Not a barbarian warrior.

After the questioning of the knight impersonator ended, Dietrich’s expression darkened.

Originally, his plan was to safely arrive in Eslan with Sir Berunte’s support.

However, support was now out of the question, and countless looters were surely waiting along the remaining journey.

Aside from the ruined plan, the situation ahead looked utterly bleak.

“Sigh… Lauren, you bastard…”

Dietrich didn’t even have time to mourn the death of the knight he respected. The path ahead was uncertain, and no particular solution was in sight.

While he sighed deeply and despaired, Eugene turned his steps. He went to find the other tied-up guys.

“Ha… Fuck… So it’s come to this.”

“Spill everything you know.”

“I only know three things. You’re already fucked, our gang just got fucked, and the people in this area are about to get fucked. That’s all.”

Eugene frowned and threw a punch at the guy’s face.

“Urgh…!”

“Explain so I can understand easily.”

“Fuck… As expected of a barbarian… Information that you’re heading to Eslan with carriages full of wealth has been spreading for a while. All sorts of scumbags are probably gathering even now. Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t know this.”

“What didn’t you know?”

“That the merchant group had hired a black-haired barbarian and some witch as escorts…”

“I see. Next.”

“Haah… You know best why we’re fucked so let’s skip that, and the people around here are about to get fucked.”

“Why?”

“Once we who’ve been managing this area disappear, all sorts of bastards will flock in.”

“…Aren’t you guys one of those bastards?”

“We at least had some conscience. We collected protection money considering people’s circumstances. Other bastards won’t care at all.”

Eugene carefully examined the tied-up guy. He was implicitly begging for his life to be spared. Saying they were less bad than other guys. It was simply ridiculous.

“So that’s why you tried to kill us all and steal the goods loaded on the carriages?”

“We were planning to spare your lives…”

“Bullshit.”

Eugene kicked the guy’s chin, knocking him unconscious. Then he walked towards the next guy. After finishing the interrogations one by one like that, he returned to Dietrich.

The content confessed by the other guys was all similar. The words of the guy who impersonated Berunte seemed to be true after all.

Eugene asked Dietrich about his future plans.

“What will you do now?”

Dietrich answered in a powerless voice:

“Eslan is right in front of us… But everything’s ruined because of my eldest brother… I’m at a loss…”

“If there’s no clever solution, in the end, we have no choice but to break through head-on.”

Dietrich knew that too. However, he couldn’t predict how treacherous the path would be.

He looked at Eugene with slightly trembling eyes and asked:

“…Can we really arrive safely in Eslan?”

Eugene answered with an indifferent expression:

“I don’t know. I only know one thing. We must go to Eslan.”

Eugene had to take the merchant group to Eslan no matter what. After arriving in the city, he would extract a ton of silver coins from Dietrich. For deceiving him and putting him in this predicament, for all the hardships so far, and for future hardships, he would extract an enormous amount. This was a predetermined future that no one could change.

“…”

Dietrich fell silent after hearing Eugene’s answer. He thought. And finally realized.

What he needed wasn’t groundless optimism or emotional comfort.

In the face of such a harsh fate, hesitation or fear would only be a burden.

What he needed to engrave in his heart now was courage and determination.

Having found the hidden meaning in Eugene’s words, Dietrich stood up abruptly.

His trembling eyes now held a bright light.

“Eugene, you’re right…! We must go to Eslan no matter what. I was worrying needlessly. Well, let’s do our best and struggle with all our might.”

“…?”

The halted carriages started rolling again.

After precariously crossing the gouged bridge, Dietrich’s merchant group began to increase their speed more than before.

The eleventh day of the journey passed safely without any particular incidents. This was thanks to the guy who impersonated Berunte and his subordinates having thoroughly cleaned up the surrounding area.

The problem started from the next day.

The twelfth day. The merchant group was attacked all day long starting from dawn.

All sorts of bandits jumped out from thickly grown bushes and pounced on the carriages. Though their equipment was shoddy, their skills poor, and their numbers few, they rushed at the merchant group without hesitation.

“Kill them all! If we loot those carriages, we can live the rest of our lives without working!”

“Fuck! This damn life ends now!”

Humans who had lost rational judgment due to greed were not much different from monsters. They were like goblins rushing at intruders entering their territory.

The merchant group’s escorts, including Eugene, didn’t even have time to wipe the blood off their swords.

“Let us sleep a bit! You bastards!”

“You can sleep all you want when you’re dead! Give up!”

Due to the attacks that didn’t distinguish between day and night, everyone couldn’t even sleep. Though they easily repelled all the bandits, they inevitably became physically exhausted in the process.

