Chapter 34

Journeying and Dining

Things were going well. The weather was great, the beaten path was easy to walk on. And while the forest trees surrounded us, we were never attacked by forest wolves like before. Beowulf’s commands must have reached all of them. Occasionally, we would see a snout poking from the leaves, but we were left untouched otherwise.

“So, Daniela. How far are we to the next town?”

I ask, walking beside her.

“Indeed… I would say that it is six days on foot.”

“That’s quite far.”

“I would not say so. All towns are rather scattered unless you are close to the capital.”

Were they now… Oh well, as long we could still reach it. Imagine if we had to cross oceans or mountains.

The seclusion and peaceful air continued for over three days after that. And I was starting to feel a little rusty. The journey was easy. All we did was eat store-bought food around a bonfire every night and then walk.

But then this all ended because of the rain.

It rained so heavily that I thought it we were in a typhoon. But we just donned our raincoats and continued to walk.

“This weather is atrocious.”

“Yes… Well, it is a part of any journey.”

It was not realistic to expect the weather to always be in your favor. And it wasn’t as if the weather had some grudge against me. There was nothing to do but walk.

My boots trudged through the mud as I looked ahead of us. The thick clouds were casting a shadow that made the midday look like it was noon. It was even darker in the forest. There were no signs of the clouds parting or the rain letting up. It would be a long time before it stopped raining.

What was scary about this rain, was the drop in body temperature. Also, it obstructed your vision. But this was still my first time traveling for real, I could only imagine what could happen, which was good for reminding me how much experience I still lacked.

After a while, the forest on both sides began thin out, and instead, we were greeted to a vast, open field. There were no trees around, and we caould see to the far off distance. Well, actually it was still too dark and rainy to see that far.

“We have reached the end of the forest. These gra.s.slands mean that we are now in the territory of the gra.s.s wolves. We must be wary of monsters here.”

“Ah, right. Gra.s.s wolves…”

I let go of the strap to the vintage bag I was holding, and touch the pommel of my steel sword. So there was a high likelihood of fighting on this trip now. It might be more eventful than I had thought.

Daniela used her inherited ability to detect the presence of enemies and increased its range. She detected a few wolves not too far off. Well, it looked like we wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked immediately. Though I wasn’t sure how relaxed I should feet just yet. But it was enough to make me let go of my sword and pick the bag back up. I just hoped that we wouldn’t have trouble when camping out tonight.

We chose a place that had a giant boulder to set up camp. The tent was put up with the boulder at its back. The rain had lessened a little now, but hadn’t completely stopped… I considered making the fire under a tarp, but then realized that it would burn, and so tried making the fire without it. At least the firewood wasn’t damp, as I had stored some in the hollow bag. There was also plenty of small branches to use as tinder. It was a good thing I had saved them from before.

While there was plenty of white smoke, I was relieved to see the fire burning hot as I put a pot over the flames. It was full of the usual soup. Dried meat and freshly picked vegetables. A perfect meal to warm your body in this weather. As I stir the pot and scan my surroundings, I see Daniela return from the rainy fields. I kind of felt like a house-husband as I stirred.

“Welcome back.”

“I killed all of the gra.s.s wolves that were in the area.” “Sorry. For leaving it to you.”

“We help each other in this party, Asagi. I am hungry now.”

“Coming right up.”

We take out the well-worn bowls. The slightly bigger one was Daniela’s This became incredibly obvious during our training camp, but she liked to eat. According to her, she didn’t get fat. Was it a trait of light elves!? I tried asking her, but she claimed that it was not. I was incredibly jealous.

I gave her an extra large serving as she somewhat shamefacedly asked for seconds, but I knew the truth. That time when she had disappeared into the park with a load full of street food in her arms. I don’t know if I had ever seen her look happier.