Chapter 4 - The Haunting at Hamsel's rest 1

I snapped awake as our carriage out of town hit a bump in the road. I'd beenleant against the wall, while Master Owl snored to my right, and theVanguard we'd hired sat with her arms crossed opposite us. Further downthe uncomfortable benches of the carriage sat other passengers who wereheading in the direction of Hamsel's Rest, though they would probably ridethe carriage past the place, as it only lay a hundred kilometres or so outsideof Lundia. Given the sort of roadwork one could expect in this world, itseemed that what would've been close to a two-hour car ride instead tookeight hours by horse-drawn carriage. But then again, we were also making afew stops and detours along the way and moving no faster than twentykilometres an hour."You're awake," the woman opposite me stated in her deep voice, thenhanded me something. I looked down and saw that it was her Guild Card. Iblinked in surprise for a moment, then frantically reached into my bag andhanded her mine in return."Thank you," she said in a tone that was very much at odds with theimage I had of her up to now: a stoic-but-dangerous warrior.RANA THORNROLE: VanguardRANK: SeekerGENDER: FemaleAGE: 23ACUMEN: EDEXTERITY: CINTELLIGENCE: DLUCK: DPACT: ESOUL: ESTRENGTH: SVITALITY: SSOUL COLOUR:RedSKILLS:OmniglotVanguard IVOffensive DefenderWar God"Damn," I mumbled.I was surprised to see that she had two S-tier attributes like Harleigh,although her overall layout was very unbalanced. Part of me felt a strangekinship with her, given that she also had several E-tier attributes like me.Although I didn't think it prudent to ask, I also wondered what kind of skillWar God was, as it sounded very powerful.I looked up and saw that Rana smiled slightly, as she read my card. "It'sreally true—about the F-tier Luck."It suddenly struck me how beautiful her face was. She had rosy lips andreddish-brown freckles below her eyes and on her nose, as well as darkgolden irises, with her facial structure soft and charming. I'd been way toofocused on her aura, menacing gear, and attitude to notice, but when shelooked up and our eyes met, I couldn't help but look away, feeling heat riseto my head."I look f-forward to working with you," I stuttered as I returned the cardto her, still trying to avoid eye contact."Smooth," Master Owl whispered from where he pretended to sleepnext to me.My red face became even redder.I thought we were getting close to our destination, when suddenly MasterOwl stood up from his seat, stretched his legs, and then went over andbanged on the wall I was leant against.It took a few knocks before the little sliding panel was opened and thedriver asked, "What is it? Hamsel's Rest is still a ways off.""Stop the carriage," the chubby Exorcist said calmly. "There's anambush awaiting us around the next bend in the road."The message seemed to take a second before it was absorbed, but thenthe whole carriage rocked to a sudden halt, and those passengers farthestdown the two benches were asking if we'd reached this or that destination."What kind of ambush?" asked the Vanguard."Goblins," he replied dismissively. "Go deal with them, won't ya?"Rana nodded seriously and rose from the bench. After strapping hershield to her left arm, she walked down the length of the carriage to thedoor at the other end, lowering her head the entire time as she was too tallto stand upright in the narrow space.I stood up to follow her, but Owl grabbed my arm."Bad idea, boyo. They may just be goblins, but you've got no way todefend yourself, and someone like her is best served not having to babysit aweakling while doing her thing."Moments later, the driver stepped off the seat, and I moved to the littlesliding panel that was still open, staring out of it. I saw as Rana strode pastthe front of the carriage and the two horses, and then, when she was somemetres out, she shouted a wordless challenge.I had no idea what a goblin was supposed to look like, though I wasfairly confident I'd read the word in a few books. Regardless, I wasn'texpecting the child-sized muscular green creatures that came charging inresponse to the Vanguard's taunt. They were covered in dark-green fur, andthe skin beneath was a lighter shade of green, while their eyes were dirtyyellow with tiny black dots for pupils. They had large drooping ears likegoats that were also covered in fur, as well as large, hooked noses that wereso big they seemed almost comical in comparison to their child-sized faces.Their hands and feet were, like their noses, also far too big in comparison tothe rest of their bodies.As they screamed bloody murder, they exposed their overly widemouths, which were full of blocky molars like those of an herbivore. Intheir hands were primitive clubs and spears of wood, and they wore simpleclothes of woven leaves or hide, with several sporting jewellery such assimple necklaces adorned with teeth or iron and brass piercings in theirnoses and ears. One of them also had a golden ring on his overlong pinkiefinger.Like a pack of rabid dogs, the five goblins leapt for Rana, but sheimmediately caught one mid-jump with a jab of her double-edge shortswordthrough its neck before spinning around to slam her shield into anotherone's face, sending it on a collision course with a tree, where it crashed intothe trunk with a loud crack and didn't stand up again.Watching through the small panel, it was easy to pretend that I was justwatching some kind of movie and that I wasn't a part of this. But as shecontinued to