like this, he had said. Merchants with similar schedules and destinations shared information to plan their routes.
Even if most journeys were the same, destinations and circumstances varied. Therefore, each one brought an appropriate number of escorts to join the caravan, and when they reached their destination, they left the caravan.
At some point, new merchants joined. A few large trading companies formed such caravans, and even small shops joined them. This was because the number of escorts could be smaller than traveling alone.
As the group grew larger, the probability of being attacked by bandits or beasts decreased sharply. So, what started as a small caravan had rapidly grown into a huge line of ants.
Knowing that Juhwan was a novice adventurer, Gordon explained while showing the position. Normally, when not working, Juhwan could ride the carriage. The space between the merchant carriages and wagons was Juhwan's carriage's spot.
The Red Sword's carriage was at the very end of the Miller Trading Company.
From somewhere at the front of the caravan, a long horn sounded. Then horn sounds echoed from various places. It seemed to be signaling.
The merchant caravans' carriages that had formed a long line began to stop. It seemed like mealtime, and people who appeared to be servants of the Miller Trading Company prepared to light campfires.
They normally ate breakfast earlier than this, but they had changed the time irregularly. He didn't explain the reason, but it was probably due to the rumor of bandits. If one ate at set times and did set actions, it would be easy to predict and attack. They were probably trying to prevent that.
One escort circled the area slightly away from the group to keep watch, while the others sat around the fire.
Lizzie and Dorothy also got out of the carriage. On Dorothy's head, Oz was always perched like that.
Sitting in a circle, the escorts briefly introduced themselves. At best, it was their names or positions they held, or adventurer ranks.
Not all the escorts were adventurers. Some were adventurers and escorts belonging to the Miller Trading Company.
Excluding the Red Sword, the ranks of the adventurers here seemed generally high.
Juhwan was Rank 3 under Rank 2, and there was a Rank 3 party consisting of two mages. The rest were Rank 4, apparently with a lot of experience.
The mage party consisted of two men. They said one used wind and the other fire. Wind was Rank 3 adventurer, fire mage was Rank 4.
Juhwan also used fire magic. A slight interest arose.
The two mages in the party didn't seem weak, but they were far from the rough type. Rather, they were slender handsome men.
But the mages' personalities didn't seem very good. They seemed to look down on others.
"..."
Juhwan watched the women of the Red Sword who had not spoken a word since earlier.
Mari's face, who spoke the most and was cheerful, was pale. There was no blood in it. The other women were not that bad, but their faces were quite poor in color.
"Why is that?"
Juhwan asked, but she only said it was nothing.
The contents in the pot over the campfire seemed to have warmed up. The servants of the trading company gave each person sitting around the campfire a bowl of stew.
Another servant brought bread and meat in a container from the wagon.
"There aren't many types, but the taste is quite good. You can eat as much as you want."
Leonard, the owner of the Miller Trading Company, came and sat next to Juhwan. He also received a stew bowl and ate a bite while smiling. People started eating while chatting.
Dorothy, who was sitting between Lizzie and Juhwan, took a spoonful of stew and her eyes sparkled.
"Delicious."
A short while later, she bit into the meat, occasionally raising her hand above her head. Every time, Oz clumsily took the meat from the hat.
Thinking that no one would notice such noticeable behavior, a small laugh escaped him unconsciously.
Lizzie must have thought the same, as she suddenly smiled when their eyes met.
***
Leonard had originally been a magical beast hunter. People with shallow knowledge might not know, but he could use wind magic a little.
He was not skilled enough to be judged by ranks in magic. His skill was limited to adding a bit of wind to arrows to make them slightly faster.
But that was enough for hunting magical beasts. As long as he could accurately aim at the vital points, the rest was determined by the hunter's abilities, not magic, in success or failure.
Wind magic had made him a magical beast hunter, but that alone was not enough to become a magical beast hunter. Magic was just one of the many techniques of hunters.
Leonard becoming the owner of the Miller Trading Company was because his wife was the only daughter of the previous owner of that company.
The Miller Trading Company dealt with furs. Originally, it handled everything from foxes, wolves, and rabbits to beasts. But the previous owner of the company wanted to handle magical beast furs as well. That's how Leonard stood out.
Whether now or then, the best way to become allies was through marriage. The owner immediately married his daughter to Leonard.
The owner's eyes had been accurate. Leonard, who inherited the company, rapidly expanded the store by handling both beast and magical beast furs. Now, he had several branches throughout the country and exported high-end furs abroad.
Recently, the supply of high-end furs had decreased, causing almost all fur prices to skyrocket. Because of that, for the past few years, they had focused more on the domestic market.
This journey was the regular transport of high-end furs. The furs in one specially modified carriage alone were worth an enormous price. Naturally, the ranks of the escorts had also increased.
Every time, there were rumors of attacks. Sometimes they met bandits, but they always got through. However, this time, more ominous rumors were circulating, which is why they had called a healer mage.
It was a bit unexpected that the master of the Bern Adventurer's Guild had asked for magical beast identification.
But that was his job. He wouldn't send something fake. As an escort, one might have thought more carefully, but a healer mage only needed to be sure of their magic skills. So, they readily agreed.
'But this is....'
Leonard looked at the horned rabbit sitting quietly on the child's head and, for a moment, could not believe his own eyes.