19
Sophie, who had been chattering for a while, must have gotten tired and dozed off to sleep.
For a 15-year-old, he was a bit small, but he slept curled up in a ball, like a bean worm.
The girl who had been chirping like a bird fell asleep and the surroundings became quiet.
All that can be heard is the sound of Sophie’s breathing, the clatter of an old horse’s hooves, and the white noise of insects that decorate the end of late autumn.
Dojin looked into the distance.
The sun that dyed the world crimson has set, and instead the bright moon has risen, casting a dark silver-blue light over the surrounding area.
The tranquil scenery is excessively beautiful.
It is no wonder that many people love virtual reality more than reality and become addicted to it and cannot escape it.
“If you’re tired, you can close your eyes for a while. This guy is so old that he walks slowly, so it’ll probably take quite a while.”
As Hanolds said, the carriage’s speed was slower than a person walking.
It was only natural that an old horse pulled a wagon full of firewood.
Still, there were no complaints.
Dojin loved sitting in a slightly bumpy carriage and looking at the beautiful scenery.
“I’m fine. Isn’t there anything better to cover me with? I think I’ll catch a cold if I sleep like this.”
“Anything to cover? Don’t worry. That little Sophie, when she was young, she was weak and I worried a lot, but now she walks around barefoot even in the middle of winter. I prayed that she would just get healthy, but she got so healthy that she caused all sorts of accidents.”
Hanolds’ love for his daughter was evident in his laughter-filled voice.
Dojin, who saw the small nose moving around, spread out the hem of his robe and wrapped it around Sophie.
“I’m worried because the kids in the village are having nosebleeds quite often. But when I compare it to seeing them suffering from fever, I wonder if a nosebleed is really that big of a deal.”
Silence fell again behind Hanolds’ cheerful smile.
It was a quiet and comfortable atmosphere.
This was because much of the fear Hanolds had felt had subsided.
Since we were on a road leading to a very remote village, there were no obstacles.
Bandits and other obstacles that usually appear only appear on roads with a certain amount of floating population.
There was no one who could do business in a place like this where only one or two people passed by a week.
For that reason, the carriage carrying Dojin entered the mountainside at the expected time, and after moving for a while, arrived at the village of Gulag located deep in the mountain.
“Hannolds, how can you take Sophie with you and come back so late? Mr. Maxim arrived just now and I was worried because you didn’t come!”
As the carriage pulled into the village entrance, a sharp voice was heard.
Then Hanolds’ scream is heard.
“Ouch, it hurts! It hurts, honey!”
“The size is distracting! Where is Sophie?”
“I’m sleeping in the trunk! Ugh, honey, my belly fat is ripped, it’s ripped!”
Sophie opened her eyes to her mother’s voice.
Sophie rubs her eyes and says, “Mom… … .” with hazy eyes.
Dojin caught him and lowered him down as he was groping around in the dark.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Sophie stumbled and followed her mother’s voice.
“Sophie!”
“mom…….”
Sophie’s mother, Jenny, found her daughter so sleepy that she couldn’t even walk properly. She quickly ran over and examined Sophie here and there.
This is to check if there are any injuries or wounds.
Because of his smaller stature than his peers, he looked like he was really hugged.
“Oh my, that’s why Mom told me to stay home because going out would only make me tired.”
“No, it was fun going out. I even got to see my wizard brother.”
“wizard?”
“Oh, that’s right. Honey, there’s a magician on the way-”
Ignoring her husband’s words, Jenny turned her head to follow her daughter’s gaze and discovered Dojin, dressed in a black robe, walking out from the back of the carriage.
and.
“If you brought a guest, shouldn’t you talk about it first?”
She punished her husband who came over in a hurry.
“Kyaaaaak! I was just talking about it!”
“Faster! You should have done it as soon as you saw it!”
Dojin, who was trying to say hello, had no choice but to stand there for a moment as the couple had no room to intervene.
It might be surprising to see a foreigner dressed in black robes, but seeing her like that, it seemed unnecessary to think about who Sophie resembled.
