An Unforeseen Event (1)
"I hope we run into a village tomorrow."
"Yeah, I'd like to sleep somewhere comfortable for once."
The encounters were as strange as ever. Yona wasn't the type to complain unless things were truly dire, but even she had grumbled without meaning to. On that front, everyone felt the same.
And with good reason — it had been over a week already. All that time spent camping out in the open, and even the camps hadn't granted them a proper night's sleep. As a result, they were all pickled in exhaustion.
It was the kind of night that made her ache for a mattress stuffed with well-dried straw.
The party said nothing. The four of them huddled together in the lee of a hill, staring blankly at the campfire burning in their midst.
…I'd like it if we could stop staring into the fire, honestly.
Back in her old world, she'd once wanted to try that whole meditative fire-gazing thing. She hadn't expected to do it endlessly as a side effect of adventurer life — that was not what she'd had in mind.
The rising glow of the campfire made everyone's faces look flushed red. Kayak, James, Alec, Yona — they were all worn down to the bone, without even the energy left to open their mouths.
"Looks like they're done. We can eat now, right?"
The fish they'd caught at the river were skewered on branches and stood side by side around the edge of the fire. Kayak had ground down a chunk of rock salt from his pack to season them, and now they sizzled patiently over the low flames.
"Should be fine. I cleaned them myself, so there won't be any bones. Eat up."
Kayak was the first to pick up a fish skewer and bite into it. Even with soot smeared over the skin, no one was in any state to be picky when their stomachs were growling like this.
Yona grabbed a skewer of her own and tore into it.
Is river fish safe to eat? This is basically a parasite delivery service— The thought crossed her mind, but then again, this was hardly her first time eating grilled fish like this, and she wasn't exactly in a position to be choosy. It didn't matter.
Just think of it as extra protein.
Comforting herself with that, Yona took a bite.
"Oh — it's better than I expected?"
It truly was. The soot might have been there, but it actually added a pleasant crispness, and the salt had soaked in nicely, leaving the flesh savory. The fish had been gutted clean, so there wasn't a trace of bitterness, and the white meat melted on the tongue with each chew — rich yet delicate, delicious.
Better still, every last bone had been removed, so she could chew away without fear of stabbing the roof of her mouth.
"This is really good."
Yona polished off one fish in no time and reached for another. They'd caught plenty — three or four per person — so it didn't matter how much anyone ate.
The next fish, something like a catfish, tasted faintly of mud.
Alec sat staring blankly into the campfire. The others, bedrolls laid out around the flames, had long since drifted off into deep sleep — Yona included, snoring away.
Thanks to a victory in that most fair and impartial of methods, a round of rock-paper-scissors, Alec had drawn first watch, followed by Yona, then James, then Kayak.
As he sat there gazing at the swaying firelight, it felt as if time itself had come to a standstill.
He stared absently at the flames until, at some point, his gaze landed on Yona sprawled across from him, mouth hanging open as she slept.
She was buried deep in her bedroll, but Yona always insisted she couldn't sleep properly if her face was covered, so she habitually slept with it left out in the open.
A slightly unhinged healer who insisted she used to be a man. A crazy healer who claimed she'd come from another world.
That was what people said about Yona — and yet she had smashed all of it through sheer skill.
Despite being in the deadliest class alongside guards, she had somehow survived until now. Her reflexes in a crisis were sharp, her handling of situations outstanding.
She fulfilled everything a healer ought to be, admirably so.
She was a bit strange, though…
What he'd seen at James's village this time had definitely been off.
Yona chasing after that pitch-black cave bear. Her face flushed red, her breath coming in ragged gasps. That red face letting out strangely suggestive moans.
She'd vanished without a trace ever since they'd run into that bear, but the image of her from that moment still rose vividly in Alec's memory.
What even was that…
Alec shifted his position and went back to staring at the campfire. He kept readjusting into oddly uncomfortable positions, looking at the fire, then glancing around, then back at the fire again.
But no matter how he turned it over, he couldn't figure anything out.
It wasn't as if he could just ask Yona outright, hey, why on earth were you making noises like a girl in heat?
And judging by how she hadn't said a word about it, she probably didn't even know herself.
It had been a blessedly quiet night.
