Published at 20th of November 2020 09:25:06 PM
Chapter 18: 18
[It’s now morning . Please wake up . ]
After last night’s binge drinking, I asked Nanom to wake me up when morning came . And no, I don’t have a hangover . Nanom broke down the alcohol in my bloodstream while I slept, which is quite convenient .
Cleria and I were led to stay the night at the lodging for welcoming visitors . It seems there were often travelers like us who ask to stay at the village, so they built a building solely for housing visitors .
We were really lucky to have obtained the goodwill of the villagers yesterday . We were able to get rid of the Big Boar that has been harassing the village after all .
The worst that could have happened was that the ones after Cleria following us into the village . We would have had to fight them off here if it came to it, but thankfully, they didn’t manage to track us down yet . Zack’s behavior also indicated that they haven’t been to this area yet, so that’s good news at least .
Cleria was still fast asleep, so I decided to leave her be . She must be really tired .
I left the house and made my way back to the square . Some villagers are already awake and were busy with their work .
“Good morning, Alan!”
It was Zack’s son, Beck .
“Morning, Beck . ”
I got along quite well with Beck . He’s nineteen and was on the slender side, but he looked similar to his father, Zack . He feels like the guy-next-door type with blue eyes and brown hair .
Beck seemed to have a fascination for swordsmanship, so he went up to Cleria straight away . But Cleria mentioned that my skills were better, so he went over to consult me instead . After prodding me for a while, I finally gave in and started discussing swordsmanship with him .
Truth is, I didn’t really know a thing about proper swordsmanship, but I ended up practicing forms every once in a while during our trip . Well, I suppose it’ll be fine to teach him some moves . I’ll just leave the basics to Cleria .
“You sure are early, Beck . ”
“I wanted to leave the village as soon as possible . I’ve already gathered my luggage, but the clothes we’re supposed to sell in the city aren’t prepared yet . ”
“So, when do you plan to leave?”
“Well, I wanted to leave before noon at the latest . Oh right, dad said to call you over . ”
“Okay . I’ll go look for him then . ”
Suddenly, Cleria came running towards us .
“Good morning, Ria . ”
“Alan! You should have just woken me up you know!”
Eh? Looks like she’s angry? I don’t think I did anything particularly worth getting angry over though .
“Zack seems to be looking for me, so I’ll head on over first . ”
“I’m coming too . ”
Oh boy . She sure is grumpy today . Let’s see . I think Zack’s house was round here . It was the biggest house in the entire village . AS expected of the village chief . When we neared the house, Zack came out .
“Good morning, Zack . You were looking for me?”
“Yo . It’s about what we discussed last night . The clothes I offered as a reward . Head on over here fer a bit . ”
I was dragged inside Zack’s house . The room near the front door looked like a warehouse and a lot of clothes were stocked on the shelves .
These’re the clothes we put up for sale . I’ve been selectin a few of them fer you to choose from . Go an pick the ones ye like . ”
“Thank you . That’s quite a lot . Let’s see . Which ones should I get?”
“I’ll choose for you” Cleria offered in a cheerful tone, as though her bad mood from earlier didn’t happen .
“Right then . Take yer time an choose . ”
Zack went out of the room .
“Alright, Ria . I’ll leave it to you . ”
I haven’t worn these types of clothing before, so I don’t know what’s good and what’s not .
“Please leave it to me!”
Cleria cheerfully took some clothes from the racks and began checking them out . I honestly can’t tell the difference between these clothes . Wouldn’t anything be fine if the size fits?
There wasn’t a lot of items which fit my size, so we got to decide on some clothes pretty quickly . What Cleria ended up picking was a pair of cream-colored shirt and black pants .
“I’ll choose some for you again once we arrive in the city . ”
“Thanks Ria . I’ll be relying on you again then . ”
Cleria seemed a bit miffed about the fact that there weren’t much clothes to choose from, so when I agreed to let her choose for me again in the city, her mood turned better . Zack came back in at this time .
“I’ll be getting these, Zack . ”
“I see . Ya also need some underwear, right? Unfortunately, we only have this kind available . ”
There was only one type of free-size underwear available .
“Can I try these on?”
“They’re all yours now . Go right ahead . ”
When I started unzipping my current get-up, Cleria got flustered and hurriedly ran out of the room . Hmm . I’m a bit unused to them, but they’ll do just fine . They’re a perfect fit as well .
I went out of the room after I finished changing, and Cleria immediately came over . It seems she was checking me out . And it looks like I got passing marks .
