Chapter 60 – Scars.

The moment he fell into despair. Fighting! And the harsh sound of gong pierced people’s ears. At the same time, the crayfish’s body was hit by something and it fell to the side. As he chased after the crayfish, he could even see the spear pierce the crayfish’s side with terrifying force and seem to pin it to the ground so that it could not move any further. The spear that dug into the crayfish’s side was familiar to Donnar. It was the spear he had loaded into his ballista.

I didn’t even think about using it because it was broken by hail. Thanks to that, Sif was able to be safe, but who the hell? Without questioning it, he knew someone who had used the ballista before long.

“Kkeot! Head, head!”

In the midst of everyone’s silence, the boy’s voice could be heard from there, so he couldn’t have known it. No, it seems difficult to see that it was aimed and fired.

“Does it hurt a lot?”
“Ugh, Belka.”

Listening to the children’s conversation, people including Donnar couldn’t help but shed a devastated laugh.

“Oh my gosh I’m dumbfounded that it works so exquisitely.”

After the crawfish commotion was over, Shalby, who had dinner together and listened to the story, did not stop the laughter from coming out.

“I still have a headache.”

Usher grimaced as he rubbed his hair, which looked like a bump. From the roof of the carriage Donard had left behind, he could watch all the people trying to fend off the crayfish. Eventually, seeing Sif endangered by their missing, he jumped up in surprise and hit his head on a ballista directly above him. Because of this, it was a story that the ballista, which was out of order, was accidentally activated. People who heard Usher’s whole story laughed because they were dumbfounded.

If he had actuated the ballista to save Sif out of a childish mind, he could have said that it was really dangerous. A simple malfunction of the broken ballista saved Sif, so there was nothing to say.

“Still, thanks to you, I lived. Thank you.”
“But not really what I did.”

To Sif’s thanks, Usher shook his head, saying it was just a coincidence, but Donnar said.

“Isn’t it a coincidence that happened because you were there? You guys are very lucky.”
“Eh, even the mister.”

There were some injuries from the crayfish, but no one was said to have died. Although Usher was burdened with their thanks because he thought he hadn’t done it.

“But those crayfish shells must be expensive. Are you really not going to get them?”

Donard said, recalling the image of a crayfish that had died after being hit by a spear. As crayfish are rarely caught, there were many by-products that were expensive to call. Representatively, the hard shell of a crayfish is such a precious thing that luxury lovers turn on their eyes and rush at it.

“It’s okay. I’ll get it and use it somewhere.”

He tried to convince Usher that it was really expensive, but he couldn’t convince him. That evening was a stew made with crayfish gutted and stuffed into it. The taste was such that everyone said it was the best, but Donnar was still bothered by the crayfish’s behavior.

“No matter how ferocious and angry he is, he usually runs that way.”

Animals tend to avoid fights if they fear to injure themselves, even if they can defeat them in a direct fight. It’s really hard to see a crayfish running headlong like the crayfish I saw today. That’s why the response was late today. Because I can’t imagine that it would normally run like that.

“Because that child was destined to die from the moment your shell was broken.”

It was Belka who answered Donar’s question.

“What do you mean?”

To his question, the girl held out her own bowl to him in exchange for her answer. Feeling begged for, she was handed her bowl, and when she took it, she saw that she hadn’t even opened a spoonful of the stew it contained.

“You this.”
“You must never show your weakness to others. Even if you are of the same kind. So don’t forget that value.”

She wanted to ask why she didn’t eat, but the girl was already saying something else.

“Usher.”
“Ate it all?”

Belka held out her hand to Usher without saying a word, and Usher seemed to take it positively, and they left for their carriage. Suddenly becoming a dog chasing chickens, he recalled the girl’s words and remembered her crayfish habits. Come to think of it, aren’t they really similar?

After getting out of the cloud zone and resting for another day, they were finally able to fully see the walls of Lantua. Usher gazed at the wall with admiration. It wasn’t overwhelmingly as large as the sky barrier created by the clouds, but the yellow sand-colored castle walls seemed big enough to stack up several wagons they rode on. I had no idea how long it took to make something like that. Belka, who was right next to him, seemed to be looking at the scars carved on the wall rather than those walls, so Usher’s attention was directed there as well.

“Why are the walls so crooked?”

It was also clear that the uppermost part of the wall, which had numerous scars, was too irregular in shape, as if to show the storms and waves it had experienced. It was strange to think that it was artificially shaped like it was broken and melted.

“That must be a trace of an attack.”

These were the words of Shalvi, who looked up at the wall with emotion beside them. Usher put on an ambiguous expression at his words. Raids? Have you ever raided a place where normal people live? Although Usher’s village was rural, except for the last day he left, he had been peaceful for a very long time without being attacked. Could it be that the monsters that attacked the village where he lived are common creatures outside the forest? Remembering the image of the huge crayfish that almost caused trouble by chasing after the company the day before, Usher thought it might be so.

“There are many stories about our country being dangerous due to frequent dragon attacks, but other places aren’t as peaceful either.”

Usher could see that he was right when he said that people should at least live together in villages and cities because creatures that prey on or prey on people are everywhere. It seems that the outside of the forest is much stranger and more dangerous than he thought. Then Donnar ran toward them.

“Shalby! Were you here?”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Tell the people. There will be a review soon.”