With depleted stamina and minor injuries, Dietrich’s merchant group had to keep moving forward.

The thirteenth day. The guys targeting the merchant group now appeared in large groups.

“Fuck… Have they even formed alliances now?”

“No need for such grandiose terms as alliances, they’ve just temporarily joined hands.”

Guys with different names like looters, thieves, robbers, outlaws, treasure hunters, and so on, rushed in as one. Though their names differed, what they wanted was the same. All the wealth and lives of Dietrich’s merchant group.

When a crowd of easily over a hundred people rushed in, they had no choice but to bring out their trump card. Eugene immediately called her name:

“Lorena!”

“I-I’m ready! Everyone get down…!”

Boom-!!

A power no different from a disaster exploded from the tip of the blue glowing staff. With that miracle unleashed by the magician as the start, a fierce battle broke out.

“Come on-!”

“Urgh… Fuck… What’s with that barbarian bastard…! We didn’t have information about this…”

Even after rendering nearly half of them unable to fight, there were still quite a number remaining. In the end, everyone in the merchant group had to fight for their lives. Even merchants who had never fought in their lives had to shoot crossbows and swing spears and swords with trembling hands.

A desperate struggle continued. The escorts surrounding the carriages fell one by one, bleeding. A middle-aged merchant who had bravely fought wielding a weapon died on the spot when an arrow from somewhere pierced his neck.

“Guh…!”

“No! You bastards!”

“Fuck… Fuck…!”

Though Dietrich’s merchant group had a skilled barbarian warrior and magician, it was impossible to fend off enemies rushing in with overwhelming numbers without suffering casualties.

That day, Eugene dyed his whole body with blood, Lorena’s artifact that defended against arrows broke, and five escorts guarding the carriages died.

The survivors didn’t even have time to mourn the dead. The best they could do was lay the cold corpses in a sunny spot.

“Let’s go… To Eslan…”

“Sniff… Ugh….”

Swallowing the sobs rising from within, the merchant group’s procession continued moving forward.

Though they had overcome a major crisis, the path ahead was still full of obstacles.

Even when the sun set and night fell, the attacks continued.

In the end, everyone had to spend another sleepless night.

The fourteenth day. Just one more day to endure. However, the situation was desperate.

Everyone in the merchant group except Eugene was on the verge of collapse. Covered in blood and dust, they were all wrapped in bandages.

“Eu-Eugene… How much further…?”

“Just a little more.”

“Um… I don’t have much mana left…”

Lorena, who had been the merchant group’s core fighting force, was now running out of both stamina and mana. Even lifting her heavy eyelids was a struggle for her.

“Just get some sleep for now.”

“N-No… I can’t…”

Eugene put his helmet on Lorena’s face. She immediately went quiet.

No one in the advancing merchant group’s procession opened their mouths.

Only the small sounds of occasional breezes brushing past, the rattling of wheels rolling under the carriages, and the sound of weary footsteps treading the dirt road lingered in their ears before flying away.

After some time passed like that, a group was slowly walking towards them from beyond the distant horizon. Eugene immediately drew his sword and prepared to fight. He removed the helmet he had put on Lorena and shook her shoulder. She grabbed her staff urgently with a drowsy face.

“Enemy! Prepare for battle!”

“We’ve come this far… We absolutely can’t die…”

Those prepared for death gripped their weapons tightly. Lorena scraped together what little mana she had left and gathered it in her staff. A faint blue light slowly gathered at the tip of her staff.

As they prepared for a desperate struggle, the enemies drew closer. When they were close enough to see what kind of clothes they were wearing, what weapons they were holding, and how many there were, Eugene frowned.

‘Damn it…’

They were all equipped with identical armor.

They wore plate breastplates over gambesons, iron guards on their arms and legs, and leather gauntlets and boots on their hands and feet. On their heads were helmets with exposed faces, and in both hands they held long spears.

‘They’re so heavily armed…’

Eugene thought he might die here. But what good would regret do now? He prepared to rush forward, standing at the very front.

Just as he took a deep breath to let out a battle cry filled with killing intent:

“Come-”

“Wait! Stop! Halt! Everyone lower your weapons!”

“Guh…!”

Dietrich, who was holding a crossbow right behind Eugene, immediately dropped his weapon and raised his hands high. While everyone was bewildered, he shouted:

“It’s Eslan’s patrol! They’re not enemies! Everyone lower your weapons!”

“…!”

At Dietrich’s words, everyone relaxed their hands.

Swords, spears, crossbows, axes, staves… All sorts of weapons fell to the ground.

At the same time, everyone collapsed and sat down on the road. There were no exceptions.

Those who didn’t even have the energy to cheer just let out sighs of relief.