WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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Chapter 3: Vagabond or Paladin (2)

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Clatter-clatter.

Elbridge walked along the straight road, pulling an old cart that made a strange racket.

Now and then, a spring breeze from behind would overtake the group and rush ahead.

It was still early spring, so the wind was cold. People frowned and pulled their collars tight, but Elbridge liked that wind too. It was almost as if it had come to help push the cart.

The adults in the group rarely spoke while they walked. The road to the Holy City was not short, so they were trying to conserve as much energy as possible.

The children were different.

Before long, they had grown close to one another, and they ran around the cart squealing without a hint of fatigue. A child who spent all day running and playing had stamina on a completely different level from an adult's.

Unlike the children, there was only one adult who walked quietly but with just as much energy.

That was Elbridge. Even while pulling a heavy cart, Elbridge's steps were as light as a child's.

"Was moving my body always this much fun?"

Was this how a sick person would feel if they had spent their days staring blankly at the ceiling while waiting for death, only to suddenly regain their strength and spring to their feet?

No, even that kind of person probably would not feel as happy as Elbridge did now. There probably wasn't a sick person who had been bedridden for two hundred years.

The cool wind brushing against his skin, the birds and insects calling now and then from the grass, the dry smell of dust rising from the dirt road, all of it made Elbridge happy. Feeling his muscles move was even more enjoyable.

As Elbridge strode along, Rick came up beside him and matched his pace.

"I thought you'd be too skinny to use much strength, but your stamina is surprisingly good."

Elbridge gave a casual answer.

"I hear that a lot."

Rick's expression was full of goodwill toward Elbridge.

That was probably because, unlike the original bargain to split the cart-pulling evenly, Elbridge had been pulling it almost all the time over the past few days.

Elbridge was not dragging the cart around for Rick's sake. Moving while pulling a heavy cart was more enjoyable than shuffling along, and he thought it was good exercise too.

Of course, Elbridge's physical condition was still close to the worst it could be.

But Elbridge had worked as a paladin and learned how to use his body, and he had plenty of experience moving in extreme situations.

So this much movement was not a burden. What was so hard about pulling a well-kept cart and walking along a flat forest road?

While speaking quietly with Rick, the children who had tired themselves out from playing sat down on the back of the cart Elbridge was pulling.

When Rick saw that, he scolded them.

"Get down!"

Elbridge stopped him.

"Leave them be. Adding a few kids to the cart won't make it much heavier."

"We still have several days to go. We should conserve our strength as much as we can."

"It's worth it."

"Worth it?"

"If they have to trudge along for more than ten days while watching the adults' moods, that becomes a painful memory. But if they can run around to their hearts' content and then sit on the cart when they get tired and look at the forest and the sky, that becomes a memory that lasts a lifetime."

Rick looked a little surprised after hearing that.

"El. That's the sort of thing a priest would say."

"Adults are supposed to look after children and be considerate of them."

Rick nodded while looking at the children. But Elbridge was looking at the back of Rick's head, not the little ones.

Those kids were children too, but to Elbridge, wasn't Rick a child as well?

Long ago, when Elbridge had been just over ten years old, the person he feared most was the High Paladin of the Order of the Rusted Shield.

The High Paladin was a giant of a man in his late forties, with a bristly wire-like beard, and his booming voice and fiery temper made it rare for anyone in the order not to fear him.

Yet the Archbishop, who was well past seventy, did not find the High Paladin intimidating.

The Archbishop went beyond treating the High Paladin casually. Sometimes the Archbishop even treated him like a child. And the High Paladin did not seem to find the Archbishop's attitude strange at all.

When young Elbridge asked why, the Archbishop answered with a laugh.

"I've looked after that bastard since he was running around with snot dripping from his nose. Ten years old or forty, he looks like a child to me."

Back then, Elbridge had simply accepted that answer.

But now, the Archbishop's words felt rather meaningful to Elbridge.

'If the seventy-year-old Archbishop looked after the forty-something High Paladin like a child, then shouldn't I, who am well over two hundred, be looking after Rick, who's about sixty, like a child...'

Because of that, Elbridge looked after not just the children but everyone in the party.

An eight-year-old child, a woman in her twenties, even an old woman well past seventy, none of them were exempt.

When he was not pulling the cart, Elbridge would approach people who were not used to long journeys and help them with little things.

It was not hard to teach them how to walk in a way that hurt their feet less, or how to adjust the position of the items in their packs so they could carry them more comfortably.

