We live at the foothills of Dragon Peak.
Potatoes and Traps
Once the escorts, who were of the Dragon Race, finished their preparations, they gradually departed from the village.
To my surprise, only a handful of people remained in the village after they left.
I initially assumed it was a small village and asked about it, receiving an unexpected answer.
Apparently, this village is normally uninhabited.
People only gather here to form escorts from various locations on Dragon Peak.
Those who remain in the village now are only here to assist the escorts or as emergency contact personnel. They are expected to return to their own villages once the escorts are back from the Capital City.
“Is that so?” I thought, surprised by the reality of the village. An elderly woman from the Dragon Race beckoned me over.
Curious, I approached her, and she treated me to breakfast.
It was freshly baked bread and a lightly seasoned soup with meat and vegetables.
I could tell it was made in a hurry, but it was very welcome after walking all night.
After enjoying the delicious meal, I decided to take a rest.
Honestly, I was supposed to arrive at this village around noon. However, due to the commotion last night, I arrived earlier.
Therefore, I decided to take a break until noon, as originally planned.
There’s no need to push myself unnecessarily.
After all, I will soon be stepping into the steep mountains of Dragon Peak.
It is essential to recover lost strength and spirit when I have the chance.
Having somehow survived last night, I understood its importance more than anything.
When I expressed my desire to rest, the elderly woman offered me an empty building.
It was a small dwelling with a combined kitchen, living room, and one bedroom.
Upon closer inspection, all the buildings in the village were small and seemed to be built solely for temporary stays.
Entering the building I was shown, I lay down on the provided bed.
The woman thoughtfully brought me a blanket, and I wrapped myself in it for a short nap.
Spring had just begun.
Although I was warm from walking all night, it was still too cold to sleep without a blanket.
Feeling the warmth of the blanket and sensing the woman leaving the building, I fell asleep.
I wonder how long I slept.
I woke up to the sound of slightly more lively activity outside.
From outside the building, I could hear the cheerful voices of the women.
I got out of the blanket, stifled a yawn, and stepped outside.
“Oh, you’re already awake?”
It was the elderly woman who had taken such good care of me.
Apparently, the women who remained in the village were busy chatting by the well.
I thanked her and returned the borrowed blanket.
In return, she gave me a baked sweet potato.
“It’s fresh from the oven.”
“Ouch! Thank you.”
Peeling the skin off the warm, baked sweet potato, I took a bite.
An incredible sweetness spread through my mouth, unlike anything I had tasted before.
“Uwah, is this really a sweet potato!?”
“Yes, sweet, isn’t it? It’s a specialty of our village,” the woman said proudly.
I often eat sweet potatoes as snacks, but this was the first time I had ever tasted one so sweet.
I eagerly devoured the sweet potato. Then she gave me another one.
“I’m glad you liked it.”
Perhaps it was my enthusiastic eating, but I found myself surrounded by the women, being urged to eat more and more, my hands full of sweet potatoes.
However, eating only sweet potatoes made me thirsty. Just as I thought that, tea was served, as if they had anticipated it.
It seemed I had fallen into the women’s trap.
Lured by food, I was subjected to a barrage of questions about how I met Mistral, my experiences in the Dragon Forest, and my interactions with Jiludo.
“Oh no. Have I fallen into their endless conversation from which there is no escape?”
No matter how much I thought about how to escape this crisis, I was no match for these seasoned women.
I ended up telling them various things as they questioned me.
“I haven’t said anything I shouldn’t have, right…?”
As I pondered what to do, a man who remained in the village suddenly shouted, asking if lunch was ready.
“Honestly, can’t you even prepare a meal?”
The women chuckled wryly but finally got up.
“So. It’s already noon.”
I looked up at the sun, which had reached its zenith, and finally knew the time.
“I should be leaving soon.”
I decided it was the right time and bid farewell to the people remaining in the village.
When a man suggested I at least eat lunch, I showed him the many baked sweet potatoes I had received.
The sweet potatoes, packed in a bag, seemed enough to last until the day after tomorrow, even if I ate them generously.
The man, who had been trying to persuade me to stay, gave a wry smile at the sheer quantity of sweet potatoes and gave up.
Bidden farewell by the remaining people, I left the village, my first objective.
Now, I am finally about to enter the mountains of Dragon Peak.
I will no longer let my guard down as I did last night.
Renewing my determination, I proceeded along the increasingly steep and rough path.
There were no wheel ruts.
Did the Dragon Race people, who gathered from various parts of Dragon Peak, walk all the way to the easternmost village?
The road beyond the village was much narrower and rougher than before, with no signs of carriage tracks.
Perhaps they left their carriages at the village and everyone loaded their luggage together.
Then I couldn’t find an answer to my question: how do they keep horses in a village that is normally uninhabited?
I was slightly surprised by the sudden roughness of the road, which changed drastically just after leaving the village.
How could the quality of the road change so abruptly between the east and west of the village?
Rough, exposed rocks. Grass and trees growing wildly, blocking the path. And steep inclines.
