Chapter 4

About thirty monsters surrounded the carriage, and three people were standing guard, swords and staves at the ready, trying to keep the monsters at bay.

"Suddenly a battle!? Before that, can I even fight? I was definitely level 1, right... Hey, do you think we can help them?"

While talking to the horse, which was a bit strange, it seemed to understand my words, neighing "Hee-haw" and speeding up toward the group of monsters.

—And it kept getting faster.

"Wait a moment!"

By the time I said that, it was already too late, and the horse charged forward, scattering the monsters. The monsters were smaller than humans, walking on two legs and wearing only rough loincloths. They held crude clubs in one hand, and if I had to describe them, they were goblins.

The goblins flew over ten meters and lay still, as if they had been hit by a truck. The horse continued to gallop around, trampling the goblins, and I could barely hold on to its neck.

After a few minutes, it finally slowed down.

I managed to lift my head—

—There, the goblins who had been hit by the horse lay motionless. Some were flung away, others were crushed, and the goblins were already dead, green blood scattered around them. Trying to hold back the rising contents of my stomach, I looked at the people guarding the carriage, who were staring at me in shock. The horse neighed, "Buruu," as if asking, "How about me?"

I got off the horse, patted its neck, and then called out to the three people who were still in shock.

"I'm sorry, the horse wouldn't listen to me..."

The three, startled by the sudden events, raised their swords in caution. I raised my hands to show I wasn't armed, and they relaxed, lowering their swords.

The red-haired swordsman stepped forward.

"I'm sorry for raising my sword. Thanks to you, we were saved... Still, to be able to ride a black obsidian horse..."

The swordsman looked up at the horse I was riding and said that.

"No, no, the horse just suddenly charged... Hey! Stop it!"

I was embarrassed by the exchange, and the horse playfully nipped at my head from behind.

"Hehe, it seems to be quite fond of you. So... you are... I apologize. I should have introduced myself first. I'm Clada, the warrior behind me is Milga, and the one with the staff is Nina."

The two of them nodded slightly, and I introduced myself.

"I'm... Touya. I got lost... and while I was looking for the town, I found you being attacked..."

"Lost!? Here...? And for a black obsidian horse to be so fond of a person..."

It was hard to explain, but I told them that I had found myself in the grasslands and that the black obsidian horse was next to me. I added that I had lost consciousness and my memory was a bit hazy.

"That's true... The town is a day's walk from here on the road, Fen迪's town. It's half a day by carriage. We're heading there as guards for this carriage. Would you like to come with us? We'll have to ask the client, but..."

I thought it would be better to go with them rather than go to the town alone, so I nodded at the suggestion.

"Hunt, the monsters are taken care of. We're fine."

Milga, the brown-haired warrior, called out to someone in the carriage, and a face peeked out from the door.

"Phew, that's a relief. Even though they were goblins, there were so many... I was shaking in the carriage! So... who is he?"

The person seemed curious about me, who was leading a black obsidian horse that was clearly larger than the two horses pulling the carriage. Clada explained the situation and offered to let me join them, and the response was that it was no problem. They even promised additional rewards since I had the level to eliminate the group of monsters.

After introducing ourselves, Clada asked me a question.

"Touya, don't you need to collect proof of the kill?"

"Proof of the kill...? I'm not an adventurer, so I don't know..."

Clada explained to me, who still didn't understand.

"For goblins, it's the right ear. You can't get a magic stone from this class of monster."

Since I didn't have a knife, Clada sighed and decided to cut the proof of the kill for me.

"Well, you might have managed, but with this many, you might have been injured. Let me do this for you."

Nina kept watch, and Clada and Milga used their knives to cut the right ears of the goblins and put them in a bag, which they handed to me.

"These are the ones you killed. You can exchange this at the Adventurer's Guild for money. If we don't get to the town by evening, we'll have to spend the night outside the gate, so let's go."

"Okay, thank you."

Clada and Nina returned to the driver's seat, and Milga sat on the back of the carriage, keeping watch. I asked the black obsidian horse, which was staring at me intently, to let me ride, and it bent its legs to make it easier for me to mount. I spoke to the horse as it moved slowly to match the carriage's speed.

"Let's give you a name that's easy to call... Since you're all black, how about 'Kokuyou'? Is that okay?"

Kokuyou, the black obsidian horse, neighed happily, "Buruu," in response to my words.

And so, we headed for the town.

We arrived at the town before sunset. The town was surrounded by stone walls about four meters high.

We had to register at the gate to enter the town.

"Have you registered as an adventurer...? You don't have a citizen's card, right? It costs 10,000 gil to enter the town. Do you have it?"

I took out a gold coin, a silver coin, and a copper coin from my dimensional storage, as if they were in my pocket, and showed them to Clada, asking if they were usable.

"Hey! Don't show gold coins so easily! A silver coin is enough to enter the town. If you show off gold coins, you might get attacked!"

Clada, who seemed to be scaring me a bit, and I shrugged in response.

The registration at the gate proceeded one by one, and it was our turn.

"Next!"

The three and Hunt showed their identification, and I told them I had nothing.

"You don't have anything... This time, I'll take a silver coin. If you register at the Adventurer's Guild, you can enter the town for free. You can also register at the Merchant's Guild, but... your appearance suggests you're an adventurer. Also, if you're bringing a black obsidian horse, you should register it as a familiar at the guild."

"I'm thinking of registering at the Adventurer's Guild. And what's a familiar registration...?"

"You don't know that either... Well, ask when you register at the guild. They should explain it to you."

"Got it, thanks."

I paid a silver coin to the gate guard and entered the town.

Clada and the others were going to stop by Hunt's trading company and had already asked for the location of the guild.

"I'll go to the guild later, see you there!"

The three and Hunt said goodbye to me and drove the carriage into the town. When the carriage was out of sight, I started walking into the town with Kokuyou.