“Hey, Shooter? If these salt merchants went all the way to the village, why’d they make us go into town to sell our shit? It was a huge pain.”
“Ha! And perhaps if the merchants had come a bit sooner, I…oh. I guess I would’ve never been forced into slavery, huh…”
“I mean, Bulka treated me all right, so I don’t have a ton to complain about. But still.”
I got the feeling she thought our trip had been a massive waste of time. Meanwhile, Nishka’s whispered question prodded an unexpected sore spot for me, and I began to feel despondent. I supposed being a traveling merchant seemed like a pretty tough way to make a living, and I guess they couldn’t come around too often, but…damn. If only.
While the merchants continued to regard Nishka and me with unwaveringly pleasant smiles, I could make out fresh scars on their faces. It looked like they’d seen their fair share of the business end of a blade. I suppose thieves had to be a problem during their trips, but I wasn’t about to ask for the deets—not after just meeting them.
The salt merchants were dedicated, at least. They asked the families heading to the settlement with us whether there was anything they still needed. The only one who bought anything was hunky Camulla.
Once everyone settled in around the dinner pot and started eating, he came over to chat with me. “We’re running a little behind schedule, but it looks like the families are all in good health.”
“Yeah, we’ve been lucky to make it this far without any incidents. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”
“And the road’s been peaceful the whole way from town. No robbers, no kobolds, no nothin’!” Nishka declared.
I’d met my share of well-trained adventurers, but Camulla was in a separate class. He had a real no-nonsense vibe. Even if we were attacked by robbers, I doubted I’d feel a moment’s hesitation with him around. Not that I wanted a demonstration—I was happy enough just gazing at him and assuming he had his shit together.
“You heard how a large group of ogres appeared near Bulka a few days back, right?” he asked. “With all that going on, I was a little worried something similar might happen to us.”
“Ah yes, that business. I made a good bit of money off that,” I said.
“Kwee!”
Camulla nodded. “Oh yeah…I think I saw you during that quest, didn’t I, Shooter?”
“Mmweee!”
Basil was scampering about, twining around and between Nishka’s legs. She hoisted him up in her arms. His face was immediately buried in her bountiful bosom, and he seemed perfectly content.
Being reminded of the ogre quest got me nervous too, honestly, but then I remembered the farming villages who put in the request for help were on the opposite side of Bulka from Apegut, so Camulla was probably worrying unnecessarily. I told him so.
“Maybe. We can’t afford to get complacent, though. We still haven’t determined why that tribe was on the move. Before I left the guild, I heard they were dispatching parties of adventurers to conduct a thorough sweep of the area.”
“Oh! That might be the quest Gangi Mari and Miss Yoi stayed in town for! They said it had something to do with ogres,” I said.
Camulla raised an eyebrow shrewdly and asked, “You’re acquainted with the holy maiden of the Order of Templars, I take it?”
Acquainted? Uh. That was one word for it, I guess. I could say we were from the same country, but Mari had popped into this world buck naked in a temple. That seemed a lot more mystical than just showing up, dong-a-danglin’, in the middle of a forest.
Was that more mystical? We’d gotten separated before we even had a chance to debate whether we’d been transported to this world or reborn here.
I didn’t know how to answer him. I fiddled with my belly-button piercing and replied evasively, “We used to be in the same adventuring party, but it was just temporary. I was her partner’s slave.”
“Ah, I see. That explains the piercing. And now I suppose you belong to Nishka?”
“That’s right. Nishka and I are from the same village, after all, so she was kind enough to buy me so I could go back home.”
“Oof. Sounds like you’ve been through a lot yourself,” the handsome lug said, tousling his luscious golden-brown hair with one hand.
Heh. If he kept that up, he’d be liable to turn someone on.
Anyway, it was time to run away from him into the dark, because the light of the campfire playing over his beautiful Hollywood features was giving me major heartburn. So, you know, I had to be somewhere else. And pretend very loudly that I had business in that other direction.
“Hold on, I’ll go with you,” I heard a reedy voice call from behind me.
It was the lone hunter who had come along with the settlers. Animal ears stuck up from his (I think “his”) short silver hair, and he had a tail. I couldn’t help thinking he looked exactly like an adolescent girl, but according to him, he was a guy. And if he wanted to go along with me to relieve himself, that was just more proof that he was all boy all the way, you know?
He came up alongside me, his expression completely unreadable. I had no idea what was going through his mind, but I decided not to worry about it.
The two of us went into the bushes. I untied my pants, then lowered them, feigning disinterest. Beside me, the young man deftly undid the buttons on the front of his pants. They were really more like hot pants, but anyway…
We were in the dark, so I didn’t think I was going to see anything, but I caught a glimpse of his li’l guy. It was so cute!
A faraway look still in his eyes, the animal-eared guy glanced at me and mumbled, “If you keep looking around like that, I’m going to get embarrassed.”
I coughed loudly at nothing. “Y-you’re right, sorry. Strong and silent only works if I’m strong!”
There, that sounded deep! I guess! And oh, hey, cool, it was time to run again.
We’d fallen a bit behind schedule and it was now late in the morning on the sixth day.
“Hey, look there! I can see the mountains where the wyverns nest,” Nishka said, pointing into the distance. She’d recognized we were close to home before anyone else.
I slowly slid my eyes up from the mountains and into the sky arching high overhead. A black speck flew slowly over the peaks. It dove in and out between the clouds, so I knew it was no bird.
“Nishka, look up there.”
“Ha! A dragon. Now I really feel like I’m home!”
“Wait, I thought that was a wyvern. What’s a dragon, then?”
“Whaddya mean? A dragon is a dragon, obviously. It’s related to wyverns. This time of year they come over the mountains like that.”
“Kwee!”
The word “they,” plural, startled me and I looked back up at the sky. This time I noticed countless black specks slipping through gaps in the clouds.
Oh God, a single wyvern caused all that chaos in the village, and there were that many dragons coming?! What do you call that, a fleet of dragons? A murder of dragons?
“Hey, relax.”
“How am I supposed to relax about dragons?”
“They don’t usually approach places where people live. Plus, they’re omnivores—mostly they eat plants. Aw, look, I can see the village’s look-out tower!”
“Oh, so can I.” I recognized the tip of the stone tower poking up over the woods and called out to Camulla, who was leading the party. “We’ll be at the village soon!”
At long last, we’d reached Apegut Forest. We were home.