The wheels rolled over the gravel road, letting out a monotonous and lengthy “creak.” The dilapidated freight carriage traveled slowly along the bumpy suburban road, its cabin filled with sacks emitting the scent of hay and dust.
Aurelia curled up in the narrow gap between the pile of sacks and the carriage wall. Leaning her back against a rough burlap bag, she placed the still-unconscious boy beside her as steadily as possible.
The silhouette of Shadowlight City’s towering walls gradually blurred and receded into the deepening twilight, eventually replaced by undulating hills and sparse woodland.
It wasn’t until the city she once thought she would stay in for a lifetime completely disappeared from the edge of her vision that Aurelia’s nerves, which had been stretched almost to the breaking point, finally relaxed slightly. She let out a long breath.
【To forge iron, you need to be strong yourself. I have to improve my own hard strength first before I can go back and beat that self-centered, presumptuous Red-Haired jerk half to death!】
Become stronger, then go back and punch that Red-Haired bastard until he recognizes reality. This goal was simple, direct, and fueled by a personal vendetta.
『See, Soul Container, this is my great Force. Even if it is just a negligible trace of seepage, it is enough to allow that frail body of yours to transcend the recovery limits of mortals.』
The voice of the Disaster Source rang out. It had not only regained its pedantic tone but also carried a subtle sense of excitement.
『Accept more, and you shall receive more. Pain, weakness, the limitations of mortality… all shall leave you.』
『Shut up…』 Aurelia countered weakly in her heart, but her voice was so faint that even she felt it lacked conviction.
She closed her eyes, trying to block out that seductive whispering, yet her mind uncontrollably replayed the scenes in front of the Warehouse.
The glimmer of tears and suspicion in Vera’s eyes, the warm light from the Saint’s scepter that she instinctively resisted, and that final sentence that severed the past…
Following that, she remembered all the warmth she had experienced in the Sword of Saint Radiance over the past month or so.
However, the dull, stinging pain and the feeling of suffocation in her chest were even clearer than the wound on her neck.
***
“Ugh…” A soft groan came from beside her.
Aurelia immediately opened her eyes, her crimson gaze sweeping over the boy.
On that small, pale face, his brows were tightly knit. His long eyelashes fluttered a few times as if he were trying to revive his groggy consciousness.
Though his breathing had stabilized significantly, it was still weak. The wound on his shoulder, which had been simply treated, was faintly seeping blood beneath his rough clothes.
The Saint’s Healing Art could only stabilize the wound and accelerate recovery; it could not heal it directly.
【Even in an Otherworld with magic, one still has to follow the Law of Conservation of Energy… Is Newton overjoyed? Uh, that’s not right either. Maybe that apple was blown down by some brat using wind magic.】
The carriage gave another violent lurch. The boy’s body tilted, and his head nearly slammed into the edge of a nearby wooden crate.
Aurelia quickly reached out to support his head, but the movement pulled at her neck, making her grimace in pain.
“What a pain…” she grumbled softly, yet she still carefully adjusted her posture, letting the boy lean against her uninjured shoulder. Of course, she placed an empty burlap sack between them as a cushion.
The boy was very light, but currently, he was a burden to her weakened physical strength.
Feeling the throbbing pain from the wound on her neck and the increasingly obvious emptiness in her stomach, she began to seriously consider a pressing problem.
【Where… am I going to get something to eat?】
Money.
This word pressed heavily on Aurelia’s heart.
她 touched the shriveled coin pouch at her waist. The few pitiful copper coins inside made a heart-wrenching clinking sound.
After paying the carriage fare, with this little bit of money left… she’d struggle to find a tavern to stay for a night—no, she’d probably struggle to even buy two pieces of dry bread!
Taking a deep breath and enduring the stinging pain in her neck, she raised her voice slightly and called out toward the blurry back of the driver in front: “Excuse me… Mister! Where is this carriage eventually headed?”
The driver seemed to pause for a moment, likely not expecting this silent, disheveled girl to strike up a conversation with him.
***
After a while, his somewhat muffled voice drifted in from outside: “Twilight City. It’s about a few thousand miles away from Shadowlight City.”
“Twilight City?”
Aurelia searched her mind for relevant information, calling upon the meager bits of Otherworld geographical knowledge she possessed.
A few thousand miles. This meant this would be her first long and unknown journey since she crossed into the Otherworld, and it also meant she might be moving further and further away from the Sword of Saint Radiance’s sphere of influence.
This was a good thing, but it also meant she was completely on her own, starting over from scratch, perhaps under even more difficult circumstances.
“Then… where is the first relay station? How much longer until we get there?”
“Uh… probably seven or eight days? We’ve only just begun our journey, after all.”
Seven or eight days…
With just her and this half-dead kid, plus these few clinking copper coins in her pocket?
【I guess it’s manageable… Compared to those ‘Hell Mode’ starts, this… is at most an Extreme or Hard difficulty, right?】
She gritted her teeth and, as if going all in, spoke again. Her voice trembled slightly from tension and embarrassment as she tried her best to play the role of a weak and helpless girl.
Though she truly was one right now.
