WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Abood

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Saviour Embarks on a Nameless Journey

Chapter 41: Presence

In the end, I only managed to sort out my manner of speech. As for the boiled-egg-swallowing problem, that was left entirely up to Pya, and no solution came of it at all.

—Next time I have to eat in front of people, I’ll just have Marius hold me on his lap while I do so.

Around us, as the magic horse carried us forward, the fields were filled with wheat that had been sown in autumn, endured the winter, and now ripened in the breeze. This region’s wheat was known for its fine fragrance.

Here and there stood stone piles, rising to about the height of my chest. Too uneven and low to be called walls, they served instead as a marker: any monster that crossed them would be slain, and within lay the domain of humankind.

Each stone had been placed by villagers and townsfolk as they tilled their fields, one stone, then another, a modest assertion of ordinary people who wished simply to live.

Now even outside those lines, wheat ripened. The monsters’ domain had shrunk, and places where stone piles had once been toppled by monster raids were left as they were, now conveniently used as openings into the fields.

“Was it too fast, or too slow, to come this far in fifty years?”

“I would say fast. The goddess’s influence is strong in this region, after all.”

Marius answered my idle murmur.

At my side rode Marius, with Alina and Io on the other side, and just behind us was Tain. Naturally, whenever we came across other travelers, our formation would break apart.

That said, we set out at a different hour than the merchants who moved along this road, and true crowding would not come until a little later, when the wheat harvest was underway. For now, we traveled at an easy pace toward Terenoa.

“This is the scenery my grandfathers helped create.”

Alina beamed with a cheerful smile.

So long as I could see that smile, then our journey had not been in vain. Grandchildren truly are precious.

“If I recall, in this area they often bake cherry cakes with hazelnuts. Once we reach the next village, perhaps I shall ask them to prepare one especially for us. It would be good to compare it with what the shops in Terenoa have to offer.”

“Pyaa.”

“…Not you.”

I had spoken in high spirits, inspired by the loveliness of my granddaughter, but from behind came a cry, to which I immediately replied in denial.

“Lord Shinju, let us ask them to bake a large one,”

Marius said with a smile from the side.

“Pyaa.”

“That’s right, have Marius buy it for you. Then eat it while sitting on his lap. And make sure Io gets one as well, understood?”

I had no problem asking for Alina’s and Io’s portions together, but surely she would be happier to receive it directly from Marius.

We moved to the roadside to avoid a wagon coming from ahead.

“I—”

“Yes. And you must buy one for Tain as well.”

Before Io could finish her words, Marius, smiling, smoothly pulled Tain into the matter.

“I’ll see to my own food.”

Tain declined at once.

Io is a modest one. She likely meant to refuse as well, since she has the coin to order for herself. Yet this is a matter apart from purse strings. As for Tain, since he accompanies us at my own request, would it not properly fall to me to provide for him?

“Master, don’t overthink it!”

“Hehe, I’m looking forward to it!”

Tain and Alina, their replies stood in sharp contrast.

“Setting that aside… there was a trace of monsters just now.”

“There was, aye—no, there was.”

Blast it, I was supposed to be fixing my speech.

“You lot using some kind of magic?”

So saying, Tain placed a hand on his sword and scanned the surroundings.

“Maintaining search or detection magic at all times would be impossible. No, at least for me, it would be impossible.”

Io corrected herself.

“It is impossible for me as well, so you may rest assured.”

Marius spoke with a gentle smile.

“I cannot use magic to begin with. This is more like something born of long years of instinct.”

It was no more than that — enough that, if asked to explain why I could sense it, I would be unable to answer.

Come to think of it, though, I’ve thought this before: shouldn’t Pya have noticed first? He is a sacred beast. Shape up, will you!

“More precisely, it was not a monster itself, but a ‘trace of a monster.’”

“Aye. It was clinging to the man riding in that wagon. Seems he came into contact with one somewhere along the road ahead.”

“Terenoa also has the First Seal. Perhaps stronger monsters have been drawn toward it.”

The man in the wagon had shown no unusual signs, so it was possible he hadn’t even realized he’d encountered a monster.

“So then… could it be the type that slips quietly into human towns and spreads discord and fear?”

“Hey.”

Though he had taken his hand off his sword, Tain’s face remained grim.

“Don’t frighten them so much.”

I chided Marius.

“We were taught that even weak monsters of that sort are troublesome. Precisely because they’re hard to notice, by the time anyone realizes, the damage can already be severe.”

“The real question is whether one can notice their presence at all…”

At that, Alina and Io both wore uneasy expressions.

“Noticing their presence is simple enough. There are even monster traps, after all. And once you’ve identified them, the rest is easy. Unlike in the old days, we also hold a certain standing now.”

Marius spoke with composure.

In our journeys of the past, it was always the monster in disguise who held the townsfolk’s trust, and we were the ones who struggled to be believed. It wasn’t until after the Demon King’s defeat that likenesses and statues of us began to circulate.

And so we arrived at a village, where, as promised, I asked the innkeeper’s wife — famed for her cooking, to bake us a cake.

After supper, what was brought out was a freshly baked cake: a crust halfway between bread and pie, filled with a mixture of hazelnut flour and fruit, with cherries soaked in liquor.

“So in the end, I’m having some too.”

Faced with the cake I had ordered, Tain wore an expression that all but declared he’d have preferred a drink instead.

“It smells wonderful.”

“It has such a toasty fragrance.”

The two children looked utterly delighted.

Do they truly prefer sweets, I wonder? In the countryside, there are at times confections that taste of nothing but sugar…

“Hm. It’s good even when cooled, but fresh from the oven it is all the better.”

It was plenty sweet, but not as overwhelming as I had braced myself for. The roasted fragrance of the hazelnuts and the flavor of cherries steeped in liquor and juice spread through my mouth, most delicious.

“Pyaa.”

No sooner had I taken a bite than Pya began clamoring noisily.

“Eat it on Marius’s lap.”

That fellow shouldn’t be especially fond of sweets.

On the table sat two round cakes. One had already been cut, its slices set out on each of our plates.

“Pyaa.”

“If you won’t quit, then at least alter it so it looks like Marius is the one eating.”

I set a freshly cut slice of cake beside the one already left on Marius’s plate.

“You’d be better off giving in gracefully, instead of clinging so stubbornly.”

With that, Marius slid the plate toward me.

“If I gave in, I’d end up looking like some gluttonous fool, wouldn’t I!”

“Master, that back-and-forth of yours isn’t exactly normal either, you know?”

Tain threw in the comment, half in exasperation.

“Pyaa.”

Paying no heed to our circumstances, Pya began devouring the cake.

And to think you’re the cause of all this!

Footnotes:

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