The Garden Frontier
I had never been here before, yet the landscape felt hauntingly familiar. I was standing on one of the Empire’s front lines, a place pushing for expansion across the continent. If this were still a game, a thud sound effect would have played, and a caption reading [Garden Western Frontier] would have popped up at the bottom of the screen.
The people wandering around all wore dark, grim expressions. It wasn't rare to see someone missing an arm or a leg. This was a village exposed to every imaginable threat—not just monsters, but hostile kingdoms and barbarians. To the residents here, words like "future" or "hope" were likely the most pathetic jokes imaginable.
"Alright, what should I do first?"
I checked my to-do list. I had 450 Mana Stones, so I had to remember to use those to boost my stats. Then, I needed to equip myself with the necessary gear using my 2,100 gold. What was the priority? ..."It has to be clothes."
My lower half felt far too exposed. No matter how much time passed, I just couldn't get used to the chilling cold rising from the ground. A cloak alone couldn't block it. It was especially fatal when I had to sit down. The feeling of bare buttocks hitting the freezing dirt... people who haven't experienced it will never understand. Even Tarzan wore a loincloth, for crying out loud.
"I might not be able to find underwear, but I need to get something other than these rags."
I also needed to deliver Yuria's letter, but since I had no idea who her brother was, I decided to put that on hold for now. I visualized the village map in my head and headed toward the center.
Ah, another unique characteristic of the Garden Frontier:
There were no proper shops in this village. Every transaction was based on street-level, haphazard bartering. A newcomer wouldn't even know who was selling what. I stood still for a moment, looking around the street. Stalls appeared and vanished like lightning without warning. Scuffles broke out every few minutes, accompanied by loud shouting.
Whoosh—
A knife flew past my cheek, grazing me. A man bleeding profusely ran away in a panic, and a burly woman wielding a wooden beam with a nail in it chased after him.
"You bastard! You said if I did what you told me, the armor would duplicate! Give me back my armor!"
"It's your fault for believing me!"
The passersby didn't even care, as if this kind of commotion was nothing. "What a mess." It wasn't a pleasant sight for someone like me, who preferred large supermarkets where every item had a clear price tag.
But there was no helping it. Rather than waiting for this village to change, I had no choice but to adapt first. There was no need to rush, so I strolled around the village center, waiting leisurely. After about an hour of blending into the scenery:
"I've brought the 'Heroes'!"
A group of men pulled a cart forward. These were the famous figures of the Western Frontier, known as the 'Crows.' It seemed I wasn't the only one waiting for them; people all over the village began to rise to their feet. I approached the cart as well.
"Take a good look! There's plenty of good stuff to salvage this time—"
The Crows opened the cargo bed with practiced hands. Soon, dozens of corpses began to pile up on the dirt floor like frozen fish. This was the true identity of the 'Heroes' the Crows spoke of. The remains of adventurers.
"I knew it, but seeing it in person isn't exactly a pleasant sight."
When people went outside the frontier to hunt monsters or build outposts, casualties were inevitable. Most of them were left to rot where they fell because recovering the bodies was too difficult... but there were some that the Crows managed to drag back to the village. After that, valuable items—rings, earrings, high-quality gear—were pocketed by the Crows first. The rest were sold exactly as they were, still on the bodies.
"If I die, I'll end up like that too."
It was a cold, heartless scene, but any adventurer in the Garden Frontier had to be prepared for such an ending. In other words, even with my Undying trait, I had to be careful not to die carelessly. If I revived, I might end up rolling on the floor like a piece of luggage as a 'Hero.' Plus, being stripped naked by countless hands was just a bonus.
Anyway, it was time for me to move quickly. If I hesitated, I might not find decent clothes. "I don't need anything else, just one thing. Size adjustment is a must."
I mingled with the crowd and examined the clothes on the corpses. Since my frame was small, the clothes of average adventurers wouldn't fit. My priority was finding clothes inscribed with a Size Adjustment magic rune.
"It's not a rune so rare that I can't find it. If I look hard enough, there have to be a few."
I searched with eyes of fire, looking and looking... but I began to get buried under the people. The world grew dark, and breathing became difficult. It felt like being trapped inside a pulsating cave of flesh, unable to move an inch. "Wait, am I going to die like this?"
