Side Story: Lahki’s Merchant Diary, Part 2

A gentle wind blew across the empty fields under the darkening, burgundy sky, an

almost lonely sound carried along with it. The Hibbot wasteland stretched off to the

west as far as the eye could see, growing increasingly red as the sun set. To the east,

the forests running along the base of the Calcut mountain range were already

submerged in purple nightfall.

A lone horse tugged a cart down the desolate, neglected road that cut through the

empty plains.

A young man with messy, light brown hair steered the cart, all the while humming

cheerfully to himself.

The man was in his early- to mid-twenties and clearly took care of his appearance,

though he hardly looked well-to-do. Judging by the contents crammed into his cart,

anyone passing by would instantly know that he was a merchant.

A young muscular man, around the same age as the driver, walked beside the cart.

From the leather armor he wore to the simple sword at his waist and small buckler on

his back, it was apparent that this young man was a mercenary. He ran a hand through

his short-cropped blond hair as he surveyed their surroundings.

"Hey Lahki, the sun's about to set. Think we'll hit Ura anytime soon?"

The man sitting in the driver's seat, Lahki, looked around. "Yeah, it should be pretty

close. Do you want to climb aboard, Behl?"

"The cart's already piled with goods… plus that dead weight in the back. I'd feel bad

for making the poor horse take on any more." The young mercenary, Behl, jogged past

the horse, shouting his reply back over his shoulder with a laugh.

A woman lying in the back of the cart, her arms gently waving about as she stared off

into nothingness, stirred at Behl's comment. "Waitaminnit, Behl. You're not suggesting

that I'm dead weight, are you?"

The young woman was dressed in boyish clothes and wore her semi-long chestnutcolored hair tied back in a ponytail. She leaned over the side of the cart and glared at

Behl.

"Hey, I never said anything about you, Rea. Why, do you think you're dead weight?"

Rea responded to his teasing with a shrill yell. "What was that?!"

"All right, all right. Calm down, you two. I can see the village now." Lahki admonished

them in a well-practiced one.

Behl and Rea turned their attention ahead to the faint outline of the town up ahead.

Behl let out a sigh. "Finally. Why do things look so different on the east and west sides

of the Calcut Mountains?"

Rea nodded in agreement and held up her waterskin, giving it a shake to check its

contents.

"I know. I left with a full waterskin this morning, and it's already empty. Let's hurry

into town before the sun sets."

There were two routes—east or west around the Calcut mountain range—available to

those wishing to travel from Luvierte to the capital.

The east route traveled along the Lydel River and the vast, fertile fields that bordered

it. Due to this, there were many villages and towns along the way, and a constant

stream of traffic.

Lahki and his crew, however, had taken the western route due to its more direct path

and thus shorter travel time. However, since the fields on this side were unsuitable for

farming, there were few settlements. The distances between one village and the next

were vast, and they rarely encountered anyone else along the way, despite this being

an official road maintained by the kingdom.

There was also little in the way of animal life as a result of the harsh living conditions,

though anyone who took this to mean that there were also few monsters would be

sorely mistaken. In addition to the creatures that occasionally came out of the forests

near the base of the Calcut Mountains, there were also incredibly powerful monsters

living in the Hibbot wasteland that would sometimes roam all the way to the road. The

western route was the more dangerous of the two, and required constant vigilance.

Its saving grace, at least, was that you were highly unlikely to encounter any bandits

here, which was a major issue along the eastern side.

Once they got a little closer to the village, fields of beans, millet, and other hardy crops

suitable for dry weather came into view. The village was surrounded by an empty

moat and a wall made of sandbags, put in place by its inhabitants in a desperate

attempt to protect what was theirs.

Lahki took a small path off the main road and through the fields to get to the village

entrance. Villagers nearby watched with wonder as the party approached, whispering

among themselves. They seemed eager to discover what was in the cart, since a

merchant's arrival was a rare occurrence.

Lahki drove straight up to the village chief's house.

"We should introduce ourselves first."

Being a town of fewer than three hundred residents, Ura had no inns to speak of. It

was customary in situations like this to introduce yourself to the village chief and ask

for an empty house to stay in, or even for the chief to take you in.

Lahki had traveled the western route on numerous occasions and was already familiar

with the chief of Ura. He took the cart into the village center and parked it in front of

the only two-story house. He knocked lightly on the door, and a gaunt older woman

answered it.

"Oh, Banda, it's been some time. Is the chief home?" Lahki bowed his head low.

The older woman, Banda, seemed surprised at Lahki's sudden appearance, but she

smiled back at him.

