Chapter 274
After spending two days resting in town and replenishing the supplies they would need on the road, Haruto and the others set out once again.
The next stretch of their journey passed without incident.
The scenery along the road gradually changed from endless golden wheat fields to gently rolling hills.
After crossing a broad, shallow river valley, the Ranfut Great Forest finally appeared before them.
Ancient trees towered high into the sky, their trunks so thick that several people joining hands would barely be able to encircle them. Dense canopies intertwined overhead, allowing only scattered shafts of sunlight to slip between the leaves and speckle the ground carpeted with fallen foliage.
The forest air was cool and damp, rich with the scents of pine needles and decaying leaves.
The main road had been packed firm by years of passing travelers and wagon traffic.
After several more days on the road, the four eventually reached a fork.
A wooden signpost stood beside the intersection, pointing in two directions.
The sign on the right indicated that the road continued deeper into the Ranfut Great Forest.
The one on the left pointed toward Neutraal Port.
There was also a lone wooden inn standing beside the crossroads.
It looked fairly old, its dark-brown boards polished smooth by years of wind and rain. White smoke curled gently from the chimney, while the rich aromas of freshly baked bread and stewed meat drifted through the air, mingling with the malty scent of beer.
The sun was already beginning to sink toward the west.
After traveling all day, all four were showing signs of fatigue.
Frieren looked toward the nearby inn and made the obvious suggestion.
"Looks like we won’t have to sleep outside tonight."
"We can get a proper meal, rest well, and continue tomorrow."
Fern nodded and rubbed one aching shoulder.
Haruto and Stark naturally had no objections.
With the decision made, the four walked over and pushed open the wooden door beneath the hanging wind chime.
A clear series of chimes rang through the inn.
There was only one table of customers inside.
And they happened to be people Haruto’s group already knew from the First-Class Mage Exam.
Wirbel, Ehre, and Scharf were sitting together drinking. Half-finished plates covered the table while Wirbel held a mug in one hand and appeared to be in the middle of telling the other two something.
At the sound of the door, all three instinctively looked up.
Wirbel immediately recognized Frieren at the front of the group, and surprise appeared on his face.
"Well, if it isn’t Frieren."
Ehre and Scharf turned as well.
When they saw Haruto and the others, both raised a hand in greeting.
"Didn’t expect to run into you again this soon."
Wirbel got up to meet them.
His gaze passed over the group before settling on Stark.
He raised his beer toward him with genuine gratitude.
"Stark, thanks again for helping us take down that Lion Boar before."
"It would’ve been a lot more troublesome without you."
Stark accepted a mug from the nearby server and raised it toward Wirbel.
"You’re looking pretty good, Wirbel."
The two took a drink together and quickly fell into easy conversation.
Haruto’s group settled into the empty seats beside Wirbel’s table.
A server soon brought over fresh mugs and food, and before long the two groups were sitting together, trading stories about what they had been doing since the First-Class Mage Exam ended.
After a while, the smile on Wirbel’s face gradually faded.
His expression turned serious.
Shortly after the examination, he had received an urgent message from one of the outposts on the Northern Plateau.
Demon activity in the region had become unusually frequent.
Several border villages had already been attacked in rapid succession.
The demons were clearly beginning to stir again.
That meant Wirbel needed to return to his post on the Northern Plateau as soon as possible.
Traveling there by land would take far too long, so he intended to head for Neutraal Port, take the sea route north, and reach the frontier that way.
Once he finished explaining the situation, Wirbel again invited Stark to join him.
The outposts on the Northern Plateau were badly short on front-line fighters, especially powerful warriors like Stark.
Haruto sat quietly to one side, unconsciously running a fingertip along the rim of his wooden cup as he considered his own situation.
Over the course of traveling with Frieren’s party, he had already learned almost all the magic he originally wanted.
That included the sealing spell Frieren had specifically modified for preserving monsters.
At this point, what Haruto needed was no longer more instruction.
He needed practice.
He needed to repeatedly use these spells until they became completely natural extensions of his own abilities.
