504 Episode Two: Around the Traveler (top)

It was about three years ago.

There was a strange group of people on the way from Abouf, the northernmost fortified city of Selva, to Sim, the eastern kingdom.

A total of seven square box-shaped luggage cars have been run. Six of them let Totos pull two heads at a time, but it was a rare beast called Worth's Sand Lizard that pulled the van running the lead.

A body as long as a snake, with thick limbs growing. The size would be about as large as a human being. Its entire body is covered in sandy scales, and it is raised like a blade, even though it is tender by the way. As if it were a legendary dragon god, it was a disastrous appearance.

There are two sand lizards of such worths, as if they were tototoss, and then they go down the street. It must have been a suspicious sight for one of the different travelers.

And it was the old man, wrapped in long clothes, who was holding the reins.

Her hair and beard are bright white, and her yellowbrown skin is so baked on the day that she doesn't like it. Though it had a narrow looking style like a beggar, it had a very soft smile on its wrinkly side, which was also an incredible figure that somehow came out of the gaga.

And those who held the reins of the rest of the luggage wagons were no less of an alien people.

To the big man who shaved his head up, to the little man in the leather mask, to the beautiful woman with the shallow black skin, the skinny man with the zabular hair - they all had feathers of a crude coat for the journey, but uniformly gave rise to a different atmosphere.

Among them, one of them was the one who kept the luggage of the shingles.

He is only a child, wrapped in a bright red coat.

Like the others, he wore the headscarf of his coat in depth, but the appearance glimpsed from it was exhausted to a different word.

The skin is white so that it falls out.

In it, the cut-out eyes of the familiar are clear and black, and the lips are bright red as blood.

Nooba Occasional forehead is cut straight over his eyes, with demonic black eyes blinking beneath him. It was a girl as beautiful as a doll.

It is already odd just to say that such a beautiful and young girl holds the reins of a giant tototoss.

Besides, the girl was not only beautiful, but also entangled in a flashy air that she didn't even think belonged to the world.

On that side, which should be young, there is a strangely grown-up smile.

No, it is not so much an adult as a glossy smile that makes you think of even demons or demonic charms.

It was such a sign of inhumanity that such a monstrous presence made me want to doubt whether it was something that eats, sweats, and falls asleep at night, like a normal human being.

"Hey Pinot, it's time for the sun to go down. Aren't you ready for dawn yet?

Someone who dropped Totos' pace and lined up his luggage next to the girl called out anxiously.

The only one of these is a very young daughter with a human body.

He has an old coat wrapped around a little body and has a pretty loving face. but underneath my coat I wrap up my male outfit, and there's no fine dust for things like how old my daughter is, so I look like a boy. He was weak, and he was an almost daughterful.

The girl, called Pinot, looks back at her daughter with a thin smile.

"Are you freaking out, Lolo? Sun gods only sink to the waist, don't they?

"Yeah, but when it starts to get dark, it won't be long. If we're going to reveal the night in such an unpopular place, we need to get ready for the fire early..."

"If you ask the captain, one side while you ring your finger, the sea of fire. I wonder why you won't be able to sit back forever."

"Because I'm not like the Pinots..."

This girl, Rollo, was the best new member of this group.

Girl Pinot gets a laugh when she dulls under her headscarf.

"Whether there's a bandit or a demon, you shouldn't have to be afraid of anything, right? If there's a monster that you can't handle, you and all the others will be close to Selva."

"Oh, that's not true. More or less, I don't know..."

And, where Rollo was about to say weakly, the cars running forward stopped suddenly one after the other.

Lolo, who was about to rush through, screams "Uhia" and squeezes his reins.

"Ooh, ooh. I don't know if I invited you to bandits or demons because I slapped you in the mouth."

Pinot began to climb onto the roof of the carrier when he hooked the reins to the clasp of his podium with unusual lightness.

Stand on a wooden flat roof and see the front watermark.

After all, Pinot was right.

At the end of the street, sand and dust are rising.

