Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Arachne (1)

The ruggedness of the Trafal Mountain Range was something most people on the continent knew about.

Of course, not many had seen it directly, but the massive mountain range stretching from the northeastern end of the continent to the southeast was quite famous.

Even from a distance, the sight seemed quite majestic, so many headed east to see the mountain range.

Of course, they didn’t enter the mountains themselves.

There were no paths paved through the mountain range since there was no exchange between the Empire and the East.

Additionally, criminals from the Empire and the East flocked to the mountains on either side, turning into mountain bandits of sorts.

Essentially, a group of vicious criminals.

The reason merchants couldn’t trade easily was not just the ruggedness of the mountains, but also because of these criminals.

‘Even if it made money, the risk was too high.’

In the north of the mountain range, there were dwarves spraying Flynn Powder, and in the south was directly connected to the desert area.

The longer the distance, the more supplies needed, and it wasn’t worth crossing over.

Without being able to use carriages, they would need to hire an excessive number of high-level escorts.

Anyway, we abandoned the carriage and entered the mountain range, still appearing as a mercenary group.

To receive slightly fewer attacks from the mountain bandits, it was better to look like mercenaries rather than merchants.

Personally, I didn’t think there would be much difference.

‘With Mary and Rina here, it couldn’t be helped.’

Lust is one of the strong desires humans have. And the vicious criminal group of mountain bandits had it even worse.

Even if you were a man, if you were weak, you could be raped in the Trafal Mountain Range.

In such a situation, if there were women in the party, the result was obvious. Those guys would definitely lose their minds.

I had experienced it in the game as well. The frequency of ambushes was different when there were women in the party versus when there weren’t.

Of course, I wasn’t worried about being ambushed. Our party wasn’t at a level the mountain bandits could handle.

It was just a minor annoyance.

Denif, who had just sliced the last bandit’s neck with a single stroke, twisted his wrist to flick the blood off his sword.

Aron and Jofor, who had merely watched the fight, opened their mouths in admiration. It had been an overwhelming battle.

“Wow! Big Brother, you’re really crazy.”

“Not crazy, just basic.”

“In that brief moment, you went shaq! shashaq! and five people fell at once, it’s just…”

“Hey, you can do it too. Didn’t I teach you swordsmanship?”

“Of course! It’s an honor!”

At Denif’s sincere flattery, he approached me with a solemn expression, but his lips were slightly curled up.

“Carlyn, are you counting this as one time too?”

“Suddenly what one time?”

“I took care of it all, so include it in the number of times I spar with the kids.”

Ah, he was referring to that.

Denif had pestered me so much to spar that I set a condition. That condition was sparring with the kids.

If he sparred with Aron and Jofor five times each, I would spar with him too.

To be honest, I’m not against sparring with Denif either. There’s a lot to gain and learn.

It’s beneficial for both of us, but the frequency was the problem. He pestered me two or three times a day.

We couldn’t keep stopping in the middle of travel. So I had to set the condition.

‘It was a good choice.’

The kids’ skills were improving day by day. And Denif’s style was different from mine.

The kids really liked seeing their growth too.

I might not be good at teaching with just words, but actual combat was different. They experienced it directly.

But of course, Denif wasn’t satisfied. He preferred fights where the skill levels matched.

But still, duty is duty.

This shameless guy, trying to make a deal out of something he should obviously do.

“That’s just the obvious duty of being comrades, isn’t it? You joined our party, didn’t you?”

“Yeah but I took care of things for you. Aren’t you glad to have less annoyance?”

He wasn’t wrong. Fighting the mountain bandits was quite bothersome for me.

If I wanted to maintain my combat sense, it was better to spar with Denif. But it was a bit rude.

“You like fighting, so you’re happy to take action, right? It’s good for both of us, so why are you acting like you’re at a disadvantage?”

“Ugh…”

“You even laughed that there was a decent guy yesterday.”

Denif couldn’t find another argument. I didn’t dwell on it and found a spot to sit.

It seemed better to take a break now, even if it was a bit early since we had already delayed our schedule.

“Let’s eat. Prepare it.”

At my words, Aron and Jofor moved swiftly. Since it was still the beginning of the mountain range, we had ample supplies we had brought.

The preparation didn’t take long. As we ate, Denif glanced at Rina, who sat a bit apart.

“Why are you looking at her like that? Do you have an interest in her?”

“Huh? No. It just reminded me of Orhen.”

“Orhen?”

Denif nodded. He had also said it would be nice if Orhen was here on the day he first joined.

I had similar feelings. After all, Orhen was a childhood friend.

“They don’t look alike though?”

“Ah, you came after Orhen had changed a bit.”

“What do you mean?”

“Orhen was just like that when I first met her.”

He meant that Rina was similar to how Orhen used to be. Hmm, I don’t know. Orhen had been introverted from the start when I met her.

Though admittedly, not as much as Rina.

“At first, Orhen didn’t trust people either and wouldn’t talk much. She ignored me even when I spoke.”

Reminiscing about the past, Denif spoke with an unusually serious expression. He might act foolish, but he wasn’t actually foolish.

“But she’s changed a bit now, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

“How did Orhen change?”

It was a curious point from the perspective of trying to get through to Rina. Denif shrugged.

“I don’t really know. As we spent time together, her heart slowly opened up, I guess.”

“So time was the cure?”

“I did keep talking to her and asking her to play. She was my only friend around the same age.”

“Hmm.”

Then it seemed Aron and Mary continuing to approach Rina the way they have been would work out. Although her wall was still quite firm for now.

I might need to ask them separately to not lose heart from her continued rejections. I stood up from my spot.

