Grandpa Lu
“Master? Butler Lu was your master?”
Aiham nodded.
I watched Grandpa Lu’s retreating back as he walked. Straight posture, confident stride.
Huh… wait? I’ve seen this scene somewhere before.
For a moment another image overlaid itself on top of him. I kept rubbing my eyes.
Great. Now I’m seeing things.
The moment Grandpa Lu stepped out alone toward the bandits, they started shouting.
“Cowards! Leaving an old man to do the dirty work while the young ones hide? Wahahaha!”
“Hey, gramps. Just leave everything and walk away. We’ll spare your life.”
Grandpa Lu peeled off the white gloves he was wearing and answered with a mild laugh.
“Heh heh heh. It’s been a long time since anyone spoke to me like that.”
“What?”
“If you run now, I’ll spare your lives as well.”
The bandits clutched their bellies and howled with laughter.
“Gramps has gone senile. Heh, he doesn’t even know what’s going on.”
“What’s he gonna do without a weapon?”
“Time’s up, old man. Safe travels!”
Several bandits charged at Grandpa Lu.
“Hey! Aiham! Grandpa Lu’s in danger!”
I shook off Aiham’s attempt to stop me, leapt down from the carriage, and sprinted toward him.
Acceleration
But my judgment had been too slow. I wasn’t going to make it in time.
Please…
Even with my desperate wish, the bandits had already reached right in front of Grandpa Lu. One of them swung his sword down at him—
“Huh??”
What unfolded before my eyes was nothing like what I expected. The blade stopped dead in midair. No—Grandpa Lu had caught it bare-handed.
“Wh… what the hell?!”
The bandit strained with all his might, but he couldn’t break free of Grandpa Lu’s grip. The other bandits rushed in together, swinging their swords.
“Die!!”
Crack—
Grandpa Lu crushed the sword he was holding with pure grip strength alone, then drove his hand straight through the throat of the charging bandit.
“Guh!”
In the blink of an eye he slipped past the slashes of the others and smashed their faces one by one. Front teeth went flying like corn kernels.
“This ain’t no ordinary old man! Everyone at once!”
The remaining bandits charged him all together.
“You’re becoming a nuisance.”
Grandpa Lu stretched one open hand forward and murmured,
Piercing Thorns
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It happened in an instant. Five charging bandits had their throats punched through with a wet thunk. Blood poured from the holes in their necks.
“Urgh!!”
What had skewered them were long, thin thorns like spears. They had grown from the tips of Grandpa Lu’s fingers, vines and all. The bandits behind them staggered backward in shock.
“Wh… what is that?!”
“From his… fingers…!!”
Thud—
As the thorns retracted, the corpses with pierced throats dropped to the ground. The thorns shrank completely away until Grandpa Lu’s hand looked ordinary again. In moments the ground was soaked with blood and littered with bodies.
“M-monster!”
The remaining bandits scrambled to flee.
“Heh heh heh. And where do you think you’re going?”
This time Grandpa Lu extended both hands and murmured again,
“Piercing Thorns.”
The thorns shot out and punched through the backs of ten bandits who had already run five meters away.
Thunk—
They hung in the air like meat on skewers. Then the thorns slowly withdrew, and with a series of soft thuds the corpses tumbled to the ground. Every single body had a clean hole through it.
I could only stare, dumbfounded. He was far too strong.
Grandpa Lu turned and looked at me.
“Heh heh. Shall we leave it at that?”
The last bandits fled without looking back. Grandpa Lu took a handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiped his hands clean, and slipped the white gloves back on.
“Butler… Lu…”
He smiled gently at me.
“I seem to have startled you quite a bit. My apologies.”
Looking at that face, I made a firm decision: I must never, ever get on Grandpa Lu’s bad side.
We were back in the carriage and rolling again. I wasn’t the only one shaken. Every single escort was wide-eyed.
With someone like that around, why hire escorts at all?
I asked Aiham.
“Aiham, you already knew Butler Lu was that strong, right?”
“Of course. He’s my master.”
“But if he’s that strong, do you even need extra guards?”
Aiham shook his head.
“We’re heading into the Cardin Empire. You can never have too many escorts.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. The Cardin Empire has a lot of powerful adventurers. If someone shows up that even Master can’t handle easily, it’s better to have us around too… right? Haha… I don’t really know either.”
We looked at each other and shared an awkward laugh.
That day we crossed the border safely into Cardin Empire territory. Crossing itself wasn’t particularly complicated. Watchtowers dotted the line here and there, and there was only a low fence. There was an entry inspection, but showing an adventurer card and a light baggage check was all it took.
“That was easier than I expected. No army either?”
“Stationing troops right on the border is basically declaring war. The armies will all be inside the castles.”
Right. South Korea was special because of the armistice. This was the normal way of things.
“Good work today. We’ll camp soon.”
The sun was already sinking.
We sat in a circle around the campfire.
Grrrgl—
My stomach kept growling. I’d eaten a mountain of food earlier, but after a little time it had already digested completely.
“You’re hungry right now, aren’t you?”
Aiham scooted closer.
“Yeah… I ate a ton earlier and I’m already starving again.”
“You ate like five people’s worth. You raising a beggar in that stomach or what?”
“Honestly, I’m starting to wonder myself.”
Aiham got up briefly and came back with something in his hand—bread.
“Eat this at least.”
