An Unexpected Encounter in the Valley
After settling the bill at the restaurant with Eda and Rita, we stepped outside when Kelly suddenly linked her arm with mine in a sweet, affectionate way. At first I thought nothing of it, but as we walked, her skinship only grew more frequent. Maybe it was because traveling together like this felt like a date, or perhaps she was simply in high spirits after securing a new job. Looking at her flushed, happy expression, it didn’t seem like the right time to casually go look at office spaces.
“The sunlight is so strong it’s making my head spin a little. Why don’t we go back to my place, rest for a bit, and then head out?”
Her bold advances—licking her upper lip while sending me a seductive gaze—made my lower body grow heavy without me realizing it. Even in the middle of the bright day, I suddenly felt an urge to pull her into my arms. My mana-enhanced stamina had improved dramatically lately, and it seemed my sex drive had grown just as vigorous. Drinking during the day and being with a woman had left me thirsty. On top of that, we had already shared our bodies once before. Making the decision wasn’t difficult at all.
It must have been the same for her. I swallowed hard and opened my mouth.
“Soun—”
“Hey, Boss! It’s me! Over here!”
When I looked up, I saw Pasvachio waving with a bright smile amid the crowd filling the street. I clicked my tongue in disappointment. In the end, I followed Kelly with Pasvachio in tow to look at the office spaces.
As the three of us walked together, Kelly looked somewhat deflated. Still, we visited a total of five locations. The prices were quite high, but one place stood out. It was a building that had previously housed a bookstore. Located a short distance from the bustling main street, it had a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, with many middle-class homes nearby. Thanks to that, the public infrastructure and services were excellent. It looked safe enough for Kelly to come and go alone, and its proximity to the lively district made it convenient for business activities as well.
The purchase price for the single-story, thirty-pyeong building was 8,900 veni. It was expensive, but not beyond what I could afford. Without much hesitation, I paid the building owner and handed the remaining 3,000 veni in my pocket to Kelly for interior renovations.
“What will you name the mercenary group?”
“I’ll think about the name and let you know later, so don’t make the sign or emblem yet.”
“Understood.”
After smoothly completing the building contract and preparing to leave the city, Kelly suddenly burst into tears and began sobbing. I gave her a light hug, patted her back, and said my goodbyes, promising to return soon.
The city that had once felt only terrifying now seemed like the warm afternoon sunlight. I could walk around with peace of mind, I had my own building here, and good friends like Kelly and Flavio lived in it. I wanted to visit again.
With a gentle smile on my face, I set off on the next leg of our journey with Pasvachio.
“Not there. Move it a little more this way. Over here.”
Adelia was bustling about, calling in soldiers to rearrange the furniture in her office. She had the maids clean and the soldiers move furniture, doing her best to make the office look luxurious and stylish. She had even hastily procured an expensive famous painting from somewhere and hung it on the wall. It was an unusual sight for her, since she normally showed no interest in art.
She had also adjusted the height of the desk chair so she could look down from as high an angle as possible, and in front of the desk, she removed the original sofa and table, leaving only a single low chair.
“Lady Adelia! Lady Adelia!”
Just as she finished all the preparations and stood with her arms crossed, smiling in satisfaction, Sinclair came running in with a frantic expression.
“Hyeonu—Kang Hyeonu has left the city, ma’am.”
“What? What?”
Adelia let out a disbelieving snort, looking utterly stunned.
“That guy left without even meeting me?”
As dusk approached, we decided to camp in the valley. I caught fish while Pasvachio built a campfire, took out a pot from the saddlebag, and prepared to make soup.
“Boss.”
I was thoroughly enjoying myself as the pile of fish grew when Pasvachio, who had been sitting by the water watching the pot, quietly pointed toward the rocks with his finger.
A king lizard the size of a large crocodile was flicking its tongue, clinging to the rock with all four legs. It seemed interested in us and slid down as if dropping, then crept closer while pretending to mind its own business.
“That’s a cozad. They’re big and strong, so they don’t fear humans even when they encounter them. It probably sees us as very tasty prey right now.”
“Can you handle it alone?”
“Just keep catching fish.”
Pasvachio stood up with his greatsword and walked confidently toward the cozad. The creature raised its protruding dorsal fin high, opened its mouth wide to reveal sharp teeth, and threatened him. But Pasvachio moved as if it were nothing. The moment he got close, he swung his greatsword widely to the left, then once more to the right, and finally delivered a decisive blow to the top of the cozad’s head.
As a result, one more item was added to our dinner menu.
“Whew, I’m full~ Pasvachio, you’re really good at cooking.”