“Where are you going?”

“To brush my teeth.”

“You do that even here?”

“Why are you asking? I did it yesterday and this morning too.”

“But we didn’t bring that much water, did we?”

Ah, he was talking about it from a different perspective.

“Don’t worry about that.”

I had Purification, so there was no problem.

***

There were a few more battles while crossing the mountain range. For Aron and Jofor’s growth, I let them handle it as much as possible.

Aside from Mary spraining her ankle on a downhill path, there were no other major issues.

If I had to name something, it would be that we ran out of food supplies in the middle? But that wasn’t really a problem either.

It was expected.

I had no intention of limiting the kids’ food just because we were out of supplies, so I had packed plenty of seasonings.

We just had to hunt animals and cook them.

Moreover, with me and Denif having learned Herbology, we didn’t just eat meat.

‘It turned out to be quite a rewarding time.’

While it wasn’t my initial intention, during that process, I taught the party members Herbology.

First was caution about poisonous plants that looked edible.

Then it progressed to simple hemostatic agents, folk antibiotics, and poisons that could be made even in these forests.

This slowed us down a bit, but it was a necessary endeavor even considering that.

Mary showed interest in Herbology. Aron, Jofor, and Osten didn’t seem to like it.

Rina listened attentively with an expressionless face, but she seemed a bit surprised.

Perhaps she was thinking about what kind of people Denif and I used to be.

Anyway, that time was also nearing its end.

“Phew! It’s over now.”

While crossing the mountain range, we had descended many times. We just had to ascend again.

But now, no other mountain was in sight. We had penetrated and crossed the rugged Trafal Mountain Range.

Since we couldn’t rest properly, we felt physically drained. The others were similar.

Only Denif was fine. That guy’s stamina was unmatched.

-Get up!

-Huh? At this hour?

-There’s never a wrong time for training.

-Brother, I’m really tired.

-You brats. Back when it was me and Carlyn…

Even as Aron and Jofor were exhausted, Denif woke up those who were sleeping to force them to pick up their swords for sparring with me.

But since he kept it short while showing some consideration, I didn’t stop him.

“Rina, do you know around where we are?”

Rina furrowed her brow for a moment, looking around, before shaking her head.

“…No. I can’t tell from this alone. We’d have to go to a nearby town or village.”

Well, it couldn’t be helped.

It’s not like Rina frequently crossed the Trafal Mountain Range. We didn’t have a map of the ranges either.

We had crossed over from the west without losing our eastern direction.

But with finding easier paths, fighting, and resting in between, our direction inevitably shifted slightly.

After a few more hours of walking, we were able to find a city. It was the city of Sherpa.

After checking the map, Rina told us our location. We had to go further northeast to reach our destination.

“It will be tiring, but we’ll rest today and set out again tomorrow.”

“Yes!”

“Save words as much as possible. They don’t look upon us too favorably here.”

The languages of the East and West weren’t different, but the accents were slightly different. I suppose it’s like a dialect.

Rina didn’t have an accent right after crossing the mountain range since she had practiced, but we were different.

Denif and I hadn’t learned the Eastern accent either. Just earlier, we felt stares when conversing.

This was also a place with a different religion, so we didn’t need to stand out. The fashion in clothing was different too, so we changed outfits completely.

‘There’s more to be mindful of than I thought.’

The currency was also different, so we could only pay with the loot we hadn’t processed yet.

By the way, Sherpa…

It was a thought that suddenly came to me in the middle of the night. It felt like I had heard it somewhere before, but I wasn’t sure.

Did I see it while playing the game, or did I hear it here? It seemed like there was something.

No matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t recall. Thinking it would be better to ask, I went to find Rina.

Perhaps because it was night, Rina, who was in her room, welcomed me with a startled look of discomfort.

“It’s not what you’re thinking. By any chance, is there anything famous about this place?”

“…Famous?”

“I feel like I heard something about Sherpa before, but I can’t quite remember.”

“I don’t really know either.”

Rina shook her head.

“I’ve only been in Arachne since I was young. All I did was carry out the tasks I was given and return. I learned geography, but not things like that.”

Well, of course. She wasn’t raised as an intelligence agent, but solely as a thief.

I retreated with a tinge of regret. Well, if I can’t remember, it probably wasn’t that important.

‘Anyway, I’ll have another chance when we return.’

If I remembered in the middle, I could just stop by before crossing back into the Empire.

With that, we spent a day in Sherpa and immediately set out northeast.

On the move, we received education on the Eastern accent from Rina. Rina was initially reluctant, but…

Since it was necessary to handle Arachne, she eventually agreed.

Denif and I, who had experienced it before, were able to get accustomed to it quickly. We had changed accents many times.

Mary and Aron did well too. But Jofor and Osten struggled to get used to the accent.

‘They were like this when acting too…’

Inevitably, I had Osten and Jofor keep their mouths shut. Since no one crossed over from the East, it would be too noticeable.

But thanks to this accent training, Aron and Mary did become a bit closer to Rina. I saw it as a positive signal.

After a not-so-short journey.

We arrived at Elish, the site of Arachne’s main base and holy ground for believers of Lu Nanna.

On the evening of our arrival, I gathered the party. Arachne. I was confident, but it wouldn’t be easy.

We needed to plan how to handle it.

“Rina, now that we’ve come this far, can you tell us?”

Information about Arachne.

I didn’t press her for it on the way here. It was meant to show my trust in her. But now, it was time to hear it.

“…Alright.”

Perhaps because we had finally arrived at Arachne’s doorstep. Rina opened her mouth with a rather serious expression.

Author's Thoughts

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