Chapter 7: Escort Quest and Dangerous on the Road

Marcus Til Therius, the owner of this merchant group. A low-rank baronet with a small land of a town to the east of Karnosh City. Small in size but large in population; Marcus Til Therius was a loved Town-Manager and a Merchant.

Sir Marcus Til Therius was the oldest son of Madame Jewel Til Therius, the head of the household. His younger brother, Sir Lean Til Therius was a Knight to the Order of Red Knighthood directly under the fourth prince, at the rank of a Captain, commanding 100 troops, of four platoons. Sir Lean Til Therius was stationed at Krantirosh City, a city about 30 days of traveling to the southwest of Karnosh City. Near to where the Swamps are located at. Hmmm... I see where's this is going.

So, this trip was both a business one and a family one. Sir Marcus was going to one of the towns that Sir Lean's platoon is in charge of. It seems like the topic was for Sir Lean to come home for his younger sister's wedding day and for his other sister's engagement party.

Which was suppose to take place in another three months, plenty of times for Sir Lean to notified his superior.

I found all of this out from asking Liz. She had a lot of connection so this was naturally something that she would know. Hmm, interesting.

By the time I made it to the meeting place, everyone else was already there. The merchants were still transferring their merchandise into the wagons and tying it up securely but everyone else was already here and presented.

The party of adventurers has two women and three men. One was an archer, one mage, one healer, and the other two are a warrior. Both warriors are swords users. One of them has a longboard sword while the other has a very heavy sword that looks to be a claymore.

Both of the warriors are in light leather armor mixed with iron plates. It seems like they are the speed type of warrior that specializes in heavy weapons. The archer has a longbow and two large quivers filled with arrows. The mage has a wand made out of some kind of magic wood, probably the Elder Listhristle wood, and the healer has a small short wand. The only thing that's missing in this group was someone who specializes in assassin and poison and someone who specializes in scouting. Even if the hunter can see pretty far, his specialty doesn't seem to be scouting. This means that this group's potential was limited.

Two warriors, one mage, one healer, and one archer. A pretty damn balanced team. Well, balanced enough to make it into a rank-C as a team. I don't know about individual powers but as a team, this team was a pretty well damn balance.

"Hello," I was greeted by the lady healer.

Huh, strange, why does it seems like the two warriors are glaring at me?

"Hello, nice to work with you guys this time. I hope that we will get along," I said without even twitching.

Seeing my nonchalant looks toward the two women on their team, the men all relax a bit while the healer who had greeted me look surprised for a second.

She hesitated, seeming like she wanted to ask me something.

What? Was this girl hitting on me? Sorry, woman, I am gay. I'm not interested in women that way. So, it is better to get not their hopes up.

If I was going to be interesting in someone, then the archer was more of my type... although, he was a bit too tall for me. What? The archer was 6 feet 6 inches tall!!! As a full Japanese descendent, my height was only 5 feet 7 inches!

I am pretty small compared to the men in this world...

However, if you underestimate me because of my height, then you are in for a world of pain. (｡•ˇ‸ˇ•｡)

"I'm the captain of this party. My name is Uris." The warrior with the claymore introduces himself.

"I'm Kirash, I handle heavy melee combat in this team," The warrior with the board sword said with a nod.

"I'm Joel," The archer said as he waved his longbow to dedicated that he is an archer.

"I'm Mariel, a water wage and I specialize in Ice Magic," The woman in the magician robe said with a small smile on her face as she leans toward the captain, Uris. Oh, they're married...

"I'm Lindari, the healer. I can handle up to tier 2 healing spells," The healer introduces herself with a seductive smile on her face. I nodded, totally ignoring her suggestive manner. What the hell is wrong with this woman?

Tier 2 healing spells included Light Healing, Searing Wounds, Blood Restoration, Heaviness and Lightness. Light Healing will cure light wounds, Searing Wounds will sear up bleeding wounds without causing infection, blood restoration was for increasing the rate of red blood regenerates, and lightness was to make sure that during combat, the combative doesn't get cursed by slow spells. While Heaviness was a curse spell to make enemies slower and heavier. It atrophies the muscles of a target enemy for 10 seconds.

All of these spells was pretty basics for a healer. It was very useful during combats so healer is people who were never short of jobs. However, I do wonder how many times can this healer used those spells in a day?

How large was her mana reservoir? I am pretty sure that she can only use those spells at most three times each, in a day. That would mean that she had around a mana reservoir of 150 as the base. Her stamina and natural talents with using mana will impact whether how much mana she will use per spell.

