Ulbazar Swamp (3)
The two of them were studying the tracks left on the ground.
Clear footprints stamped into the damp earth.
The oval marks were horse shoe prints, unmistakably left by a horse.
There was a reason the shape looked strangely familiar, and it wasn’t just Lawrence’s imagination.
“I know it probably isn’t, but this isn’t some Ulbanieiro, is it?”
“No. Your guess is right. In the swamp during the rainy season, Ulbanieiros are the only ones who ride horses.”
The boy glanced down at his feet without thinking.
He was picking his way along the few spots not yet swallowed by rainwater, but his shoes, and even the lower half of his trousers, were already soaked through.
If he had been wearing a robe instead of a vestment, the hem dragging across the ground would have been drenched as well.
“The swamp looks like this, and they still ride horses?”
“Tracks don’t lie. They’re looking for places where the water hasn’t pooled, just like us, and moving through on horseback.”
“Can you even call that ‘looking for a place’? The water’s so thick you can’t even see the ground, can you?”
Rain didn’t make swamp water clean.
It was full of reeds, silt, and every kind of dirt, so “muddy water” was the only phrase that really fit. Even now, they had been crouching over the ground one patch at a time just to find the tracks.
And that wasn’t even the hard part.
Trying to find solid ground suitable for a horse to run on…
No. Could that even be possible in a sane world?
“It is because it’s possible that they’re Ulbanieiros.”
“I had no idea they were so skilled on horseback.”
“Ulbanieiros are people who perform all sorts of feats with horses. Swamp warriors who’ve lived with horses since birth are so good they can ride without stirrups.”
“What’s a stirrup?”
“A footrest attached beneath the saddle. Without one, keeping your balance on a horse is as hard as plucking a star out of the sky. How do you think knights can charge with those giant lances tucked under their arms? It’s all because of the stirrups.”
“You make it sound like you’ve seen it yourself.”
“I have. I still visit my lord’s castle from time to time. After the knights charge in with their warhorses, the ground ends up littered with scarecrows torn to rags. And many of them are so mangled you can’t even make out a shape anymore.”
“……”
Lawrence swallowed dryly.
He could picture all too vividly what those scarecrows had been made to represent. Enemies. People who had stood in the knights’ way.
Come to think of it, he remembered hearing something similar in Redantus.
“Right. Real knights are different from the rest of us. They’re monsters to the bone. When they charged with their warhorses, soldiers fell by the dozens, by the hundreds. You think mercenaries are any different? I learned that the hard way… in the war on Rival Plains.”
The mercenary’s testimony must have been true, every word of it.
“You don’t even know what a stirrup is, so I’m guessing you’ve never really ridden a horse.”
“No, well… whenever I had somewhere to go, I always took a carriage.”
His face grew hot. It sounded as if he were being told his education was shallow.
“Do you know how to ride, Mr. Neil?”
To Lawrence’s surprise, he nodded.
“If you ever get the chance, learn riding first. Just knowing how to travel on horseback makes the road easier in all sorts of ways.”
“I’d love to, if I could… but horses are incredibly expensive, aren’t they? At the very least, I’d need several gold pieces just to buy one. I have no idea when I’d ever be able to learn.”
Who wouldn’t admire the idea of riding a horse?
Most people simply couldn’t for practical reasons.
To be honest, even Lawrence—while saying this—would rather spend the money on a grimoire or something related to magic than on riding lessons.
“I’m not saying you have to learn right now. When you have the spare time, that’s all.”
As for when that “spare time” would ever come, he had no idea.
* * *
How many days had it been since they found the horse-shoe tracks?
The two of them ran into Ulbanieiros patrolling the swamp.
Riding expertly through the waterlogged marsh, they came on through the rain as if it were nothing at all.
Sensing unexpected visitors, the Ulbanieiros approached at an unhurried pace.
The man in front raised both hands over his head, as though to show he meant no threat.
“Good day. Judging by your gear, you don’t look like mercenaries. What business has brought you to the center of this dangerous swamp? If you’re lost and in need of rescue, I’d be happy to guide you back outside.”
“Thank you for your kindness. However, we have business in the swamp’s depths, so I’m afraid I must decline your offer.”
“You’re saying the two of you mean to go that far in? Truly astonishing.”
He wasn’t being sarcastic.
His face was filled with genuine admiration.
“I admire your spirit in taking on an adventure. People should not settle into the comfort they’re given; that’s how they grow. Though this may be nothing more than a passing meeting, I do hope you achieve what you set out to do.”
Having apparently said all he needed to, the Ulbanieiro turned his horse around.
But then the Ulbanieiro at the rear suddenly stepped forward.
“Hold on. Aren’t you that mage?”
It was a voice Lawrence recognized.
The Ulbanieiro who had asked him for Shadow Light.
“Astin?”
“Ha. I thought maybe, but it really is the mage. Never imagined I’d run into you in the middle of this swamp.”
Astin dismounted with obvious delight and held out his hand.
“What brings you here? Don’t tell me you brought your livestock too?”
“No. Of course not. Mage, you really do joke around a lot. The swamp is flooded like this. One wrong move and you’d all end up as alligator feed.”
