Chapter 33 …

Golem (1)

At the front rode the one in charge.

There were many important goods as well.

They had said that if they could just get out of this place, there would be a village.

They had said it was three or four days away—so the plan was simply to escape somehow.

“R-Rael…”

Amelin grabbed his sleeve as she watched the wagon disappearing into the distance.

Her voice trembled.

Anyone who wasn’t a fool could tell what was happening.

They had been abandoned.

Now they had to find a way to survive.

“W-What should we do?”

“Just a moment.”

Rael focused his mind.

He spread out his senses.

He could feel traces of mana in many places. Then he turned his head to the left.

There was almost no presence in that direction.

“Let’s go that way.”

“Huh?”

“Hurry. We have to run.”

“What about the others?”

“If we stay there, we’ll just die together.”

He spoke while already running. Amelin hesitated for a moment, then followed.

She knew she had no answer either.

She was only an apprentice—there was nothing she could do.

They sprinted toward the forest on the left.

There were no orcs blocking their path.

His senses had been correct.

Just as he began to feel relieved, someone caught up from behind.

Mercenaries. Two of them.

Among them was the one Rael had thought looked sly.

“Let’s go together.”

The mercenary smiled.

He was quick-witted.

It seemed he had noticed that the leaders had abandoned them.

Even in that chaotic moment, he had chosen to throw everything away and run.

And he had followed Rael.

Impressive.

Rael nodded.

It would be good to have someone standing in front.

If the mercenary could hold them off even briefly, they could manage if orcs appeared.

“Can you clear a path?”

“Just draw their attention.”

There were orcs nearby.

There were also people—powerless passengers.

“Graaah!”

Everyone was running in different directions.

Behind them, the axes of the orcs came crashing down.

Rael frowned at the tearing screams.

There was nothing he could do.

All he could do was hope they survived.

If they were lucky, they would live.

If they were unlucky, they would die.

Rael did not have the ability to wipe out an entire group of orcs.

Even he was in danger.

Sometimes an orc chased them.

When that happened, they fought briefly. If the mercenary could block for a moment, Rael would fire a spell at the orc.

As they reduced their numbers and kept running, the pursuit gradually lessened.

But his senses still told him something was following.

If this continued, it would never end.

He gasped for breath.

Although he had climbed mountains often, he had never undergone proper physical training.

With the stride of a boy, he had to move his feet faster than adults.

Because of that, he became exhausted quickly.

Running at full speed for thirty minutes was already incredible.

It would have been impossible if an orc with an axe hadn’t been chasing behind them.

As for Amelin, her legs were trembling.

She had reached her limit.

They needed a plan.

Rael hurriedly looked around. They needed somewhere to hide.

Then something caught his attention.

More precisely, he smelled something.

“Wait!”

“W-What is it?”

“That! We need to dig that up quickly!”

He pointed and shouted urgently.

Startled by his desperation, the mercenaries didn’t even question him and immediately began pulling the plants out.

They were herbs.

Several of them were growing around a tree.

It was the scent of Quhen, a herb the old guide had once used.

If it had been just a normal smell, he wouldn’t have recognized it.

But he remembered the scent of mana.

The moment he smelled it, his mind cleared.

He took out his water flask and soaked the herbs.

Then he rubbed the wet herbs over his body.

“Pour water and rub it on yourselves!”

“Water?”

“There’s no time to be stingy!”

The mercenaries saw what he was doing and copied him. Amelin did the same.

Water could be created anyway.

When he felt it was enough, he stopped.

Other herbs would have produced a noticeable smell, but this one had an odor humans couldn’t detect.

He wasn’t completely certain.

It might not work at all.

But they didn’t have time.

The presence chasing them was getting closer.

They hid behind some rocks nearby.

Amelin hid beside him. The mercenary crouched behind a tree.

After a moment, footsteps could be heard.

Orcs.

There were five of them.

Persistent bastards.

They had followed them this far.

Rael’s heart pounded.

His abilities worked best when he kept distance from his enemies.

If they were discovered at this range, it was over.

Two mercenaries couldn’t stop that many orcs.

If a fight broke out, he wouldn’t even finish chanting a spell before being cut down by an axe.

Please go away…

He held his breath.

His heart felt like it was beating faster and faster.