Instead of a luggage car, multiple rides across Totos were approaching us with tremendous momentum.

But somehow, things weren't normal.

If you are like a bandit or a wildfire, you will also lurk in the shadows of the left and right groves and rock masses, where you will shoot arrows. This one gets ready to fight slowly when he comes in from such a direct front.

Or so I don't even think of myself as a harmless traveler. The streets that the Pinots have passed through are still deserted wilderness for some time, and there is not one town that can be reached by sundown, so it should not have been worth letting Totos be impotent like that.

"I wonder what it is. I'll see how you're doing."

"Oh, hey, Pinot!

Silently killing Lolo's confused voice, the girl flew to the roof of the front luggage car.

Further intact, flickering over the roof. Eventually, the girl arrived at the old man's luggage van, which leads the way.

"Grandpa Chantu, what the hell is that noise?

"Oh, Pinot... yeah, apparently the women are being chased by the bad guys"

Shantu, the old man holding the sand lizard's reins, answered as such, not to mention exasperated.

In the meantime, the black riding shadows and sand dust are looming this way.

It certainly seemed like a woman running the lead.

I don't know who he is because he's wrapped around his jacket, but he's probably a young daughter. He is desperately kicking Totoss's belly as he looks back once in a while.

Following it were about four men.

After all, everyone is wrapping their coats around. All I could tell was that all of them were slender and long - and that the fingertips holding the reins were all pitch-black.

"Well, it's the Sims who are chasing us. This guy could be a mess."

When Pinot snapped like that, the woman's scream echoed.

One of the men shot an arrow while running Totos.

The arrow pierced Totos' ass and jumped the woman out of her saddle.

The woman falls to the ground screaming and Totos, who has lost her luggage, escapes into the groves.

"Hmm. That arrow didn't seem poisoned."

"Well, the mountain people wouldn't be as good at handling poison as the meadow people."

While the two spoke swallowingly, the men caught up with the woman.

He surrounds a woman who nodded on the ground and is shaking a half-moon knife from above Totos. It looked like something was yelling at me that way, but I didn't know what it meant because it was an eastern word.

"It's the only way. I don't know if I can blame you."

Shantu manipulated the reins and loosened the van closer to the scene of the commotion.

Pinot, lined up on its roof, looks back at his rear companions.

"You guys didn't wait here. I'm going to ask you what's going on."

The big man in the luggage car who was beside me nods back silently.

Even though they had already pulled out a knife, it was about Lolo's that was in a hurry.

"Hey, wait up. What the hell is going on?

When Shantu calmed calmly, the men who were speaking up looked back.

After all, it is a people of the east. Everyone had black skin like charcoal applied.

But not the people of the meadows that are often seen in the western kingdom. They were also notorious in the west, the people of Sim's Mountain, the clan of Gerd.

The Gerd clan is deeply bonded to the northern kingdom of Mahdra because it has the northern mountainous areas as its territory. The exchange of blood more than in ancient times made them more skeletal than the people of the meadows, with more humans with golden and red hair and purple and blue eyes.

"Do you understand the language of the west? What kind of noise is it surrounding such a cute woman?

"... you guys, it doesn't matter"

Eventually, one of the men abandoned him with an emotionless voice.

The people of the east consider it a disgrace to put their emotions on the table.

Also, Worth's sand lizard is a beast that lives in Sims, so I didn't try to move one eyebrow when I saw what it looked like.

"This woman, we, the prey. You guys, end of story, later."

"Ha. What's the end of us?

"What I found out. Hardware, tototos, us, I'll have it. Soul, weak western god, I'll give it back."

The blue eyes of the man who would say so dwelt in a noisy light, like a beast. Now, it is still creepy not to move the expression.

"Duh, please help! These people are bandits! My whole family has been killed, too!

My daughter, crawling to the ground, said in a screaming voice.

Quite beautiful, daughter of the people of the west. Even Selva seemed to be born in the north, white, with pale brown hair and eyes.

