Chapter 6 – After Session, Scenario Hook The Reward and the Next Adventure
Creak, creak. Even empty, the cart’s wheels complained as they rolled along the road.
Cow Girl walked with her hands folded behind her, watching him as he pulled the cart.
He said he wanted some help, but…
He hadn’t said with what, or where. Not a word. It left her wondering if she should have agreed so readily. Maybe her uncle was right to worry about her.
If I asked, he would tell me…
Or so that woman had suggested to her, but that required working up the courage to ask.
Even just walking a step behind him took its own sort of bravery. Walking placidly along was just evidence of a baseless conviction that the ground would be there to meet her feet.
One had to have that faith, though, or one would never be able to move. She vaguely recalled laughing about something like that in the past.
His back as he walked silently along seemed so close to her, yet somehow so far away, and Cow Girl cast her eyes up to the sky as if to escape it.
It was so blue. A summer sky, blue and white enough to make her catch her breath.
Far up in the azure expanse, a single bird, a hawk, circled slowly.
It was unusual, she thought. She had never seen a hawk fly this far before. She dimly remembered that hawks preferred the mountains.
Maybe she had just never noticed. How often in her life had she just gazed up at the sky?
The sky was always there, and yet, she so rarely looked hard at it. It was strange.
“Huh…?”
She suddenly noticed that he was heading not toward town, but toward the outskirts. She hurried to close the gap that had opened between them, and with restraint, but also evident concern, she asked, “We aren’t…going to town?”
“No.”
That hesitant step she had dared to take was met with solid ground underfoot. She let out a relieved breath.
“But we need the cart?”
“Yes.”
The second step, safe. She felt like she was clinging to a vine on the side of a sheer cliff.
Not that I would know what that actually feels like…
Cow Girl giggled to herself. If either of them was likely to wind up in that situation, it would be him.
A short time later, he stopped.
They had come to an old shed on the riverside, a place that looked like it had been there for who knew how long. The morning sun shone down on it, but it seemed strangely lifeless and silent. The creaking waterwheel was broken, and no smoke came from the chimney. A hovel. It felt almost as if this place and this place alone had been torn out of a picture.
He thought for a moment, then walked up to the door, giving the brass knocker a few solid, casual strikes. He waited, but there was no reply, so he opened the door and walked into the gloomy interior.
Books clogged even the front entranceway; he wove his way among them through the room.
Cow Girl stood at the door, not quite sure what to do, but finally, she resolved herself and spoke up.
The third step.
“…Is this it?”
“It is.”
“Don’t mind me,” Cow Girl said hesitantly, then took a careful step inside.
The inside—how to describe it?
It was like a condemned building, an abandoned house… Or a wizard’s home.
At first glance, everything seemed strange and incomprehensible, herbs and medicines packed everywhere. There was nowhere to step—it was enough to make her wonder if they’d wandered into a warehouse.
He walked among the detritus confidently, a sign he had been here many times before. Cow Girl did her best to follow him, taking care not to catch her clothing on anything.
She survived the trip, and they emerged into an open space in the middle of it all. There sat a desk and a chair, looking untouched for some mystifying reason.
There were empty bottles scattered around near the furniture.
He glanced at the desk, the chair, and the bottles. Then he shook his head.
“I will take some things from here,” he said quietly. “What I need.”
“Is that okay?” Cow Girl asked, to which he replied only, “It is my reward.”
Thus, the fourth step.
Cow Girl helped him, reluctantly ferrying strange magical items outside.
She had never seen so many books in one place. For an instant, she considered trying to read them, but they looked expensive, so she thought better of it.
The books, piled all over the floor instead of on bookshelves, were covered in dust; she blew a sharp breath over the one she held in her hands. She didn’t know how best to take care of books, but this one smelled a little musty, so maybe it ought to be dried out.
“What are you going to do with these?”
To her fifth question, he answered, “I will have the Guild donate them to the temple of the God of Knowledge or the like. Then those who need them can read them.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” she said, trying to check that she was about to put her foot in a safe place. “I’m sure it’ll help. I mean, books are full of all sorts of things, aren’t they?”
“…” He nodded, and then replied, “Yes.”
All morning, Cow Girl had been thinking how glad she was that she came here.
The cramped room was ostentatiously crowded with detritus. Just removing it all was serious work. Organizing it was another major task. And loading it onto the cart, still another.
By the time they were finished, the sun was past its apex, and Cow Girl was breathing hard and wiping the sweat from her brow.
“Wow! I guess we’ve missed lunch already…” Fatigue was one thing, but a long history of hard work had left her well able to endure an empty stomach. She calmly rubbed a hand on her abdomen. How was he doing? She cocked her head. “I should have packed lunches for us or something.”
