Chapter 56

Chapter 56

57: Blood Born There were a total of eight adventurers hired for the Karabut Merchant Guild escort mission. All of them were from the Retilla Guild, and the six excluding us were all men. Duncan Rodran, who was temporarily acting as the leader, spread out a map on the table and gave a brief briefing. He was a man in his mid-30s who used a bow as his weapon. He had a longbow on his back, so I guess that’s right. “Our destination is another base city called Mesatria. The goal of this request is to escort the Karabut Merchant Guild’s trip to this place. The travel time is about 4 days one way. The request ends when we arrive in Mesatria, so you can each return as you please.” It was a little funny that they were telling us to return on our own, but when you think about it, there was nothing particularly strange about it. The Karabut Merchant Guild planned to stay in Mesatria for a while after arriving, and there was nothing for us to do during that time. The team consisted of two archers, one mage, and five guards. We were traveling on the Kilkard Kingdom’s national highway, and I wondered if so many people were really needed to protect just three wagons, but Taron and Rodran seemed to think otherwise. “In addition, we will be passing near Ltuicel. The guild has previously received reports of bandits appearing in that area, so please be prepared for a possible battle.” The journey was quite long because we were passing through a base city called Krudion along the way. Like Eira said, I wondered if it was really suitable for beginners, but when I thought about it, the Mesheen Great Forest was even more dangerous. The bandits, who may or may not be there, were safer than the Mesheen Great Forest, where monsters lurked everywhere. Rodran finished his brief explanation and looked at us, saying. “Emily Artion, and Lyla Freeman. I’ve heard about you. If an emergency occurs, I’ll ask for your help then.” Rumors travel fast. Especially the rumor about the rookie adventurer who went into the goblin nest and took the chief’s head alone. Without me even knowing, I seemed to be getting attention as a promising prospect in the Adventurer’s Guild. Emily had also been active in the investigation team, so the rumors weren’t going anywhere. “We look forward to working with you too.” Even so, Emily and I still had many shortcomings as adventurers. Being good at fighting doesn’t necessarily make you an excellent adventurer. The Retilla Guild has an educational atmosphere for novice adventurers, so there will definitely be many things to learn through this request. // To get straight to the point, there was no bandit attack. All we did during the four-day trip was stand guard, spar lightly, or spend time talking in the wagon. It was a bit anticlimactic, but when I thought about it, there was no way we would be attacked on the Kilkard Kingdom’s main road. This is clearly a national highway, and unless they were crazy, there was no way bandits would crawl up to this place. “Isn’t that a waste of money?” When I asked Taron about it, he burst into a hearty laugh and replied. “Heh heh, that’s what insurance is. It’s much better to pay a little money and feel safe than to suddenly meet a crazy guy and lose everything. There are crazy people everywhere.” You might think that’s a lot of insurance for only three wagons, but Taron’s wagon was enchanted with space expansion and weight reduction magic. At this point, the wagon was probably more expensive than the cargo, but that’s what it took to make a profit on the trip. Anyway, having nothing to do meant it was peaceful, and that was a good thing in its own way. The guild employees took care of things like checking the cargo, and all we had to do was wait and guard. Thanks to that, I spent my free time talking to the other adventurers or sparring with Emily. //

-Whoosh.

I blocked the wooden stick flying at me with a threatening sound, and then quickly rotated my wrist to strike Emily’s waist.

-Thwack.

But Emily easily blocked my attack and regained her posture. After watching each other like that for a moment, she immediately rushed towards me and used her next move.

-Swish!

I avoided the wooden stick flying with a whistling sound by stepping to the left, and then attacked again.

-Swish.

A straight thrust aimed at my solar plexus. Then Emily’s complexion changed and she had a nervous look in her eyes.

-Hum.