"Oh my, it's been a while, Lahki m'boy. I didn't expect to see you here at a time like

this."

"Hello, Ms. Banda!"

"Hi, ma'am!"

Behl and Rea leaned out from behind Lahki and greeted the woman as well. Her eyes

crinkled in a warm grin.

"Oh, Behl and Rea. I see you're as chipper as ever."

Banda had come to live here many years ago when she'd married Bent, the longtime

village chief of Ura. Behl and Rea had also stopped in this village many times while

performing their duties as Lahki's bodyguards.

The four had just started to make small talk when a voice from inside the house

chimed in.

"Quit wagging your jaw in the doorway and invite them in! Lahki, go ahead and park

the cart in the usual place."

An old man with thin white hair and a dark tan stuck his head out to address Lahki.

The man had a strong, masculine face and a muscular body to match. He was none

other than Bent, chief of the village of Ura. After all these years living in such a harsh

environment, he lacked any of the usual frailty that men in their fifties usually

displayed.

Lahki and Behl took the cart around to the shed next to the house, brought the horse

over to the village stable, and returned to find Rea, Banda, and Bent talking. The five

of them made their way upstairs and entered the living room, which also served as the

dining room and kitchen. A guest room was also located on the second floor.

The group sat around the table and sipped from wooden cups filled with water.

Bent's face hardened as he immediately launched into a question. "Lahki m'boy, you'll

be traveling on through Branbayna on your way down south, I suppose?"

Lahki responded cautiously. "Yes, like usual…"

Branbayna was the largest town along the western route, and Lahki always made it a

habit to stop there either before or after visiting Ura. Lahki wasn't alone in this. Nearly

all travelers along the western route made their way there.

Bent and Banda exchanged a glance through narrowed eyes.

Lahki followed up with a question of his own. "Why do you ask? Did something happen

in Branbayna?"

Bent shook his head and sighed. His voice took on a serious tone. "No, it's just that

goblins have been showing up along the route between here in Branbayna lately…"

His three guests looked perplexed. Behl was the first to voice what they were all

thinking. "Goblins? They're no big deal. A group of all the men around town should be

able to take care of them."

Goblins weren't all that strong to begin with. Even in a town like Ura that didn't have

much in the way of weapons, they should be able to take care of such a nuisance with

no more than their farming tools.

"There are about a hundred of them. Far too many for us…"

"A hundred?!" Rea blurted out her surprise.

Even at their largest, goblin mobs usually topped out around thirty or forty. It was

almost unheard of to hear of anything larger. As mercenaries, Rea and Behl had ample

experience dealing with goblins and other monsters.

Lahki thought for a moment. "I wonder if they were chased off by something. Are there

any other monsters around?"

"No, just goblins. No one has witnessed anything else."

Behl crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. "But if they did get chased off,

maybe they won't be able to go back to wherever they came from for a while…"

Bent let out a heavy sigh. "Usually we'd hire some mercenaries in Branbayna to take

care of the goblins, but there are so many along the route that we can't even get there."

Rea huffed and took a sip of her water. "Not many people use this route, so it can take

a while for problems to be addressed."

Bent's face grew even more serious. "That brings us to the meat of the matter. Could I

ask Behl and Rea to clear out the goblins for us? We're more than happy to pay your

fees, though I know this will affect Lahki's schedule…"

Behl and Rea glanced over at Lahki. As their employer, he had the final say.

Lahki's shoulders slumped. "Well, we'd have to do something about the goblins on our

way to Branbayna anyway."

Bent broke out into a smile. "Thank you, Lahki m'boy!"

Surprisingly, it was Behl's voice that butted in to rain on their parade. "That's assuming

we can kill all the goblins. Twenty would be difficult enough, but a hundred? I'm not

sure my blade could even hold its edge for that many."

He looked down at the sword Lahki had given him and frowned. Of course, Behl

wouldn't be fighting alone, but even splitting the task with Rea, that still left them with

fifty each—no easy feat. Hacking through that many goblins would do a number on

his sword, and without a town nearby to sharpen it for him, that would mean

continuing on to Branbayna with a dull blade—a dangerous prospect.

Lahki flashed his usual easy smile at Behl.

"Don't worry, I have an idea." He turned his attention back to the village chief. "Actually,

there's something I'd like to sell you, Bent…"

The next day, around noon, a group of around a dozen men were hiding behind rocks

a little ways outside the village, just off the main road, where the barren fields sloped

into a gentle hill. A shallow chasm ran through the side of the hill, only about four

meters deep, a simply built ladder placed inside to get to the top. The bottom of the

chasm was covered with dried branches and leaves.

