Respite on the Road
Once I finished the healing, the merchant came over to thank me for helping his laborers. The man who'd been ready to coldly cast them aside had suddenly changed his tune, and I found myself a little thrown.
"About earlier…"
"Do you think I wanted to abandon people who trusted me enough to follow me this far? But looking after the wounded is hard work. It takes a great many hands."
He went on to lay out his reasoning. They still had several days of travel ahead, with no guarantee they wouldn't run into bandits or monsters along the way. Caring for the injured would inevitably pull people off guard duty and escort work. And if the bleeding couldn't be stopped, the scent of blood might draw monsters in.
"From where I stood, I made that call for the safety of everyone still standing."
It wasn't an unreasonable argument. Still, it left a bitter taste. When he added that the laborers themselves had understood and been ready to accept it, I had no choice but to concede the point.
So that was why everyone looked so happy when I healed those two…
Maximilian agreed with the merchant as well.
"There's a similar principle in field medicine."
As a knight leading soldiers, he'd been taught not to recklessly try to save every comrade, apparently. A commander needed the resolve to sacrifice the few for the sake of the many.
"I see…"
Come to think of it, even my adoptive father — the village chief — had sometimes made cold-hearted choices for the good of the village.
The mindset of those who stand above others, I suppose…
"Everyone must be exhausted from the fighting. Let's rest here."
People were already sitting down to catch their breath. I flopped onto the ground myself. Still, watching the two people I'd healed laughing and talking with the others filled me with a quiet pride. I was glad I hadn't held back my power.
"Yuli. Good work."
"What about you, sis? You okay?"
"Yeah."
I'd half expected her to be shaking after killing people, but either she had nerves of steel… or she simply wasn't thinking about it at all.
"Miss Emma is remarkably strong."
Emma gave him a blank look.
"And her swordsmanship seems properly — systematically — trained."
True enough. Emma's sword work was nothing like the wild flailing of an amateur. She'd learned under a proper master, so of course it was.
I explained on her behalf.
"Actually, our master used to be a knight."
I told him about the Instructor's background. The village where we'd been born and raised sat near the border, a post for training new recruits. Knights and soldiers would occasionally stop by to rest, and one of them had fallen for a local girl.
"Master was getting on in years himself, so he retired, got married, and settled down in the village."
"I see."
"And to adapt to village life, he decided to do what he could."
He'd taken over training the existing self-defense force, teaching them systematically, and also handled early education for the village children. That was how we'd learned the sword properly from such a young age.
"Now I understand why Miss Emma is so strong."
Talent played a part, but she'd also spent years training systematically. And as the next village chief, she'd received a high level of education as well.
"And you as well, Miss Julian?"
"I learned sword and spear alongside her. I just happened to have more talent with this."
I smiled and tapped my staff. To him, it would look like a cane rather than a weapon.
"Ah — so that staff of yours can be used as a weapon too."
I nodded. Emma quietly tended to her sword while listening to my story.
Chatting pleasantly with him, I found I could forget the brutal scenes of people dying around us.
"I was glad to hear something personal about you today, Miss Julian."
I wanted to argue with that — what was he talking about?
But thinking about it… he was right. Whenever we talked, the topics were almost always about him, or whatever happened to catch our eye at the moment, or things he was curious about.
I'd barely said anything about myself. And when I had, it was mostly about things that had happened at the southern noble house.
"Y-you're right…"
I suddenly felt embarrassed and turned my head away. Honestly… I'd let my guard down too much. I knew he wasn't a bad person, but I still needed to be careful — and I'd gone and told him about our village.
There was even a chance the Instructor's records were still at the southern noble house, which meant he could potentially track down the village's location. The thought of him following us all the way there was a little unnerving…
While we rested and talked, the laborers cleaned the blood from their clothes until they looked presentable again. The adventurers sorted out their bloodstained gear as well.
Come to think of it, Emma had changed clothes too.
Once everything was in order, the merchant suggested we stop resting and get moving. Talking with Maximilian was making me uncomfortable, so I was happy to go along with the flow.
"Well then, shall we get up?"
Maximilian rose with a smile, saying nothing.
"By the way, sis — don't just strip in front of people."
"Okay."
I understood the blood was gross and sticky, but she was still a girl. She needed to be careful. Well, given Emma's strength, it probably wasn't a real problem, but still…
The laborers dragged the bandits' corpses off the road into the surrounding woods. Once the path was clear, the coachman drove the wagons forward.
Originally, we'd planned to cross the mountain today and rest in the village at its foot… but the bandit attack had cost us time, and night fell before we could make it over. In the end, we camped by a nearby stream.
"Ugh, consecutive nights of camping… I hate this…"
"Haha…"
Even if we rested today and headed down the mountain early tomorrow, we probably wouldn't get to rest at an inn in the village. With today's delay, they'd want to push farther to make up time. And that meant more camping ahead.
"Haha, but at least we're near a stream. Not so bad, is it?"
Having easy access to water was definitely a plus. I could make water with magic, of course, but still… After dinner, during our rest, they started assigning the night watch rotation…
"Please rest well tonight, Mage."
"That's right — leave it to us!"
"Same goes for the other two of you."
The laborers and adventurers banded together to excuse the three of us from watch duty. There were plenty of people for the rotation anyway, so our absence wouldn't cause any real problems.
Still, I felt a little guilty.
"Then we'll gratefully accept your kindness."
Maximilian spoke up before I could refuse.
"Is this really okay?"