* * *

And so, today too, the sun began to sink.

By the time the sun had disappeared below the ridgeline, Rick, who had gone a little ahead on his own, came back.

"All right, let's stop here for today."

It seemed the caravan ahead had stopped.

Rick carefully kept his distance from the caravan that had set out before them, close enough to benefit from it, but not so close as to bother it.

Once the movement stopped, the adults' faces finally brightened too.

People gathered in small groups and prepared dinner. If anyone lacked food or needed supplies, they would go over to Rick's cart and trade by handing over coins.

The prices of Rick's goods were quite high compared to what could be bought in a village, but no one felt cheated.

"Can we eat as much as we did yesterday again today?"

"Of course."

Thanks to Elbridge pulling the cart longer than promised, Rick did not skimp on ingredients when making the soup they would eat together.

It was nothing grand. Rick had simply boiled grain flour and dried jerky generously in a pot. Yet every time Elbridge ate the soup, he was amazed.

'Was soup always this good?'

For two days after leaving the stone chamber where the seal had been, until he joined up with Rick, Elbridge had been moving while eating half-ripe fruit and the like. Even that had been a feast to him.

But food made by human hands was on another level. Especially when he chewed a salty piece of jerky in the thick soup, he nearly cried.

Could jerky that had gone dry and ended up in soup taste this overwhelming?

As Elbridge hurried through his meal, the old woman sitting across from him said, "You must have been starving to eat like that... Go on, eat plenty. You need to eat a lot to put flesh on."

"Ah, yes."

At every meal, she sat beside Elbridge and Rick to eat with them.

Because she was too old to carry bundles of luggage like everyone else, she had chosen to give Rick some money at each meal and settle her food that way.

The old woman was the only one in the party who spent money every meal, and she was also the only one who had ever heard of the Order of the Rusted Shield.

"Ma'am. You said you knew of the Goddess of the Rusted Shield, yes?"

"Yes. When I was just a little girl, there was a woman in the neighborhood who said she served the Goddess of the Rusted Shield. Her son had gone off to war, she said..."

If that had been when the old woman was little, it was a very long time ago.

"Have you ever seen any other followers?"

"No. She was the first and the last."

"Have you ever heard any rumors about the Order of the Rusted Shield? Something like a major incident, maybe?"

"Well, I never heard anything like that... Why do you ask?"

"I heard that about two hundred years ago, there were many followers of the Goddess of the Rusted Shield. I find it strange that such a large order would suddenly... No, not suddenly. Anyway, that such an order would disappear without a trace."

Then the old woman answered, "Would a change like that really need some huge incident?"

"Eh? What do you mean...?"

As Elbridge spoke with the old woman, he saw the area ahead grow faintly brighter. Someone must have lit a torch.

At the same time, a little commotion rose around them.

Rick clicked his tongue.

"It looks like wolves have shown up near the caravan ahead. Everyone, gather here. If the caravan mercenaries drive the wolves off, there's a good chance they'll show up on this side instead..."

People stopped eating and hurriedly stood up, gathering around Rick's cart.

A little while later, the commotion far away died down.

Rick took ten torches from the cart, lit them, and handed them out to the people. There were few methods more effective than torches for driving away wild beasts.

A little time passed, and pairs of yellow eyes appeared from the forest. There were seven pairs in all.

Then came a low growl, along with the faint, rank smell peculiar to carnivores.

"Ugh..."

Remembering Rick's words that wolves would not dare approach if there were many people, the group huddled even closer together.

Rick lowered his voice.

"They'll just circle around a bit and leave. It'll be a little tense, but don't show it. Beasts notice fear right away..."

People nodded and lifted their torches a little higher.

But that was not a very good choice. Once the torches were raised higher, the wolves, each of them three or four times larger than an ordinary hunting dog, became even clearer to see.

If those wolves charged, there was no way everyone would get out unharmed. The people drew in a little tighter.

The merchant Rick slowly waved the torches and watched the wolves in the darkness.

And after a moment, Rick noticed something strange.

'An injury?'

One of the wolves had a wound on its shoulder.

From the fresh blood still trickling down, it looked like the injury had just been made.

Rick frowned.

'If it got injured just now...'

Chances were high that it had happened when the caravan ahead started making a commotion.

But no matter how Rick thought about it, it was strange.

Wolves were intelligent animals. They knew that it was easier and safer to find other prey than to take the risk of bothering a human group.

That was why wolves did not recklessly start fights even when they found a party of people. They usually kept their distance, watched for a while, and then left.

