I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 199

It turned out that Lucky was more useful than I originally had thought. He wasn’t just a young warrior, but he could also track. As we finished searching the ruined camp, he crouched beside a scuffed patch of grass and narrowed his eyes like he had discovered something important. He didn’t say much at first. He merely got my attention and then pointed somewhere, walked to that path, stopped, and crouched again. I stood nearby, keeping my distance so I didn’t disturb his work. His movements were focused, and it was clear he was doing something he practiced.

“They went this way…” He declared, pointing down a path.

“You can track?” I asked.

He nodded. “My father used to take me out hunting, and he taught me.”

“You’re pretty good at this,” I replied.

He blushed. “Not really, these guys did not attempt to hide their presence. Even a child could follow the path they left.”

I smiled, but didn’t respond. Tracking was something I knew nothing about. I grew up in the city. When would I ever have worried about hunting? It was true that my status was large and my senses were acute, but what good were they without training? You could own a piano, but that didn’t make you a musician! Although I could sense smells and pick them apart at the level of a canine, I lacked the training or common sense to figure out the direction, even if I knew which smells were worth noting.

The pair of us continued with Lucky rarely needing to stop to orient us. By late afternoon, we’d followed their trail around the foot of the mountain. After a bit, Lucky started moving with extreme confidence. He started to move to the side, and a bit later, we came out onto a hill overlooking a city.

“It’s as I thought.” He sighed.

“What’s that?”

“That’s the city of Stormhollow. We were planning on avoiding coming here altogether. This would be the closest city to the peak where the sagebeast is remaining. Anyone who wanted to send out an expedition would probably send it from this city. Naturally, we wanted to keep everything discreet. I guess there is no reason now.”

“That’s not all,” I noted.

The city wasn’t the only thing in sight. The land around the small fortified city seemed to be claimed. Rows of tents sprawled across the surrounding hills like a patchwork quilt. Smoke curled from dozens of cookfires, mixing with the faint metallic scent of sharpened weapons and sweat. Horses were tied to long posts in groups, stamping their hooves and snorting in the thick air. Supply wagons stood half-unloaded beside makeshift barricades, and crude wooden watchtowers had been erected at regular intervals along the road.

The men stationed there were not royal soldiers. They wore mismatched armor cobbled together from a dozen sources—some with polished steel breastplates, others in ragged leather dyed with old blood. Most leaned on spears or crossbows with the casual confidence of men who didn’t expect to be challenged. A few of them were tossing dice on a barrel lid. Others drank openly, laughing too loudly for the situation.

Banners hung from poles jammed into the earth, but it wasn’t any of the family crests I had memorized; it was a fang biting a coin. Their presence wasn’t quite a siege, but it left a clear statement. Stormhollow wasn’t being invaded; it was claimed. There was no blockade. Anyone could come or go, but everyone was under their eyes, and at their discretion.

“Mercenaries.” Lucky hissed. “Goldtooth.”

“Mercenaries?” I asked. “Not a paragon family?”

“You think the families would do it themselves?” Lucky asked bitterly. “They depend on mercenary groups to accomplish their dirty work.”

I couldn’t help but think back to the last group of mercenaries I had encountered. The Blackbolt Mercenary group was barely better than bandits. They were allegedly hired by the lord, but they didn’t hesitate to hunt down and try to kill Erika’s party. I had wiped them all out, but this group appeared to not only be larger, but also stronger. I could tell from here that there were several energy signatures at the level of a champion and one that was possibly as strong as a prestiged. Lucky seemed to be able to send the danger as well, because he looked over at me worriedly.

“Want to bet that your family is in that camp?” I asked.

He gave a bitter expression. “I don’t like giving money away. There is no doubt that they’re the ones who attacked and captured my family. It’s probably just a catch and release. They hired these mercenaries to keep anyone else from scouting the sage beast. Once they capture it, they’ll release my family.”

“Are you going to wait for the mercenaries to release them?” I glanced at him.

His eyes narrowed as he looked down at the camp. “No… I’m going to free them.”

I smiled. I knew there was a reason I liked this guy. I patted his back.

“Then, let’s head into the city and see if we can get any information.”

“W-wait, now?” He looked a bit surprised as I stood up.

“Other people are trailing in and out of the city. As long as we walk around and come from that right side, we’ll look just like travelers… well, as long as you change out of those clothes.”

“My clothes…” He looked down and frowned.

“You look like… well… a noble family. For this mission, we need to look like commoners.”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit smug as I brought out a change of clothing for Lucky to wear. After months of being treated like a fool because I was a commoner who didn’t know any better, I welcomed a chance to educate him on the likes of a commoner. Of course, I had never been a commoner either, so I couldn’t say all that much. That dampened my mood a bit.

We immediately headed from the hill, going around the city until we could slip onto the road unnoticed. By this time, the sun was a bit lower in the sky, casting a warm amber light across the valley. With Lucky in a worn traveler’s cloak and patched-up pants, he looked every part the commoner. I naturally wore similar commoner-styled clothing. Naturally, it all came from the stuff I had taken from Tanner’s wardrobe when Mara and I abandoned the farm.

As we walked, other travelers joined us. There appeared to be a bit of congestion around this time at the front gate as they let people in one after another. This meant that we were in a line with farmers, merchants, and even a pair of girls who had seemingly left the safe walls to go flower picking. No one paid us any mind, which suited me perfectly.

Some of the travelers knew each other and spoke quite openly. From that, I was able to learn that the city was currently on high alert because a powerful sage beast was nesting nearby. No one spoke of the sage beast being sick or dying, so that information must have been held back as they looked to justify the presence of the mercenary group.

Allegedly, the goldtooth had been hired by the city’s magistrate to protect the city from the sagebeasts. The people weren’t complete fools. They suspected there was something more to it, but they just wrote it all off as being things for paragons to worry about. They still voiced complaints about the overbearing way the mercenaries acted. However, since most of these people were paragons, they could only gnash their teeth bitterly.

When we finally reached the gates, one of the guards looked up lazily. “Where are you two coming from?”

“Taranis.” We decided on the city beforehand.

The guard grunted, but before he could wave them through, a mercenary stepped up to us, blocking our path. He whispered something to the guard, who turned back toward us, frowning.

“Hold up,” the guard narrowed his eyes. “Where did you say you were from again?”

My grip tightened slightly. Did they notice something? Lucky didn’t move, but I could tell his hand was itching to grab his hilt.

“Taranis,” I repeated evenly.

The mercenary smirked. “You aren’t, perhaps, from the Electrum region?”

“No,” I answered cautiously. “Why?”

“The Electrum Region got hit pretty hard by a flood of sage beasts. Ugly business. The whole region is leveled.” He spat on the ground. “Anyone who made it out has no home and no coin. We’re picking up lads who need money or a new cause. We offer both. Your friend looks pretty strong. He’ll get decent pay. However, we’ll find work even for a mortal like you.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” I responded.

He nodded before turning away. The guards let us pass, and just like that, we made it into Stormhollow. At least, that was the easy part.