Dawn Traveler

Work Begins

The day Rendall’s family left the Forest, most of the elves were indifferent but Alrium cried and went to send them off until the Forest’s border.

“You kid. One day I will meet you again. Hurry up and go.”

The first destination was their house in Terre.

As they dropped by Ellim they bought horses and rode them. They passed by the ruins of a city that had been destroyed and burnt.

Within the city all those who were living had died, and there were only countless crows and stray dogs gathered around.

Nedhand clucked his tongue.

“The result of war is really wretched. I wonder why humans would kill their fellow beings.”

Nedhand felt a twinge of some conscience.

As a mercenary he had countless experiences on the battlefield, but to him destroying cities and villages which the commoners resided in gave him mixed feelings.

“The development of the magic machine… on the contrary it seems to bring about more disasters.”

Because the castle wall couldn’t do its purpose, destruction and plundering easily happened.

With the help of the magic machine the monsters could be easily defeated, but in the position of the ordinary people they would suffer more damage.

The neglected corpses were scattered everywhere.

“Please wait for a moment.”

Laeli got off from her horse and walked to the place with corpses.

“You have lived a tough life, now may you return to the The Goddess of Earth’s embrace.”

Laeli did a prayer for the corpses so they could rest in peace.

As she purified the corpses that smelled sickening and rotten they disappeared into the earth.

It was a good thing but there were too many corpses on the way to Terre.

As she did the same exact thing again and again Rendall gave off a troubled look.

“Because there are many corpses on the road it seems like we’re going to be a bit late. Even so it’s hard to stop her.”

“I don’t care even if we arrive in Terre late. If we don’t do a prayer there could be infectious diseases in the neighboring areas, and the black magicians could humiliate the corpses as they do their research.”

Herz hated the black magicians just like most of the normal magicians.

Black magicians would use any way and method to further their research.

Because of that black magicians as a whole got scolded a lot, and they had many enemies in the Mage Tower.

And so they sorted out the corpses and arrived in Terre one week later then they planned.

Fortunately, even through the middle of war, Terre didn’t get destroyed and was in a good state.

“Stop. Your identity?”

“I am a mercenary. And there is a priest in my party.”

“Then you can pass.”

A priest was like a verification pass that could guarantee one’s identity everywhere.

They safely passed through the castle gate that had been guarded by the soldiers and went back home.

Rendall’s house was combined with a antique shop.

Of course it’s not the main business but used as a camouflage store!

In the city people lived by using money, if you didn’t have a job anyone would think it was weird.

Silver candlesticks, silver spoons and chopsticks, gold rings, gold necklaces, pictures and potteries from decades to centuries ago.

If there were people who wanted to buy things from the collapsed low class nobles or merchants he would sell it.

The business of course would not go so well but because customers did not search for them too often it was good.

Herz arranged and sold the goods using an easy spell in front of the store instead, just by that he could earn enough money without making the customers suspicious.

Nedhand was a dwarf. All dwarves had excellent skill in blacksmithing.

Sometimes when he was bored he went into the workshop in town and gave a hand in smithing tools and he could earn some income from that.

Of course, in reality, as he drunk while smithing most of his money was spent on beer.

Rendall opened the door wide.

“Because it has been left alone for a long time the dust and cobwebs are not just a few.”

“As we have left the forest there are also many things needed in this house.”

“Let’s go to the market first.”

Rendall, Laeli, Herz, and Nedhand, each of them purchased goods, sought for information, and met with the dwarves as they moved busily.

As the continent was still in a chaotic state there were a lot more chances to raid a tomb.

After the war happened the places that were heavily damaged, the places that the duke or marquis’ troops were stationed and could not accessed were the places they could go to.

“Ah. Alrium….”

Even though Jess had come back to his home he only thought of Alrium in the Elven Forest.

As they always met and played together he didn’t realize it but after he came back to Terre he knew for sure.

“Alrium is my first love.”

If you calculated their age gap it slightly exceeded 120 years.

Their race was also different but if a woman was pretty anything was allowed.

