Vol 1 Chapter 49 (1/2)

Chapter 49

Chapter 49 – Sky

They decided that Paul would keep watch throughout the night, while Wynn and Leti would keep watch at dawn. The three hid behind the chicken coop, enduring the smell of the chickens, so that they would not be seen from the fields.

Paul, wrapped in a blanket, had been watching the fields intently. Suddenly, he gave Wynn, who was sleeping beside him, a shake.

“Somebody came… Hey, wake up. And wake Leti, too. We have a ‘guest’ to welcome.”

Wynn came to at once. He proceeded to gently wake the girl up.

Wynn then copied Paul and peeked around the corner of the chicken coop.

Sure enough, he saw the silhouette of a person in the fields.

They hadn’t brought any lamps in order to avoid giving themselves away, but luckily, the night sky was bright enough for them to see that it was a human.

‘So it really was a kid from the slums…’

Judging by the size of the figure, the person appeared to be around Leti’s age.

Was he stealing vegetables from the fields because he wasn’t able to get enough food to eat?

Crawling on all fours, Leti peeked out from under Wynn. Wynn glanced at her thoughtfully.

‘Anyway, if that’s the case, then I don’t understand why the footprints stopped…’

The previous evening, Wynn and Paul had left the sleeping Leti in the cottage. Wynn led Paul to where he had discovered the footprints.

“Well done, Wynn.”

As expected, Paul saw that there was a set of small footprints on the ground.

“The footprints lead to the river. I considered following them further, but I decided that it would be best not to go alone.”

“Yeah, your judgement was correct.”

The two of them traced the footprints back to the river.

Pa.s.sing through the plains, they came upon a small hill.

The footprints continued over the hill.

“It leads away from Simurgh.”

“That’s right… He might have circled around the hill and followed the river to the slums in order to avoid being discovered. Or maybe there’s a nearby village, and some brat was the thief.”

“Is there a village around here?”

“There are villages scattered all around the city.”

They could see the gently flowing river water from the top of the so-called ‘hill’.

The river was too wide to cross without a bridge.

“The footprints are getting farther apart. They must have started running.”

The small footprints were heading straight towards the river.

Wynn swiftly followed the footprints.

As Paul followed after him, he thought, ‘At least that part of him is still child-like.’

“Ah.”

Wynn cried out in confusion.

“What is it?”

“The footprints stopped…”

When Paul caught up to Wynn, he saw that the footprints truly had stopped several meters away from the riverbank.

“Can you see any other footprints elsewhere?”

“What do you mean?”

In the torchlight, the two of them combed the surrounding area carefully, but were unable to find any other clues.

‘If we went after it now, we could catch it, but…’

If they didn’t know how it had disappeared in the first place, it would be dangerous to carelessly make a move.

It could be a monster with that sort of ability, even if Paul had never heard of such a monster.

A monster that was only able to steal vegetables and eggs wouldn’t be that strong.

Still, if he just let it get away, he wouldn’t be able to give a proper report to the adventurers who were going to subjugate the monster.

Information was money.

He would get an extra reward if he could provide information useful to the subjugation.

“Let’s chase after the thief!”

Wynn and Leti nodded in a.s.sent.

The small figure probably intended to steal from the day’s harvest before walking unsteadily away from the fields.

It seemed to be headed towards the hill, as expected.

When the thief was halfway across the field, the three of them left their hiding spot.

In order to avoid being noticed, they crouched down and chased after the figure’s silhouette.

When they reached the field, they could see that the thief’s loot was a head of cabbage.

Cabbages could be eaten in soup or preserved with salt and spices.

On top of a large leaf where the cabbage had been planted, they found some moss that was good for making salves.

“He’s almost over the hill. Hurry up!”

The thief’s unsteady gait wasn’t fast, but he had nearly reached the top of the hill.

Eventually, the small figure reached the top.

Then, it paused for a moment before running down the other side of the hill, heading towards the river.

“Run!”