Chapter 109
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: The Swordsman's Path
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Terezia carefully poured small amounts of recovery potion into the mouth of the mysterious woman.
"Do you feel a bit better?"
"Wh... where is this...?"
"Near the border between the east and the south."
"Border?"
"Yes, you were being chased by kobolds, so we saved you—"
The mysterious woman rolled her eyes as if suddenly remembering something, then shoved Terezia's chest and sprang to her feet.
Pak!
She bowed her head to inspect her chest. The gash where the blade had pierced her skin was gone.
"Wh-why am I still alive?"
Terezia brushed the dirt off her backside and rose, addressing her.
"I healed you."
"You? Why?!"
"Did you want to die? No, you didn't. If you'd truly wanted death, you wouldn't have fled from the kobolds."
The mysterious woman stared piercingly into Terezia's eyes before collapsing to the ground and bursting into sobs.
She covered her face with both hands and pressed her forehead deeply into the dirt.
"Please... spare me..."
"What happened to you? Please explain."
"Hic..."
"What did you go through? You have to tell me if you want my help."
Terezia gently stroked the mysterious woman's back. She couldn't string words together and just kept weeping.
Listening to their exchange, I pointed toward the plume of black smoke rising in the distance.
"What's that smoke?"
She finally lifted her head to gaze at it, then prostrated herself before me.
"Please spare me."
"I asked what the smoke is."
"...Ko, kobold. Kobolds."
"Kobolds?"
"Yes."
"Kobolds are smoke?"
Her eyes fell on the Strange crest engraved on my armor, and she gulped.
"Yes. We were starving, so we caught one kobold and roasted it... But when the smoke went up, its pack came swarming from everywhere—"
Foolish? Or ignorant?
Among pack monsters, kobolds were renowned for their unbreakable solidarity. She hadn't known that?
'Then her party must lack any hunters or knights.'
"I'll ask again. Where are you from?"
Her eyes darted restlessly as she answered, stealing glances.
"The east..."
"The east?"
"Yes. We slipped south briefly to gather herbs. But when we tried to head back, something invisible blocked the path..."
She must have come down before the barrier went up.
"Do you know when that 'invisible something' appeared?"
"Yes, yesterday at dawn. We'd come down to forage before evening."
"Dawn yesterday. So you tried returning then?"
"Yes. But this is Strange territory. We figured wandering off might get us dragged away by knights..."
She bowed low once more and continued.
"We were hungry, so we caught one kobold to eat. I'm truly sorry!"
Terezia couldn't grasp why the woman was so terrified. She didn't realize that capture by the Strange was far more dreadful than death by kobold.
'Well.'
If we caught her, it wouldn't just be the culprit who vanished—all her kin would too.
She'd probably acted out of desperation to protect her family.
"Enough. Get up."
"Yes! Sir Knight."
The woman rose to her feet.
I headed toward the black smoke, keeping the conversation going.
"How many kobolds?"
"Uh... Not sure. More than us—over ten, at least."
"Ten? How many were you?"
"Six."
"Six merchants fled from ten kobolds?"
"...Yes. Embarrassing to admit, but no one in our party knows weapons."
"So none of you can wield a blade, yet you came this far without mercenaries?"
"That's right. Peddlers like us can't afford mercenaries for herb gathering—it'd eat all our profits. The belly button outgrows the belly, as they say."
Risking their lives to forage south—even into Strange lands, a nightmare for eastern folk.
I couldn't shake the nagging doubt: 'What's driving them to this?'
Eastern mage lands brimmed with herbs, safely sourced without such perilous treks.
"Name."
"My name?"
"Yes. What is it?"
"...Angelina."
"Surname?"
"None."
"Impossible. The Glazers oversee most of the east—no surname?"
Angelina replied in a feeble voice.
"Yes. I'm with an eastern caravan now, but I was born in the north—no family name."
"Born in the north?"
"Yes. Look closely at my eyes—you'll see the emerald hue, mark of northern warriors."
I finally examined her eyes. With her head perpetually bowed, I'd missed it, but now they evoked the pristine green of a forest canopy.
"I see."
"But why would a noble bother asking a lowly merchant's name?"
