episode_0065

Perhaps in a peaceful sleeping spell he never wanted to escape from, Usher could feel small hands caressing his head. Knowing that this touch was Belka’s way of waking him, he shook off the quiet sleeping spell that kept pulling him in and opened his eyes.

“Usher.”

Then, as always, the girl was waiting, looking at him with gentle golden eyes and calling his name affectionately. Usher smiled bashfully as he met her eyes.

“Good morning. Belka.”

Belka never tried to force him to wake up. She simply caressed him like this and gently stroked him when it was time to get up. Usher liked that gentle and kind touch. It felt like it showed how much she cherished him. While drowsiness lingered, Usher rubbed his head against her hand, indulging in all sorts of childish behavior, until he realized that the clothes the girl was wearing today were different.

“When did you change your clothes?”

Belka usually enjoyed wearing clothes that were close to black or red, so the white clothes she was wearing stood out more. Was it because she was always wearing dark tones? Belka, wearing plain white clothes on her slender body, looked more delicate than usual. The girl who was like a witch in a fairy tale seemed like a pure girl today. Usher’s eyes lit up at Belka’s unusual appearance, and she blushed and avoided his gaze.

“Ah, this.”

“I changed them for you.”

The voice that answered before Belka was Seep’s. Feeling puzzled by the somewhat awkward voice, he looked at her.

“I don’t know what you guys did yesterday, but you were sweating a lot, so I thought you might catch a cold.”

“Ah.”

At her words, Usher recalled what he and Belka had done last night, and his face turned hot. Had she found out? As he watched her reaction, she held out more white clothes.

“Um, if you don’t have any clothes to change into, would you like to change into these?”

The clothes she held out were white like the ones Belka was wearing, but they were divided into a top and bottom. When he touched them, they were fluffy and, though it was a stretch to call them “new”, they felt new. He went behind the folding screen set up in the corner and put them on. They were loose-fitting and didn’t catch anywhere, so it was easy to move around. They were made thinly, like clothes worn when taking a bath, so he was not unfamiliar with the way the air brushed through and fluttered every time he moved. Rather, he was glad because he used to take such clothes apart and use them as cloths to cover his head to avoid the sun when riding through the wilderness.

“But who used to wear these clothes?”

Usher asked, relieved that Seep didn’t know what they had done yesterday. If he had seen Belka staring at Seep without saying a word before quickly turning her head away, he would have known something was wrong, but he purely believed Seep’s words. He didn’t seem to realize it, but Usher was particularly friendly to Seep. Perhaps it was because she looked so much like Marie, who was like family to Usher. The atmosphere was quite different, but they both had rare blonde hair and emerald eyes, so it would have been stranger if he hadn’t seen them as similar.

There were plenty of merchants and children in the caravan who wanted to be close to Belka and Usher. There was no way the children wouldn’t be interested in the strange children who appeared on the boring merchant journey, and there was no way the boys who had just opened their eyes to interest in the opposite gender wouldn’t be interested in Belka’s promising appearance. But they, especially Usher, were prickly. Despite his outgoing personality, he was shy.

The fact that Usher showed the most affection to Seep and Donar, other than Belka, was something that even the caravan members who had only met them recently could easily see. At best, people like Shalby, Donar’s friend, or others could talk to them freely. Seep couldn’t have been unaware of that. She, in her own way, liked Usher. She couldn’t help but like the child who was prickly to everyone else but was especially friendly to her, but apart from that, Seep liked Usher, who shone and revealed his affection when he looked only at her.

If Belka comforted her by gently embracing her, Usher comforted her with his clear eyes full of pure goodwill. He himself may not have known how much his actions comforted her.

“No one specifically wore them. They were made for patients.”

Because treating wounds was really annoying if scabs hardened while stuck to clothes, there were several of these clothes piled up. There was also the reason that quite a few people died without even having a chance to wear these clothes. Seep felt, whether it was just her imagination or not, that they had encountered fewer dangerous creatures since meeting these children. Just then, Donar opened the door and came in.

