While chatting with Chad, I naturally turned my head at the sound of the inn door opening.
The ones who entered through the door were Ranseon and his servant.
*Were they outside?*
The servant, who hadn’t even been able to walk properly until dawn, now walked in looking fairly fine.
Spotting us sitting in the dining hall, he approached us straightaway.
“You’re awake.”
“Yes. You look quite all right.”
“…”
The servant clearly looked improved, but he still didn’t open his mouth.
Did he have aphasia or something?
When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, Ranseon opened his mouth as if to explain.
“It’s… a relic side effect.”
“Ah.”
My head nodded involuntarily at the word *relic*.
The relics I’d come to know of lately all had severe penalties.
At this point, perhaps a relic was, from the very beginning, a kind of price exacted upon those who sought power without effort.
“The price seems higher than I thought.”
“Most relics tend to be that way. That’s what makes them interesting.”
As Ranseon said that, he subtly turned his gaze to look at Chad’s helmet.
His eyes held the exact gleam of an adventurer who had discovered treasure.
Could he have noticed that it was a relic?
Chad couldn’t possibly be unaware of that gaze.
He tossed out a brief remark.
“Hey, put those eyes away. I’m not thinking of selling this. Not like I could even if I wanted to.”
Ranseon flinched and averted his gaze.
Then he let out an awkward cough.
“Ah, pardon me. It’s just that it’s such an eye-catching helmet.”
“It is eye-catching. There’s no one like me no matter where you go.”
Chad shrugged and tapped his helmet.
His characteristic tone was, as always, half-serious, half-joking.
“That is a relic, right?”
In the end, Ranseon was the one who opened his mouth first.
Chad hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.
Judging by Ranseon’s expression, even he seemed to feel a heavy burden.
“Woah…”
Like a child who had found a toy, he couldn’t take his eyes off the helmet.
So this was why they said he came from a relic-related clan.
In a way, it was an obsession almost to the point of being creepy.
“If you don’t mind, what kind of ability and restrictions does it have—”
“Enough.”
Chad cut Ranseon off and quietly looked at him.
“You. Are you Ribeu’s comrade?”
“C-comrade? No, I’m just—”
“Then don’t cross the line.”
The look in his eyes visible beyond the helmet was undeniably brutal.
So this was what it meant to be a knight.
“…I’m sorry.”
Ranseon finally seemed to give up, bowing his head and apologizing quietly.
Even so, seeing how his eyes still darted toward the helmet, he hadn’t completely given up.
As I thought, this guy wasn’t in his right mind either.
“By any chance, when do you plan to depart?”
“When Baldik wakes up.”
We could put him in the carriage and go since we had one, but that would be too harsh on a patient.
No matter how barbaric an age this was, I couldn’t be that heartless.
“I see.”
“…Are you in a hurry?”
I asked back at Ranseon’s reaction.
“No, not exactly… but since this is a place where we went through a dangerous incident, I’d like to leave quickly.”
“Hmm, that makes sense.”
Well, staying long in a place like this would be mentally taxing too.
“Come to think of it, what do you sell?”
I hadn’t asked the most important thing.
He had introduced himself as a merchant, so he must have goods to sell.
“Ah, I deal in all sorts of miscellaneous things.”
He told us to wait a moment, then brought a luggage bundle with his servant.
And with practiced movements, he unfurled the cloth to show us.
On the bundle were foods like dried fruits and nuts, and daily necessities like candles and oil.
It was, quite literally, exactly the kind of assortment that befitted a peddler.
“Hey, isn’t this a scented candle?”
Chad brought his nose close and sniffed.
“This is something nobles use in their rooms? It’s cheap stuff, but the smell is decent.”
“Oh, isn’t this oil? It’s even mixed with resin.”
Sailleon examined the items one by one, letting out exclamations of admiration.
So that was why they moved with just the two of them—they didn’t have any valuables or heavy luggage.
…But was there really any reason to cross the border with just this much stuff?
Still, it wasn’t bad news for us.
Seeing Sailleon already haggling over prices, it meant we’d be able to re-equip once more.
“I’ll only take half price for the goods.”
“Oh, really?”
“However, you must come with us.”
Even though we had already agreed to go together, he still seemed uneasy.
His trembling pupils couldn’t hide it.
…Well, compared to when we first contracted, our value had changed a lot.