“Mom, Mom, the wizard brother helped me pass through the checkpoint earlier!”
The commotion grew louder as Sophie, who was completely awake due to her parents’ commotion, began to chatter.
“Hello. You helped my husband and daughter. Thank you so much.”
Jenny came over holding Sophie and greeted her with a bright smile.
Looking closely, their facial features were exactly like Sophie’s, so it was obvious to anyone that they were mother and daughter.
In some ways, they look like sisters with a slight age difference.
“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t do anything special.”
“No. The soldiers at the checkpoint got scared as soon as they saw the wizard brother and just let us go. They even held our hands like this and told us to hurry up and go.”
Sophie was talking excitedly as if it was her own story of bravery.
Jenny said, stroking Sophie’s head.
“I was worried because I heard that everyone who came back first had a hard time at the checkpoint, but I’m really grateful.”
As the conversation continued, villagers woke up to the commotion and began to appear one by one.
“It looks like Hanolds is back?”
“Don’t you know when you hear the scream? I’m probably getting beaten up by Jenny again.”
“It looks like Hanolds had a hard time at the checkpoint since he’s pretty late. The others had a hard time too.”
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“Maybe it’s not because of that that he’s late, but because of his speech. That bastard’s speech is so damn slow because he’s old.”
The village men who appeared one by one while chatting idly by were startled when they saw Dojin reflected in the torch.
It was a natural reaction to see an outsider in a pitch-black robe.
But Jenny didn’t like the look of fear, so she shouted at the village men.
“Anyway, I’m afraid that those big guys who are not Hanolds’ friends will be scared, scared! They are the ones who helped Sophie at the checkpoint, so they are guests, guests! Hanolds, hurry up and take the carriage and put the firewood in the storage with your friends who are not worth that much.”
Jenny, who had just slapped Hanolz on the back, smiled brightly at Dojin.
“Please follow me, wizard. There is an inn in our village. I usually make a living as a herbalist, but sometimes I provide a room and food to guests.”
“I was already worried about where to stay, so thank you.”
“you’re welcome.”
“Mom, can’t Wizard Oppa just sleep over at my house today?”
“Our house is small, so there’s no room for the wizard to sleep.”
“Eek.”
The town was so small that I followed Jenny for a bit and Hanolds came into view again.
It seemed as if they were trying to transport firewood by parking a carriage in front of a building used as a public warehouse.
Then, Dojin used his telekinesis to lift the firewood.
“Huh?”
“Eww!”
“It’s a ghost!”
The village men screamed in surprise at the sight of the firewood floating in the air.
Some of them looked at Dojin and muttered things like, ‘As expected, he was a wizard… ‘
“Wow!”
On the other hand, mother and daughter Jenny and Sophie were amazed with sparkling eyes.
Even though they were bigger in size, the mother and daughter had much larger livers.
“Mr. Hanolds and everyone else, please step aside.”
Hanolds and the village men stood aside, looking back and forth between Dojin and the flying logs as if they were possessed by something.
There was nothing more comical than the sight of a line of bear-sized men bobbing their heads to follow the firewood.
‘I guess my level has gone up a lot, so my 「Psychic」 output has gone up a lot.’
Dojin felt his growth as he lifted weights that he had not been able to lift before.
The firewood, moved by telekinesis, was neatly arranged in the warehouse.
The village men who had come out prepared to sweat looked at the empty carriage with dumbfounded faces.
“Wow- I’ve never seen anything like this before!”
Sophie, who was excited by the magic she had seen for the first time in her life, clapped her hands wildly and enjoyed it.
“Wow, that’s amazing… … I’ve only heard of things flying in the sky.”
Jenny was equally surprised.
For the people of this small town, most of whom had never seen magic in their lives, even a simple miracle was a great surprise.
“Thank you, Wizard.”
The village men, who had barely come to their senses, nodded their heads to Dojin.
Half frightened eyes, half curious eyes.
Dojin bowed his head to them and then started walking again towards the inn.
