Book 2: Chapter 286
Book 2: Chapter 286
‘Did he use Warp to leave?’
This was the guess Lukas made as he felt the flow of the surrounding mana.
It also seemed that his sense had been severely blunted. After all, Warp was a 7-star spell. Originally, it would have been impossible for him to not immediately notice when a spell of such a level was being used. Regardless of whether he was asleep or not.
‘…first things first.’
He wanted to find out whether Peran had completely left the journey, or whether he was only going to be absent for a short while.
Lukas walked around the camp for a while before finding Rina handling documents near the main carriage.
As she was the highest authority in the group besides Peran, he thought that she would have some idea about Peran’s whereabouts.
“Excuse me.”
“…what is it?”
Rina shot him a glance from the corner of her eye.
There was also a hint of annoyance in her voice. Had he done something to this woman?
That couldn’t be it. After all, this was Lukas’ first time actually talking to her.
“Do you know where the man named Peran went?”
“Why are you asking about that?”
“He is my saviour.”
Suddenly, a loud laugh was heard.
“Puhahaha. What saviour?”
It wasn’t Rina who was speaking so rudely. It was a mercenary who had suddenly appeared beside her. His bald head, which didn’t have a single strand of hair on it, glittered in the sun.
“You’re just worried because your strong supporter has disappeared. Isn’t that it?”
“…”
Lukas had a subtle feeling at that moment. Perhaps you could call it longing.
How long had it been since he’d had such a childish argument?
Not knowing how to react, he remained silent, but Rina opened her mouth at that moment.
“Hey, can’t you see that we’re talking?”
“Ah, sorry ‘bout that.”
With a chuckle, the mercenary shrugged before swaggering off. Rina looked at him with a sullen expression for a moment before turning back to Lukas.
“Sir Peran had to leave because of an urgent matter. He probably won’t be able to come back any time soon.”
“I see. Understood.”
“…and.”
Rina pressed her fingers to her temples for a moment before adding.
“While it was certainly uncalled for, what you just heard wasn’t entirely wrong. As you can see, I don’t have enough deterrent power to protect you.”
Then she left without waiting to hear his response.
Lukas, who was left alone, finally understood his situation to an extent.
Right.
It seemed that he was being looked down upon now.
* * *
Lunch that day.
During the meal.
“Hey, cripple leg.”
“…”
Lukas turned to look over. It was the bald mercenary that had argued with him before when he was talking to Rina.
“Are you talking to me?”
“Is there someone else I could be talking to besides you?”
He looked around as he said that and his fellow mercenaries snickered.
In fact, calling him a ‘cripple’ wasn’t exactly wrong. After all, Lukas’ legs weren’t working properly at the moment.
Instead of responding, Lukas scooped a spoonful of stew into his mouth.
“Ha.”
“This bastard doesn’t even have respect.”
The mercenaries all frowned and swore at him, but none of them made any openly threatening movements. He didn’t think it was because they were being patient or sensible. Instead, it just meant that Peran’s influence still had some effect even though he was no longer with the group.
Nevertheless, they were going too far.
That day alone, Lukas was caught up in no less than ten large and small disputes. From tripping him when he was walking to spraying him with water. There was even a time when he was almost stabbed by a dagger.
Nevertheless, Lukas wasn’t upset by this, instead, he found it a bit refreshing.
That night.
Lukas had basically been kicked out of the luggage compartment and was forced to sleep outdoors.
In addition to that, he was made to suffer because the bald mercenary, who slept right beside him, snored louder than a chainsaw.
“…”
After a while, he got up from his spot and looked down at the man laying defenceless beneath him.
Paak!
Then he kicked him.
“Urk!”
The mercenary quickly got to his feet, his wide eyes looked around in every direction.
Surprisingly, his reaction had been quite fast. It seemed that despite his looks, this mercenary could at least be considered second class.
“Wh-, what the hell?!”
After looking around for a while, the mercenary’s gaze finally landed on Lukas.
“Were you the bastard that did that?”
“That seems to be the case.”
“Ha, haha. Huhaha!”
The mercenary let out a laugh as if he’d gone mad before stopping. With a murderous glint in his eyes, he bent down and picked up his axe.
“…you’re finished, you bastard. I’ll turn you into minced meat right here.”
“You want to fight me?”
“Are you really saying that like you don’t know?”
“Well, I don’t mind, but don’t you think you should do your duty before that?”
“What kind of bullshit are you sprouting now?!”
Instead of answering, Lukas pointed behind the mercenary.
As if there was someone there.
“You crazy bastard. Who do you think would fall for such an obvious-”
Twang-
The mercenary stopped talking. His cheek tingled slightly as something flew past his head before hitting the carriage.
Pak!
As something else flew past, he finally caught a glimpse of what it was.
An arrow.
“Huh?”
“You don’t even know how to welcome guests.”
In an instant, the sounds of bows being released and arrows flying through the air came from all directions.
Twang, twang-
The surroundings also became brighter.
The mercenaries, who were keeping watch, immediately realised the situation and shouted.
“F-, fire arrows!”
“We’re under attack! Everyone, wake up-!”
The bald mercenary looked around blankly for a moment before quickly coming to his senses. Without giving another glance to Lukas, he immediately rang off to assist his comrades.
Although he might not be the best at his job, he still knew what he needed to do in times like this.
“…”
Lukas, who was left alone, looked around.
After the wave of arrows, people who appeared to be bandits appeared. Their numbers were quite large, and their movements were surprisingly coordinated.
He had a feeling that they would not be able to easily overcome this attack. Soon, there would be a river of blood.
In such a situation, he couldn’t just stand around defenceless.
Although it was earlier than he anticipated, he needed to quickly find a way to defend himself.
With that thought in mind, Lukas headed to the luggage compartment of a nearby carriage. The inside was a mess. This was because a few arrows had managed to get into the compartment and damage the parcels. Thankfully, this allowed him to easily see their contents.
“This…”
It turned out that most of the items being shipped were weapons and armour.
The quantity was also much more than he expected.
In fact, he couldn’t help but wonder how a single carriage could hold this much. Considering the fact that there were still three carriages left, it wouldn’t be surprising if their intended goal was to supply a small-scale battle.
In any case, this was good news for Lukas. He looked at the various weapons that were piled on the floor, but in truth, there wasn’t even a choice from the very beginning.
Without hesitation, he leaned over.
Sssng-
And picked up a sword.
(TL: Is Lukas going to use Lucid’s sword techniques now?)