World Traveler 005

[......] is in Lumeria. "......" is in English.

 

I walk in front of the last surviving bandit. He is a slender man with pale skin. His clothes are luxurious and look hard to move in.

There is a rapier nearby, laying down on the floor. Its grip is crafted elaborately and its body is long and thin. It gives off a fragile feeling.

Every last bit of information gives the impression that this man isn’t looking like a bandit at all. Do my impression of bandits wrong?

I look in his eyes. It is filled with intense fear. His whole body is shaking. I touch his shoulder and he shivers terribly.

I turn around and walk to Mary. She is watching anxiously. Her eyes keep glancing back and forth between me and the man.

I slowly walk and stop beside Mary. I look at the man and he shivers in fear again.

I lean over to Mary and talk with a small voice in Lumeria’s language.

[Do you know how to interrogate?] (Erwin)

Mary nearly falls over. She turns around with a red face and glare at me.

[You don’t know?] (Mary)

[Of course I don’t. It’s not my job to interrogate. I am just a soldier.] (Erwin)

[Then how do you think I will know?] (Mary)

[Well...] (Erwin)

Both of us look at the man again. He crawls further away from us. We turn to each other.

[He is scared of us. I believe this is the first step of interrogation.] (Erwin)

I search through my memories about interrogation in movies. Some look too easy while others look too extreme. I have no idea what to do.

[Should we just ask him normally?] (Mary)

[Let’s just do that for now.] (Erwin)

I walk to the man, followed by Mary. I grab the man and sit him down on a chair nearby. Should I tie him to the chair? Nevermind.

Mary creates a stone bench opposite of the man. After sitting down, we stare at the man.

“Can we talk now? First, tell me who you are.” (Erwin)

This time I talk in English.

“I, am, a noble, Yaza Thorada. Release, me.” (Yaza)

Huh? A noble? Why is he here then?

I look at Mary and she looks confused as well. I return to stare at the man called Yaza.

“Why are you here then?” (Erwin)

“Hurry, and, release me. You will, regret, it” (Yaza)

Looks like he is gaining courage. Where did his confidence come from?

“Why are you here in this bandit’s cave?” (Erwin)

“Release me.” (Yaza)

I struggle to hold back my urge to punch him in the face. Mary, however, can’t hold back. She slaps him hard.

I look at my side and see that Mary is pouting. I nearly can’t hold back my laughter. Such a childish cute face.

“I will ask again. Why are you here?” (Erwin)

I quickly urge my mind back to Yaza. I stare at him with a weird smile on my face. He shivers and starts to talk.

“I was captured, on the road. Release me.” (Yaza)

The road... I directly think of that broken carriage.

Is he the owner of that broken carriage? There is no way he is the owner. That carriage is full of girl’s clothes according to Mary. A little girl’s to add up to it. There is no man’s clothes whatsoever.

If even those expensive looking girl’s clothes aren’t taken, why would the bandits took the man’s clothes?

“Are you a pervert?” (Mary)

Looks like Mary thought about that carriage as well but you shouldn’t ask so straightforwardly. However, I think so as well. Is this young man a pervert?

“Just what, are you, thinking?” (Yaza)

I stop Mary from talking.

“How long have you been captured?” (Erwin)

“A week.” (Yaza)

‘Ah! He isn’t that carriage’s owner.’

I look at Mary. After meeting eyes, we simultaneously laugh. A weird face appears on Yaza’s face.

“What is your noble title?” (Erwin)

He thinks for a second. Probably to think up the title in English.

“Knight” (Yaza)

A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a monarch or other political leader for service to the monarch or country, especially in a military capacity. Historically, in Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors.

This man looks weak. I guess he didn’t serve on the front line but on other line of work.

Mary looks skeptically at him. She stands up and looks at him from many angles. She touches his arms and back. Yaza shivers slightly every time he is touched.

Mary sits back at my side and sighs. She murmurs.

[My knight’s image has just been broken.] (Mary)

I unintentionally laugh at her murmurs. I turn back to the captured knight. His rank is too low to have significant contact in the country.

“Fine then. Those bandits are all dead now. I will release you but I want your help in getting into the city nearby.” (Erwin)

Yaza stiffens when I told him about the bandits. He recovers quickly and nods.

“She, must not, use magic.” (Yaza)

Hmm?

“Why not?” (Erwin)

“Big trouble.” (Yaza)

“What trouble?” (Erwin)

“People, afraid.” (Yaza)

I think for a while. What would people be afraid if we use magic? I turn to Mary.

[Mary, store away your staff. Can you use magic without it?] (Erwin)

[It’s okay. The staff is only to help us control and store mana for advanced magic.] (Mary)

The staff disappears into the storage in her bracelet. Right after that, she turns around to the entrance.

“There are people outside. There are..... Five of them. All are armed with swords.” (Mary)

“What are they doing?” (Erwin)

“They are surrounding the entrance right now.” (Mary)

“Do more bandits come? Or are they the rescue force for this noble?” (Erwin)

I turn to Yaza. I cut the handcuff and make him stand. I talk to Mary.