And simple day-to-day training would only take him so far.
Real combat was the best way to accumulate experience.
The problem was that Frieren would undoubtedly continue traveling at her usual leisurely pace toward the Northern Plateau.
Even if everything went smoothly, it would still take them at least another month or two to reach it.
Possibly longer.
Haruto had no intention of spending that much time on the road.
The Northern Plateau was full of monsters.
It was practically perfect for both honing his new magic and collecting unfamiliar ingredients.
After thinking it through carefully, Haruto reached a decision.
He would head there as quickly as possible.
He looked up at Frieren, who was quietly nibbling on a piece of bread.
"Frieren, I think I’m going to take the sea route from here."
"I want to reach the Northern Plateau as quickly as possible."
Frieren’s hand paused slightly.
Then she looked up at him.
There was no real surprise on her face.
"I see."
Frieren had known from the first day Haruto joined them that he would not remain with the party forever.
He had his own goals.
There was no reason for him to continue following them on a slow, meandering journey all the way north.
Even so, she still felt a faint reluctance at the thought of him leaving.
Her brows drew together almost imperceptibly.
Even the bread in her hand seemed less appealing.
Once Haruto was gone, there would be no more breakfasts that made her hungry the moment she smelled them.
And when they camped at night, there would no longer be monster dishes whose aroma drifted halfway across the countryside.
The more Frieren thought about it, the more obvious her disappointment became.
Her cheeks even puffed out slightly.
Fern, sitting beside her, also looked clearly reluctant.
During their time together, Haruto had not only helped them repeatedly in battle but had even taught Fern several ways to improve her cooking.
Still, she understood that Haruto had his own path and his own objectives.
So although her lips pressed together slightly, she did not try to convince him to stay.
Stark let out a heavy sigh and slapped Haruto on the shoulder.
"That’s a shame."
"Travel meals are definitely going downhill once you’re gone."
Wirbel’s reaction was the exact opposite.
The moment he heard Haruto planned to take the sea route north, he froze.
Then his face lit up.
He leaned forward eagerly.
"Wait. Does that mean you’re traveling with us from here?"
Wirbel could hardly believe his luck.
The situation on the Northern Plateau was growing increasingly tense, and the border outposts desperately needed powerful front-line fighters.
When he and Stark had hunted the Lion Boar together, Wirbel had personally witnessed Stark’s tremendous close-combat ability and sincerely invited him to help at the northern outposts.
Unfortunately, Stark was traveling with Frieren and Fern and had refused.
Even after meeting him again here, Wirbel had not truly expected Stark to change his mind.
He had simply thought there was no harm in asking again.
Maybe he would get lucky.
Instead, he had stumbled across an entirely different opportunity.
Wirbel had never personally witnessed Haruto fight, but he had heard plenty from the other mages who participated in the First-Class Mage Exam.
Haruto possessed terrifying close-quarters combat ability, enough that no one seemed entirely certain where his limits were.
The only reason Wirbel had never tried recruiting him before was that Haruto’s background was too mysterious, and the two of them had barely interacted.
Inviting someone like that out of nowhere would have been awkward.
But now Haruto himself had announced that he intended to take the sea route to the Northern Plateau.
The opportunity had practically dropped into Wirbel’s lap.
There would be plenty of time during the journey to convince him to help.
Haruto, naturally, had no idea what Wirbel was plotting.
Even if he had, he would not have cared.
The only reason Haruto wanted to travel by sea was to reach the Northern Plateau faster.
Who he traveled with along the way was irrelevant.
Demons on the frontier, escalating tensions, military outposts—none of those things were his real concern.
His target was the abundance of monsters living across the Northern Plateau.
Wirbel knew nothing about that.
Once Haruto confirmed that he would be taking the sea route as well, Wirbel enthusiastically began explaining the journey from Neutraal Port and what conditions were currently like farther north.
Of course, he had not forgotten about Stark either.
Before long, Wirbel had dragged him back into another round of drinking.