Usher and Belka, who were watching the castle wall while telling the story of Donar’s judge through Shalby and the coachmen, had to return to their carriage. It was because of the story that everyone should be in their seats because they were going to look at the wagons for the screening. As Truth, who was riding in the carriage with them, waited nervously for the examination, Usher whispered in Belka’s ear.

“Why are you doing this screening?”
“Maybe it’s because there might be people with bad intentions.”

He nodded his head when she said that if, by any chance, someone like that would come in and do something bad, he wouldn’t know what would happen. He thought it was natural for him to judge, as he thought that if he did something wrong, even a person like Pan, whom he had left behind in the wilderness, could enter. That was when they were whispering and talking. The carriage door swung open and a man appeared with an old man. Usher widened his eyes in surprise at the man’s appearance. For the man’s stature, even compared to his short stature, he was conspicuously short.

If the man had been the same age as the children, he wouldn’t have been so surprised. However, the man was a height that would not be strange even for a child, but he clearly had the appearance of an adult man. In Usher’s mind came the story that there were many dwarves living in Lantua. He was told he was a dwarf, so he thought he would be small, but he didn’t expect him to be that small. The dwarf, with his dark-brown hair meticulously combed and neatly dressed, looked very strict.

“What are you doing here?”

The dwarf’s voice was cold and shrill, as cold as it seemed, without any hint of childishness.

“This is where the wounded are treated.”

The old man spoke politely to him who looked younger than himself. Usher noticed that he couldn’t mess with the dwarf. He looked inside the wagon where several patients were sleeping.

“At the top, a space and a doctor to accommodate professional technicians and patients.”

He muttered suspiciously and inspected the inside of the carriage carefully. His eyes seemed to tell him he was suspicious of this caravan. When Usher was swallowing his saliva at the screening, which was more tense than he thought. Finally, his eyes turned to them. And a surprised expression.

“Those children.”

They said they were children, but the dwarf’s eyes were on Belka. Maybe there was a problem. As he held the girl’s hand tightly, he shook his head and said calmly again.

“Are those children sick too? From the outside, they don’t seem to have any problems.”
“It’s because there’s a weak child. One of them is worried about his friend, so he’s just staying with him.”
“Is that so?”

His gaze lingered on Belka for a while before falling.

“And he is also the owner of the horse.”
“If it’s a horse, are you talking about that, not Hildisbini?”

The dwarf seemed really surprised to hear that there was a horse. He seems to have heard that horses were precious to Donard, but was he enough to react that way? Usher still hadn’t quite grasped the value of words. No matter how much I thought about it, a sturdy and strong Hildis beanie looked more expensive than a horse that looked good. In terms of size, Hildisbini was overwhelming. He was even more so for someone who had been out of the woods and had been riding a horse for days.

The horse had a hard time even walking for a long time, let alone running in the wilderness carrying them. Hildisviny had seen them running all day pulling a wagon bigger than themselves and not showing signs of getting tired.

“Wouldn’t you mind if I looked at the words myself?”

His questions were directed to them. He looked at Belka as he listened to the dwarf’s wish to see it for himself and thought that the words were precious.

“How will we do it?”
“It won’t matter. Rather, showing it will help you get into the city.”

Belka looked at the old man at his question and then whispered to Usher.

“And the owner of the horse must be Usher. So Usher should do as he pleases.”
“Yes.”

Not really wanting to be the owner of a horse of that revealing character, Usher looked at the dwarf in approval and nodded his head.

“Does not matter.”

He was so nervous that when he answered firmly, he snorted.

“Hmm, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go with you and examine the horses.”

They were embarrassed to know what the intention was, but Belka said it would be better to go too, so they had to leave the carriage and follow the old man and the dwarf. And the place where they arrived is a wagon that put a horse in it.

“It really is.”
“Ah! You can’t touch it carelessly!”

The dwarf tried to put his hand on the horse in surprise, but Usher frightened him and grabbed his hand. Suddenly, the sound of teeth grinding was heard. The horse was about to bite the hand he held out. Perhaps he would have been bitten if Usher had not caught on. As he watched his words bewildered, Usher sighed at the thought of what might have happened.

“They say he has a dirty personality, so he bites.”
-Heying

The horse wept bitterly, but he was not fooled, for he had often been told that he was almost bitten while Donar and the other drivers tended to him. The horse looked at him as Usher gave him a glare and held his horse’s muzzle. The dwarf, who had been watching him and his horse, nodded. It was awkward for them to go back right away, so they followed the old man and the dwarf. Seeing the wagon full of hailstones and finally checking the crayfish shells, he seemed satisfied.

“Did you say your hometown is Paciphenia?”
“Exactly.”
“Hmm, I knew rumors that the knights who protect the country were excellent due to frequent raids by dragons, but I didn’t expect it to be to this extent.”

He tapped the crayfish shell as if to check its condition, then wrote something with a pen on the parchment he was holding and examined it.

“It’s good. It’s not that there aren’t very few suspicious parts, but the condition and quality of the items aren’t bad, so it doesn’t matter.”

Saying that he needed manpower, he rolled up the parchment and put it into his bosom.

“The results will be available within half a day.”

The dwarf said so and got on the carriage he had never seen before. It was small in size compared to the wagon they rode in, but it was a large wagon nonetheless. It seems that his gaze at Belka was unusually long, but he couldn’t figure out why. All Usher could tell was that the businesslike, meticulous gaze was different from Rogi’s gaze at Belka. The wagon carrying the dwarves disappeared through a huge iron gate between the walls.