Chapter 971

Anton couldn’t understand why he felt excited about the prospect of traveling in a caravan again. A large part of his time as a transmigrator in this world had been spent traveling by carriage. He had thought he was done with it, but he guessed that he had missed the adventure a little.

He thought the part that excited him was the fact that he was basically alone. Before, he had always had to consider the safety and comfort of his family and everyone traveling with them because they were all considered family as well.

This time, he could be utterly selfish and think only about himself and his comfort. He didn’t even have to worry about his safety because Rodrin the merchant had assured him that the huge merchant caravan was powerful enough to protect everyone. That was the reason they had to pay a substantial amount of coins to the caravan’s managers or owners.

On the night before their departure, Anton didn’t rest. He explored the caravan and wasn’t surprised to discover that he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t gone to sleep. Most of the people were making some last-minute preparations, and Anton saw several of them purchasing supplies from shops in the city that were still open.

When Anton asked around, he was surprised that most of the shops near where the caravans were parked were still open. He was told that whenever a caravan was preparing to leave, the shops took advantage of the travelers’ last-minute preparations and kept their doors open to make additional sales.

Anton wondered whether the shops charged higher prices, but to his surprise, they didn’t. The merchants traveling with the caravans were locals as well and were familiar with the normal prices of goods. The shops were simply taking advantage of the large volume of sales created by all the last-minute preparations.

When Anton asked Rodrin why merchants had to do such a thing when they already knew when the caravan would leave and should have prepared everything well in advance, Rodrin simply told him that it was just how things were.

Merchants couldn’t help but forget something occasionally, even when they were following a list.

Anton just shrugged. He wasn’t a merchant, so he didn’t know what to expect from such things. What he did enjoy was the liveliness of it all. Even though it was deep into the night, the flurry of activity filled the area with excitement.

The best part was that even though Anton behaved immaturely and interrupted people while they were busy with their preparations to ask questions, they still answered him politely.

It wasn’t because they were afraid of him as a powerful wizard. They didn’t know who he was.

Instead, Anton looked young enough that they assumed he was the child of one of the merchants and was simply learning about the family business.

When he asked Rodrin why everyone was entertaining him despite being busy, the cloth merchant told him that it was because everyone expected other people to show the same patience when their own children became curious.

Basically, it was simply a matter of reciprocity.

In truth, Anton wasn’t the only one bothering the merchants who had joined the caravan. Rodrin’s two children, whom Anton remembered as Romin, the twelve-year-old boy, and his eight-year-old sister, Sienna, were also running around with a group of children whom Anton assumed were the children of other merchants.

They were doing exactly what Anton was doing: bothering whichever adults they felt like bothering.

What made Anton sigh in frustration was that, after a few hours, the children started following him.

The group ranged from about seven years old to around seventeen. Since Anton was the oldest, it suddenly looked as though he was the leader of a gang of children, much to everyone’s amusement.

When he asked them why they had started following him, he learned that it was basically because Romin and Sienna had told everyone that he was a mage after their father shared that information with them.

Anton couldn’t simply drive the children away because he still wanted to maintain a good relationship with the merchants in the caravan. He therefore let them follow him and continued roaming around the caravan.

The funniest part came when he approached the caravan guards to ask them questions about the dangers they might encounter on the road.

The children immediately kept their distance.

Anton then learned that it was generally understood that the caravan guards were among the people who had no patience for children’s foolishness.

Thankfully, the guards knew enough about the people who had joined the caravan that they didn’t rebuff Anton. They knew he was one of the people who had paid a very high price to join the caravan so he could visit the villages and towns along the way in search of an extremely rare and valuable spice.

As far as they were concerned, Anton was an incredibly rich young man who was perhaps a little foolish.

Anton knew that many of the merchants he had spoken with, including Rodrin, didn’t believe his claims that he was a powerful wizard capable of defending himself against any dangers the caravan might encounter on the road.

What Anton found strange was that the merchants and guards did believe that he had a large amount of money and could afford the rare spice he was searching for.

Anton wondered why they believed that, considering he wasn’t wearing anything that suggested he was wealthy.

During the early hours of the morning, the children finally became tired and returned to their carts to rest. Many of the merchants had also started resting, so Anton decided to return to his side of the cart to avoid causing any trouble.

He had already cleaned his living space for the next few weeks and made sure it was as comfortable as possible.

Anton activated the Firewall Stove because the desert night was incredibly cold. Before long, he became tired enough to fall asleep.

The next day, Anton had already freshened himself up and eaten breakfast when he heard the announcement that the caravan was leaving the city.

He didn’t plan to remain inside the cart. He wanted to join the commotion, so he walked beside the cart assigned to him, just like most of the merchants.

The sheer size of the caravan made Anton feel as though an entire town were in the process of an exodus.

What he liked was that there was no sense of fear or tension. There was only excitement in the air.

Rodrin and his family weren’t walking. They remained inside their cart, which was being pulled along with the other large carriages and covered carts by giant beetles.

During his time in this world, Anton had seen all sorts of domesticated creatures. There were ordinary animals like horses and cows, unusual creatures like giant insects, mythical animals like unicorns, and many others.

What Anton found a little sad was that he no longer felt any sense of wonder when he saw them.

That was mostly because he had spent such a huge amount of his time inside dungeons, where he had fought and destroyed all sorts of creatures.

He was just glad that he didn’t have to get close to them.

Perhaps it was because he had originally come from Earth and was naturally put off by creepy crawlies, but he couldn’t seem to develop any fondness for them.

Anton was simply grateful that he didn’t need to. His abilities allowed him to travel without relying on any kind of beast mount, aside from his summons.

At first, Anton thought the caravan would move slowly, but he was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was traveling at a decent speed.

In fact, he had to walk at a very fast pace just to keep up with it.

Most of the people who had joined the caravan, including the guards, were riding mounts. Very few people were walking like Anton, and he noticed that those who did would eventually return to their carts to rest.

Once they left the city proper and entered the desert, Anton continued walking for a couple of hours.

However, the scenery soon became so monotonous that he eventually entered his cart so he could relax inside.