Chapter 34: Encounter After Departure

Another difficulty arose the next morning, just as they were about to depart.

The adventurers that were riding with Shayna the day before refused to ride in the same caravan as her.

Minus the two that died, the remaining five adventurers had all regained consciousness before morning and were able to move around on their own. But all of them explained that they weren’t sure when and how they went unconscious, and absolutely refused to ride with Shayna for the second day.

Everyone understood that it couldn’t be helped that they felt that way.

Two of them had already died just by riding in there.

There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again, and it was natural to think that you might be the next victim.

But that didn’t mean it was okay to leave the client all alone in the caravan.

Since the quest was to escort her safely, they were supposed to protect her immediately if something were to happen, so it was out of the question not to have anyone around her.

“This isn’t good.”

Broas grumbled but didn’t look like he wanted to ride there himself.

As Loren thought that it was an obvious way of thinking, Lapis spoke up like she just thought of it.

“Then what if we ride with her?”

“That’s…”

Lapis clapped her hands together as if it was a good idea.

Loren was fine with it if Lapis didn’t mind, but he still had some worries in the back of his mind.

It seemed that Lapis understood what he was thinking, but she said to Loren enthusiastically.

“We were fine last night.”

The night before, Loren had invited Shayna over to their tents for dinner.

He couldn’t stand watching Shayna being alone, and also didn’t like the idea of a ten-year-old girl sleeping alone, even if it was in the middle of camp, and after discussing it with Broas, moved their tents near Shayna’s.

Although Shayna said she didn’t feel like eating and didn’t eat much, it seemed like she was delighted by Loren’s consideration, and was even more delighted when Loren and Lapis had moved closer to her tent. But the fact that she didn’t feel like eating anything told Loren that she was quite strained mentally, so he did his best to continue to talk to her.

Even after spending a whole night with her, there was no sign of him losing consciousness or feeling ill at all.

That was why Lapis suggested that it would be okay for them to ride in the caravan, but Loren couldn’t make up his mind.

“Are you saying that Shayna should stay inside a swaying caravan all alone?”

“Of…course not.”

When she put it like that, Loren had to think again.

Leaving a young girl like Shayna, who must be very anxious at this point, all alone in the caravan wasn’t something Loren wanted to do, and wanted to avoid doing that at all costs if it could be avoided.

He had learned how hard it was to be alone the hard way when his mercenary group disbanded.

“Then I think this is where you should speak up.”

After Lapis told him that, he walked over to Broas and suggested that the two of them ride with Shayna.

“You guys okay with that?”

“Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with us even after spending a night near her. I don’t think there’s a problem with Shayna herself.”

“If you’re fine with it, then I guess we’ll do that. In fact, it’s quite helpful as well, since leaving the client alone isn’t the best thing to do.”

“I guess it’s settled then. But aren’t the other caravans already quite full?”

“No one wants to ride in that one, so they’ll have to endure being cramped. Rather than that, if anything happens, call me immediately, okay? It’s going to be a lot more troublesome if something happens to you two.”

Loren’s suggestion was accepted quite easily.

It was mostly because no one else wanted to ride with Shayna.

“Ah, Onii-san…”

As Loren and Lapis climbed up into the caravan, Shayna looked at them with a mixture of surprise and delight.

Loren waved his hand as he climbed in, trying not to let her feel uneasy, but soon left her in Lapis’ care, sat behind the driver, and started keeping watch over the driver and the inside of the caravan.

Although the driver was feeling a lot better than the day before, he still didn’t look too well and it would be a problem if he couldn’t drive properly. Along with that, it was a good position to call for help if something happened, but to the others it looked like a male adventurer who was thinking he shouldn’t sit close to a girl of high status, so no one said anything.

Soon enough, they cleaned up camp and started on towards Hanza.

“Hey, we got to be careful from here on out!”

There was a good reason for Broas to shout out to everyone.

All the messengers that the guild had sent out to Hanza had disappeared on the second day.

That meant there was a high chance that they would encounter it during that day, so it was obvious that everyone was on high alert.

“Is everything, going to be okay?”

The tension and anxiousness seemed to have reached Shayna as well, so Lapis gave her a smile and told her.

“It’s going to be fine. We’ve got an incredible mercenary on our side.”

“Is that supposed to be me?”

“Who else would there be, mister Slaying Wind?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not me, you know?”

Lapis’ smile turned into a grin as she called him by that title, but Loren denied that it was his.

Loren scratched his head and continued awkwardly as Lapis gave him a blank look.

“I get that a lot, though. But there’s no way someone like me would have such an extravagant title.”