"Hmm. You're in trouble with this guy. The Noons are nothing but stubborn travelers. If possible, why don't you put the knife away?

"... you guys, the end, later"

Repeating the same dialogue, the man turned to his daughter for every totoss.

The woman holds her head in.

"I can't help it. Please don't resent me."

Chantu did his hand to his mouth, and he whistled humbly.

At that moment, two huge shadows popped out of the carrier.

It is an Algra silver lion with gray fur and a gauje leopard with two vicious fangs.

The bandits of the insignificant east also gave a surprise groan and shook up their swords.

But not lions and leopards who cower at such things. Two beasts with more gigantic bodies than humans, when they stopped out of reach of the sword, let the roar slip when thunderous.

Really, the tototos the men were riding makes them glance at their big necks.

The men were each to cling to Totos' neck to avoid being shaken off.

"Would you like to come down Totos? That will make it even harder for you to escape."

After stating so, Shantu whistled humbly again.

And it shall be called unto it, and a new beast shall peek from the side of the table.

It was Vamda's black monkey, covered with pitch-black fur.

Some of the men whisper in Sim's words.

Silver lions and gauje leopards are the western part of the continent, and the black monkeys of Vamda are beasts that inhabit the southern part of the continent, so they should have been completely unknown to the Gerd clan.

"Even if you have a bow or a knife, the number of them will not affect these beasts. If you can, why don't you just end up in peace like this?

Smiling with a smile, Shantu says.

In the meantime, silver lions and leopards were roaring.

Totos is probably shaking his head and dancing a frenzied dance to the left to the right. Together with the people of Sim, Totos, who can also face the great bear of Muhul, seems unable to remain calm in front of the unknown beast.

But still, if the riders on the saddle were calm, the Totos would have been able to fight without even cowering. These tototos were frightened only because of the fear and confusion of the riders.

Shouted something in the eastern language, and one of the men kicked Totos in the stomach.

Totos turns his back around and starts running warmly down the path he originally came from.

The remaining three groups of men also desperately followed Totos' reins and followed them. After all, I didn't seem to feel like going down Totos and dealing with three unknown beasts.

"Oh, my God. I've kept my precious children out of danger."

Shantu whistled three times.

Black monkeys hide themselves inside the carriage without sound, and silver lions and leopards return to the carriage in supple footsteps. After Shantu stroked their heads, they also returned to their own twists.

"Oh! He's such a beauty! What the hell happened, poor lady?"

And the young man's bounced voice echoes.

Pinot looked down at you and shrugged his shoulders as he watched Shantu's hand from the top of the roof.

"As soon as the bandits hide themselves, here they are. I don't have any pills to put on the color mess."

"Shut up. It's your job to deal with savages. My job is to reach out to the beautiful lady."

Wearing a flat hat, a testament to the bard, it was a very young man. He has long brown hair and brightens brown eyes. It has a luxurious body, a neat and well-visible style, and it has the appearance of an honorable man.

"My princess, your hand, please. My name is Niya, the bard."

Neya, the bard, reaches out with graceful tricks.

But his daughter was still on the ground, looking around at Pinot and Chantou.

"Ah... who the hell are you...?

"So I'm a bard. These guys are a bunch of travelers I'm working with, and it's called" The Seat of the Gamleys "!

◇

Then within four and a half minutes, the sun was falling abundantly.

Light the dead branches collected during the morning and set up an iron pan with the ingredients punctured. While the pan boiled, one of the sitters was to hear the situation from his daughter.

"My name is Elisa. Born in the town of Iraka south of Abouf, the house was a textile shop."

This area is also a lot north of Selva, so when the sun sets, the cooling is also severe. Her daughter, who calls herself Elisa, said so while shaking her fingers in front of her coat.

"So this time, I was on my way back to Iraq to finish my business at Sim... and those bandits attacked me there..."

"At the end of the day, they killed all my family," he said? Oh, that would be some misfortune. I'm just asking, my chest's gonna crumble. "

Neya, the bard, says aloud, and her daughter snorts, "Yes..."

