Chapter 20: Ships

“You definitely went into the mountains alone, didn’t you?”

“…No? I didn’t!”

“Huh? Don’t lie. I remember it clearly. Not many people pass through here, but people wearing masks like you are even rarer, so I remembered. I’m sure you went in alone…”

Wonthes’s gaze shifted to Khan, who was standing quietly behind Paul.

As he remembered it, the man before him had definitely gone up the mountain alone.

The mask he was wearing now seemed a little different from the one then, but the overall outfit and atmosphere remained in his memory.

Flora had few outsiders, so security was lax, but conversely, they didn’t easily forget the faces of outsiders.

So when the man before him appeared with another person, he became suspicious.

The burly man might have gone up the mountain while he was on his shift change, but… he didn’t remember receiving such a report.

…Besides, the atmosphere emanating from the man who came with him was so gloomy.

A somewhat unsettling feeling arose on its own.

Wonthes’s hand unconsciously went to his waist.

As Wonthes strode forward, Paul reflexively stepped back.

“My companion came in separately later…! We happened to meet in the snowfield. That’s why we came together…!”

Paul stood as if to shield Khan with his own body.

It was a protective-looking gesture.

But the significant size difference between the two made it a rather ridiculous sight.

“Then can you prove your companion’s identity?”

“Uh…”

At those words, Paul felt as if sweat was running down his back, even though it was a game.

Players receive a simple identification card from the starting village.

Sometimes, they are asked to verify their identity like this, and that’s when they use it.

You can think of it as something like an ‘Adventurer’s Token’.

And there was no way Khan had something like that.

Paul’s eyes darted around.

‘What should I do? I didn’t expect the guard to remember me… Why does he have to remember something so useless! The mask I’m wearing now is different from the one I wore when I went in!

What should I do, should I run? No, if I do that, I’ll probably get caught before I get far…’

He searched for a way out and unconsciously looked up at Khan.

Just then, his eyes met Khan’s purple eyes, which were looking down at him.

‘Hmph.’

‘It seems the first thing I need to do when I get to the housing is to make a forged ID for Khan. I can’t have this. It feels like this will keep happening in the future.’

And for some reason, looking at the troubled Paul, Khan was contemplating.

He had been standing quietly behind him for now, thinking that even if he stepped forward, it wouldn’t be much help.

The man’s gaze on him was rather unpleasant, and the way he was furtively glancing and putting his hand on the scabbard at his waist was contemptible.

‘It would be easier to just kill him…’

Looking down at the round head pressed against his chest, Khan twitched his fingertips.

He was thinking of taking care of the nuisance if need be.

“…”

“…”

Just then, he met the eyes of Paul, who had tilted his head back to look up at him.

Khan guessed that the eyes looking at him were quite troubled, and that he was probably making a tearful face inside the mask.

‘So I must help.’

It was the moment he was about to take out the beloved sword he had put in his sub-space.

Thump, thump.

“What’s going on over there, Wonthes? Uh, where did [Terio] go, why are you alone?”

A man wearing the same uniform as Wonthes walked out from inside the village.

Wonthes’s face brightened at the sight of [Linter] approaching.

He thought it would be faster to ask him.

The person who had taken over when he had left his post was Linter.

“Ah! You’ve come at a good time, Linter! And Terio went to the restroom.”

“My goodness, but what if you’re alone? Hmm? But did something really happen?”

Linter paused at the sight of Paul and Khan, then gave Wonthes a look, telling him to explain.

“It’s nothing, but did that person pass by here after I changed shifts with you?”

Linter’s gaze turned to Khan.

Since there were few shift members, he usually stood guard when Wonthes was absent.

Linter stroked his chin in thought before answering a little later.

“Someone did pass by, right? But it was the middle of the night, and his face was covered by a deep hood, so I couldn’t see it. But if I had to compare, he was about that person’s size.”

“I-Is that so?”

At Linter’s answer, Wonthes felt a little embarrassed and scratched the back of his head.

He felt that he had been holding onto the wrong person.

And watching the situation unfold, Paul secretly let out a sigh of relief.

He didn’t forget to send a silent thank you to the guard who appeared at just the right time.