battle the crazed monsters, the overwhelming stench of filthand the coppery tang of their spilled blood washed over me. I didn't lookaway from the carnage she inflicted on them, nor did I flinch when shesevered the arm of one or cut another clean in half along its waistline. I wasfrozen in place by the sight, but I realised that I felt no pity for theseinhuman creatures and almost relished in every kill Rana made with herskilled movements.The carriage floor under me creaked and rumbled as Master Owlwalked down to the door and hopped out. Not knowing what else to do, Ifollowed out after him, massaging my sore legs as I landed on the dirt roadwe'd been travelling along for hours. The rest of the passengers peered outfrom the back and the open panel I'd been using.I walked over to the pair, who were in the middle of rummaging throughthe dead goblins. It was a grim sight, I thought, to see them looting the deadjust like that. I pinched my nose, as the stench wafted over me when I drewclose."Look at this one," Owl said, lifting a necklace he had taken from theone which had been cut in half. The necklace was a simple twine string thatran through six silver coins that had been hole-punched."The Adventurers' Guild take those at face value," Rana replied. Theway she spoke with such confidence made me realise she was more thanjust older than me. In fact, she had the air of a hardened veteran, eventhough she was just twenty-three. I supposed that would be the same casefor me if I lived to her age in this world as well, though by all accounts thatwas statistically improbable."It's been too long since I fought normal monsters," Owl replied."What are you doing?" I asked, unable to keep the question to myself."What does it look like, boyo? We're looting.""Looting the dead… Isn't that…?""What?" he asked sharply, turning to face me."Don't be so hard on him," Rana defended me. "You're new, right,Temaru?""Yeah. This is all really crazy to me."She nodded understandingly. "That's how this world is. We have to dounpleasant things in this world in order to survive." I felt like there wasmore truth to that statement than just encompassing looting the dead."I wonder what goblins were doing so close to the city," Owl remarked."They're usually closer to the mountains. I thought they knew better than toget too close to civilisation like this.""I heard rumours of a Hobgoblin Lord in the area," she replied."Hm, maybe that's what Harleigh and his group were sent to deal with,"he ventured."Harleigh? He's around here?" she asked, and it was as though she hadstars in her eyes.No wonder she'd be head over heels for a guy like him.Suddenly Owl kicked me in the shin. "What are you spacing out for?Help us out here.""It's okay. He doesn't need to," Rana replied, once again defending me."Remember your place, sweetheart. This boy's my apprentice, and he'sgoing to die if he's coddled and not shown the harsh reality of this world,"Owl said icily. I hated the way fear curled my insides at the way heinflected his voice. He was just a chubby old man, so why did he sound sodangerous like that?The Vanguard lowered her head."I'll help," I said, trying not to put her on the spot too much.I went over to the goblin that I'd noticed wearing the gold ring.Although it was the height of a ten-year-old child, it was still so big upclose. Bile rose in my throat as I knelt on the dirt road, staining the greytrousers Harleigh had bought for me. Despite trying my best to breathethrough my mouth, the stench that the creature gave off was sooverwhelming it seeped into my nostrils and stuck there like a malignentity.Swallowing hard, I quickly lifted its right hand, which was somehowbigger than mine. I felt the greasy fur on its finger slide over my skin as Ipulled the golden ring off its pinkie finger.I quickly stood back up and moved over to a nearby tree, where I pukedmy breakfast out onto the grass. Emptying my stomach like that sent a jabof hunger through my chest and up my throat, reminding me that I hadn'teaten any lunch. I puked again."Nicely spotted for your first time," Owl praised me with a heavy pat on myback, almost triggering another puking convulsion from me. We were backinside the carriage and would soon arrive at our destination. He was holdingthe dirty golden ring in the air, grinning.The other passengers in the carriage were giving us dirty looks."Doesn't that belong to Rana?" I asked boldly.The Vanguard had been quiet and brooding since Master Owl hadscolded her. She hadn't even argued when the old man had taken all the lootfrom the dead goblins. Surprisingly, they had just left the corpses on theside of the road. I wondered if that was common."Party rules," Owl replied. "We are paying Lady Thorn for her services,so the looting rights and distribution fall to us, and, since you're myapprentice, that means I get the final say."That seems unfair when she did all the work and we just watched…"Isn't her last name Rana?" was all I asked in return.Owl grinned, and suddenly the Vanguard smiled as well."Thorn is my last name," she replied meekly. "From your reaction, Itake it that your name is Ryūta and not Temaru."I felt embarrassed by the realisation. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bepresumptuous by calling you by your given name."Owl was laughing mightily at this point, finding joy in my discomfort."Don't worry about it," she replied amicably. "I will call you by yourfirst name, and you may do the same."I was too embarrassed to say anything, so I just nodded.The three of us disembarked the carriage and watched it take off down thedirt road that ran through the vast forest we'd been travelling through prettymuch since leaving Lundia. We found ourselves at a fork in the road, and aweatherworn sign pointed left, reading "Hamsel's Rest," while the rightpointing sign stated "Ochre," with one pointing back the way we'd comesaying "Lundia."The road going to Hamsel's Rest looked unkempt and overgrown, asthough it had not been traversed by carriages and horses in many months."How far is it on foot from here?" I asked."Twenty kilometres or so. I hope you brought proper footwear."I looked down at my hide boots. "These are the only ones I have," Ireplied.Owl nodded. "Better than those ridiculous sandals I saw you wearing onthe first day."I frowned, warmth staining my face. Not like I had a heads-up aboutbeing transported to this goddamn world and could pick the mostappropriate outfit!Then his words fully sank in, and I realised that he'd been watching mesince the moment I'd arrived…"All right. Let's head out, then.""Do you mind if I get something to eat first?""Do you have enough to share?" he asked in return.What are you, a middle schooler!?"No," I lied, not wanting him to take the food I'd bought to last the nextfew days."A shame. I didn't bring anything," he replied."Nor I," Rana admitted.I looked incredulously at them both."How are you planning on getting food then?"The Vanguard shrugged. "I was thinking of hunting something fordinner."I looked to the old man, who just shrugged. "I was counting on herdoing that.""That seems really irresponsible," I scolded them both."Eh, don't be so serious," Master Owl replied lackadaisically, whichonly irritated me. "The village ought to have some stuff we can take, andthere's a river and a well, so we can get water.""Are you trying to die of dysentery?" I asked, dumbfounded.He grinned, exposing dirty, unbrushed teeth. "You're pretty funny,pipsqueak."I was about to complain that he ought to take this seriously, consideringhow much he emphasised the dangers of this world, but then he put a handon my back and pushed me forward down the left-going road."Let's get a move on; we're wasting daylight."I was thoroughly exhausted when we arrived at Hamsel's Rest. Afterdealing with the mercenary contract and everything yesterday, I had done abit of practising for my Meditation and Repel, but no physical training.Prior to coming here, I'd also never been much of an outdoors person. I wasa slow runner and had no stamina, though I had been okay in sports likebaseball when it came to pitching and batting, since my hand-eyecoordination wasn't bad.Going from my lazy shut-in days when I studied for next year's examsto this sudden twenty-kilometre hike was a bit too tough on me, and I fearedthat I'd be left behind if I couldn't keep up with my "mentor" and Rana.Somehow, even the chubby old man had no trouble walkinguninterrupted across the hilly forested terrain, while I was wheezing and myvision was blurry by the end. I had been glad to at least have my staff tolean on and wondered if the design was designed specifically to work wellas a walking stick.Master Owl complained about the noise that the bells made, but after acouple of hours they settled down, apparently no longer responding wildlyto my errant soul energy.The outskirts of the village were idyllic and peaceful, though tall grassgrew around the quaint wooden houses and community buildings, with afew places clearly infested with animals and plants within as well. It wasclear that the place had been abandoned for a while.A bubbling river ran around and through the village, and there was evena small centre where a few market stalls had been left to the elements. Alarge blossoming tree took up a lot of space between them and had offwhite flowers that cast a faint spicy sweetness into the air. As I lookedaround and we explored the place, I struggled to fathom why such a niceplace had been abandoned.We came to a part of the village where crops had been left to growuncontrollably and livestock might have been tended, though their stablesand pens were now empty. No one lived in Hamsel's Rest any longer, unlessyou counted the wild animals nesting in the houses. For some reason, therewere also no monsters. We had encountered goblins so close to this place,and yet none of them had taken it over, despite it seeming like a great placeto settle down."Oy, pipsqueak!" Owl called accusatorily. "Why aren't your goggleson? We're on the job here, buddy. Don't let your guard drop until we'vefound a safehouse!"For our entire trip here, he had worn his, but I had taken them offyesterday and just worn them around my neck since. After all, they werequite uncomfortable, and the brass fitting was discolouring my skin a faintgreen, making me worry the metal was toxic. I wondered if his goggleswere the reason that he had seen the ambush coming, although that wouldmean that he had the ability to look through objects…I frowned, wondering why he was being so strict all of a sudden, butthen I pulled the goggles up from where they hung around my neck, andwhen I secured them on the back of my head and opened my eyes, Isuddenly took a step back and fell on my ass."Wh-wh-what…"All around me, covering the ground, the buildings, the grass, the stalls,the tree—everything—were glowing white-blue foot- and handprints. I hadsomehow forgotten that my job here was actually really dangerous.I recalled Æmos's words.Only 20 percent complete their first Exorcism Quest…