Still, she was pretty useful in this team so they ignored her behavior. Although, it seems like Kirash and her relationship might not be so innocent. Ah- that explains why he was glaring at me.

"I'm Shirin. I can use healing magic, the three common magic elements, swords, and I specialize in scouting," I lied without caring. If I don't lie this much, then there will be problems. It was for the best that I don't hide this during the mission. They will probably spread this knowledge after the mission but I really don't care about it since I have the strength to protects myself and those that are working for me with no problem. Besides, once my farms and gardens started to mature, people will notice it anyway. Either way, hiding this will not benefits me in any way. It would only get in my way.

All five adventurers look utterly shocked and their jaws were opened wide in disbelief.

"W-what tier of healing magic can you use?" The healer, Lindari asked with hesitation and curiosity. Her hand holding on her short wand tightened, making her knuckles turned white in nervousness.

"Up to Tier 4. However, I will be reserving my mana and concentrating on melee so I will leave the healing to you," I said. I don't want to cause the woman to hate me or make her lose moral during this mission.

Lindari's eyes widen in shock at my answer. She wasn't the only one.

"W-what three common magic elements are yo-you talking about?" Mariel asked with both fear and curiosity in her eyes.

"Wood, Fire, and Earth. Up to Tier 4," I answered with no hesitation.

"E-eh?!" Mariel shouted in astonishment as he eyes widen in disbelief. Kirash's brows were twitching and Uris look slightly pale for a second.

"... How good are you at melee combats?" Uris and Kirash both asked at the same time, causing them to look at each other in awkwardness.

"How good? Hmm, I would say good enough? I had never actually test my melee skills against a Swords Master so I am not sure," I replied back, not sure how to measure my strength and skills. Since I had already held back a lot. Even so, my skills will probably one-hit-kill any Swords Master in this world. As for Grandmaster Swordsman? There are none in this continent that I know of, even after reading all the information inside this city, there aren't any Grandmaster Swordsman near this part of the continent. If there was, then it was probably someone who had sealed his or her skills. Still, Prince Yui might be a Grandmaster Swordsman since that man was damn strong. Strong enough to annihilate this planet of the universe if he as much as use his Swordsmanship skills.

Uris and Kirash both exchanges look. A whole conversation seems to go through there eyes contact within a split second.

"Any other question?" I asked, intending to get this over with.

"You said that you specialize in scouting but what do you really can do?" Joel asked with an impressive face. He's pretty calm. He was the one that got back his senses the fastest after finding out about me.

"I can use Earth magic to sense upcoming monsters within a range of 15 kilometers. I can also use Fire magic to sense the heats within the monsters that are in the air and underground up to a certain height and depth. So, you can leave scouting to me," I said.

All of them look relief at that.

"Should we go now?" I asked as I tilted my head toward the merchants who had just finished putting all their items into the wagons and securing it to the wagons.

The captain nodded.

"Ah, by the way, you guys will probably have to do most of the works in this mission while I take care of all the scouting details," The team can take care of those that they can, I will take of those that they can't.

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The captain nodded. Thinking that I will probably use a lot of mana during scouting. I have no intention to correct that thinking. After all, not everyone has a monstrosity of a reservoir as I and Prince Yui does.

After introducing ourselves and our roles to the merchants, we set off.

The escort mission for this merchant group was going to be from Karnosh City to three other smaller villages and then two other small towns. The first village that they will be stopping by was a small village without a name.

The village only has about 50 households and the majority of them are farmers. So, they could only afford normal goods and very common magic tools that already have a lot of mana store inside; all they have to do was either turned on the switch or flicked the necessary engravement. There was only one person out of the whole village that can use magic tools effective enough, so the merchant explained to her the procedure of doing so. And such, we had only stayed there for a couple of hours before we left that small village.

Before leaving, I had ordered from the village some of their milk. The milk from this village has a natural taste that would make great cheese, as the fat content was oddly high. So, I want to order enough milk to make at least 50 pounds of Mozzarella cheese and a couple of types in smaller quantities. The milk in Karnosh city was too mellow, causing the cheese that I plan to make tasted mellow too. The milk in Karnosh City was great for butter making but for cheese? Not so much. And I want a rich taste, so the milk from the cows in this village is better. Otherwise, I would have to use the milk from within the beast Flying Cows inside my Space Dimension Homestead.

Since this was a request for my personal uses, I asked the merchant group to order it via their channels. Which means that I have to pay taxes, but not much handling fees.

Because of my order, the village will be busy for the next two weeks. This was good for them in a way as they provide everyone with something to do. And since the pay was good, they are more than happy to do it.

