“Divine Beast… you mean the one I know?”
Tom looked at me with wide eyes, clearly surprised by my answer.
“That’s right. To be precise, I’m looking for a Phoenix.”
“Wow. A Phoenix, you say? Isn’t that just a legend?”
“It really exists. I heard it was last spotted up north.”
If that was a lie, I wouldn’t even have moved. I would probably have been pondering how to deal with Harpas while escorting the kids.
Anyway, in both the original and this world, the existence of the Phoenix was crucial to defeating Harpas. If Harpas was the embodiment of death, destruction, and war, the Phoenix represented regeneration and rebirth.
To kill Harpas, it was necessary to nullify his powers, so I had to get the Phoenix’s help, which stood in direct contradiction to his powers.
The top priority was to drag the main body and hold him off. If that wasn’t possible, I had to receive the Phoenix’s blessing to escape Harpas’s power, even if it was just me.
After all, if I’m alive, I can figure out a way to kill Harpas.
“A Phoenix, huh… you’re searching for something grand. I used to make a fuss about searching for a Dragon once…”
Is he about to spill some tales of valor? I waited for the words of a well-known archmage’s coachman while stuffing the leftover food into my mouth.
“Have you ever seen a Dragon?”
“No.”
“Dragons are really, really big.”
Yeah, really big. A truly massive one was about the size of a small village. Just swatting its front paw would turn the Academy into ashes. Of course, that was a story from a game; who knows how it would be in reality?
It could be stronger, or weaker even.
Still, I was thankful that I didn’t have to catch one. Even max-level and fully decked out, dealing with a Dragon was brutal. Asking me to catch one in reality would be insane. I just hoped this crazy status window wouldn’t instruct me to hunt a Dragon.
“Did you meet one in person?”
“It was an experience I will never forget. I still think about that day sometimes. It was a really clear and sunny day… one day a Dragon appeared in the village we were staying at. Just a single breath turned the village into a sea of flames.
Its gaze, oh, it was terrifying. The moment our eyes met, I couldn’t even move. If it weren’t for Merlin, I would have been dead.”
“You’re lucky to have survived.”
“Having Merlin as a friend was the best choice of my life.”
Seeing him staring out the window with a distant gaze, as if remembering that time, I stood up. While leisurely resting was nice, I had things to do.
“Do you happen to know a good grocery store?”
“If you go east from the center of this village, you’ll see a sign for Basil’s Grocery. They’re generous and the prices are quite reasonable, so head there. I’ll be taking a break.”
“Have a good rest. We need to start our journey again tomorrow.”
————————–
[Contractor, look! The ground is completely white!]
I was urged awake by Rue like a little child and opened my eyes to see outside. Just as she said, it was a snowy landscape. I could build hundreds of igloos with this much snow.
“There’s a hell of a lot of white trash, um, I mean snow!”
Since we had just arrived in this snow-covered area, the air inside the tightly sealed carriage started getting colder. Should I pull out a blanket? I briefly contemplated before taking the neatly folded blanket and wrapping it around myself.
In extreme environments, a careless action could quickly take away your life, so it was better to be bold and swift.
[Is the snow cold? I want to touch it~]
“You’ll be disappointed once you actually feel it.”
[Don’t ruin the excitement like that!]
Seriously, is she a child? I dismissed Rue, who was plastered against the window, enjoying the view, and pulled out some jerky from my backpack to munch on.
There’s really nothing to do.
Except for meal times, I was just riding along the road in the carriage, really having nothing to occupy myself with. If only I had more companions, I could at least chat, but unfortunately, Rue was somewhat unsuitable for casual banter.
Should I just sleep a bit more?
I quietly closed my eyes, waiting for my consciousness to sink into sleep. After all, time would naturally wake me up, so I might as well get some more sleep. Just as I was about to doze off…
[Ah! You scared me!]
Ouch, my butt!
I grabbed my backside and opened the carriage door. Stepping outside, I found Tom clicking his tongue at one of the carriage wheels.
“Who the hell left a rock on the road? Ha…”
“Is the wheel broken?”
“Yeah. This is quite the dilemma.”
“Do you have a spare wheel?”