I had thought that Dragon Peak began beyond the West Fortress of the Armēdo Kingdom, but it seems I was mistaken.
The real Dragon Peak started after passing the village I just left.
If I let my guard down, I might twist my ankle on the rough road. I proceeded cautiously.
Of course, I did not neglect to be vigilant of my surroundings.
I decided to take frequent breaks as I advanced.
I did not neglect the refinement of Dragon Energy while moving. I constantly maintained my vigilance, ready to respond to any sudden situation.
However, prolonged concentration wears down both body and mind, so I took short breaks and replenished the Dragon Energy lost from the Dragon Vein each time.
On the unfamiliar mountain path, my walking speed did not increase at all. This was even with boosting my physical abilities using Dragon Energy, so ordinary people would likely be even slower.
This might be one of the reasons why humans do not enter Dragon Peak.
With my slow pace, the scenery barely changed.
Nevertheless, I proceeded cautiously and without letting my guard down.
Still, I thought, what a rough road this is. It was natural for the dense vegetation on both sides of the road to obstruct the path. There were large rocks to circumvent, and fallen trees left as they were.
Could the Dragon Race people truly have followed this path?
The road was so rough that I could honestly say the animal trails in the Dragon Forest were many times better, and I was getting fed up.
Finally, I encountered a staircase with an unbelievable level of verticality.
“No, this can’t be called a staircase!”
Before me stood a staircase-like path, so high it seemed like something the Giant Race would use.
Each step was taller than my own height.
At first, I mistook it for a break in the road, but when I stepped back and looked, I could see what looked like a path continuing beyond the steps, confirming that this was indeed the road.
I wonder how the Dragon Race people manage to travel up and down these impossible steps.
Perhaps with their superhuman physical abilities, this is not a problem.
I suspect humans would either look for a detour or give up. I, on the other hand, used Spatial Jump to ascend to the top in one go.
Indeed, if I hadn’t had Spatial Jump, I would have faced despair here.
Standing on top of the staircase-like path, I looked back.
The forest I had just passed spread out below me.
I had climbed quite a height.
I could see several wisps of smoke in the distance. They were surely from the easternmost Dragon Race village.
“Imo, imo.”
While I was briefly enjoying the scenery, Ares-chan, who had appeared unnoticed, tugged at the hem of my clothes.
“Do you want a sweet potato?”
Nodding enthusiastically, Ares-chan was handed a baked sweet potato from my bag.
I wondered if it had cooled down.
“Delicious.”
Ares-chan bit into it, skin and all, looking up at me with a radiant smile.
It seems it’s delicious even when cold.
Or rather, you should peel it.
When I peeled the skin off the sweet potato for her, Ares-chan was delighted.
“Alright, let’s go a little further today.”
Taking Ares-chan’s hand, I started advancing again along the rough road.
Before sunset, by the time I decided to end the day’s journey, I had encountered monsters three times.
They were all low-level ones that I occasionally encountered during my ruin exploration training, and my White Sword wasn’t even tested.
However, I was once again reminded of the dangers of Dragon Peak.
Even during ruin exploration training, which I had undertaken many times throughout the year, I had only encountered monsters a few times, and never during errands with Ruiseine and the others. Yet, I encountered them three times in half a day.
The frequency of monster encounters here is incomparable to that within the Armēdo Kingdom.
“I can’t let my guard down at night either.”
During the day, I can stay alert, but I haven’t developed the habit of staying vigilant while sleeping. So, I reluctantly asked Ares-chan to watch over me while I slept.
As expected, we were attacked again at night.
This time, it was beasts.
With glowing eyes from the trees above, a pack of ferocious monkeys stared down at Ares-chan and me.
My Dragon Energy-infused eyes caught sight of the monkeys’ bared, sharp fangs.
I used the power of the Spirit Tree Wooden Sword to create a diversion for the monkeys and escaped.
The second night was a disaster.
Just when I thought I had escaped the pack of monkeys, I encountered a monster.
After defeating the monster, Ares-chan sensed the presence of a magic beast, and I had to flee and hide.
In the end, it wasn’t until dawn that things calmed down.
This is harsh.
During the day, the steep and rough mountain path drains my energy, and at night, I am preyed upon by nocturnal beasts and magic beasts.
And monsters appear at all hours.
There is no time to rest my body and mind.
I let out a big yawn and a sigh simultaneously.
“You can rest for a bit.”
Ares-chan gently nestled beside me.
“Yes, I’ll take you up on that.”
I found a suitable patch of bushes and crawled inside for a brief nap.
Ares-chan sat beside me, eating a baked sweet potato and watching me.
“Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Ares-chan seems to have taken a liking to the baked sweet potatoes. It’s hard to tell how many she’s eaten since yesterday, but she’s eating them with gusto.
“I’ll sleep for just a little while. Please watch over me during that time.”
“Okay.”
Feeling the sweet scent of the baked sweet potato, I drifted off to sleep.
