5
Chapter 5
A Watchpost located on the outskirts of the Frontine Barony.
Even in the late hours of the night, there were those who could not sleep.
"Hmm?"
"What, do you need to take a leak?"
As the Guard Marley asked sarcastically, Ostan tilted his head and replied.
"No, didn't you hear something?"
"At this hour? Even if you did, it's probably just an animal."
"No, I'm telling you, it came from below."
"Hey, idiot. Do you think I'll fall for that again?"
Since Ostan had played a prank during their last shift, Marley dismissed it without a second thought.
However, since it wasn't a prank this time, Ostan felt deeply wronged.
"Stop talking nonsense. Gilly got disciplined for chatting last time too."
"Tsk... I definitely heard something—"
Thump—!
Just then, a heavy, dull roar echoed out.
It was clearly a sound coming from deep within the Dungeon.
"What was that!"
"See! I told you it was real."
Vindicated, Ostan shouted triumphantly.
"What are you so happy about! We need to report this immediately."
"Damn it, why does this always happen when I'm on guard duty...."
At that moment.
Step, step.
A figure wearing an embroidered red Robe approached from the darkness.
Passing through the entrance meant they definitely had permission, but a procedural check was still required.
"Who goes there?"
Instead of answering, he held out a single piece of Parchment.
The Request Form stamped with the seal of the Baron of Frontine was clearly visible on the Parchment.
"A request from the Lord? What business does he have in this tiny Dungeon-"
"Hey, idiot. Stop asking questions. Just let him through."
At Marley's rebuke, Ostan hurriedly moved the Barricade aside.
Only then did the Magician quietly disappear into the Dungeon.
"Those clothes... that's the Red Magic Tower, right?"
"Definitely. I saw them at the pub last time, and their tempers are—"
Slam! Slam!
As soon as he entered, violent noises filled the inside of the Dungeon.
"Damn it, what the hell is he doing in there."
"Shouldn't we report this too?"
However, the noise soon died down.
In the silence that returned, the two men breathed a sigh of relief.
"...Is it over?"
"I think so-"
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
A sudden noise.
This time, it rang out from right behind the Barricade.
"Damn it, open the door!"
"Move the Barricade!!"
Urgent shouts rang out amidst the confusion.
Through the gaps in the Barricade, they saw the Prisoners from yesterday.
As the Barricade was pushed by the Prisoners' urging, the two hurriedly blocked it with their bodies.
"What the? Aren't those the Prisoners from yesterday. Have they gone crazy."
"Scared me for nothing. Get out of here!"
At Ostan's overbearing attitude, the Prisoners suddenly threw themselves to the floor.
But at that very moment.
Slam!
With a massive sound of impact, the Barricade was smashed to pieces.
And from the shock, Ostan and Marley were sent flying, rolling across the floor.
Right before losing consciousness, Ostan saw something through his blurry vision.
'A woman wearing a box over her head...?'
That was his last memory.
***
The forest near the Dungeon.
Fortunately, we were able to escape safely.
Thanks to the commotion caused by the Mimic, the Soldiers flocked towards it, and we used that opening to run away.
A pang of guilt rose at the thought of passing off my death to it, but thinking about my own predicament, I quickly forgot about it.
"We need to go to another territory!"
"We can't."
Drek and Baldic were sharing their opinions on where to head.
Drek was adamantly against it, but Baldic was desperately trying to persuade him.
"We have to leave now."
"If we run, a wanted poster will be issued across the entire territory-"
"But we can't just die here!"
An argument where neither refused to back down an inch.
I wondered, couldn't we just go our separate ways? I asked them this thought.
But according to Baldic, traveling alone and empty-handed in the outskirts was essentially suicide.
In that case, I should probably voice my opinion too.
"I think running away is the right choice too."
"What?"
"Yeah! That's what I'm saying! We don't have a choice!"
I had almost nothing left to lose in the first place.
All I could lose now was my life, and I couldn't just throw it away right now worrying about the future.
As I chimed in, Drek seemed to ponder before finally coming to a conclusion.
"Understood. We'll go together."
