Episode 7. The Night Before the Storm
A quiet, silent atmosphere. A landscape that seemed to flow gently yet lacked any sense of peace. That was the calm before the storm.
It was an omen meant to break the weak. For those continuing their journey for the sake of gray, it was merely the arrival of an inevitable crisis.
If one sought to seize possibility and change the world. If one had scrambled the once-unyielding words and smeared the ink. Then at least once, they had to weather such a storm.
In the shallow woods where they had settled for camp, a clear, ringing clang echoed—one that shouldn't have been heard there at all. Kaang—
The little birds that had nestled in the trees for a comfortable night startled and flew off in a flurry. The wild animals hidden in the grass let out a low growl—grrr—before fleeing into the distance. Kaang—clang—
With each resounding strike, tiny sparks flew. They were remnants of the heat from the campfire, always crackling away, but also traces of the dwarf's hammer swings.
Kaang—
I watched the scene quietly for a moment before muttering under my breath.
"...Looks like sleep's off the table tonight."
"Hup! Dinner's not even ready yet, fuu! What're you talking about sleep for, hup! I'll stop after a bit, just a bit!" Kaang—
The flames were far weaker than a forge's blaze, but the old man pounding the heated metal with just that fire looked plenty passionate.
"Good is good, sure, but you're not exactly young anymore. Why pour all that passion into it? You'll wreck your joints."
"Hup...! If I don't squeeze in some hammering while riding in this wagon, fuu! I won't make you a decent piece before you kick the bucket. And my joints are still fine, heave-ho!" Kaaang—
I was right there watching the dwarf's hammering up close since I had to make dinner, but Aberly and the three kids had plugged their ears and fled into the wagon ages ago.
They'd all been gathered around the campfire—Aberly tinkering with research for new reagents as usual, the kids unusually focused on basic studies. But the first clang rang out, and they jumped in fright, bolted inside, and slammed the door shut.
Of course, Asha didn't seem fazed at all. She just leaned her head on my shoulder, studying the ancient magic circle we'd gotten from killing those black mages.
Anyway, Horn's hammering continued for a good while longer.
He looked like he might keel over wheezing at any moment, but the hammer he swung packed power no human could match.
Dwarves, who received no blessing of mana, were granted sturdy bodies in its place. So their squat frames were basically bundles of battle-hardened, compressed muscle.
Of course, with no mana at all, they had bad matchups against demons or mages.
"So how strong were you back in your prime as clan chief, old man?"
"Fuu... Even in my younger days, I could swing a hammer hard enough to burst beasts with the wind pressure alone. Can't do it now, so yeah, I'm really getting old."
No. What?
I had to blank out for a second to process that.
Horn wiped the sweat dripping down his face as the stew in the pot started bubbling away, then plopped down on a stump.
"...You could kill beasts just with the wind from swinging?"
"I could back then. Not every dwarf, mind you, but I was clan chief among dwarves. Eh, just that."
Killing without touching, purely from air pressure—yeah, the freakish Hero could probably pull that off easy. Knight captains or Sword Saints guarding nations? Maybe, not sure.
"Humans probably couldn't manage it."
"Even among dwarves, only a few. It was a freak feat even for clan chief level. Plus, there's species differences. Humans get blessings like divinity or mana, so they've got the edge in versatility."
"Then what am I, with nothing?"
"What else? Just a talentless hack. I'm hungry—finish that stew. Oh, you can cook stew, so you're good, right?"
This fucking—
I muttered a curse at Horn's words and just stirred the bubbling stew.
And so, once Horn's hammering finally wrapped up, Aberly and the three kids crept out of the wagon and gathered by the fire.
The stew was done right on time, so I handed out full bowls to everyone.
"Waaah~ Dinner time~"
""Waaah~""
The kids shoveled it down like they never got tired of the same old stew, beaming with excitement the second they got their bowls. Honestly, having a bunch of easy eaters was a huge blessing.
We sat around the campfire and dug in. While the kids gleefully went for seconds, Aberly and Horn ate slowly and spoke up.
"Hm. So, next destination?"
"Um, I-I'm a bit cu-cur-curious about that too. Versio Ruins, Ve-Veritas Hotel, Creasio Workshop... I th-think there aren't any more like that around he-here."
Next destination, huh.
"Truth is, I'm starting to wonder where to head myself. To get materials for the ash suppressant, we'd have to veer off course a bit—no straight shot east."
"Hm, fair point."
"Haha..."
Even info from the novel didn't amount to much. As I'd said a million times, it just teased worldbuilding and settings like "there's this place."
So we traveled, scoured books and newspapers for intel, picked spots that way. Could easily hit a wall where we couldn't decide.
"Hm. If you're gonna give a prophecy, make it detailed. Just 'head east' makes it harder to pick."
Some early spots were the total opposite direction, so it felt vaguely middling and too broad—not enough specifics. Would've been nice if it'd pinned down exact spots.
"Greedy brat."
"Ahaha... Just saying."
Of course, I knew it was entitled bullshit.
We chatted idly like that while eating stew.
"Anyway, no spot locked in yet, so let's restock supplies at the next city and keep pushing east."
My companions nodded along as they ate, but then Eileen went wide-eyed and shot to her feet.
"Huh? Wha! Huh?!"
"What's with her now."
What's her deal?
We all stared with the same baffled look, but Eileen bounced around like she'd remembered something huge, yelling her head off.
"Today! What's today's date?!"
"Asking for the date out of nowhere."
"Yes! Today's date! Has it passed December yet?!"
She asked so randomly, eyes sparkling with expectation.
But wagon life on the road, we weren't exactly tracking days precisely.
"Dunno."
"No idea."
"Haha, I d-don't really kn-know..."
""We don't know stuff like that!""
We all tilted our heads and shrugged it off.
Sure, tracking dates precisely would've been ideal, but no one was that fussed about time slipping by.
"What?! How does no one know?!"
"You don't either..."
You don't either, you crazy bitch. I trailed off and shut my mouth.
Asha, who'd been listening quietly, let out a deep sigh and answered.
"Sigh... It's January. January 10th today. You're finally an adult, Eileen."
"Yay~ I'm an adult! Now I can register as an adventurer~ Wheee~"
So that's why she was hyped. It was kinda cute, and I chuckled—then Asha kept going at the super-excited Eileen.
"Hm, but registering as an adventurer won't change much, will it?"
"What do you mean?! An adventurer's guild card is the most romantic thing I've dreamed of!"
It was a quaint little dream, pretty adorable. Asha just cocked her head blankly and started dismantling Eileen's hype bit by bit.
"Even though we won't be taking adventurer quests for a good long while?"
"Erm... We can do that later...?"
No.
"You don't even have any mana."
"Guh...!"
"Your physical stats are woefully inadequate."
"Ek...!"
Whoa.
"No real effort to learn swordsmanship or martial arts either."
"Krrk!"
"And your head's not all there. What's the point of registering now?"
Hey hey hey!
"Kwaa...? No, that's not fair! I've studied as a noble my whole life!"
"What exactly have you studied?"
"Kwaaang... Too harsh...!"
With that final blow from Asha, Eileen flopped over dramatically.
To be fair, everything Asha said was spot on. But still, ripping into every little grab and pounding away at every weak spot? Come on.