Chapter 77: The Journey Begins

Viktor had the slender build one would expect from a mage and could hardly be called physically imposing. Asking someone like him to carry Igor was obviously unreasonable.

"If I only had to take you with me, I could carry you anywhere. However..." Viktor glanced at Igor and Warren.

Ah, Qiu Nuoya understood. He had been asking too much. He should not have pushed the matter.

"Anyway, that means you’re the representative of this party from now on!" Igor gave Warren a light pat on the shoulder.

For a moment, Warren seemed unable to understand what he had just been told. He stared blankly at Igor with a completely bewildered expression before hurriedly shouting, "W Why me!?"

"I just explained all the reasons, didn’t I? Nuoya can’t accept missions. If I accept them, they’ll be high rank missions and it’ll be too difficult. Viktor will be traveling separately. So naturally, you’re the only one who can be the representative. You came along of your own accord, so you should at least be useful for something. Or would you rather go home now? I won’t be able to see you off, though."

Igor laughed cheerfully, while Viktor’s expression made it abundantly clear that Warren was free to leave if he had any complaints.

Warren looked at Qiu Nuoya with a troubled expression.

"Sorry, Warren. Would you mind doing it?"

"Ugh... You’re really okay with me doing it, Nuoya?"

"If you’re willing, Warren."

For some reason, Warren’s cheeks turned slightly red.

"All right." He nodded.

Yes! That means I don’t have to change careers!

Qiu Nuoya had almost lost his means of making a living. That had been a close one and so, the four of them formed a party. Two members specialized in close range attacks, while the other two specialized in long range attacks. Surprisingly, their party had a pretty good balance, Qiu Nuoya thought.

They continued toward the dungeon city while accepting missions along the way.

It was Qiu Nuoya’s first time leaving Coalora, the city in the western part of the continent, so everything outside the city was new to him. Every sight and sound filled him with excitement.

As they walked along the highway, a shadow suddenly passed over them.

Qiu Nuoya looked up at the sky. Flying overhead was some kind of enormous bird with its huge wings spread wide. Judging by its size, it looked to be about as large as a small helicopter.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! A dragon!?"

"Hm? Ah, no, no. That’s a wyvern. It seems they’re technically related to dragons, but they’re relatively small and docile, so people use them as mounts and transport. Look closely. See the cargo strapped to its back?"

Qiu Nuoya narrowed his eyes and focused on the wyvern flying overhead. Sure enough, something had been strapped to its back, and he could even make out the silhouette of someone riding it.

"The royal capital even has a wyvern cavalry corps. Their flashy aerial training during festivals is one of the main attractions."

"Wow! I’d love to see that!"

"Hahaha. Maybe you’ll get the chance someday." Igor gently patted Qiu Nuoya’s head several times.

The royal capital, huh?

Qiu Nuoya did not particularly want to go there because the Church headquarters of the Saintess who was chasing him was located there. Still, he would definitely like to see the wyvern cavalry at least once. They had to look incredibly cool.

Qiu Nuoya remembered the Vigorous Dragon flight demonstrations he had seen in his previous world. The fighter jets flying through the sky in perfect formation without the slightest deviation had been incredibly impressive.

He doubted that this world had anything resembling airplanes, but perhaps wyverns served as their substitute, allowing people to take to the skies by riding magical creatures like that.

"Nuoya, don’t get so distracted by what’s above you that you neglect to watch your surroundings. Even though the roads are relatively safe, you never know when or where monsters or bandits might appear." Viktor’s warning snapped Qiu Nuoya back to reality, and he quickly looked around.

Viktor was absolutely right. The well maintained roads were busy with travelers, so intelligent monsters apparently avoided them whenever possible. But that did not mean monsters never appeared along the roads.

In fact, during their journey so far, they had already encountered several monsters, including the hungry Dire Wolves and Crimson Bears.

The monsters around here were targets of extermination missions, so the party dealt with them without hesitation.

They were dangerous, after all!

Since party missions required several people to work together, gathering missions required a certain amount of materials, while extermination missions required a certain number of monsters to be defeated. So whenever they found one, they had to take it down!

"Sorry, but it’s your fault for coming onto a road like this. This is part of an adventurer’s job, keeping ordinary people safe on their journeys, so I won’t hold back."

After defeating the monsters, Qiu Nuoya collected only the parts needed as proof of the extermination and butchered the bodies on the spot. The remaining meat became food for their journey.

As for the inedible organs, bones, and other scraps, Mochi cleaned everything up completely. Yes, not even a single piece went to waste. Mochi would gratefully accept every last bit, so the monsters could rest in peace.

"Just having Nuoya join the party has completely improved our food situation on the road. Don’t you think so, Viktor?"

"Absolutely. The food Nuoya makes is always delicious."

That said, there was only so much he could do when cooking somewhere without a stove or even a reliable water source. Still, thanks to the assortment of seasonings and cooking utensils Qiu Nuoya had brought with him, Igor and Viktor were both happily digging into their meals.

"Viktor can barely do anything when it comes to cooking besides roasting things. It was honestly pretty miserable before."

"I normally don’t travel on foot." Viktor turned away with a slight huff.