Elizabeth
Clack-clack! Dozens of carriages passed through the snow-covered Zairan Forest and arrived at the frozen swamp. The frozen ground made the carriage wheels slip, and walking was no easy task for anyone. But the most troubled were undoubtedly the horses.
"Hiiing!"
"These horses can't move because of the ice," one of the coachmen muttered while tugging on the reins. Humans could gain traction with shoes, but horses could not. Moreover, they had to pull carriages, so their progress was even slower. The unexpected obstacle brought the smoothly moving procession to a halt.
'We've almost reached the swamp.' Red Fang was the Lizardman village. Since Lizardmen formed settlements in swamps or caves, entering the frozen swamp meant they were near their destination.
"Adventurers, the swamp is frozen and carriages are having trouble moving, so we'll break the ice as we go. We'll push through to the village."
Roman Acrey, leader of the merchant group, exhaled white breath and made a quick decision, implying they should endure until they reached the village. Of course, breaking the ice was the adventurers' job. That was why some adventurers were displeased with the decision.
"Kahak~ Ptoo! This is going to take forever. I should've taken a different request."
That was Iron Fist, led by Clorsus. They were annoyed by a request that took longer than the pay warranted.
Then an adventurer from the same party, who had been watching Clorsus's expression, spoke up.
"Boss, should we run away now?"
He was known as a cunning adventurer who kept Iron Fist from crossing into outright crime despite their bad reputation. His tone suggested he had something in mind, so Clorsus couldn't help but be tempted.
"You have an idea?"
"A way to finish the request early and still get paid?"
Like the party's brain, he quickly came up with a plan. He looked around as if he already had something prepared, then spotted the carriages starting to move again. With one corner of his mouth raised, he said,
"That's it. A way to force the client to pay."
He pointed at the horses. Then he whispered something to Clorsus and the others nearby. He was relaying the strategy. Following his words, Iron Fist all smirked and put the plan into action.
What was the strategy? It was to cut in front of the carriages while pretending it was an accident.
"Hiiing!"
The horses reared up in surprise, and Iron Fist's party members all fell to the ground.
"Kuaaak!"
"Someone's hurt here!"
"Hiiing!"
The incidents happened simultaneously in multiple places, causing instant chaos.
"People are hurt here too! Anyone got potions?"
"Is there a priest among the adventurers?"
The adventurers cried out urgently, but the "victims" showed no visible injuries. That was the key to the strategy—dodging before the horses could actually hit them to minimize real damage. Yet they began acting as if they were on the verge of death.
"Kuaaak! My leg!"
Clorsus in particular exaggerated his injuries the most.
"What's going on?"
The merchant leader finally appeared. With an urgent expression, he tried to assess the situation. The adventurers who had been breaking ice stopped, and the entire procession halted.
"Those coachmen drove the horses recklessly and our party members got trampled! Some have crushed legs, others can't breathe after being hit in the chest!"
It was the adventurer who had orchestrated the incident. He tried to pin the blame on Acrey.
"You should've been more careful. Your luck is terrible..."
Acrey glared at the hired coachmen and lamented their fate. The coachmen, under his sharp gaze, didn't know what to do. Their opponent was the head of a massive merchant group and a notorious adventurer party. They were caught in the crossfire.
Acrey, who had been glaring at the coachmen, calmly asked about the adventurers' condition.
"You can't continue?"
"Some have injured legs, others are short of breath... I'll take responsibility and bring them back to De Meca. Just give us treatment fees and one carriage. Once we arrive, we'll hand the carriage over to the next adventurer party that missed the timing and send it back here."
Everything was perfect. So perfect that it actually raised suspicion. The reason he could say this was because, in escort requests, the client was responsible for treating injured adventurers. Thanks to that, Acrey was about to lose a lot of money.
Just then—
"No need for that, Acrey."
An elf appeared atop a carriage along with a beautiful voice.
"Ah, Lady Elizabeth. But what do you mean by no need—"
Acrey looked at Elizabeth with an expectant expression.
"E-Elizabeth..."
"She's the number one adventurer party in De Meca. And she's a solo party at that."
"A solo party that only Titanium-rank and above can register for..."
Her appearance filled the area with murmurs. Taking on the same request as Elizabeth was like plucking stars from the sky. She was famous for never accepting requests that involved more than two parties. Because of that, the adventurers drank in the sight of her. As if she were a lucky charm, they etched her face into their hearts. Even under all those gazes, she proudly glared at Clorsus's party.
"You lot aren't hurt at all."
Elizabeth hated adventurers who used dirty tricks. She had especially been keeping an eye on Clorsus's party. And now they had executed such an obvious scheme.
"So Acrey isn't at fault. This was your scheme. Either freeze to death here for obstructing the request, or follow quietly. Choose for yourselves."
Her tone was dry, but the words were extremely violent. Who would have expected such words from the mouth of the famously beautiful elf? Many people who heard her were stunned. However, the adventurer who had come up with the plan didn't back down. Since things had come to this, he tried to push the blame onto Acrey as much as possible.
"What scheme! It was those damn coachmen's mistake!"
But Elizabeth found his words laughable.
"Stop with the filthy excuses. Spirits don't lie."
Elizabeth used a bow, but she was also a powerful elementalist. Spirits were beings that couldn't be seen with ordinary eyes. Thanks to that, they could serve as excellent informants in situations like this.
