Volume 17 Chapter 5 Departure
On the morning of the day after tomorrow, Al was chatting leisurely with Orson, sitting by a large bag at their feet, near the intersection of East Main Street and Fourth Ring Road in the border city of Lester.
They were waiting for the Levy merchant guild's caravan, which was leaving a day later than Guildmaster Levy had hoped.
"It's been almost a year since we teamed up. Seriously, we've made quite a bit of money, and I never thought I'd get my leg treated too. Thanks a lot, Sir Al."
"No, no, I've been helped by you too, Orson. You taught me a lot about being a real adventurer, and we managed to get through the Mushroom Festival somehow."
As they passed the time talking, a group of impressive carriages and pack horses arrived. It was the Levy merchant guild's caravan.
One of the mounted guards dismounted and came over to Al and Orson. It was Reginald, one of the mercenaries from the Levy merchant guild.
"Al, it's been a while. How have you been?"
"Hello! I'm doing well. Is Mr. Reginald in charge this time? Please take care of me."
"Yeah, me too. Actually, I could only bring 8 guards this time. Two of them are newbies."
Saying this, Reginald took a comb from his pocket and started fixing his hair.
"We'll be traveling on the main roads and staying at inns at night, so normally that would be fine. But I've heard that Barbarians have been showing up a lot on the roads lately... I was a bit worried. I was relieved to hear you were coming."
He paused for a moment, then added, "Your friend Mr. Orson is skilled too, right? If anything happens, we can count on you two and the magician from Mr. Eric's group. Please take care of us."
If Barbarians are showing up often, they need to be careful. Al tightened his resolve. So, the magician from Mr. Eric's group is joining too. Who could it be?
"Ah, here they come. That carriage over there."
Reginald pointed to a carriage that had arrived late. It was a smaller, single-horse carriage, different from the one Eric had ridden before while guarding the caravan. Al recognized the driver.
It was that gruff-voiced man who used to be the gatekeeper at the mansion.
"That magician named Leda. She's really beautiful, but her words can be harsh. Not really my type. I heard she's the best among Mr. Eric's apprentices. Al, you should ride in her carriage. Mr. Orson will join the fancy carriage with Guildmaster Levy for protection."
Orson waved to Al and headed toward the impressive carriage where the guildmaster was likely riding. Leda is with them. That's reassuring.
She should know the 'Floating Eye' spell, and since she knows a bit about Al's magic, it should make things easier.
"Got it. If anything happens, I'll contact you through 'Telepathy', so please take care of it."
"'Telepathy'?'
Reginald looked worried, as he had never experienced it before. He moved his fingers and sent a 'Telepathy' message.
"This is how it works. Even if you don't say it out loud, if you clearly think of the words, you can get a reply.'
Reginald's eyes widened in surprise.
"W-Wow, so this is 'Telepathy'... Amazing... Um, I think I just need to think the reply in words. I heard something like that from Barbara... Al? Al? Can you hear me?'
Al couldn't help but smile.
"Yes, yes, I can hear you. If I find something while I'm on the move, I might contact you like this.'
"Got it. Thanks... Wow, I was surprised... I heard Eric could use 'Telepathy', but you can do this too, Al?"
Various thoughts were leaking through. Al cut off the 'Telepathy' connection for a moment, waved goodbye to Orson, and approached Leda's carriage. The driver noticed Al and stopped the carriage.
"Good morning. Um, gatekeeper, can I put my luggage in the back?"
"Ah, sure. How have you been?"
Al understood the meaning but still found the voice a bit gruff.
"Yes. Thank you."
He placed the large backpack he had brought onto the back of the carriage.
While it was possible to pack everything using the 'Transport' area or a magic bag, it would seem strange to join a multi-day journey empty-handed, so he carried clothes and inexpensive metal utensils in his backpack, just like before.
"Al, I was surprised to hear you visited Marcus and the others. I was worried..."
Leda got out of the carriage and took Al's hand.
It felt a bit over the top, but thinking about it, the last time they met was when he escaped from the border city of Lester with Patricia, and Leda knew about Al and Patricia's relationship.
