“Just a scratch. I only need a little break and I’ll be good to go.”
“Your face says otherwise.” Gaius placed his hands around her chest and picked her up, gently wrapping his right arm around her while holding his sword in his left hand.
“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?!”
“You can’t walk on that leg. Don’t force it. I’ll take you home.”
“No, I mean watch where you’re touching, you perv!”
“Oh! S-Sorry...” Gaius hurriedly tried to figure out a more proper way to carry her, but he was at a loss.
Seeing his distress, Fog sighed deeply. “It’s fine, don’t worry.” She cleared her throat. “If we stick around too long, we’ll get eaten by some other monster. I won’t give you a hard time. You seem like an alright guy.”
“I appreciate the kind words,” Gaius laughed. It was rare for anyone—human or animal—not to treat him like a scoundrel from the moment they saw him, so he was quite pleased.
“I can tell from your smell. Sort of, anyway.”
“My smell?” She seemed even more doglike now, not that Gaius would have said that aloud.
“Yeah, your spirit’s smell.” The corners of her mouth pulled back in what looked like a smile.
“Anyhow, I don’t feel like dying here. I’ve got little ones waiting for me.”
＊
As Gaius tended to Fog’s injury in the wagon, her eyes widened and she blurted out, “That pile of dirt’s moving! You have some real strange stuff.” She stared at the earth-colored object tied to the wagon. It had two black hollows for eyes, and its features were simple and expressionless. It was a golem horse, made of mud.
“That’s right. That’s my dear steed, Claudette.” When it heard its name being said, the golem neighed softly in response. “She doesn’t need to eat or drink, and if she gets injured I can patch her up with soil. After a bit she’s as good as new. She really is a wonder.”
“Sounds like there’s lots of handy stuff outside the forest.”
“There is indeed.”
“Me, I’m awful at taking care of living things.”
“Hmm...” This was suddenly familiar. Back when he had been a knight, Gaius had struggled to keep from startling any horse he was given. The princess, unable to simply stand by and watch this continue, asked the king to request a golem horse from the eastern kingdoms. The golem had became his steadfast companion on both official and private business, diligently supporting him while enduring his clumsy, rough handling. The princess had also seen to its name when she gifted it to him.
“All done.” He’d washed the injury and applied a salve to stanch the bleeding, then wrapped a bandage around her leg. He retrieved a bottle of pain medicine and took out what seemed like a proper dose for someone of Fog’s size, then handed it to her.
“I can give you more proper treatment once we’ve returned, if you’d like.”
“Ugh, this stuff is bitter...and, thanks.”
“Now then, which direction should I take?”
“You saw that dried-up river, right? Follow that and it’ll take you just outside the village.” Gaius recalled the riverbed he’d seen a moment ago.
“Will the wagon be alright? The wheels could get stuck if we drive through mud.”
“It’s all sand. You shouldn’t have any problems.”
“Is that so? Then we should manage.” Gaius flicked the reins and directed his beloved steed to go back the way they’d come.
As it turned out, there was no danger of getting mired in a bog or stuck in the sand. Claudette’s footing was solid, and she pulled the wagon along with considerable strength. The wheels rolled smoothly, and the three proceeded into the forest.
If one could put up with the bumpy ride, then traveling by a golem-drawn cart was vastly superior to a real horse, as they needed no food, or drink, or rest. According to Fog, they were still a good distance away from the village, so Gaius picked up the pace. Fortunately for them, the riverbed was good and flat.
“I’d read once that kobolds were a small, humanoid race related to goblins. I never imagined you’d look so...”
“‘So’?”
Gaius had been about to say “doglike,” but caught himself. “...Fluffy,” he finished instead.
“Yeah? Well, we used to have contact with goblins, back in the day. But I dunno, that description sounds really off... Maybe the elder knows something about that.” The book Gaius referred to was an illustrated monster encyclopedia he’d read in the castle library.
To lump goblins and kobolds together as monsters, when he was able to talk and sympathize with one... Gaius felt embarrassed at the arrogance of humanity, himself included. But it was also natural. In the southern kingdoms, there were few races with intelligence, in other words, “people,” aside from humans. Even elves, said to be the most populous race on the continent, were a rare sight there. As a result, humans lived in ignorance about other races, and could be exclusionary, even outright discriminatory, to others, especially those that looked less human. Few humans in the south would consider them people. And so, kobolds came to be recorded as a variety of monster.
Gaius, on the other hand, was decidedly different from most southerners, most likely because of his upbringing. Naturally, it had made him more open-minded.
Gaius suddenly noticed the silence, and turned around to see that Fog had fallen asleep. Drowsiness was one of the side effects of the pain medicine he’d given her, and the effect may have been stronger in kobolds, who likely weren’t used to such medicine.
Fog had said that if he followed the river, he would see the village. That meant there would be no harm in letting her sleep until they arrived. Gaius drove on through the woods, keeping an eye out for any more dangers.
He was concerned about whether Fog’s children would fear him. Whether they did or not, he was sure they would be adorable, and busied himself with imagining their hypothetical cuteness.
＊
They drove on and on for quite some time. The trees to either side began to gradually thin out, and there, in the middle of the forest, he saw a sprawling grassland. Trees still grew here and there, but even so, it was hard to imagine that such a wide open space could be hidden in the heart of the Greatwood. The riverbed continued along the edge of the field for a stretch, before ending at the foot of a small hill. The woods beyond weren’t unremarkable by any means, but something in the center of the plain caught Gaius’s attention.
A village was there. He could see a few dozen small homes built from twigs and grass. Columns of smoke billowed up here and there, visible even in the distance, and the hamlet lay between two small, craggy mountains that towered over it, as though they were symbols of the village.
“That must be it,” Gaius said to himself, and reached into the back to shake Fog awake.
“Nn... Can’t believe I fell asleep... Yep, that’s it. That there’s the village.”
“What a darling village!” The homes were smaller and simpler than human houses, but even so, the sight calmed him.