“Ya mentioned wanting some food preserves as well right? I was thinkin of packing enough for four people . ”
“That’ll be fine then, thanks . I’m planning on going hunting for food along the way anyway . Do you need some help?”
“Can ye help with packing the luggage and wares then?”
I went back inside the warehouse with Cleria and started wrapping the clothes with a big linen sheet . I had a bit of trouble folding the clothes to a small enough size so we could pack in more .
We managed to finish packing all of the wares after three of four hours .
“Alright folks, time fer breakfast!” Zack announced . The main dish is of course made from Big Boar meat . However, the seasonings used in this time’s dish are different from what was used in yesterday’s banquet . Of course, the dish is still plenty delicious .
We loaded all our luggage on a two-wheeled carriage . There were a lot more other wares than clothes . Looks like this village’s specialty was producing cotton . Raw cotton was packed into small sacks and was included in the wares .
Since the wagon didn’t have a roof, I asked what we’d do if it ever rained, and the folks at the village answered: “We’ll just think about it if it comes to that” . Well, can’t be helped then .
The other young villager coming with us was named Thor . He was a young man about the same age as Beck . They were apparently childhood friends . He looks to be a fine young man as well . Apparently, he was to serve as a substitute for Beck for driving the carriage .
We finally departed with a carriage filled to the brim with luggage and various wares . There were a lot of villagers who came to see us off .
“Don’t mess up, y’hear Beck!” Zack yelled out .
“I know, Dad . ”
“Alan, I’ll leave Beck to you . ”
“Please rest assured . We’ll safely deliver them to Gotania . ”
We finally departed from the village, but since part of the way was a steep slope, everyone walked downhill and proceeded slowly .
We finally boarded the carriage and sped up once we reached the highway . I was told yesterday that it would take about twenty days to get to Gotania by carriage . It’s surprisingly quick, considering our form of transport .
Beck and Thor were sitting out front while I and Cleria sat on top of the piled-up luggage . This actually feels kinda neat . We were traveling at a speed just a little faster than walking on our own . I had nothing else to do, so I proceeded to activate scanning magic . The detection range is the same as before – a radius of 700 meters .
“How far are we traveling today, Beck?”
“We left pretty late in the day, so we’ll probably end up sleeping outdoors . There’s a pretty good camping spot a good ways away, so we’ll go until there . ”
“Gotcha . Don’t hesitate to call out if you ever need anything . ”
The carriage rattled noisily, so they wouldn’t be able to hear me on the driver’s seat if I didn’t raise my voice . Beck and Thor were talking between themselves, but I couldn’t hear them very well due to all the noise . We were both free, so Cleria and I proceeded to spend time talking to each other as well . We’re basically doing the same thing before going to the village .
Cleria asked me about the method to cast a single shot Flame Arrow, but I couldn’t give her any useful tips apart from sharpening her image of the spell . I told her that her image of the spell she wants to cast is the most important factor when using magic . It seems Cleria was satisfied with my answer and hunkered down to mull things over . I ended up quite free again .
Whoah, there’s some unwanted company . Nanom managed to capture magicle reactions .
“Ria, there’s a Gray Hound . Just one . 500 meters out in that direction . ”
The sucker was in the 11 o’clock direction . It’s right out front .
“Please let me deal with it . ”
Well, she’s asked, so she shall receive . I’ll leave it to her then .
“Alright . But it’s still not certain that it’ll head our way . ”
Judging from its movements, it seems the Gray Hound hasn’t noticed us yet, but the carriage was moving in its direction, so it’ll probably notice us before long . The Gray Hound’s movements finally showed some changes when the carriage reached a distance of 200 meters from it . It was definitely heading straight for us . Well, the carriage was noisy as heck, so it was probably inevitable .
“Beck, stop the carriage!”
The carriage promptly stopped moving and Cleria jumped out front .
“What’s wrong!?” Beck asked .
“Gray Hound . Just one . Ria will deal with it,” I announced .
Cleria drew her sword and held it in both hands before her chest .
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The Gray Hound appeared about fifty meters away from the carriage . It wasn’t wary of us one bit and kept charging at us . I raised the rifle slightly, just in case .
“Flame Arrow!”
A single, large flame arrow appeared before Cleria and headed straight towards the Gray Hound . The flame arrow struck the Gray Hound right in the chest when it managed to come within ten meters of Cleria’s position . Whoah! That was some fast casting! She just took about fifteen seconds to cast that spell . And Cleria also had her eyes opened all this time . She’s really managed to improve by a lot .