Just when he thought he couldn’t hold it anymore, the orcs moved on.

It had worked.

If it hadn’t, they would have been forced to fight.

Only then did he let out a breath.

“Haaah…”

He looked at his companions.

Amelin was panting.

The mercenaries were sitting on the ground, staring at the sky.

They had survived.

Thanks to the old man.

Quhen was a herb the old guide had taught him about.

Because he remembered the herb the guide once used, they had lived.

In a way, the guide had saved them.

That had been close.

Quhen didn’t work on goblins.

It was said to work on more dangerous creatures.

Orcs were certainly more dangerous—so it seemed to have worked.

They had overcome the immediate crisis, but the situation was far from good.

Rael sighed.

The future looked bleak.

The caravan that had once numbered twenty wagons was destroyed.

Their destination was still far away.

He had no idea what they should do now.

While he hesitated, he felt eyes on him.

Everyone was looking at him.

Silently pushing the decision onto him.

This had never happened before.

Amelin was one thing, but the mercenaries were adults.

He couldn’t understand why they were leaving the choice to him.

Perhaps it was because of the skill he had shown earlier.

Or maybe it was because he had immediately run when danger struck.

The weight on his shoulders grew heavier.

When he was alone, choices were easy.

Even if he lost something, he alone would bear the loss.

But now it was different.

Whatever decision he made would determine the lives of three people.

The sly mercenary asked,

“So what are we doing?”

“Let’s find a hiding place.”

“A hiding place?”

“There might still be orcs roaming around.”

“Not a bad choice.”

The mercenary nodded.

Orcs were likely still wandering nearby.

First, they had to avoid those damned orcs.

They needed to hide in a cave and survive the danger.

The group followed Rael’s decision without complaint.

They walked, stepping on fallen leaves.

Rael gathered herbs he saw along the way—ones that could be boiled and eaten.

If he saw berries, he took them as well.

They would need food.

Where beasts lived, there were often caves.

Fortunately, they found one.

It was dark.

The sly mercenary picked up a branch.

The other mercenary did the same.

Amelin lit them with magic.

Torches were made.

The two mercenaries took the lead.

Looking at the ground, centipedes crawled across it.

There were many other strange insects as well.

Sleeping on the ground didn’t seem possible.

Rael tried to recall whether any herbs he knew could repel insects.

He remembered reading about some in an herbal book.

But he wasn’t sure if they grew nearby.

He would have to search later.

The cave was deep.

After walking a bit, they found a large space.

Water dripped from above.

A mercenary raised the torch, illuminating the ceiling.

“No bats.”

“This cave is pretty clean.”

Their reactions surprised Rael.

The ground was muddy and insects crawled everywhere.

Yet to the mercenaries, this apparently counted as clean.

They settled there.

They gathered more branches and started a campfire.

With fire burning, the insects stayed away.

Smoke escaped through a gap in the ceiling.

There was also a dry patch of ground, so they settled there.

Everyone stared silently at the fire.

No one spoke.

The first to break the silence was Amelin.

“What do we do now?”

No answer came.

The caravan was ruined.

They had fallen apart before even reaching the first village.

Rael’s head ached.

They didn’t even know where they were.

Judging by the number of orcs, they might be deep in orc territory.

They had almost died in goblin territory before.

This was worse.

Orcs were stronger than goblins.

If a hundred appeared like before, they might as well lie down and beg to be killed.

Rael spoke.

“There’s a large village three or four days away.”

“You want to go there?”

“Not right away.”

Orcs were still around.

Even with many mercenaries, they had hesitated to fight them.

Now there were only four of them.

Three, excluding Amelin.

Leaving immediately was dangerous.

“Let’s wait a few days.”

“And what will we do in the meantime?”

“We prepare. We’ll need more of the herb we used earlier. You don’t want to fight orcs, right?”

Everyone shook their heads.

They had felt the terror of orcs.

No one wanted to fight them.

Once their direction was decided, spirits lifted.

If they could reach the village, they would be safe.

They divided roles.

Rael would go outside the cave.

Before the herb’s effect faded, he needed to gather more Quhen.

Seeing how much grew nearby, this area was probably its natural habitat.

They also needed firewood and herbs to repel insects.