He didn’t know it, but this party currently had
a magician, a knight, a priest, and even a porter—an outwardly quite “elite” composition.
Of course, each member had their flaws… but they were still members you couldn’t contract for pennies.
“Of course!”
Sailleon agreed on his own, cheerfully picking up items.
…That porter bastard?
Well, we had been planning to go together anyway, so it wasn’t a problem.
It was just a matter of pride.
Besides, there was no Baldik around to beat up Sailleon right now, so I decided to let it slide.
I also looked over the items one by one, then spoke to Ranseon as if issuing a warning.
“…You’ll have to keep the promise you made at the start.”
“What… ah.”
The promise that he wouldn’t hide anything from us.
If he had broken it, I had no intention of letting it pass.
***
Around sunset.
Finally, Baldik came to his senses.
And the first thing he uttered upon waking was—
“…Liquor.”
“Huh?”
“Bring me liquor!”
It was liquor.
I could only look down at Baldik lying in bed with a dumbfounded expression.
Here was a man who hadn’t even fully recovered, who couldn’t get up properly, demanding liquor of all things.
But even more absurd was everyone else’s reaction.
“Let’s hurry and get some.”
“Was there any left?”
They headed toward the kitchen as if it were only natural, shocking me once again.
“Wait, why are you giving liquor to a patient?”
“Huh? He’s a patient, so we have to give him liquor.”
Chad looked at me with an absurd expression, as if I were the strange one.
I wondered what he was talking about, but he was completely serious.
…What the hell.
For a while, I was too flabbergasted to do anything but open and close my mouth, eventually shutting it.
Were these people… seriously treating liquor as a cure?
In the end, Sailleon brought actual liquor and handed Baldik a wooden cup.
Baldik scrunched his face up and raised his upper body with difficulty, then immediately lifted the cup and chugged the beer.
I couldn’t even think to stop him, only able to blankly watch that absurd sight.
“Pwah—”
Baldik wiped his lips, exhaled, closed his eyes for a moment, and muttered lowly.
“Think I’m gonna live…”
At those words, Sailleon shrugged.
“That’s why liquor is the best.”
“Crazy…”
I couldn’t even swear out loud, just let out a deep breath.
That I was keeping my sanity intact among these guys was something even I found admirable.
Baldik slowly lay back down, clutching the wooden cup close to his chest, and muttered.
“Don’t wake me until tomorrow morning. Touch me and I’ll really kill you.”
At that, Sailleon playfully raised his hand and responded.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got no intention of bothering a dying man.”
I blankly watched their back-and-forth, then quietly turned my head.
The sun had already completely set.
The next morning.
Surprisingly, Baldik had woken up before me and was sitting in the dining hall.
Not only that, he was eating a normal meal with even a mug of beer at his side.
It was not a sight one would expect from someone who had been collapsed until yesterday.
“Keuh— Oh, you’re up.”
“Baldik, are you okay?”
He tapped his own stomach and said proudly.
“Ha, wounds like this heal up quick.”
“…Really?”
Had the potion’s effect been better than I thought?
Or was there something else at play?
Surely it wasn’t really because of the liquor?
The thought flickered through my mind for a moment, but my common sense immediately shut it down.
Of course, it was true that the people here drank a lot.
Because the water here was truly the worst.
No matter where you went, cloudy grayish-white water came out, probably mixed with a lot of lime.
The taste was out of the question, and the hygiene was untrustworthy.
I purified it and drank it myself, but people naturally preferred liquor, which was safer and tastier.
Perhaps that was why, in this place, liquor was water, and sometimes even a meal.
I could understand that.
But using it as a treatment, not a disinfectant?
No matter how I looked at it, that was unacceptable.
“Have you heard the situation?”
“Yeah, I heard the gist from Sailleon earlier… and that Chad? guy.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
So they had woken up first.
But where on earth had those two gone?
“Um… is it all right if someone new joins?”
It was a bit late, but since he was a companion traveling with us, I had to ask at least once.
“Huh? I’m fine with it. They say he’s a knight. I was going crazy having to take the lead every single day all by myself anyway, so this works out.”
“…That’s true, I suppose.”
But are knights usually so easygoing?
I had thought they were something like nobility, yet he had already introduced himself to Baldik by name.
Curious about that, I asked Baldik.
“Honestly, I freaked out when I heard he was a knight earlier. But he asked me to be comfortable around him. Seemed like that kind of guy to begin with. Plus, once I brought up liquor, we hit it off right away.”