He didn’t know who he had been mistaken for, but he had to pass through here in this gap.

“Then, can we go now?”

“Ah, yes! My apologies.”

“Then, keep up the good work! Let’s go!”

As soon as the words of permission were given, Paul hooked his arm around one of Khan’s arms as if embracing it and walked into the village, feigning composure.

Thump, thump.

Trudge, trudge.

After walking quickly in silence for a while, Paul, who had confirmed that they had put some distance between themselves and the guard by heading to the back of a building, shouted quietly to Khan, “Run!” and then darted further inside.

‘It feels like all I’ve been doing all day is running,’ Paul thought.

He didn’t know when the lie he told the guard would be found out, so they had to get on a ship and leave this place before then.

The place they fled to, as if someone was chasing them, was the port where large and small ships were docked.

***

Meanwhile, Wonthes, who had been staring blankly at the spot where Paul and Khan had disappeared, sighed and grumbled to Linter for no reason.

“My goodness, Linter. You should have reported properly. I thought no one had passed by since you didn’t say anything when we changed shifts.

I ended up holding onto the wrong traveler… I hope nothing bad comes of this later. I don’t know if I’ll get an earful from the village chief for contributing to the decline in the number of travelers in this already deserted place.”

“Come on, do you think something like that will happen over something so trivial?”

Linter playfully patted Wonthes on the back a few times.

At that, Wonthes seemed to have regained his spirits and smiled, saying sheepishly.

“…Still, that traveler from earlier was a bit suspicious, wasn’t he? Wow, the atmosphere was really… For a moment, I thought a monster had come down, you know? The atmosphere was so dark and gloomy…”

“Look at this guy. How can you say such a rude thing, no matter what? Besides, there are no humanoid monsters on that snowy mountain, are there? Maybe underground, but those guys don’t come up to the surface, do they?”

“I was just, just saying.”

Just as Wonthes was chuckling and talking nonsense with Linter, a passerby walking straight towards them from the snowy mountain caught his eye.

‘Huh? A robe wrapped around his body, and that huge build…’

Wonthes momentarily looked back at Linter.

Linter also had his eyes wide open in surprise, looking at the approaching passerby.

“Uh…”

The passerby tilted his head at the sight of Linter, who had even pointed a finger without realizing it.

“Huh? Ah, hello. Nice to see you again today! Wow, you’re always working so hard. Then, keep up the good work!”

The passerby, who had cheerfully greeted Linter, disappeared into the village before anyone could stop him.

A silence fell between the two who were left behind.

…They had mistaken the person!

“Then, the person who passed by earlier was…”

“Let’s pretend we don’t know.”

“Is that okay?!”

“He’s already, already gone.”

“Agh, Linter—!”

At the same time that Wonthes was grabbing Linter by the collar and shaking him back and forth.

Paul and Khan had safely left the Flora region and boarded a ship heading for the ‘Batols Kingdom’.

***

“Everyone, hurry up!”

“Is this the last thing to load?”

“Yes! Once we load the goods from the Kooker Company here, we’re done!”

The area around the huge ship docked at Flora Port was extremely busy with preparations for departure.

And Paul and Khan were standing on the second-floor railing of that ship, watching the busy people.

A little while ago, the two had luckily found a cargo ship preparing to leave the island.

Since many people had already boarded the cargo ship, the two were also able to pay the fare to the captain and get on board without much trouble.

This ship was a cargo ship heading for the Batols Kingdom.

And as it happened, the place where Paul’s housing was located was ‘Balona’, the capital city at the center of the Batols Kingdom.

Since Batols was somewhat isolated from other kingdoms, people usually traveled through areas where gates were installed.

In <Arcana Chronicles>, ships were actually a very time-consuming means of transportation.

It took several days in game time, and at least a day in real time…

Unless it was absolutely necessary, ships in <Arcana Chronicles> were practically a monopoly of NPCs.

Well, Paul enjoyed traveling on foot, so he also liked taking ships and used them often.

But he had heard that this ship, called ‘Pamp No. 4’, was a direct route to Batols without using a gate.

Paul was momentarily puzzled when he first heard the captain’s words, but he didn’t have the luxury of waiting for another ship on Flora Island.