“It’s because the ingredients are fresh. Especially since this one seems to have just been pregnant—the cozad meat is tender and has a nice sweetness. Grilling it on skewers makes me crave alcohol so badly.”
Pasvachio lamented that he couldn’t drink since we were camping and instead drank a sour juice made by dissolving powder in water. After roughly cleaning up, we went to bed early.
When I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky. I jumped up in surprise. We were supposed to leave at dawn—how had I slept this long? I sighed and scratched my head. Since I had gone to sleep right after dusk yesterday, I had slept a full seventeen hours. The thought that I had wasted time put me under a bit of stress.
When I looked across the dead campfire, Pasvachio was still sound asleep. I was about to pick up a pebble and lightly toss it onto his stomach when—
“He won’t be waking up for a while. He lacks mana, so his recovery is slow.”
A young woman’s voice came from behind me.
“You must possess very high-quality mana. You woke up right after being treated. Your body’s recovery speed is faster than that of people with ordinary mana.”
When I turned around, I saw two women standing apart from each other. The one closer to me, with hair that reached below her chest, lowered the bow she was holding and approached with a smile. The other woman, who had short hair, was wielding two scimitars in both hands and fighting a cozad in the distance.
“We happened to be passing through here and found you two collapsed, unconscious.”
Both women had bright brown hair and tanned skin, which made them look healthy and energetic. They were wearing identical outfits—short hot pants that revealed their thighs and sleeveless shirts that exposed their shoulders. Their entire clothing was made from the fur of some unknown beast. They looked exactly like Amazons had appeared before my eyes. Their firm, powerful thighs and the defined muscles on their arms were particularly striking.
“We were collapsed…?”
“You probably thought you were just sleeping, but that’s not how it looked to us.”
The woman glanced around at the surrounding mountains as she spoke.
“This area is a breeding ground for a poisonous mushroom called diraimar. Diraimar produces spores at dusk and bursts its spore sacs within two hours, scattering countless spores into the air. The spores have no effect on animals or monsters, but they react only to humans and birds. They parasitize humans and birds, kill the host, absorb nutrients from the corpse, and grow into adults.”
“So we were hit by that poisonous mushroom while we were sleeping?”
“That’s right.”
She met my eyes and continued.
“Just because the spores seep into the skin doesn’t mean you die immediately. The host falls into a very deep sleep for about a day, and death comes on the second day. Tiny mushroom clusters the size of beans begin growing all over the body’s skin, and the victim can never wake up again. You two were discovered on the first day, so you were lucky to survive.”
“You two saved us…?”
“It just turned out that way. Before leaving home, we prepared medicine in advance knowing we would pass through these mountains. We gave you what was left after we drank it. Once you take the medicine, you gain immunity to the spores for a week.”
After hearing the story, I let out a sigh of relief, feeling like I had aged ten years.
“Thank you for saving us.”
“It was nothing.”
The moment the woman smiled brightly, a cozad’s scream echoed from afar as the short-haired woman finished her fight.
“That’s my younger sister, Rita. I’m Eda. And you are?”
“Hyunwoo.”
“Hyeonu. That’s a unique name.”
Wanting to repay Eda and Rita for their kindness, I tried to offer them money as thanks. But Eda refused.
“There’s a village along the path we came from. Buy us a drink there.”
Even though our destinations were in completely opposite directions, the two women cheerfully agreed to take a detour just to get a drink. I quickly packed our things, loaded the still-unconscious Pasvachio onto a horse, and headed with them to a nearby village inn.
“Heave-ho.”
After carefully laying the mountain-sized Pasvachio on the bed, I placed his belongings and greatsword on the adjacent bed, left the room, and went down to the first floor.
The first floor had a hall with several tables and three small alcoves. I headed for the rightmost alcove. I pushed open the swinging door often seen in Western movies and stepped inside. Eda and Rita were sitting on either side of the table, waiting. The sisters smiled happily when they saw me. Since they had taken both seats, I hesitated for a moment, unsure which side to sit on. Eda, the older sister, chuckled as she watched me.
“You’ll need to talk with me, so sit next to Rita.”
The moment I sat down, Rita let out a giggling laugh and scanned my entire body with her eyes as if sweeping it with a broom. Then she made strange gestures toward her sister while happily making sounds like “Aba-ba, aba-ba!”
Is she speech-impaired?
“She seems to really like you. She must sense something special in your appearance. She looks absolutely thrilled.”
“Can’t your sister speak?”
“No. She’s been unable to speak since birth. But I can understand everything she says. We’ve always been together, after all.”
The three of us ordered plenty of alcohol and delicious snacks and had a long conversation.