He wasn’t trying to be funny, but Astin grinned anyway.
“Everyone’s on horseback, so I thought maybe.”
“If you can’t even ride, you can’t exactly call yourself an Ulbanieiro, can you?”
Astin stroked the rain-soaked mane of his horse.
The animal gave a small, annoyed shake. Its eyes were covered by some strange blindfold-like gear.
Lawrence could hear someone beside him mutter, “Blinkers,” under their breath.
“That’s basic equipment. If you want to become an Ulbanieiro someday, Mage, learn to ride from us first. That way you’ll even pass the tests.”
Clear laughter rang out.
At Astin’s response, the other Ulbanieiros nearby began gathering one by one.
“What’s this? You know each other?”
“I told you about him before. There was this amazing mage I met.”
“The mage who took down a Bugbear in one shot?”
“You all remember, huh? Yeah. That’s him.”
As Astin introduced Lawrence, Neil asked, “What, they even tried to recruit you?”
“Yes. I thought it was just politeness, but I guess it wasn’t.”
Shadow Light probably had a great deal to do with it.
For the Ulbanieiros who lived on horseback in the swamp, there could hardly be a more useful spell than Shadow Light.
Of course, that only held true in the swamp during the dry season.
In the rainy season, Shadow Light was more of a liability.
Even knowing that, would they still welcome Lawrence?
“But what brings you here, really? No matter how skilled you are, Mage, this part of the swamp is dangerous beyond belief right now.”
“I had a reason to go into the swamp’s depths. I asked Mr. Neil to guide me.”
“Into the depths at this time of year?”
Astin frowned as though he wasn’t sure he had heard correctly, then nodded as understanding dawned on him.
“Ah. You came looking for the group that left ahead of you.”
“Exactly.”
“We’d already lost contact with them for several days, so we came out here looking for them too. But how did you know? No, wait. You didn’t know—they said you arranged to meet them here locally, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
The story wasn’t lining up.
At Lawrence’s question, Astin stared at him blankly.
“You know, that talkative mercenary who kept getting bitten by bugs. Wasn’t he with you, Mage? That man too, and the silver-plate mercenary with the shield—we’ve all come to hunt an alligator.”
“No. I came to the swamp for my own reasons.”
Still, he knew exactly who Astin meant.
No. In the first place, the only mercenaries Lawrence could really call comrades were the people he had traveled with on the last request.
Silver-plate mercenary Valick.
Bronze-plate mercenaries Garrick and Ronan.
He could leave Isolde out, since she was back in the village.
In other words, those three had gone into the swamp’s depths.
“Not so? Hmm… my apologies. Seems I made a mistake.”
“No need to apologize. More importantly, I’d like you to tell me exactly what’s going on.”
Astin answered by turning back instead.
At the end of his gaze stood the Ulbanieiro who had been leading the group.
“It’s only natural to worry about one’s companions. But this isn’t the best place for conversation. If the two of you don’t mind, I’d like to invite you to our camp. What do you say?”
The rain was growing harder by the minute.
As he said, it was hardly a good place to hold a conversation.
After a brief moment of thought, Lawrence looked at Neil.
“I don’t mind. Besides, if the Ulbanieiros are telling the truth, we’d better hurry. If I had to guess, the mercenaries stranded in the depths won’t last long.”
* * *
The Ulbanieiros’ camp wasn’t far away.
Oddly enough, instead of tents like a ranch, they used a strange camp made by hanging cloth between the trees.
Rainwater ran down along a channel fashioned from top to bottom.
For a moment Lawrence panicked, wondering if they were talking from above, but then the Ulbanieiros climbed the trees and spread the cloth wide.
Hung between the branches, it quickly became an excellent rain barrier.
“Sit this way. The inside is at least dry, so it shouldn’t feel too cold.”
Following Eric, the leader of the Ulbanieiros, Lawrence sat on a bed of dry brush, and it felt surprisingly decent.
Since entering the swamp, every place he’d gone had been damp.
At this point, anything was a blessing.
The horses were no different.
Astin tied the animals where they could be seen, then returned after setting up the same sort of rain cover in the trees.
“Do you always make camp like this?”
“That’s right. Ten steps back, we can endure it, but horses are another matter. You have to keep a close eye on their health. Losing a horse in this swamp means death.”
Seeing Eric’s neck tense with emphasis, Astin muttered in a low voice, “It’s just because horses are expensive. Dig in the ground all day and you won’t find a single copper piece. We’re already bleeding money as it is. If the horses die too, we’re done for.”
“Astin.”
“I’m just making the mage’s seat more comfortable.”
He shot Lawrence a look, as if asking him to play along.
“I asked for this. During the dry season, I’ve traveled with Ulbanieiros before, but I didn’t know you lived like this during the rainy season.”
“Hmm. There’s bound to be a difference. The swamp in the dry season and the swamp in the rainy season are almost like different regions altogether, once the climate changes.”
Lawrence nodded quietly.
Since they were sitting where they were, there was no hot tea or anything like that.
Instead, they were handed a small fruit with a sharp, biting flavor.
“May I ask what happened to the mercenaries you mentioned?”