[I will go out first with this man behind me. You stay behind. We will see if they are bandits or soldiers. Watch my back.] (Erwin)

[Alright.] (Mary)

Mary takes out her staff again. I turn to Yaza while grabbing the rapier on the floor. I hang it on my waist.

“You stay behind me but don’t think of doing anything funny. We will bring you to nearby city and after we get in, we have no relation. Got it? Also, don’t tell anyone about her magic. Otherwise, you will die a miserable and horrible death.” (Erwin)

He is just a low rank noble. It’s hard for us to meet him and he got no use for negotiation as well. He might also have some troops as he is a knight.

Associating with him is troublesome and have no advantages. We might as well grab a normal civilian as our translator. As long as we pay him, they will help us.

After getting a translator, we will immediately leave this city. I don’t trust the noble enough that he will not tell others about Mary. Then again, why would he tell us that if she uses magic, there will be trouble.

Should I just kill him? No, I don’t know what kind of trouble we will have when we want to get into a city.

I hope we meet with a magician so we can have their language. However, from the way this noble talk, magicians are not accepted in this world.

This is too troublesome to think about. We will just deal with the trouble that come. If we can leave the city fast enough, we might just be able to run from trouble caused by this noble.

“Mary, what are the people outside doing?” (Erwin)

“They are entering the cave now.” (Mary)

“Let’s go. Mary, stay here. I will call you later.” (Erwin)

I walk out of the room with my sword unsheathed. I turn to the locked room and strike at the lock.

*Ding*

The lock falls down. A number of running footsteps can be heard from behind. I turn around to look at them while pushing Yaza into the unlocked room.

Five people with uniform leather armor run in. They hold the same kind of swords. They quickly form a formation in front of me. Two of them go the room Mary is in.

One of the three in front of me shouts out something. The two going into the room quickly come out without Mary. Looks like she hid well.

Yaza comes out of the room behind me. The five people look surprised. After Yaza talks to them, they lower their sword. It appears that they are the rescue force.

“Yaza. I will check this room. Talk to them.” (Erwin)

“Yes.” (Yaza)

I walk into the locked room and look around. There are only a few things here and a bit of coins. A few rusty and fine swords, spears, shields, whetstones, and a few gems.

I take the coins and gems then walk out of the room.

“Tell them, they can take the rest of the items inside.” (Erwin)

Two of them walk into the room after that. They take out everything inside. I turn to the room where Mary is.

[Mary, you can come out. They are soldiers.] (Erwin)

[Okay] (Mary)

The soldiers stiffen because they thought there is nobody in that room. The two soldiers who went in, quickly turn around and see Mary walks out without her staff.

“How did, you hide?” (Yaza)

Mary points to behind the door. Three of the soldiers glare at the other two. The two lower their heads like they want to put them into their armors altogether. I suppress my laugh.

“Alright. Let’s just go to the city and be done with it.” (Erwin)

We walk outside the gloomy and dark cave with Mary and I at the rear. The afternoon sun shines its light on us. The five soldiers and Yaza simultaneously turn to Mary and I.

I still have my sword ready in my hand and quickly ready my shield as well. I walk in front of Mary.

The six in front of us stiffen on the spot. Their eyes open wide and their jaw drops. I follow their line of sight and only see Mary. There is nothing behind us.

I turn back at them and cough. Yaza quickly awakens and slaps the leader of the soldiers. He wakes up as well and then slaps the other four of them.

“Sorry. She is such a, beauty that we, got surprised.” (Yaza)

Yaza apologizes but his eyes didn’t look like it. Their eyes never leave Mary even for a second. Some of them also have a weird face and even lick their lips.

Mary quickly hides behind my back away from their stares. I suddenly feel a chilling sensation runs down my spine. Their gazes are scary. Is this killing intent?

“Tell them, she is mine. Nobody may do anything to her.” (Erwin)

I stare back at the soldiers while holding back my urge to step back. Yaza talks to them for a bit. They retract their gazes but the weird faces are still there.

I put down my backpack and search around. I pull out a big handkerchief. I turn around to Mary.

“Hmm? Why are your face red?” (Erwin)

Mary is standing there with a bright red face. I stretch out my hand and touch her forehead then both her cheeks.

“Are you having fever? You have high temperature. Wait a second.” (Erwin)

“W-wait! I am okay. I am not sick.” (Mary)

“Really? Well, tell me if you don’t feel well. Here, put this on your cute face so we don’t get into trouble.” (Erwin)

I hand over the handkerchief to her. She ties it up on her face, covering her nose and below. When I watch her, I think of covering her silver hair as well. It is shining under the sunlight.

‘Should we cover her hair as well?’ I think in my mind but decided against it.

I turn to Yaza and see them snickering on that side. I sheathe my sword and walk over slowly.

“Should we go to the city now?” (Erwin)

“Yes. Follow us.” (Yaza)

He smiles a bit and turn around. I see he sneers when he turns around. That sneer. It smells of trouble.

 

Chapter end