Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 5. A short but eventful stop at Meir.
After over a week of traveling, they finally reach the halfway point of their journey, deciding to pass through the city of Mier. Gray and the others look on outside the city in surprise and wonder.
Gray: “We’re finally here. Hey Edward, have the wheels felt a little looser than before?”
Edward: “They were tight when we left Greenvale, they've felt like this since…our third stop I think. And we’ve taken about five right? I guess the bolts loosened up but, I mean the carriage hasn’t been used in quite a while.”
Gray: “Do we need to check in?”
Soku: “We shouldn’t have to, it’s not another country or some sort of monument.”
Rosemary sneezes, wipes her dry eyes, and scratches a rash on her arm.
Gray: “You are not looking good.”
Rosemary: “I’m fine, Then what’s up ahead.”
Edward squints his eyes, looking on to see guards standing on the main road of Mier. Edward strolls up, stopping the carriage from speaking to the men.
Edward: “Why are their guards here?”
Guard: “There is a lot of Anarchist stuff going on lately…OH! I’m sorry sir!”
To Edward's surprise, all of the guards get down on one knee, praising him and the people within the carriage.
Guard: “I didn’t realize the crest, nor your identity. We are all truly sorry for disrespecting you, now you may pass through.”
Edward nods his head, a little shaken up by everything, though they still pass through as normal. Gray opens the window, curves around the outside of the carriage, and sits beside Edward.
Gray: “What was that about?”
Edward: “I dunno, guess we’re seen as royalty.”
Gray: “Cooool.”
They all look upon a city that they’d only heard of, and are all thinking the same thing “Eh, it’s okay I guess, I wasn’t expecting much so this is fine.” The city isn’t that large, being comparable to one of the four districts of Walgonia’s capital. And the city itself isn’t much to speak of, but it’s still a part of this world. Two to three-story reddish-brown brick buildings, shops small and large streets bustling with people, knights, and history. The cracked sidewalk was caused by the hundreds of people that have stepped on it, the hundreds of bricks put down by the people of the past. The grass that has forgotten to be cut, just enough culture to separate itself from anywhere else.
Gray: “Alright so how do we doin this? We’re getting good food, taking a good shower, and not some communal bath, and getting some good rest right?”
Edward: “We’ve camped a few times, and taken a few breaks, but we haven’t stayed at an inn now that I think about it.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Gray: “It takes longer to pack since we gotta wait for the innkeeper to wake up, camping easier.”
Edward: “Even with all the breaks, we’re still running a bit late. We can’t stay, just get what we need and we’ll head out, so no real shower sorry.”
Gray: “K, I’ll tell the others.”
Gray swings back into the carriage to inform the others. While he’s doing this, their carriage starts gaining recognition from the people. “Oh, are those nobles?” “That man who just crawled in the window, not very noble-like.” And somehow, all at once, everyone sees Edward's branded eye, and they all immediately recognize him as “Edward the End bringer.” This realization leads everyone to assume that the carriage is filled with the rest of Walgonia’s Heros. So once Edward finds a place to stop and get out, a crowd begins forming. They all get out of the carriage, but due to their notoriety, they’re all treated to an array of praise. Soku’s hair gets pulled, Gray’s face gets touched, Edward's muscles are stroked, and various men try to feel Rosemary up, all being stopped by her and the others thankfully. They’re all met with various forms of praise, all of them other than Peter, who is left untouched and looked at with confusion.
“Who’s that?” “Do I know him?” “A dark Elf?” All the questions that were presented to Peter, caused him to feel unneeded.
Peter: “Guys, I’ll just guard the carriage, you guys get the stuff as fast as you can!”