And so, we walked along the forest path.
Drek took on the role of guide.
Seeing that he knew the names of the outskirts villages, it seemed he had been here before.
"By the way, what crime were you caught for?"
During the tedious mountain hike, Drek asked the unspoken question.
"Well...."
Baldic answered hesitantly.
"I took some Holy Water and used it to make and sell alcohol...."
"You're a madman."
Drek's blunt assessment.
I didn't know much about religion either, but wasn't that crossing a line?
"How did you not get executed?"
"Our god is quite generous when it comes to the mistakes of intoxicated humans."
"Seeing as your head isn't hanging in the Square, he must be very generous."
Just what kind of god do they serve?
"What about you! You're exactly the same!"
Struck in a sore spot, Baldic fired back.
"Me? I... killed a person."
"One person? You look far too battered to have only killed one... And there's no way you'd end up here for just one murder."
Baldic mocked him.
"It was the son of a fairly prominent Merchant Guild Master."
"Oh my god."
The mocking Baldic immediately shut his mouth.
It seemed Drek wasn't exactly normal either.
"What about you?"
This time, the question was directed at me.
"I...... don't know."
"What? You don't know?"
"How could you not know what crime you were caught for?"
The two of them looked puzzled.
"Well, everyone has their own story."
"If you can't even say it, you must have done something really dirty."
The two of them appropriately let it slide.
They probably thought I was hiding it because I had some complicated backstory.
'I really don't know, though.'
The truth was, I genuinely just didn't know.
Due to our status making us unable to use the main roads, we had to take a long detour along the mountain paths.
Walking this mountain path with a frail body was pure torture.
"When on earth are we going to arrive?"
It seemed I wasn't the only one struggling, as Baldic, who was scurrying along on his short legs, began to complain.
"I'm pretty sure you were the one who suggested we go."
"Even so, it's taking way too long."
"We're almost there. You'll see the river soon."
A river?
Listening closely at his words, I could indeed hear the sound of water trickling through the trees.
Pushing our way out of the tall grass, a wide-open landscape unfolded before us.
A river flowing long below the mountain, and a lush green meadow spread out beyond it.
Behind the meadow, a village could be seen. It looked quite large in scale.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah. Just cross that river and it's the Adelfelit County."
"...."
But no one could continue speaking.
Because the width of the river was unimaginably vast.
It was a distance impossible to cross by swimming.
Looking at Drek's physique, the thought crossed my mind that it might be possible, but he spoke up first.
"If we head upstream, there's a village."
"A village in a place like this?"
"It's a trading village. We'll have to find a way there."
"Is it perhaps what I'm thinking of?"
"Since it's similar to what you used to do, you could call them your Business Partners."
Were there people like brokers there?
Looking at the flow of the conversation, it seemed the plan was to smuggle ourselves into another territory through them.
"But if it's a village, the security will be tight."
"We'll just have to pray that the news hasn't spread this far yet."
We headed upstream along the river.
Because I had pushed my frail body to walk so much, my lower half felt like it was creaking.
Unable to even have a proper mealtime, we all walked with Jerky in our mouths.
And finally, we discovered a group.
"Kerek."
But they weren't human.
"It's a Goblin."
"Don't tell me there's a Goblin settlement nearby?"
"Shouldn't we turn back if that's the case?"
Hiding in the bushes and watching, the creatures were indeed Goblins.
With physiques similar to Kobolds and dark teal skin, they didn't look particularly strong.
However, unlike Kobolds, they were holding wooden clubs in their hands.
"If it's a settlement... how many would there be?"
"Knowing Goblins, there's probably at least twenty of them."
"Twenty? Shouldn't we turn back?"
"No. It'll be too late if we go back. We have no choice but to push through."
Moving while keeping low in the bushes, we spotted another group of Goblins returning from a hunt.
The creatures were holding animal carcasses in their hands.
We held our breath and watched them.
Just then, Baldic shifted his posture as if his legs had fallen asleep.
Snap!
It was the sound of stepping on and breaking a dry twig.
"Kerek!"
"Keeek!"
