Book 1: Chapter 11: Lord: Escort Time
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New day and really I don’t have any plans for today. I haven’t been going to the guild or anything really, just stay in the town and that’s about it. I really should stop with that and get going already, been pondering in this inn room for a while now.

 

#####

 

I’m in the guild at this moment and from the looks of it nothing exciting is happening at the moment.

“Hey miss, did you see that womanizer anywhere? Been missing ever since you mess with him” One random adventurer asked suddenly approaching me.

“No, ever since that outburst I didn’t see him anywhere” I answered.

“I see” He said as he walks away, what was that all about?

“Hey guild girl, what was that all about?” I asked the girl at the reception.

“That man has been missing sometime yesterday and we couldn’t locate him at all, this usually isn’t a problem since adventurers moved all the time but he barely ever leave this town without telling anyone, the last he was seen he supposedly go outside to get some fresh air, but it doesn’t seem like he was going anywhere specifically, so this is quite alarming, especially since he doesn’t go out for a mission of any kind” She explained, so that how it was.

I mean having a capable if with an attitude adventurer suddenly vanished it can be a cause for concern, not only does it implicate their death which is one strong fighter gone but also the possibility of someone or something of high caliber being the cause of that without anyone having any clue as to who or what did it which might lead to more incidents followed, it might cause some panic and fear among the guilds, especially if the situation isn’t properly verified. That guy is a silver rank adventurer when regular adventurers are iron or bronze in ranking, if someone done him in then most people is screwed, heck even that gold rank guy might be done in as well, the guild master would probably be fine but I doubt he’ll be allowed to move around and risking his life.

“So that’s how it is” I remarked. Looking around people don’t seem that distressed, then again an annoyance is gone so at least there’s that.

“Um, are you here to do request?” She asked.

“Right, there’s that, sure why not” I answered without much thought, then walk over to the board, looking around there isn’t much requests, good deal of them are for lower ranking adventurers, then again I was doing some high ranking quest yesterday and those kind of quest probably don’t come often, the wyvern one is still here but I have no interest in that with how many I’ve already killed, not like I really get anything out of it, I mean there’s the reward but I don’t need that to be fair, just something that might raised a flag, like that the giant yesterday, that kind of thing wouldn’t exist naturally blocking a road, there’s obviously something going on with that, not that I found the perpetrator during the mission or anything either, must’ve been hiding somewhere and not observing the scene at the time. Well there is also one thing Kaa-san said to me about wyvern quest being for someone else or something.

Anyway enough about a mystery yet unsolved, time to look for some unorthodox request to take… oh, an escort mission, that sounds interesting. I take the request off the board and bring it to the receptionist girl.

“I’ll take this please” I said to her, she observed the paper and look at me like something is wrong.

“Um, what is it?” I asked.

“I’m sorry but this is supposed to be a group assignment, it was specifically requested as such by the client” She explained, so that’s how it is, I need a partner… that sounds very problematic, what should I do?

“Can I really not do this alone? Perhaps negotiating with the client?” I asked.

“I supposed you can, but it might be troublesome” She answered.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Well if either side can’t come up with an agreement both of you will lose precious time won’t you?” She noted.

“Is that all? Because I’m willing to take the ‘trouble’ associated with it” I said glaring at her, she cowered a little.

“O-Okay, I’ll go contact the client, please wait here” She said sounding a bit scared, was the glare that scary or was she just being nervous than most, can’t really tell.

“Very well” I said as I walk to a chair and wait there, this place have many tables and seats for people to wait or organize, kinda like most guild in media and such, and some I destroyed along the way.

 

#####

 

“H-Here he is” The girl said as the client and her walk up to me.

“Is this lass supposed to escort our group by herself? Don’t be ridiculous” He said sounding irritated.

“Well is she is quite a capable adventurer so can you please hear her out?” The girl said sounding nervous and slightly tired.

“Fine” He replied as he look at me.

“So? Is there any objection?” I asked.

“Of course there is! Not only do you propose to escort alone but it’s a group of merchants that you have to protect. No matter how strong you are lass that’s just not possible” He explained.

“A valid and down to earth argument, but those kind of common sense doesn’t always work, sometimes someone shattered that mold” I said.

“Did you heard what you just said? Sounds like an excuse more than anything else” He noted. Seems like talking somewhat cryptically doesn’t work.

“How about this then?” I said as I hold my guild card and point out at my class.

“S-Sage!? Is this a joke?” He said.

“Of course not, full approval of the guild master himself, if someone can keep a group of people safe during an escort alone surely it’s someone who mastered all kind of power” I said with a slight grin.

“B-But still, anything could happen, and if you’re incapacitated or anything of the sort no one around would help you okay?” He said sounding worried.

“Don’t worry, if something bad happened I can compensate, how about a gold coin?” I said.

“This isn’t just about our safety lass, some tried to do this kind of mission alone and many died or gravely injured even if they successfully completed the request” He said sounding more exasperated. Seems like he can’t bring himself to bring only one adventurer for more than just his group’s safety, a bit more kind hearted than I thought for an unremarkable merchant.