Each of the men huddled along the hill had a ceramic pot in front of them and a rock

or other similarly hard object in their hand. Bent and Rea huddled with them. Sweat

poured from the crouching villagers, trapped between the baking sun and the parched

earth beneath them.

Rea craned her neck to see how things were going. A moment later, she spotted the

outline of the person she was looking for.

"He's here."

With that one, simple statement, the villagers tensed in anticipation.

Lahki's heavy footfalls echoed across the landscape as he ran toward the entrance to

the chasm. He didn't usually exert himself like this, his gait incredibly awkward as he

ran. An ominous, unnatural cloud of dust followed closely behind as he made his mad

dash toward the villagers. However, it wasn't Lahki kicking up all that dust, but a large

group of green creatures.

The creatures were only about a meter tall, with thin limbs and large distended bellies.

Their mouths gaped, the corners reaching almost all the way to their large, pointed

ears. Smack in the middle of their faces bulged a pair of massive eyes, constantly

darting around. They were each armed with a simple wooden club.

This was pretty much the same type of goblin you'd encounter anywhere throughout

the continent, though they usually kept to groups of a few dozen at most—nowhere

near the hundred or so here. They let out hideous, ear-piercing cries as they chased

after Lahki, swinging their clubs.

Lahki hopped over a small stone wall in front of the chasm and ran straight inside,

chest heaving. Moments later, the goblin mob came diving over the wall as well. Rea

stood up at the top of the hill and called out.

"Lahki, hurry!"

Lahki reached the end of the chasm and started climbing the ladder. Once at the top of

the hill, he collapsed, his breathing ragged. Two nearby villagers quickly grabbed the

ladder and pulled it up out of the chasm. With nowhere else to go, the goblins let out

another ear-piercing screech and shook their clubs at Lahki and Rea.

"Now!" Rea shouted.

In unison, Bent and all of the other villagers grabbed their pots and threw them down

at the goblins. The pots shattered the moment they made contact, covering the goblins

in liquid. This further incensed the goblins, who shrieked all the louder.

Unaffected, Rea waved her right hand and began to chant.

"I call upon the flames to rain down upon our foes… Fire Beretta!"

Two fist-sized balls of fire formed in the air in front of her outstretched hand, then

flew off at top speed into the chasm.

One ball hit a liquid-covered goblin near the entrance and the other struck the dead

leaves lining the floor. An instant later, the goblin who was hit lit up like a match and

dropped to the ground, rolling around in a vain attempt to put itself out. However, this

only served to set the dead grass and leaves ablaze, bathing the goblins' feet in a sea

of flames. The goblins themselves began to catch fire, the chasm filling with

bloodcurdling screams.

"Now's your chance! Throw the rocks!"

Lahki, somewhat recovered, held up a large stone about the size of a person's head

and dropped it into the chasm below. The stone instantly felled a burning goblin. The

other villagers picked up their own stones and hurled them down into the chasm

while Rea continued to shoot fireball after magical fireball.

Several goblins near the entrance tried to escape the flames, but ended up crushed

against the stone wall as the mob behind them surged forward. Any goblin lucky

enough to make it over the wall met a quick end at the hands of Behl, who was standing

by with his blade.

About ten minutes later, the goblin mob had been reduced to a pile of burning meat.

Lahki sat with a heavy thud and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Well, I'd say that

went pretty well."

"Lahki m'boy, thank you so much for your help. The head of Branbayna will certainly

pay you handsomely for your services. Just tell me what we owe you." Bent smiled

brightly and offered Lahki his hand.

Lahki returned the smile as he calculated the total bill for their services. "Well, I'll need

the money for the oil we soaked the dried grass with, Behl and Rea's fees, and the

surcharge for using me as a decoy. Does four sok sound about right?"

The two shook on the deal before the party made their way back to Ura to spend the

night. Early the next morning, Lahki, Behl, and Rea said their goodbyes to the village

chief and pointed their cart toward their next destination—Branbayna.

Just before nightfall, the party caught sight of a hill next to the road. Atop the hill sat a

town surrounded by a stone wall, with tall, box-shaped buildings poking out from

inside. From the outside, the town had a dreary feel to it—more like a fort than a place

you'd actually want to live. Fields had been carved into the side of the hill, the green

of the crops standing out against the surrounding red and brown vista.

Lahki took the cart off the main road and onto a path leading up the hill, arriving at

the gate. After greeting the guard and showing him his license as an iron-goods trader

under the merchant guild, they were allowed to enter the town.

Lahki drove the cart through the gate while Behl and Rea walked behind him.