Beck and Thor raised a fuss . Cleria would have normally jumped up and down in celebration, but she had a calm and composed expression today . It seems she was putting up quite a front due to the presence of Beck and Thor, but I didn’t miss the faint arch which graced her lips . Well, she was regarded as a really skilled knight by the villagers, so I sort of understand how she’s feeling .
She didn’t forget to take the magic stone from the corpse . She made her sword glow and split the Gray Hound in two, recovering the magic stone afterward . Beck and Thor made a fuss about it once again . We tossed the Gray Hound remains down a cliff .
“That takes care of that . Shall we depart?”
“Amazing, Alan-san! Is Risama always like this?”
Let’s give a bit more props to Cleria today .
“Yes . She’s always been like this . Shall we go then?”
“Yeah!”
The carriage started up once again . The two out front were still immersed in the excitement and were talking animatedly with each other .
“How was I, Alan?”
Looks like Cleria couldn’t hold down her own excitement and finally inquired about her prior performance .
“That was great . The time you took to solidify your image was quite short . And what was even more impressive was that your eyes remained open while casting . ”
“Huh? My eyes were open?”
Looks like she wasn’t aware of it then .
“Yeah, they were . Your next goal would be to shorten the casting time further . Ten seconds at the longest . Next would be not using your hands to aim and chantless casting . If you can do all these, you’ll have enough breathing room to prepare your spells before a battle begins, and you’d be able to defeat your opponents easier . Your combat capabilities would rise considerably . ”
Cleria seemed like she agreed with my points . I was curious about why she didn’t cast spells like this before .
“How did you learn magic, Ria?”
“You’d first need to read and memorize magic tomes before you can learn magic properly . You’d have to do as the steps in the magic tome indicate one by one in order to cast magic spells successfully . ”
“Magic tome huh? Sounds kinda amazing . ”
“Yes . For example, Fireball has seventeen steps . Flame Arrow has fifty . ”
“So does that mean you’re reproducing the seventeen processes in your head in those ten seconds before casting a Fireball spell?”
“That’s correct . ”
That’s quite amazing . That’s beyond what geniuses can normally do . No wonder she had to close her eyes before . I’m not familiar with the exact processes, but she’s basically completing an average of two every second .
“I haven’t even heard of the method of using images like what Alan does . ”
Hmm . Well, I guess if you didn’t know of the process of gathering magicles in order to form spells, you would have a relatively more difficult time casting magic . I remember that I learned of the exact method from an NPC teacher for several days back in the game . I see . So I guess those steps would allow one to construct an effective mental image .
“Is using a magic tome to learn magic the norm?”
“Of course! I can guarantee that every mage in this world learned to cast spells through reading magic tomes… except for Alan, that is . ”
She seems really sure of her words huh . I see . So it’s possible that the people who produced these magic tomes must have written them in such a way that would allow one to form a mental image through the use of a step-by-step process . And as a result, it became common sense to learn magic by imitating the steps written in those magic tomes . Mm . It’s definitely possible .
But Zack said yesterday night that there were a few of the villagers who could actually use magic . Did those people read tomes too?
“Actually, Zack said that the village had about two or three people who could use magic in the village last night . ”
‘Oh, those are probably people who can use an incomplete form of spell casting due to not having the chance to read a tome . Magic tomes are expensive, so normal citizens able to use magic are quite few in number . ”
I see . It’s plenty possible to cast magic if you have a good imagination . But without a tome to provide definite steps for processing an image, casting may prove difficult for beginners .
“Well, now you’ve experienced it too Cleria . What’s truly important when casting magic is forming a concrete and vivid image . You need to be faster, more detailed and precise when imagining just how you want a spell to come out and how much magic power you wish to use up during spell casting . Imaging power, so to speak . ”
“Imaging power…”
Cleria was once again lost in thought . I was free once again, so I just plopped down on the luggage pile . That’s some nice weather . It’ll be great if it doesn’t rain . Oops, that was close . I was just about to fall asleep .
I looked at the digital clock on my virtual HUD and found that we’ve traveled for close to an hour . Nanom was still keeping watch, so I bet it’ll wake me up if there was some kind of trouble along the way, but I’ll fail as an escort if that happened . Let’s be more careful from now on .
Cleria was silently sitting while keeping her eyes closed . It seems she’s meditating… She isn’t just asleep, right?
