Since staying there would not produce any answers, the two soon set out. Mitchel and Yuliana moistened their throats with what little water remained and hurried on in search of a village.
Damon was trailing along behind them with Invisibility cast. He carefully approached Mitchel from the rear.
‘I’d better be careful. After all, Mitchel is a paladin in name, at least.’
But getting close proved surprisingly easy. Having stayed up all night and been pushed to the limits of exhaustion, Mitchel was walking while nodding off. Sticking close behind him, Damon cast a detection spell.
He intended to locate where the money was hidden among the luggage. The money was at the very bottom of the backpack. They seemed to have taken some care to keep it from being lost, but unfortunately for them, their greatest misfortune was having been caught by Damon.
‘Kekeke. This much is nothing.’
Damon took out a small knife and cast Sharpness on it. The knife soon became sharper than a razor. Using it, Damon began skillfully slicing open the bottom of the backpack. His touch was so delicate that Mitchel did not notice at all.
‘Oops.’
As the backpack was cut open, the money pouch dropped out with a thud, and Damon quickly caught it. Since the money pouch was fairly heavy, it could not help but make a sound.
Clink.
At the faint sound of coins striking one another, Mitchel abruptly stopped walking.
“What was that sound?”
Damon quickly tucked the money pouch into his clothes. At once, the pouch vanished from sight. Meanwhile, Yuliana, who had been walking beside him, snapped in an extremely tired voice.
“What is it this time?”
“I heard something. Like the sound of metal…”
Mitchel furrowed his brow and looked around. As luck would have it, at that moment, several items tumbled out through the torn part of the backpack.
“W-what the…”
Turning around, Mitchel hurriedly took off the backpack. When the long tear came into view, his face stiffened. He hastily searched for the money pouch. But there was no way he would see the pouch already tucked inside Damon’s clothes. The money pouch containing their travel expenses had vanished without a trace. In an instant, both their faces went pale.
“T-this is bad.”
The fact that they had lost the money pouch struck them with an even greater shock than losing their food. Food could be bought once they found a village, but now they had lost every last coin to buy that food with.
“We have to find it somehow.”
Mitchel and Yuliana hurriedly turned back. They intended to retrace their steps and search for the pouch they had dropped. But the money pouch was already safely stored in Damon’s bosom. Not knowing that there was no possibility whatsoever of retrieving it, the two ran back the way they had come, their eyes blazing. Watching them, Damon smiled faintly.
‘Go rummage through the forest to your heart’s content. This venerable one will be leisurely taking a nap…’
Damon chose a suitable tree and climbed up into it. In any case, a tracking spell had been placed on the two of them, so there was no need to follow. It was obvious without looking that they would come back empty-handed…
Though they wandered through the forest for half a day, in the end the two failed to find the money pouch. With their shoulders drooping, they set off again listlessly. They could no longer continue on to the Crosen Empire. In this state, naturally, they could not hire a mercenary company, and even food and lodging were impossible.
Nor was returning to Karsel any easier. It had already been a little over a month since they had left Karsel, and with no travel funds at all, the road back was bound to seem hopeless. Of course, Yuliana vented her anger over that on Mitchel.
“You useless idiot. How could you manage the money like that…”
But Mitchel no longer simply took it lying down. He had already endured as much as he could, and he was sick of being cursed at any further. With the feeling that whatever happened would happen, Mitchel drew his sword.
Shing.
Glaring at Yuliana, who flinched back at the sight of the sword, Mitchel growled viciously.
“If you run that filthy mouth one more time, I’ll cut off your head in a single stroke.”
Hearing vicious abuse from Mitchel for the first time in her life, Yuliana’s eyes flared with fury.
To Yuliana, it was an insult she truly could not endure. But what could she do? The law was far away, and the fist was close at hand… Seeing the sword streaming with sharp killing intent, Yuliana shut her mouth with a look of extreme terror. But she did not back down obediently. She began using the threat she had wielded like an heirloom blade until now.
“I-I will tell your father about this…”
“Damn it… Tell him if you want!”
Mitchel was now in a do-or-die state of mind. Even if he died for it, he wanted to silence this insolent girl’s mouth.
“If I kill you right here, do you think the truth will reach my father? It doesn’t matter to me at all. Since I don’t even have a clear way to return anyway, I’ll cut off your head right here and throw myself in with the Bandits. Then Father won’t be able to find me in the end…”
Yuliana’s face turned deathly blue.
“H-how can you say such a thing…”
“You think I can’t? That’s right. Selling you as a slave might be better than killing you. Once I get the money, I can change my name and live in hiding. That would solve the problem easily.”
In the end, Yuliana had no choice but to shut her mouth with a pale face. Holding the blue blade close against her slender neck, Mitchel threatened her savagely.
“If you open your mouth one more time, I really might do it. So try not to provoke me if you can help it.”
“A-all right.”
Glaring at Yuliana as she nodded with a stiff expression, Mitchel sheathed his sword. It had been a threat made in the spirit of letting things fall where they may, but thinking about it, its effect was perfect.
The only person who had heard his words was Yuliana. Moreover, she had slandered him with all sorts of lies until now, so if he said no such thing had happened, people would more readily believe him instead. In other words, there was no evidence whatsoever. Unfortunately, however, Mitchel never dreamed that there was someone right beside him who had heard those words.
‘That fellow Mitchel is going all in now.’
Watching the situation unfold right beside them, Damon smiled faintly. In some ways, he could understand Mitchel’s position. Among all the girls Damon had ever dealt with, Yuliana had the foulest temper…
If it had been him, he would have done even worse. He would surely have hung her upside down without feeding her for a month and fixed that temper of hers. Damon was quite confident of it.