“I do have one, but…”
“Where is it?”
“It’s in the storage compartment. But how are you planning to fix it all by yourself? It’s not something you can do alone—”
Instead of answering, I went to the storage compartment and pulled out a carriage wheel for a closer look.
It was about the size of my four palms, made of oak. Fixing it shouldn’t be too hard. I sat in front of the broken wheel and activated my skill.
“Repair.”
“…What? You have a skill?”
“Yes.”
“I see why Principal Merlin likes you.”
I gave one last look at the now-repaired wagon wheel and stood up.
“Is this good enough?”
“Yeah. I should’ve known you were a big shot since you were so good at digging.”
Tom spoke playfully and climbed back onto the coachman’s seat.
“Alright, we’re off again.”
I immediately got back into the carriage and closed my eyes once more.
After all, I wouldn’t be able to see anything besides the snowy landscape outside for a while.
[Contractor, look! Those guys are following us!]
…But when you think like that, something always happens. I opened my eyes and looked outside at the jostling carriage.
What the heck is that?
I stared intently at something wriggling in the snow. It was covered in snow, so it was hard to tell what that wriggling thing was, especially since it was quite far away.
I pulled out my telescope from my abandoned backpack to check the identity of the pursuers in the distance.
“…It’s people.”
Human figures hiding fangs against the pure white snow. I quietly stared at the approaching humans hidden in the snow and slowly pulled out my shovel.
This is a pain.
[Contractor, is that really a person?]
“Bandits.”
[Wow, so bandits really do exist.]
I opened a small window to communicate with Tom.
“It looks like we have some bandits.”
“Great, what bad luck.”
“If we leave them alone, they’ll be a nuisance, so I’ll take care of them. You stay hidden in the carriage.”
“Got it.”
With those words, the carriage started to slow down. Finally, from the decelerating carriage, I glanced around at the bandits, or rather, the wolves surrounding me.
They seemed to be armed with bows and basic weapons. I quietly adjusted my grip on the shovel and extended it.
The number… eight.
I naturally entrusted Rue, who was hanging at my waist, with the search.
[There are eight of them. Looks like there’s no mage.]
A mage wouldn’t have a reason to bandit, anyway. Even the lowest-tier mages have way too much to do. I figured these bandits were no novices and spoke up towards the surrounding bandits.
“If you act presumptuously, you won’t like the consequences.”
“Ha, what’s this punk saying?”
“If you act presumptuously~ you won’t like the consequences~!”
What are these amateur villains, seriously? I sneered and threw my shovel at the one who was laughing mockingly.
“Hey, bro!”
Can’t even dodge that? I thought he could avoid it since he looked like he had some experience. I turned my gaze from the bandit with his head split like a ‘V’ to the other pathetic goons.
They looked like plain bandits besides wearing a bit thicker clothing.
I confidently stepped towards the frozen bandits and uttered the most horrifying word I could think of.
“Crafting.”
One down.
“Now only five left.”
I turned my gaze from the dying bandits and looked at the remaining ones.
“To be wetting yourself in this cold weather? Your pants might freeze. Need a fire or something?”
“M-Monster…”
[Contractor, they’re completely terrified!]
What a bunch of frightened guys. If you’re going to hold a weapon, you should be prepared to die.
Ignoring the utterly petrified bandit, I picked up the mithril shovel that stood tall in the snow like Excalibur. Seeing blood and brain matter stuck to the shovel blade, I figured I’d better clean it.
I wiped the blade on the clothes of the bandit leader and began to count the now unresisting bandits.
“One, two, three, four, five…”
“R-Run away!”
How boring. I watched the bandits fleeing, leaving behind long tracks in the snow.
All that remained was three corpses and red stains coloring the pure white snow.
“You’ve got some serious hands there.”
“I have to do this to avoid more annoyance, right?”
“That’s a good point!”
Tom laughed heartily and sat back in the coachman’s seat.
“Then let’s set off again. As long as those annoying guys don’t stick to us, we just have to travel for three more days!”
We still had a long way to go.
I momentarily glanced at the snow-covered, disappearing corpses of the bandits before getting back into the carriage.
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