Chapter 54 The Caravan

Evening.

The orange-red sun sank toward the horizon like molten gold.

Loose clouds drifted across the sky, stained by the last light of dusk until they looked painted into place.

On either side of the road, golden wheat fields swayed beneath the fading light.

Their rippling surface shimmered like water.

Rustle…

The sound seemed both faint and endless.

Creak.

Dust-covered wooden wheels rolled over the road, throwing up small flecks of mud and leaving deep ruts through the soft ground.

Xia Nan sat outside one of the carriages with his back against the heavy cargo stacked behind him.

As the wagon rocked along, the countryside on both sides slowly slid past.

A cool breeze brushed his face.

Xia Nan narrowed his eyes in contentment.

This was already his second day away from the tavern.

Once he confirmed that the class holder Hai’an had contacted wouldn’t pass through Rivervale Town for at least another seventy days, Xia Nan suddenly found himself with an abundance of free time.

He also had a few suspicions he wanted to test.

So in the end, he accepted Barn’s request.

The Rockhammer shopkeeper had arranged for Xia Nan to join a caravan traveling from Rivervale Town to Kalanfor as one of its guards.

Strictly speaking, this four-or-five-day round trip was work.

Xia Nan had prepared seriously for it, and he had no intention of neglecting his responsibilities.

But from another perspective…

Since transmigrating, he had entered Misty Forest twice in only a few dozen days.

Compared to that, spending several days traveling through relatively safe territory far from monster-infested regions was practically a vacation.

Rivervale Town didn’t exactly overflow with entertainment.

This wasn’t modern society.

There were no endless games, shows, websites, or other ways to kill time.

For Xia Nan, life in town boiled down to eating, sleeping, practicing combat techniques, having a few drinks, and chatting with adventurers at the inn.

A day or two was fine.

Half a month?

That got boring.

Now, at least, he could travel somewhere new.

Creak… creak…

The carriage wheels began slowing.

Under the weight of the cargo, the sound became heavier and rougher.

Xia Nan’s wandering thoughts immediately snapped back to the present.

No warning came from the sentries.

There was no sudden commotion.

No shouting.

Probably nothing had happened.

Even so, Xia Nan jumped down from the carriage at once.

Wet mud splattered his boots.

He ignored it and scanned both sides of the road.

Footsteps approached from the front of the caravan.

A familiar middle-aged man soon came into view.

Xia Nan had seen him twice before in Rivervale Town.

He was the same honest-looking man who had silently endured the drunken Bernie’s provocation inside the tavern.

He was also the leader of this caravan.

Jeff.

One look at his steady, unhurried pace told Xia Nan there was no emergency.

Sure enough, Jeff scratched his head when he saw Xia Nan standing there.

“Mr. Xia Nan, we’ll stop here for today.”

“Dinner is already being prepared. It’s… uh…”

Jeff hesitated.

“Stew. Mr. Alton made it.”

“If you don’t mind, you can try some later.”

He continued, “We’re already fairly close to Kalanfor, but we’ll still need you gentlemen to help stand watch tonight.”

“Of course.”

Xia Nan smiled and nodded.

“That’s what we’re being paid for.”

On the inside, however, his thoughts had gone elsewhere.

Alton?

Stew?

He recalled a few things he’d witnessed over the last two days.

His expression remained perfectly normal.

[Maybe I’ll just eat my own rations tonight.]

…

The caravan wasn’t large.

Even after including Xia Nan and the other temporary guards, there were only a little over a dozen people in total.

And just like the two children and their mother whom Xia Nan had encountered on his way back from his first mission, the gap between ordinary commoners and adventurers on this continent was obvious.

Over two days of travel, the caravan’s regular members had barely spoken to Xia Nan unless necessary.

Even during meals, the adventurers tended to sit together while everyone else formed their own separate group.

Only Jeff occasionally came over with a few snacks and used the opportunity to discuss the route ahead.

Tonight was no different.

Xia Nan sat around the campfire with several other adventurers.

Not far away, a few carriages had been deliberately parked at uneven angles beside the road.

The arrangement kept the guards’ lines of sight clear while also allowing them to use the sturdy wagon bodies as cover if anything attacked during the night.

Simple warning traps had already been placed around the camp.

The watch order had been decided as well.

Xia Nan had the second half of the night.

That meant he needed to sleep early and preserve his energy.

For now, he sat by the fire with a piece of warmed jerky in one hand, spreading honey over it from a small jar he’d bought at a general store before departure.

Nearby, the other adventurers chatted lazily.

“Hey, did you hear? They found some weird-looking structures in Misty Forest recently. Might be ruins from ancient times.”

“Those? High-level adventurers from the Association already checked them out. Found nothing.”

“What? I thought there might be some secret realm or a spatial pocket hidden there.”

“Even if there was, you think we’d get a chance at it?”

“…Fair.”

“By the way, you heard what happened to Bernie, right?”

“Of course. I was there! You should’ve seen that idiot…”

Xia Nan kept his head lowered.

To anyone watching, he looked completely focused on his food.

In reality, his ears had already perked up.

The “weird-looking structures” they were describing were almost certainly the otherworldly ruins Xia Nan had encountered with the half-elf and the others.

Those broken walls stretched from deep inside Misty Forest almost all the way to the outer regions.

There was no chance the adventurers who roamed the forest every day would fail to notice them.

But…

[They found nothing?]

Xia Nan frowned slightly.

Come to think of it, the half-elf and Wood had said something similar before.

They had returned to the exact place where Xia Nan disappeared.

Yet they had never been transported into the cave.

And now, even high-level class holders had investigated the ruins without discovering anything.

Did that mean there was something unusual about Xia Nan himself?

Something that allowed him to connect with that cave, that suspected secret realm, in a way others couldn’t?

And when it came to the biggest difference between Xia Nan and the people born in this world…

There was really only one thing.

He…

Thud.

Thud.

Heavy, dragging footsteps came from behind him.

Xia Nan turned instinctively.

What entered his sight first was a large iron pot.

It swayed from side to side.

Steam rose from the top.

Broth splashed over the rim every few steps.

Under the dim evening light, the pot almost looked enchanted, floating mysteriously through the air as it wobbled toward them.

Then Xia Nan looked lower.

Beneath the pot was a pair of delicate high-top leather boots.

Four-leaf clovers were embroidered across them.

“The stew is here!”

A strained voice came from behind the pot.

“Somebody help me! I can’t hold this much longer!”