Chapter 9

1 After their journey in the stagecoach, they hitched a ride in a merchant’s wagon. Two days later, Yuui and Ix finally set foot in Agnasruze. Their shoulders and backs ached on account of their forced-march style of travel and the poor sleeping conditions in the station. There had been better accommodation options available, but they were saving their money. Regardless, it had otherwise been a smooth journey devoid of magic beast encounters. Ix stretched up his arms and bent his body, resulting in pops and creaks. The sky overhead was a pale gray. “Ack…,” hacked Yuui, inhaling the dust cloud the wagon kicked up around her as it left. “You look exhausted,” Ix noted. “That was exhausting even for me.” “Well, that’s what wagons’ll do to a person.” “We have both suffered. And you had to deal with that bag…,” she said, picking up her own luggage, which had been dropped from the cargo storage of the wagon. Ix had brought an unusually oversize bag for someone traveling. It was so massive, they’d had to pay extra fare. “It was a mistake to let Morna pack for me,” Ix muttered, dragging his burden along. “Guess that’s what I should’ve expected from a shut-in who hasn’t gone anywhere once in her life…” “What ultimately ended up in there?” “Most of it is daily necessities I could have bought when we got here. It’s ridiculous… The rest is stuff I can’t figure out why she would pack, like mending oil. I bet she just put stuff from her room in here on a whim.” “You might be on to something.” They’d rushed to catch a stagecoach, so they’d not had time to check the contents beforehand. On the other hand, Yuui had originally been dressed for travel anyway and had packed light. But something else was weighing Yuui down besides fatigue—gloominess. “Wow, what an enormous mountain!” “You think? It doesn’t seem that big to me.” “Oh, you probably can’t see, Dann. It’s hazy, but I can just make out taller mountains in the range that continues behind that one.” “Didn’t we cover that in class?” “Did we?” The source of her distress was the passengers disembarking from the wagon behind theirs. Tomah, Dann, and Rozalia, of course. Ix looked at Yuui’s profile, wondering if she might collapse again. She pressed her hands to her temples, perhaps from a headache, but she seemed to be hanging in there. Yuui had been in a bad way ever since running into the three of them the first night of the journey. She’d returned to their room muttering, “This is a dream; it has to be a dream…,” before collapsing on the floor. Ix went out to see what had happened, only to reunite with the three adventurers, looks of embarrassment on their faces. As they told it, they’d seen Ix and Yuui rushing to catch the stagecoach. That had made them think Yuui was reneging on her promise to them, so they ran after the two and jumped on a stagecoach without even looking where it was going. That was how they’d ended up in the same station as Yuui and Ix the first night. After Ix had explained the series of events to Yuui, she’d seemed to understand. Her heart hadn’t, though, because she’d done nothing but sigh the entire way to Agnasruze. Ultimately, using Ix as a go-between, the three adventurers swore they wouldn’t try to interact with Yuui until they returned to Leirest. Yuui seemed to be trying to ignore them to the best of her abilities. She urged Ix to get away quickly, and the two started walking down a wide street. “Huh, what an interesting town,” murmured Ix. “How so?” “It’s monochrome. Or maybe Leirest is just too diverse in comparison…” It was only a vague impression, but he sensed Agnasruze was the exact opposite of Leirest. The buildings were large, but there weren’t many people out on the street. Still, the place had a decent amount of activity, about as much as you would expect from a mining town. For some reason, though, it also had a tranquil atmosphere. It was as if you were looking at everything through a translucent sheet of ash-colored paper. There was of course the smoke from the volcano floating through the air, but there had to be more to it. Suddenly, they heard a loud voice from behind them and turned to see the three friends having some sort of argument in front of a stall. Yuui’s brow furrowed as she spun back around and asked, “What should we do first? Find somewhere to stay? Also, are any of your fellow apprentices in this town?” “It’d be good if they were,” replied Ix seriously. “For now, all we can do is search for Ega Fulmen or the Fulmen family. The cover of that ledger had the words festival supply on it, so he must’ve been connected with some sort of festival. We’ll ask the people of the town about local celebrations or if they know anything about ‘dragon procurement’… And if we can figure out the connection between Mount Agnas and dragons, we’ll have something to celebrate. Things’ll be a lot faster if someone happens to have a dragon heart.” “Sounds like our hands will be full… How shall we search? It does not appear this town has a library.” “I’ve got one idea: a place where we can learn about a few of those in one go.” “Oh, where is that?” “Dunno, have to ask someone who lives here.” “And if they don’t know?” “Then I’m out of ideas.” “Sounds like it could be hit or miss… Though I suppose I knew that already.” “And if we have time after that, I want to look at Mount Agnas.” “Can’t you see it just over there?” asked Yuui, pointing to the black shadow that towered just outside the town. The mountain had a dignified presence that seemed to bear down from the other side of the houses. Its sharp curves were outlined by the rugged crags and trees standing on steep inclines. “That’s not what I mean. I want to actually go check it out,” clarified Ix. “You want to go into the mines? I’ve heard you’re not allowed to enter any that are currently in use and that magic beasts come out of the ones that have been abandoned. That sounds dangerous.” “Shouldn’t be a problem if I hire some adventurers as guards.” “Do you have that kind of money?” “I do now,” Ix said with a nod. “Depending on the cost, though, I might have to use the money meant for the return trip and wand repairs.”