Chapter 71
The pickpocket turned the corner and began running down the alley.
“Why is he so fast?”
Thinking the distance might widen, Ellen ran after him and slipped her hand into her pocket, searching for “anything she could throw.” As soon as her hand closed around something small and flat, she didn’t even check what it was—she immediately threw it at the pickpocket.
It struck him in the rear, and the pickpocket let out a grunt before falling backward.
Ellen and Roil quickly caught up to the fallen pickpocket.
“Where did it go?”
Ellen crouched down and began searching the ground carefully, ignoring the pickpocket entirely. Seeing this, Roil rummaged through the pickpocket’s outer pocket and asked,
“What are you doing?”
“I think that thing I just threw was a gold coin. My gold coin!”
Ellen didn’t lift her head as she continued searching the ground. Roil, exasperated, muttered “good grief” and lightly lifted the pickpocket’s shoulder.
“Here it is, here.”
Ellen grinned, quickly picked up the gold coin, and slipped it into her pocket.
“I should ask Mom to put some extra coins in the storage. Losing a gold coin and not finding it would give me a stomachache.”
“…Do you always have to lose money? Just ask her to put in some stones. Or, better yet, you can just pick up a stone from the road and put it in yourself.”
“That’s true! I never thought of using stones.”
Ellen stuck her tongue out. Roil clicked his tongue playfully.
“Let’s deal with this guy first.”
Roil grabbed the pickpocket, who was still lying down holding one leg in pain.
Ellen and Roil asked around to locate the town’s constabulary and handed the pickpocket over. Apparently, he had been quite a nuisance in this town. The constabulary offered them a small reward as thanks.
“Ugh, why bother with this. We don’t need it.”
Ellen said this but accepted the reward quickly, causing both Roil and the constabulary captain to turn their heads and laugh at the contradiction.
✿ ✿ ✿
Having spent quite some time dealing with the pickpocket, Ellen and Roil decided to skip further market sightseeing and set off on their path.
“Hmm, this is the right road, isn’t it?”
Several hours after departure, Roil unfolded a map, looking troubled. Seeing his expression, Ellen also took out the map from her pouch.
“Yes, this is the pass. But why does this road look like this?”
Ellen compared the route they had traveled, the path ahead, and the surrounding terrain with the map, and responded.
For some reason, the road that should have continued straight had become a wide, black open space.
“Eli, don’t move the horse. Stay where you are.”
Roil dismounted and began collecting large stones from around them. Ellen, following his instructions, didn’t move the horse and watched him work.
After gathering a fair number of stones, Roil created an arrow on the ground, indicating the direction they had come from.
“Since we came from this side, according to the map, we should head that way.”
“Has the road changed?”
Ellen asked as she dismounted. Roil thought for a moment before answering.
“I think we should camp here for tonight.”
He pointed to the sun.
“If the road hasn’t changed and it’s just an open space, it’s fine. But if the road has changed, we might get lost. Since the sun is already setting, stopping here makes sense.”
“Right. No need to push ourselves with back-to-back camping.”
Ellen and Roil decided to conserve their energy.
“We’ve come quite a distance, haven’t we? It feels like we took it easy, yet we’ve gone further than today’s target.”
Ellen sat on the ground, examining the map, and spoke to Roil, who was securing the horse.
“Really? That’s good. Seems like we’re making pretty smooth progress.”
Roil approached, craned his neck, and looked at the map with her.
“Even overall, we’re about half a day ahead of schedule.”
“Right? We’ll probably reach Bourbon territory faster than expected. I should contact Serel two days before leaving Eston.”
Ellen nodded.
They had roughly planned to meet friends along the road to Roanoke. Serel would join in Bourbon territory, and Adrian and Santuke would join in Spencer territory.
Santuke, who had lived in the capital since childhood, had been avoiding his father’s constant nagging by escaping to Dumfrey territory. When he heard everyone was heading to Roanoke, he packed and left for Spencer territory ahead of the others. His mother would now be the one nagging him.
Roil disappeared into the forest to gather firewood and returned shortly with his arms full of branches.
“Looks like we might be able to catch some game in this forest too,” he said, placing the branches down.
“Really? Should we try today?”
“Sure, but we’ll need to light the fire a bit later.”
“Before sunset, right? We can tie the horse here temporarily?”
