Ch. 131 Artoria Feels Lost

“Watch out—”

Artoria led the horse at the front, while Isdis sat in the driver’s seat of the carriage.

Cooperating with each other, the two carefully crossed a narrow stream.

Creak, creak.

The carriage followed a slightly wider animal path, bypassed the vegetation, and returned to the clearing where they had camped.

Merlin seemed to be lying leisurely on a sleeping mat.

Seeing them return, he yawned and sat up.

“Did you guys go out and rob someone?”

Seeing the group that had left empty-handed return with a carriage, Merlin inquired.

“On the contrary, we saved someone who was robbed.”

Artoria replied.

She glanced back at Mia, who was still behind, knowing it would be a while before she came in, so she turned her gaze and said, “This is Isdis, a merchant from Anglesey.”

Merlin asked: “Anglesey?”

“Our next destination,” Kay answered.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Isdis said with a face full of smiles. “The benefactors saved me from the Anglo-Saxons. I must repay them properly. It just so happens that I have some small property in Anglesey…”

Isdis didn’t treat Merlin coldly just because he hadn’t seen him before.

Anyone with a brain could see that the young man in front of him was with his benefactors.

“Oh—” Merlin’s eyes widened, and he nodded appreciatively. “You did well, Artoria!”

“Alright, alright, help set up the tents quickly. Miss Mia said it’s going to rain tonight.”

“Rain?” Merlin looked up at the sky.

Well, he couldn’t see anything.

But if he used Clairvoyance, he could indeed see the clouds gathering.

So he also got up and actively joined the work.

Before long, several tents were set up around the campfire.

After breaking a bit of a sweat, Artoria wiped the beads of perspiration from her forehead and scanned the orderly camp.

Scanning the camp, she felt like someone was missing…

Mia, Kay, Merlin, Wilden, herself, and the newly joined Isdis.

Hmm…

“Miss Mia!” Artoria called out. “Where is Miss Melina?”

“Hmm?”

Mia, who was wiping the bloodstains from her armor, looked up, a bit puzzled. “Melina? Isn’t Melina right over there?”

Following Mia’s pointing finger, Artoria looked over.

Melina was there, tilting her head and looking at her with an innocent expression.

“Eh?” Artoria cast a similar look.

There clearly wasn’t anyone there before?

Artoria fell into confusion.

Had her eyes deceived her? The girl pinched the muscles on her arm, trying to clear her head.

After that, she felt a bit hungry.

Right, they were in the middle of eating when they went off to fight.

Thinking this, Artoria walked toward the large pot in the center of the camp.

“?”

Why was all the food gone? Where did the previous bowls and utensils go?

A suspicion surfaced in Artoria’s heart.

She cast a distrustful look at Merlin.

“Merlin!” she questioned. “Where is the food?”

“Huh?” Merlin blanked for a moment, then said in surprise, “How should I know?”

“…You didn’t sneak it all, did you?” Artoria walked over, looking down at the seated Merlin.

Merlin immediately waved his hands and shook his head, flatly denying it: “How could I be that kind of person?!”

After speaking, Merlin, seemingly feeling his words weren’t persuasive enough, tried to pull out another reason.

“Did you forget? You finished everything before you left. Are you telling me you’re still not full?”

“…” Artoria’s face flushed slightly.

While eating a lot wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, having it pointed out like this still made her feel a bit embarrassed.

After the battle just now, her head was still spinning.

Could she really have remembered it wrong?

…It seemed like such things had happened before.

Because she was too focused on training, she would even forget when she had last eaten.

“Um…”

Artoria looked around, conflicted.

Mia was wiping her armor, with Melina accompanying her.

Wilden and Kay were helping Isdis organize the goods that the Anglo-Saxons had left in a mess.

It seemed like no one was paying attention to the matter of dinner.

“…” Could it be that she really remembered it wrong?

Artoria fell into confusion once again.

