After finishing my skill experiments, I left the room and headed to the lobby.
Perhaps he had woken up first, because Drek was sitting at a table, spooning up stew.
Judging by the empty bowls piled on the table, he seemed to have been eating for quite some time.
“Good morning.”
“Mm. Yeah.”
Drek moved his spoon in silence.
Seeing that made me hungry too.
All I’d eaten so far was a piece of bread and some jerky.
No matter how dried-up this body was, it was only natural I’d be hungry by now.
“What about Mr. Dardan?”
“He said he was going to the trading post.”
“The trading post? Ah.”
Right. He was a merchant.
Listening to his answer, I pulled out a chair and sat at the table.
As I looked around, wondering how I was supposed to order, a waitress came out of the kitchen carrying a loaf of bread and a bowl of stew.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You’re not from around here, are you?”
“……”
The waitress asked as she set down the bowl.
From around here… Where exactly was I from?
“Oh my, is it a secret? All right.”
When I hesitated, the waitress didn’t ask any further and quickly left.
Anyway, what kind of stew was this?
An unknown spice aroma rose from the deep brown stew.
When I stirred it lightly with my spoon, ingredients that had been boiled for so long they’d fallen apart beyond recognition floated up.
The only things that had kept their shape were a few strands of grass-like stems.
Especially, as if a lot of fish had been added, a fishy smell stabbed at my nose.
‘…It looks like dog food.’
After agonizing over it for a while, I mustered up my courage and took a spoonful.
“…Urk!”
A powerful herb scent spread through my mouth.
For a moment, a gag rose in my throat, and my body flinched.
I barely held it back, and when I ate it together with the bread, it was at least bearable.
‘Ugh… I even ask them to leave out cilantro in pho…’
Just then, Drek spoke.
“What are you planning to do now?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m thinking of going to the ruins.”
I hadn’t thought he’d actually go.
Did he, in the end, covet expensive relics too? Or was there some other reason?
“But there’s no need for you two to follow me.”
“Hmm… That’s true.”
I’d felt it in this dungeon as well, but there were too many dangers.
Of course, when you had nothing, it might not be a bad idea to aim for a sudden fortune, but that was only possible when you had the ability to back it up.
In my current state, where I was nothing more than a “self-proclaimed mage,” there was no reason to take on a reckless challenge.
“I’ll join you at least until Garnian.”
After all, the closest village you reached as soon as you crossed the river was Garnian.
Even if I didn’t enter the ruins, it would be better to accompany them until the village.
“Let’s part ways there.”
Drek silently nodded and swallowed his stew.
I didn’t have any particular plan, but I thought it would at least be better than a dangerous-looking ruin.
“That merchant wouldn’t have betrayed us, would he?”
To be honest, it was what had worried me the most since yesterday.
Since our relationship had begun with ill fate, it wouldn’t have been strange if he betrayed us at any time.
“Are you talking about Dardan? Hm. I can’t say for certain he hasn’t, but he probably hasn’t.”
“Is that so…”
“He’s a quick-witted man. He wouldn’t go out of his way to do something that would cost him.”
Drek didn’t seem particularly concerned.
Maybe I was just a small-time nobody fretting by myself.
“By the way, why hasn’t Baldik gotten up?”
“Him? He drank with the merchant all night yesterday. There’s no way he’d be up.”
“Ah…”
He drank with him even after what happened yesterday?
Both Baldik and Dardan were impressive in many ways.
“Ugh… You’re all noisy from the morning.”
Baldik, who came out of his room with his hair a mess, grumbled.
“You sure come running like a ghost when we talk about you.”
“Were you badmouthing me behind my back? Innkeeper! Bring me one too.”
“What? No, we didn’t say anything much.”
Of course, if Baldik had woken up just a little later, I had been planning to.
He was sharp in the most useless ways.
“The beer here is terrible. It’s lukewarm, so it feels like I’m drinking horse piss.”
Baldik whispered quietly to us.
For someone who said that, he seemed to have drunk just fine yesterday.
“Mr. Baldik! How can you say that after drinking eight mugs yesterday?”
“Oops, looks like she heard me.”
The waitress said in a sulky voice as she brought out the food.
By the way, eight mugs? He drank that much when he didn’t even have money?
For someone mooching off others, he really was shameless.
“What will you do?”
“Do what? Ah, you mean what I’m going to do now?”
The question he had asked me was now being asked of Baldik.
I was curious too. What would this former priest do now?
“I’m going back to my hometown. I wasn’t from here in the first place anyway.”
“I see.”
Going back to his hometown… How enviable.
“Then what are you going to do? From the feel of it, you’ve already talked about it.”
“I’m going to the ruins.”
“The ruins? You’re going there?”
Baldik spoke as if he couldn’t understand it.
“Tsk. Well, whatever. Everyone has their own circumstances.”
When Drek continued spooning up only his soup with a hardened expression, Baldik drank some water as if he understood.
“So what will our mage be doing?”
“Me? I’m going to accompany you at least until Garnian.”