They weren’t close enough to exchange idle chatter.
With a prompt to get to the point, Eric began to speak.
“The ones who lost contact were Valick and Gawd’s group. Veterans who’d worked this swamp for a long time and become silver-plate mercenaries in the process. They were moving with a reliable guide, so we weren’t too worried. But when contact was cut off several days ago, it started to look grim.”
It wasn’t just Valick.
Gawd, who had been responsible for the opposite side of the escort during the request, had apparently gone with him.
Lawrence couldn’t picture exactly which mercenary that was, but he remembered him as a burly man with a frame not far off from Valick’s.
“Two silver-plate mercenaries, and you still had a problem?”
“No matter how many silver-plates you have, they’re useless before the fury of nature. If they’re truly in danger, we need to move as quickly as possible.”
“Though perhaps we’re already too late,” Eric added.
“If we were truly that late, you wouldn’t be searching at all.”
“I won’t deny it. Valick and Gawd are important partners to us as well. If possible, I hope they’re still alive. But this is the swamp we’re talking about. If we can find their bodies, we should count that as a blessing.”
He didn’t speak of hope carelessly.
The calm tone assumed the worst-case scenario from the very start.
“From what you’re saying, it sounds like you just happened to travel together once during the request. You needn’t worry so much. Once we move out, we’ll find them soon enough. More importantly, didn’t you say you were heading into the swamp’s depths? If you’d like, we can show you the paths the Ulbanieiros use. With a guide like that, the two of you should have no trouble getting where you need to go.”
Lawrence rested his chin on his hand.
That was true.
The connection had only been a brief one.
Few jobs brought people closer to death than mercenary work.
It was a moth-to-flame sort of life, surviving by betting your own life.
Extending a hand wouldn’t change anything.
This was a swamp, and the right choice was to trust the experts here—the Ulbanieiros.
And yet he couldn’t turn away. Was it because he had been taught by the church?
Or was it, as someone might say, that he simply had too much sentiment in him?
No. It wasn’t that.
Even knowing that his comrades were in danger, the boy couldn’t harden his heart enough to just walk away.
Coldness and cruelty were not the same thing.
“Mr. Neil.”
“Do whatever you want.”
As though he already knew what Lawrence was going to say, he answered at once.
“Are you sure?”
“Sure? There’s no sure or not. I’ve got business in the swamp’s depths too. I can’t exactly leave you behind and go on alone. Detouring for a bit won’t cause any problems.”
He had been swept up in Lawrence’s one-sided circumstances, and yet that stubborn Neil had still said it was fine.
“Sorry. You took the trouble to advise me, and I’m still…”
“Forget it. A person’s heart moves according to the degree of feeling, not the method. A fellow like you is fine to have around, I guess.”
As if speaking like this didn’t suit him at all, he scratched his head roughly.
“Hey. Ulbanieiro. Was it Eric? Tell me where the mercenaries’ contact was cut off. I’ll find them myself within a few days.”
After watching him in silence for a moment, Eric slowly nodded.
* * *
The map Eric handed over was closer to a rough sketch than anything else.
It was safe to say there was no clear path at a glance.
Instead, he had marked large trees and lakes at intervals so they could confirm specific locations.
According to Neil, the rainy-season swamp was plagued by constant rainfall, which meant ordinary maps were almost useless.
“We’ll save time on the search. If the two of us move together, we can travel faster than you can imagine.”
Eric assigned two Ulbanieiros to accompany them.
Astin, who was already acquainted with Lawrence, and a middle-aged Ulbanieiro named Hallag joined them.
Now that they had a map, Lawrence had wondered if it was even necessary.
But once he was in the saddle, that thought changed in an instant.
The speed was nothing like a carriage.
It was utterly overwhelming, the way they raced through the swamp as if it were flat land.
“Do you always run this fast?”
“What was that?”
“I said this is incredibly fast!”
“This is slower than usual. We do have a guest riding with us, after all.”
This was slower?
He couldn’t even remember how quickly the scenery had been swept behind him.
It was clear enough that if you could travel like this, riding was not optional. It was a necessity.
“Don’t we need to look around here?”
“If the mercenaries were here, there’d be no need to look. That would just mean they escaped on their own. If they’re still alive, they’ll have gotten out safely.”
As if telling him not to worry, Astin dug his heels in.
Perhaps because they didn’t stop even once, the four of them reached the swamp’s depths in only a few days.
From here on, even the Ulbanieiros had no choice but to become cautious.
The swamp had transformed; it now resembled a true wetland.
There were no shallow areas to be found.
Rivers, almost like lakes, stretched on endlessly.
All around them, thick trees and countless vines barred the way forward.
Overflowing water.
The river seemed to churn with little whirlpools, and not even a single common wild animal could be seen.
A bird flying low to escape the rain was caught in the current.
It flapped desperately for a moment, trying to break free of the river.
Then, in an instant, a surging black wave swallowed it whole.
There was no need to wonder what had done it.
Inside that river, where even fish would struggle to survive, the danger of the Eligator still lurked.
The depths of Ulbazar Swamp.
This was the deadliest place in the swamp.