episode_0065

Ariel finished the warm soup all the way to the floor and entered the room, rubbing her relieved stomach.

“Ugh… .”

Jump up!

It was late at night, and Ariel, exhausted from the arduous march, lay down in bed without even having time to change into her pajamas.

《I want to write a novel with you as the main character!》

It had already been more than five months since the Duchy of Langren had made such a bold declaration, and it had already been more than five months since Elden had raised concerns that ‘it would be difficult’.

As expected, it was a difficult day.

Marching, which she had never done before, pushed the young lady’s weak body to its limits.

Nevertheless, there was one reason why I was following Elden on a culinary trip.

joy.

The joy of traveling with like-minded friends.

The pleasure of eating delicious monster dishes from all over the world.

The pleasure of watching monster hunting with your own eyes, something you had to imagine only by reading about in books.

The joy of seeing it and describing it for yourself.

and.

The joy of watching the growth of a reading friend named Elden.

Those pleasures were what allowed me to endure the difficult journey with ease, and I enjoyed those pleasures, so I was traveling through the Northern Territory with Elden.

Especially when I watched Elden hunting, my heart pounded for some reason, and the sight was so cool that I looked up to him with longing eyes.

Was this the mindset of writers who wrote stories about real people?

Admiration and envy.

I felt that way when I looked at Elden, and I had a desire to write his story beautifully.

Ariel, who had been looking up at the ceiling blankly for a while, got up and sat down at the desk.

First, I wrote a greeting letter to send to my family when I arrived in the city, then took out a thick wad of paper.

A novel with Elden as the main character.

It was the scenario of [From a bastard to a monster hunter].

In order to write realistically, the scenario was organized in its own way by listening to Elden’s past stories, and it focused on the process of breaking away from the notoriety of a bastard Confucius and becoming a great monster hunter.

The focus is on the growth and change of Elden, who is being reborn from a villain to a good person.

A scenario that embodies the feelings of resentment that people only see him as a villain.

That scenario was already reaching its conclusion.

It’s a scenario depicting Elden’s life, but of course I can’t spend my whole life writing it, so from the middle part, I’ve been writing a story about a possible future based on the past and present.

And that future story had a happy ending.

Because Ariel liked happy endings.

And there was a lot of selfishness involved in that happy ending.

Cook, cook.

Ariel, who was reading the introduction of the final chapter, smiled happily.

It was because of the image of Elden walking on the flower path and because of a character walking along the flower path together.

‘hmm. After all, an outdoor wedding would be better, right?’

They say it’s better to have a wedding outdoors rather than in an old-fashioned church.

‘I wish the dress had a really long skirt.’

Since the character is a bit short, a longer one would suit him.

‘The child… I guess three would be good?’

I think two boys and one girl would be perfect.

‘Now, wait a minute…’ To have a child… Well, you have to do something like that… … ?’

Wow.

Dunno.

I don’t know about that.

Ariel shook her head while placing her hands on both cheeks, which turned red in an instant.

[Like that]

Should a writer who has never experienced that, or has no similar experience, read at least a pornographic story? It was Ariel who slapped me in the face, reminding me of my resolve to be a writer and to strictly refrain from excessive immersion.

‘Hey, come to your senses. ‘This is just a story about a character, right?’

okay.

It’s just a fictional character.

Ariel, who was so cruel, began writing a final happy ending scenario late into the night.

*

We stayed the night in the mountain village of Sroad, and as soon as dawn broke the next day, we were heading southeast along the mountain range.

There was nothing to see in Sroad.

There were only herbivorous monsters nearby, and when I asked the bar owner, I found out that they were all monsters that he had hunted and eaten before.

They say they also sell monster dishes, but I couldn’t see anything on the menu to eat during my stay.

As an aside.

‘The owner’s skills were worse than Ariel… .’

I heard there was only one in the village, but it seemed that the taste expectations of the residents of Sroad were not very high.

Anyway, it was a great stopover just because I was able to relieve my travel fatigue by soaking in a hot bath.

If it weren’t for Slow, I would have had to live homeless again.

After moving along the mountain range for a while, it was time for lunch and we lit a bonfire in an unnamed basin.

Grumble!

If there are no teeth, you can remove them with your gums.

I, the person who handles lightning magic, will fill the vacancy where there is no one who handles fire magic.

After sparking a few sparks on dry tree branches, a nice bonfire was quickly created, and Ariel started cooking with some rabbits she had hunted on her way down the mountain.

It was a clear day with no wind at all.

