Hmm? It sounds like the group that intercepted, the one who encircled the bandits, or both, have returned.

"Did you find anything that could identify them?"
"They don't seem to be from the bandits that are usually seen in this area."
"Then they must be from the new wave of bandits that came from the dragon's road."
"This is troubling. We don't know their temperament, so I don't know how to handle them. Did you leave anyone alive?"
"Everyone was killed."
"It's out of our hands now, if they come for revenge then we will fight. We need to take out as much as possible in case they merge with other bandits."

Looks like the counterattack is successful. Everyone came back alive and the enemy dead.

The bandits from that place have finally shown themselves here. To think that the first problem I would encounter would be them.

"Everyone back to their post! Keep to the arranged shift schedule!"
"Yes!"

Let's start with brass since it's more malleable. This might be cheating a bit but brass is easier to work with. The heat needed to make it moldable is not that high compared to other metal available to me.

Learning how to move and form metal is particularly useful when making weapons that need complex shapes. It won't show it's usefulness in the dwarf kingdom with the standard equipment here but in the next life, as long as I'm born in another continent, it would shine. Imagine a human with the skills of a dwarf in forging! I won't need to worry about money.

"Sir! May I have a moment of your time?"
"What is it?"
"We will be leaving earlier than usual tomorrow morning. Please rest early today."
"Did something happen?"

They were talking about new bandits but I don't think that is enough to fast forward our schedule.

"I'm not sure if you heard but bandits from the dragon's road have escaped to the continent. It seems that some of them have already established a fort and started to resume their activities. We need to purchase a few more items before the prices inflate."
"I heard the news, that is why I hired all of you. Is the thing you need to purchase needed to safely send me to my destination? You're not going to tell me that I need to pay extra now, right?"

I don't want to attract any trouble by mentioning I was part of the cause of all this. Technically, we are not the cause of it since a dumb bandit group invited other dumb bandit groups to cause the mess that we have now. However, the fact that it impacted the whole dwarf continent can't be ignored, so I want to minimize the people that I was somehow involved in that nonsense.

"No! No such thing! We have already accepted the job and the down payment has already been accepted. As long as the duty doesn't hit our limit, we would do our best to send you to your destination. We merely want to purchase a couple of things before prices get too high. It was planned for us to resupply on the later half of the journey but with the way things are progressing, we might encounter trouble before that. Our plan is to re-supply in the next town and rush up north faster than planned. As we have more supplies, we don't have to stop more often. We hope to reach far enough that we can rush pass the bandits that have already settled down from the dragon's road."
"I see. Good, I approve of the plan."

As long as you don't drive the price up then I'm okay with not stopping in any town or villages. I don't want you to think that I'm richer than you thought. I do hear mercenary groups who switch to become bandits in troubled times, and vice versa, but please don't make me your transition point for that.

"Have a good sleep, sir! You can rest easy and leave everything to us. If you need more time to sleep, I will drive the carriage extra carefully."
"I understand, you can leave me be. I will be practicing my craft now and I need to concentrate if I don't want to burn the inside of the carriage."

*Bow*

Even though that bow was only a bit more than a nod, I still think it was excessive. What if some bandit scout which have long distance vision skills look here and see that little show you did? I don't want them to think I'm some high born noble bringing my toys to flee towards the capital! We are going through the capital since it's on the route and the road toward it is the safest place right now.

The army and guards near the capital are really tense right now. Other than recalling as much of their outside force as they can, those who are already at the capital will sweep every possible threat near the capital before they march to the dragon's road. You have to keep your home base safe from attacks, after all.

*Creak* *Rattle* *Rattle* *Rattle*

Hmm? What? The carriage is moving?

Scenery is starting to flow past the window, so we are moving. I guess I overslept and didn't hear the mercenary leader calling me this morning.

"Did I oversleep?"
"Practice must have been productive for you, sir. You don't have to worry as we are proceeding on schedule."
"I see, good work!"

It looks like I am right. Let's take a peek at the other wagons first using this novelty item I bought at the central island on a whim. This magically simple periscope! I don't have a specified hole to put this through but this periscope is fairly small, so I can sneak it out the windows for ventilation.

*Peek*

Looks like all of my things are still there. It looks like nothing happened after I went to sleep. However, the fact that we encountered a bandit scout group still happened, so there is a good chance that we will encounter their friends.

I better plan out what I need to buy in town. If we are travelling faster than planned, and avoiding most of the villages and towns, then it might take some time before I can enjoy 'city' luxuries, like indoor toilets. An hole in the ground enclosed with sheets right in the middle of the protective formation the mercenaries set up is not a relaxing place to do your business.

I'll also take this chance to send victor and chatterbox a messag---

*Roooaaaaarrrr!!*

This is only the second day! Why are we encountering every possible headache!?

"Maintain our current pace! Go and take two groups to intercept the bear. Don't bother processing the corpse on the road, just haul everything with us and butcher it on the way to the town."
"Yes, sir!! You and you, notify your team and go with me!"

