6 – Intersect
While holding onto the edge of the shaking carriage, Poro watched the surrounding scenery blankly.
Trees rose high above, a rocky cliffside loomed to the left, and while the road was narrow, it twisted and turned along with the mountain, which restricted the view.
“Hey, Poro. Are you sure about this?”
“Huh…?”
The other man asked in an anxious voice. He was covered in dust and dirt, but Poro looked just as bad.
They were riding in the back of a carriage, along with boxes of food and other supplies.
“Are we really going to be allowed to live there…”
“Aye…”
“Hey…why don’t you say something?”
“Aye…”
The man sighed and then began to talk to one of the other men. There were three other carriages behind them.
There were two mercenaries, taking the front and rear, but it was not the most reliable escort.
“You. You alright there?”
The merchant driver looked towards him. He had a strange accent, but appeared to be concerned for them.
However, it was hard to accept it at face value.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
“…The people who made this road…they are from Lindle, where we are headed. Up until then, this place was infested with beasts. And so we’re all very grateful.”
Now that he thought about it, the road was quite nice, and there were reinforcements at various points to prevent the road from crumbling.
“And are we almost there? This Lindle village.”
“Eh? Ah, it’s a little farther up ahead. We should arrive before evening at this rate. But first, we’ll stop to eat lunch and rest.”
He was so laid back that it just made Poro more anxious. He looked around, trying to see through the bushes and trees.
“You worried? That monsters will attack?”
“Isn’t there one nearby? A monster dungeon.”
Poro’s hand went to the shortsword at his belt. He gripped the handle in order to calm himself. But he could not stop shaking.
“…It is sad…what happened to Minera village…”
Poro opened his mouth in order to say something but stopped. He leaned weakly against a large trunk and sighed.
Even now, he had nightmares about the day his village was burned down.
The horde of monsters, screaming as they flowed in. The giant ogres that tore through the fences. The goblins that followed after them.
Poro had prepared the carriage in order to escape.
He then heard three screams from the door of his house.
The screams of his wife and two children.
A moment later, he was found. And in order to escape the pursuing goblins, he drove the carriage.
Without even seeing if his loved ones were really dead.
He was chased, he was caught. But in the end, he survived.
And the reality that waited for him after that, was a burned village and destroyed crops.
The dead bodies of his wife and children…strung up on ropes…
“Hey, do you wanna drink?”
The merchant driver put down a bottle without even turning his head.
“What is this?”
“A speciality of Lindle. It might help as a distraction.”
He opened the cork and a sweet smell reached his nose. The liquid inside bubbled.
“Wine?”
“Apple wine. Smoother than ordinary wine. And the smell is so calming. It might help you sleep.”
There was something flowery in the smell when he tasted it. Perhaps there were herbs inside. Still, it was smooth and tasted expensive.
“Do not worry about the monsters. There is a Hero in Lindle village. The monsters around here do not stand a chance.”
“Ah, a Hero.”
Poro spat.
What a thrilling…and yet utterly futile word.
‘I’m sorry. But I can’t stay here any longer… I have a mission.’
Said the young man who wielded a sword that was as long as he was tal. After defeating the monsters in the village, he had left them and gone on his way.
Indeed, he had saved the people of the village. But what they had lost was too great.
Their house, fields, stored food…the lives of their family. None would return.
After the heroic figure was gone, what was left was the people who had to face a horrible reality.
In the end, the village still died.
They did not have the power to rebuild.
Piled up stones marked the graves in the ravaged fields now.
“Is this Hero…really trustworthy?”
The heat and drunkenness he was feeling was shattering his heart. He could not help but chuckle angrily and sigh with the smell of apples.
“I heard that nearly a hundred Heroes were slaughtered recently. Seems like they can’t be trusted anymore.”
“The hundred Heroes…from what I saw, they were trying to face a most terrible monster.”
“You…saw it? The monster?”
It was known that this merchant driver had been the last person to see the group of Heroes.
“Well…I only saw the star wolf…I didn’t see the actual monster who defeated the Heroes.”
“…Is it true…? That it was a kobold?”
When he closed his eyes, there was an image that appeared in Poro’s mind.
An approaching figure that slayed the pursuing goblins. Something that looked frightening, and nothing like a weak monster.
He knew it was ridiculous. And yet…
“Who knows…? It has nothing to do with me…”
The bottle was empty now. But he felt relaxed, and quite sleepy. As if his whole body was submerged in hot water.
“There are some furs in that chest. You should wrap yourself up in them.”
He grabbed it without thinking and then closed his eyes between two boxes.
He did not want to think about anything. About his lost family and homeland. About what life awaited him.
Right now, he just wanted to sleep. While feeling the calming rhythmic vibrations from the ground, Poro surrendered his consciousness.