Chapter 29: Batlos

[System: You have arrived in the [Batols Kingdom].]

Pooooo—!

“We’ve arrived! Everyone, hurry and get off…!”

With a short shake, the ship came to a stop.

The sailors quickly lowered the anchor and blew the horn to announce that they had finally arrived at their destination.

As the gangplank was laid down, the people on the ship began to disembark one by one.

Paul and Khan mixed in with them and naturally got off the ship.

The people were staring at them so obviously that they had to quicken their pace as if running away.

“Phew.”

After dealing with the explorers, Captain Roland Pamp was overjoyed.

In terms of quest contribution, it was as if Khan had caught them all, so the captain rushed over to the two, grabbed their hands, and thanked them.

It seemed he was scared of Khan, so he grabbed Paul’s hand, who was standing next to him, and shook it.

A message appeared in Paul’s vision that the captain’s favorability had greatly increased, and he received 1,000 gold as a reward.

He was a little dazed by the unexpectedly large amount.

The ship’s fare was only 1 gold…

The other people received 50 gold each.

Some of them were dissatisfied, but they couldn’t complain.

The voyage wasn’t over yet.

The captain wanted to express more of his gratitude, but thankfully, that didn’t happen because the sailors dragged the captain away with their injured bodies.

If they hadn’t, the captain would have rambled on with his thanks, disguised as chatter, until the ship docked in Batols.

If that had happened, who would be the next person to be thrown off the ship…

The sailors probably sensed that and dragged the captain away to prevent an accident.

“Hmm, shall we get out of here before it gets annoying?”

“Yes.”

Paul took Khan’s hand and hurried out of the port.

The port of Batols, ‘Babylon’, had significantly more people than Flora, so they could easily mix into the crowd with just a little movement.

People were carrying luggage and selling seafood here and there.

Khan seemed to have been captivated by the scenery, which was different from Flora’s, and kept looking around as he walked, following Paul.

Unlike the cold Flora, which was located at the edge of the continent and had unmelted perennial snow, Batols, located a little further south, had very warm weather and was full of greenery.

There were a total of four entrances to Babylon, but only one of them was on the way to Balona.

The two passed through the guards protecting the city walls and left Babylon.

Only after they had put some distance between them did they gradually slow down and walk on a rather quiet road.

Beyond the city walls that surrounded Babylon, a lush forest stretched out.

This place, covered in deep greenery, was also simply a pretty road, so Paul felt good for no reason.

It would take another three or four hours to get to his housing in Balona.

The weather was just right for a walk.

Paul picked a small flower blooming on the side of the road and put it in Khan’s hair.

It didn’t suit him at all because of the mask, so he couldn’t help but laugh.

Then, saying he was bored, he took out a ukulele this time and walked, plucking it.

As he walked backward facing Khan, Khan’s gaze was also fixed on Paul.

“Lalala~ lala~♪”

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

The sound of horse hooves was heard from behind the two.

It was not long after they had left Babylon.

It was Paul, who was walking backward, who spotted the merchant caravan.

He naturally led Khan to the side of the road, thinking they would pass by.

Neigh!

“Whoa, whoa!”

But breaking Paul’s expectations, the three merchant carriages stopped next to the two.

At that, Paul stared blankly at the carriages, and a guard who got off his horse asked for their understanding.

Soon after, the carriage door opened, and a middle-aged man got out from inside.

“Well, hello there. I am ‘Adoras Luper’ of the ‘Kooker Company’.”

The middle-aged man introduced himself, stroking his long beard.

“Um, hello?”

Paul greeted him in a daze.

“Yes, you were a bard, weren’t you? I don’t know if you remember, but we were on the same ship. I enjoyed your performance and dance very much.”

“Oh, thank you…?”

“Ah, don’t look at me so strangely. I just happened to see you on my way and struck up a conversation.”

Adoras smiled and waved his hand.

At that, Paul replied playfully.

“Hey, I thought you were going to offer me a ride.”

“Hoho, that’s not a bad idea. If we’re going the same way.”

“We’re going to Balona!”

“Oh, thankfully, our paths overlap. We’re going to ‘Asro’, beyond Balona. Then I can give you a ride to Balona.”

“Wow! Thank you! My feet were starting to hurt!”