“Seep, the kids are… Oh, you’re up. I was just about to leave after eating breakfast.”

Come to think of it, today was the day they had to go sell goods. He really liked this place. Usher sighed with regret.

“It’s not like we’re not coming back, so don’t be too sad. We need money from this place to settle down, right?”

Fortunately, there was a city with many people not far from this village, so it seemed they didn’t need to go far. In fact, the dwarves in this mining village often exchanged goods and specialties with nearby cities to sell them, so they gave them a map and taught them the way. Instead, those who needed stability, including the patients and the doctor Trus, would remain in the village. Once they sold the goods and raised enough money, those who wanted to stay here would stay, and those who wanted to scatter elsewhere would do so.

“So that means.”

“The caravan will disband.”

Usher seemed to know why he was saying this. If they sold all the goods and provided funds for people to settle down, they would also settle down, so he was telling them to consider living with them until then. The worry he had briefly forgotten yesterday resurfaced.

“Already preparing to leave? You’re really diligent early in the morning.”

Donar wanted to tell the dwarf Paryar, who was saying this with regret, that they were the diligent ones. Clearly, they had all drunk so much alcohol yesterday that many of the coachmen were clutching their heads, slightly dizzy from hangovers. It wasn’t a problem for them to drive the carriage with that much of a hangover, but just in case, they were planning to rest for a bit to relieve their hangovers and then depart in the morning. But the dwarves were up early in the morning with perfectly fine faces, as if they didn’t have hangovers, and were getting their equipment ready and going to work.

The dwarves, who had been enthusiastically drinking the night before, were going to work as if nothing was wrong, doing their jobs as a habit, as if claiming they were completely different people, which made them, who had lived as knights back in their hometown, feel tired. Yesterday was a party, but they suspected that they might be having such parties every evening. Moreover, Donar truly doubted his eyes at the next sight he discovered. He grabbed Git, who seemed to be looking around earlier, by the shoulder and asked.

“Hey, Git, I’m not seeing things, am I?”

“I was thinking the same thing, but since you can see it too, I guess it’s not an illusion.”

The sight that appeared in their eyes was truly astonishing. Next to Trus, who had been dragged away by the dwarves yesterday, was a woman who looked like she had just become an adult, chattering cheerfully in front of Trus. She was small like a child, but her atmosphere and physique clearly showed that she was an adult, which was exactly like a dwarf. Trus also seemed flustered and couldn’t say anything properly, and was being held by the woman and giving them a look asking for help.

“Hey, what’s for breakfast today?”

“I think it’s bean sprout soup.”

They just ignored Trus’s expression as if he were a traitor. They thought that spring was coming to Trus as well. The partner was a bit small, but somehow it would work out. He had only been expecting the job of pulling the carriage to decrease, but now that he had to drive the carriage again, Donar felt his back hurt for no reason. The cause seemed to be Seep rather than the carriage, but he said to Git.

“Git, lend me a cushion later. My back hurts when I drive the carriage.”

“No way! You little punk! What kind of cushion do you think that is!”

As expected, Git wouldn’t lend him the cushion, even as a joke. Well, he didn’t really expect him to.

“Just a little.”

“Get lost!”

The dwarves left for work, and as the sun rose to the middle of the sky, the people of the caravan became busy. However, Trus, who had to take care of the patients who were left behind, was being held by a woman and watched them leave with an expression asking for help, but the coachmen and Donar who received that gaze ignored him.

“Hmm, good for him.”

The dangerous cloud zone had already passed, and since it wasn’t his shift today, Git, who had been guarding his side, was not there now. But he sighed at the sight of the winding, repetitive road.

“We’ve passed the cloud zone, but why does this kind of road have to appear? Is it my shift?”

The carriage was going down the road, winding and curving who knows how many times, instead of going down at once. It was truly boring because they were going around the road several times when they could have gone down a long time ago if it had been made straight. Thanks to that, it was also a notorious road among the coachmen. However, if they made such a mountain road straight, something big would happen, so they had no choice but to endure it. Still, the city was definitely not far away, so they were able to arrive in the city not long after.