To verify if you're truly eastern. I kept silent—no need to explain to a fleeting acquaintance.
"Spare us!"
As we neared the smoke, a man's scream rang out. Angelina jolted behind me, trembling violently.
"Will you help us?"
I answered her question with deeds, not words. Reaching the smoke, I cleaved every visible kobold without pause.
'One, two, three... Fifteen.'
No aura required.
Mere small fry, crushable by raw strength. Sure, most matched my size, but easy pickings compared to true threats.
Puk!
I impaled the first charger's heart, hoisted it overhead, and slammed it down with full force.
Kwang!
The blade shattering its skull echoed brutally.
Kwaduduk.
The survivors circled warily before fleeing with eerie shrieks, deeming me invincible.
"Kie, kieak, kieeek!"
I scanned the area.
A bonfire roasting a trussed kobold whole, four men sprawled before it.
Of those present, one middle-aged man limped my way—the sole survivor.
"Thank you for saving us, Sir Knight!"
Angelina and Pavlov.
This merchant couple had crossed from the east to gather herbs. They even knew Baron Kaifa, to whom we'd entrusted this mission.
"Truth is, we owe Baron Kaifa for letting us forage south."
Angelina spoke first.
Pavlov glanced nervously before adding,
"A few years back, I hunted goblins. Botched it badly, got injured—joined the Bourbon caravan after."
"Right. They showed us their needs list. Priciest herbs all come from south, so we sneak down at dawn to scrape by."
"Got nabbed gathering here by Baron Kaifa once. Told our story, he let it slide."
"But warned no mercy if we strayed near villages. So we stuck to this spot... until the kobolds today."
Their tale pieced it all together. Still, unauthorized trespass couldn't be overlooked.
'Though.'
This was Kaifa's turf.
Strange lands, yes—but the lord's word ruled.
"Follow me. Can't send you east, but you can settle in these southern reaches."
Angelina and Pavlov clapped in unison.
Ppak!
"R-really?"
"No lie?"
I patted one of their horses and replied,
"Yes. But this one's mine."
Pavlov dashed over, adjusting the saddle as he answered.
"Of course! Take it—mere trifle against your life-saving grace!"
An unforeseen snag, yet the outcome was ideal.
Feared a grueling trek sans wagon, but now we'd ride back.
"First, erase the traces."
"Traces?"
"Yes. Pavlov, pile and burn every kobold. Angelina, dump the dead in the woods for beast fodder."
Angelina paled.
"F-for the beasts? They were our comrades for years—"
"Then haul them all yourself?"
"......"
"Leave them here, and trackers will come for us."
"Why?"
"Kobolds drag human corpses for rations. Human bodies amid kobolds? What conclusion?"
Humans won the fight.
Casualties occurred, survivors fled. Where to? Who were they?
If last night's Rothschild inferred thus and pursued.
If they mobilized in force hunting me.
Plan derailed—we'd die here.
Angelina nodded grudgingly and dragged her comrades' corpses into the forest.
Pavlov shot her a pitying glance, stuffed cloth in his nostrils, and ignited the kobold pyre.
One of the five generals, Clark—in steel gorilla form—tilted his head.
"Odd. Kobold fight seemed that way. Why croaked here?"
Four corpses sprawled before him.
Glanced like monster mauled—gnawed here and there—but inconsistencies abounded.
What monster hauls prey to the woods uneaten?
Bite marks were forest predators', not kobolds.
His companion general, Wendy, slinked up, nine tails swishing irritably.
"Fled kobolds, bit it here, duh!"
"Nah. Who torched those charred kobolds?"
"Beats me. Kobolds grilling their dead?"
"Ridiculous! Monsters cook?"
"Oh yeah."
"Hah... whatever."
Clark sniffed the air, then pawed the ground upon discovery.
"Knew it. Staged as kobold kill."
"By who?"
"Obvious. Whose turf?"
"Strange."
"Right. Strange's local overseer?"
"...Baron Kaifa?"
Clark grinned slyly, snagged a cloth scrap, and inhaled deep.
Sseup—
Exhaling slow and satisfied.
Haa!
"Yep, Kaifa. Woman's scent too. Got it memorized—let's hunt."