“Hehehe, I didn’t know that after almost 6 months, my guest would be such a precious person.”
The innkeepers were an elderly couple.
They served steamed potatoes for Dojin.
“I’m sorry this is all I have because food is scarce these days.”
“Grandma Laura, I’m hungry too.”
“Sophie!”
Sophie reached out for the steamed potatoes, but was quickly subdued by Jenny.
“Oh my, stop it, I’ll give you Sophie separately.”
“It’s okay, Grandma. I’ll take you home and feed you.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. There are only two old people in our house anyway, so we don’t eat much.”
Dojin felt good as he listened to the conversation going on.
It was because I thought it was a town where warm people lived even without anything.
“Grandma, you don’t have to bring any more potatoes.”
Dojin stopped his grandmother from going to the kitchen and took out food from his inventory.
Of course, to avoid unnecessary fuss, I pretended to take it out from inside the robe.
From the user’s perspective, the cheapest food items are beef jerky and bread, which are used only to fill the stomach.
However, for these people, ‘meat’ itself would have been a food that was difficult to find.
“omg.”
As evidence, Sophie’s eyes widened at the sight of the jerky and bread.
He immediately reaches for the steamed potatoes, but becomes cautious when he sees the meat.
That’s probably because they consider it that precious.
“I have a habit of taking plenty of food when I travel. There’s enough food for everyone to eat together, so let’s eat together. Let’s call Mr. Hanolds too. Oh, and before that, can I borrow the kitchen?”
“Sir, why is the kitchen… … ?”
“If I’m going to eat it, I’ll try to make it even tastier. Sophie, do you want to see some magic?”
Sophie’s head suddenly turned back, having been absorbed in the meat.
Looking at the heads nodding vigorously, I was worried about the health of their throats.
“Follow me.”
Dojin took Sophie to the kitchen and lit a fire with magic.
Magic fire was perfect for cooking because it allowed for free control of the heat.
Even so, it was just a stew with beef jerky, potatoes, milk, butter, salt, and pepper.
Still, since I had experience cooking and eating while hunting in my previous life, both the smell and the taste were excellent.
The old couple, Harolds, Jenny, Sophie, and Dojin sit around a steaming bowl of stew.
The youngest, Sophie, was the first to take a sip.
Sophie, who was struggling with the heat as she stuffed a large piece of beef jerky and a potato into her mouth at the same time, spoke with round eyes.
“Ah, this is my first time eating something like this.”
Then, the others also thanked Dojin one by one and put their stew in their mouths.
The generously simmered stew quickly reduced in volume.
* * *
The mountains late at night are cold and dangerous.
No one would want to go into a place like that.
Nevertheless, on Mount Gulag, there were about twenty darkly dressed people moving about.
“How much closer do we have to get? It’s just a little bit further and there’s a wasteland. If we keep going like this, won’t we get caught up too?”
A man in black armor asked the robed man.
Then a gloomy-looking wizard wearing robes answered.
“Don’t worry. We are far from the ants’ path. When the ants follow the signal, they will cross the ridge over there and follow the valley ahead to the village we need to clear out.”
“Well, that’s good… but anyway, there shouldn’t be a hitch in the plan.”
“Don’t worry about that either. I’m not a great magician, but I’m not in a position where I can’t use such a well-made magical tool. As long as your subordinates planted it properly, there shouldn’t be any problems with the plan.”
As their conversation passed, the man behind them approached.
“Is it true that if we do this, this area will become monster territory?”
The wizard answered his question with a smirk.
“Of course, Baron Lumbern. Even though they are monsters, they are ants that live in the wasteland. Once they come here and start foraging properly, they will expand their territory to this area.”
“Hehe, if that happens, there will be a place in my territory where monsters are rampant. Finally, our territory will receive support from the royal family, and we will be able to collect taxes from the Adventurer’s Guild. Compared to that, the lives of a few herbalist bastards will be nothing.”
Baron Lumbern looked in the direction of the gulag village with a vulgar smile.
