Volume 4 Chapter 4 Meeting Up
Three days after the instructions were given, it was still raining on and off, making the roads muddy. Early in the morning, Al arrived at the place called the South Gate, just as instructed. This was where the 4th ring road crossed South Avenue, and it was lined with the guard post protecting the south side of the city, as well as the processing area for magic beasts and the remains of Barbarians. Many carriages, merchants, and their escorts had already gathered.
"Hey, Alfred, long time no see!"
As Al looked around for Eric, a familiar face called out to him. It was Kane, who he had gone to middle school with. He was supposed to be an apprentice to the Internal Affairs Minister in this border city, Lester. What was he doing here so early in the morning?
"Good morning, Kane, or should I call you Sir Kane?"
Kane quickly shook his head, looking flustered.
"I'm still just an apprentice in the Internal Affairs Ministry. I don't hold any official position, so no need for titles. But maybe it's time we stop calling each other with honorifics. Just call me Kane. I'll call you Alfred too."
"Is that okay? Then I'll call you Kane. You can just call me Al."
"Alright, let's do that. By the way, what brings you here today? Are you going on a hunt or something?"
Al explained that he was going to be hired by Eric to work as a guard for a caravan. Kane was surprised and said he was part of the same caravan. Al didn't know that the caravan they were guarding was under the orders of Margrave Lester, who ruled the border area, and that the person in charge was a man named Baron Hawthorne, who was the Internal Affairs Minister and Al's boss.
"Right now, it seems like the caravans mainly go around the border settlements, but the original purpose was to inspect the frontier development villages. The person in charge of the development, Baron Hawthorne, used to check the situation in the development villages every 3 months with the Internal Affairs Minister and the guard team. Over time, some shops started to send their own wagons along, and that's how it grew to its current size. The request for guards for Mr. Eric also came from the Internal Affairs Bureau."
"Hmm," Al nodded. Normally, merchants would run their wagons alone to make more profit, so it must be really dangerous. When he asked about it, Kane tilted his head a bit but nodded.
"This is my first time joining too, but I heard that Barbarians often appear at night. They frequently attack, and it seems like there have been quite a few cases where 2 or 3 of them sneak in to steal from the wagons. Because of complaints about that, Mr. Eric and the others started requesting guards. Even a small caravan can be threatened by 2 or 3 goblins. They can see well at night, you know. They say that asking a magician to light up the entire campsite has really reduced the damage. Oh, a new wagon has arrived. But it's not from the Internal Affairs Bureau."
Kane pointed to a carriage coming down South Main Street. It was a fancy 4-wheeled carriage pulled by 2 horses, and sitting on the driver's seat was a man who looked like a coachman, along with a woman who was definitely called Leda. The carriage seemed to be heading toward them.
"That's Mr. Eric's carriage. Well then, Kane, see you later."
Al waved goodbye to Kane and walked toward Eric's carriage.
* * *
"Good morning, Ms. Leda."
Al cheerfully greeted Leda, who was sitting in the driver's seat. Leda returned the greeting with a polite bow. The carriage stopped, and Eric, Fitz, and 2 other men who had been in the garden with Leda a few days ago got down. Al greeted each of them in turn. Fitz nodded back casually.
"It seems you arrived on time, Al. Good. From now on, Mr. Eric and I will greet Baron Hawthorne and other important people. You should ask Leda about your apprentice work."
The two of them quickly walked toward the other carriages. Left behind were Leda, Al, and the two men. All 3 were taller than Al and looked a bit older.
"Good morning, Al. We met during the interview the other day. I'm Leda. I'm in charge of the magician apprentices under Mr. Eric. Your magic skills might be better than mine, but under Sir Fitz's instructions, I will continue to oversee things. While you work as an apprentice, you need to follow my instructions. Please call me Lady Leda."
Leda's voice was a bit shaky. She seemed really nervous. Since Al was getting paid, he nodded without any objections.
"I'm Marcus." "I'm Lucas."
The guys standing next to Leda pointed at themselves. They looked a lot alike, so they must be brothers.
"We're also seniors to you, Al. You have to follow our instructions."
"Okay, nice to meet you."
Al smiled back cheerfully. The two looked a little reluctant, but they didn't say anything more because of Al's friendly vibe.
"Now, about the job assignments..."
According to Leda's explanation, as an apprentice, Al's tasks included taking care of Eric and Fitz, lighting up the campsite at night with a light spell, and checking for any problematic magic tools using a magic sense spell. For the night watch, they would take turns, one person at a time, in case the light spell ran out. Al was supposed to go first.
"I understand. By the way, what kind of work do Mr. Eric and Mr. Fitz do?"
Al asked because he wanted to know what a magician's job was like in the caravan.
"I think the most important part is assisting in battles, but they also use the 'Floating Eye' spell to keep watch from the sky regularly. Until now, Mr. Fitz has been joining the night watch while keeping an eye on us, but this time, since there are 4 apprentices, he won't be participating."
'Floating Eye' is a spell that lets you send your viewpoint somewhere else and see from that spot. Since it's hard to find the viewpoint, it can be used to sneakily check out the enemy's hideout. As Leda explained, you can also place your viewpoint above a caravan to check the surroundings. It's definitely useful for guarding. While Al was agreeing, Leda instructed him to load his luggage onto the back of the carriage.
"Right away, we'll split up and use the Magic Sense spell to check if anyone has brought anything suspicious into the caravan. Of course, not all magic tools are banned from the caravan, but sometimes bandits hide listening magic tools or location-tracking magic tools in the caravan's wagons to find out where the caravan is. If you find anything suspicious, please report it to me without causing a scene. We have about 30 minutes. Once you're done checking, gather back here."
Leda skillfully gave instructions on where to focus, and the other 2 nodded, understanding what to do. However, it seemed that the success rate of the spells for the 3 of them, including Leda, was low, and they had to try several times. Watching this, Al started checking the area he was assigned using not only the Magic Sense spell but also the Sensory Boost spell.
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