"Turning them down would only make them more uncomfortable."
"That's…"
"They want to repay the favor by taking the watch for us. Just accept it."
I understood the logic, but… ugh. I supposed there was no helping it.
Fine… I decided to accept the kindness and sleep comfortably. Of course, for the sake of the watch, I set up an alarm spell near the campfire so they could use it if anything went wrong.
When I woke in the morning, I felt genuinely refreshed. Having a night off from watch duty really did make a difference…
And once the schedule had slipped, we couldn't rest at an inn. We'd arrive at villages while the sun was still high, making it awkward to stop… and if we kept going, camping was guaranteed. It was genuinely frustrating.
The merchant had to pay us our daily wages, so every day of delay was a loss for him.
Through it all, other people's consideration let me travel a little more comfortably. Partly because I was a mage… partly because I'd saved those people… either way, I was grateful for the ease.
On the ninth day of escort work, the merchant suggested we rest in a village we'd reached a bit early.
"We're not going farther?"
"No — we've come this far. Even if we keep moving, we won't reach our destination today anyway."
Fair enough… Checking the map, if nothing went wrong, we should arrive tomorrow before sundown. Pushing on now would just mean camping in the middle of nowhere either way.
The merchant and laborers told us to take our time looking around the village and come to the lodging whenever we liked. The laborers would handle guarding the cargo wagons.
Being a village near a major city, the public safety was decent enough that we could relax, apparently. Still, I figured I should stay nearby just in case something came up and they needed help.
"What would you like to do?"
Free time, courtesy of our employer…
"Hmm…"
I briefly considered just heading to the inn to rest.
"Shall we try the general store nearby?"
"The general store…?"
"Yes. We're quite far from home, so there might be some interesting goods."
That was a little tempting… If there was anything durable worth buying, stocking up wouldn't hurt.
"What about you, sis?"
I asked Emma first.
"Watch the bags."
"By yourself?"
She seemed worried about our luggage sitting in the corner of the wagon.
"Go out."
She said it and pulled her wallet from her pocket, placing it in my hand.
"Buy what you want to eat. Buy what you want."
"Sis…"
The money she pressed into my hand was our remaining travel funds — eight gold.
"Y-you don't have to give me all of it."
I tried to take only some of the money from the wallet, but Emma insisted I take everything.
"We get paid tomorrow anyway."
We went back and forth insisting the other was fine, and time dragged on. Watching us, Maximilian must have gotten impatient, because he stepped in.
"Just take it all and bring back whatever's left."
…Was that it? Even if I took everything, I just didn't have to spend it all?
"Okay. I'll take it for now."
I accepted the wallet from Emma and turned. Then I thanked her.
"Thanks…"
Emma gave me a small smile and sent me off.
"Shall we go, then?"
Maximilian struck a dashing pose and offered me his arm to escort me. I glanced at it and pointedly ignored him.
Together, we left the lodging and began walking through the village.
Being near a major city, it really did feel like looking at a bustling town. Almost no wooden buildings — everything was stone — and the roads were well maintained.
I didn't say it out loud… but it was better organized than the city Maximilian's family governed.
"The streets are so clean."
"Well, this is the road to Wizheim."
Being only a day's journey from Wizheim, he said, plenty of pilgrims and tourists stopped here overnight on their way to pay their respects.
"That makes sense."
Wizheim — headquarters of the famous Metis Church. Tourists and traveling merchants both passed through in great numbers. Naturally, the nearby villages felt the effects.
After a short walk, I spotted the general store's sign.
"This must be the place."
Without the sign hanging on the building, I might not have even recognized it as a general store. The exterior looked just like every other building around it — nothing special. Stepping inside, the interior was even more underwhelming. Lacking any real polish, you might say?
"Let's see…"
Looking around at what the store carried, I mostly saw basic daily necessities. Candles, glue, leather goods, herbs, and the like. I checked whether they had any unusual medicinal herbs, but everything was familiar.
The only thing vaguely useful was some glass bottles.
If I'd been set up for alchemy, they'd have been handy in all sorts of ways — but right now they were just more things to lug around.
"Not much worth buying."
The shopkeeper said nothing. For a village with such refined streets, roads, and buildings, the store itself was surprisingly shabby.
"Haha, nothing to your liking?"
"Well… not really."
Still, I bought some herbs and a few small boxes. We had plenty of time, so I figured I'd head back to the lodging, make some ointment, and give it out as gifts tomorrow.
I'd need to make a lot if I wanted to give one to each of the laborers — should I buy more?
"What are you buying herbs for?"
Since I could use Holy Magic, he was probably curious why I needed them.
"Our escort job ends tomorrow, right? I thought I'd make some ointment as a gift for the laborers who worked so hard."
"Ointment…?"
"Yes. Who knows what might happen on their way back."
They were people I'd spent more than ten days with. I hoped they'd make it home safely. I didn't know how much help the ointment would actually be… but I wanted to give them something, if only for peace of mind.
Maximilian looked at me with a strange expression.
What…? Was he eyeing the ointment for himself? As a Knight Class fighter, he hardly ever got wounded. And with the wealth of a southern noble house, he could get healing from a priest anytime… not to mention better ointment than anything I could make.
"Is something wrong?"
I gathered up the goods I'd paid for.
I'd finished browsing and was ready to head back… but Maximilian's behavior was odd.
"Ah — it's nothing."
I studied him carefully. I couldn't figure it out…
If he wanted something, it'd be easier if he just said so clearly.
Sigh……