Had he not once turned countless unruly tomboys in Sebain into docile lambs? But Damon could not do that to Yuliana alone. Simply because she resembled Daphne, Damon could not lay so much as a finger on her.
‘In a way, maybe that fellow Mitchel is relieving my frustration for me.’
Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Damon hurriedly followed when the two began walking again. As he did, he tucked into his bosom a conch shell that had recorded every word Mitchel had said.
It was decisive evidence that would render Mitchel helpless. After all, Damon’s usual principle was to use anything that could be used.
After starving for a full day, the two finally managed to get out of the mountains. Before them spread wide grasslands and scattered homes. The village they had searched for so desperately had finally appeared. Excited, the two quickened their steps toward the village in the distance. But crucially, they did not have a single coin.
Since they were terribly hungry, Mitchel and Yuliana entered the village and headed straight for the food shop. For the moment, they felt they had to eat something—anything. Yuliana, in particular, could not endure hunger at all. When had a girl raised so delicately ever gone hungry?
As soon as she entered the food shop, Yuliana picked up a loaf of black bread from the display and began eating it without a word. It was rye bread she would not normally have spared a glance for, but that did not matter. Since ancient times, there was no better side dish than hunger. Glancing at her, Mitchel carefully approached the shopkeeper. Of course, since there was no way he had money, he intended to exchange their possessions for food. To the shopkeeper, who was anxiously looking back and forth between them, Mitchel spoke hesitantly.
“Please understand. We haven’t eaten for two whole days… We were attacked by bandits and had all our money taken. I will give you what possessions we have, so please give us food and…”
“You seem to have gone through quite an ordeal.”
The shopkeeper was kinder than expected. Without a second word, he readily exchanged goods and food. Of course, they had no choice but to hand over everything in the backpack that might be worth money. Having traded all their belongings for several days’ worth of food, the two came out of the food shop chewing on bread. Mitchel turned to Yuliana.
“What do we do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“We don’t have any money… At this rate, we can’t go to the Crosen Empire. We even left all the formal attire back in the mountains…”
Yuliana stopped chewing her bread and frowned. She was just as troubled. To think they would have to return without accomplishing anything. Of course, returning to Karsel was no easier either. They had secured food for the next few days, but what came after that was the problem.
The two sat listlessly by the roadside and began discussing what to do next. Yuliana proposed that they go as far as the Crosen Empire, their original destination. Hearing that, Mitchel sprang to his feet.
“You’re insane. It’ll still take two more months of walking to reach the Crosen Empire. We don’t even have food right now, so how…”
“Then are you going back to Karsel?”
At Yuliana’s reply, Mitchel was rendered speechless. Had he not already resolved never to return to Karsel again? Returning to Karsel was something he hated more than death. But he had no idea how they were supposed to get to the Crosen Empire. As Mitchel sat down again weakly, Yuliana spoke to him in a subtle tone.
“I know what you want anyway. To go to some decent kingdom and become a knight. For that, you’ll have to get to the Crosen Empire somehow, won’t you? Of course, I don’t want to return without gaining anything either. So I have one method.”
“What method?”
When Mitchel heard Yuliana’s proposal, he felt as if his hair stood on end. Yuliana was suggesting that he commit robbery. Unable to bear it, Mitchel stood up again.
“What did you say?”
“Shh, your voice is too loud. What will you do if someone hears? Just listen to me first.”
At Yuliana’s urging, Mitchel calmed his startled heart and sat back down.
“If we go a little farther, we’ll reach a large highway. Of course, wealthy merchants will use that road too, won’t they? So let’s do just one job. We don’t have the travel expenses to return anyway. Of course, the merchants will have guards with them, but with your skills you should be able to deal with that much…”
“I-I can’t. As an honorable knight, how could I do such a thing… If Father ever found out about this…”
As if even imagining it was dreadful, Mitchel shook his head repeatedly. But Yuliana pressed him relentlessly.
“Then will you go back like this? That isn’t what you want either, is it? So close your eyes and let’s do just one job. If I keep my mouth shut, how would your father know? Besides, you’ve stolen once already, haven’t you?”
“But…”
Seeing Mitchel continue to shake his head, Yuliana used her last resort.
“Fine. If you make this one job succeed and we reach the Crosen Empire safely, I’ll set you free. I promise I’ll return and speak well of you to your father. On top of that, I’ll also overlook all the unpleasant things you’ve done to me so far.”
With her going this far, there was no way for him to refuse any longer. In any case, it was true that they had no travel expenses to return with. In the end, Mitchel had no choice but to nod.
“Fine. I’ll do it. But only this once.”
Seeing Mitchel agree as if he had no choice, Yuliana’s face brightened.
“You’ve made the right choice.”
Mitchel looked at Yuliana with a stiff expression.
“This is something I’ve thought all along…”
“Thought what?”
“You really are a frightening child. To the point that it gives me chills…”
“You only just realized I’m frightening?”
Yuliana said it calmly, then sprang to her feet.
“Now, let’s hurry. If we wear masks, no one will recognize us…”
They likely thought it was a secret conversation no one had heard, but unfortunately, their plot had gone straight into someone’s ears. They had conspired to commit robbery while someone was pressed close and listening.
Of course, that someone was Damon, who had Invisibility cast. Having heard the conversation, Damon wore a faint smile.
“They must be desperate indeed. To think they’d even consider robbery.”
A fine idea to torment the two had already formed in Damon’s mind. At the thought that he could make it so they would never be able to show their faces again, he began humming to himself.
“Kekeke. You bastards, let’s see how you like this.”
He soon set about preparing a plan to lure Yuliana and Mitchel into a trap.