“I’m going that far too. What are you going to do when you get there?”
Since I didn’t actually have a concrete plan, I was at a loss for words.
“Looks like you don’t have a plan either. Then how about going with me?”
“With you? Why?”
“What’s with that reaction? You have a problem with going with me!?”
Baldik flinched in anger at my lukewarm response.
“No, it’s not that.”
“Well, fine. Anyway, I was saying we should go together because your magic tower is in my hometown.”
“Your magic tower… Ah, don’t tell me?”
I had definitely heard that the Blue Magic Tower was in the Lahajakh Desert.
“Yeah, I’m from the desert too. Of course, it’s a region a bit far from the magic tower.”
“You were from the desert. No wonder I’d never heard of your tribe’s name.”
Drek nodded.
But if he was from the desert, how had he ended up all the way here?
“So are you coming with me or not?”
“Hmm… I’ll go with you.”
Since I didn’t particularly have anywhere to go, I decided to accompany him.
I needed to investigate the past of this body’s original owner.
Originally, I had thought of investigating that thatched hut from before as well, but if I went there, I was sure I’d be caught again, so this was a good opportunity.
“That aside, when are we crossing over?”
“As soon as the merchant returns, we’ll cross.”
He was talking about crossing into another territory.
It seemed he intended to leave today.
Well, dawdling would only increase the chances of being arrested.
“The merchant? When did he go out?”
“Clearly, right when the sun had just risen…”
I looked out the window and saw the sun hanging high in the sky.
What the? So it wasn’t morning. How long had I slept?
“But there’s been no word from him until now? Didn’t that bastard betray us?”
“Mm. Let’s eat, then go out.”
We roughly emptied our bowls and rose from our seats.
***
Outside, the heat of midday had already spread. People passing through the street hurried along toward their own destinations.
But Dardan, the one we were waiting for, was nowhere to be seen.
“This is strange.”
Baldik frowned.
“Didn’t that bastard betray us?”
“I don’t know.”
Drek answered expressionlessly, but his gaze wavered faintly.
Normally, it was a situation he might have brushed off as nothing, but this time, it seemed to bother him as well.
I worried inwardly.
‘Did he really betray us?’
Honestly, it was hard to trust Dardan one hundred percent.
But considering that he was a quick-witted merchant, was there any reason for him to go out of his way to betray us?
“Let’s go to the trading post first.”
Drek moved first. Baldik and I hurried after him.
When we arrived at the trading post, a few merchants were busily organizing goods inside.
But Dardan, the one we were looking for, was not there.
Baldik frowned and looked around.
“Did this bastard really disappear somewhere?”
“Wait a moment. Let’s ask someone.”
I spotted a middle-aged man doing accounts inside and approached him.
“Excuse me. Wasn’t there a merchant named Dardan here?”
He raised his head, blinked, and answered.
“Dardan? Ah, that man did arrive in the morning.”
“Then where is he now?”
“Well…”
The man hesitated as if something felt uncomfortable, then opened his mouth.
“That man bought goods from the trading post, talked with some people, then left in a hurry. His expression didn’t look ordinary.”
“He left? Where to?”
“I don’t know that. Maybe he went toward the river.”
Toward the river… Did he run away?
I looked back at Drek and Baldik.
“What should we do?”
Drek kept his mouth tightly shut, seemingly lost in thought.
Baldik, on the other hand, let out a laugh as if he found it absurd.
“What is this? Did he really make a run for it?”
But Drek shook his head.
“If he ran away, he would have moved more subtly. He’s not the kind of man to act so conspicuously.”
“Then you’re saying we should go to the river?”
“Yes.”
The three of us hurried out of the trading post. When we came outside, the stinging sunlight struck our faces.
With tension in the air, we headed toward the river at a brisk pace.
Had Dardan truly betrayed us, or had he gotten caught up in something?
It was a situation where we couldn’t be certain of anything.
With tension in the air, we headed toward the river at a brisk pace.
Surprisingly, a port had formed along the river. So rivers could have ports too.
Of course, compared to a modern port, it was shabby, but even this scale showed that active trade was taking place.
A large arched stone bridge spanned the river, and boats bustled back and forth beneath it.
I had felt it when I saw the town walls too, but this place’s level of technology was better than I’d expected.
But what mattered right now was Dardan.
Baldik looked around and pointed toward the port.
“Hey, look over there.”
Our gazes focused on one spot.
In front of the port, at one corner, people were gathered and murmuring.
Scattered among them were familiar pieces of luggage, none other than the items Dardan had been carrying around.
“…This is suspicious.”
I bit my lip at an ominous feeling.
We approached cautiously.
As we drew closer, we could hear the people talking.
“When the hell did that bastard run away?”
“I bought goods from him. I won’t get arrested for that, will I?”
“What happened?”
When I stepped forward and asked, a man answered in an irritated voice.
“That damn bastard was a fence!”
“…Pardon?”
