41

The battle ended, and after returning the magic sword and vanishing briskly, I first headed toward the river.

Whether that could be called a “battle” was questionable, but if I were to give my personal impression, it was only at the level of “a good bit of exercise.”

Losing my kitchen knife was a little sad, but if I considered it the price for saving my life, that magic potion was more than enough.

I didn’t think Imperial-made blades were inferior, so there should be no problem.

Since I had received five of them in total, I had to make sure to return the change properly.

As an Imperial, I would not stoop to something petty like cheating on change.

Now then, heading east from a small forest on the plain where the highway lay, I reached the Restnant River.

Since it was upstream near the mountains, the water was clear, and there were surely plenty of fish.

I had gotten a little too carried away and dirty, so I wanted to wash myself first.

At the same time, I caught fish while washing my dirty hands, feet, and tail.

Recently, I had been straying somewhat from my elf surveillance duty, so I hadn’t had many chances to procure fish.

That was why I came here, killing two birds with one stone by bathing as well.

Enjoying my first bath in a long time, I processed the fish I caught and transferred them into a container I had taken from the cooler box.

I let my wet body dry naturally while making a fire to prepare for grilling the fish.

At that time, I touched the fire-starting magical tool, which had heated up, but despite it being hot enough to ignite a flame, I didn’t really feel it was “hot.”

Tilting my head, I touched it several times with my finger, but of course, I didn’t get burned, nor did I reflexively recoil from the heat.

(Huh? Was I always this resistant to heat?)

Not wanting the tool to break, I decided to stop touching it there.

Before I realized it, the slightly scorched back of my hand had already returned to its normal color, and upon checking, even the wounds on my back seemed gone.

(I knew my regeneration was high, but I guess that level wasn’t even worth worrying about.)

‘Truly Imperial technology,’ I thought, and even if I couldn’t understand it, I nodded anyway.

Munching on grilled fish sprinkled with salt, I considered my next move.

Since I had crushed their army while toying with them, the Kingdom of Canaan would not stay silent.

It wasn’t impossible they might try to cover it up by doing nothing, but Canaan was not as corrupt as southern nations like Reberen or Haile, so such concerns were probably pointless.

After finishing the meal and storing part of it in the cooler box, I washed the long iron skewer I had used to pierce the fish and began preparing to move.

It took time for a nation to mobilize its army.

In the meantime, I would attack a caravan on another highway.

Once I obtained what I wanted, I planned to leave Canaan for a while, so I could afford to make a bit of a ruckus.

Not that it mattered, since I had already made quite a ruckus anyway.

So, I decided to move north toward the highway.

Given the time, if I hurried, I could reach the highway while it was still light, and if my timing was good, I could launch a night raid right after.

Hoisting my backpack, I confirmed my direction and sprinted straight ahead.

The terrain was rough because of the nearby mountains, but it didn’t matter before this body.

Thus, after clearing the forest, I came into view of what was likely the town of “Haagen,” located southeast of the Kingdom of Canaan—this was the town closest to Seizeria, and there should also be a trade route there.

If I targeted the caravans passing through there, I would be antagonized by both Canaan and Seizeria.

Therefore, I decided to wait for prey on the highway leading from Haagen to the royal capital.

I didn’t know how much imports from Seizeria had changed since that time, but surely there would be something among them to enrich my diet.

Unless royalty, nobles, and wealthy merchants had suddenly given up their luxuries, there was no need to worry.

Perhaps I might even acquire something unexpected.

The thought that there might be high-class goods for royalty got me fired up.

Even though I was born reasonably well-off, I was still just a commoner.

I got excited at the thought I might finally savor “royal” indulgences.

Thus, as I watched the highway from afar, my running pace naturally increased, and I continued running until darkness fell.

Continuing on, I spotted a light and changed direction.

At first, I thought I had found a caravan camping, but it seemed to be bandits gathered together.

There were about twenty of them—armed men arguing around a fire.

From the faint voices I picked up words like “merchant” and “escaped,” so I guessed they had attacked a caravan but failed to capture it, and were now drinking and whining here.

So I charged in with the intent to trample them flat.

That gave me another reason to take cargo from the merchants.

I burst straight through the middle of the shouting bandits, knocking away the shabby men one after another.

Judging from their talk, the caravan had only recently escaped them.

If so, my legs could easily catch up.

If they had stopped to rest in relief, I would find them immediately.

As expected, less than an hour later, I discovered the caravan’s campsite.