During the latter half of the night, just as Mia had predicted, dark clouds covered the starry sky and the moon.

A light drizzle began to fall from the sky.

Scattered raindrops gently enveloped the land.

The lively campfire flickered in the drizzle, as if dancing a ballroom dance with the raindrops.

The late-reacting fellows quickly ducked into their tents. The tents were barely half a Soldier high, with two layers of insulation made of branches and hay on the ground, and sleeping mats placed on top. Even if the rain got heavier, the people inside would not get wet.

A night of peaceful sleep; the pitter-patter of raindrops was a soothing medicine to smooth over all melancholy.

The next morning.

When they woke up, the early morning mist had already dissipated, but the green leaves, trees, and wildflowers still carried the luster of water droplets.

The campfire had gone completely cold.

“Mmm~” Mia sat up and stretched.

After everyone woke up, they packed up the campsite together. Two hours before noon, the party set out once again.

However, this time they had become a caravan.

Isdis’s joining doubled the scale of the squad’s supplies. That carriage was filled with goods to be taken south.

Most were items with the unique flair of an island.

Various decorations and clothing made of fish skin took up the bulk of the cargo.

The rest were common commodities like ordinary leather, pottery, wood carvings, and food.

Aside from food, gold, and silver, those Anglo-Saxons weren’t very interested in anything else. So, while Isdis’s goods looked like they had been ransacked, in reality, aside from some pottery damaged by rough handling, Isdis hadn’t suffered any other losses.

And the benefit of having a carriage was…

That several more people could ride.

Kay sat in the passenger seat, while Artoria and Merlin sat in the cargo bed filled with goods.

As for their three horses, there was no need to restrain them at all.

The horses followed the two carriages with light steps. Even in the wild, horses are social animals that follow a leader; their intelligence is not at all inferior to that of canines.

Sitting on the driver’s seat with Isdis, Kay had a sprig of sage dangling from his mouth. He sucked on the tart juice from the stem, looking bored at the scenery that hadn’t changed much.

If he were riding his own horse or driving the carriage himself, he would have something to keep him awake.

But if someone else was driving, there was truly nothing to do.

“Mr. Isdis, why did you choose the land route for trade instead of the sea route?”

He inquired.

Since hundreds of years ago, Anglesey Island had been a major trade hub for the Wales-Britain region facing Ireland, as well as an important stronghold guarding the strait.

For the people of Anglesey Island, ships were like plows in the field—the very foundation of their livelihoods.

Isdis replied, “Because of the Anglo-Saxons, benefactor.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

Kay suddenly realized that was a stupid, thoughtless question.

The Anglo-Saxons controlled almost the entire coastline of the island. If the people of Anglesey Island wanted to conduct maritime trade, it would naturally be fraught with danger.

Shifting the trade center from coastal areas to inland regions was a matter of necessity.

Following this sparsely populated dirt road until evening, they finally spotted a village.

It looked like tonight’s accommodation was guaranteed.

Unlike the previous inland village, this one seemed very xenophobic. High wooden walls surrounded the entire village, with the only entrance being two large gates.

The people in the village were not as warm and hospitable as those in the mountain village.

People watched the tall Wilden and the horned strange horse Torrent from a distance with fear, everyone going out of their way to avoid them.

Consequently, Artoria, who was always eager to help others, didn’t even find an opportunity to take on a quest.

“Perhaps that farmstead yesterday was the watershed; we have now entered lands ravaged by the Anglo-Saxons.”

Merlin remarked.

Mia went to the blacksmith shop and sold two helmets, three swords, and five axes.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to sell more, but that the village blacksmith was only willing to buy that many.

Still, this money was more than enough for travel expenses.

Since this was equipment stripped from enemies they had all defeated together, Mia had no intention of keeping the proceeds for herself.

After using the money to book inn rooms and purchase some supplies…

After only one night, the caravan hurriedly set out on the road.