Vol 3 Chapter 1: Flaming Arrows (Start of the Necromancer Arc)

A series of carriages were travelling down a dusty valley, with a series of tall cliffs surrounding them to the left and right. Five of them to be exact, with three carrying goods and two carrying passengers.

This was what the locals referred to as the Whispering Valley, named after the whispers you would hear from the wind blowing through the many holed rocks that jutted out the two cliffs, creating flute-like sounds. Some even said that they were the whispers of the dead or the whispers of wind spirits, though there really was no basis for such rumors. There weren’t any undead monsters around and the place was certainly not a Fey Domain, or else it couldn’t have been used as an alternate route to cross into the Kingdom of Fiania. The Fey would never tolerate their land being used as a public road after all.

Even so, it was still a treacherous route. Most travelers would opt to take the route to the west instead, where it was safer and closer to civilization. Unfortunately, the one responsible for the caravan had no choice in the matter. His superior demanded that the goods were to be delivered on time, and thanks to some mix-up, they only arrived in his hands far later than what he had scheduled. And so, he had to brave himself and take this route instead of the other one, as that route was definitely longer. This was the direct route to his destination after all. And thus, he had to spend extra cash recruiting adventurers to act as their escort. At the very least, he could recoup some of said cost by including a passenger carriage with their convoy, charging the people inside extra as they would get to their destination faster.

His name was Norton, an up-and-coming trader employed by the Rinea Corporation, or, to be more exact, one of its many branches, which was the Rinea Trading Company. He used to fly on his own, but after realizing that he would profit off more by joining what basically amounted to a trader confederation/guild of sorts, he pulled the trigger on the matter. It’s hard to compete with them after all, so it’s wiser to join them instead. Sure, he lost his freedom, but in exchange, he could sleep more soundly, knowing that his business was more well-protected. Losing this shipment however, would mean the loss of his comfortable position, and even his life, if he lost it due to bandits or monsters, which was why he readily posted a B-ranked quest for the necessary escort. Back in the old days, when he still had only one carriage filled with his sole merchandise, he could get by with himself acting as the guard. He was decently skilled at the sword and bow, and he knew only to take the safest routes. Bandits wouldn’t bother targeting a small merchant like him either. They would prefer planning ambushes on large shipments, like the one he was handling right now.

His guards were a party of B-rank adventurers. Their name was Flaming Arrows, apparently named after the fact that they had a fire mage and an archer within their ranks. There was one other member, but he was the type that just blended in with his surroundings. Fitting since he was their support, filling the role of their defensive front-line fighter and their healer. All the impressive stuff that actually killed the monsters were done by the archer and the mage.

There was another with them however, as Norton felt three people wouldn’t be enough for the job. He was the youngest of them, and Norton only took him aboard because there really wasn’t any other adventurer available. He was C-rank too, which meant he should be considerably weaker than the other three. However, his quest was B-rank, so technically, there would be no problem in him partaking in it. Another reason for his reluctance was how he was apparently some noble kid from the south. Sure, the fire mage was a noble herself, but unlike him, he actually could pull some records of her completing B-rank quests before with her party. Apparently, he had just arrived when Norton recruited him, and he was only doing the quest because it allowed him to get a free ride to the north. It was a well-known fact that noble adventurers tend to be somewhat less reliable than commoner adventurers, thanks to how they were rarely suited with the life-or-death situations adventurers were often thrown into. They would run away at any sign of trouble, back to their rich mommy and daddy as if being an adventurer was just a game to them.

So far though, he performed better than he had expected. They had encountered several monsters on the road before, and they even fought off a band of bandits once, and he had made himself more than just useful there. To his surprise, the boy actually could use both his sword and his wand properly. It wasn’t just some fancy thinking of him wanting to be both a swordsman and a mage. Sword mages did certainly exist, but they were quite rare and they tend to be less effective than an actual swordsman and an actual mage. Higher-level adventurers all had their parties, and there was rarely a need for a member that wasn’t really specialized to a certain role in said party.

Ah, there they go again.

He smiled as he heard the commotion behind him. As usual, the boy was caught up between an argument between the mage and the archer.

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Hugo

"What?! How can you say that?! Coffee is definitely better!"

"Hmph, this is why a commoner like you should learn to be more refined! Tea is definitely better!"

"Hah, that's just your childish taste speaking! You don't like bitter stuff after all!"

"Hey, Charles! Tell this ignoramus that tea is better!"

"Don't indulge the spoiled brat, Charles! You like drinking coffee better, don’t you, Charles? I’ve seen you chug that thing like there’s no tomorrow!"

