I was riding on Schwarz, walking through a forest road.
Behind me was Celia, frantically chasing after me.
“I’m fine!” she shouted, but she didn’t look fine at all judging from how her eyes were bloodshot and how she was running while frothing in the mouth.
I told her to ride from the start, but she said,
“I can’t possibly ride a horse together with my master. I’m won’t be slow at all so please go ahead and ride”
And this is the result.
Schwarz neighed, hurry up and get her to ride, he says.
I was feeling guilty, Celia was suffering, and Schwarz was feeling a man’s butt.
All three of us were not enjoying this at all so I picked her up and had her ride in front of me.
“The horse will get tired and slow if I was riding too!”
Celia yelled, but she was wrong.
You’re too light for Schwarz to mind at all, and in fact he was walking slowly out of consideration for you.
Once she was on, Schwarz shook his head satisfied, and she, noticing that his speed became faster, became dejected as she breathed roughly.
I gave Celia the steel sword I got from Claire and my shield.
It’s slightly large for her but she handled it surprisingly well so I let her have it.
She wasn’t talented at it but she had an extraordinary knack for it.
We were now walking through the Great Forest north of Gordonia which is the northern end of the Central Plains and the border with the Federation.
The way through this over 100 km thick forest was well maintained as the highway connecting the Central Plains with the Federation.
However, because there were only forests with bad visibility to its left and right there were often reports of damage caused by bandits and invading barbarians.
“If it comes to that I’ll fight!”
I was enjoying having an enthusiastic Celia’s butt sitting in between my legs.
Schwarz was enjoying the feel of the little girl’s legs through the blanket that was draped over his back.
I immediately thought that Schwarz and I might be similar to each other, but nah, that can’t be true.
We walked along the endless road.
Of course, because of it being the only road connecting the Federation with the Central Plains, we passed by many people.
There were relay points everywhere along the highway where we can get rough beds and buy water and other travel necessities.
Because of that we were able to continue along on our journey carrying only the minimum things we need.
It was fundamentally different from the road to Sheera village.
It feels like they’re showing off the Federation’s and Gordonia’s power.
As the sun sets, we found the nearest relay point and ended the day’s journey.
There were several people other than us in the bar and several horses and covered wagons parked in the stables.
“Got any open beds?”
“Ooh, a lot came today! You guys got the last ones. Lucky you”
We paid the lodging fees and had dinner in the lobby.
The typical relay point doesn’t make food and the beds are all put together in a single room which can’t be called comfortable so lots of people spend their time in the lobby until it’s time to sleep.
Then there’s the useful information from the conversations between guests.
Celia and I joined in on the conversations, but there are not a lot of good news.
“You’re a mercenary too? That’s a big spear you got there but if it’s just for show you’ll die you know! Mercenaries like me who’s been long on the battlefields ~”
The man who’s been talking about mercenary knowledge at me since a while ago was called Gondo, a self-alleged long-serving mercenary.
He was a strange man, even though he told his own heroic stories again and again in the bar he never remembered any specific place name or country name.
He miraculously survived lots of wounds from hard battles but there was no scar on his body.
“Ooooh! So amazing! Wow! Just like a fierce god!”
The man exaggeratedly reacting to Gondo’s stories was a merchant named Lugh.
Then in the corner of the room there sat three women and one giant of a man.
They were all wearing collars, the man had a brand pressed on his arm.
Lugh was a slave merchant, and these were his goods.
Slavery is legal in both the Federation and Gordonia, so what Lugh was doing was by no means illicit.
Lugh was on the way from the Federation to trade in Gordonia.
“You said your name was Lugh? You sure know how strong I am! …. those are quite good female slaves you have with you, aren’t they. I’m going to be a bigwig soon! I think it’ll be good for you to invest in me while you can so …”