There were no snow clouds, and the surrounding area was so clear that you could see distant mountains. A whistle came out naturally, and I was resting comfortably when Rachel suddenly spoke to me.

“Disciple?”

“Why?”

“Out of curiosity, what are you going to do after your foodie trip is over?”

“When it’s over?”

“Yes.”

hmm.

Now that I think about it, I never thought about my plans after the food trip was over.

Even if the Kingdom of Elperion is large, the nationwide pilgrimage will be completed in about three years at the most.

Even Northern Territory, the largest land, seemed likely to be completed in just one year.

By the time my foodie trip is over, I will be in my late 20s.

Once my trip in Elperion was over, I could start traveling across the Trimias continent, but honestly, I didn’t have the confidence to spend the rest of my life traveling.

Because it was hard.

so that.

“I don’t have an exact plan yet, but maybe I’ll settle down somewhere?”

“Settlement? What do you mean?”

“Because you can’t repeat sleeping and camping like this for the rest of your life.”

Fortunately, the Count Rapelion family was a family without fiefdom.

Elden’s father was a count family with a mansion in the Duchy of Tmirion, and was a direct aide to the Duke of Tmirion.

Since I had no people to lead and no territory to take care of, I thought I would pay Rachel my salary with the money from the sale of the mansion, then buy some land in a nice place and do some farming and relax for a few years.

“I see.”

“By then, my contract as an exclusive escort will have expired. Master, do you have any plans for the future? If I get my delayed salary, it will be a pretty big lump sum.”

To the question I asked comfortably, Rachel, who was staring at me, quickly looked at the distant mountain and answered.

“I think I will settle down somewhere too.”

“What an unexpected plan? If you’re skilled enough, you’d be able to sign a new contract as an exclusive escort for another noble family, right?”

A gust of wind blew, and Rachel responded by tucking her messy short hair behind her ear.

“I have been fighting to escape from my life as a woman. Now, I want to live that woman’s life.”

“Oh. It’s a woman’s life, I don’t know where we will settle down, but it would be nice if we could be next door neighbors.”

For some reason, I was curious about the ‘life as a woman’ that Master Blunt would live in response to the vague answer, so I answered that way.

And in response, Rachel just smiled, looking at the distant mountain without saying a word.

“Now~ It’s a whole roasted rabbit, Colonel-!”

After a while.

I was able to eat a meal with the food Ariel prepared.

**

“It’s numb. Although it is now an abandoned land due to a long war, it was once the territory ruled by Baron Vedran.”

We walked non-stop until late evening, and as planned, we arrived at the former Barony of Vedran, located northwest of the Grand Duchy of Winterfell.

If it weren’t for old man Rendler’s explanation, I wouldn’t have known the reason for the devastated land.

Our porter, old man.

Even though he didn’t know the route, he knew a lot about the history of the kingdom and was a reliable source of information during the trip.

Jump and jump.

I walked between the collapsed castle walls.

I was worried that there might be monsters, but it was quiet.

Without letting down my guard, I began looking around for a place to stay for the night.

The snow clouds were gathering quite thickly.

If you fall asleep in a place without a strong roof or eaves, you will be buried alive.

“Hmm. Everything has collapsed.”

“It would not have been able to withstand the test of time as it had been neglected for nearly 20 years.”

As we looked around for a while, a mansion appeared in front of us.

Broken windows, collapsed pillars and walls, broken flags, shattered exterior walls, etc.

Although it was a mansion where the horrors of war were clearly visible, it seemed like it would be possible to stay for a night in the space created by the collapse.

“Renderer. Get ready for camp with Ariel. Rachel and I are going to look around the mansion to see if there are any dangers.”

“Yes.”

After putting his luggage on the floor, he drew his sword.

In the ruins, not only monsters, but also thieves and other insidious people seeking plunder may be lurking.

You will take turns standing guard, but the first rule of camping is to identify and eliminate risk factors in advance.

so that.

“I will take the left side, so you can take the right side.”

“Yes.”

Rachel and I split up and started searching the inside of the mansion along the passage to the left.

When I climbed the broken stairs and reached the slanted top floor.

… … I could hear a woman sobbing.

It was a truly pitiful and dangerous-looking sob that made the hair stand on end.

‘Well, there is no such thing as a ghost in this worldview… ?’

Who on earth is crying in the ruined mansion?

I pointed my sword in the direction of the sobbing sound and began to carefully approach.

For some reason, I felt like I had heard that sobbing sound.

For some reason, that sobbing sound seemed familiar.

I thought it was an illusion created by tension.