“Yes, it’s secured well.”
After checking their weapons, they entered the forest.
“This reminds me of the old days,” Ellen said, thinking of the first and only time she had hunted with a bow, even hitting a flying bird.
“Think you can catch a bird this time too?”
Roil, seemingly recalling that day, crouched beside her, scanning for passing animals, his hands empty.
After a while in the bushes, a rustling sound came from beyond. Ellen and Roil exchanged a glance and crouched lower.
A deer. Not a young one—it looked well-fed.
“Now?”
“Now!”
At the signal, Ellen threw her dagger. The sound of the dagger slicing through the air was almost immediately followed by the deer’s scream.
It collapsed with a thud. Ellen approached quickly, thinking she had hit it.
The deer let out a pained scream, like a pig being slaughtered, with a dagger lodged in its neck. Its struggles gradually weakened.
Ellen’s face twisted as she watched it fight to survive. Twisting the dagger in its neck, the deer’s life ended.
“Time for lunch, I guess,” Ellen muttered.
Blood splattered as she removed the dagger, some even hitting her face. She wiped it off with her hand.
“It’s fine. Someone had to kill the meat in any case for lunch.”
Roil handed her a handkerchief and carried the deer. Ellen followed, still holding the bloodied dagger.
“You can’t clean your face with just the handkerchief. Go wash it with water.”
“I don’t want to go to the stream alone. I’ll come with you.”
At the word “water,” Ellen thought of the water-snake monster and shook her head. She could handle such a monster, but that didn’t mean she wanted one to appear.
“There’s no stream here. Use the water in your pouch.”
“Will there be enough?”
“I asked the lady to put extra water in. It’ll be enough.”
Relieved, Ellen accepted a large water bottle from Roil’s pouch, about five times bigger than the usual one she drank from. Her eyes widened.
“Since we brought this big bottle, use it to wash when we camp.”
“What a luxurious trip,” Ellen said, opening the bottle and laughing.
While Ellen washed, Roil skinned the deer with impressive skill, catching Ellen’s attention.
“What did you do the past two years?” she muttered. Roil chuckled quietly but continued his work.
He placed the prepared deer on a metal skewer from a blue box.
“Was there a skewer in that box too?”
Albert had packed everything.
Ellen, having washed, started a campfire. She tossed a small ball into the fire, and Roil prepared to place the skewer with the deer over it.
“Wait… it looks too much like the whole deer. Let’s cut it a bit.”
Ellen stopped him, cutting the deer’s legs to fit on the skewer.
“Not how you imagined it?”
“It’s fine. Roasting it whole reminded me of how it struggled before dying. It’ll cook better now.”
As they watched the deer roast over the fire, Roil glanced toward the road, hand lightly on his sword.
Noticing him, Ellen reached for her weapon as well. Distracted by the deer, she hadn’t realized it was getting dark.
Click-clack. The sound of approaching hooves reached them.
Since she had thrown something into the fire, it wasn’t a wild animal approaching. Ellen relaxed slightly, but seeing Roil stay alert, she kept her hand on her weapon.
“Good evening. We meet again here.”
A man on horseback greeted them, seemingly familiar.
“Good evening.”
Roil returned the greeting, trying to see his face. The man dismounted, stepping closer into the light so his face could be seen.
“Oh, you’re the one from the inn,” Roil realized.
“Who is it?” Ellen asked silently. Roil whispered back:
“The person I sparred with at the inn this morning.”
“Oh, hello.”
Ellen recognized him and greeted him.
“I’m preparing dinner; may I join you?” the man asked with a friendly smile. Roil glanced at Ellen, and the man did too. Seeing Roil seemed okay with it, Ellen nodded and gestured to an empty spot.
The man tied his horse and joined them excitedly.
“Good thing there’s plenty of meat,” Ellen said.
“It’s deer, right? Did you two catch it?”
“Eli caught it herself. I’m Roil,” she said.
“I’m Yubel,” the man replied, smiling at Ellen.
“I’m Ellen,” she introduced herself.
Since she didn’t give her surname, Ellen must be hiding it or be a commoner. She guessed she wasn’t a commoner.
Yubel seemed a bit disappointed upon hearing her introduction, but quickly masked his expression before Ellen or Roil noticed.
