'So this is a carriage... It feels a bit slow. It's not even as fast as I can run.'
The carriage Ogre was currently in originally belonged to Kakafiel.
Reasonably speaking, a private carriage like this should have been somewhat luxurious, but the interior of Kakafiel's carriage didn't differ much from other ordinary ones.
Ogre figured that Kakafiel was probably not doing very well...
Which was likely why he had moved from the interior to the frontier lands.
In a place like the frontier, who would actively come here to do business except for ostracized merchants and those desperate daredevils from the black market?
'I wonder if Folke and the others have left the urban area yet...'
...
“We've arrived, Miss Gelin.”
Macar lifted the carriage curtain and reported their progress to Ogre.
Then, as Ogre prepared to step down, Macar offered a hand to support him.
The journey hadn't been as bad as they had anticipated.
Perhaps because they had already dealt with enough trouble earlier, this leg of the trip was exceptionally smooth, and they didn't encounter a single raider.
'At least the objective was achieved...' Macar comforted himself inwardly.
“Mm...”
Ogre gave a soft reply, then stepped down from the carriage under Macar's supportive hand.
Although there was still some distance to the town, walking over wasn't much of a hassle—this was a distance Ogre had specifically asked Macar to request.
This would make it easier for him to shed his disguise.
“Farewell, you two. Let me leave you with a saying from the East—we shall meet again where the mountains and rivers cross, and all future days hold promise.” Kakafiel waved to Macar and Ogre before leaving with his caravan.
'It's probably better if we don't meet again...' Macar grumbled inwardly as he watched Kakafiel depart.
He felt like the purpose of his trip had changed—it had turned into running away from Eve.
“Miss Gelin, let's head to the Church of Truth's bookstore. They like to set up their bookstores behind restaurants... I wonder what it's like where you come from.”
Macar removed his disguise mask and slung the large satchel over his shoulder.
As they walked toward the town, he began introducing its facilities to Ogre.
He had originally planned to take Ogre to the Dandelion Restaurant to reserve a private room and enjoy a lunch for two after buying the books.
But after being worn out by the succession of annoying mishaps along the way, he no longer had the heart for it—he didn't even know if he still wanted to pursue Gelin anymore...
Reason told him his chances weren't high.
Moreover, there was Eve, who presumably liked him, waiting back home—doing this would easily result in him pleasing neither.
Yet the physical impulse within told him he still preferred beautiful looks...
Besides, he really couldn't bring himself to view Eve as a romantic partner.
That was just too discordant.
Amidst this inner conflict, Macar's vigilance and observation of his surroundings dropped significantly.
That was, until Ogre tugged at the corner of his clothes.
“Wait...”
Ogre tugged at Macar's sleeve, stopping the slightly distracted Knight.
“What is it, Miss Gelin?”
Macar stopped in confusion—no matter what, Ogre was the mission target he had to protect.
This had nothing to do with whether he liked him or not.
“Here...” Ogre scribbled rapidly on his notepad—'Don't you think the defenses outside this town are exceptionally sparse...'
The moment Ogre got off the carriage, he had begun observing using his enhanced vision.
After observing for a moment.
Ogre indeed detected something off about this town.
Why weren't there even any scouts outside in broad daylight? Its defensive forces were weaker than even a single village's.
'Don't tell me I've run into another mess...'
Ogre felt like his luck had been rather poor lately, as he was running into more and more troublesome matters...
Back when he was using his own name, he had never encountered such a chaotic sequence of events in such a short period.
“It does seem that way.”
Macar cast aside his wandering thoughts. His focus sharpened instantly as he slipped into a pre-battle state.
Although he did not possess Ogre's enhanced vision, his sight was far from poor as a Professional Knight.
A Knight who had completed their Life Circle had no glaring weaknesses in any aspect.
“Miss Gelin... we should probably choose another town, or head back the way we came...” Macar peered into the distance, also beginning to sense that this place was becoming somewhat eerie.
Normally, as a Paladin, he would have investigated the situation regardless, but now he had to protect Miss Gelin...
So it was better to avoid it if possible.
Reporting back to the church was likely the most correct decision.
“Mm...” Ogre nodded. He didn't want to expose his strength to Macar so quickly either.
“I can only trouble you to walk with me... Miss Gelin. Fortunately, the other town isn't particularly far. We can report the situation to the church there... or simply head back to the village.” Macar looked toward the nearby town, a trace of gravity appearing in his gaze.
Now was not the time to play the hero.
Luckily, they had gotten off the carriage along a side path halfway, leaving quite a bit of distance between them and the town.
Leaving Roke Town directly was a solid alternative.
...
'They actually didn't come in...'
