Episode 1:  The Dangerous Commute

Chapter 11: A Comfy night

It has been a day since we left the city. I have set all the traps in the house safely and have recovered all my things and am currently carrying those in the carriage.

“Miss Estella, Can I call you big sister?”
“Whatever”
“yey!”

Noelle is currently tinkering with my things in the back of the carriage. By the way, I also modified the carriage into a covered one and increased the amount of payload this can handle since not only my things but Noelle’s things are also being carried.

“By the way Noelle, why did you come along?”
“Well... I was bored at home and saw you away so I was flustered! I asked father where you went and he said that you’ll likely leave. Other than that, Father asked me if I want to go along and I said yes”

What’s with that’s guys mind right now? Anyway, I don’t really mind since I already received the advance payment in full, but why is that? I don’t particularly care, but something feels wrong here.

“So Big sister, what are you going to do with your collection?”
“Oh, you mean the swords in the back?”
“Yes”
“It’ll be a waste if I left it at home, and I have something in mind I want to try out. “

Even though this method may be crude all in all, I could use these as spike traps to catch the snake when we get there.
“This will take us another 2days if we continue to travel through the night”
“ehhh”
“Don’t worry we’ll take our time and travel leisurely, at this pace, it should take us around 3days and we'll arrive at dawn “

The road from here wasn’t being maintained as much as I hoped so, Even though I have modified the carriage to hold many things, It wasn’t designed to withstand sudden forces at once. So the road was really bumpy.

We’re going is to a nearby city where we can resupply ourselves before we venture from there into the mountains. It will be quite the hike, But considering that I have my overly sharp sword by my side any unwanted encounters won't be a problem.
“By the way Noelle what’s your class?”
“umm it’s a secret”

She gave a shush and moved her fingers to show an X at her mouth. Well, I don’t mind her not telling, but we must know each other’s abilities. As she already knows that I’m a blacksmith, it doesn’t really mean much of significance other than being support.

After hearing her reply I sighed and drank water from the water pouch I bought for 35coppers in the city. The sun was high and there weren’t many trees in the path we're going, it was all plains as far as the eye can see.

“By the way Big sister, what happened to Mister Stell?”
“Pfft”

The precious water was definitely not spilled from the sudden question. How should I tell her? Her father already knew from the start, but he didn’t know that I was a guy in the first place. I could lie to her, but won’t that hurt her feelings or something?

“He’s- He’s in a place far away from here. “
“How did he get away that far?”
“His wounds were critical okay!?”

The time passed on, we stopped midway to rest and continue the journey once again. After that, It was already afternoon so we quickly tried to find a spot where we can park and camp. With my blacksmith skills, I could make a temporary stone furnace to cook food with.

“Other than creating weapons indefinitely, All I could do is this….”
“Don’t worry Big sister! I’m here!”
“Sure sure thanks”

After we have parked the carriage, I led the horse into a nearby stream of water and let it drink from there. After that, I tied the horse into the tree near where we parked the carriage and cooked our dinner using the cooking utensils I brought from my home.

Noelle was merrily helping me prepare as she chopped the vegetables while I prepared the carriage to make a suitable sleeping place. The carriage in actuality has two spaces, the one being the passenger area and the other below that. It has a space about a foot tall and as wide as the main deck, It was perfect for storing things like the swords I brought with us and some other things like futons, cooking pots.

The hood was collapsible, so naturally, I lowered the covering and lit a lantern where I could easily hang it to. After all that was done, I went out of the carriage and filled the cooking pot with water, and placed it on top of the flames to boil.

“Hey, Noelle is the veggies ready?”
“Yes! “
“Okay please help me and throw everything into the pot, Be careful though it is hot”

After that, I poured in some salt and stirred it to make sure it was evenly distributed. And I also threw in some meat I happen to buy at a discount into the mix.

“whoa! Does big sister know how to cook?”
“It’s my only hobby alongside making weapons, I don’t want to starve to death right?”
“Umu! Big sister’s cooking is delicious too”

What do you mean by ‘Too’!? I know that my cooking is inferior to the food the mansion provided, But hearing that broke my pride.
“But the method is what’s important in cooking; a food without feelings doesn’t taste good right?"

 Sometimes I just don’t get this girl. Anyway, the food was ready and so poured it into a bowl and handed Noelle one. Noelle ate all of the food that was given to her and had immediately gone into her dreams as she lowered her head and used my lap as a pillow.

“Jeez this kid, My lap isn’t a pillow…”
I was about to get mad and throw her off, But after seeing her peaceful sleeping face I stopped what I was doing and instinctively brushed her hair. Even though she is with someone who she barely met for the past 4days, she seems overly confident with me.

Seeing as the night was getting colder, I poured in more firewood I happen to collect in the woods and lighted the campfire a little bit more before I tucked Noelle inside of the carriage. The night was silent, and the moon was unusually bright tonight.

“Now that I’m alone, let’s look at myself”

< Name: Stell (Alias: Estella) Class: Blacksmith (EX)
   Passive: Heat Deduction (10%)
   Blacksmith skills: (EX)
   Extra: Implement, Aether, Recall >¹ sorry for those who read the initial chappies. I don't know if the extra skills were already mentioned or not, but I changed Arise > Aether for some certain necromancer vibes from the word Aether. Other than that, ill be rechecking the future chappies from now on

I have found a way to activate the inspector’s status board along the way. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, But it does use up some kind of energy inside me which greatly makes me tired.

Anyway, As far as I know <Recall> is a tracking skill. While < implement > has something to do with enchantments and as for <Aether> I don’t have a clue at all. What does it do?

“Other than that, <Blacksmith: (EX)>what does it mean? Same with my blacksmith-related skills, it has an <EX> in it. Well for now it doesn’t matter as I would for sure know it shortly, and I can use my blacksmith skills as they were before so it doesn’t really matter”

I have never seen this symbol before, nor have I heard of one being known. So well, as the night goes I should go to sleep and think about it next time, I have so many things in my mind right now that it’s hard to organize.

“So as of now, since no one will be on watch I’ll set up some traps and surround the carriage with some wires that will ring whenever there is an intruder. Now, I’m sleepy, good night”

Installing all the traps where the eye couldn’t notice and installing some barbwires, I let the campfire burn for the whole night to provide extra warmth and went on to sleep.