Paul clapped his hands and rejoiced.

In fact, his feet weren’t really hurting.

He had just been playing <Arcana Chronicles> for a longer time than he expected, so he was mentally tired.

If he had been alone, he would have already logged out and then some, but since Khan was with him, it was difficult to log out carelessly.

And if he got a ride on a carriage or a horse, he would arrive earlier, right?

Soon, two mercenaries on horseback approached at Adoras’s command.

It seemed to mean that they should ride behind them.

But Paul was troubled.

“Uh… um, I’m sorry! My companion is shy, so I don’t think we can ride separately…”

“Oh my, then you can ride on one horse together. Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“Of course!”

The mercenary, who received Adoras’s order, got off his horse and handed the reins to Paul.

Paul gave a short thank you, then stroked the mane of the horse he would be riding and said, “Hello.”

The horse rubbed its head against him as if in response.

“It seems the horse likes you too.”

As Paul lightly mounted the horse and took the reins, Khan also got on the horse.

Paul took the hands of Khan, who was seated behind him, and made him hug his waist tightly.

“Hold my waist tight. Okay?”

Seeing Khan nod in understanding, Paul leaned his body comfortably against his chest.

Then Adoras got on the carriage.

As the stopped carriage moved again, the horse with the two of them on it carefully followed beside it.

Adoras, who had his arm on the open window of the carriage, spoke to Paul.

“Actually, you see. There’s a rumor going around that bandits have been appearing on this road lately. Well, it wasn’t a very reliable rumor, but there’s always a chance.”

Adoras’s gaze passed over Paul and went to Khan.

The way he looked him up and down as if evaluating a product was so unpleasant that Paul let out a hollow laugh.

“I saw this one’s skills on the ship. If something like that really happens, I’ll have to ask you for a favor. I’ll reward you handsomely… what do you say?”

“Hmm, okay! Thanks to you, we got a ride on a horse. Right?”

“Yes.”

While answering cheerfully, Paul was actually thinking in the back of his mind that if something like that really happened, he would abandon the merchants and run away.

The commotion on the ship was enough.

***

When first logging into <Arcana Chronicles>, a player must first designate a starting kingdom.

This starting region is primarily determined by race, and then they choose from the available kingdoms.

In Paul’s case, since he was a newly added race, he had no choice and was immediately sent to the ‘Forest of the World Tree’ as his starting region.

It is the kingdom of the elves.

There, thanks to the blessing of the World Tree, the greenery never fades throughout the four seasons, and it was a place full of life under the giant trees that soared high into the sky.

It was such a beautiful place that it couldn’t be described with words, so it was also a region that ranked high among the must-visit attractions in <Arcana Chronicles>.

However, basically, the entry of other races is prohibited.

As an exception, if you had a title related to elves, you could enter.

Of course, you weren’t very welcome.

On top of that, it was a place where unauthorized outsiders were killed on sight as a rule.

Well, wouldn’t you have to go anywhere with that much determination?

Despite that situation, there were not a few players who risked their lives to go and see that great nature because they wanted to see it with their own eyes.

And the ‘Batols Kingdom’, where Paul is currently located, was located a little away from all the kingdoms on the continent.

Looking at the map, it’s a distance that makes you wonder, ‘Why is this one all alone?’

Thanks to that, this is a land that has not yet experienced war.

Since there were so many kingdoms, it is said that wars between kingdoms over territory were frequent in the early days of the game.

It’s a sad story for the NPCs living here, but all those wars were a piece of content for the players.

And these wars were also a battle for territory among the top players.

The quests players received during a war were on such a large scale that they were called ‘Continental Quests’.

Since there were no restrictions on quest participation, any player in the vicinity could participate.

Players belonging to a kingdom where a war broke out were given rewards and penalties to the winners and losers respectively, and players from unrelated kingdoms could choose one of the two and participate in the war as a mercenary.

In Paul’s case, he wasn’t playing <Arcana Chronicles> when wars were rampant, and during the time he was playing <Arcana Chronicles>, there had never been a war on the continent.

The reason Paul knew the situation so roughly was thanks to the bard NPCs he met while wandering around here and there without a destination, and his real-life friend who was obsessed with <Arcana Chronicles>.