(Five wagons, and only… seven guards? Did those bandits kill the others?)

If so, my condolences.

But plunderers did not consider such circumstances.

I began moving to quietly block their path forward so they couldn’t escape.

(Behind them lie the bandits, ahead of them lies me—so, merchants, which will you choose?)

Feeling amused, I appeared in high spirits.

The merchants and guards camping there instantly panicked, and I quickly closed the distance, choosing one wagon as my target.

Blocking the horses from fleeing, I peered inside the wagon.

I also checked the smell, but since there was a strong metallic odor, I figured it was a dud and reached for a crate.

Inside were mostly precious metals and ornaments, likely jewelry crafted from Seizeria-imported gems.

Confirming “this wagon was a dud,” I swatted down an attacking guard with my tail, knocking him out.

The next wagon was a hit.

I knew from the smell the moment I approached.

So I unhitched the horses and saved this for last as a special treat.

Moving to the third wagon, I grabbed and tossed aside the guard who was firing arrows from its roof.

It would be dangerous if he failed to land properly, but he’d probably be fine.

Inside the wagon were water, food, and daily necessities, with two children sleeping.

The fact that they didn’t wake during this chaos meant they were destined for greatness.

Ignoring the trembling parents who held their breath, I went to the next wagon, where five guards blocked my way.

So I ignored them and checked inside.

By the time I realized, three of them were already down, but that was their fault for blocking my path.

“You bastard!”

A longsword swung down, but when it struck my unguarded back, the blade slipped from the man’s hand and clattered to the ground.

“A dull blade won’t cut me.”

I remarked, flicking him hard with my tail in return.

Also, keep it down—the kids are sleeping.

Now then, the fourth wagon… inside was, unexpectedly, sugar.

Just two jars, a small amount, but still a rare sweet, so I secured one.

There was nothing else I wanted, so that wagon was finished.

The main prize was spices, so I couldn’t waste space on this.

As I neared the last wagon, I saw a chubby man inside trembling violently.

As I rummaged inside with both hands, the man whimpered.

“Please stop…”

Something about his tearful figure made me feel sorry for him, so I stopped rummaging.

Thinking there was probably nothing I wanted anyway, I went back to the second wagon.

The man muttered something, but I realized it wasn’t directed at me—it was a prayer of thanks to God.

Anyway, since I intended to take the spices thoroughly, I set down my pack and transferred the jar contents into my containers one after another.

No one dared stop me anymore, and all the remaining humans prayed to God for my departure.

(Black pepper made up the largest share… then red pepper and green pepper. I don’t really like overly spicy stuff though.)

Whole peppercorns weren’t bad either.

Now I found myself wanting a pepper mill.

When my containers were full, I stuffed in as many jars as I could carry, shouldered my backpack, and decided to head back to my base.

As I ran, words of thanks to God drifted from behind me, but the only words directed at me were curses.

Even if I had happened to arrive while they were being attacked by bandits and saved them, they would have given their thanks to God all the same.

The incomprehensible fact of being “saved by a monster” would simply be explained away as “God’s miracle.”

Since the dawn of history, humans and monsters have always been at war.

That relationship would never change.

After all the corpses piled up, no words could change anything now.

Perhaps if they had at least researched monsters, things might be different, but only the Empire had done that much; I had no memory of any neighboring country attempting it.

Moreover, in the old days, no nation had even acknowledged monsters had intelligence.

Whatever the truth, if a nation declared, “We do not recognize it,” then any discussion on the matter was pointless.

That applied only to humans, though—elves were different.

Those guys didn’t even recognize monsters as “enemies.”

To put it another way…

They weren’t even considered enemies.

Their racial specs were so high that monsters simply couldn’t be enemies to them.

I’d like to say, “Bring a dragon,” but even dragons didn’t approach them.

(Considering the Empire fought such people for more than ten years, that’s pretty amazing.)

Thinking of it that way, humanity was impressive too.

If they hadn’t been obsessed only with magic and had also embraced science, life would have been far more prosperous, I thought, as I ran across an empty plain.

Yes, to be specific, if they had developed enough to create data disks, even the problems I carried might have been solved.

That aside, I changed course.

All because I wanted a pepper mill—I would go shopping at the usual mall.

Put the bill on the Imperial army.

Since I intended to run all night, from this point I should arrive by tomorrow night.

Food was scarce, but there was a bed, so I would stay there one night before returning to base.