It was only four sitters surrounding this fire. It is Niya, Pinot, Shantu, and Gamlay the sitter. With the eyes of the ship and arms, Gamray was listening to his daughter with interest as he tilted the earthen bottle of fruit liquor.

"Hmm. Iraka is a town famous for its textiles, but it seems quite a luxury to encourage commerce all the way to Sims nonetheless. Besides, it's a big deal to join a woman on such a long journey."

"Yes... my brother was still young, so he was learning to do business so that I could inherit the traces of my father. I can't believe this is happening..."

With such expressions as the extreme of sadness, Elisa had a glimpse of Gamray in horror.

Whatever it is, it's a game ray, the total former of this strange bunch. When it came to the variation of its style, it was unbeatable even by Pinot.

The cloth wrapped around the head, the top wrapped around the lean body, and at the end of the day, the embroidery is broken with gold and silver threads on the red ground, up to the eyelids that hide the left eye. And yet the missing left arm sleeve was flickering demonically loose because I wouldn't even try to weave my jacket under this cold sky.

The facade is also out-of-phase.

His right eye is deeply indented, his cheeks slurping, his nose protruding like a beak of tototoss. When it was lit from the bottom by the fire, the shadows grew thicker there, making its lean face look like a monster.

Gamlay, who placed the earthen bottle of fruit liquor on the ground, grinned, wandering his long mandibular beard like a gamma.

"Well, there are bandits and bandits around here who scratch out like bugs. When it comes to luggage cars in luxury stores that have done business with shims, it's like walking around with a leg full of copper coins."

"... the escort person was going to hire a sufficient number, but still didn't seem to be enough..."

Pinot, who was spinning the contents of the pan, pointed a luscious stream at Elisa there.

"That means Sim's bandits weren't the only ones, was it? No way, just four bandits wiped out all the big business groups, huh?

"Yes, fifteen in all...... no, would there have been twenty...... all seemed vicious, mountain people......"

"Huh. Even around here, they're the ones who need the most attention."

Gamray shrugged one thin shoulder of meat before looking back at the fellows who were burning fire a little further away.

"Nachara, Dillo, come here. I need to ask you guys something."

Two shadows are approaching.

One is a beautiful woman with shallow black skin and the other is a man with long, bruised hair, like the people of the east.

"This is the whistling Nachara, this is the pot man Dillo.... Hey, what kind of people were bandits of the mountain people screwing around around here?

"No, there 'll be as many of them as there are. If the Gerd clan were to attack the people of the west, it would be the best hunting ground around here."

Nachara, succumbing to Gamlay, said so in a voice containing laughter.

Tartarly standing, Dillo stares down at Elisa with an emotionally unreadable eye.

"How many bandits are there? And were there poisonous weapons or something?

"To, there were as many as twenty... Speaking of which, some used something like a blow arrow. Most used knives and bows…"

"Were you wearing anything like a fellow landmark?

"Landmarks...? Oh, just like everyone was wrapping white cloth slices around their necks..."

Dillo nodded and turned his gaze to Gamray.

"Probably one party to name The Moon of Tarless. Some members of the 'd' family who use poison must have joined them."

"Huh. For a bandit, that's a small name. We want to do the same."

Tarless was the name of a series of mountains that divided the continent between the north and the south. At its eastern end, the tribes of Sim's 'Ger' and 'd' dwell.

"But you didn't seem to pretend to treat the four of us who followed this daughter. If you're from the 'd' clan, you'll be covering your arrows before you pull out a knife."

"Right. If it's" The Moon of Turres, "the chief is the people of" Ger, "so the people of" D "are still a minority."

"That's more than anything. Poison is worse than a knife."

"But I hear that the people of 'Ger' will have unbeatable power over the people of 'D' with only their swords and bows. You'll never be alarmed."

"Oh. If they hadn't cowered at Huey and Sarah, I'd have seen the arrangement."

With pleasure, Gamray once again soaked up the fruit liquor.

Elisa, who was watching that interaction with a pressing eye, said, "Um!," he raises his voice.