The next small village that we stop by was about a day away from Karnosh City. However, this village had problems with goblins attacking their farms and animals so they were more than thankful that we stopped by.

When we got there, we were all surprised and alert to notice that the wood structure they call their village wall was all torn down. Some parts were burning. There were traces of old blood all over the place and majority of the people there were all hiding.

Sir Marcus, who keeps telling everyone to call him Marcus, was not looking good. His face was pale and I can clearly see that he was thinking of the worse.

Before the man can panic any further, "Marcus, calm down. There are still villagers hiding in their houses," I called out to the man.

He looks at me with hopeful eyes as he nodded.

It didn't take long for Marcus to take control of the situation and found the villagers.

However, to the shock of everyone else, there were no adults among them.

Kids. All kids. Ranging from newborn to 14 years old kids. All looking fearful and starving.

Marcus was pissed as hell. He was enraged and yet there was little he can do.

After we gathered up everyone and did a heads counts, there were two newborns, a boy, and a girl, two kids around the age of 5, three around the age of 8, one is at 12 years old, and the rest was either 14 or 15 years old. In total, there was 15 kids in total. All without any adults to look after them.

"Little girl, can you tell me where your mom and dad had gone?" Marcus asked the girl holding on the newborn kid.

The girl looks weary at Marcus as she hesitates to answer. I don't need to listen to know what had happened to the adults of this village. I already know what happened to them. The blood that was smeared on the ground and the smell of it was the blood of a human, not from a monster or beast.

There's only one thing that could have happened.

The girl's words proved me right, again.

"Papa died two weeks ago when a horde of goblins and ogres came by our village. Mama was taking away three days ago. Mister, can you help my mama?" The girl asked with tears and hope on her eyes as she clenches onto the small baby girl on her arms securely.

"..." Marcus's eyes were hopeless. He's only a merchant and not a knight.

Seeing the looks on Marcus' face, I must say, this man was pretty used to a sight like this. No matter how much he wants to help this girl, as someone who has children of his own, he knew himself well enough to know that's suicide. And Marcus knew exactly where his limited are at as a low-class nobleman too.

This was what this world has in offer for a powerless human. They can only watch and desperate as disasters happen. Marcus should really take some time off to learn magic if he can afford it. After all, with Marcus's body reservoir and his magic veins being this small, it would take him a couple of months to awaked his magic essence. Still, after that, Marcus would have a far easier time with his work due to the way that his body constitution was built. He won't be a great magician or wizard, but it would make his life far easier if he knows a couple of spells.

Seeing the looks on Marcus's face, the little girl looks down. She knows that her request will never be answered. This man wasn't an adventurer. He was just a merchant. Yet, if no one helps her get back her mama, who's going to look after them? Her little sister was just born three weeks ago. Ever since the goblin took away her mama, her sister had been drinking the sheep milk that was saved underground her house. And she herself was eating preserved food that her mama and papa had made three months ago.

She knows that soon, she will die from hunger and her baby sister will soon follow. Yet, as an older sister, she was going to stay strong and protect her baby sister with her life. She will not go before her. But without her mama to help them, what can she do? The food underground was already near its end, and the milk won't last that much longer without any magic replenish. And she herself has never learned how to do so or do so before.

I must say, this little girl's very sensitive. Her aura was very pure and yet her emotional stress and traumas were... well hidden. She has a goal and a will to see it through. Her resolves were strong and flexible... Which was something that anyone who would succeed has in spade. This girl was not in fate to died this early in her life at all.

Fine. If Marcus cannot help this girl, then I will. It wasn't the first time that I did such a thing and will not be the last time, either.

"Little girl, what is your name?" I asked the girl as I tried to not be intimidated. Marcus's eyes were shining with curiosity at my action. On the roads during this quest, the merchants have already learned about my abilities and know what kind of man I am. So, Marcus knew that I hate troublesome stuff- yet, I approach this little girl with my question, so of course, he was going to be curious.

She blinks her eyes a couple of times before she answered, "Novelle, my name is Novelle." She softly answered.

"And you little sister? What's her name?" I asked, trying not to be intimidating. Since this little girl was very sensitive, she might feel the natural intimidating aura from me.

"Her name is Annabelle, she is three weeks old!" The girl brightened up so fast that it cause Marcus to widen his eyes in shock. We both can tell that Novelle loves and adored her baby sister very much. The fact that this girl was still this good-hearted, it's a miracle. All the other kids were all affected in a way that causes their heart and nature to turned slightly dark. Yet, Novelle's heart was still pure and bright. Her traumas and suffering were there but she wore them like a well-aged old lady who has already seen through all kinds of lives. She was affected by this event but she didn't let it control her emotions and heart. What a girl...