“Everything would be fine” I said. 

“Everyone said that” He said while shaking his head.

“Can I really not convince you for me to do this alone?” I said feeling a bit worried.

“...Fine, you win me over sage lass, I can’t say the same for the rest of my group though” He said scratching the back of his head, seems like there will be some discord.

“So when do we start?” I asked.

“Sometime after midday I would say, so you have some time to prepare and such, and you better do so” He answered.

“Of course” I said.

“Meet me at the eastern gate at that time” The man said as he walked away. I look at the guild girl seeing if she have something to add.

“Um, I’ll go back to my station now” She said as she walk to the reception

Is it just me or is she doing a lot of work in this place, one would think there will be multiple people shifting in and out but so far I only see her around, is this place short staffed?

Well it’s none of my concern so whatever. I guess I’ll have some time for myself, not that I have anything to do or to prepare anyway.

 

#####

 

Now I’m here at the eastern gate at the designated time, few carriages and people can be seen, seems like these are the people I’ll escort, I look over the request a few times and from the looks of it the journey will be about 2 days long, seems like they’re going to the royal capital. Of course I’ll come back here, I might go there to sightsee and such at some point but not now.

“So you really came alone” The man I met this morning said to me.

“Others will just slow me down” I said.

“Ridiculous. Anyway the team here is obviously skeptical but I managed to convince them to let you be their lone escort, it’ll be a long travel at best or constant fighting, defending and traveling for a painful amount of time at worst. You really up for this?” He said sounding somewhat concerned.

“Of course” I said. I take a glance at the other people here and they seems worried, no doubt with only a single person protecting their whole group.

“You don’t seem to have much on you lass. Are you really sure?” He asked one more time, I only have the katana with me and nothing else. At least as they can see anyway.

“If you’re worried about food I’ve already eaten, I won’t get hungry or tired throughout the whole thing” I said to reassure him only to be given a sigh.

“That’s not what I meant… whatever. Everyone time to get going!” He yelled out to others and the travel begins.

 

#####

 

It’s been about 10 minutes since we started and right now I’m in the front carriage, just me and my katana. There are a lot of carriages and a lot of people so protecting this would be problematic even if many people were to escort it. Right now nothing bad happened just yet, but I think perhaps I just jinx us with that line of thought…

…Nevermind. Anyway this is quite boring, maybe I should go chat with other merchants or something, each of them are in different carriages and there’s actually one in the one I’m in, the guy who make the request and the one I talk to.

“Hey is it fine for me to chat with other merchants? Things are getting boring” I asked.

“I mean it’s up to them, but sure, just don’t cause any problem” He answered, good to hear. I guess I’ll cross over to the carriage behind us then. 

I saw a man and quite a few products in that carriage, maybe I should go chat with him.

“Hey there” I greeted.

“Ah, it’s the lone escorting girl, what’s up?” He greeted back sounding somewhat tired and worried.

“Just thinking that the trip so far isn’t all that exciting and hope you have something to talk about, like a gossip or something” I said to him, I’m not a big fan of them myself, at least from what I remembered, but anything to pass time would be nice.

“Gossip huh? Well there is some rumors about the royal capital that we’re heading toward, it seems the tension between the nobles are at the all time high and anything could happen, actually some of the stuff in the carriages are supposedly to be delivered to them, and because of that we requested for some aid in protecting the goods, would be the death of us if anything of theirs were to be destroyed or stolen” Guess that’s one more reason as to why they don’t want this to be a one-man mission.

“I see, guess that’s why you all objected to me to protect it alone” I said.

“Exactly, we’ve been holding up in the town for a while now as the likelihood of us getting targeted is high, it’s a dangerous journey” He said sounding somewhat concerned.

“I see, guess this trip will be quite eventful then” I said with a sly grin.

“Hey what are you thinking?” He questioned.

“Nothing” I said changing that grin to a more natural and friendly smile, though I could tell he doesn’t quite buy it.

“As long as you don’t make the situation worse then it’s fine I guess” He said sighing. I think that’s quite enough from my end, if there is in fact a lot of treats coming our way then I probably should stop messing around.

“Guess I’ll go back to the front” I said as I go back to the front carriage. I wonder how long it’ll take for something to happen.

 

#####

 

An hour in and nothing just yet, and this is supposed to be 2 days travel… I wonder if I could speed things along.

“Hey leader, is it fine if I juiced up the place with some magic to make this whole trip faster?” I asked.

“What? I know you’re sage n’all but please don’t try anything risky” He replied.

“Oh come on!” I protested.

“A no is a no” He firmly said, seems like he won’t change his mind.

“Okay fine” I fustratingly said. Guess this’ll be a long trip as expected.

 

#####

 

I lose count of hours passed but at this point the sun is setting, and nothing interesting really happened, so much for an eventful trip. Maybe they’ll come out when we’re camping, that would be the best time to attack.