"Hey, Yona. Wake up. Come on, wake up."
Alec rose to his feet and nudged her with the toe of his boot. The sand in the hourglass had run out long ago, but Yona showed no sign of getting up.
"Hey. Yona. Wake up."
He nudged her again and again, and just as he was starting to consider giving her a proper kick, Yona blearily cracked her eyes open.
"What…? Is it my turn already…?"
"Yeah. It's your turn."
"Uuuugh…"
Something in Yona's joints audibly popped as she wriggled out of her bedroll and hauled herself upright, but Alec paid it no mind. They all did that — it wasn't a symptom of anything, and pointing it out would only earn him a so what in response.
Instead, Alec left her with a word of thanks and crawled into his own bedroll.
After Alec drifted off, Yona stared blankly at the campfire for a while, then tossed a couple more logs onto the flames.
The season of creeping cold was about to begin. Summer had barely crossed the border into autumn; soon autumn would arrive, and winter not long after.
She wanted to reach the Community before winter came. And there—
Best case would be returning to my original world, but the odds of that are low. If I want to go back to being a man…
Infoula was the answer. The Wizard Community wasn't far from the Infula Holy See's territory, so travel would be possible even in winter.
Going with just Alec — without Kayak, without James — made her a little anxious, but surely it would be fine.
Yona organized her thoughts in her own way, laying out one contingency after another. If this happened, then this; if that happened, then that. Building her preparations for the future piece by piece, drafting plans, revising them, refining them, over and over.
And through all of it, one premise in her plans never changed.
That she would return to being a man.
"Oof, alright…"
Kayak, who had taken the last watch, woke the sleeping party members as his shift ended. The sun was rising dim and hazy in the distance, its light not yet spilled across the world.
The river wasn't far, and the morning mist had drifted all the way up to them, leaving everything shrouded in a pale blur.
"Everyone all right?"
"Mmh… think so."
Yona and the others checked themselves over, working through some simple stretches to take stock of their condition. Nothing was wrong, thankfully, and as the last of the sleep wore off, each of them tidied up the spot where they'd slept.
"No monster attacks last night, at least."
"Tell me about it. What a miracle."
Monsters had raided their camp night after night, robbing them of any real rest. The accumulated fatigue had been brutal, but one full night's sleep had helped — a little, at least.
"I really hope we find a village tonight…"
No one answered Yona's murmur. But they didn't need to — they all nodded their agreement all the same.
They shoveled sand over the campfire and swept it away with their boots until no trace remained. The branches they'd roasted fish on were snapped twice over and tossed far into the distance; the flattened ground where their bedrolls had lain was kicked loose and scattered.
No one was likely to be tracking them, but it was the kind of thing they did without thinking.
"Right, time to move out. We'll head straight over that mountain."
At James's word, they set off. The mountain opposite them wasn't particularly tall, and it didn't look especially treacherous at a glance.
Their footsteps felt leaden all the same. They'd slept well enough, but a night camping out was never a restful one, and the fatigue hadn't fully worn off.
Yona blinked hard, struggling to shake herself awake. Her stamina was going to have to carry her whether she liked it or not, so she prayed, and prayed again, that just for today, please, let them rest properly — let them reach a village and finally sleep.
The moment James, walking point, threw up the signal to halt, everyone froze in place.
"…Do you hear shouting from somewhere up ahead?"
James spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, but Alec and Yona only stared blankly at his face, uncomprehending.
"I can hear weapons clashing as well."
James the orc and Kayak the lizardman both had far sharper ears than the human Alec or Yona. If they said so, it was certain to be true.
"We must hurry. Those are human voices. And there are others too… That would be the shrieking of monsters."
Kayak urged the party onward. Even without his words, Alec had already strapped his shield to his arm and drawn his hammer, and Yona had laid a hand on Alec's shoulder in turn.
"Come on, let's move, now!"
The party broke into a run. Sand and gravel scattered across the mountain path, skittering and tumbling away beneath their feet as the footfalls of four people rang out loud and urgent.
Just as the uphill climb ended and the trail began to slope downward—
"Oh, well, what do you know."
There it was. A village.
The very village Yona — and the whole party — had been longing for so desperately.
But that village was under attack.
It was a Troll.