"Tch. Still, some people are hurt, so at least treat them. Otherwise we can't follow."
Because he admitted it so readily, the coachmen's expressions relaxed, but Acrey's face grew extremely grim. The adventurers watching from the sidelines murmured that she was impressive as expected.
"As expected, you can't trust Sewer Rat Papan."
"I almost believed him for a second."
Papan, nicknamed "Sewer Rat" because he frequently pulled dirty tricks. Acrey quickly realized the situation was over and turned away. Seeing him ignore him, Papan's face flushed red as he shouted at Acrey.
"Hey, merchant leader! You can't just leave like this! You know why we're going this far? Because the reward is too damn small!"
"What? One gold per head is plenty! What are you—"
Acrey, already irritated, couldn't hold back when money came up and raised his voice. Not wanting to lose, Papan played another card.
"We're entering the dangerous Zairan Forest, and it'll probably take several days. Who the hell would do it for one gold?!"
Perhaps because of Papan's passionate performance, the topic shifted instantly through clever public opinion manipulation.
"One gold does seem cheap."
"I thought it'd be done today."
"I told my family I'd buy them warm food when I got back."
Complaints began to rise, and Acrey was cornered. More adventurers than expected thought one gold was too little. And the final blow came from Elizabeth.
"Acrey, it looks like you'll have to give in here. You didn't specify the request duration, so you're at fault."
She hated dirty tricks, but she made objective judgments. She wasn't particularly on Acrey's side either. Acrey scratched his head. Papan smiled triumphantly and asked,
"So what will you do?"
"......"
Acrey wore a serious expression because there was a reason. Raising the reward for one or two adventurers might have been light, but the number of adventurers participating in this request was different. Still, it was all his own fault, so Acrey resigned himself and spoke.
"Hoo, fine. I'll raise the completion reward to two gold per person. Once we deliver the goods to Red Fang, we'll return to De Meca."
Smiles spread across the adventurers' faces at Acrey's words. It was a drastic choice—doubling the pay. It seemed Elizabeth's words had hit Acrey hard as well.
"Now follow without complaint! Got it?!"
Acrey added that he would mercilessly turn away any more complaints from now on, then left to lead from the front. Just as Elizabeth was about to leave as well—
Thud!
Bagan instantly climbed onto the carriage where she was. Clack!
She immediately aimed her bow right between his eyes.
"An attack?"
"Unlikely."
At Bagan's words, Elizabeth realized she had overreacted and lowered her bow.
"If not, then I apologize. The spirit warned me, so I had no choice but to react."
"Why did it warn you? I didn't come here planning to attack."
"You were defenseless."
Bagan nodded at Elizabeth's words, as if thinking, 'So that's how spirits work.'
"So what do you want?"
"I just wanted to see you up close."
Bagan spoke sincerely, but her face instantly turned red.
"W-what kind of reason is that?"
"Was it not valid?"
"Hmph, I don't know you. And our compatibility isn't good either."
"Compatibility?"
"Water and fire are polar opposites. Everyone knows that."
Bagan didn't understand what she meant, so he let it pass. Then he found a reason she might accept and said,
"Actually, I was curious because the De Meca Adventurers Guild said you were the strongest."
It was something he already knew, but he said it hoping she would stop being suspicious. She had achieved the feat of being number one in the solo party rankings. That meant that even alone, she was stronger than any party.
"I don't know much about that, but it seems that way."
Elizabeth herself didn't seem particularly interested in such things.
"I need to go to the lead carriage."
"Ah, right. Go ahead."
This was enough. Bagan didn't try to stop her from leaving. He wanted to continue the conversation, but held back. Any more would be rude, as it would take up too much of her time. Thinking that, Bagan climbed down from the carriage. Watching him go, Elizabeth returned to her original lead carriage, thinking he was an odd person and marking him as someone to be wary of.
'He caught up from behind faster than the spirit warned me.'
She was surprised by Bagan's movements. She had managed to aim her bow, but if it had been a real fight, she would have taken a fatal wound.
'I need to be careful.'
Thus, Elizabeth headed toward the lead carriage she usually used.
***
After breaking ice and moving forward bit by bit for several hours, they finally spotted the flag of Red Fang village—a red cloth with a white tooth drawn on it.
'Is the village starting from here?'
Red Fang village was more miserable than expected. It was impossible for green-skinned Lizardmen to survive winter without winter gear. Their movements were already sluggish in winter, and food was scarce. They had to rely on stockpiled supplies to get through winter, but as previously mentioned, Red Fang village had made no preparations. Winter had come at an unexpected time. Because of that, death hung over their village of small huts arranged in a circle.
When the carriage procession arrived at the village, a Lizardman approached Roman Acrey, who was at the very front.
"Sss, are you the leader of the Acrey Merchant Group who came to help our village?"
"Yes, I'm Acrey."
"Sss, thank you. I'm Raksh, the village chief of Red Fang."
"We'll unload the goods right away."
Acrey was not a merchant who valued money over lives. He simply lacked experience. Only after arriving did he grasp the situation and begin focusing on relief efforts. Raksh, who looked like even speaking was difficult, simply bowed his head in gratitude. Thus began the work of the adventurers and Lizardmen unloading the goods from the carriages one by one.