Someone was walking toward the protection zone under the escort of patrol guards.
Clank.
Clank.
The sound of lightly swaying chains scattered thinly across the dawn air.
Bido looked that way without realizing it.
The gazes of the Eunwoldan members also naturally gathered there.
It was Ayla.
She was a little different from the rough, sharp appearance Miryeong had faced in the forest.
Her tangled hair had been neatly arranged, and the clothes draped over her body were clean.
The traces that had been covered in blood, dust, and sweat had already been erased.
She was so tidily kept that one could tell how the city handled important witnesses without any need for explanation.
Ayla glanced once at the two patrol guards clinging to her as if escorting her, looking annoyed, then let out a long yawn.
“Haaaah…”
Then she cracked her neck and muttered as if complaining.
“Now they want me to go on a long journey?”
She wasn’t entirely without complaints.
As a mercenary, the journey itself wasn’t unfamiliar to her.
She was someone used to sleeping on the road, getting rained on, and being covered in dust for days.
But she had enjoyed days of washing, eating, and resting well under the city’s care.
The fact that her somewhat languid body had to take to the road again didn’t seem very welcome.
Even so, Ayla did not stop walking.
Shaking her chains with a light clinking, she slowly walked over and swept her gaze once across the wagon ready to depart and the Eunwoldan members.
Only when that gaze reached Miryeong did a very thin smile hang at her lips.
“Ha?”
The moment Ayla saw Miryeong, she raised her eyebrows.
“What’s this? If it isn’t the white puppy.”
Miryeong did not answer.
She just silently glared at Ayla.
Without avoiding that gaze, Ayla merely twisted the corner of her lips.
“From the looks of it, I suppose you’re the escort.”
Her fingertips moved lightly.
Swish.
The loosely coiled chain shook slightly.
“But if you stare at me with those eyes, I think it’s going to get pretty tiresome the whole way down the road.”
Raymond immediately stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Ayla’s gaze slowly shifted toward him.
Raymond took a short breath as if swallowing a sigh, then spoke.
“I’ve roughly heard what transpired between you two. Still, it has already been settled that you will cooperate on this journey. Please refrain from unnecessary provocation.”
Ayla looked at Raymond for a moment, then let out a short sound.
“Hm.”
Then she gestured toward the wagon with her chin.
“So? Do I ride that?”
The medical officer standing nearby immediately spoke up.
“You may ride in this wagon with me.”
Ayla immediately furrowed her face.
“Tch. Not alone?”
Raymond said with an indifferent expression.
“Or would you prefer to ride in the same wagon as me?”
At those words, Ayla made a disgusted expression.
“Ah, no. It’s fine. This side is enough.”
She waved her hand once as if annoyed and stepped onto the footboard of the second wagon.
Even after settling her body, she turned her head once more to look at Miryeong.
“Well then, puppy. I’ll be counting on you for the escort?”
Miryeong let out a short breath.
She did not retort this time either.
Instead, she openly turned her head away.
Then Bido cautiously approached Miryeong’s side.
A worried look rose to his eyes first.
Miryeong glanced at Bido, then spoke as if it were no big deal.
“It’s fine.”
She was silent for a moment,
then added in a lower voice.
“I’m okay.”
Once Ayla took her seat in the second wagon, the full appearance of the envoy finally came clearly into view.
The procession was arranged around two wagons pulled by two blue oxen.
On the front, first wagon were Raymond and the secretary, along with a sealed document box and a small Republic flag.
On the rear, second wagon were Ayla and the medical officer, with rations and water jugs, tent bundles, and medicine boxes—everything needed for the road tightly bound.
Guards holding the reins drove the wagons, and outside them, the five members of Eunwoldan took their positions.
Jincheong was already looking at the road a little ahead, and Miryeong surveyed the surroundings half a step in front of the first wagon.
Bido stood between the two wagons, and Ed positioned himself in the center to be able to move between the front and rear.
Wolryeon held a heavy crossbow and kept the entire procession in her sight from the rear.
It was not a large procession.
But it was a movement not to be taken lightly, with documents and a witness, and all the military strength needed to protect them intertwined without omission.
As departure drew near, people began to appear one by one from the protection zone as well.
Not all of them had come to see the envoy off.
But simply by the fact that those leaving and those remaining stood in the same morning air, a natural air of farewell lingered in that place.
Rangnan first approached Miryeong.
“I’m entrusting Bido to you.”
Miryeong snorted lightly.
“You don’t need to tell me.”
But in the very short breath added after that answer, there lay a sense of responsibility slightly heavier than usual.
