The Next Journey

“Thank you so much. You really saved me.”

Three weeks have passed since leaving the Hagenberg territory—and the Estraia Empire itself.

Right now, Jonah was swaying on the coachman’s seat of a carriage racing along a forest road that led to the small kingdom of Benedia, a vassal state under the Duchy Aubern.

Though Jonah could teleport anywhere in the world with ancient magic, he had the strange obsession of wanting to travel by his own feet or by carriage.

Of course, his original goal was to visit all the legendary places written in the book, but he knew it was impossible to see them all with less than a year left—so he decided to simply enjoy the journey itself.

Thanks to that decision, he had been able to meet Marguerite, Count Hagenberg, and the others.

“Man, I’m glad I came by when I did. If I hadn’t, you’d have been eaten by monsters and died.”

“Ah, ahaha…”

The suntanned young man holding the reins beside him laughed as he spoke, and Jonah scratched his head with an awkward smile.

A vast forest separates the border between Duchy Aubern and the Kingdom of Benedia, and many magical beasts live there.

Although a road for traffic has been maintained, crossing the forest on foot still takes three full days, and traveling alone is dangerously risky unless one is exceptionally skilled.

Jonah had stepped into the forest intending to cross it, but a carriage happened to pass by and picked him up.

“Well, this carriage has a magical-beast repellent, so camping tonight and tomorrow night won’t be a problem. We’ll reach Benedia the day after tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir!”

Jonah had a reason for heading to the Kingdom of Benedia.

It was the legend of the “Guardian Deity of the Central Sea” written in the book inside his leather bag.

Since ancient times, it is said that a guardian deity who brings blessings and prosperity to people dwells in the Central Sea.

That deity is an enormous fish the size of a mountain, and it has apparently protected people from many disasters—tsunamis, storms, and more.

“By the way, what are you carrying in this carriage?”

“Ah, that? All sorts of things… all sorts of things.”

The young man only gave a thin smile and clearly had no intention of answering.

Since Jonah was just a hitchhiker, he decided not to pry any further.

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“I’m Jonah!”

Jonah answered cheerfully to the young man’s question.

“I see. I’m Carlo. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too!”

Jonah took the right hand that the young man—Carlo—offered and shook it.

The hand was surprisingly large and rough.

“Still, you look like a kid, Jonah. Trying to cross the forest alone, and heading to Benedia—what’s your business there?”

“Uh, umm…”

Jonah faltered at Carlo’s question.

With Ottmar and Marguerite he had gotten away with saying “I’m visiting relatives,” but Benedia was a foreign country. The same excuse wouldn’t work.

“…Well, looks like you’ve got your circumstances. Everyone has one or two things they don’t wanna talk about. I didn’t answer your question either, so we’re even.”

“Wah!?”

Carlo broke into a wide grin and roughly ruffled Jonah’s hair.

He was grateful not to be pressed, but since the reason was simply to verify the legend of the Guardian Deity of the Central Sea, it wasn’t particularly deep, leaving Jonah with mixed feelings.

“Hmm—this spot should do.”

Deep inside the forest road, a small clearing appeared, and Carlo stopped the carriage.

It seemed he had chosen this place as tonight’s campsite.

“Alright, Jonah—go gather as many fallen branches as you can from around here.”

“Yes, sir!”

Following Carlo’s instructions, Jonah began picking up branches.

Because Jonah was controlling his body with ancient magic, he wasn’t very dexterous, but picking up branches was something even he could help with.

Being able to be useful like a normal person made Jonah happy.

“Mr. Carlo, I’ve gathered them!”

“Good. Let’s see… this one, and this one…”

Carlo began sorting the branches Jonah had collected.

“Um… why are you sorting the branches?”

“Ah. For the campfire—the ones that aren’t dry won’t burn well.”

“Wow…”

Carlo cleared the ground, stood two slightly thick branches vertically, placed fallen leaves on top, and then put some leftover charcoal on top of that as tinder.

He took a flint in hand and struck it against the steel—clink, clink—over the tinder.

“Wah!”

“Caught nicely.”

A small flame ignited in the tinder from the sparks, and Carlo began stacking thin branches on top.

After a while, the flames grew and became a proper campfire.

“How’s that? Pretty good, huh?”

Carlo neatly skewered some dried meat on a branch and showed it to Jonah.

“Wanna try?”

“Yes! …Huh, I can’t do it…”

“Haha. Like this—hold it here…”

Jonah couldn’t skewer the meat properly, so Carlo patiently showed him how, hand over hand.

“Waaaaah…! I did it! I did it!”

“Yeah, nice job.”

Jonah proudly held up the skewered meat and bounced with joy.

Carlo ruffled Jonah’s hair again, took the skewer, and planted it in the ground beside the campfire.

“Here, it should be ready now.”

“Itadakimasu!”

Jonah eagerly bit into the nicely roasted, fragrant dried meat.

“Good?”

“Yes! Really good!”

It was Jonah’s first time experiencing this, and he couldn’t stop smiling.

Watching him, Carlo’s cheeks softened into a gentle smile.

At that moment—

“…Jonah, don’t move.”

Carlo reached for the sword lying nearby and put on a grim expression.