They all nod, other than Soku, then jolt off. Rosemary runs to a shop to buy bathing supplies, buckets, soap, etc. Soku uses her wind affinity to jump onto the roofs, just like she did back in her thieving days, wanting to get to a store to buy some food. Gray goes with her, following on the roofs right behind her. And Edward walks around, trying to give his legs something to do. So inside the carriage Peter does and gets nothing. Even Luna is getting more attention, with various treats and pets from the people, making her very happy. Peter stares at his feet for a bit, unable to figure out what he’s supposed to feel at the moment. Sadness? Anger? Embarrassment? Nothing but a distraction, a real one. This fact distracts him from paying attention to an unheard thief entering the carriage. He feels the weight of the carriage shift, but when he looks over, he’s met with a kick to the head, causing him to collapse to the floor. Gray feels something goes wrong, so he quickly runs back to the carriage. At the same time, the crowd watches as the thief crawls into the carriage, screaming “THIEF!” Once he’s inside. This alerts Edward, who is close by, so he runs full speed to the carriage. The tall, lanky man was wearing casual clothes and had a cigaret his mouth. With his location compromised, he dives out of the window, grabs one bag on his way out, and then tosses it into the crowd, being caught by a woman whose face is covered by wrappings. Edward and Gray arrive at the same time, with Soku blasting right past Gray.
Gray: “SOKU! GO AFTER THE FIRST GUY! EDWARD GETS THE GIRL, AND I GOT PETER!”
Edward: “YOU SURE, YOU’RE FASTER!”
Gray: “GO! IF PETER’S HURT, I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HEAL HIM, EVEN IF IT’S SLIGHTLY! I LEARNED THAT SPELL REMEMBER!?”
Soku dives into the crowd, using the wind around her to easily allow her bounce and jump off of the heads in the crowd. The woman runs through an alley, scaling the wall and blocking her path in an instant. Edward follows close behind, jumping onto the wall, and then kicking himself up. Once they’re both at the top of the three-story building, they take a second to look at each other. Edward faces an unknown enemy without any armor or a weapon, but he still has his immense strength. But at the sight of her hazel eyes, he recognizes her, though he doesn't know whose name to put the eyes to, as if he doesn't want to. And quicker than he can snap out of this self-induced trance, she pulls out a small wooden wand with a yellow crystal at the end.
Unknown assailant: “Lignim!”
A bright yellow light forms at the end of the wand, and just as quickly as it forms it shoots off. A short blast of lighting, slower than real lighting of course, but still fast. Then it hits Edward right in the chest, knocking him down and off the building, slamming against the ground, leaving him immobile. Under her long white dress shirt is a mercy dagger, which she tempts herself to use. But the thought of Gray, Rosemary, Soku, and all of Walgonia chasing her if she does so causes her to freeze, and begin walking away.
Unknown assailant: “You’re lucky you’re so cute.”
She leaves, running off, still holding onto the stolen bag.
Once Peter comes to, he’s surrounded by Gray and the others, lying on the carriage's benches. Gray flows mana around his aching head while whispering "Vortic". His mana transfigures and adjusts itself, turning a bright green and healing the some of the damage while taking away a brunt of the pain. While everyone scrounges around the carriage checking what got stolen, he looks at the carriage door, watching as knights block the carriage. His hearing begins fading in, and everyone’s attention is brought to him.
Rosemary: “Peter! You’re up!”
Peter: “Ugh…what happened…I saw this guy…and then WOOM!”
Gray: “We got robbed. Did you see what they stole?”
When Peter hears the words “We got robbed” all he can think about is a failure. He failed. He let them into the carriage because he was sulking, and due to his lack of strength, he couldn’t even defend himself. Tears flow from his eyes, causing everyone to feel bad for him, even Soku. Rosemary gives Peter a nice and soft hug, trying to console him.
Peter: “I’m…so…sorry.”
Gray: “Don’t cry about it, don’t worry.”
Soku: “Alright, we got everything from Mier that we need, do we know all we lost.”
Edward continues looking everywhere, freaking out more and more. This concerns the others, especially Peter.”
Gray: “You okay? Did you lose your bag? All it had was clothes in it right?”
Edward takes a deep breath, wipes the sweat off his brow, and consoles himself. He turns his head, about to answer why he’s reacting as he is, but with the look of sadness, regret, and shame covering Peter’s tear-covered face, he holds it back.
Edward: “Nothing, just a little jumpy because of that woman's attack. Now we’re late, so we gotta go!”
Edward moves to leave the carriage but is stopped by Gray, who stares Edward in the eyes. And without a word spoken, they both understand what’s happening. So Edward stays in the carriage while Gray drives it. He pats Luna's head, waves goodbye to all the citizens, says thank you to the guards, and leaves as fast as he can.
End of Chapter Five