“So does that mean you haven’t met Slaying Wind before?”

“Of course not. If I did I wouldn’t be alive right now.”

As Loren shrugged, Lapis pressed her finger against her chin and thought for a moment, then asked Loren with a searching gaze.

“By the way Loren, do people ever call you dense?”

“Quite often, why?”

“Ah, so you’re dense. I see.”

Shayna watched Lapis with wonder as she nodded her head like Loren’s reply solved everything.

Loren wasn’t sure what Lapis had found out, but didn’t dig any deeper into the matter. Instead, he focused his attention outside the caravan while listening to Lapis and Shayna’s idle chatter.

“It’s so peaceful, it’s quite anticlimactic.”

They had traveled for a while now and was almost noon when Lapis said that as she stifled a yawn.

There were no attacks that they thought there would be, they were moving on track, and there was nothing wrong with Loren or Lapis, who were riding with Shayna the whole time.

“It looks like they’re looking for a place to take a break.”

As he listened to the driver, Loren was surprised at how fast the time passed. But then he saw a few silhouettes on the road in front of them.

“Someone’s in front.”

“Maybe they’re travelers?”

Loren squinted to try to make out the silhouettes.

Since Loren, who was riding the caravan in the middle, it was obvious that the people riding the caravan in front noticed them as well.

There were slightly more than ten silhouettes standing in the middle of the road.

They seemed to not have noticed the caravans, as they showed no movement to get out of the way. The caravan in front started to slow down.

“Did something happen?”

The caravan Loren was in started slowing down as well.

Lapis asked Loren what the situation was, but Loren wasn’t so sure himself, and eventually all three caravans came to a stop, wary of the people on the road.

“Hey, who are you guys and why are you here?”

“Don’t you see that you’re in the way?”

A few of the adventurers got off and walked to the people on the road.

Usually, people would run if they see multiple armed adventurers that were shouting, but the silhouettes on the road didn’t even flinch.

Loren left Shayna in Lapis’ care, got out of the caravan, and walked towards Broas.

“Looks like something’s wrong.”

Broas put his hand on his forehead to block the sunlight and spoke to Loren. Loren nodded and squinted towards the same direction Broas was facing and tilted his head.

“I can see that, but what are they?”

The figures in the road ahead of them looked like regular townsfolk.

They weren’t armed and were just standing there, so Loren thought maybe they weren’t dangerous, but soon changed his mind.

It was because they weren’t inside a town or a city, nor close to one.

But the figures in front were dressed like ordinary people living in towns.

The way they were dressed didn’t match up where they currently were, and that bumped Loren’s level of caution towards them.

“That’s…”

It was right when Loren was about to tell Broas.

A few of the figures noticed the adventurers nearing them turned around at an impossible speed, opened their mouths so wide it seemed like their jaws had unhinged, bent their fingers like talons, and started walking towards them at a slow pace.

“Broas!”

“The hell…Hey you guys, get back!”

The adventurers that went to check on the figures saw their sudden reaction and knew something was wrong.

They immediately drew back in order to avoid unnecessary battle.

The figures chased after them towards Loren and the others.

“Whoa whoa, what’s going on? Aren’t they from a nearby town?”

If they were monsters, the adventurers would’ve drawn their weapons and attacked them.

But although the figures that were coming towards them were weird, they were dressed just like ordinary townsfolk, and made them hesitate to draw their weapons.

Meanwhile the priestess Roll, who just got off the caravan with the other adventurers, shouted and got everyone’s attention.

“Everyone, be careful! Those are undead!”

“What? Undead in broad daylight?”

There were a few adventurers that shouted in surprise, but Loren calmly observed the undead monsters that were coming closer.

He wasn’t an expert on them, but it wasn’t the first time he’d seen them.

Since many in battle died with regrets, there were times when the bodies weren’t taken care of fast enough and became undead.

Of course, things like ghosts never showed during the day, but kinds like zombies, which were undead monsters with physical bodies, sometimes wandered in the battlefield during the day.

“So does that mean those are zombies?”

As Loren muttered out loud, a group of people rushed past him.

It was a party that consisted of a red haired boy in the front, followed by a female knight and magician, and a priestess in the back.

Klaus and his party drew their weapons and rushed towards the nearing undead.

“Damn it those guys, they just went off…”

Broas let out a disgusted sigh, but Loren thought that it wasn’t an incorrect action to make.

If it were just a few zombies, four iron rank adventurers should be enough to deal with them, and

Loren realized that this was a good chance for him to see what Klaus and his party could do, so he looked ahead with interest.

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