The Goblins snapped their heads around.
Then, the one in the lead approached this way as if to scout.
"Uh, sorry."
"We have to take them all out here. I'll ambush them first."
Drek quietly gave the order and picked up a decently sized rock from the ground.
The Goblin drew closer, finally poking its face through the bushes.
"Ke—"
Thwack.
Drek's Dagger pierced the Goblin's neck.
The Goblin died instantly, coughing up bloody froth.
The remaining creatures, who had frozen for a moment, began to howl upon realizing their comrade's death.
But Drek wasn't one to miss that opening.
He threw the rock with all the strength in his body.
Whoosh—
Smack!
Along with a scream, another one collapsed.
He fights really well.
Although the sight of the dying Goblins was gruesome, Drek's combat skills were far more impressive.
But that thought was brief, as Drek let out a heavy shout and charged forward.
The Goblins, who had flinched as if facing a wild beast, quickly regained their senses and started to run away.
"We have to kill them all! It'll be trouble if they chase us!"
Drek shouted as he grabbed the shoulder of a fleeing Goblin and slammed it to the ground.
I hurried to chase the one that had fled to the left.
The sight of it running desperately on its short legs was frantic.
However, because it was running in a panic, its footsteps could be heard clearly.
The creature glanced back several times, trying to speed up, but that only made it lose its balance.
Eventually, it tripped over a tree root and pitched forward.
Clatter!
Whether severely injured or not, it couldn't stand up.
Staring at me with terrified eyes, it crawled desperately on the ground using its arms.
"Kerek...."
Its appearance wasn't much different from a human's.
If not for the skin color, it looked like someone I might have seen before.
Gasping for breath, I adjusted my grip on my Dagger, but my hand lacked strength.
Because the entity before my eyes felt more like a person than a monster.
The thought that I had to finish this and my hesitation tangled together, making my mind a mess.
Just then, I saw the creature make a suspicious movement.
'Hmm?'
Swoosh—
I twisted my body instinctively. A rock grazed past my head by a hair's breadth.
The fist-sized rock thrown by the creature momentarily paralyzed my reason.
"You son of a—bitch!!!"
I charged straight at it and strangled it with both hands.
"Ke-kek!"
I almost died.
"Keuk!"
I nearly lost my life over some cheap sympathy.
"Kek."
Following that short death rattle, no more noise could be heard.
Only the sound of rustling grass spread quietly.
The strength left my fingertips, and a cold sensation was felt.
...I survived again.
And yet, a corner of my heart sank heavily.
If I hadn't turned my head, I would have been the one dead.
Gasping for breath, I looked at my hands.
The sensation of strangling its neck still seemed to linger.
This is a heartless world.
In that case, I must be too.
I clenched my hands, then opened them again.
Then, I returned to my party.
***
The party seemed to have quickly sorted out the situation and had returned near the riverside.
I saw Drek doing something as he disposed of the Goblin corpses.
"What are you doing?"
"I need to cut off their ears. We don't have a single penny right now, so we have to collect things like this."
"Their ears?"
"There's a reward if we take them to the Guild."
As it turned out, Drek was collecting evidence of killing the Goblins.
"Let's finish up quickly and go. They might chase after us."
"Uh... sorry. Things escalated because of me."
"...Forget it. Let's move out."
Seeming unbothered by Baldic's apology, Drek calmly finished preparing to depart.
I was a bit angry too, but I kept my mouth shut, thinking it would be better to stay quiet rather than ruin the mood.
We let the Goblin corpses wash away in the river and set off toward the village once again.
Before long, it became night. Exhausted, we decided to take a short break.
It had been a forced march ever since the Dungeon, and the brief shut-eye we caught there was all the rest we'd had.
At this point, even the hard dirt floor would probably feel like a plush mattress.
We decided to have a simple meal. The only food left in the Backpack was a loaf of bread and two pieces of Jerky.
The leather Canteen was already empty, but we had a human water purifier right here.
[Condensation]
Water droplets formed at the tips of my fingers. I had gotten the hang of it now, realizing that if I used Condensation with a clenched fist, I could easily fill the Canteen.