It was a straight thrust, but the tip of the smoothly carved wooden stick was trembling slightly. Thanks to sparring with me dozens of times, Emily knew that it was a phantom sword that changed in myriad ways according to the mysteries of illusion. It is difficult to block a phantom sword containing deep sword principles. No matter which direction you block it, the entangled sword changes according to the opponent’s response. In order to keep up with that change, you need weight to break the phantom sword, or speed to subdue the opponent faster than the phantom sword. Or, you could use an even higher phantom sword than the opponent. None of those things are easy. One change per move per year. It is said that it takes a year to add one change to one move. That’s how difficult it is to master the phantom sword, and it means that it requires a lot of effort. Illusion is difficult to block, but it is even more difficult to use. But isn’t that true of every martial art? Oh, but if you have a shield, you can block it really easily. Of course, we can’t do that now because it’s a sparring match. It’s not for nothing that every Tom, Dick, and Harry carries a shield around here. “Hah!” Of the three options, Emily chose speed. Emily straightened her posture and moved her hand quickly, thrusting out the wooden stick as if firing it.

-Shayak!

The stick she held shot out like a ray of light, flying towards my neck. I smiled inwardly as I watched it. Certainly, the speed is fast. But, my strike will reach her even faster… “Ugh!” At that moment, I felt something strange and quickly switched from offense to defense.

-Thwack!

The sticks intertwined and collided, making a violent impact sound. This was because I couldn’t make a change in time due to the faster-than-expected attack. Normally, I would have suppressed Emily’s move with one hand and won. However, the result now is a draw. It’s called a draw, but it was no different than meaning that Emily had improved. Was that why? “Huh?” Emily made a blank voice, as if she couldn’t believe what she had shown. She didn’t seem to have the will to continue the attack with that bewildered expression. I can’t continue the match like this. I smiled bitterly inwardly and put away the wooden stick. “Congratulations. It’s a draw this time.” If I had continued the match like this, Emily would have been caught off guard and taken a hit, but that wouldn’t have meant much. This is a sparring match. Still, I’ll have to correct her if she does that again next time. “R-really?” Emily looked at me and asked again, as if she couldn’t believe it. I don’t think it’s that unbelievable. I smiled and nodded at her question. “Yeah, you’ve improved a lot.” “Improved…” To be exact, I’ve gotten weaker. But it’s also true that she’s improved, so I didn’t say that. I didn’t want to spoil Emily’s joy at getting her first draw. The reason I’ve gotten weaker is not something else. The life force I absorbed from Quaidon was still consuming my body. Thanks to the inner strength I had built up so far, it wasn’t that bad, but it was still enough to weaken my strength. I used to think it was because of the poison, but now that time has passed, I can’t help but think it’s a little different. Resistance to poison doesn’t develop in a day or two, but if it’s this slow even with the peerless mixed art of Yin Demon Art, there’s bound to be something suspicious. Perhaps the life force of a monster itself is no different from poison to humans. Because of the characteristic of recovering magic power on its own, I was thinking of using the monster’s core as my dantian with Mien’s help later, but if that’s the case, I don’t think I can use that plan. Of course, I couldn’t be sure of that. Quaidon was clearly a monster that used poisonous breath, and the inner strength I tried to emit clearly had a faint poison permeating it. The monster’s life force itself may be poison, but it may simply be that Quaidon’s poison is strong. For an accurate judgment, I would have to use life drain on other monsters as well. Of course, it’s a bit much to go to the Mesheen Great Forest right now and have sex with monsters, so it would be better to go back to Karaldin and quietly wait for Sartun’s call. Even though I didn’t say it, being impregnated by Quaidon on stage at that time was a fresh experience that I could count on my short life. Life drain is life drain, but to be honest, I was looking forward to the situation itself. You could say it’s a memory I want to taste again. While I was lost in such distractions, Emily, who had been pondering alone for a while, suddenly smiled brightly and ran to me and hugged me. In that warm warmth, I shook off my distractions and hugged her. “Thank you!” What is she thankful for? I was about to tell her that there was no need to be, but instead of answering, I stroked her back. // Our sparring match seemed to be more impressive than I thought. “I heard you won against Rakas, so it seems like it’s not just a rumor.” The one who said that was a guard named Keidon Stang. He watched our sparring match and nodded in admiration, saying that. The words themselves are true, but I’m curious about the source of the words. Where did he hear it? I didn’t say anything, so the source of the rumor would be Emily or Rakas, but could it be that Rakas himself is spreading the word? If he said it himself, he might be quite a generous person. “Thank you for the compliment.” “What, did you learn martial arts somewhere?” “Something like that.” I glossed over Stang’s question with a playful answer and looked out the window of the wagon. There’s no need to tell him the origin of the martial arts I learned. That’s the same in the world of knowledge and in this world. As a result of my own investigation, the martial arts in this world seem to take the form of external arts that strengthen life force by overworking the body. Is that why Charkas, or knights, have more life force and stronger stamina? Of course, it was a method that was abandoned in the knowledge that Emily and I have because it was inefficient. There’s no need to do such a thing in a world where the atmosphere is rich in Qi. The questions stopped coming. If we’ve been chatting for four days, there are bound to be moments when we miss the silence. We enjoyed a leisurely time like that for a while. Looking out the window, I could see the straight national highway and the open plains. The Mesheen Great Forest is still visible on the other side. They said we would arrive today, so the outer village of Mesatria will soon be in sight. Once we get here, there’s no need to worry about bandits. In the end, nothing special happened, and the request ended anticlimactically. Now all that’s left is to take the wagon back. Taron and the Karabut Merchant Guild will be staying in Mesatria for a while, so it was up to us whether we waited until then or went back first. The request fee would be more than enough to pay for the wagon fare, so as Eira said, this request was quite easy. It would have been different if bandits had appeared, but with this many people, we could have put up a struggle. Bandits are people too, so they wouldn’t rush into something that could kill them. While I was thinking about how to get back to Karaldin, a familiar voice pierced the silence in my ear. “Lyla. Is it true that you are meeting with Charka?”

