Ch.103Gibson’s Port Road (1)

Gibson’s Port was an unremarkable harbor town.

A small city with a population of about 300,000, where ships bound for the Miriam Continent regularly stopped, somehow maintaining just enough income to scrape by while leveraging the various advantages of the port itself.

That was Gibson’s Port, and the reason we were heading there was simply because it was the closest to our current location.

“A port city…”

“Don’t expect too much. Comparing any coastal city on this Faerûn continent to Parcival would be cruel.”

“Really?”

Honestly, when I lived in Parcival, I didn’t particularly recognize whether a city was large or small.

Not only was I still too young, but my activity radius was limited to ruins, the harbor, and a few apartment complexes near the coastline.

As I recall, Parcival had an area of 1,834 km² with a population of about 8.3 million, and no matter how much I wandered around, I couldn’t possibly explore its entire massive size.

“Well, I’m not particularly expecting anything. I’ll judge the scenery from the ship… There’s no real reason to sightsee the city landscape.”

Raisha nodded.

To be honest, after seeing the downtown of Faerus Vale, Parcival was just a rural town.

I mean, when you’ve seen a city with over 100 million people and skyscrapers exceeding a kilometer in height, a mere city of 8.3 million doesn’t even register.

Even Raisha, having lived her entire life in Faerus Vale as a city woman, probably wouldn’t consider most cities large.

“Well, I suppose that’s true. By the way, do you elf lasses get seasick?”

“I don’t know since I’ve never been on a ship?”

When Simon asked the elf sisters, Lucia answered cheerfully.

Simon sighed at her response, but what could he do when she said she didn’t know because she’d never tried it? Just had to accept it.

Even I, though I had worked on ships before, had never actually sailed far out to sea, so I might end up spraying vomit all over Raisha’s dress.

“Anyway… at this pace, we should arrive at the village by this evening.”

“That’s welcome news.”

While I may pursue romance, I much preferred rolling around with my wife on a soft inn bed rather than sleeping on stone floors and in mud puddles.

Simon, given his age, had been complaining the whole time that if he slept poorly even once, his entire body would ache.

“Good. Then we can have a hearty lunch today. Right, Raisha?”

“Yes, dear.”

Since we would soon stop at the village for resupply, there was no need to lock up the spatial storage that was starting to empty.

Of course, this was a distant story for the three people who would no longer be eating food made by Raisha’s hands.

“Today I’ll do the cooking, so don’t you dare touch the pot, you rascals! Understand?”

“The old man is angry!”

“HA!!! Who taught you to pour more alcohol than water when making stew?!”

Listening to the sage’s anger, our party rode on. Soon, we lit a campfire at a perfect spot and time for lunch.

I devoured the cabbage soup and cutlets Raisha prepared, and the other three seemed to be eating something at least edible since the sage was wielding the ladle.

“Adding more doesn’t necessarily make it tastier. Understand?”

“You’re younger than us…”

“Tsk. Isn’t it shameful for elves to flaunt their age in front of humans?”

When Lucia and Casia grumbled, the sage instantly suppressed their complaints.

To think that controlling just the food aspect of basic necessities could have such an effect—that must be what experience is.

*

“So, is that Hamilton Village over there?”

We gathered on a hill overlooking the village and gazed at it.

“It seems so. A bustling village. I like it.”

“Hmm… a bustling village…”

I muttered, looking at the line of refugees—roughly several hundred people—who had set up tents at the village entrance.

Since Saburo had not completely abandoned this earth yet, we could clearly see them through the twilight, and beyond their tents and the palisade on the other side, we could glimpse the prosperity of Hamilton Village with its lanterns and bonfires.

“Well, let’s go in for now. It’s not particularly unusual to have refugees camped at a village entrance, is it?”

“That’s right.”

Raisha agreed with my opinion.

Even in Faerus Vale, refugees—as opposed to immigrants—were always a headache, so she didn’t particularly view them with sympathetic eyes.

Simon, the sage who had lived far longer than us, didn’t much like refugees either—a group that could be written as “potential criminals.”

And the elves, Lucia and Casia, having seen many refugees destroy forests at will and steal others’ private property to survive, merely looked with cynical eyes at the refugees’ “residences” spread on both sides of the road.

Clop… clop… clop…

“However, as a knight, I cannot simply ignore them. Give me all the food supplies you have.”

“Planning to make a donation?”

“Yes. I’ll distribute the food. Simon, take the party members and enter the village first.”

When I said that, Simon and Raisha briefly dismounted and placed the food supplies stored in their spatial storage on the ground.

I put them back into my spatial storage, and watched as my companions mounted their horses again and entered the village.

The refugees let out faint sighs seeing this, and carefully examined the path they had taken, looking for anything edible that might have been dropped.

“Tsk… poor things…”

I muttered, and to set an example as a knight, I rode my horse among them.

*

Thud… thud… thud…

At the mud-stained entrance to the village, Bruiser stopped.

Unlike the woman and old men from before, the refugees’ gazes changed noticeably when an armored man on a warhorse approached.

Clack!

I dismounted and looked at the refugees gathering around me.

They clearly appeared to have eaten nothing but tree bark and wild herbs from mountains and fields for days, but their circumstances weren’t bad enough to dare rush at a knight.

“Listen, pitiful ones.”

I opened my mouth with force to aid them.

“I am Viktor Walker, a knight-errant of the Relief Knight Order, who has received the mission of knighthood through the message of Nariakira Saburo, the Sun of Humanity. Is there someone who can control these refugees?”

When I said that, the refugees looked around confusedly, and then a middle-aged man wearing fine clothes walked toward me from inside a tent.

He seemed to be the village chief or someone of similar status.

When our eyes met, he bowed respectfully to greet me, and I gave him a slight nod in return.

“It is an honor to meet an honorable knight of the Relief Knight Order. I am Greyson Bauer, who was the chief of Smithy Village.”

“Has Smithy Village met with destruction?”

“Goblins and orcs swept through the village, and we had to abandon it to survive. And somehow we arrived at this Hamilton Village, but…”

“They wouldn’t open the gates?”

Greyson bowed his head with a gloomy face.

It was unfortunate, but I couldn’t condemn the residents of Hamilton Village for it.

They couldn’t identify whether these people were disguised bandits, nor could they guarantee what would happen if they accepted them.

“So, what do you plan to do now?”

“We’re planning to go to Gibson’s Port, the nearest city, but unless the people of this village open the way…”

“It would be impossible.”

“…That’s right.”

Without following the road, they would only become food for bandits or monsters.

After pondering briefly, I summoned my sword and thrust it into the mud.

Squelch!

“!”

“Listen, Greyson Bauer.”

“Y-yes! My lord!”

“I take pity on you and will bestow the provisions I have, so you must distribute what I give fairly and equally to fill the stomachs of those you lead. Do you understand?”

“Th-thank you, my lord!”

“I bestow this because I believe you have not lost your goodness. I will persuade the people of this village to open the way. Receive my mercy and fill your hungry stomachs for now.”

Saying that, I opened my spatial storage and began filling the bowls that the women had gathered with cabbage, radishes, and preserved meat. The people, without exception, praised my mercy.

After the distribution was complete, I exchanged a few final words with Greyson, and then entered through the village gate that had been opened just for me.

May their lives continue through my mercy.