Behl let out a yawn. "Haaaaah! We've finally made it to Branbayna. The capital isn't too

far off now."

Rea nodded. "Should be another three or four days, yeah?"

Lahki turned the cart toward the inn they'd be staying in. "We already sold off most of

the goods we picked up in Luvierte. Now that we have a lighter cart, what do you think

about increasing the pace so we can get to the capital quicker?"

His companions both raised their hands in agreement.

Behl laced his fingers behind his head and glanced around the town. "You know, I'm

sure seeing a lot more mercenaries around than I remember seeing the last time we

were here."

Lahki frowned. "Maybe they're here to deal with whatever monster chased out the

goblins, or some other hunting expedition? We should ask the innkeeper."

After arriving at their usual inn in Branbayna, Lahki parked the cart and handed the

horse's reins over to Behl to take it to the stable, then made his way inside to arrange

rooms and talk with the innkeeper.

Behl returned just as Lahki was making his way upstairs.

"Hey, Lahki, did you find out what's up?"

Lahki repeated the conversation he'd just had with the innkeeper. "Apparently, there

have been many recent sightings of sand wyverns in large groups."

"Huh, makes sense. Leather from sand wyverns is pretty valuable." Behl fell into his

role as a bodyguard and began evaluating the danger they could be facing. "I guess

that means you'll want to stick around town for a while?"

If a group of wyverns or similar monsters descended upon the cart, there would be

little that Behl and Rea on their own could do to stop them.

"Sand wyverns aren't very active during the day, so we should be able to make it to the

next town without any problems, as long as we leave before noon."

The serious expression instantly left Behl's face, replaced with an excited grin. He

threw his fist up into the air. "Awright, we can sleep in tomorrow!"

"Sure, sure. Anyway, let's go get Rea and head to dinner."

Lahki tried to calm Behl down as they made their way to Rea's room.

The next day, the sun was already high in the sky by the time Lahki steered his cart

out of Branbayna and made his way down the road. Black, rocky mountains jutted out

from the vast, brown landscape. Behl kept his head constantly moving as he walked

next to the cart. Late in the afternoon, he finally spotted something.

From a distance, it looked like a monster lying in wait for its prey, but as they got closer,

Behl's expression turned from caution to surprise. "Hey, Lahki, is that a dead sand

wyvern over there?"

Lahki looked where Behl was pointing and spotted several of the winged creatures

splayed out across the fields. In contrast to their massive wingspan, their bodies were

relatively small, looking almost like lizards with birds' heads attached to the ends of

their elongated necks. Their dusty yellow skin was covered in a striped pattern. These

were definitely sand wyverns, the kind that inhabited the Hibbot wasteland.

They could see at least eight from where they were, none of which bore any obvious

injuries. They were just… discarded along the side of the road, in near-perfect condition.

Lahki stopped the cart and looked down. "I think you're right."

Rea cocked her head. "It doesn't look like they've been dead all that long, either."

Behl leaned in for a closer look, a puzzled look on his face as he inspected a hole in the

sand wyvern's chest.

"Their rune stones have been taken, which means humans must have done this. But

why would they just throw the bodies away? Sand wyvern leather is worth far more

than their rune stones."

Lahki hopped down from the driver's seat to look at the sand wyvern's hide. There

were a few scorch marks, but it was otherwise in good condition. Judging by the lack

of arrow or sword wounds, they must have been killed by magic.

Sand wyvern hides were no stronger than normal wyverns' hides once they were

tanned. However, they were much smoother to the touch and harder to procure,

making them far more valuable.

In this condition, even the hide from a single sand wyvern would fetch a high price.

And any force strong enough to take down so many powerful monsters at once

shouldn't have any problem transporting their bodies. No matter how hard he puzzled

it over, Lahki couldn't figure out why someone would take the rune stones and leave

the rest.

Rea prodded the sand wyvern with her foot. "Well, it'd be a shame to just leave them

here. Why don't we take them to the capital and sell them?"

Lahki rubbed his chin. "In this condition, each one should be worth about sixty sok."

Behl's eyes went wide. "Whoa! Sixty gold coins apiece, huh? I wonder how they'd fetch

as leather…"

Lahki pulled a large hatchet from the back of his cart. "Let's chop off the excess meat

and load 'em in the cart."

"Let me lend you a hand!" Behl was quick to offer his assistance, but Rea just sat down

in the bed of the cart.

"I'll stand guard. Good luck with the chopping, you two."

"We'll probably be able to fit three of them in the cart, and that's if we stuff them in…"

Lahki let out a contented sigh. Just thinking about what would be waiting for him in

the capital made it impossible for him to keep the excited grin off his face.