It was Rodran, the temporary leader of the group, who asked the question. It might be rude to ask such a question to someone you’ve just met, but thanks to getting quite close to them over the past four days, we could have conversations like this. I smiled and answered his question. “Yes, that’s right.” It’s not a serious relationship. “Meeting” someone, to put it bluntly, means a sex partner. Such relationships were common among adventurers, who were inherently insiders. They do dangerous work, so they might die at any moment, and everyone, whether they’re mages or priests, basically trains their bodies, so they’re all slender. On top of that, they’re men and women in their prime, so it wasn’t strange at all for people like Eira and Rakas to meet spontaneously and release their sexual desires. “I see, so that’s how it is….” Rodran sighed as if disappointed as he replied. I could roughly guess the meaning of that sigh, so I chuckled inwardly. Charka was a guard with skills ranked in the top five in the Retilla Guild, and just having a connection with him was a great help. Perhaps the reason I was able to get along with them without much trouble was not only because of my and Emily’s skills, but also because of Charka’s reputation. “….” Emily hugged my arm as if she didn’t like my answer, but to me, it just seemed like cute affection. Of course, I hadn’t slept with any of them in the past four days. If an adventurer did such a thing during a request, their reputation would drop. Unless it was a request only for adventurers. Besides, this was a request for escort. Thanks to that, my body was a bit stiff, but I could endure it. And, considering what was to come, it seemed better not to get physically involved with the guild’s adventurers. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was better to cleanly cut off the relationship from the beginning rather than getting entangled in a love triangle and making things complicated. Even though she hadn’t called me lately, I still had Sartoone, a good regular supplier. …But, now that I think about it, if she hasn’t called me for ten days, there might be a reason. I don’t know much about it because I’m an outsider, but originally, such training is time-sensitive. Just in case, it might not be a bad idea for me to go to her when I return to Karaldin. Rotuan mentioned sex slave first, so if I pretend to be horny in a plausible way, she might fall for it. Unlike before, I now have a way to break free even if I’m chained, and I needed their essence to neutralize Quaidon’s poison, which showed no signs of adapting. If I couldn’t resist the poison, it was better to dilute it.

-Clop, clop.

As I was thinking about my future plans for a while, Mesatria began to come into view in the distance. ———= Author’s Notes ========= There might be a futanari yuri scene in the next chapter or so, and I can’t decide whether it’s better to skip it roughly or include it as a whole. Is this a stupid question? I’m saying this just in case, but I don’t particularly prefer yuri. But after developing the story like that and writing this in the afterword, it doesn’t seem very convincing. // And thank you, Sodooril, for watching all this time. I will continue to serialize in the future, so I hope you will come back to see it again when you have time. I hope to see you again next time. And thank you to those who gave me a preemptive recommendation and a coin. I’m just happy that you’re interested in my selfish writing, which is largely self-sufficient. I got carried away and the afterword got long. The sun has already set. Have a good night everyone.