The hostlers, who took horses along the riverside for those who chose to travel by boat, arrived at the checkpoint a day later. Lawrence received his horse from them and then found a merchant who would be staying at this very checkpoint for a little while longer. He negotiated with this merchant, placed several silver pieces on a contract that would allow him to secure a cart in Karlan, and managed to borrow a cart off the merchant. Though it was a bit on the older side, they were in no position to be picky.
“An agreement on a single sheet of paper and nothing more than a handshake. Your exchanges are odd, as always.”
Just like that, he made a deal with a stranger to secure an item they were not even sure existed. Exchanges based on the trust among merchants were still an odd sight to Holo, despite how many times she had seen this concept in action.
“But I think the strangest of all those agreements is everlasting love based on nothing more than a kiss.”
Holo, who had been poking at the sacks of powdered sulfur with her foot, did not blush at that statement, of course. She only scoffed.
“Aye. I have certainly been taken in by someone’s honeyed words, have I not?”
“I believe you are being delivered the exact product you signed for in the contract, ma’am,” Lawrence said as he began to load the cart bed after tying up the horse, and Holo gave a dauntless smile.
She then leaped into the cart.
“I suppose it could be worse. Especially considering the situation.”
She leaned her knees against the edge of the cart, resting her elbows on them so she could prop up her chin with her palms. A suggestive smile crossed her face.
“It will be worth the hard work.”
After she cheerfully flashed her canines, she finally began to grab sacks of sulfur and helped place them on the bed of the cart.
Once they were done, Meyer arrived on horseback.
“Have all your preparations been completed?”
“Yes. Lead the way.”
Holo, who had sat down on the driver’s perch before him, scooted to the side to give him room. Lawrence climbed up and took the reins.
It was clear from the get-go that Meyer was a ranger for good reason—he handled his horse with incredible skill.
Though he spent all his days on horseback, roaming the woods, he only looked like a simple peasant on the outside. In reality, he was a vassal who directly served the nobility. The shortbow on his back was not for show, either; whenever he spotted a wild rabbit, he drew his bow and shot it from horseback. Even the most skilled hunters would not be able to accomplish such a feat without special training. Not to mention that it was also a martial art that had use in battle. It was not hard to imagine him mercilessly feathering any intruders he came across in the forest, and he likely knew his way around a blade as well.
It was also notable that he did not ride alongside Lawrence and Holo as they traveled, likely because he often acted as a guide when his lord went out hunting in the woods.
The ranger basically treated them like nobility. He hurried ahead to check the roads, brought any rabbits he hunted to the inns they passed, and even arranged for a meal and lodging with the innkeepers. As night approached, he took them to a small church in a nearby town, where they had a lovely evening with a mild-mannered old priest.
If Lawrence were on his own, the best he would have been able to manage would be finding a cheap inn full of lice and fleas, camping outside by the fire, or borrowing a straw bed if they happened upon a village. Even that was only possible if they were lucky.
There were plenty of very good reasons why Holo was reluctant to travel over land.
“I am beginning to wish we had an attendant of our own,” Holo said the next morning once they left the church.
It was likely an allusion to how Lawrence had taken so long to start a fire when they first left the mountains of Nyohhira, but Lawrence decided to pretend not to hear it for the sake of harmony in their family.
After a while of traveling, Meyer eventually got down from his horse ahead of them. As Lawrence turned his attention ahead, he spotted a dilapidated bridge over a small stream.
“This is quite old,” he remarked. “Is there anywhere we could cross on foot?”
The stream beneath the bridge was nothing more than a long, thin puddle—calling it a river would be much too flattering—but the water itself was surprisingly clear. The water’s edge was thick with grasses, some spots home to small copses. It was at this moment that Lawrence realized that, at some point, the flat plains had vanished and given way to hills and trees.
“Water wells quite frequently in this area, so there are many brooks such as this one,” Meyer explained. “I’ve heard that there was once a great river that flowed through here in my grandfather’s grandfather’s time.”
Lawrence immediately knew he was talking about the great serpent, said to have been cut down by a great hero.
Though he had not been conscious of it, it seemed that the river that once existed near Salonia flowed into this land.
“The ground is damp wherever you go, so a failed crossing could mean getting a cart wheel stuck in the mud, forcing a stop.”
Lawrence nodded and glanced to Holo.
With an annoyed sigh, Holo clambered down from the driver’s perch and began unloading all the sulfur they had packed back at the checkpoint.
“May God help us.”
Lawrence pretended not to notice the scowl on Holo’s face as he made a rather genuine prayer to the heavens, pulling horse and empty cart across the bridge.
He could feel sweat trickling down his temples at the ominous creaking of the bridge below him as he came to realize one reason why Tonneburg managed to preserve such a vast forest. Though there were no big mountains in the area, the land was not flat, either. Ponds and rivers also dotted the landscape. This kind of land could not be turned into arable fields, and ground where drainage was poor meant disease spread more easily—in other words, it was not suitable for human settlements. The geography also made it very difficult to attack in wartime.
That the land was so difficult to use played a role in why Tonneburg had managed to keep the forest largely untouched until this day.
“Seems like we made it across.”
Lawrence would not be the least bit surprised if, on their way back, they found the bridge collapsed and starting its new life as a home for the small fish and shrimp that lived there. The reason Meyer always went ahead to check the roads was intended to be a deliberate show of kindness, but it was also because the terrain was genuinely dangerous to traverse.
“Let us be off. We’re almost there.”
Though this was a far cry from a relaxing journey, the reason Holo was not terribly upset about it was perhaps because of the smells of the rich earth and water—the scent of the deep forest hung over them. It was potent enough that Lawrence could smell it, too.
It was not long after that Meyer, who had set off ahead at a quicker pace, came into view again, standing at a fork in the road. One path continued on south, while the other looked like a small game trail that curved westward. At the far end of the latter, Lawrence could see the dark, dense wood.