Watching me distribute the drinking water with a fascinated expression, Baldic spoke up.
"It's amazing every time I see it."
"I find Hemostasis more amazing, honestly."
"That's the power of a god, so it makes sense, but it's not like that for you guys."
Having spent time together, I had grown somewhat close to Baldic.
There were times when his rude behavior was annoying, but according to Drek, it was a characteristic of Dwarfs, so I tried to be understanding.
Plus, as a former Priest, he was quite knowledgeable, making him good to ask about things I was curious about.
Barely chewing and swallowing the hard bread, I asked Baldic a question.
"The power of a god... By the way, which god do you serve?"
"I serve Ulgran."
"Ulgran? Who is that?"
"The god of alcohol and festivals."
Ah, so that's why he was still alive even after making alcohol out of Holy Water. Everything finally made sense.
"Ah, the taste of that liquor was truly excellent...."
Chewing on Jerky and emptying his Canteen, Baldic looked just like a drunkard.
I couldn't help but be momentarily appalled at the sight of him still seeking alcohol even after being caught because of it.
Turning my head to the side, I saw Drek's cold expression as he stared at Baldic.
"What, you punks! Do you guys even know how good it tasted?"
"Well... hmm. Never mind."
When Baldic got angry after feeling Drek's gaze, Drek silently turned his head away.
I should be careful not to end up like that.
After finishing our meal, we set off again.
My eyelids kept drooping from lack of sleep, but it felt like if I stopped now, I would never open my eyes again. So, I forced myself up.
Perhaps the village was farther than we thought, because even after marching all night, we still couldn't reach it.
It was only when the sun was high in the sky that the village came into view.
"Damn it, a village... it's a village......!"
Baldic cheered in a dying voice. Far in the distance, the village could be faintly seen.
Rather than a village, its walls looked high and sturdy.
It looked like a fortress preparing for war. Perhaps it was because it was a village near the border.
"But are we really going to walk right through the front? Wouldn't it be better to find another way?"
"If it takes too long, a pursuit team will come. It's better to resolve everything right here."
"Hmm... I'll trust you for now."
In the end, the final method felt like a gamble.
We assigned roles and set up a scenario in preparation for the inspection.
"So, we got attacked and lost our Identification Plaques...."
"No, that's not it."
Just then, a sound came from beyond the forest. Shouts, groans, and the sounds of a fierce battle.
At that sound, everyone looked at Drek, and Drek nodded before stealthily approaching the scene.
Hiding in the tall grass and observing, we saw a Carriage overturned on the side of the road.
The horses were lying dead, and we could also see someone crushed to death under the Carriage. Fortunately, there were still people alive.
Three people wearing thin Leather Armor were fighting off a group of Goblins.
There were only three people, but there seemed to be about a dozen Goblins. One of the people was already severely injured.
To think there were Goblins here too; did this mean their radius of activity was large?
"Looks like they got ambushed. Tough luck."
"What should we do? Should we help them?"
"Hmm... Maybe this is our chance to enter the village. Let's join the fight."
Saying so, Drek raised his body from the grass.
As his massive frame moved and made a sound, everyone's gaze focused on him.
"Damn it, what now? Are they Bandits?"
"Kerek? Kerek!"
Both sides seemed unable to properly grasp the situation. Amidst that confusion, Drek dashed forward and shouted.
"What are you doing! Attack!"
"What? Ah, attack! Attack! They're allies!!"
As unexpected reinforcements appeared, the Goblins panicked and were pushed on the defensive. Once the numerical disadvantage decreased, the Goblins were no longer a match.
It didn't take long for the remaining Goblins to flee.
Leaving the fleeing Goblins behind, we helped them clear the battlefield.
A moment later, a person wearing flashy clothes emerged from the Carriage while being supported.
To think there was someone still alive in there. Of course, their condition wasn't perfectly fine, and their arm was wrapped in bandages.
That person seemed to be the Representative of the group and approached us.
"Thank you. I am 'Dardan,' running a small Merchant Guild. By any chance, who might you be?"