If it were a normal wolf pack, they would not fight the caravan, so there would be no reason for a wolf to get injured.

'If it were a normal wolf pack...'

It was ominous.

Those wolves had not been hurt after provoking the caravan. They must have been injured while fighting among themselves over rank or territory. That had to be it.

If they were the kind of violent wolves that would provoke a caravan full of armed men, then there was no reason they would simply pass by this group, which was mostly made up of the elderly and women.

At that moment, the quiet Elbridge nudged Rick.

"Rick."

"What is it?"

"Can you fight?"

Rick answered in a deliberately calm voice.

"...No. Don't worry. Those things will back off soon enough."

"I wonder..."

With his eyes fixed on the wolves, Elbridge said, "Rick. Give me a weapon."

"What weapon do I have?"

"The pocketknife you used to peel potatoes earlier."

Elbridge's words came out oddly clipped.

But this was no time to comment on his manner of speech.

Rick hurriedly rummaged through his pockets looking for a weapon. He did not know whether a little pocketknife used only for peeling potatoes could really be called a weapon, but...

"Screee!"

The moment Rick took the tiny knife out of his pocket, a shrill scream rang out.

Rick jumped and looked toward the wolves. One wolf, so large that its shoulder came up to a grown man's chest, kicked off the ground and charged.

At the same time, a figure burst out through the packed crowd.

Rick shouted, "El!"

Before long, the small knife that had been in Rick's hand was gone.

The skinny El was visible, lowering his body so low it seemed to skim the ground as he rushed forward. The small knife was clenched in his right hand.

Being brave was one thing, but this was reckless, especially when compared to the wolf's fangs, with nothing more than a pitiful pocketknife to rely on.

What was more, skinny El's movement was not particularly fast. It was nowhere near the speed shown by knights or paladins, who seemed to transcend human limits. At best, it was the level of an ordinary person.

The distance between skinny El and the wolf was still fairly wide, but everyone could easily guess what would happen next.

The wolf seemed to think the same thing, because it sprang toward Elbridge with great confidence.

At that instant, skinny El thrust his right foot far forward.

Screeek-

Skinny El, that is, Elbridge, dragged his right foot harshly across the dirt.

A sudden brake hit the body that had been rushing forward in a low posture, as if it were about to fall headfirst. The movement was so violent and unnatural that keeping balance was impossible. The body that had seemed about to pitch forward now looked like it might fall backward instead.

Then Elbridge's left hand touched the ground. It was a pitiful posture, as if he were stuck to the floor, but Elbridge regained his balance in an instant.

Elbridge was looking at the wolf in a bizarre posture, half sprawled on the ground.

'No, he isn't looking at the wolf.'

Rick, with a keen eye, caught a slight gap between Elbridge's line of sight and the wolf's movement.

Elbridge's gaze moved ahead of the wolf. They were not watching the wolf itself, but the path the wolf would take as it leaped.

Elbridge's leg, which had been lowered far back, kicked off the ground.

His slender body shot up toward the night sky. A moment later, he was a little higher than the position the wolf would pass through, and shifted a little to the side.

The wolf's wide-open jaws aimed for Elbridge's left arm, which had thrust forward.

But just before the wolf could bite down, Elbridge swiftly withdrew his left arm, and the wolf's jaws only scraped empty air.

In contrast, Elbridge's right arm, which had been pulled back, extended out in a precise line.

The small knife drove cleanly into the wolf's eye socket. That alone was an astonishing feat, but it was not all.

The tip of the small knife was pointing upward, not downward. The blade that had gone in through the eye socket was meant to tear into the wolf's brain.

But even sharp-eyed people could not catch that much.

Crash.

The wolf, which had leaped powerfully, rolled across the dirt covered in short grass.

Elbridge also hit the ground, almost as if the wolf had shoved him down.

"El!"

Most of the people had not seen what had just happened clearly, and even the few with sharp eyes could not believe what they had seen.

It was more believable to think that Elbridge had collided with the wolf in midair and ended up rolling on the ground together with it.

But Elbridge, who had fallen to the ground, stood up as if nothing had happened.

The wolf with the small knife stuck in its eye socket, on the other hand, could not get up. It only twitched briefly, frozen stiff.

Elbridge pulled the small knife out of the wolf's eye socket and wiped it on the fur with a few quick strokes, all while still watching the other wolves.

The other wolves growled low in their throats and stared at Elbridge, then slowly backed away.

Footnotes:

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