“He dropped some of his goods while trying to run away! They say items stolen from a noble family were found in his luggage!”
It was hard to properly understand the words pouring out like rapid fire.
“C-Calm down. Just who exactly is this man—”
“Who do you think? Dardan, that damn bastard! No wonder he had nothing but precious goods!”
“…What did you say?”
For a moment, my head rang.
‘…That man was a fence?’
One soldier spoke with a heavy expression.
“Dardan escaped by boat right before we arrived. But when we inspected his luggage, we found relics from a noble family that had been reported stolen.”
“…So where did he go now?”
When Drek asked, the soldier sighed.
“It seems he headed south along the river, but… there’s no way to confirm his exact whereabouts. If you want to catch him, you’ll have to go farther downstream.”
We looked at one another in disbelief.
“Damn it, I didn’t expect this kind of betrayal. No wonder he was throwing money around.”
Baldik scratched his head as if feeling hollow.
I let out a long sigh.
‘Why do I keep getting entangled only with criminals?’
Maybe, in the first place, crime was part of everyday life here.
Just then, one of the soldiers stared intently at us and spoke.
“By the way… weren’t you Dardan’s companions?”
The soldier scrutinized us with eyes full of suspicion.
“No, we were mercenaries hired temporarily.”
I calmly spat out a lie.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t wrong.
But the soldier’s gaze sharpened even further, and soon he began rummaging through our belongings.
“Hm… You say you’re mercenaries? Then where’s your equipment?”
“Well… you see, Dardan…”
“What…? Don’t tell me you lot got taken in too?”
The soldier clicked his tongue as if he found it absurd.
“Tch, that’s a real shame for you, then. Hey, let these guys go.”
In the end, thanks to pinning all the blame on Dardan, we were safely released.
But the problem was not over yet.
With Dardan gone, our identities had become uncertain.
We fell into deep thought.
“What do we do? Doesn’t this mean we can’t cross over?”
“Hmm…”
It seemed that to enter another territory, we needed a clear identity or a travel permit.
But right now, we had neither.
“In the end, we’ll have no choice but to use the method we mentioned at first.”
“Ah, right. There was that method.”
The method we mentioned at first?
Ah, did he mean sneaking across illegally?
After going in circles, we were back to crime.
Truly, it was a solution befitting a gathering of criminals.
“But guys like that are expensive. We’re beggars, remember?”
“Exactly. How are we supposed to earn money?”
“I saw yesterday that there was definitely a mercenary guild. We’ll have to go there.”
A mercenary guild, huh. I had been curious about it.
The guild was not far from the center of town.
A large wooden sign with a sword painted on it hung over the entrance, and inside, burly men were drinking and making a racket.
“Wow, it’s more crowded than I expected.”
Baldik muttered as he looked around inside.
I pushed the door open and entered, scanning our surroundings. I was worried someone might pick a fight with us, but nothing of the sort happened.
Whether it was because of our shabby appearance or because that kind of culture simply didn’t exist here, the mercenaries were too busy drinking and talking among themselves to pay us any particular attention.
There was a reception desk inside, and several mercenaries were already lined up.
We quietly stood behind them.
When our turn came, the woman who appeared to be the receptionist looked at us and asked,
“Are you here to register a request?”
“No. We’re here to make a report.”
At Drek’s words, the receptionist looked up with interest.
“A report? What kind?”
“While traveling yesterday, we discovered a group of goblins on the outskirts of the village.”
“…A group of goblins? About how large was it?”
“We saw at least three groups moving in units of five or six. It looks like a settlement has formed.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the mercenaries around us all turned to look.
“A goblin settlement?”
“If that’s true, this could get pretty troublesome.”
The receptionist’s expression also hardened, and she asked for a more detailed explanation.
“Could you tell me the exact location?”
Drek explained the approximate location of the forest where the goblins had gathered.
The receptionist quickly made a record, then immediately relayed the information deeper into the guild.
A short while later, one of the guild officials called us over.
“You lot, are you certain you found that goblin settlement?”
Instead of answering, Drek took out the small leather pouch hanging at his waist.
Then he pulled out a dried goblin ear from inside and placed it on the reception desk.
The official frowned as he examined it, then nodded.
“This is… definitely a goblin ear. Did you hunt it yourselves?”
“We did.”
“Good. Then we’ll register this as an official request.”
He immediately began organizing a subjugation party.
Then, after giving us a quick once-over, he made an unexpected offer.
“Do you have any intention of joining as well?”
For a moment, we looked at one another.
“What’s the pay?”
When Baldik asked the practical question, the official smiled and answered.
“We’ll add ten percent more than a standard subjugation mission. Of course, you’ll receive the reporting reward separately.”
We thought it over for a moment, but in the end, we decided to accept the offer.
We needed money, and we were in no position to be picky.
That aside, I’ll need to properly figure out how the currency system in this world works.
I know they use things like silver coins, but I have no sense of their exact value.
I’ll have to ask Baldik later.
And so, we set out with the mercenary guild to subjugate the goblins.