The wagon continued in this tranquil manner until we arrived at a four-way intersection on the road. Here, the wagon turned right and headed north. At last, we had left the one-way road heading west.
The new road wasn’t on the old map I had pulled out from Zairein’s study. Perhaps it hadn’t yet been constructed when the map was drawn. It was probably the reason Tibar bustled with so many travelers, despite being at the end of the east-west road due to the miasma. Tibar functioned as a rest stop for people traveling on the north-south road.
Geographically speaking, the capital was due west of Tibar, so I thought it likely that plenty of people who came to and from there passed through Tibar. Possibly, the people of Tibar now made their living by maintaining the north-south road due to the unfortunate eastern barricade. Their work was so admirable.
The sun shone sweet and calm, and surprisingly, the wagon didn’t rock. We were going at quite the pace, but there were even fewer vibrations than I expected from a car. Where were the rustic rattles and shakes? Ah, was this the purpose of that strange apparatus underneath the wagon? I had seen the grandpa climb down from the driver’s seat and do something to the green apparatus before we set off. Was that box a mana tool?
Augh, I’m getting interested again…
I thought about asking the renowned expert Mr. Chotos, but he was sleeping. I could just kick him awake, but Teru was borrowing her papa’s lap as a pillow. If I woke him, I might also wake her in a tragic chain reaction.
Teru had been so excited to go with everyone that she hadn’t slept much the night before. After staying up late, she got even more excited when we actually boarded the wagon. She was by now quite exhausted. I wasn’t some demon from the very lowest depths of hell who would disturb a young child’s rest.
In that case, I had to ask the old driver. But we were in the back of the wagon, so he was some distance away. I could have moved the cargo to create a gap through which to talk to him, but Gol would have definitely followed me. She handled things that weren’t my possessions a bit haphazardly, and she might upend the carefully stacked cargo.
And before we even got that far, she would terrify the horses.
“That’s no good, either. I guess I can’t ask anyone…”
I gave up on solving the mystery of the wagon and resumed looking out at the scenery. Blue skies and green fields filled the back gap in the wagon’s canopy. How beautiful. This was completely different from the auburn miasma-covered wasteland I had been traveling through up until this point.
The fertile plain was blanketed in greenery. How did I know it was fertile? Because vast fields of wheat and other grains popped up along the road as we traveled. On occasion, I also caught sight of golems walking through the fields. They were farming golems, right? I couldn’t clearly make out their details because of the distance, but they had the same mannequin shape Goltarou had initially assumed.
Another characteristic of this land was the plethora of sheep. I often saw herds of them from a distance. I didn’t know their breed, but they looked normal enough as they ate grass. They certainly didn’t have rock armor like those awful monkeys. When enough of them gathered together, they looked like a fluffy, white carpet laid upon the green field.
It was truly a peaceful scene.
Yet, somehow, the fertile fields felt unnatural, too. Maybe it was the other thing that had been bothering me for some time now.
“More ruins,” I sighed. Every so often when we passed a cluster of houses, I also caught sight of some abandoned ones.
“Ah, it’s because of the mana beasts,” said Mr. Chotos. “Recently, a dangerous mana beast has been patrolling the area. A lot of people moved to the big cities because they’re scared.”
“Whoa! Mister, you were awake?” But this bothered me. A dangerous mana beast? “Could it be the monkeys?!”
Those damn monkeys! Had they come so far out here—without my permission—to harass the neighboring farmers? Unforgivable! Time for a spanking! As the monkeys’ diligent trainer, I burned with a sense of failed responsibility, but Mr. Chotos was confused.
“M-monkeys?! What are you talking about? I haven’t heard of any monkey-type mana beasts around here.” He blinked for some time in surprise, but after a while, he cleared his throat with a slightly awkward face. “W-well, anyway. The mana beast that’s been causing trouble is called a Flame Bicorn.”
“Flame Bicorn?”
So not a monkey. Since it was a bicorn, that meant it was a relative of the one-horned unicorn, right? A horse-type mana beast, then. A fire-shooting, unicorn-looking, mystery animal from another world, huh?
“A Flame Bicorn is, you see, a large quadrupedal mana beast with big, fiendish, twisted horns and ominous, half-moon eyes. It’s highly aggressive, so it’ll encroach on human territory with no fear whatsoever.”
Uhhhh, excuse the hell out of me, but isn’t that an outrageously dangerous horse? Wait. I tilted my head. “Hm? Two twisted horns and half-moon eyes?”
Why do I feel like I’ve seen those features on something before…?
In any case, I definitely hadn’t seen that horse-type mana beast before. My imagination was acting up.
“What’s wrong, Nemaki?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing. Just thinking. Please continue.”
Mr. Chotos nodded with a serious look. “Flame Bicorns are extremely dangerous. They can produce an incredibly hot flame between their two horns and shoot it at will, turning their surroundings into a sea of flames. We’ve only seen one on this road, but it’s already taken a disastrous toll.”
Wh-what’s up with that horse? It’s way too dangerous… I could no longer think of it as a mere “dangerous animal.” If we encountered that monster, I was sure we’d be burned to death in a contained ecological disaster.
“On top of that, the Flame Bicorn moves quickly. Even when a party was formed to go confront it, they weren’t able to capture it. By the time the party arrived, all that remained of the site where it had been spotted was scorched earth. They had to give up.”
Excuse me, what? It’s fast, too? That meant you couldn’t run away if it tried to attack you. That was too scary. I hoped we didn’t ever encounter it. “H-hey. I’m sure we won’t, but what if we accidentally stumble upon it? Is it all right for us to be moving at such a relaxed speed? Shouldn’t we pick up the pace…?”
I was terrified, my feet cold at the thought of a flamethrower-turned-horse. On the other end of the equation, Mr. Chotos, despite being himself, didn’t seem the least bit scared. I didn’t know whether to be infuriated or impressed!
“Well, it isn’t the type of mana beast that appears near the road, so there’s no need to worry on that count. Furthermore, for some reason I certainly can’t explain, there haven’t been any reported sightings of it the past few days. Almost as if it had died…” Mr. Chotos said with a smile. “In any case, it doesn’t matter anymore. Even if we were to run into it, we’ve got your Goretaru to handle it for us. We’re never safer than when we’re with her.”
“Hey, are you confusing my Gol for some kind of attack dog? I’m not letting her fight some crazy pyromaniac horse, you hear me?!”
“Huh? That’s quite the cautious declaration for someone who instantly pummeled Dazu the Swordbreaker, Nemaki. With your abilities and a golem of that caliber, you could end a fight with any passing mana beast in a single blow.”
“That’s not the problem! What if Gol gets a burn or something from fighting that strange, flame-throwing, pervert horse?!”
“Huh?!”
While Mr. Chotos and I made a racket, Gol pushed her supple arm against mine. She rested her chin on my arm and rubbed her cheek on my shoulder.
Partner, sorry for interrupting you in the middle of enjoying your cheek-rubbing fest, but do you think you could throw one of your own complaints at this rude old man?
After that, we continued our journey with idle, noisy banter about trivial things. From this chat, I realized the people of this world had a loose interpretation of land ownership. They settled in empty lands, moved around, and lived freely. This was probably why their land looked so fertile.
I worried that if Luvel Zairein had summoned an economically hungry capitalist instead of me, who lacked interest in all things related to profit, they would’ve devoured this world. It would have been just like when the kindhearted Native Americans were overtaken by white settlers.
Yeah, if that stupid Zairein had really wanted to destroy the world, he made a huge mistake in his candidate-selection process. I lacked both the educational foundation in economics and the backbone to create a hellish world of discrimination and concentrated wealth.