It looks like it's a bear but doesn't seem much of a threat according to the tone of the mercenary leader. So far so good with my choice of mercenary.

Ignoring the rampaging bear, the main problem now is me oversleeping. I usually wake up very early since I don't need to sleep that much but I can't believe I overslept so much today.

I may have overdone the whole mana practice thing. I tried making action figures which really put a strain on me, mentally. There was also that time of the night where I got light headed from the lack of mana and mental strain, and decided to try coating myself with metal. I was envisioning myself to have a strong defence that could move and also attack, like a metal coated dwarf.

Thank goodness I still have the brain to try it on my arms first, otherwise I don't know what to do when I wake up with no hair and eyebrows. I remember burning my arms and activating [Holy Armour] before fainting to sleep.

I guess that must have been it. However, it still doesn't add up too much. If it's only that then I would have woken up late in the morning not noon.

Did they drug the food?

"What did I have for dinner last night?"
"Did you not like it, sir? Was there anything wrong with it?"
"I'm still deciding."

Bombs, map and weapon at the ready.

"We served Rock turkey seasoned with various herbs we foraged nearby. It's made to calm the nerves for long travel. We also bought the strongest rum we could get our hands on. It should have been at the list of expenses I gave you when we finalized the deal?"

False alarm. That combo might have knocked me out too much. I might be a dwarf but I don't really drink hard liquor, so my resistance to that isn't much. I thought it was beer or ale. It came in a barrel and served with a tankard, a big tankard. How misleading.

"I see, don't serve the meat anymore. I don't like poultry."
"I will revise the menu accordingly!"

Well, it is true that I don't like poultry over other meats. I am partial to seafood but that is very expensive since the only fish you can get are freshwater, which doesn't grow that big, because of the hero's sea monsters. I was okay with poultry when I was human but eating tough meats in the dwarf continent made me feel like biting into marshmallows, which isn't suitable as a meal. That rock turkey is still tough, and from the size of the meat they serve me it should be huge, but let's avoid food that can give you sleep status from now on. I have a very useful passive skill that doesn't require me to rest that much, so I would invalidate it by eating sleeping medications.

"Sir, we are near the town. We would stay for the night before we move on. I would be assigning some guards to protect you during our stay, so if you are going anywhere, please take them with you."
"Mmnn"

I have my own bodyguard. I never thought I would reach a height like this. However, the fact that they would make me more conspicuous, that I can't store my purchases in my [Soul Storage], and that I won't be able to purchase personal items because it's embarrassing, is a huge detriment.

It would be another thing if they are my personal bodyguards that are loyal to the core, or at least halfway through the core, not that I would want personal bodyguards. It's much safer and much more convenient for me to fly solo.

*Stop* *Drop* *Sizzle*

"Whoa!"

[Water]

That is a shame. I didn't expect we would suddenly stop. I dropped my copper and burnt a piece of my bread, such a waste.

"Welcome to the south eastern iron/copper town #18. Please have your I.D. at the ready along with the entrance toll. Are you a merchant caravan? We also need you to submit an inventory catalogue as we inspect the wagons."
"Good afternoon, we are the Silver Gnome String mercenary. We are escorting someone and this is his cargo. This is our mercenary I.D. and this is the inventory catalogue. We are only here for a quick stop, so please make the inspection quick."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. As ordered by the mayor, we will need to do strict cargo inspections. This is for the town's safety. Don't worry though, as long as there are no problems, the process will be relatively quick. We will need you to move some of your cargo to let us inspect places where bandits might hide."
"I understand, let's do this quickly."

I already paid for the town tolls. It's actually overpaid in case they need to bribe people to 'grease the wheels' if you will. The bribe is for the bandits though, since most of the folks that join the town guards are honest, since the hero's influence is still active. They would return to me the remainder, if there are, at the end of the journey, unless I give it to them as tips.

"Sir, we will be delayed here for a bit, do you want to go ahead and enter the town to do your shopping while we go through this process?"
"Ummmm~ Sure! Why not? I'll be going on ahead. Take care of the cargo."
"Yes sir! Please present your I.D. to the guards, here is the toll."
"Keep it! I still have some loose change here. Save the toll money for later."
"Yes sir!"

This is the first stage of new bandits flooding the continent, the process is still new, thus slow. I'm sure the guards on the later towns will be able to do the inspection more swiftly and efficiently, so the wait time won't be as long. I could relax in the carriage at that time, and this mercenary leader would need the toll money. They would return the change to me, anyway.

"Those on guard duty, pay extra attention to the surroundings. No harm shall come to our client!"
"Yes, leader!"

Looks like I got a mix of dwarf, goblin, men and women. A total of five with what I assume is a sub-leader. Two of them with melee weapons, two that look like dedicated mages, and a sub-leader goblin that is dual wielding maces.

This is quite a big procession for a simple shopping trip. Nonetheless, I will absolutely be secure with them around, not that there are plenty of things I need to watch out for.