I sighed inwardly. How many times have I been dragged into this mess?

Currently, I was sitting on a roofless carriage. Unlike the paying passengers, we didn’t have the luxury to be seated in a roofed one. Though I suppose for us, who were paid to be guards for the caravan, it would make more sense for us to have a clear and direct sight to our surroundings at all times, thus necessitating the need for an open carriage.

With me, there were three other people. Adventurers, just like me. One guy and two girls. The guy was the healer and the tank of the group, while the girls were the damage dealer—one wielding a bow and one wielding a wand.

And now, said girls were arguing against each other. Yet again. For what seemed to be the hundredth time. And it’s always something stupid and inconsenquential.

The girl who was sitting beside me was the mage. Her name was Amelie Von Victoria—a blonde haired girl around the age of fifteen. She had her long hair curled up and tied to a series of buns on each side, and she wore a fancy-looking short dress with a robe over it. It was clear just from her appearance that she was either a fashion-loving mage who spent many gold on her outfit or she was a blue-blooded noble.

The latter was the correct one by the way. Apparently, she was what you would call a runaway noble. She came all the way from Arthurstaad—a fact that she would never let you forget, as so many times she held it up as the forefront of culture and civilization and how you have to see it at least once before you die.

And yes, it’s as annoying as it sounds.

She never mentioned the rank of her parents though, which made me suspect it wasn’t actually that high.

Funny how much she bragged at being a noble lady when her parents were of the low echelons of the aristocracy. Heh, I wonder how she would react if I told her that I was a good acquaintance with the second Imperial Princess herself.

Of course, I couldn’t do that. It would just draw unneeded attention to myself. They might end up being dragged into Fiora’s throne struggle in the future too, if they knew too much about what’s going on with her. I doubt a lot of people knew where Fiora had gone to.

The other girl, the one sitting across me, was the archer. She, on the other hand, wore a simple white sleeveless shirt and black miniskirt (with tight fitting bike shorts-like pants underneath), along with a red cloak that complemented her bright pink short hair. Her name was Anne. Unlike the mage, she didn’t announce her family name every other second, so I wouldn’t know what her family name was. She was probably around sixteen years old, just a year older than the mage.

The remaining guy wore a medium iron armor with gauntlets, not a full steel one since he probably wouldn’t even be able to afford it. He had a sword sheathed on his hip. He had black hair and eyes, and he was simply smiling towards our direction as the argument ensued. His name was Anton, and he was pretty much the “big brother” of the group, both in age and mannerism. I was pretty sure he was already in his twenties.

I gave him a “Hey, help me out here!” look. He didn’t respond however. Once again, he must think that our quarrels were amusing to watch.

Munyu~♥

“Charles! I know your taste is more refined than hers! You're a noble gentleman after all! You're not like this commoner girl! Hey, tell her that tea is better!"

Amelie, who was sitting beside me (she wouldn't sit with Anne), grabbed my left arm and pulled it towards her, causing it to press against her chest. And oh boy, it was a soft and voluptuous one. The two mounds were bursting out of her white shirt, contrasting with the redness of her dress. She might just be on track to be as busty as Renee when she grew older.

“Charles! You’re not like that snob, right? You know that coffee is definitely the superior beverage!” Anne fired back.

“Uhh, yeah, I think both are just fine, actually,” was my diplomatic and non-confrontational answer.

Of course, this only made them even madder, and the argument continued.

I sighed. Starting to feel that my decision on temporarily joining a party like this might be a bad idea.

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Let’s roll back the clock several months ago, shall we? After I left Fiora and her entourage, I immediately headed north once I crossed the Great Chasm using my Wind Step. Oh, by the way, the assassin group that we spared was nowhere to be seen back in the village at the foot of the Severing Mountains, where said chasm was located. They must have left immediately. I just hope they won’t betray Fiora later on.

But eh, she’ll be fine. That girl’s really strong after all.

Continuing away from that tangent, I headed northwest, alternating between walking and running with my Wind Step. I thought it would be a good idea to train both my physical and magical stamina. Of course, I wouldn’t exhaust all my magic. That would be dangerous if monsters were to attack me. And they sure did. Nothing I couldn’t handle on my own though. B-rank ones were basically nothing to me. A-rank ones—still have to be a bit more careful, but my Boom Cannon can one-shot them, just like how I killed the wyvern back then.