Even though he had passed two huge walls, he wondered if they had built another wall to separate the city. It was an incomprehensible sight, but anyway, it seemed like they were doing a separate inspection here, so he signaled to stop the carriage.

“What brings you here?”

Would it be rude if the sight of the guards, who seemed to be very nervous looking at them, reminded him of his days as a new recruit? As he was the leader, he took out the merchant permit and badge issued by the gray dwarf, which he had put in his pocket, and showed them.

“…A permit? I thought you were here to declare war from another territory?”

He could understand why they were so nervous at the guard’s muttering. Come to think of it, the carriage they were pulling was too big and heavy to be seen as a simple merchant carriage. It was like a chariot that would be used in war. And he realized why the gray dwarf had looked at them so suspiciously at first. How should he put it? Frankly speaking, their forces were too much to be called a simple caravan. Moreover, there were two knights deployed in each carriage who could handle crayfish, which were more difficult than dragons in certain situations.

‘It’s a wonder we weren’t kicked out!’

By their standards, it was definitely a small scale, but except for exceptions like the giant countries or holy sites like Pasiphaenia or Lantua, their power was comparable to that of most city-states. He was sweating cold when he belatedly realized that fact, and soon he could only give a bitter smile at the sight of the guard bringing the permit with the approval stamp on his face with a dazed expression. As he watched the gate starting to open, he suddenly had a question.

‘Then what did that dwarf see in us to give us permission?’

Giving permission was definitely a good thing, but he felt something uneasy about that nameless favor.

“Wow.”

The city was a more vibrant place than Usher had imagined. In the blazing sunlight, the wide streets were filled with crowds. Knowing that even if many people gathered in the countryside, they would barely fill a narrower street than this, he was amazed by the sight of so many people. Above all, the sight of dwarves appearing frequently among the people was a particularly different sight from what Usher had seen so far, so he couldn’t easily take his eyes off them.

Usher and Belka thought that the conditions were not sufficient to stay in that mining village yet, and that it would be better to follow them to a place that was relatively familiar rather than a place with many strangers, so they followed them with regret. But even that regret was short-lived, and Usher was quickly captivated by the city’s splendor. If the buildings in the mining village had a grandeur like large sculptures, this city was impressive with its densely packed buildings and merchants haggling here and there.

“If you’re so amazed, why don’t you go have some fun?”

Donar smiled and suggested to him, as the sight was just like a country bumpkin.

“Is it okay if I don’t help you?”

“It’s okay, kid. The others have already gone to play. You guys go and have fun too.”

“But.”

Usher hesitated, but Donar spoke as if he was angry.

“Hey, even if you guys help, others will say I’m exploiting you. Go quickly. Don’t go to dangerous places.”

Usher’s feet didn’t fall easily, but at his threat, he grabbed the girl’s hand and walked down the street. Was it because of the news that the caravan had arrived? The streets, which were already crowded with people, were even more crowded after they arrived. Before, there was at least a road for the carriages to pass, but now it was full of people with sparkling eyes of curiosity. He stopped only after running for a long time after arriving in the city and finding a wide place, so it must have been for this reason.

As they were looking around the city, one place that caught their eye was a particularly small one-room store among many stores, with various leather scraps piled up in drawers. In front of it, an old man was sitting on a chair under an awning attached to the building to block the sunlight, dozing off.

“Belka, do you know what that place is?”

Then the girl’s gaze turned to where his fingertip was pointing. Belka still didn’t take off her mask, perhaps because she was burdened by the gazes of the people, but he could tell where she was looking. The girl stared at the old man and the leather scraps piled up behind him for a moment before opening her mouth.

“Yeah, it looks like they make shoes.”

“With leather? Wouldn’t it be weak?”

“I don’t think so.”