“Mister… you see, I… I really don’t have any money left. It’s a long way, and I, plus him…” She pointed at the unconscious boy leaning on her shoulder.
“We can’t just stay hungry… Is there anything… anything I can do on your carriage… or on the road? Manual labor is fine! Moving things, unloading cargo, feeding the horses, cleaning… anything! I don’t want wages, I just need a bit of food!”
The carriage creaked forward, and the driver didn’t respond for a long time. There was only the sound of the night wind howling past and the monotonous noise of wheels grinding over stones.
Aurelia’s heart rose higher and higher, her crimson eyes staring fixedly at the driver’s silent back silhouetted by the darkness and the oil lamp.
『Heh… humble begging.』 The Disaster Source’s voice crawled into her mind again, carrying undisguised contempt and mockery.
『Bowing your head to an ant-like driver just for a few scraps? Where is your dignity? The Force is surging within your body. That driver, that horse, and even all the cargo on this carriage… all can become your sustenance! Why debase yourself so?』
『You go drop dead. That’s robbery, that’s a crime, and it’s something only an old bastard like you would do.』 Aurelia snapped back in her heart.
***
After another while, just as Aurelia was about to give up and start seriously considering whether to risk picking wild fruit in the next small forest they passed, the driver finally spoke again.
“You? Do work?” The driver seemed to glance back, his gaze sweeping over her neck wrapped in blood-stained cloth and her pale face before looking at the unconscious boy beside her. His tone was full of distrust.
“Looking like that, and bringing a piece of dead weight along, what could you move? Don’t die on my carriage before the cargo is even unloaded. That would be bad luck.”
Aurelia knew this was the truth. In her current state, anyone would see her as a burden.
So, she tried a different angle.
“Cooking! It’s okay if the conditions are simple, I’m a very good cook! A professional chef! And… and I’m also very good at organizing and taking inventory of supplies!”
Aurelia blurted this out; it was the most valuable skill she could think of at the moment.
『Hah, culinary arts? Organizing? With just a thought, the Force surges. Why act so subservient? Such simple logic is so complicated with you!』
Aurelia ignored it, silently waiting for the driver’s reply.
A few more seconds passed before the driver’s muffled voice sounded once more.
“Cooking? In this middle-of-nowhere place, what kind of fancy things could you make? My carriage is full of dry rations. The bread is hard, and the jerky is hard too. Water can be refilled from the streams we pass, though.”
There was a chance!
“As long as there’s a fire, a pot, and water, it’s fine! If it’s organizing supplies, I can help you arrange the things on the carriage more securely to prevent damage from the bumps. I can also make the space utilization more reasonable so it’s easier for you to access things on the road!”
The driver was silent, seemingly weighing the pros and cons in his mind.
Letting this girl of unknown origin, covered in wounds, touch his food was quite a risk.
But she had a point. Gnawing on hard, dry flatbread with cold water for over a week straight was indeed unpleasant. If things could be improved…
Moreover, although the girl looked disheveled, there was something in her eyes that was different from common refugees or displaced people, and she spoke quite coherently.
“Hmph,” the driver finally grunted, relenting. “You talk a big game. We’ll see once we get to a place where we can rest.”
“Let me tell you the ugly truth first. If the stuff you make is something even a dog wouldn’t eat, or if you dare to waste my food, don’t blame me for being unkind. As for organizing things… once we settle down, show me what you can do.”
“If you do well, I can share a bit of rations with you and that kid every day for the next few days. If you do a bad job or try to slack off… don’t blame me for kicking you out.”
“Thank you, Mister! I’ll definitely do my best!” Aurelia promised immediately, a weight temporarily lifting from her heart.
Even if it was just a trial, even if the conditions were harsh, it was a start after all.
【Little brother, for the sake of our food, this brother of yours has basically pulled out all of his hidden talents. When you recover… you’d better show some backbone and be useful!】
『A pathetic deal.』 The Disaster Source’s mockery didn’t stop. 『Cheering so much just for a bit of food to fill your belly. When you taste true Force, you will know how laughable your actions today are.』
***
After an unknown amount of time, the carriage finally came to a slow stop. It was still pitch black outside, but a faint grayish-white was beginning to show on the eastern horizon, signaling the approaching dawn.
“We’re here, this is the spot.” The sound of the driver jumping off the carriage seat came, startling a half-asleep Aurelia awake.
“There’s a stream ahead, and a fairly flat clearing by the woods. I occasionally rest here when I drive at night. Girl, didn’t you want to show off your skills?” The driver pulled open the door and looked at the somewhat dazed girl, his voice raised slightly.
“It’s almost light out. Go gather wood and start a fire. Get some hot water ready and see what you can make for today’s breakfast. There are wheat cakes and jerky in that brown bag on the left side of the carriage. The pot and waterskin are under the seat.”
Aurelia took a deep breath, enduring the soreness throughout her body and the throbbing pain from the neck wound. She carefully moved the boy who was leaning against her, letting him lie flat in the carriage as comfortably as possible.
Then, she crawled down from the carriage. The moment her feet touched the ground, a wave of exhaustion and weakness accompanied by dizziness hit her, forcing her to grab the edge of the wheel to barely steady herself.
【Alright… time to get to work!】