I didn’t give up on my training as well. I would spend a good chunk of my time every single day swinging around the sword Fiora had given to me. To my surprise, the more I used it, the more I felt comfortable using it. It was extremely light, lighter than ordinary metal. However, it was really sturdy as well. I could hit a hard rock with it over and over without Staccato and not a single nick could be found on its surface. I also trained my Graceful Step technique as well. If I could master it, then I could replace Wind Step with it. At least, for fights that wouldn’t necessitate me going airborne.

I kept up my magic spell development as well. My next aim was to somehow make a Boom Cannon with a controllable trajectory, meaning, it wouldn’t need to only fly off on a straight line anymore. It was harder than I thought however, as the insane speed it possessed really didn’t lend it well for doing turns.

Though, thanks to my refined control, I could actually cast Thunderstorm now. Yay. All those months learning the spell didn’t go to waste after all. All I needed was better control over my mana.

With that, as well as taking up quests on the various small towns I dropped by to fund my trip, I made my way north towards the border.

If I had to say, during my experience travelling alone mostly on the wilderness like that (I didn’t take the main route that most merchants and travelers would take), it’s true what Fiora said, that the further away you got from the center of the Holy Empire, the less affluent the people would be and the more dangerous the land would be to travel. This world was far from reaching anywhere near the level of population that my old world had. As a result, a lot of the land remained undeveloped, simply becoming places for adventurers to have their adventures. In places like that, the monsters tend to be stronger as well. Now I know why Father took his job so seriously. He made sure that the monsters would not overbreed, as that tended to make them antsy in searching for new territories, which meant attacking human dwellings. Father was strong enough to take care of the entire region basically by himself, but in the villages and small towns I had passed, they would rely on the soldiers and knights that their local lord had (well, Father himself was a knight). Calling adventurers for monster extermination meant extra funds would be required, and it’s either the lord who paid or the villagers. Unfortunately, it seemed that a lot of the time, it would be the latter.

When I reached said border, I was already a C-rank adventurer. Took quite a good while unfortunately. Two months and a half, give or take, from when I left Fiora. As much as I might want to rush to Sherry, if I were to keep up my training and get money for my expenditures, I couldn’t really rush onward that fast.

The border town was named Grayden, and like the name suggested, it was a town in-between the kingdom of Fenesia, where I was at, and the kingdom of Udomia, my next destination. Most of the border was nature-made using the Northeastern Dragon Mountain Range as the marker. However, there was a length of wall made between the gaps in-between said mountain range. It was only a relic of the past though, constructed when the two kingdoms were still feuding, before the Empire assimilated them both. They didn’t even bother renovating it, causing the whole thing to basically fall apart on its own due to nature doing her work. Now, you could only see mossy, dilapidated stone bricks with many, many holes on it. Thanks to both kingdoms being vassal states to the Holy Empire, border checks were minimal. Even though the wall was barely even there, both kingdoms saw no problem in leaving it as it was.

I was tempted to try blowing the whole thing over using my wind spell, but of course, I was not crazy enough to do so.

When I arrived at the town’s Adventurer Guild however, I realized something that had been gnawing inside my heart all this time.

I was lonely.

These past two months and a half, the only human contact I got was the occasional adventurers that I worked with. Not as part of their party, but simply as a temporary guest or even just because we were doing the same job or going the same direction. And they seemed to all have so much fun with each other, leaving me alone on the sidelines.

I missed it. I missed all the banter I had with Fiora, Nicole’s calming and serene smile, and even Helen’s scowling.

Solo adventuring might sound cool on paper, but for me, who actually yearned for companionship, it was quite terrible.

And so, when I spied with my eye a long term job offer to be a guard for a merchant caravan that headed north, I took it immediately, knowing that it would mean I would have other people to travel and talk to in my journey.

Thanks to that, I had been stuck with this bunch for the last month and a half or so days.

Oh no, it’s not like they were bad people. In fact, our journey together had been, in most part, pleasurable. Even if they originally doubted my ability, thanks to my young age and the fact that I was just a C-rank adventurer. After I fought together with them, defending the carriage from monsters and bandits, I now pretty much had gotten their validation, even if I never really showed my true abilities to them. I pretended to be only a mage who could only cast Advanced-level spells with shortened chants, and I never used my special sword techniques either. I didn’t want to attract any attention, as if they really knew how strong I really was, they would surely ask all sorts of troublesome questions.

Something else that was troublesome ended up happening though. Now, after I proved myself to them, two girls constantly wanted to involve me in their arguments, which I really did not want to. And if I didn’t take their side, they would send a scowl to my direction.

I sighed again. It’s not bad though, being popular with two girls like this. But just like back at elementary school, I know very well how vicious girls can be when they fight against each other. Another reason why my perverted dream of having a harem should just remain that, a dream.