“I see.”
She had spoken so quietly, the words directed only at herself, that she was startled to hear him answer her. She opened her mouth to say That’s not what I meant, and then she realized that he was looking her way beneath his metal helmet. And when she realized it, she gulped.
“I am sorry about that.”
“N-no, don’t worry…”
The sixth step she hadn’t realized she was taking met also with solid ground—or anyway, so she felt.
Taken aback, Cow Girl moved her hand from her belly to her chest. She half-hugged herself.
“…If you ask, I’ll make one for you, okay?”
“Understood.”
Pushing the cart, the two of them set off walking.
“What should we do?” she asked, and he answered, “First, I will deliver the books to the Guild.”
When they passed through the town gate, nearby adventurers would glance at them and then look away again. It was as if, although they were doing something strange, people refused to notice them. Cow Girl wasn’t thrilled others thought of them that way, but for some reason, it didn’t bother her that much.
I wonder why not.
Strangely, she herself wasn’t sure. But it wasn’t a bad feeling.
Finally, they arrived at the Adventurers Guild, and he put the cart where it would be out of the way.
“I will go report to reception that I am finished,” he said. Then his helmet tilted thoughtfully, and in a slow, confirmatory tone, he said, “You are free to eat at the tavern.”
Rather than pleasing, Cow Girl found this oddly funny, and she giggled. “That’s okay,” she said, and then, worried that her meaning wasn’t getting through, she added, “Let’s eat at home, together, okay?”
He fell silent.
Cow Girl felt as if, in her exuberance, she had taken a step too far.
But then he said quietly, “I see.”
His response was the same two words as ever, but to her they were meaningful. “I’m glad you do.”
“Is that so?”
Yeah, sure is. Then she repeated to herself: It sure is. He nodded.
“In that case, I will return shortly.”
“Sure.”
And then Cow Girl watched him as he disappeared into the Guild building.
She could see a smile light up Guild Girl’s face as he came through the swinging doors.
Cow Girl sat on the cart bed, feeling strangely floaty. She rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. She let her legs hang down and looked at the town. Gaggles of adventurers coming and going. Townspeople of every sort. Just the usual scenery.
But it was just like the sky. How many times had she really looked closely at it?
Without a doubt, there were at least a few people around here eating things that came from her farm. The thought gave her a little rush of happiness. It made her feel that even just helping her uncle with his chores had some kind of meaning.
Suddenly, Cow Girl heard a breathy voice.
“Well, now…?”
Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed the voice’s owner approaching her.
“It’s been…some, time.”
“Oh!” Cow Girl stood up quickly. It was that beautiful woman, the witch. “Yes, it’s been a while!” She hopped down off the cart and bowed. The movement was so sudden, it all came off a little more energetically than she’d intended. Embarrassed, she blushed, and a chuckle rolled from somewhere deep in Witch’s throat.
“What…brings…you here, today…?”
“Oh, uh…” Cow Girl looked into thin air for an answer. “I’m helping… Helping him.”
We brought this to the Guild.
Witch squinted at that and caressed the books piled on the cart. “Ah…”
“I don’t know much about them myself. But I guess they’re valuable, right?”
“Yes, indeed… For those, who…want them.”
To those people, they are valuable. Witch whispered, then her cheeks twitched in a smile.
Huh? Cow Girl just sensed something, cocked her head in curiosity. Could it be? Just maybe?
“…Having a good day yourself?”
“Heh, heh.” Witch blinked, her long eyelashes wavering. Her lips moved ever so slightly, as if chanting the words of some secret spell. “I, will…be going…on, a ‘date.’”
“Wow,” Cow Girl breathed, and Witch covered her mouth with her hand as if shy about the way she began to giggle.
“See, you.”
With a languid wave, she walked away, hips swaying. In the distance was a spear-wielding adventurer.
Lucky woman…
Although Cow Girl had to admit she didn’t fully grasp why she thought Witch was lucky.
“I’m finished.”
“Oh, okay.”
They left, and he returned. Cow Girl nodded and went around behind the cart.
She started unloading books. He grabbed piles of them himself and set them down.
“So where are they going to donate these to?”
“I don’t know,” he said bluntly. “They said they would keep the books here and look into it, then decide.”
“Huh,” she said. “Yes,” he said.
Cow Girl piled up the books, hauled them off the cart, and gave them to a Guild staff member. Then she did it again.
Just then, though, she thought she caught a whiff of some sweet scent.
The aroma of apples. At least, that’s what she thought it was.
So she stopped and took a deep breath, wiping the sweat from her forehead, and without really thinking about it, she asked a question.
