Chapter 11
It had been about two hours since Erika Solnzari came to, and I nearly fainted when she said she'd taken a liking to me.
During that time, Erika Solnzari had suddenly remembered the root cause behind this ridiculous situation and nearly turned into a curse-spewing machine.
I also nearly fainted again, recalling the moment she said she liked me.
"Looks like we'll be finishing the first day's journey safely," Merceja told me from the driver's seat.
"Boss, the town we're staying at tonight is coming into view."
I wasn't particularly interested, but since he went out of his way to call out to me, I opened the window on the undamaged side of the carriage to take a look ahead.
It was still small, but I could see a town nestled in the plains.
If I recall correctly, its name was Sudabald.
I'd been here a few times for adventurer work, but it never left much of an impression.
That's probably why my attention shifted elsewhere.
"Still, Merceja."
"What is it, boss?"
Merceja replied in a tone so relaxed it made me question if he was really suited to be both driver and bodyguard.
"There really weren't any follow-up attacks. Your judgment was spot on, senpai."
Merceja let out a weird little chuckle and said proudly,
"There ain't no organization that can just toss out assassins on par with Rank 6s like candy. From their point of view, we crushed their trump card."
And we did it easily, too.
I glanced at the face of the person who crushed it so easily.
Said person seemed unaware and was simply enjoying the view out the window.
"Even if they had planned a follow-up attack, we're unharmed and on alert. They'd probably rather call it off for now, and hope we leave their turf quickly enough to avoid upsetting the client."
While I told myself not to let my guard down, I had to admit his reasoning made sense.
Adventurers are still human—there are plenty of reasons one might fall from grace.
But the higher the rank, the rarer they become.
Even if they've fallen a bit, someone with the skills of a high-ranking adventurer will always be in demand.
Few fall so far they end up picked up by a criminal organization.
That magic-using attacker definitely had the strength of a high-ranking adventurer.
Whether he was a former adventurer or an outlier who gained that strength independently, it didn't change that fact.
As Merceja said, that kind of power was probably their ace in the hole.
Losing it would be a serious blow to the organization.
But even so, I thought—
These guys are capable of turning humans into demons, even if I don't know how.
Assuming they're a rational organization is far too optimistic.
Maybe that thought showed on my face, because Merceja gave a wry smile.
"At the very least, you can relax inside the town."
If something like a human turning into a demon happened in town, it'd be a huge scandal.
Merceja said that with a laugh.
*
The town of Sudabald is what you'd call a place equipped with water-generating magic tools and barrier devices.
In other words, they produce all their water—from drinking to daily use—with water-generating magic tools, and rather than surrounding the town with walls, they protect it with a massive barrier created by barrier devices.
Of course, both of those require an enormous amount of mana.
There's no realistic way to keep supplying that much mana using magic stones or the like.
So Sudabald uses the same method as other towns with similar setups.
Namely——
I felt a faint chill as mana was drawn from me.
Merceja and the horses pulling the carriage must have felt it too, as they shivered slightly.
The only one who didn't react at all was Erika Solnzari.
After completing the entry procedures and entering the barrier, a small amount of mana is drawn from you.
The town draws mana bit by bit from its residents to generate water and maintain the barrier.
That's the method adopted by towns like Sudabald.
Since I can see mana, I could see streams of it rising skyward from all over the town.
Multiple streams of mana—some might even call it beautiful.
But I couldn't help but follow just one stream with my eyes.
The golden stream of Erika Solnzari's mana.