“Thanks! Best friend ever.”
“Nah. I don’t eat much unless it’s meat anyway.”
I tore into the bread like a starving animal, washing it down with water from the skin.
“So why is Butler Lu so strong? Was he an adventurer before?”
“I don’t know the full details either. But…”
“But?”
Aiham hesitated, then decided to tell me.
“Master used to adventure together with Lady Eira’s older brother.”
“Eira had an older brother?”
Aiham nodded.
“Yeah. Anyway, he’s ridiculously strong. Just eat your bread already!”
“R-right.”
He cut himself off mid-sentence and quickly changed the subject. Guess there was some reason he couldn’t talk about it freely. I finished the bread he’d given me.
The hour grew late; it was time to sleep.
“I’ll take first watch tonight.”
I volunteered for the night watch. I had my reasons.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Grandpa Lu thanked me politely. Truly the perfect gentleman… even if he was a little terrifying.
Everyone else fell asleep. I stared up at the two moons hanging in the sky.
“I’ve been in this world for quite a while now.”
Hit by a truck and dumped into another world. Yet I’d adapted better than expected. Humans really are creatures of adaptation.
I pulled a bottle from my inventory. That was the real reason I’d volunteered for first watch. I unwrapped the bandages around my hand. The hand and arm throbbed with pain.
“Can’t exactly show this to other people…”
Every night I secretly sprinkled holy water on it alone. Night watch was part of an escort’s duties anyway, and the pain had been bad enough that I wanted the solitude. I dripped the holy water onto my hand and arm. It slowly soaked into the skin, and the pain eased little by little. I began rewrapping the bandages.
Then—
“Whoa!!”
Someone suddenly startled me from behind. I dropped the bottle of holy water and spilled it all over the ground.
“Ah!! My holy water!!!”
I clawed at the dirt where it had soaked in. Water you can’t scoop back up…
I checked who it was. Eira.
“The night watch getting snuck up on by this little lady? Hoho.”
“…”
She wasn’t wrong. And of all people, Eira… This was one hundred percent my fault.
“So what was that bottle?”
“Ah… this is…”
I looked at her. Innocent eyes sparkling brightly.
“Just water.”
“Really? Your reaction made it seem pretty important.”
“Hahaha.”
I could only offer an awkward laugh.
Well… a few days should be fine…
Morning arrived. We hitched up the carriages and set off again. Ordinary rural village scenery stretched around us—except for one thing that kept bothering me.
“Eira, the Cardin Empire is a human nation, correct?”
Yes. The Cardin Empire had been founded by humans. Tebe was the same, yet because of the Tower many races lived there in relative harmony. Even other races could become knights or nobles. But I’d heard countries with that kind of culture were rare.
“That’s right. The Cardin Empire is a human-supremacist nation. You can think of the citizens as almost entirely human.”
Almost entirely human. Yet the village scenery was different. The ones working the fields weren’t human. Most were beastfolk and elves.
“Then why are there almost no humans, and only other races working?”
“That’s…”
Eira hesitated, then answered.
“Because they are slaves.”
A faint sadness touched her eyes.
“Not just the nobles—even ordinary citizens keep slaves?”
Eira spoke again.
“The Cardin Empire is a great empire that destroyed three kingdoms. They turned huge numbers of people from those countries into slaves.”
Even so, openly enslaving the entire population of a conquered nation was normally impossible. It risked turning every one of them into rebels.
“Slave traders’ work, then?”
“Yes. Whether by deliberately trapping people in debt or secretly raiding small villages to capture them.”
“There really are a lot of terrible people…”
It was a deeply unpleasant sight. We finally reached the city we had been aiming for.
“We’re here at last. This is Krasen.”
Krasen. A small border city of the empire, relatively close to Tebe. After inspection by the guards we entered the city. The inside wasn’t much different from the outside. Many people wore collars around their necks—slaves as well.
“You said this was a deal with a noble, right?”
“Yes. A deal with Baron David. We’re almost there.”
The carriage stopped inside a small castle. We surrendered our weapons and were led by guards into a room. Inside sat a man with blond hair and flashy clothes. He gave off the vibe of a tanned blond thug, though his skin was pale. He looked about my age.
Eira and Grandpa Lu bowed politely.
“It is an honor to meet you, Baron. I am Eira Medici. Thank you for entrusting such a large transaction to our guild this time.”
The man smiled thinly.
“Right. Did you bring everything listed in the contract?”
“Yes. These are the goods we brought.”
Eira handed him a paper listing the items. He read it, then passed the sheet to the secretary beside him.
“Take this and check the goods!”
“Yes, sir!!”
The secretary and servants went downstairs.
“Bring tea!”
“Yes, my lord.”
Baron David ordered the butler to bring tea. Once it arrived, Eira and the baron exchanged light conversation.
Then—
“My lord!!”
“What?! I’m speaking with a guest. Have some manners.”
“It’s… a serious problem…”
The secretary whispered into the baron’s ear. After listening, the baron called to Eira.
“Vice Guildmaster.”
“Yes?”
“What exactly did you load onto those carriages?”
“I’m not sure what you mean. We brought the goods we discussed, as listed here.”
Eira pointed to the inventory sheet the secretary was holding.
“It seems that wasn’t all.”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
“It came out of the carriages.”
“What?”
The baron’s expression turned chilling.
“Veruna flowers…”