A mana-swamp crocodile poked its head out of the river outside the town, a strange blue light gleaming in its eyes.
“It seems something went wrong somewhere...”
A human guard walked out of the town. Just like the mana-swamp crocodile, his eyes pulsed with the same blue light.
“Forget it, it doesn't matter anyway.”
As the blue-eyed guard muttered to himself, every single human inside the town—men, women, young, and old—looked up at that exact moment.
Without exception, all of their eyes glowed with a faint blue light, and their expressions were identically uniform.
...
After walking with Ogre for some distance, Macar suddenly voiced the confusion in his heart. “Miss Gelin, how did you notice that something was wrong with Roke Town?”
Ogre hesitated for a moment before finally writing on his notepad—'I have a natural intuition for danger...'
This answer could also explain how he had managed to escape from the perilous Forest of Monsters.
Even though there were still plenty of loopholes if one scrutinized it closely.
But Ogre figured that those loopholes weren't something Macar's intellect would ever detect...
“An innate ability, I see...” Macar replied, not giving it any further thought.
'Why has my luck been so terrible lately?' Macar was already getting cold feet.
He was tempted to drop his satchel and carry Miss Gelin on his back to quickly escape this troubled spot.
But carrying someone would make it troublesome if they ran into danger—it wasn't optimal for defense.
“But this is my fault too. I failed to notice the problem beforehand while we were still on the carriage.” Macar had no room for other thoughts now; he only hoped they could make it through safely.
'Things are getting more and more chaotic...'
Ogre's thoughts grew complicated as well. He noticed that the degree of chaos in the frontier lands was steadily rising.
Vaguely, he felt as if there were a giant hand controlling everything from behind the scenes.
“Who's there!” Macar suddenly dropped his satchel and clenched his fists.
“Don't be nervous, my friend...” The few people stepping out from the side path raised their hands high.
They tried to look completely harmless.
“Who are you?” Macar did not lower his guard, keeping Ogre shielded behind him.
“We are residents of Roke Town,” the leading man spoke up.
'Roke Town!' Ogre and Macar both raised their vigilance to the maximum in their minds.
Macar barked, “Why are you only coming out now?”
“We couldn't catch up to your carriage...”
The leader's words left both Macar and Ogre somewhat speechless.
Only then did they realize that the people descending from the side path truly looked like simple villagers.
A horned horse's speed wasn't considered particularly fast, but that was from a Professional's perspective.
Normally, a horned horse carriage's speed was indeed not something an average Professional Apprentice level could chase down on foot.
“What happened to Roke Town? Why are you guys out here in the woods outside the town?” Macar demanded.
“Something really did happen to the town... We are just villagers lucky enough to have escaped...” A short man next to the leader began to explain...
It turned out they were all hunters from Roke Town.
Yesterday, when they were on their way back from hunting, their leader noticed something abnormal about the town and stopped them.
'Something is wrong in the town... At this hour, Kadoka should have lit the fire outside. How about this—I'll go check it out. You guys wait here. If a whole night passes and I'm not back, leave immediately and report this to the Church of Dawn!'
The meticulous leader sensed the abnormality in Roke Town's atmosphere, but he still chose to head in.
“We watched from the woods all night... We were just about to leave for nearby villages and towns, but then we saw that you didn't enter Roke Town, so we changed our plan and decided to show ourselves...” the leading hunter explained.
Just as Macar was about to ask further questions, Ogre poked him.
He handed over the small notepad.
Macar took the notepad and scanned it quickly. Then, raising his head, he questioned the five hunters before him, “How did you observe the town?”
“With this... Our town's Truth Sorcerer made it.” The short hunter pulled a collapsible long tube out of his backpack. “They call this a spyglass. It was made not too long ago. There are only two in the whole town—one is on the watchtower, and the other is right here.”
“Toss it over.” Macar normally wasn't very interested in the Church of Truth's clever gadgets, but now he had no choice but to verify it.
After catching the collapsible tube thrown over, Macar passed it to Ogre—he was worried about being ambushed himself.
“Just pull it open and look through the smaller end,” the hunter explained the operation.
Ogre took the cylinder and used it according to the instructions.
He found that the item indeed had a magnifying effect just as the man said—it even enhanced his own enhanced vision.
Though it was easy for things closer to shake.
'A magic item that increases vision so easily... Why isn't this in the city?'
Suppressing the doubt in his mind, Ogre collapsed the spyglass and nodded to Macar.
“Fine, it seems you are telling the truth...” Macar breathed a sigh of relief before posing the last question Ogre had written on the pad to the hunters: “Why did you trust us?”
“That's because you were with Mr. Kakafiel's caravan...”
The leading hunter gave an unexpected answer.
Rate on N.U.