Muryeong approached from beside him.
“Leave this place to me.”
Miryeong turned her head to look at him.
“Yeah. Don’t overdo it for no reason.”
“That’s my line,” Muryeong replied bluntly.
Yeonhwa and Taejin approached Bido a little later.
Yeonhwa spoke first.
“Take care of yourself.”
It was a short phrase,
but the worry contained within it could not be hidden.
Taejin also nodded from beside her.
“Don’t overdo it.”
Bido looked back and forth between the two and bowed his head slightly.
“Yes. I’ll go and come back safely.”
Lag approached Wolryeon.
Wolryeon had been checking the rear position with her heavy crossbow in hand, but when Lag stood in front of her, she only turned her eyes to look at him.
Lag opened his mouth.
“Take care of yourself.”
Wolryeon answered without changing her expression in the slightest.
“Yes.”
That single word was as cold as ever.
Lag seemed to choose his words for a moment longer, but in the end could not add anything more and stepped back.
Finally, Mendel and Erdin approached Bido.
Erdin spoke first.
“Bido-nim. We must see each other again.”
She tried to speak more brightly than usual, but her voice trembled slightly at the end.
Mendel also nodded from beside her.
“Yes. See you again for sure.”
Bido looked at the two and smiled faintly.
“Yes. For sure.”
Then Mendel suddenly reached her hand toward Bido’s hair.
“Wait.”
As Bido blinked, Mendel pulled a small comb from her bosom.
And with an all-too-familiar hand, she lightly combed down his tangled bangs and side hair several times.
With each pass of the comb teeth, the disheveled strands were tidied little by little.
Bido quietly accepted that touch, then felt awkward for no reason and lowered his eyes.
Mendel neatened the ends of his hair once more, then placed the comb in Bido’s hand.
“Take it.”
Bido looked at her with a surprised face.
“This…”
“On the road, you won’t have the leisure to look in a mirror,” Mendel said with a smile.
“Still, don’t go around too disheveled.”
Erdin quickly added from beside her.
“That’s right. You have to come back looking presentable too.”
Bido looked down at the small comb held in his hand.
It was a light, familiar object, but strangely, it now felt heavier than any other baggage.
Bido slowly bowed his head.
“…Thank you.”
Instead of answering, Mendel lightly patted Bido’s head once.
When that brief touch ended, the time that could be delayed no longer was right before their eyes.
The procession slowly passed through the inner city road and advanced toward the city gate.
Each time the blue oxen exhaled low, the yokes and wooden shafts rang out faintly, and the wagon wheels rolled heavily over the cobblestones of Arku.
As they approached the city gate along the main road, the gazes of citizens who had come out early in the morning also naturally gathered there.
Someone stepped back to the edge of the road and watched quietly, while someone else offered greetings with at least a small voice to come back safely.
Those words were directed at the official envoy led by the councilman, but at the same time, they were also directed at Eunwoldan, who guarded that road in the name of the Public Order Cooperation Force.
Bido walked in the middle of the procession listening to those voices. Individually, they were not loud.
But each time those brief regards and blessings scattered along the roadside, strangely, the inside of his chest grew a little heavier.
And finally, when the city gate drew near.
“Bido!”
A familiar voice flew clearly from somewhere.
Bido turned his head.
Noel was standing on one side near the city gate.
Beside her was Bell, and several neighboring residents who recognized Bido had also gathered.
Some seemed to have stopped before going out to their businesses, while others wore faces that suggested they had been waiting for this procession to pass.
Noel raised her voice above the noise of the procession.
“You must come back!”
Her face tried hard to look as usual, but she could not hide the sorrow gathered at the edge of her eyes.
Bell also cupped both hands around her mouth and shouted.
“That’s right! When you come back, I’ll make lots of bread you like!”
At those words, voices mixed with laughter followed from the surroundings.
“Come back safely!”
“Come back without getting hurt!”
“Don’t forget, we must see each other again!”
Bido looked at them, then slowly raised his hand.
A very small but clear smile had risen on his face.
“See you again for sure!”
That answer spread clearly through the air in front of the city gate.
The people inside the procession also smiled faintly at that sight.
Miryeong moved the corner of her lips slightly even as she looked ahead without a word, Ed let out a short breath, and even Wolryeon turned her gaze to the side for a very brief moment.
Thus the procession advanced forward without stopping.
Passing under the heavily opened city gate, they slowly moved away from the shadow of the familiar city.
And finally,
the procession passed beyond the outer reaches of Arku.