Ch.51The Road to Faerus Vale (3)

“Thank you for your help. I am Keith Peril, a knight of House Marin.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Keith.”

Keith and I shook hands.

He was a household knight rather than an errant knight, as evidenced by the emblem of House Marin embroidered on his armor and surcoat.

“I’d like to chat more, but… shall we move away from here first? There are corpses everywhere, you see.”

“Of course.”

Though I grew up on rough streets, I wasn’t raised rough enough to engage in pleasant conversation surrounded by blood and corpses.

Soon, the House Marin escort and I left the battle-scarred area, and after some time passed, we stopped for dinner and sleep.

*

“First, let me thank you again. You seem quite young, but displaying such martial prowess at your age is uncommon.”

“I’ve lived a harsh life. By the way, who are you escorting?”

“Ah… We’re escorting Lady Arin Marin of House Marin. She’s engaged to a noble from Faerus Vale, and we’re on our way to the wedding.”

“Is that so?”

For such an occasion, the escort seemed too small.

There was only one passenger carriage besides the supply wagon, and no notable valuables were visible.

Normally, nobles would make wedding journeys as lavish as possible…

“The procession seems rather modest for a wedding journey.”

“Hmm… The truth is, the family’s fortunes have begun to decline… so they’re marrying off their daughters.”

“I see.”

Though I didn’t know the details of noble etiquette, I’d heard that typically the groom’s family gives a dowry to the bride’s family as a way of saying “thank you for providing a good bride.”

If there was a power disparity between noble families, usually the weaker side would bow and scrape while providing a dowry.

I wasn’t sure how far House Marin’s fortunes had fallen, but they probably weren’t in a position where they needed to pay tribute, so they likely still maintained their position in their home territory.

“Well, that’s not my concern. I’m also heading to Faerus Vale, so I’ll accompany you until then.”

“We’d be grateful for that. It’s a rare opportunity to employ someone of your skill without cost.”

“Hmm.”

I had no intention of taking money.

They already had hired guards, and we simply shared the same destination.

“By the way, you said you’re an adventurer. What’s your rank?”

“Charcoal rank.”

“Oh, then you’ll soon step into the Metal rank.”

“That’s still far off.”

“But isn’t it good to be able to imagine your future? I think you’d make a fine errant knight. Though I’m not one to meddle in others’ futures… you jumped in among the bandits without hesitation to save us. That’s a knightly virtue.”

“Others have said similar things.”

An orphan of unknown origin is unwelcome everywhere.

But a knighted knight can be welcomed anywhere.

Even if there’s no difference in ability between the two.

One is unrecognized, the other recognized, but the world is full of terrible things that happen so simply.

An errant knight… honestly, it doesn’t sound bad.

At least not to me.

*

Bubble, bubble…

Slurp.

“Mmm.”

Taking a sip of tea brewed with premium tea leaves, the aroma entered my nose, offering a pleasant fragrance.

To avoid making the same mistake as before, I took out meat that I had marinated in salt and pepper and placed it in the frying pan. Next to it, I beat eggs, added salt, and made scrambled eggs.

Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!

The sound of stirring the frying pan with a wooden spatula began to stimulate my appetite. I set aside the contents of the pan and started grilling white wheat bread with butter.

Soon, I made a sandwich by placing the scrambled eggs and meat on the grilled bread, then took out a beer from my spatial storage and washed down the sandwich.

“Whew!”

Eating the freshly made hearty sandwich with beer that had been chilled thanks to spatial storage, the fatigue from capturing sixteen bandits in a single day began to dissipate completely.

By the time I had devoured half my sandwich, the escort guards had filled their bowls with what appeared to be stew and returned to their places to eat. Only then did I realize that Arin Marin still hadn’t emerged from the carriage.

“Hmm… Perhaps she intends to eat and sleep in the carriage.”

It wasn’t particularly unusual.

Inside the carriage, there was no worry about wild animals, and there was a roof whether it rained or snowed.

Besides, as a bride-to-be, she had no reason to dine with strange men.

“Lady Arin. You must eat something, even just a little.”