In Usher’s place, shoes were usually made by weaving straw or with wood, so this sight was also amazing. It didn’t seem like all the people in the city were wearing leather shoes, but most of them seemed to be.

“Should we buy one?”

Come to think of it, he and Belka were wearing shoes made by punching holes in wooden soles and weaving them with straw. In fact, the girl had been walking barefoot, so it was what he had given her as a gift a long time ago, but seeing this, he wanted to give her something better.

“No. We haven’t even found a place to stay yet.”

“Ah, right.”

But what came back from the girl was a small rebuke. When he thought about it, the first thing they needed to prepare was a place to stay. If they were staying here for a short time, they could stay in a place like an inn, but considering the cloud zone, they would have no choice but to move by joining another caravan again. And they had to spend money considering the market price here. If they made a mistake, they might not have enough, so he worried, but.

“Excuse me, Grandpa!”

He led Belka and shouted as he approached the old man.

“Usher…?!”

The girl called him in a flustered tone, but the old man, who had been dozing off, was surprised by his shout and raised his head. He stood in front of such an old man and.

“How much are the shoes?”

“Hmm, are you thinking of giving them to the young lady in the back?”

The old man narrowed his eyes behind the round lenses and asked, looking back and forth between him and the girl.

“Yes.”

“Ugh, Usher.”

Belka grabbed and pulled his clothes as if she was complaining, but he tried to ignore her. He couldn’t explain it, but this was his stubbornness. The old man watched them for a while with an expression that couldn’t be read, then took out a leather board from one of the drawers. It was clean like new, but it had been used several times, so it was tattered with scissors and should have been called a leather scrap. The old man put it on the small workbench in front of him.

“Young lady, put your foot on it once.”

“Come on, Belka, quickly.”

It could be felt even beyond the mask that the girl was looking at him with dissatisfaction, but Usher desperately hid his cold sweat and urged her calmly. Then, Belka put her foot on the leather board as if she couldn’t help it.

“The young lady has pretty feet.”

The old man murmured to himself as if talking to himself, and with a ballpoint pen in his calloused, twig-like, cracked, and stone-hard hand, he traced the outline of the girl’s foot. After tracing all of it, he lifted the leather board and said.

“That would be about 156 copper coins.”

“Huh? Copper coins?”

Copper coins? Didn’t they use iron coins here? Moreover, a hundred units? Usher asked again, troubled by the thought that he might have been trying to buy something really expensive.

“Don’t you handle iron coins separately?”

Then the old man, who had been looking down, looked at him with wide eyes and.

“If it’s iron coins.”

He fiddled with something like a board with several wooden beads hanging on it, making it swing back and forth, and then asked him.

“Could you show me one of the iron coins? One that’s exactly the same as the ones you have.”

“Ah, yes.”

At that, Usher handed him one of the iron coins he had brought in advance. He couldn’t know if they were exactly the same, but the iron coins he had collected from the village were so similar that he couldn’t feel any difference with the naked eye. The old man took one of the iron coins from him and took out a scale. And he put the iron coin on one side of the scale and repeatedly put on and took off small and large weights on the other side.

“It’s a little less than 1 ounce.”

Then he fiddled with the wooden beads on the wooden board a few more times and said.

“If the iron coins you have are all about the same, then twelve iron coins will be enough.”

“Ah, then I’ll give them to you!”

“Hmm, it will take about a day to make them, so leave six coins as a deposit. I’ll receive the rest when you come next time.”

For that reason, they had to go back empty-handed for now.

“It wasn’t even necessary. Why did you spend money on that?”

It was only Usher’s share of Belka’s dissatisfied gaze, though. But at the girl’s stinging gaze, he avoided her eyes and excused himself, saying that he couldn’t help it.

“But I always want to give Belka something better.”

He realized that the nagging he had been hearing from the girl had disappeared when he closed his eyes tightly and said it.

“Ugh…”

Belka couldn’t look at him properly, as if trying to hide her reddened face even though she had a mask covering her face.