The face of Alrium kept showing up inside of Jess’s head.

-:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:-

Jess, who had come back to his hometown Terre, wandered around the town by himself after taking a rest at home for a little while.

“At that time the road looked so wide now it’s not. It must be because I grew up a lot in the Elven Forest.”

The him in the past was just like he said, only a kid.

Without his mother Laeli or his father Rendall he could not go outside the house and wander around then due to the security issue.

“Ahem. We are selling ripe apples.”

“If you need any weapons why don’t you come here and look around? It’s not a waste to use expensive weapons to protect your life.”

The faces of the Prikhe tribe who did their businesses were still the same.

It’s a shame that Jess was penniless. It was because he did not need to have an allowance in the Elven Forest.

“Because the war ended not so long ago it seems like they are busier. So many people have gathered here.”

Terre almost did not get any damage but the other cities who were swept away in the civil war and were destroyed reconstructed themselves in haste.

Due to the restoration of the postwar period there were many merchants and laborers.

The Gras Empire in the middle of the continent ended up divided, but using the huge amount of wealth which had accumulated for a long time the restoration work could be realized everywhere.

At the time when Gras Empire was prosperous, they did not need to build a high city wall because the other kingdoms were afraid of their power.

But after they were divided into five countries their power had decreased a lot and to prepare themselves for siege warfare they built installations.

It was a situation where it was not weird for a war to happen for the purpose of reunifying the divided five countries into the Gras Empire.

It was not just the ransom of magicians, mercenaries, and knights that got higher, the treatment of the magic machine’s technicians had also improved.

For the time being before the public order was established it was best to take care of one’s body.

“The houses from back then still remain the same… I guess there’s nothing lost in this city.”

The stores that ran businesses in the street remained intact as well.

Maybe because of the war various new restaurants had particularly stood out.

Because in the Elven Forest he only ate tree fruits and plant roots that had lots of nutrients, just by smelling the food he drooled.

Of course he could go to the other world and eat pizza, chicken, and hamburgers but it had a different taste from those.

Fresh meat and fruits.

Everything in the Madruga continent contained a wild feeling and taste.

“But that guy is still the same as well.”

Jess stared at the sky.

In the clear sky there was something big flying fast.

Tyrant Isla!

The king of the blue sky opened its big and bright eyes and was searching for prey.

It was a long distance but Jess’s eyes met Isla’s. And after a long time he read Isla’s mind again.

[That brat must be really delicious. Exactly at that age humans have a chewy taste, he’s edible.]

“Right. I feel like I have come home.”

The thoughts of Isla’s appetite while looking at him were still the same.

-:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:-

In the evening the adults who had scattered to the Dwarf avenue, information guild, and socializing with the town’s ladies gathered again.

There was a strong scent of alcohol from Nedhand.

“Urk. Those dudes, not even one of them died and they were still the same. During the war they made swords and armors so their business was good. Because a dwarf’s skill can gain respect anywhere. If I knew that I wouldn’t have gone to the Elven Forest and should have stuck around here.”

It was obvious how much alcohol he drank with the dwarves. But for dwarves the phrase “drunk because of alcohol” was a great insult.

To the dwarves with strong pride they were not drunk as long as they could talk.

When they drunk past their limit and fell asleep, it too was falling asleep because of being sleepy.

“First of all let’s look at this.”

Rendall stretched out the newly purchased map on the wide table.

New borders and territory boundaries, safe roads, and monster habitats were marked.

Of course naively believing in the map and going out was the same as a suicidal act. Even so it had value as a reference.

“You can tell from the map but the County of Ronova near here has fallen into ruins now.”

“Hoo. Until before we went to the forest it was a place under the command of quite a lot of strong troops.”

Herz showed a lot of interest.

He just came from the gathering of mercenary magicians but didn’t see any people close to him.

They either went on vacation or did not come back yet from getting hired by the nobles.

Because there were many magicians who had lost their lives during the war there was also the reason of not seeing them ever again.

Herz had not told the news about him being a 6th circle at the magicians’ gathering.