……So it was liquor again in the end.
Around the time I finished eating the food I had ordered, Sailleon and Chad returned to the inn.
Chad was covered in dirt everywhere, as if he had rolled around on the dirt ground.
“So I’m telling you, you walk up to it and—”
“No, I’m telling you, you can’t do it like that!”
“Keuh… why is this so hard.”
I didn’t know what they were talking about, but from the mood, it seemed Chad was being scolded by Sailleon.
…What on earth had they been doing?
Shortly after, Chad plopped down across from me and let out a sigh.
“Ha, I really don’t like horses.”
……Horses?
“…Did you go practice horseback riding?”
When I asked carefully, Chad cleared his throat for no reason and said.
“Uh, it just sort of happened? Yeah. I learned a little.”
“…You’re a knight?”
I slightly raised an eyebrow, and he frowned and muttered quietly.
“What, do you have to know how to ride everything to be a knight? In this day and age, carriages are way better than—”
“But carriages are also pulled by horses.”
At my words, Chad clamped his mouth shut.
Beside him, Sailleon turned away with a face that looked like he was holding something in.
“Ugh, seriously. Don’t you laugh either!”
“I’m not laughing.”
“Your lips are trembling!”
In the end, he lowered his head and spoke as if to himself.
“…I shouldn’t have bothered learning… If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve just done it by myself…”
What the hell… a knight who can’t ride a horse?
I was genuinely curious.
How had such a person become a knight? I found myself wanting to know that backstory even more.
The ones who appointed him a knight probably weren’t in their right minds either.
“Ahem! Anyway, when are we leaving?”
A blatant topic-change skill.
Still, it was an important topic, so I answered instead.
“Baldik looks fine too… shall we set off around lunchtime? Is that okay?”
I turned my head and asked Baldik.
“I’m all for it. Let’s get going quick. I’ve been lying down so long my back’s about to snap.”
“Then let’s prepare right away.”
As soon as those words were spoken, we rose from our seats.
There was no reason to delay further, and nobody wanted to stay here long anyway.
Those who finished eating first began packing their things.
I went upstairs to the room and gathered my belongings.
Truth be told, I didn’t have much that could be called luggage.
A change of clothes, a pouch with basic supplies, and Gerangi, who still hadn’t woken up.
I tightened the backpack straps and fastened equipment around my waist one by one, then looked out the window for a moment.
The sky was already dyed in full morning light, and the scenery below was truly quiet.
When I went downstairs, Sailleon had already finished packing his own things and was helping Baldik with his armor buckles.
“Are you all right over here?”
“Yeah, aside from not being able to use my abs, I’m fine.”
“That seems like the most important part, though.”
“Shut up—just tighten the belt more.”
A short distance away, Chad was polishing his sword.
He had an awkward military cloak draped over his back, and his body was still covered in spots of dirt from falling off the horse.
“Why didn’t you dust that off before putting it on?”
At my words, Chad shrugged as if embarrassed.
“Ah, well… it’s a waste of time. And I guess you could call it a field aesthetic.”
“Not aesthetic. Hygiene.”
“……”
Fortunately, he nodded without a word.
We quickly finished preparing to depart and headed out to the inn’s front yard.
The servant had brought out the carriage early.
It was a bit dirty, but fortunately the wheels and horses didn’t look to be in bad shape.
After loading the luggage in the back compartment, we climbed aboard one by one.
Sailleon swept the floor inside the rattling carriage once and muttered.
“There’s too much dirt. You did dust yourself off before getting in, right, Mr. Baldik?”
“Forget it. Sit on something and it’ll all be covered.”
The innkeeper standing beside the carriage saw us off with hands clasped together.
Behind him, some villagers even waved.
The carriage began to move with a rattle.
As the metal wheels pushed along the dirt road, the inn gradually disappeared from view.
Behind us, the village bathed in morning sunlight grew smaller bit by bit.
Sitting with my back to that scenery, I let out a small breath.
Now, the next journey.
*Still, I’m not going alone.*
I muttered softly and looked at the backs of my companions sitting ahead.
A magician, a priest, a knight… and so on.
People traveling this journey together, each for their own reasons.
Not perfect, but somehow reliable.
I didn’t know what we’d encounter ahead, but for now, this was enough.
Our next destination was a border village.