“But it’s too coarse. I can neither chew nor swallow it.”

“But Lady Arin, we have nothing else to eat…”

And then, my ears caught Keith’s desperate voice and the trembling voice of a young woman.

“Complaining about the food, huh…”

Munch… munch…

This wasn’t unusual either.

Despite her family’s declining fortunes, she was still a noble lady. It would be difficult for her to easily eat hardtack so tough that even ordinary people would complain, salt-preserved meat that would lose saltiness if rinsed in seawater, and gruel made with vegetables so wilted they were beginning to discolor.

“Hmm.”

I spread butter in the frying pan again and began making a sandwich identical to mine.

If nothing else, I couldn’t bear to see a young woman go hungry before my eyes.

In winter, women always died first, especially young children.

If you’ve experienced seeing a child who had been sucking on candy crumbs you gave them die before winter’s end, and furthermore, unable to be buried in a common cemetery, ultimately cremated and scattered at sea, no one would dare mock me as a pushover.

“You there.”

“Yes?”

“Go and call Sir Keith.”

“Ah, yes.”

I placed a warm, steaming sandwich on a tray along with a half-full teapot and teacup, then called one of the guards to summon Sir Keith.

The guard scurried off to inform Sir Keith, who was fussing about, of my summons. He turned his head to look at me.

Chomp chomp.

I waved my hand, gesturing him to come over, and he began running toward me while looking back at the carriage until the last moment.

*

“You called?”

“It seems the daughter of House Marin is complaining about the food.”

“That… *sigh*… It can’t be helped. We have spatial storage, but we lack funds to consider freshness or quality…”

I nodded.

The capacity of spatial storage was certainly not infinite.

There were roughly 60 guards, and when adding feed for horses and water, it would easily exceed several wagon loads.

“Here, take this.”

“What’s this…?”

I handed Sir Keith the tray with the food I had prepared, and he accepted it, looking at me with an expression asking for an explanation.

“I made it myself. White bread grilled with butter, filled with meat and scrambled eggs. The tea is brewed with premium tea leaves, so it should suit her taste.”

“Indeed… With this, Lady Arin should eat without complaint. Thank you, Victor. I seem to be receiving nothing but help from you.”

“Well, food experiences are what one remembers most from a journey, aren’t they?”

Sir Keith thanked me with a bow before carefully approaching the carriage.

He knocked on the carriage door and once again encouraged her to eat, showing her the food I had given him.

“Lady Arin. This is food made by the adventurer himself. A sandwich with meat and eggs on butter-grilled white bread. And tea brewed with premium tea leaves.”

“The adventurer… made it himself?”

“Please, even just one bite would be fine. It would be discourteous to refuse a meal prepared by someone other than your retainer.”

“…Very well. Give it to me.”

“I’ll return when you’ve finished your meal.”

…Such touching loyalty.

I don’t know if all household knights are like this, or if the head of House Marin specifically sent a knight of deep loyalty, but when someone pleads so earnestly, refusing would be a matter of poor character.

Moreover, in any part of the world, refusing food offered with goodwill is considered rude, and could even create enmity.

Having received a noble’s education, she would know this, so now she could eat comfortably.

If we continue along this road, we’ll reach a city within four days, and even if I became her chef, my supplies wouldn’t run out.

As I was thinking this, Keith approached me with the completely emptied tray and dishes.

“The young lady cleaned her plate.”

“I used to work as a chef’s assistant.”

“I see…”

Keith nodded and sat down beside me.

“Victor. When we reach the next city, I plan to post a request for you.”

“For escort duty?”

“Yes. We can never have too many guards for the young lady. If by some misfortune she were to fall into the hands of bandits… no one would take Lady Arin as a bride.”

“I suppose not. They would think she had lost her chastity.”

Keith nodded with a grim face.

I looked at his face for a moment, then gave him the answer he wanted.

“I’ll accept the request. It’s my first commissioned request, after all.”

“Having an adventurer like you accompany us to Vale would be worth a thousand soldiers.”

Haha, it’s nothing.