"Good morning, Mel." Claire had already composed herself.
As a traveling merchant, she needed strong self-regulation. After all, she would always encounter all kinds of frustrating things.
"Good morning, little girl."
"You little brat, aren't you just a child too? How dare you call someone else little girl!" Kate smacked Mel on the head.
Though they had only known each other for a day, having gone through life and death together had brought them much closer.
Breakfast did not taste very good. It was some kind of mushy food, though Mel did not know what it was called, wet and sticky with salt mixed into it.
It did not matter, as long as it was not too hard to swallow. How much longer would these days last?
Mel really wanted to take out all the food in the System space and eat it, but he did not feel safe yet. He had not known this merchant for long, and he had only known the swordswoman for a day. There was no need to expose his greatest secret.
It seemed that each type of item only took up one slot. But what about two stones, one large and one small? Would they still take up the same slot?
After quickly finishing breakfast, Mel Carlo left the inn, casually picked up two stones from the ground, and stored them in the System space.
They took up two slots: one large stone and one small stone, with different weights and different masses.
Mel Carlo frowned slightly. He had clearly just thought of a useful method. If the same kind of material only occupied one slot, he could store an entire mountain of rocks inside. That would be like having an instant-kill move. No matter what kind of enemy he faced, he would only need to release the mountain from the system and crush them to death.
But that idea clearly would not work. Even two stones of roughly the same size still occupied two separate slots.
"What if I store a flying dagger?"
He activated the skill [Flying Blade].
The dagger was stored in the System space in an instant. When he took it out again, it had already lost its momentum. It seemed using it as a medium for launching weapons would not work either.
What about weapons thrown by enemies? Could he block them directly? In theory, it seemed possible. As long as he focused enough, he could activate the System space to store the weapon before it touched him.
If he could do that, it would be equivalent to having a spatial defense spell that did not consume mana.
Mel Carlo did not continue practicing. Perhaps once he could catch a crossbow bolt flying at him with his bare hands, he would be able to use the System space to store ranged attacks. But he could not do that yet.
He could store daggers he had thrown because he knew they were about to be thrown and could act in advance.
When he returned to the inn, Mr. Freli had already finished packing. They were about to set off for Oak City once again.
"There are two routes we can take now. One passes through the eastern Grass Plains, but that is Centaur race territory. The other goes through the mountains, and we may run into many forests like yesterday's."
"Centaur race?"
"Yes, a Demi-human race. They should count as part of the Beastmen race as well. Human upper bodies and horse lower bodies. Rumor has it that they are a highly warlike race."
"Are they hostile toward humans?" Mel Carlo continued asking. In the game, the Centaur race had not been hostile toward humans, unless they were demonic centaurs who had joined the Demon King's Army.
"It is hard to say. Claire and I did not choose to go through the eastern Grass Plains last time, but we did hear some bad rumors."
"What about monsters? Which route has more of them?"
"There are more demons in the mountains. There are fewer monsters on the Grass Plains, and they are usually lower level, because the Centaur race has always hunted demons that invade their territory."
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After a brief silence, Kate interrupted them. "My master taught me to avoid taking roads I have never traveled whenever possible. If you came through the mountains last time, we should follow the original route this time too."
Since the adventurer in the party had spoken, Mel Carlo naturally would not insist any further. Professionals should handle professional matters.
After deciding on their route, they set off again. After all, Mr. Freli was responsible for all their supplies.
Three hours later, the group had already traveled far from the town.
The weather was unusually cold, and the clouds looked very low. It was very likely to snow under these conditions.
The wind scraped across their faces like blades licking over them.
"It might snow. What bad luck." Freli looked up at the sky. To save Oren, he had not prepared any winter clothes.
The farther south they went, the warmer it would become. Once they returned to Oak City, they would not freeze to death even without winter clothes. But being caught halfway there was another matter.
Mel Carlo had no understanding of weather changes in another world. He had not even been in this world for a full year and had never experienced the changing seasons himself.
"Any ideas? At least before you die, I can still give you the rest of the Oren." Mel Carlo made a cold joke.
"Not for now. As long as heavy snow does not block the road, we will reach the Oak region in a little over a month."
"Hearing you say that makes me think we are very likely to get trapped in a blizzard."
The wind blew hard all day. By evening, snowflakes began to drift down. But this was only the beginning. There was none of that oppressive feeling of wind whipping snow down in a rustling curtain. They still had time.
"It looks like we cannot make camp tonight. We can only try to travel farther. The Earth Dragon will have to work hard." Freli took dry rations from the food sack and fed them to the Earth Dragon, then gave it water.
Under these circumstances, they could not stop for long. They only needed to let the Earth Dragon recover some strength so it could keep moving.
If things truly came to it, they could only get out and continue on foot.
By midnight, the snow had grown heavy. The accumulation made the ground slick, and if they all remained in the carriage, they might end up tumbling into some ditch along with it.
"Looks like we need to get out and continue on foot." Freli climbed down while holding the reins.
Mel Carlo and the others quickly got out as well. In this weather, only the torches offered even a little warmth.
Kate complained too. "The weather was so good when we set out. How did it turn into this? Our luck is terrible."
There was nothing they could do about it. If possible, they should have stayed in that town until spring next year before leaving. But they were traveling, so they could only face the harsh weather of the wilderness.
"Keep moving, or we will soon be unable to move at all." Freli led the group onward through the snow.
Mel Carlo held Claire's hand tightly. In a night this dark, if he did not hold on tight enough, one slip could make a child disappear.
At dawn, they were completely unable to keep going. Even the Earth Dragon had begun to stagger.
If they forced themselves onward, the Earth Dragon might collapse before they did. After all, it was still pulling a carriage full of supplies.
Kate sharply spotted a cave in the distance. "There's a cave! I'll go in and take a look first!"
If it was abandoned, that would be fine. But if bears or goblins were living inside, they would have to be careful.
Holding a torch, Kate headed alone toward the distant cave. The others became alert again. No matter what, they could not keep walking. If there really was something inside, they could only find a way to deal with it.
"Haa..." Mel Carlo let out a breath. His toes were a little numb from the cold.
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