What astonished me the most was the fact that this girl, was not naive at all. She has this internal wisdom and emotional intelligence within her heart and soul that prevented her from being too optimistic but it also provided her with a view of auspicious for the future. This kind of girl will make herself into something big in the future.

"Alright, Novelle, do you want to form a contact with me? If you do, I will help you find your mother, and kill all the goblins that took her away," I asked the little girl. Marcus's eyes widen so wide but he hesitates to stop me.

I know that I took this mission as an escort for him so he has the right to stop me but he didn't. Yep, as I thought, Marcus actually hopes that I would be able to do something about this situation. It's just that as a nobleman, he doesn't have the necessary channel and resources to help out in this situation. If that man was here, he wouldn't even wait for Novelle to asked for help. He would have already gone to the caused of this situation and obliterated the cause themselves already. This was because this kingdom, this place, here, belongs to the Royalty of this Kingdom. As such, the citizens are their people too. And Tian- I mean, Prince Yui has always been a little possessive of the people that he views as his. Especially me... So, if it was him, he wouldn't wait for the Novelle to asked him at all.

However, this is me that we're talking about. I don't do things that are troublesome for me without a clause. I especially am not a good person either. So, yes, there's a reason why I decided to save this girl and her family.

Not only that but because of Marcus, I now have some hope for the nobleman of this world.

This man doesn't look down on commoners even though he was a noble. A low-rank noble but a noble nonetheless. So, there are nobles like this man too and not just wicked-sinister-manipulated nobles. If only every noble are like Sir Marcus and not power hunger, look down on people, then I admit that I would probably tie myself to a house in this Kingdom with no problem. However, such a thing was not realistic.

"What kind of contact? A slave contract? But both me and Annabelle are so small. We can't help you with works," Novelle looks confused as she replied.

Yep. The common sense in this world was a little too strong. Even little girls like her understand what is a Slavery Contacts. But no, what I am planning for the two girls wasn't slavery. After all, they both are too small for any manual labor works that slaves normally do. Not to mention, I have no need for manual labor since the kids at home had already done all that I need. Even though they aren't slaves. And if I ever needed Slavery, then there are better options out there.

"No, this isn't a Slavery Contact. It is a Live-In Employee Contact. Your mother's good at making small metal threads right?" I asked. I had noticed that the house of this little girl was protected by a lot of wires traps. Small piano like wires that will do more than just stopping any goblins passing by due to the magic embodiment within the wire themselves.

The little girl nodded, confused as to why this mister was asking about her mother.

"That's great. I want to form a Live-In Employee Contact with you, your little sister and your mother once I saved her. This contact is for you, as the older sister who had a request for your mother's rescue, and for your sister, to live in with me to work for me for 5 years. The salary is between 25-30 coppers per day. Food and board are included. For your mother, it will be 35 copper per day with boarding only. If you accept this request, I will fill out the paperwork and had Sir Marcus witness it." I asked the girl. Explaining to her why she has the power to control the initiation of this contract.

Both Marcus and the little girl's eyes widened so wide that it makes both of them look like idiots. The adorable kind of idiots but idiots nonetheless.

"Well?" I asked with a tilt of my head. I don't have much patient and time to waste on this topic if I wanted to save this little girl's mother fast.

The girl startled and nodded so fast that her heads look like it was going to snap off.

"Okay," I nodded as I take out the Personal Contract Form from the Adventurer's Guild paperwork that I have in my rental backpack and start writing on it. Afterward, I give it to Marcus for him to sign as a witness and then have Novelle drop one drop of her blood onto it to seal our deal.

A small tattoo like insignia formed on her wrist in the form of a small star. This signified that the contacts are now formed and intact. Since it is an Employee Contacts with a time limit of 5 years, and a salary of 25-30 copper coins per day, this isn't a Slavery Contract. Although there is a couple of restriction placed on her and her sister, she will have the rights of a Free-Man, and not a slave.

If they ever found themselves to want the end of this contract, then they will have to pay me 10 large gold coins for each of them to nullified this contract. Otherwise, this magic contract will be in effect for as long as it stated.

This means that from now on, Novelle and her sister are my people. And my people are protected from other natural caused such as this situation.

For free.

Now, I have a reason to start moving against those monsters that took Novelle's mother away without having to restrict myself.

Well, what can I do? This World's Core has pleaded me already to not move recklessly and I had already agreed to her plead. But with this reason as my clauses, even the World's Core can't stop me. Not that she could from the beginning...