She might have been worried because she sensed something about the disguise Al and Orson had used. Al scratched his head and smiled back.
"I'm doing well. It looks like we'll be working together this time, so please take care of me."
"Likewise, please take care of me. You can ride in my carriage, so please come this way."
Leda seemed a bit nervous for some reason. It felt like her tone was slightly different from before. No, maybe this was how Leda spoke when she was talking to Eric.
For now, following Leda's lead, Al got into the carriage. Inside, there was a girl who looked younger than Leda and Al. She seemed to be around 12 or 13 years old.
She was about 140 cm (4'7") tall, had black hair, and it was cut short like Leda's.
"This girl is my new apprentice, Mina. She can't use spells yet, but I'm asking her to help with my personal tasks."
The girl introduced as Mina gave a slight bow to Al. Al returned the gesture, saying, "Nice to meet you."
"Well then, about the division of the lookout duties... how about we switch every hour?"
As Leda and Al sat side by side in the carriage, Leda quickly asked. It was probably about who would handle the 'Floating Eye' spell.
The 'Floating Eye' spell seemed to use a lot of energy when moving the eye, making it tiring to use.
Al had first become too exhausted to use magic when he was searching for Raindrop with the 'Floating Eye' spell.
"Yeah, if Lady Leda is okay with it, I'm fine with that. I can use the 'Telepathy' spell, so if you need to contact Reginald, just let me know."
He paused for a moment, then added, "By the way, it seems like keeping the eye as still as possible with the 'Floating Eye' spell makes it less tiring. I was thinking of trying to attach a long stick to the carriage and placing the eye on the end of it. What do you think?"
Recently, Al had been trying to improve his skill with the 'Floating Eye' spell by walking around with the eye placed backward on top of his head.
Of course, he was doing this to eliminate blind spots, but he noticed something while doing it. If he just kept the eye on top of his head, it wasn't that tiring.
On the other hand, moving the eye around a lot with the 'Floating Eye' spell seemed to cause a lot of fatigue. If that was the case, using this method should reduce the fatigue significantly. It was a perfect opportunity to try it out.
"I see, I definitely want to try that. But suddenly using a long stick is..."
Leda seemed interested in Al's suggestion. However, it was understandable that they couldn't prepare it right away. Al thought for a moment and came up with an idea.
"Can I try to prepare it if possible?"
Al looked outside the carriage to see if there was still time before departure. Many people were checking the condition of the cargo cart. It seemed like there was still time. Al opened the carriage door again and stepped outside.
Leda also stepped outside with him, wondering what he was planning to do.
'Create Weapon' 'Fly'
As soon as he cast the spell, a stick about 4 meters (13ft) long appeared in Al's hand. At the end of the stick was a small net basket facing upward. Al held the stick and floated up, going close to the ceiling of the carriage.
There, he used the 'Glue' spell to secure the base of the stick to a sturdy part of the carriage. Leda watched in amazement.
"Since it's on top of the carriage, is this height okay?"
When Leda was asked this by Al, she hurriedly nodded. Seeing her face, Al thought he might have gone a bit overboard.
However, he reconsidered, thinking that if it was Eric, he could definitely use a spell like this, so it shouldn't be that surprising.
"Alright, it's almost time to depart! Are you ready?"
He heard Reginald's voice. It would be fine to actually place the eye and check things out after they set off. Al looked back and forth between Leda and the gruff driver.
With a composed expression, she lightly smiled and nodded, raising one hand to show she was ready. Other carriages also responded that they were good to go. It seemed like they were about to depart.
Ten horse-drawn carriages were present, with 2 regular carriages belonging to Guildmaster Levy and Leda. Al's 'Detect Magic' reacted to 5 sources from Guildmaster Levy's carriage and 2 from Reginald's.
There was no reaction to 'Detect Invisible' or 'Detect Illusion.' There shouldn't be any problems.
"Okay!"
Al waved back while quickly getting onto the carriage. Leda followed right after. The caravan was about to depart.
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