Ch.306Trouble Occurred

It goes without saying that marching long distances with over 80 people is no small feat.

Especially when dealing with a group of civilians unaccustomed to carriage travel.

Though the residents of Grandorn Zwei claimed to have prepared well for the move, there’s inevitably a huge gap between amateur theory and reality.

The first obstacle in our large-scale migration plan began with a dwarf child who started running a fever in the middle of the night.

Kobra, who works as a carpenter, is the eleven-year-old only son of a dwarf family.

“How’s the child doing?”

“He fell asleep a little while ago, and your mage is checking his condition. It’s just… a kid who’s usually bursting with energy and bouncing around everywhere, and now he’s in this state on the very first day of our journey…”

The dwarf carpenter scratched his head sheepishly as he spoke.

At first glance, he might seem like a harsh father criticizing his weak child, but his voice and face clearly revealed his concern for his son.

“I saw you talking with Morgan for quite a while earlier. What did you discuss?”

“He offered to give us a carriage so I could take my son back to the western city. Said we could also bring along a couple more people who aren’t feeling well.”

Putting everyone in poor condition into one carriage and sending them back to Westend Sevens…

It seems somewhat cold, but it might be a necessary decision.

We still have two more days to reach Technopolis, and we’d need to maintain today’s forced march pace.

As I was thinking about this, I noticed Jessica emerging from the tent where the patient was.

“Jessica, over here.”

“How’s my boy doing?”

“I’m not a doctor, so a proper examination was beyond me, but he didn’t respond to detoxification or healing magic. I can confirm it’s not caused by dark mana or magical influence.”

“So it’s a matter for pure medicine, is that it?”

The problem is that among our 90 or so people, including our party, there isn’t a single professional doctor.

The dwarves do have some traditional folk remedies passed down through generations, but they don’t have the medicinal ingredients needed to implement them.

The medical supplies the dwarves brought were mainly for external injuries or poison countermeasures.

“Couldn’t you create a spell to treat or alleviate the illness?”

“Without medical knowledge, a mage can’t expect much effect. If I were at least a staff wizard, I could try various combinations within a range that wouldn’t cause side effects…”

As a codex mage, Jessica needs more than tens of minutes to modify a formula registered in her grimoire.

Even then, that only applies to simple low-level magic. Creating more advanced spells requires specialized equipment.

Moreover, with our large numbers, we’re camping spread out in an open field, so Jessica’s magical capabilities need to be reserved for any potential crisis that might occur.

In other words, we can’t exhaust Jessica all night trying to cure a child’s illness when we don’t even know the exact symptoms.

“Even if we want to send the sick people back to Westend Sevens, we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning. I hope the symptoms improve by then.”

“Indeed. The visible symptoms are just fever and mild body aches, so I think there’s little chance it’s contagious.”

“Just fever and body aches… What about giving him a fever reducer? Would medicine for humans work for dwarves too?”

“I’ve heard that potions and even regular medicines don’t discriminate between races. But we don’t have any fever reducers… Oh.”

Jessica seemed to quickly realize what I was suggesting.

We do have a convenient artifact that can produce any drinkable liquid.

Although we used today’s quota while preparing dinner, we can use it again right after midnight.

“You have some solution?”

“If we wait until midnight, I can make a fever reducer. I can’t guarantee it will completely cure your son’s illness, but it should at least help bring down his fever.”

“It’s 11:20 now, so we just need to wait a little. I’ll keep watching over the child until then.”

“Got it. I’ll get it as soon as the clock strikes twelve.”

I returned to the carriage, waited with the Cup of Glory in hand, and as soon as it hit midnight, I filled it with T*lenol syrup.

