The Invincible Undefeated Divine Sword Master - Chapter 12
The Girl in The Hood
Turned out I got the ticket for the carriage earlier than I thought, so I got time to spare.
It would take about another hour for the carriage to arrive.
I wanted to kill some time, but this is a small town located at the entrance of the mountain trail. There is no place to go sightseeing. There was nothing I could do, so I decided to sit on a bench at the town square. That’s what I thought, so I just sat on the bench and waited for the time to pass.
As I look at the sky, the clouds are flowing.
A cloud that looks like cotton candy came across my eye. It reminded me of my younger sister who used to beg for a cotton candy when she saw clouds like that when she was a child. As I was reminiscing about my cute but troublesome sister, a couple of women approached me. They were the only two women I knew in this town, so I knew immediately who they were.
The girls came over to me and bowed their heads more deeply than before.
“Thank you for earlier. Traveller…”
The gentle voice of the girl in the hood reaches my ears. She stuttered on her words halfway, maybe it is because she didn’t know my name.
“My name is Licht.”
When I said my name, the girls didn’t immediately say theirs back. It seemed that they plan to continue their journey hidden. The hooded girl, still wore her hood. It seems that she doesn’t want her family name nor her identity to be known.
She talked it over with Marie, the maid. It was going to take some time, so I said
“Why don’t you just use an alias?”
When I suggested this, they both looked at me like, Oh, that’s a good idea! Both of them looked at me as if I was a good person. Apparently, both of them are very good people. They don’t have any thought about pretending to be someone they’re not.
As they discussed it further, and the girl in the hood stepped forward.
“My name is Leah.”
She told me her name.
That’s a nice name.
When I responded in a gentlemanly manner, her maid next stepped forward with a great pride.
“My name is Marie, not Rialo. I’m a maid that serve Lady Leah.”
“Nice to meet you, ladies. You had a rough time earlier.”
I guess I’ll say a few words to those ladies who are bad at lying.
“It’s true. It was really tough. We almost had all of our road money stolen.”
“That amount of money is road money? That was enough to last a commoner a year.””
“Is that so?”
Leah is surprised of it; she turned her sight into Marie. She asks Marie for confirmation; the maid seems to be familiar with the common sense of the world. She does her shopping every day, so she seems to be familiar with money.
“If you’re good at managing your money, five gold coins will cover a year of food cost for a commoner.”
She said.
The unsophisticated Leah was astonished because she didn’t know anything of it, but she didn’t want me to think she was unsophisticated. So, she clears her throat and said, “Okay.”
“Of course, I knew that. I was testing your common sense. Besides, Road money is nothing but a figure of speech. No, it’s a misrepresentation.”
She corrected herself.
I thought she’s a lovely woman, but it would take too much time to continue the conversation, so I’ll just cut straight to the point.
“Ladies, I received your thanks earlier, and you would have done the same for me. You don’t have to thank me that much. Anybody would have acted the same under those circumstances.”
“That’s not true, the only one who would to that kind of thing was you Mr. Licht. As evidence, no one in the stables care or do something about it.”
“It’s just a coincidence.”
I said so, but the girls don’t seem to agree, or rather, they seem to believe that I am ‘righteous’. So, they came up with a suggestion.
“Me and Marie were impressed by the righteousness of Mr. Licht. At the same time, we had an idea. Would you be so kind as to escort us to the northern city?”
“You’re going to the northern city, too? –Well, I guess that’s what you’re here for.”
“It’s a transit city, we have to pass through it.”
“I don’t plan to live permanently in the northern city either, but it’s going to be a problem for a while. I mean, it’s a city I’ll definitely need to pass through.”
I explained to them,
“All right.”
I continued.
“Travel is a journey, the world is a mercy. I’ll take care of your escort to the northern city.”
At these words, Leah lets out a smile. Her smile looks like a flower that has bloomed.
It was quite lovely smile, but I noticed that Marie’s expression was not happy. At first, I thought she didn’t like me, but apparently not. I heard that there were going to be bandits on the route where we were going to take.
“…I would prefer to use the city road instead of the trail.”
“The bridge over that road was washed away by the heavy rains, so it can’t be helped.”
“…right.”
“Well, there will be bandits, but they’ll be traveling on foot and there will be mercenaries to escort us in the carriages. We’ll make it across the mountains without any problem.”
Of course, there was no certainty or guarantee that it will be a safe trip, but there was no need to frighten these two young women.
As I reassured the girls with an optimistic tone, the voice of the owner of the stable resonates.
“Ride-on carriages, ride-on carriages are here!”
His voice was so loud that it echoed around the area. I guess this is an essential skill for an owner of a stable. I thought he looked like a singer in an opera.
Then, we headed straight for the carriage.
There were three carriages. Each of them was designed to carry about ten people. I guess it was because they had to transport a lot of people at once in order to hire mercenaries to guard them. In fact, there were more than thirty passengers lined up in front of the carriages.
I got into the same carriage as Leah and Marie. I took them to the back of the carriage so that they wouldn’t be in contact with other men, and I took my place beside them. It was a casual consideration, but Marie seemed to notice it.
“That’s the kind of person Lady Leah expects you to be. Thank you for your kind consideration.”
She whispered to me.
I didn’t bother to reply her. Finally, the carriage took off.