"It is very painful for me to wish for this to happen to all of you who have saved my life... why don't you take me back to my homeland?

"Hometown? In the town of Iraka, we?

"Yes! We will thank you enough! If the town of Iraka is far away, at least even Abouf..."

"We were just leaving Abouf for Sims. It'll take five days from here to Abouf, and a few more days to get to Iraq. That's a lot to talk about."

Then Niya, who was stuck by Elisa, said, "Hey!" He shouted out loud.

"No matter how much, wouldn't that guy be too flirtatious? Elisa lost the toss she was riding, didn't she? Are you going to leave this pathetic person alone in such a dangerous place that they killed all your family?

"Hmm. If you're talking about heading to Sims, I'll give you a ride as much as I want. We're not funny or anything back the way we came."

"So! You're not talking about being funny or anything! I can't believe you didn't save a life you could save. Then you're no different than the bandits!

"Ha, a weak person who can't even protect himself wants things to be in much better shape. You just want to look good in front of that girl, don't you?

When Pinot clasped his mouth in a foolish manner, Niya snorted to confront "Han".

"Still, you can't go wrong with what I'm saying, can you? It's no human business to leave such a pretty little lady alone in such a wilderness!

"Well, you've got a lot of fine mouth to slap, Niya"

Laughing at the garlic, Gamray tilts the earthen bottle.

"Well, why don't you protect that princess as a knight? If you ask Zan, he'll split a knife or two."

"That only helps me skin Lamam.... Hey sitter, don't be too mean."

"Don't make a sweet voice, it's sober.... Well, I wonder what's wrong with this guy."

Elisa embarked upon herself with an impending look on her face as Gamray wandered her mandibular mustache to make her troublesome.

"Thank you very much. As an arrangement, please put this here first."

And it was the silvercrafted ornament that Elisa took out of her nostalgia.

And Niya said, "Heh!" and shines his eyes.

"This is real silver! That means it would be worth more than a silver coin of the same weight - wow, that's a treasure!

"Yes, I've switched my commercial earnings to silverwork and gemstones at Sims so that they don't become bulky as possible. We're hiding about half of what we made this time."

"Dude, I'm not saying anything too rare! We're not even a bunch of saints, are we?

"No," Elisa said clearly, as Niya said in a hurry.

"I have decided to trust you. I don't feel like hiding anything more than that."

"Hey, that being said, come on..."

"Besides, this is just a one-time business earner. If you go back to your hometown, you may be more thankful than that. So why don't you hear my wish?

Elisa laid her hands on the ground and stared at Gamray with a desperate face.

"I must tell my young brother the death of my family. If you return your soul to me, my brother will be alone in this world... and you cannot decay in such a place."

With a shapely frown and tears in his eyes, Elisa said so.

Niya lays her hands gently on its shoulders, while scowling at Gamray.

"Are you still abandoning this guy? Then I'm out of luck here, too! Thank you for your help so far! You can trample on people's trust and make a fool of yourself if you like!

"Let it go. Your voice rings on your head, so don't be too shy."

Gamray was scratching his left eye band with his right fingertip.

"In the meantime, put that ornament away. We only accept rewards for our art."

"No, but -!"

"Right. Pinot, what do you think?

Gamray's eyes, with only one, stare at Pinot.

Pinot hoisted his lips as he looked back at that ship's eyes reflecting the flames of the burning fire.

"That's right. Probably with the sitter."

"Right. Then let's see it through to the end."

Gamray also smiles at the bottom.

"Then you're going backwards to Abouf. It's not a quick journey, and let's get some more Selva air."

"That's the sitter! I believed you from the beginning!

Saying something good, Niya subtly drew Elisa's shoulder.

Has the thread of tension been broken? Elisa can't help herself to Niya's chest. Looking sideways at it, Pinot took up the wood plate.

"Well, let's make it a meal. The pot has also boiled. I don't even know when the Gerd barbarians will attack me, so I have to keep my stomach shut."