The sly mercenary volunteered to go with him.

The other two stayed behind.

Amelin seemed pleased.

The sly mercenary kicked her lightly.

Even though it had happened during battle, facing her was awkward.

One mercenary and Amelin would explore the cave further.

Rael stepped outside.

He looked around.

He felt no mana presence nearby.

He walked slowly.

But the mercenary raised his arm and stopped him.

“I’ll go first.”

Rael nodded.

If the man wanted to take the lead, there was no reason to refuse.

He watched the mercenary walking ahead.

The man turned his head constantly.

Sometimes he crouched and examined the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for tracks.”

“Tracks?”

“I learned tracking. My father was a hunter.”

Rael found it fascinating.

The mercenary wasn’t just observant—he had actually learned tracking.

Still, Rael wondered if it was necessary.

Then the mercenary brushed away some leaves and pointed.

“Look here.”

“What is it?”

“An orc’s footprint.”

“What can you tell from a footprint?”

“A lot. Their numbers. Their direction. If you follow the tracks, you can even tell when they passed.”

“You can tell all that?”

“You need a good eye.”

“I have a good eye.”

Finding herbs also required sharp eyesight.

Although valuable herbs were now found by sensing mana, before that he had climbed mountains daily searching for them.

If he hadn’t found herbs, he would have starved in the village.

So he believed his eyesight was decent.

“Oh really? Then look at this. What does it look like?”

“It just looks like a footprint.”

“This one was made two hours ago. That one is several days old.”

“They look the same to me.”

“That’s why you need sharp eyes. Not everyone can learn tracking.”

Rael nodded.

The mercenary seemed more reliable now.

With his tracking skills, they could guess where the orcs were.

Rael could only sense nearby presences.

They searched the area, each doing something different.

Rael looked for herbs.

The mercenary kept watch.

Each had their role.

They found what they wanted sooner than expected.

While gathering firewood, Rael found the herb.

Quhen.

It seemed to grow abundantly here.

Once they gathered enough, they turned back.

It would have been nice to find insect-repelling herbs too, but wandering too far was dangerous.

They might find some on the way back.

With their bags full, walking became harder.

Even now, every time he exerted himself he felt his limits.

His combat ability improved quickly, but his body stubbornly refused to grow.

He had only just turned thirteen.

The future felt bleak.

He spoke to the mercenary to distract himself.

“Why did you follow me?”

“Because you’re strong.”

“Strong?”

“You judged quickly. You were the only one who ran with determination. So I followed.”

“For that reason?”

“Hey, that’s not easy. Even experienced mercenaries panic when a fight suddenly breaks out. You saw how people lost their minds. But you alone picked a direction and ran. I thought—ah, the direction that kid is running must be safe.”

“That’s impressive.”

The mercenary was praising him.

But hearing that made Rael think the mercenary was even more impressive.

It wasn’t the kind of thought a simple brute would have.

“Your turn now. How did you know that direction was correct?”

“I can sense the presence of orcs.”

“With magic?”

“It’s a bit different, but similar.”

“I see.”

The mercenary fell silent.

Walking was tiring.

After a moment Rael asked again.

“What are you thinking about?”

“That it was a good decision to follow you.”

The mercenary grinned.

His attitude seemed slightly different now.

“So what now?”

“Like I said earlier—we wait a few days. How much food do you have?”

“I’ve got some jerky.”

“That’s good.”

“The problem is drinking water.”

To find water, they would have to explore the forest.

That meant risking encounters with beasts or monsters.

Finding a water source was dangerous.

The mercenary’s concern was solved instantly.

“I can make water.”

“Ah… right.”

The mercenary scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

He seemed to have forgotten Rael could create water.

The reaction felt very mercenary-like.

Strangely, it reassured Rael.

They didn’t find more herbs on the way back.

But at least they hadn’t encountered any orcs.

No fights was a good thing.

When they returned to the cave, Amelin greeted them excitedly.

She said she had made an incredible discovery.

When Rael asked what it was, she refused to tell him.

Instead, she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside the cave.

After walking a bit, they reached the large chamber.

But she didn’t stop there.

She walked toward one side.

There was a narrow passage.

They went down it.

At the end stood a structure.

It looked like the entrance to an ancient ruin.

It was a dungeon.