The wagon slowly came to a halt. I climbed down from my seat and walked toward the front.
There, I saw the merchant Bernard and the mercenary captain talking with serious looks on their faces. Spotting me, Bernard walked over this way.
"Ah, Master Kael. I was just about to ask for your advice."
A serious expression. The reason the caravan had stopped was that they were agonizing over which way to take at a fork in the road.
To the left was a route that detoured all the way around the plateau ahead—relatively safe, though it took a long time. And to the right was a route that cut straight across the plateau.
From the perspective of Bernard, a merchant for whom arriving as early as possible was best, the reason for hesitating between the two was simple.
Because the Parel Plateau we were about to face was an area where bandits frequently appeared.
"Obviously we should go around. I don't even know why this is something to think twice about."
The mercenary captain, a man named Jackson, spoke up. Most of the mercenaries who had quietly gathered around by then seemed to agree with him.
"But the delivery deadline..."
By contrast, the merchant Bernard wore a troubled face.
Detouring around the plateau would probably take at least another week or more. If that happened, making the delivery deadline seemed like it would be a close call.
The daily sum he had to pay the mercenaries and me would go up by that much too, and in the first place, the whole reason a merchant hired mercenaries was to prepare for dangers like this.
"From what I heard, a large band of bandits was caught and executed in Pelhart not long ago, so shouldn't it be fine for the time being?"
Hearing Bernard's words, I kept a calm face while clicking my tongue inwardly.
If it happened in Pelhart not long ago...
'That was me.'
To be precise, the execution site I had escaped from. Either way, what he said was true.
All the other bandits aside from me would have been executed there as scheduled, after all.
Listening to Bernard, slight hesitation crept onto the mercenaries' faces. True to his words, right after a subjugation took place was indeed the safest time.
On top of that came the merchant's offer to seal the deal.
"If we arrive early and safely, I will pay you four days' worth of extra hazard pay."
A reasonably satisfactory compromise for both sides. One of the mercenaries glanced my way and nodded.
"Right, we've got a mage with us too, so a few bandit stragglers aren't anything to be scared of!"
Words spoken with gusto. At the same time, everyone's eyes turned to me.
Since I was a mage, they seemed to place quite a bit of weight on my opinion.
I thought it over for a moment.
Safety was the most important thing, of course. Still, just as Bernard said, it was true that now was a safe time following a large-scale bandit subjugation.
Besides, arriving faster wouldn't hurt me either.
'I don't think there was anything in particular to watch out for.'
I ran through the quests and stories around this time and area in my head. Strictly speaking, this was a beginner zone. There weren't any dangers on a level that had to be avoided at all costs.
We had plenty of mercenaries. The Energy Bolt spell I could fire off endlessly was a reliable weapon, too.
Finishing my thoughts, I nodded. At that, Bernard breathed a sigh of relief. The mercenaries shouted in high spirits as well.
"All right, let's head for the plateau!"
"Whether it's monsters or two-bit bandits, let 'em all come!"
A quick decision and departure.
The ten wagons began creaking forward once more. Perched between the sacks, I watched the surrounding scenery gradually begin to change.
A peaceful sight. Even so, I didn't let my guard down completely.
This was reality, not a game. Unexpected situations could happen at any time.
With that, we entered the plateau region. The journey continued all day long, but we didn't run into any particular danger.
"All right, let's rest here for the night!"
As the sun slowly sank, the mercenaries and porters began preparing to make camp.
Busy movements as they propped up supports under the wagons and gathered firewood and stones. There was no need for me to tire myself out helping.
Because no porter was out of his mind enough to tell a mage to go pick up firewood.
The menu was jerky, soup, and toasted wheat flatbread.
It was the simplest of meals, but since it was the first proper warm meal I was eating since falling into this world, I was quite satisfied.
After a night of camping, we set off again. Because we had entered the plateau proper, the going was quite tough.
Several mercenaries even climbed down to help push the noticeably slower wagons.
When we had pressed on like that for another three or four hours—
"Wait. Up ahead, what's that..."
"Halt! Halt!"
Along with urgent shouts from the mercenaries in the lead, the wagons came to a stop.
Climbing right down from the wagon, I stiffened as I saw what lay ahead.
Strewn across the middle of the plateau pass were corpses in a gruesome state.
