Special Chapter IV - Left Behind (part 1)

"Oh dear gods. What should we do?!"

The female knight, Eva, is the first to realize. She was so busy shopping around the village that she forgot that the carriage only stopped for a while to set up before dark. And when the sun finally goes down, they will start moving again.

By the time she arrived at the group's supposed location, the carriages were already gone.

Eva came at us running, saying that the carriage had already left. Of course, me and Lyona panicked.

I had already removed my disguise and stored them on my ring. Now, I'm no longer the masked man, but Rile Viozet, a secret name I use to cover my identity.

Anyways, we are stranded. With no methods of transportation, in a small village that probably doesn't have a carriage transport service.

"What should we do, Eva?"

Lyona asked her private knight, who seemed to be more panicked than us. She ponders for a while and mumbles some ideas.

"Well, we could always walk to Veldon..."

"What!? That's out of the question!!"

"I mean... What should we-"

While the two of them were trying to figure it out, I had an idea and pitched it out.

"We could go find a carriage."

The two suddenly turned to me, but I still stayed calm in this situation.

"I mean, hitching up a ride is a normal thing for adventurers."

"I guess that's true. All right, Rize. We'll follow your lead."

Great. Time to hunt ourselves some ride~.

First, we need to get as much information about the carriages coming to the village. The three of us walked around the village, asking people for any information regarding anyone who are leaving for Veldon.

This village shouldn't be that far off from Veldon. Therefore, it shouldn't be impossible to find a carriage that goes there.

Luckily, we found one quite easily. One of the farmers from a small village at Mazino was going to transport their goods to Veldon for trading purposes. But, the downside is that his entire cart is just filled with corn and other farming goods. 

Which means if we want to go with his ride, we need to allow ourselves to sit on top of the farm goods. The farmer doesn't mind, but thinking how Lyona is a born noble, she might have some issues with this.

"No. Madam Lyona cannot sit on those filthy-"

"Eva. Let her decide."

I stopped Eva mid sentence, and let Lyona decide for herself.

"Well, Lyona? You did say you wanted to be an adventurer."

Lyona, whom Eva thought wouldn't like this, had stars on her eyes. She had been waiting for this moment where she could be... adventurous.

"Let's do it!"

And so, provided with only a single lantern and blanket for warmth, we allow ourselves to sit on top of these paddies and corn, while the farmer sits on top of his horse, carrying the entire cart.

The ambience at night is very soothing. The sound of crickets and other night animals can be heard as we stroll down the dark path.

Maybe going with the farmer all by ourselves is dangerous, since an ambush from bandits is very imminent. But from the farmer's perspective, he'd rather put himself in danger than starve to death. Therefore, bandit attacks don't scare him. Instead, he fears hunger more than death.

I truly salute people like him, one who had to deal with danger so that they could live. If only life was a bit more fair...

Though, I'm not sure if Lyona understands that.

The young noble lady had her head down on Eva's shoulder while letting herself sleep. I guess the ambience around us is too nice for her to stay awake.

As I watched the scene happening in front of me, I smiled. Eva noticed my expression and wore a firm one.

"What?"

"It's nothing."

Damn it… She is just too cautious and dense.

The rest of the night also became silent. After an hour of trying to stay awake, Eva slowly let her head down on top of Lyona's head as she leaned her back at the pile of paddies.

She looked at me with distrust, but I only shook my head at her silently. She understood the gesture and began closing her eyes. Before long, she also went to sleep.

I'm finally alone. Though the farmer is awake, he doesn't really talk. But it's fine, since he might also be enjoying the evening's ambience, just like I do. So, we stayed silent for the whole evening.

The moon lit the ground from millions of miles away. Funny how I just noticed how large the moon is, now that there's no buildings blocking the way.

All around us are just short trees. At the very least, it's no longer those gigantic ass trees where we previously got ambushed. This forest is just a simple forest.

The path sometimes goes up and down. Looks like we arrived at a hilly area.

We have been moving for hours, and yet we haven't seen any other carts along the way. I'm getting worried that the people at the group didn't even realize we are missing, and panicked at the last second.

After all, their most important person is right here, sleeping. Her personal knight as well.

I leaned my back on the pile of corn behind me and looked up to the skies. The bright moon reflects the sunlight, and reflects them towards us down here. 

Sometimes, I wished I had never known that the moon actually reflects the sunlight. I just want to believe that the moon actually has its own light, so that I can believe the moon light is good and the sun light is bad. Now, everything is just sunlight to me, even the light coming from the lantern. Fantastic.

I closed my eyes because it was too tiring to keep awake. Then, I fell asleep.

If I fall asleep, no one will be awake to guard. But it's fine, since I had my super senses after all.

All the way until morning, when I finally woke up, we were still moving. The sun finally rises up from the horizon as the sounds of animals around us scream loudly.

Why are there chickens in the middle of a large grass field? This place is weird.

We arrived at a grass field in the morning. I woke up Eva and Lyona, saying it's already morning.

"Nnhh... We still haven't arrived yet?"

"Not yet, Lyona. Just a little bit more."

Yes. Just a little bit more.

However, my mind remembers something else. The farmer hasn't even slept. I slowly moved my body to the front side, and spoke with the farmer.

"I rested, already! Don't you worry, I'm used to it!"

H-How...? and how long, exactly?

And how is the horse able to stay moving while he sleeps? Doesn't the horse need rest too? 

I had so many questions. But since he said it's fine, I just shrugged it off and returned to Eva and Lyona.