Chapter 9 - Lodar Wetland
After passing through Tengu Village, we took a carriage ride leisurely to the west.
On the way, we left Big Snake, a small fish monster, in the hands of the second team, and arrived at the next inn town without any problems.
As expected, we had a hard time finding a place to stay since we were a large group of over 60 people, but sleeping together in a large room was better than sleeping out in the open.
In the wild, it is essential to keep a lookout in case of monsters.
Of course, I had the privilege of being the leader of the group, sleeping in the women's room. I don't want to sleep in the men's room.
I was shaken.
「Wake up, Alec.」
It's Serina's voice.
「Kuahh....what's wrong? Is there problem?」
「No, no trouble. But you should have some breakfast. I heard we'll be camping out for a while from here.」
「I see. It can't be helped.」
I've heard that it's half a month's journey to the Kingdom of Austin by carriage.
The mysterious black magician is said to be heading there, so that's where we're going.
I'm also trying to find a way to change my class to Magic Swordman, so that's my goal.
We need to somehow acquire the ability to defeat the black sea anemone by the end of the year.
If not, we'll be wiped out.
But we still have a year to go. There's no need to rush.
I managed to shove the tasteless bread and almost tasteless soup into my stomach and put on my armor.
I checked out of the inn and immediately boarded the carriage.
「Is everyone here?」
「Yes, I've checked the numbers. We're fine.」
Nick, the coachman, says with a smiles, but that's relief.
Many of our members are rather free-spirited, but they don't want to be thrown out at this inn with bad food.
Then, if it's a good food inn, I'm worried. ...... Well, it's no use worrying about it now. They're not kids, and they should be able to support themselves on their own.
The view from the back of the wagon changed from grass to grey soil and then to puddles in places.
There were horse hoof prints on the road, and our steps slowed down due to the slush.
It's a swamp.
「It's monsters. It's okay, it's low level, Clyde, please.」
Serina called out to him.
「Hehe, you can leave them to us. Let's go, boys.」
「「「 Oohhhh! 」」」
The second party fought against a larger-than-human water strider. I was going to back them up if they struggled, but they were single-digit level monsters, or they were going up in smoke easily.
「Okay, it's clear!」
「I'm glad it was so easy, but I'm covered in mud.」
Clyde and the others said, looking at their clothes.
「Letty.」
「Ah, *splash*, then!」
Letty splashes them with water without chanting, but this time they are soaked. The second army member who was sprayed with water made a subtle face.
I was about to tell her to dry them off, but I had a bad feeling about it, so I used wind magic on them myself.
「Phew, thank you very much, Alec-san, Letty-san!」
The carriage started moving again, but Meena's nose twitched and she made a grim face.
「Meena, what's wrong?」
「Master, I smell another monster. It's not nearby, but it's coming through here.」
「I see. Is there something that's bothering you?」
「Yeah, there's a smell of dried meat mixed in. ......」
「Then maybe some adventurers have been through here.」
「I guess so. Yeah」
Meena seemed to be satisfied with that and returned to her calm face.
The leader of the carriage whistled and the carriage came to a stop. Something seemed to have happened.
But it wasn't a signal of an enemy or an emergency, so we waited.
Nick arrived.
「Alec-san, we can see the village to the south ahead. We're going to start preparing for night camp soon.」
If it's off the road, it's probably not an inn town. So, I guess we can't expect to find a place to stay.
But still, it's better than camping out.
「I guess so. Serina, Saki, please try to negotiate with the village chief. I'll be happy to pay for the lodging.」
「I got it」
「You can leave it to me」
When they came back, they smiled and said that the village chief had given them permission.
「However, the maximum number of people who can sleep in a room is five.」
「Then we can all go outside.」
The village seemed to be quite small, with only about ten houses when we rode in by carriage.
「If there's anything you need, just let me know. But as you can see, it's just a village, and I can only offer you medicinal herbs.」
The old, bent-over village chief said with a sullen look on his face.
「There's no need. We'll leave tomorrow morning.」
「Yes, I understand. Um, ......」
「What is it?」
「...... No, nothing.」
The old man walked into the house with a depressed look on his face, was he unhappy about something?
「Saki, did you force yourself to ask for money?」
「No, no, no. I wouldn't do such a nasty thing. I don't like it. The other side said, "If you're a skilled adventurer, you won't have to worry about monsters attacking you”.」
「That's a pretty gloomy look on his face, though.」
「I guess so. Well, something must have happened, but you know, it's probably not the right thing to ask. Like a death in the family.」
「I guess so.」
The other side knew that we were an adventurer and gave us permission, so if they had a request, they would have said it themselves.
The next morning, I woke up and quickly checked the women of the village to see if they were hanging their laundry out to dry, but there were no young women.
It's a withering village.
「All right, we're off.」
After the carriage started moving, Serina murmured.
「It was kind of a lonely village, wasn't it?」
「Yes, it was.」
「Yesterday, the village chief was about to say something to Alec, but I think he was asking for a favor.」
「If so, why didn't you ask him?」
「Maybe he thought it would cost a lot of money for a big clan with ...... great skills.」
「That may be true, but then again, they could have asked another adventurer.」
「That's true. I wonder if there are many people on this road. ......?」
「I've heard that there aren't many on this road, and there are some strong monsters ahead.」
Nick answered to Serina's question.
「Hmm.」
「It's not much, but it's not zero.」
「I guess so.」
It seemed that she still had some reservations, but she didn't want to go back.
We had been moving for a while when Meena silently jumped out of the carriage.
「Meena?」
「Master, it's the human who's chasing us! It looks like someone from that village!」
Something's happened in the village.
「Stop the carriage!」
I stopped the carriage and waited for the middle-aged father who was running from the other side. He seemed to have run all the way from that village and was gasping for breath when he arrived. I gave him a bottle of water and waited for him to be able to talk.
「Phew, Ah I'm glad, I'm caught you up!」
「So, what do you want from us?」
「Well, actually, one of the village girls has disappeared. She might have been kidnapped by a monster or something. ...... Ahhh, I don't know what I should do!
「Calm down. So, your quest is to find the girl, right?」
「Yeah, that's right.」
「What's the status of the kidnapping? Did anyone hear or see the monster?」
「No, that's the thing... the girl's old man said that she was gone by the time he noticed her, and he couldn't find her when he looked around.」
「Hmm. ......」
「Alec, of course you'll accept, right?」
This is a very bad quest, Serina said. Worst case scenario, his daughter will be eaten by a monster and we won't find anything.
「We only have one day to search. Then I'll accept. I'll talk to the village chief about the reward later.」
「Oh, good, thank you very much!」
The villager man was pleased, but as we talked more on the way to the village in the carriage, it seemed that there was a reason why the village was so dark. Just two days ago, the village chief's daughter had been attacked by a giant lizard and lost her life.
「Why don't you evacuate to a safer place?」
Serina asked.
「Even if we wanted to move, the land around here is too thin. Even if we abandoned our fields and went to another country, we wouldn't have a place to live. Besides, we didn't have many monsters or lizards until last year. From that day on, all of a sudden... that guy was the god of epidemics, after all.」
「That guy?」
「It's a woman in a pitch black robe! I was against it because it was creepy as hell, but the village chief said we have to be nice to travelers. Nothing happened at that time, but the next day, right after the woman left, a swarm of lizards came to the village, and the village was torn to pieces.」
「That's ......」
It is possible that this is the same person as the magician we are chasing.
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