The effectiveness and concentration should be exactly like the product I know, and since I roughly know the size of the bottle cap cup, there’s no worry about overdosing.

~~~ The Next Morning ~~~

The effect of T*lenol syrup, beloved by people worldwide, was nothing short of perfect.

Kobra’s son, who had been suffering from fever and body aches, regained his normal condition by morning, and the talk of sending people in poor health back by carriage was canceled.

However, we can’t let our guard down just because someone appears fine on the outside.

We decided to keep a close eye not only on Kobra’s son but also on children of similar age, and to reduce their physical burden, we arranged for them to ride in our carriage’s cabin.

Kobra, the father of one of those children, also boarded as a guardian.

“Wow! This carriage is awesome!”

“The seats are so soft! And it doesn’t jolt around!”

“You can even open and close the windows!”

“Children, I understand it’s fascinating, but you shouldn’t touch things carelessly. This is adventurers’ carriage, so there might be dangerous items.”

Kobra cautioned them, but in truth, there are hardly any dangerous objects in the cabin right now.

The mana supply and the Box of Stopped Time have locks that prevent outsiders from touching them, and items like knives and tools were already placed inside the Box of Stopped Time.

Besides, Mina is also in the cabin, so if anyone tries to cause trouble, she’ll be the first to stop them.

“Thanks to this, I get to sit next to Master instead of Seti.”

“Aren’t you nervous? Sitting in the open driver’s seat when you can’t see ahead because of your Aquila goggles.”

“There’s no reason to be nervous. No matter what happens, Master will protect me until I can escape to the cabin.”

“Haha, that’s quite a responsibility. Of course, I’ll protect you with all my might.”

Though we’re having this conversation, the likelihood of something serious happening during the day—especially Iris suddenly being in danger—is quite low.

If monsters approach, we would detect them first, and even if the opponent can use stealth like dark elves, as long as they use dark mana, Iris’s detection ability would catch them first.

‘So the remaining risk factors would be long-range sniping by outlaws or comparable ranged attack methods… but it’s difficult for something to pose no threat to me while targeting only Iris… at least not in this position.’

That’s right.

If Iris were merely sitting next to me on the driver’s seat, it would be different, but right now she’s clinging tightly to me, with her shoulders wrapped in my embrace.

In this close position, even if a bullet were to fly directly at Iris’s forehead, my crisis detection ability would catch it.

My crisis detection ability doesn’t just read attacks that “will definitely hit me,” but all attacks that “could potentially threaten me.”

After confirming this through multiple verifications, I shared this fact with all party members, and now Iris is exploiting—no, actively utilizing—this information.

Besides, if we’re dealing with outlaws, the dwarves could also land effective hits, so unless they’re crazed drug addicts, they wouldn’t pick a fight with a group of over 80 people with just a small enough force to launch a surprise attack.

Of course, this is all theoretical, and I have no intention of letting my guard down.

“Master, there are four Cruel Vultures circling at about 250 meters, 12 o’clock.”

“That’s not enough to stop the carriages. Four Cruel Vultures in the air ahead! We’ll intercept while continuing to move!”

“First row, continuing movement confirmed!”

“Fifth row, continuing movement confirmed!”

“Tenth row, continuing movement confirmed!”

After confirming the responses from behind, I hand the reins to Iris and draw my revolver.

As Iris recalls Aquila to the carriage roof, five bald eagles begin to dive from the air ahead, as if chasing after it.

“Feel free to shoot. If any of them go for Iris, I’ll block them.”

“OK, I’m counting on you, Seti.”

Seti, who had jumped down from the carriage behind us and was now running alongside us, volunteered to guard Iris.

Now it’s time to show these brainless Cruel Vultures the difference in skill.

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

I shoot down three of the Cruel Vultures that are flying toward us in a gentle curve.

Unlike Strike Falcons, which carefully select targets and deploy defensive magic in front, Cruel Vultures are violent creatures that think only of catching and tearing apart the first prey they see.

Except for the fact that they move in groups, they’re far less dangerous than Strike Falcons, so they can be easily dispatched by putting two white magic bullets into their bodies.

“And for the last one… this!”

There were four Cruel Vultures in total that attacked us.

I shot down three with my single-action revolver, and there’s no time to open the cylinder and reload.

So, to shoot down the last one targeting Seti…

‘BANG!’

That’s the role of the Wolfsbane Custom—the glorious “Milky Way” drawn with my left hand.

The silver spreading penetration bullet, which can cut off the breath of even a lycanthrope in one shot, exerts even more powerful force and bullet velocity through the enhancement formula engraved on its titanium body.

I named it “Milky Way” because it looks like scattering a galaxy across the night sky.

It’s only natural that the Cruel Vulture caught in the middle of that galaxy is shattered to pieces.

“As expected of the Milky Way. The performance is definitely there.”

“Hmm~ Right, right? Just wait and see. Someday I’ll make the revolver into something amazing enough to deserve a name too.”

Mina, who had been watching my performance through the cabin door, nods with a satisfied expression.

Actually, it wouldn’t be difficult to name the current single-action revolver as well, but Mina rejected that proposal.

For a craftsman, having a unique name attached to their creation is a testament to unparalleled perfection.

In Mina’s opinion, the Wolfsbane Custom has reached that level, but the single-action revolver isn’t quite there yet.

“Will, keep going forward. I’ll collect the magic stones and catch up.”

“Got it. Thanks for everything, Seti.”

After that, we were able to advance 60 kilometers—a bit farther than yesterday—while repeatedly engaging in combat with small groups of Cruel Vultures.

The children’s condition remained good, and no one complained of motion sickness, pain, or other discomforts.

The remaining distance to Technopolis is 35 kilometers.

We’re almost there.