At that moment, the scan managed to pick up another reaction . It was a weak reaction that was barely in the scan’s detection ability and was right in front of the carriage again . It’s 400 meters out . It doesn’t look to be anything dangerous .
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When we got within a hundred meters of it, I finally managed to see what it was . It kinda looked like a rabbit . It had a short, fluffy-looking tail . It was hiding in the bushes near the roadside, but its tail was sticking out like a sore thumb .
These creatures had an uncanny ability to sense and avoid danger . There were a lot of instances where I got to detect them using scanning magic, only for them to escape before I could get any nearer . If we manage to catch this guy, guess we’ll have rabbit meat for dinner .
“Ria, there’s a rabbit out front . ”
Cleria’s eyes sprang open . Was she really asleep?
“Where is it? I’ll bring it down!”
Thought she’d say that .
“It’s hiding inside those bushes . ”
“I cannot see it . ”
“Hm . Seems you can’t see it from here . How about this? I’ll throw a rock at it and you bring it down once it gets out of the bushes . ”
I brought out some stones I had reserved inside my backpack .
“I’ll try . ”
I brought up my throwing arm and prepared myself . The rabbit still isn’t fleeing . I bet it’s just waiting for us to go past it . I’ll make my move once we close in as much as possible… 30 meters more… 20 meters… 10 meters… Now!
I threw a stone right next to the bush where the rabbit was hiding . It panicked and jumped out of the bush, right into the road .
“Flame Arrow!”
Looks like she missed the timing a bit . The spell would just manage to graze the critter at this rate . Well, that’s what I thought at first, but the flaming arrow changed projectiles mid-flight and pierced the rabbit’s neck!
That was amazing! The flame arrow released by Cleria wasn’t a normal one, but something with a homing feature added in . I can’t believe Cleria managed to do that!
Nah, that’s a bit rude of me . I’m sure she managed to achieve it through her meditation earlier to solidify her image . That’s pretty impressive . I didn’t even think of doing that . Seems I was unknowingly bound by common sense as well before I noticed . I’ll have to learn from this experience .
Beck was surprised when Cleria suddenly cast a spell and stopped the carriage . Cleria and I went down the carriage and retrieved the rabbit . It was a nice, round and plump rabbit . Rabbit meat was quite gamey, so I’ll have to drain its blood right away .
Beck and Thor again made a huge fuss . Cleria was again keeping her “cool and collected” act . Her lips were twitching in a half-smile though . Anyway, we got ourselves some dinner!
The carriage drove on until it was close to evening, and Beck finally stopped when we arrived at a place that looked like the camping spot he mentioned earlier . It was a clearing right next to the highway . There was a small stream of water trickling down from a rock wall nearby, forming a pool below . This seemed to be a good place to camp for people who can’t use magic to create their own water .
“Let’s rest here for the night . There’s no other place to set up camp out here,” Beck suggested .
“Alright . I’ll go and prepare then . Keep a lookout, Ria . ”
“Understood . ”
Collecting firewood for the bonfire was easy because we were in the middle of the mountains . I’m gonna go collect some more . I managed to finish the task without much issue .
“What kind of food did you pack, Beck?”
Let’s check the food items out for the time being .
“All the food’s in this bag . ”
I was handed a rather large bag . It was packed quite full . The items were dried meat, lots of bread, potos, the salad leaves called “sappa”, other assorted vegetables, salt and dried herbs .
There was no problem with the amount . But I wanted to avoid using preserved food as much as possible .
“Are you going to cook, Alan-san?” Thor asked as he drew near . Beck was busy unloading some of the luggage .
“Yeah . I like cooking a lot . If you guys are okay with it, allow me to prepare tonight’s dinner . ”
“Then I’ll help out as well . Shall I start preparing the rabbit? The folks back home said I had quite the knack for it . ”
“That sounds great . I’ll leave that to you then . ”
Tonight’s menu was rabbit meat stir-fried with potos and other assorted veggies as well as rabbit meat sandwiches . I’d like to eat the bread before it hardens up after all .
I’ll use up all the rabbit meat . If there would be some leftovers, I’ll just save them for breakfast tomorrow .
Let’s start by washing the vegetables . Thor had already started butchering the rabbit . Looks like he wasn’t kidding when he said he was good at it .
“How do you want me to cut the meat?”
“Slice them as small enough to be eaten in one bite . I’m planning to let you guys finish it all tonight . ”
Rabbit meat’s almost entirely of the red variety . Therefore, there’s no meaning to separate it into various parts .
