PAGE 1

“Hey, Norfe, Chouze.”

“Yes?”

 

Norfe answered without taking his eyes away from the scenery.

 

“What are you two going to do in Garonce?”

“It’s only one stop for us. We are headed for Gromble.”

“Gromble. But that’s the deepest dungeon town. And it is close to the Shadow World. It is no place you ones so young.”

“But, we think our mother’s cousin is there.”

“Cousin?”

“An adventurer.”

“But adventurers will move from dungeon to dungeon like the wind. Though Gromble is vast, and many end up staying there…”

“We have to go. We have to see it.”

 

Norfe said as he looked on ahead. They decided that it was better to not ask any more questions.

 

“But where are you going, Kaider and Nyran?”

“We are…”

“Gromble.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. We are adventurers, after all. We were just thinking of going to Gromble.”

“Oh, I see. Have you been there before?”

“Of course, we have. It’s practically our home base. We just got a little bored, you know, and were spending some time in the elven dungeons.”

 

A little bored? Only a child would fall for that excuse. Nyran thought.

 

“Oh, and then from the elven territories, you went to Arthur’s kingdom. Did you ride an airship?”

“We did indeed. Airships only fly once a week, you know? It was actually my first time riding one.”

 

Hmm. They were falling for it. Airships were expensive. Too expensive for any adventurer to ride. Indeed, Kaider and Nyran had things they wanted to keep hidden as well. They couldn’t talk too much, as their story wouldn’t survive any scrutiny.

 

“Ah, we have now reached the highest point of the road. The rest of the journey to Garonce will be downhill.”

“Oh.”

 

The children looked forlornly at the sea. The carriage slowly descended the mountain road.

 

“Agh.”

 

Suddenly, the children looked downward and held their faces.

 

“What is it?”

 

Kaider asked with concern in his voice.

 

“My right eye…” “My right eye…”

 

They said.

 

“Right eye?” “Right eye?”

 

What did they mean?

 

“Ugh, aahh, just, hehe. It’s nothing. We’re just playing.”

“You should choose one, instead of laughing and acting in pain at the same time.”

 

The children said ‘Does it ache? It does, doesn’t it?’ to each other as they giggled while looking down, there hands on their foreheads. Then they seemed to grasp something and put it in their bags.

 

“The miasma is thicker now.”

“You can tell?”

“Kind of…”

 

Indeed, Noir was facing the sea, so the miasma could escape. But the dwarf villages in the mountains were different. Of course, as the dwarves often worked in the mines, they had a higher resistance to miasma. But humans were more likely to be affected by it. There were more adventurers now who were becoming crazed. And that is why he did not want them to go to Gromble.

 

They were all deep within their own thoughts, as the carriage descended into Garonce.

Next Chapter