Chapter 21: The Merchant Guild and the Carriage Journey

I ended up heading toward the Grandra Borderlands together with Sir Richard, the knight.

Of course, only in my capacity as a church member, as a sister.

Even if I no longer acted as a noble lady, traveling alone with a young man like Sir Richard would not be appropriate.

That was less my own request and more consideration from Father Ryuse and Sir Richard.

We were allowed to ride together in the carriage of a merchant guild that was also heading for the borderlands.

“Thank you very much for allowing us to accompany you, everyone from the Librau Merchant Guild.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.
A ‘cargo’ like a sister and a knight is rare enough already.
And on top of that, the knight has the skills to act as a guard.
Good luck and real ability together—there’s no reason to refuse!”

The one laughing as she said that was the head of the Librau Merchant Guild, a woman.

“I’m Annabel.
Annabel Librau.
Nice to meet you, Sister Ellen, Sir Richard.”

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Annabel.”

The female guild head with pink hair looked to be around my own age.

For someone in charge of a merchant guild, she was quite young.

“Hm?
What is it?”

“Ah, no, I was just thinking how young you are.
For someone serving as a guild head, that is.”

“Ahaha!
‘Guild head’ is just a name.
I’m only entrusted with a small group split off from the main guild.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.
That’s why I can do business more freely, though.”

Well then.
She seemed like someone living quite a colorful life.

And so, we set off toward the borderlands together with the Librau Merchant Guild’s group.

Rather than heading straight there, it was a journey that passed through various villages along the way.

Sir Richard and I were not in a hurry, so we were accepted as “temporary members” of the guild, treating this as a learning experience.

Incidentally, we were paid a small wage as well.

Sir Richard aside, I hardly felt like I was contributing much to a carriage journey, though.

“What are you saying.
You can use healing magic, can’t you.
If something happens, we’ll be relying on you.
That’s part of what the money is for.”

“That’s… yes, if that’s the case.”

Indeed.
If I were on the paying side, I would want that too.

Still, actually being the one receiving money made me feel a little apologetic.

“If nothing happens and your worries stay just worries, that means the trip ended safely.
You should pray that you don’t get your turn.”

“That’s true as well.”

There’s no situation where having to use healing magic is preferable.

The goods handled by the merchant guild were varied.

As they moved from town to town, they judged demand and procured merchandise accordingly.

Because they did not stick to a single type of product, managing everything looked difficult.

I also ended up helping with that management.

I may be a former noblewoman, but I could still do sorting work like this.

The methods were a little different, though.
Well, it was only for a short while.

The Grandra Border Marquisate lies on the western side of the kingdom.

From the church where I had been staying, it was quite a distance.

As we continued traveling westward, westward, I gradually grew closer to the members of the Librau Merchant Guild and to Sir Richard.

“Man, a duke’s knight, huh.
You came from quite a place.”

“And to think it was Miss Ellen who healed the arm he couldn’t move.”

“That’s right.
She’s my benefactor for life.
I couldn’t even sleep with my feet pointing toward her.”

“No, well… um.”

It was more like accidental super-healing, so being thanked like that made me uncomfortable.

“Doesn’t really look like someone all that amazing, though.”

“Fufu.
In truth, it was just luck that I happened to have some talent.
There’s nothing great about me, it was simply a fortunate coincidence.”

While talking, even though I was supposed to be heading for the borderlands to make use of my healing magic, my interest in commerce started to grow as well.

There are many traveling merchants like the Librau Merchant Guild, but opportunities to deeply understand how they actually live are rare.

And so, moving from town to town, traveling repeatedly, growing close to them—

One day, during such a journey.

“Looks like it might be dangerous ahead, Annabel.”

“Hmmm.”

“Is something the matter, Lady Annabel?”

“Ah, Sister Ellen.
Well, you see.
Apparently, something ‘shows up’ ahead.”

“Shows up?”

A ghost?
That would be scary.

“Bandits, that kind of thing.”

“Bandits.
Is that true?”

“Yeah.
Seems there are a few areas around here where security’s been getting worse.”

“I see…”

For two years, the Grandra Border Marquisate had been locked in battle with magical beasts.

There had been plenty of people, with manpower and supplies brought in for the construction of defensive walls.

In a way, it had prospered.

But most of the knights who made up the fighting force had been fully occupied with battling magical beasts.

Which meant it was difficult to keep an eye on ‘people.’

Of course, bandits probably would not have dared to act within the marquisate itself, where many knights were stationed.

But in areas outside of that reach, with fewer eyes from the knights—

“Then should we take a detour?”

“That would be the safest choice.”

This group was, at its core, just merchants.

Even with Sir Richard and guards present, there was no reason to deliberately invite a bandit attack.

“But if we leave this road, it’ll be a pretty big detour.
That’s probably why they chose that place as their territory in the first place.”

“I see.
But surely, life comes first, and then goods, doesn’t it?”

“…Yeah.
But…”

Apparently, there was another problem.

And that problem was less about us, and more about—

“There are villages deep in the mountains that can no longer receive supplies?
That’s…”

Because bandits had blocked the highway, villages that used to trade with them had lost contact.

That was worrying.
Very worrying, but still—

“This isn’t really a problem for us to solve.
I mean, not for you, Lady Annabel and the others.”

“Well, yeah.
But we could still gather food from nearby villages and transport it, couldn’t we.
That’s a merchant’s job, after all.”

“…That’s true.”

I was worried about villages that had become isolated because of bandits.

The loss of contact was recent, but in the mountains, a delay in supplies could be a matter of life and death.

Even so, I had no proposal I could offer, given my position and abilities.

We didn’t even know the scale of the bandits, so dealing with them would require the help of a knight order.

“Have you contacted nearby knight orders?”

“Seems like they have, but it doesn’t look like they can come right away.”

“I see…”

Everyone frowned and pondered.

We wanted to do something, but no idea came to mind that would ensure our own safety first.

“…Then I’ll go scout ahead once.”

The one who raised his hand was Sir Richard.

“Scout?”

“At the moment, we don’t know how serious the bandits are.
At the very least, charging in without a plan is out of the question.”

“That’s true.”

“If it’s just me, I can move lightly.
If it looks dangerous, I can immediately retreat and escape.
And…”

“And?”

“If it’s within reason, I can handle multiple opponents.”

At Sir Richard’s confident declaration, Lady Annabel and I could only exchange looks.