 

#####

 

“Alright we’ll camp out here” The leader said as everyone get out of their carriage and began staring fire and such, I bet after a while the bandits and such will come running, maybe I should scout out for them, with night vision spotting them even in the night is easy.

“I’ll go out and scout for anything nearby if that’s alright with you” I said to the leader.

“That’s fine” He replied. Well time for me to go scouting.

 

#####

 

Report. Nothing eventful at all. Everyone else seems to go to sleep already, maybe if I hide somewhere then they’ll show up,

 

#####

 

Nothing… maybe they’ll show up next morning or night? Well I’ll still keep my guard up for the night.

 

#####

 

“Haaaa… Huh? Have you been keeping watch all night?” The leader said seeing me still scouting around, I won’t tell him I didn’t sleep because humans don’t do that.

“I woke up early” I said.

“Well whatever is the case it’s time for us to get a move on” He said beckoning me to get on the carriage.

“Okay” I replied. Then get on the carriage.

 

#####

 

The trip so far have been quite boring, way more boring than I would’ve anticipated, then again there’s a whole day to go before I can really say that.

“What are you thinking about now?” The leader said to me.

“Oh, nothing important” I replied.

“You’re lucky there’s nothing popping up just yet, but don’t you dare drop your guard” He sternly said.

“I get it” I said somewhat half-heartedly.

 

#####

 

“Oi, won’t you eat something?” The leader said as he looked at me with rations with him.

“It’s fine, I’m not hungry” I answered. The blood stored can be used, so with a huge amount stockpiled, which I have no idea how I can stored that much in the first place, I can go for a long period of time without food, of course the enjoyment of eating food is something that’s hard to pass up, but I’ll get by for now.

 

#####

 

The sun is setting again, and nothing eventful happened at all, I doubt we’ll be ambushed near the royal capital tomorrow since the assailants might get caught or witnessed red handed, so it’s either now or this night more likely.

“O-Oi lass, I think you need to look at this” He said pointing at something out on the road… is that another giant?

“A giant? Out here again?” I commented. The carriages stopped.

“What’s with this thing being out here?” He said.

“For all I know it’s might be due to some noble conspiracy or something, I mean this kind of abomination don’t just exist out here on the road do they?” I speculated.

“That… make sense, so what? This thing is here to obstruct us? Then go out there and do something about it” He said.

“I’m on it” I said as I get out of the carriage and rush toward the giant. Unsheathing my blade and-

*Jump* *Lunge* *Slash*

Decapitated the giant in one swing, not exactly the most flashy fight, if it can even be called that. The giant collapse onto the ground. I walk back to the carriage and saw the man’s jaw dropped.

“...What?” I asked.

“N-Nothing… let’s just get going already” He answered. Guess he was shocked by my performance.

 

#####

 

“We’ll set camp here” Leader said.

“Guess I’ll go patrol like last time” I said to him.

“That’s fine by me” He replied.

 

#####

 

Nothing. I very much doubt that giant was the only obstacle in our way, I should stay cautious, everyone else is asleep at this point. I should stay hidden to let whatever will come our way approach and reveal itself…

…I see people, multiple people. I don’t know if they’re regular bandits or someone hired to steal things from here but that doesn’t matter. None of them noticed me yet and they’re slowly peeking out of their hiding. Time to kill every last one of them.

“[Blood Chain]” I chanted and I can feel my blood supplies being drained to created chain of blood that manifested and restrained the assailants, all of them of course.

“W-What is this!?” One cried out in horror.

“A trap!?”Another yelled.

From the looks of things they don’t look like the lowly bandits, their equipment seems rather high grade. Time to approach and ‘neutralize’ them.

“You! You’re the one that did this!” One of them said to me as I approached them.

“Exactly, I’m hired to make sure these carriages are safe, to get rid of anything in the way” I said ominously.

*Slash*

One head gone.

“Eeeekk!!” Now they’re crying like a little girl. How pathetic.

*Slash* *Slash* *Slash*

Three more fly off.

“Any last word?” I said to the three remaining.

“P-Please no!!!” He begged.

“Quite an undignified last word” I replied.

*Slash* *Slash* *Slash*

And all are no more, is there anyone else in the area I wonder?

Doesn’t seem like it, but I’ll still patrol the area just to be safe. Also, I think I should loot their stuff as well, like anyone else will use it anyway.

 

#####

 

“You’re up again early?” The leader asked.

“Yeah, can’t exactly have anyone come in and do anything to your stuff now can I?” I replied.

“True enough, we’re close to the royal capital now so you should be able to get some extra rest there” He said.

“Yeah yeah” I replied.

 

#####

 

Nothing really happened after that. In fact things have been so uneventful this morning I didn’t even realized we get into the royal capital for a while. Anyway I’ve got the proof of the mission being completed by visiting the guild here and get the reward, quite a nice place with even a built-in inn. A church somewhere with some impressive but risky looking light show with some item levitating for some reason. Well I can come back at a later time, let’s go back to that town.

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