34

 

Id, who confirmed the death of the four intruders, asked Sasha.

 

“Can you call the innkeeper? We can’t leave the bodies unattended in the room, so I think we should report this to the town’s Security Force.”

 

Sasha went downstairs and brought the innkeeper, Katya. She was not too surprised to see the bodies scattered in the room.

 

“Who are these people?”

 

Id answered Katya’s question.

 

“They are members of the Ur Kingdom’s Thieves’ Guild. They have been tracking Lara here, and while we were sleeping, they spread poison in the room and sneaked in. They left us no other choice than to kill them. You don’t seem to be too surprised by the matter”

 

Katya glanced at Lara and told Id.

 

“After what happened during the day, I thought maybe something else would happen. Chernobugor has such a large fluctuating population, which means it’s a place where a lot of people from other regions or countries come and go, so this kind of incident often happens. I’ve sent a man, so the Security Force will come here soon to take care of things.”

 

Moments later, the squad captain, who was on watch at the Security Force office, came into the room with two subordinates. The squad captain said in a calm voice.

 

“I’m Mikhail in charge of the Security Force’s East Squad. Thank you for leaving the scene untouched. Under the circumstances, it appears that the dead here have trespassed in your accommodation, so I’ll proceed with the investigation on the premise of self-defense. Who killed these men?”

 

Lara answered.

“I threw daggers and killed them.”

 

Lara told Mikhail in detail what had happened since escaping the Ur Kingdom's Thief Guild. Mikhail, who did not interfere with Lara to finish her story, asked.

 

“Did you cut their wrists also?”

 

Id answered instead of Lara.

 

“I’m Id, an apprentice knight. When they broke in, my three companions were poisoned and unconscious. I went a little too far because my colleagues could have been in danger.”

 

“After that, did you detoxify the others?”

 

Benjamin answered Mikhail’s question.

 

“I’m Benjamin, a mage from the Icarus Wizard Tower. After Id had woken me up, I detoxified myself and the others. It was a sort of anesthetic neurotoxin that zonks people for a while.”

 

Mikhail bowed politely to the mage, filling out a document. After the four checked the document and signed it, the squad captain received a witness signature from Katya, the innkeeper.

 

“The investigation is over. We’ll take care of the bodies. How long are you planning to stay in town?”

 

Id replied to Mikhail.

 

“One of the dead said several tracking teams are still chasing Lara, so we are going to leave Chernobugor right now to enter the Pleo Grand Canyon.”

 

“Thank you for your cooperation. Have a safe trip.”

 

The four, who thought they were lucky to have completed the investigation at the scene without going to the Security Force office, left to the southwestern gate of Chernobugor’s outer ramparts, skipping their breakfast. They thought it would be better to clash with the pursuers in the desolate ravine rather than the crowded downtown area.

 

There was a huge horse market about a hundred meters before the southwestern gate of the outer ramparts of Chernobugor Castle. The Grand Canyon was originally called the Wonders of Mother Nature, which was rarely visited by humans for a long time. Still, about two hundred years back, Scandia Kingdom began to construct a road in the middle of the eastern cliff of the canyon to expand its territory to the north. After decades of large-scale works, they managed to reach two hundred kilometers in the ravine and sent troops through the newly established path to the north to carve out territories. Consequently, Scandia’s national power was greatly enhanced about a hundred years prior. Since then, many merchant groups have traveled up this road, contributing to the development of the northern area. However, there were many narrow sectors in between, where large wagons could not pass, so merchants were forced to carry their luggage on donkeys or mules. When they arrived at Chernobugor from the south, they disposed of their donkeys and mules at the horse market near the southwestern gate and purchased a wagon to continue their commercial travels. On the contrary, merchants who came from the northern area purchased donkeys or mules in the same horse market.

 

Seeing the horse market, Id said to Benjamin.

 

“We have to go on a rough road for a long time. Why don’t you ride a mule? If we carry our luggage on a mule, it’ll help us prepare for possible threatening situations.”

 

“Let’s do that. I rode a mule when I came here. The sun sets fast in the canyon, so it’s hard to go more than ten kilometers a day even if we walk fast. We’d better have mules to get through the canyon in about twenty days. Why don’t you ride a mule too, Lara?”

 

Lara replied to Benjamin.

 

“I’m all right. I’m confident in my abilities when it comes to walking.”

 

Id bought two strong and healthy looking mules, one for Benjamin and the other to carry their luggage. After passing through the southwestern gate, the party moved at high speed and arrived at the canyon’s entrance before noon. Maybe because it was the entrance, the width of the road was more than five meters, so there was not much inconvenience in moving fast. Id told his colleagues.

 

“By five o’clock, it’ll be completely dark, so it would be better to eat dried food on the move and move fast today. If many tracking teams are chasing Lara, as Mateus said, we should spread the distance as far as possible.”

 

As the three agreed, Id led the party, speeding up their movement. The mules followed them well. Id said, looking back at Lara.

 

“If it’s too hard, don’t force yourself and tell me. Sasha and I are much faster than ordinary people because we’ve been running in the woods for many years. You need to tell me when you’re having a hard time so that I can adjust our travel speed for you.”

 

“Don’t worry. I’m confident that when it comes to running, I won’t lose to anyone. When my father taught me martial arts, the most emphasized thing was physical strength.”

 

Id led the party fairly fast for more than three hours. Lara clung close behind him and followed him without showing any signs of hardship. Sasha, who was following from the rear end of the party, said,

 

“Id, the mules seem too tired, so we’d better take a break.”

 

The road narrowed to two meters wide. Id led the party to somewhat flat grass beside the road. They let the mules loose in the grass and took a rest.

 

“Seeing the road getting rough, it seems like a full-fledged canyon trip begins.”

 

Benjamin responded to Lara’s remark.

 

“The road will be rougher and rougher. You will meet wide and flat roads from time to time, but most sections are narrow and rough, less than a meter wide. The forest will become lush, and monsters will appear frequently, so everyone should be careful from here. By about four o’clock, we’d better find a suitable place to camp. If we can’t find a place to sleep even after it’s completely dark, we might get in trouble.”

 

The speed of movement of the party, which had set off again after a short break, decreased significantly. The mules’ steps slowed down since the road was narrow and bumpy. By the time the day began to darken, the party arrived at a large open place in front of a waterfall. A huge waterfall was falling from the top of the cliff, and the path they were walking along led to a tunnel behind the waterfall. As Id approached the edge of the cliff and looked down, he could see a pretty wide river running at the bottom of the canyon. They could also see several waterfalls from the western ridge on the opposite side, which looked even more spectacular from a distance. The tunnel behind the waterfall was artificially constructed. It was said that a considerable number of workers were sacrificed during the tunnel construction about a hundred years prior. Id, who had gone through the tunnel and proceeded a hundred meters more alone while the others rested, came back to the open place with a roe deer on his shoulder.

 

“It seems a narrow road continues for quite a while after the tunnel. We’d better take a good rest here today and start early tomorrow morning.”

 

Benjamin agreed.

 

“Let’s do that. I remember I had to travel on quite the rough road for a long time before I got to this tunnel the last time I was here”

 

Helping to put down the roe deer from Id’s shoulder, Lara said,

 

“You said you were going for surveillance, and you prepared food for dinner at the same time. If you get married, I can see that you definitely won’t starve your wife and children.”

 

Id replied, blushing a little.

 

“Living deep in the Forest of Evil Spirits in the north of the kingdom for over seven years, I think I hunted once every other day. Hunting and securing food became a routine for me.”