“Amazing! It’s gonna be a feast tonight as well . I never imagined I’d get to eat a lot of meat again so soon!”
I also helped with cutting up the meat, because the rabbit was fairly large . I wonder if this is enough to satisfy Cleria’s appetite .
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I put the meat in a large pot and seasoned it . The seasonings I used were plenty of garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper . Since rabbit meat had a strong smell, I had to use plenty of flavorings to counteract it .
“Where do you want me to put the fur, Alan-san?”
“Isn’t it fine if you just throw the fur?”
“Eh, but that’s such a waste . This is such a fine rabbit’s fur . You can definitely sell it for some money . Well, it might not sell for very much though . ”
Nah, no thank you . I don’t know how to prepare fur after all .
“Then I’ll just give it to you, Thor . ”
“Great! Thank you very much!”
I wanted us to have dinner early, but Beck requested a sword practice session . Thor also joined in as well .
“Can I ask you to teach them the basics, Ria? I’ll leave them to you . ”
The two young men seemed to be in agreement . Looks like they were really impressed by Cleria’s performance today . Cleria didn’t seem against teaching them as well . She nodded in agreement and made a stance .
The two young men had prepared their own wooden swords . Cleria first taught them about the proper way of gripping one’s sword . The sword practice session continued for about an hour . Looks like their sword handling skills did improve a bit compared to before .
Since it was getting dark now, I guess it’s time to have dinner . The meat should have already absorbed plenty of flavor from the seasonings .
The two young men raised a cheer after Cleria lit up the makeshift outdoor hearth that was already pre-made and placed in the middle of the clearing with fire magic .
I first fried the potos in a large frying pan brought by Beck . After frying it for some time, I put in the meat next .
When the meat started to brown, I proceeded to add the other vegetables . I want to preserve the crisp texture of the veggies after all . With this, the dish is complete .
I served a large helping of the dish on a large wooden plate brought out by Beck . It turned out a lot more than I expected . Alright folks, dig in!
Everyone placed some of the food on each of their plates . I proceeded to heat up the bread which has been cut up into two halves on the frying pan .
The three of them stared curiously at what I was doing . After the bread got slightly burnt at the edges, I removed them from the pan immediately . They’ve managed to soak up plenty of oil and were looking great .
I placed some sappa leaves on the warmed bread and poured plenty of meat in between . With this, the rabbit meat sandwich is complete . I placed a sandwich on each of our plates .
Oops . I nearly forgot to boil some water for the tea as well .
Alright! Let’s get to eating! I’ll start with the stir-fried meat . Yep, it’s tasty . Rabbit meat is also a type of red meat like the Big Boar’s, so it was plenty delicious .
A large amount of garlic, herbs, and pepper managed to eliminate the gamey smell of the meat . Looks like marinating the meat with them managed to do the trick .
Next is the sandwiches; a combination of lightly toasted fluffy bread which soaked up plenty of flavorful oil from the frying pan, crispy sappa leaves and tasty stir-fried meat . It was, of course, delicious .
Everyone else ate like crazy . Looks like they really liked the dishes .
Looks like even Cleria didn’t manage to finish the food this time around . A good amount of stir-fried meat remained . Let’s have it for breakfast tomorrow .
I made some after-meal green tea from the leaves Zack packed with him .
“Man! That was delicious, Alan!”
“Did you use a lot of salt and pepper? It’s my first time eating such a fancy dish!” Thor inquired .
Yeah . It seems salt and pepper were valuable commodities . Speaking of which, they didn’t use much pepper in the village’s food, so the taste was a bit on the lighter side .
“Yeah . I’m glad you guys liked it . ”
“Course we did . That was great! Why don’t you open a shop when you get to the city?”
“Cooking’s just my hobby . I don’t want it to be my main occupation . ”
“Okay . But can you continue cooking for us during the trip?”
“That’s fine, I don’t mind . ”
“Aw yeah!”
Beck and Thor loudly cheered . It’s already well into the night . Shall we go to bed now so we can wake up early tomorrow?
“Go ahead and rest up, you two . We’ll keep watch . ”
“But…”
“It’s fine . We’re your escorts anyway . We’re just doing our job . ”
“Understood . Thanks . ”
I told Cleria I’d be able to detect if something is amiss and wake up using my magic, so she proceeded to sleep without worries as well .
With this, the first day of our journey ended without much trouble .