***
The five or six corpses appeared to be those of travelers.
"Fuck, looks like we should've gone around."
Flipping a corpse over with his scabbard, a mercenary muttered with a stiff, hardened face. The others looked around with uneasy expressions as well.
There was only one reason mercenaries accustomed to corpses and combat were reacting so seriously.
Because the state of the sprawled corpses was utterly horrific.
"I-Is this the work of bandits?"
At the merchant Bernard's question, the mercenary captain shook his head.
"No. This isn't human work. Look at the wounds here. They were just smashed to pieces outright. Damn it."
Broken swords and half-torn corpses. True to his words, these weren't wounds a person could leave behind.
At least a medium-sized monster or larger. I worked my brain quickly.
Since I knew the habits and traits of the monsters in this world inside and out, making a guess wasn't difficult.
"A Troll, maybe."
Startled by my words, Bernard jerked his head up. The mercenary captain, on the other hand, looked at me in slight surprise and nodded.
"...It looks that way. I didn't realize you had experience in this sort of thing too."
I shrugged my shoulders. I had plenty of experience. Secondhand, of course.
"Wait. A Troll, you say?"
One of the mercenaries spoke up with an uncomprehending look on his face.
"Aren't Trolls the kind of bastards that usually live in deep forests or damp caves? This is a damned plateau, isn't it?"
Words spoken in disbelief. That was the reason the others hadn't easily thought of a Troll even after seeing the gruesome corpses.
"I'm puzzled by that too, but..."
The mercenary captain trailed off with a grim face. Still, the evidence right in front of our eyes was clear.
Even on the off chance it wasn't a Troll, it was definitely the work of at least a medium-sized monster.
"Fuck. Let's turn back."
Spitting onto the ground in a superstition meant to ward off bad luck, one of the mercenaries spoke to Bernard.
"B-But..."
He couldn't answer easily.
Where we currently stood was right in the middle of the plateau. Quite apart from wasting all the distance we had struggled to haul the wagons up to get here, turning back now would probably add at least ten more days.
Then he would clearly miss the delivery deadline.
"D-Didn't everyone clearly agree to take the plateau earlier?"
Bernard protested. However, the mercenaries seemed to have already made up their minds.
With dark, sunken eyes, they gave no answer. A flash of anger crossed the merchant's face.
"Wait, the whole reason I hired you people was to handle things like this!"
Thinking the caravan trip might go up in smoke, Bernard grew worked up. Yet the mercenaries' stance was firm.
"Damn it, then what do you want us to do? All get eaten by a Troll together like good little friends? Are you out of your mind?"
"I-I mean..."
At the mercenary's rough retort, Bernard stammered, unable to answer easily.
His eyes darted about rapidly. Having never faced a life-or-death situation before, the merchant seemed to be wondering if they might get lucky and slip past the Troll to make it off the plateau.
"To whoever slays the Troll, I will give ten gold coins—n-no, fifteen gold coins!"
A shout meant to persuade the mercenaries. I clicked my tongue softly.
This wasn't a problem that money could solve to begin with. The mercenaries here right now were Bronze-Plate at best.
Their skill was woefully insufficient to take on a Troll. The mercenaries themselves probably knew that all too well.
"Have you lost your mind? If we croak, what does gold or platinum matter—"
Just as I thought, a mercenary wore an incredulous look. However, his words didn't make it to the end.
Thud.
A sound came from far away. I felt the ground tremble faintly.
Red-faced as they argued back and forth, the merchant and the mercenaries didn't seem to have noticed yet.
A moment later, however—
Neighhh. Terrified, the horses snorted and began stamping their hooves.
"What's gotten into them all of a sudden..."
The animals, which had been hitched quietly to the wagons until just a moment ago, thrashed about wildly to break free of their reins. Only then sensing that something was wrong, the men urgently turned their eyes toward the far side of the plateau.
Thud, thud.
The reverberations rang out much more clearly now. Everyone's faces turned pale.
"...!"
It was a sound that rendered the argument continuing until just a moment ago completely pointless in a single stroke.
"...Damn it."
A dazed mutter from one of the mercenaries. A dot visible in the distance was thumping its way straight toward us.
Whoosh—
At the same time, a pungent stench stung our noses.
It was a Troll.