Because he wouldn’t be losing his skills, he could gain the best acknowledgement among the mercenary magicians if he demonstrated results instead.

“Yes it was. It was a place with a firm power of government but after it was swept by the war the land became a gigantic grave where the dead sleep.”

“I have no interest in the death of the citizens, are there any ruins to dig into or a noble’s grave?”

“As you know, the County of Ronova was a place with a short history of nobles. It seems like there are not many graves of the nobility.”

They stretched out the map and talked about various subjects in order to do the business of tomb raiding.

In the Gras Empire castles possessed by noble families exceeded the number of 1,700.

Due to the destruction caused by war more than 300 of them disappeared, and about 200 of them changed their lord.

For tomb raiders it was the same as their business field becoming drastically wider.

Cedon Kingdom that had the wild Phraison Tribe was dangerous to be visited by travelers, but excluding that spot there were many places to do grave robbery.

Nedhand studied the map and frowned.

“The free city of Mytun became ruins as well, I guess the horror of war is really big.”

Mytun was a big city where many merchants and travellers went in and out.

It was a capital city of business and culture governed by the Merd family.

But because there was none of them left, on the map it was marked with an X.

In addition because monsters went rampant in the surroundings, merchants had to go back through another possible long road.

“The border area of the kingdom especially got destroyed so heavily. The information of the Cedon Kingdom is lacking so it can’t be properly marked but it seems like people there are living their life in a hard way.”

“Mmm… I remembered the time we robbed the grave of the Fostera count family and ran away. It reminded me of the taste of wine a generous lady gave to us when we were hiding in a farmhouse.”

“The Gras Empire we had known of now has disappeared. It is the best time to wander around and do grave robbery but if the soldiers find out it is a dangerous timing as well.”

Whether it was now or then grave robbery was one of the most critically punished crimes in the Empire.

If someone got caught while robbing a noble’s or knight’s grave he must be sentenced with the death penalty even if he commited it only once.

It was obviously for the person involved but his whole family would also be hung to death in the city center.

If someone was doing grave robbery, besides doing it during a pitch dark night they should be careful of the soldiers’ or knights’ eyes.

“Even so since we have come to the outer world we should search for work.”

“Of course. There are many useful places everywhere.”

Rendall knowing that this was an unusual chance was aiming for a big place.

“How about going to the Pedrove Marquisate?”

The Pedrove Marquisate was a center noble family that had been raging on during the Gras Empire time.

They had a strong military and economic power compared to a small frontier kingdom.

As the civil war has passed right now, the king of the Heron kingdom Nedro had coped with an extensive invasion to Gras and they had been drastically weakened.

“The longer the history of a noble family the more there are things to dig up. Because now is the time where monsters are actively wandering around human traces are rare and if we quietly sneak in then finish up our business and go out I think it would be enough.”

“How much time do we have for the grave robbery?”

“If we do it properly I think we can do it in a minimum of one month. To decrease the danger we can just finish the business within ten days. Until the grave robbery is finished if the monsters are still taking over the place they can pull awaythe attention.”

“Mmm…”

Herz and Nedhand sunk into their own thoughts.

Even so a marquisate had their own pressure. No matter how talented they were as tomb raiders it was over the day they got caught.

Even Herz who had already advanced his spell skill to the 6th circle still couldn’t prepare a perfect skill.

In the marquisate there were a lot of magicians with proper skills and knights with military force so of course there was a danger.

Jess still had no right to speak, and Laeli and the Dark Elf Grona were going to follow with the final decision.

Nedhand opened his mouth with difficulty.

“If we finish it perfectly it’ll be alright. When will a chance like this come again.”

Herz agreed as well.

“It would be a shame if I was against this. Because we can’t know the details here, let’s go to the marquisate first. And then after we look at the situation, if we can aim for it then we should just sweep up everything.”

Rendall and Grona organized the schedule in detail.

If the situation in the marquisate was not possible for grave robbery to run smoothly, they decided to go back and drop by the most suitable place near there.

Not even one day had passed since they arrived in Terre and they were traveling outside again.