“I haven’t seen that woman around lately, huh?”
He stopped moving. Was something wrong? Cow Girl cocked her head, and the steel helmet moved.
“Who do you mean?” he asked
“You know, the one you were working with.” Cow Girl looked up at the sky, almost unsure what she was saying. It was so blue it hurt her eyes. “…The wizard.”
He didn’t reply immediately. He piled up several books, brought them down, handed them to the staff member, then piled up more books, removed them, and handed them over as well.
Cow Girl waited patiently. She had taken so many steps already. She was sure this one would be safe.
When his reply came at last, it was tremendously vague and all too brief. “I think she went somewhere far away. She may not be coming home.”
Cow Girl replied simply, “Is that right?”
She imagined the worst, but somehow hesitated to give the idea voice.
When he saw she had gone silent, he stopped working. And then, in a startlingly gentle tone, he said, “I do not believe she is dead.”
At that moment—if she wasn’t simply mistaken—she would have sworn she heard him laugh ever so softly.
She felt some relief at that and let out a breath. Not dead. That was wonderful.
Still unsure herself why she had asked about the woman, she went on to her next words. “Do you miss her?”
“I don’t know.”
His answer was brief.
When he had piled up and taken away the last book, he finally let out a breath. Then, the helmet still on his head, he looked at the ground, deep in thought, and finally shook his head from side to side. “I don’t know, but…in a way, perhaps I do.”
“I see,” Cow Girl said, and then she whispered again, “I see,” and wiped away sweat.
They entrusted the last of the books to the Guild staff, and then the two of them set off on the road home.
He pulled the cart as they walked the path back to the farm, which seemed so long and yet so short.
In fact, there was still quite a load on the cart. It was her job to push it from behind.
“…Wanna switch places?”
“No,” he said as he pulled on the crossbeam. “This is my job.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I think so.”
Then there was no more conversation, and the two of them focused on walking silently along.
On the road, they passed adventurers wearing every imaginable type of equipment. A young girl with her silver hair tied up went running by, followed by her party, and then a young warrior.
A spear-wielding adventurer walked along, looking intimidating and important, accompanied by a witch holding an ancient-looking staff with great care.
He and Cow Girl went slowly in the opposite direction, one step at a time.
The sun had bent low in the sky by now, and the road back to the farm, though it wasn’t long, was dyed a deep red.
How many years had it been since they last walked a road like this together?
Come to think of it…
Something like that had happened. A memory so small she had hardly recalled it until this moment.
I remember playing jump rope together.
A children’s song she hadn’t sung in ages came back to her lips.
Gods, Gods!
Roll the dice and play a game.
Roll a one and I’ll comfort you,
roll a two and I’ll laugh with you,
roll a three and I’ll praise you,
roll a four and I’ll give you a treat,
roll a five and I’ll dance for you,
roll a six and I’ll kiss you,
roll a seven and…
“Roll a seven and…?”
It took her a second to realize the laconic voice was his.
“Roll a seven and then what?”
Cow Girl looked shyly at the ground—even though he couldn’t see her—and laughed. “…I guess I don’t remember.”
“I see.”
“It’s kind of a weird song, huh? Dice only have six sides.”
You could roll two dice, but then you couldn’t get a one.
Her murmur was almost a way to change the subject, but he only replied, “You’re right.”
She stole a glance at him; he seemed to be simply gazing up at the sky as he pulled the cart along.
“?”
For some reason, the sight of him made Cow Girl think of the farm fence that had been repaired.
Yeah, that makes sense.
She hadn’t realized at the time. Why had it caught her attention?
She’d originally thought her uncle had done it. But she had seen plenty of her uncle’s work around and was used to it. She rarely noticed it at all as such.
The young man awkwardly shaving wood splinters away, striving to finish something by twilight.
Had it been some toy? A wooden sword? Something else? Her memory was hazy now. But the familiar image came back to her, and she squinted her eyes and laughed.
For some reason, the sunset looked terribly blurry. The cargo piled on the cart clattered and shifted as the wheels ran over rocks on the road.
All the stuff on the cart was junk Cow Girl couldn’t really identify, but he said he was going to put it in his shed. It would take till nightfall, she assumed. And she would help him.
If that empty outbuilding were to hold even a few of his own possessions in it, she thought that would be a very good thing.
If they worked until nightfall, they would certainly be hungry. They would need to eat.
She would warm up some stew, and then she and he and her uncle could all eat together.
That struck her as an excellent idea.
“Okay, then,” she said, putting extra strength into pushing the cart along. “When we do my jobs, then I get to pull.”
And you help. He was silent for a moment, but then replied, “Understood.”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded and gave another shove.
The farm was just ahead.
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