“Man, I don’t miss this wagon at all! Can we just stay in here forever!?” Takana strongly refused to ride the wagon as I pulled him with all my might. He was a big guy, so it was incredibly hard to pull him.

Before we went out, we first went to the blacksmith to get what we ordered. Just as the borgos promised, he completed our order by the time we got there.

Takana’s shield was expensive but it was worth it, well, for Takana, at least. He was pretty happy at how cool his shield was. Just like he ordered, the shield was colored black. The height of it was from his shoulder to his knees. Additionally, the blacksmith gave Takana a customize gauntlet where he could connect the shield to his gauntlet, allowing him to carry it without holding it.

But the most important of all was that the blacksmith engraved Takana a slot for a dlimor gem. The slot was a bit deeper in the shield as not to allow it to be hit. But that was not the best of it all. The blacksmith gave his dlimor gem to Takana. As for why he gave it, well, since he wasn’t fighting anymore, he decided just to give it away. It was better being useful and saving someone’s life rather than dusting away in his shop. Take my word for it, Takana was so happy that he almost shed a tear. Almost.

Merry, on the other hand, also got her sword but, just like Takana, in the way she most likely didn’t expect. The curved longsword that Bladetree used was a double-handed weapon, at least for a normal average human but compared to Merry’s strength, it was basically like carrying a candy for her. But the blacksmith didn’t know that because of the whole thing about races not getting along and that was why the curved longsword just became a curved sword. Well, it wasn’t all bad news. The sword became sharper and more refined as Merry had no trouble using it.

After that, we bid farewell to Kris. Thankfully, he didn’t get in trouble for what he did but the people hated him, at least those people whose family and friends he killed.

Additionally, the famen that Pokkun was using was still there when he vanished. Apparently, if a famen user died or lost their famen, a Bnakir famen could emit dangerously malicious waves that evoked hateful feelings towards beings that were close to it. Also, it couldn’t be touched, unless a being had hate or love, depending on the famen, and if the famen allowed it. I didn’t get the last one and I didn’t want to ask any questions anymore since I was getting questionable looks from Kris because apparently, everyone, especially wanderers, knew about this already.

“Merry, a little help?”

Merry came and pulled Takana. It wasn’t even her strongest and yet she was able to pull Takana so easily. Time and time, she reminded me not to piss her off. “Stay.”

“You’re not the boss of me! F-F-Fine, stop it! Ouch, you’re going to break it!” Takana squirmed as Merry slightly twisted his finger.

“It’s always a pleasure seeing Takana make a fun of himself.” Risa smugly giggled. She sure was enjoying this.

“I agree with you on that one, Risa.” Fuyuki smiled. It seemed they were getting along which was a good thing.

“Is everyone ready?” Chance asked. He was in front, at the coach’s seat. It’d been a while since everybody saw him and they looked happy seeing him.

“I-I think we’re ready…” Kihana shyly said. Beside her were books she was going to read. Hopefully, she wouldn’t get motion sickness as she read. Well, she didn’t have any problem last time, so she should be okay.

Our next destination was the town of Minora. According to Chance, Minora was a mining town. The town was located at the west of Ergaos near mountain ridges that served as a partly natural border of Ergaos and Kisha.

It was used to mine minerals such as coal, metals, rocks and precious stones. The ridges were also a crucial part of the economy of Ergaos as it provided them minerals other nation couldn’t get which in turn they could use it to gain profit. It was also used as a great resource for forging weapons for soldiers and wanderers in Ergaos, especially for eradicating monsters and keeping peace.

The town was about forty miles away from Prosk. With good weather and no outlaws roaming around, it should take us about three to four days.

We decided to take a lunch near a stream. There were a lot of trees nearby and it was a good cover for the blistering sun.

“You sure are in a good mood,” I said as I looked at a piece of drawing. Along with picking up branches, Kihana had told me to pick up herbs as she wanted to put to test what she learned with what she read.

“Good mood? Must be because Kihana had taught Shakna yesterday about this song her father used to sing to her. It was quite catchy.”

“Is that what you did last night?”

“Yup. And Fuyuki had told Shakna about the wonders of your world. Shakna has to say that Shakna would like to ride a “car” someday. Do you have a car, Terrin?”

“No, but my parents have one. Why would you want to ride a car, anyway? Doesn’t this world have its own strange things that make people fast?”

“Well, there are things such as famen users and dlimor gems but Shakna’s just fascinated in a world where the world works with nothing but logic and reason. A world where the masses are the strongest and the evilest can be toppled down. Shakna thinks that’s pretty wonderful.”

“Yeah but take it from me who came from another world, every world has its own darkness and mine’s not an exception.”

She shrugged. “Speaking of darkness, what did you want to talk about?” her calm nature dispersed as her eyes looked at me intently.

“…Do you have any idea about who Pokkun was talking about?” I was referring to the “she” Pokkun was talking about. Prosk had been a place where monster sightings were rare and when we came, monsters, with a famen no less, showed up and finding a girl or woman. I would be more surprised if that was just a mere coincidence.

“Shakna’s absolutely sure Pokkun was talking about Shakna.” She picked up a branch.

“What!? How is that possible?”

“Witches have this “link” that is connected to each and one of us. It only tells us if a witch is still alive or an apprentice witch has replaced a witch. Onee-chan, ever since I came out of that cocoon, knows that Shakna’s alive. She must have ordered Pokkun to rescue Shakna using one of her pets as their means of transportation.”

“Surely, it wouldn’t trouble you to tell me this, right?”

“It’s not like it concern you. Initially, Shakna didn’t want to be a part of this human group but Shakna has endured that Shakna might as well see it in the end. Besides, even if Shakna did come with Pokkun or other monsters, they might not recognize Shakna and kill Shakna instead.”

“How can you be so sure about that?” I furrowed my brows.

“Shakna’s not entirely sure,” she shrugged. “So far, all the monsters we saw didn’t recognize Shakna except for Nimog. Maybe it’s just a coincidence but there are too many factors that we haven’t yet tackled, so it’s hard to make any conclusion. Probably the next time we encounter intellectual monsters, Shakna will see how it goes.”

“Well, in the meantime, I guess you’re still stuck with us.” I patted her head.

She sighed very deeply. “What a disaster. It sends shivers in Shakna’s spine thinking how many human city I have to pass through.” She then sighed again. One more and it would probably make this forest depressed, too.

“Take it this way, at least you’re getting along with them.”

“Shakna’s not getting along with them! Yesterday’s yesterday and today’s today but Shakna did enjoy her time with them, well, mostly because Shakna learned a lot about you and your world.”

“Me? What did you learn about me?” I tilted my head.

“Nothing,” she shoved the branches she collected to me. “If you were a bit competent and confident, you can be popular with the girls, you know. Now, carry this for Shakna.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“It means nothing. Let’s go, Merry’s waiting for those branches.”

It’s not like I want to be popular, anyway…