There's a person underneath! There's a person here, you assholes! Even if I shouted, no one listened. Everyone was too busy with bloodshot eyes, rummaging through the corpses. If this keeps up, I'm going to become a 'Hero' too!
Just as my head started to spin from lack of oxygen, someone grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and pulled me up.
"Phew!"
I gasped for air like someone who had just been rescued from drowning.
"Th-thank you..."
I barely managed to express my gratitude with slurred speech. The person who saved me was a man as big as a bear. He looked to be over two meters tall.
"Thanks to you, I lived."
"..."
The man just nodded with a stoic face, then hesitated before opening his mouth. "What do you... want?"
"Huh? What I... want?"
Was he asking for payment for saving my life? The man looked toward the pile of corpses and continued. "Tell me. I'll pull it out for you."
"Really?"
"It's dangerous..."
The man pointed at me and shook his palm back and forth. It seemed he meant I was too small to be wedged in that crowd. Well, there was no reason to refuse if he was going to help. I pointed my finger at a corpse I had been eyeing.
"Then, that one."
The man nodded and shoved his log-like arm into the pile of corpses. Swoosh. The body was pulled out with such ease that my previous struggle felt pathetic. "That one too. Oh, and that one as well."
As I spoke, I noticed the man's leather pants were torn in a hideous way. It looked like they had been shredded by a monster's claws. "Do you happen to need pants?"
He nodded.
"Pants, pants... I saw some earlier. Oh, there they are! Hurry! Someone else might snatch them!"
After grabbing the corpse with the good pants, we moved to a different spot. I had gathered everything I aimed for. A long-sleeved shirt, knee-length shorts, and a pair of sturdy-looking boots. All of them had Size Adjustment magic runes inscribed on them. And as an unexpected bonus, the boots also had a low-grade Durability Enhancement rune.
"How are those pants?"
"..."
"They should fit you perfectly, right? Try them on."
The man shook his head as if it were difficult. "Ah. Is he unable to change because I'm standing right here?" Now that I thought about it, I wasn't a man anymore. It might be a bit awkward to take off pants in front of a girl... but for someone that big, he sure was shy.
The man held the pants up to his legs and gave a thumbs-up gesture. He didn't say anything, but his face looked satisfied.
"Oh, right. I should pay you."
I almost forgot. I hadn't had the chance to settle the bill on the spot earlier, so the man had paid for everything. To put it mildly, 'Heroes' were cheap. The Crows had already taken anything of real monetary value, and the rest were just wearing junk. If you had a sharp eye and knowledge like me, you could snag honey items with magic runes, but most of the goods were exactly as they appeared: duds.
As I rummaged through my pockets to get the money...
"It's fine."
The man pushed my hand away as I tried to hand him the money. "Thanks to you, I got good pants, too."
Well, that was true. If I hadn't spoken up, he wouldn't have found pants with Size Adjustment magic. I guessed we could call it even. "Should we just leave the corpses here? Do we have to give them back to the Crows?"
"Hmm..."
The man let out a groan. "If we leave them... it's pitiful..."
Unlike his monstrous appearance, which made him look like a black bear, he seemed to have a delicate heart. He didn't seem able to walk away easily after leaving the bodies behind.
"If you feel that way, let's bury them."
"Is there a proper place..."
"I know a place where we can bury them."
As I took the lead, the man followed, carrying four corpses on his shoulders at once. We buried the bodies in a graveyard located in a corner of the frontier. To be precise, moving the bodies, digging the ground, and filling it back in was the man's job. I stood by and chirped advice. After all, everyone has different strengths. It was just a matter of efficient task distribution. At least, that's what I thought.
"This should bring them some comfort, right?"
He nodded. The man's face looked much brighter, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. The makeshift funeral ended with me imitating something I'd seen somewhere, clumsily clasping my hands and offering a moment of silence.
"Thanks for the help."
"..."
He patted my shoulder without a word. He was a man of few words until the end. We parted ways coolly after finishing our business. "Come to think of it, I didn't even ask his name." The thought came to me late, but I didn't feel the need to chase him down to ask. If he were a named NPC worth making a companion, I would have recognized him without him saying a word. He was probably just one of the many common human warriors scattered throughout Nine Stars.
"If we're meant to cross paths again, we'll meet."
I watched the man's retreating back. His gait, as he looked over the pants he was holding, was quite cheerful. It looked like he wanted to go back and try them on as soon as possible.