After learning the details of the mission from Grand Duke Iltan, Zhang Yuan felt as though a huge boulder had been placed on his chest, making even his breathing somewhat labored.
It wasn't as though he had never taken part in escort missions before. It was just that the farthest they had ever gone was making the rounds in the outskirts of Baldur's Gate. That was worlds apart from an expedition all the way to Nashkel, crossing nearly the entire southern Sword Coast.
Never mind the difficulties and hardships of long-distance travel in this era, or the bandits and brigands they might encounter along the way. The wild beasts and monsters roaming everywhere were enough to give them plenty of trouble.
In the game, anyone who dared attempt to travel straight from the north to the south of Baldur's Gate and onward to Nashkel would, nine times out of ten, run into an ambush by monsters or bandits. The types varied widely and never repeated—wolf packs, hobgoblins, human bandits, mountain bears, and, even worse, ogres and wyverns out looking to prey on passing travelers.
These creatures might have been nothing more than victims beneath the protagonist's blade, convenient sources of experience, but with their party's average level below six, encountering dangerous monsters like ogre mages or wyverns would almost certainly leave them severely weakened, if not wipe them out entirely.
What was more, they would have to escort a heavy, cumbersome load of ore on the return journey. If they encountered a cunning enemy—or one who had planned ahead—and that enemy exploited this weakness, the entire party would fall into an unpredictable predicament.
When Zhang Yuan agreed to Skar's proposal, he had indeed been spurred on by courage and youthful passion. But once that excitement faded and reason took back control, layer upon layer of difficulties shrouded his heart like shadows. All kinds of negative emotions—regret, fear, resentment, and the like—surged up from the depths of his mind.
After standing there woodenly for quite some time, Zhang Yuan let out a low, self-mocking laugh. "Heh, tch. I thought I was truly brave, but when it came down to it, I was still that same useless shut-in."
As a veteran bookworm who spent all day reading novels and loved arguing with other readers in the reviews and chapter comments, he knew that so-called grand principles were basically useless drivel.
If it came down to reasoning, he, Zhang, could speak eloquently and endlessly, producing a whole pile of theories, ideas, examples, analogies, and the like until he argued his opponent into silence.
Unfortunately, if life could really be lived according to reason, then the word "if" wouldn't exist in life.
When something actually happened to him, all the rational thoughts, dialectical thinking, and logical deductions he usually had in his head sprouted wings and flew away, leaving behind nothing but a muddled lump of paste.
Human beings weren't purely rational creatures. Even if he considered himself one, cold calculations of profit couldn't always overcome emotion and impulse. So even though he knew there was danger, he still followed Skar and joined the party.
Human beings were weak creatures as well. Thus, after being told the specific details of the mission and truly understanding how difficult the expedition would be, Zhang Yuan couldn't help feeling regretful, dejected, and even resentful of fate, despite knowing full well that these negative emotions would be of no help whatsoever.
Already somewhat dazed, Zhang Yuan racked his brain for the last bit of sense he had left and knocked on the captain's door.
Knock, knock, knock~. Skar, who was busy organizing his luggage, opened the door and saw Zhang Yuan standing there dejectedly. He sighed and brought over a chair.
Zhang Yuan said nothing. He took the chair, sat down, lowered his head, and remained silent, as though he were thinking about something.
Skar didn't say anything either. He simply continued what he had been doing, as if he hadn't noticed that there was another guest in his room.
After a long silence, Zhang Yuan finally spoke in a torn, hoarse voice. "Captain, I'm scared."
"Oh, so you finally decided to say it? I was wondering how long you planned to keep it bottled up." Skar was unexpectedly neither angry nor sternly scolding him. He merely looked at him calmly. "Isn't it perfectly normal for people to feel afraid? You're not a golem, and you're certainly not Torm, the god of courage. Why shouldn't you be afraid?"
"But you also said that a warrior needs the courage to swing his sword."
"That doesn't conflict with this. We summon our courage precisely because there are things we fear. Whether we flee or face them bravely, both are simply ways of dealing with our fear, not inevitable results of fear."
"What you're saying makes sense, but I keep thinking that, as a low-level warrior who only knows two cantrips, what can I possibly change even if I have the courage to draw my sword? Do I really need to take part in this mission?"
Skar's expression turned solemn. "First, I have to tell you that the moment the grand duke received you, you lost all other choices. I don't need to explain the consequences of withdrawing from this secret mission halfway through."
"Second, you're more important than you think. Even low-level spells have their uses. Throughout my adventuring career, I've seen too many situations where low-level spells changed the course of a battle. What's more, you're not merely a mage."
Skar looked into his eyes and slowly said, "You're a warrior. I once had my doubts about that, but now I'm certain—you are a warrior. I've taught and guided more warriors than there are people in our party, but hardly any of them managed to reach my level. Do you know why?"
"Talent?" Zhang Yuan ventured.
"That's right. Talent! Most of them found it difficult to continue after reaching the fifth or sixth level. Whether it was the growth of their physical attributes, their reaction speed, or their resistance to extraordinary abilities, everything hit a bottleneck, and they could make no further progress. That was actually a sign that they had exhausted their potential."
"But I'm only level three. How do you know what my potential is?"
"When someone sets foot on the path of a profession, their physical foundation is already more or less fixed. Unless they encounter some fortuitous opportunity, they can only improve through long years of daily training."
Zhang Yuan suddenly interrupted Skar. "But I heard that a person's physical attributes improve when they advance in their profession?"
Skar shot back bluntly, "Which lousy minstrel did you hear that from? Your physical attributes become stronger, allowing you to advance. It's not the other way around."
He didn't give the novice a chance to keep arguing. "Ever since you began training, the speed of your growth has completely exceeded my expectations. Even for someone just starting out, it's far too fast. If your grasp of technique could still be explained by cleverness, then the fact that your already decent physique has grown along with it can only be described as an unreasonable talent."
The usually strict captain had suddenly showered him with praise, and the novice couldn't help feeling a little light-headed. "Really? Thanks."
"There's no need to thank me. In any case, this mission will last a long time, so get ready. Training will continue throughout the journey."
"Yes, understood." Knowing that Skar was doing this for his own good, Zhang Yuan obediently agreed and turned to prepare for their departure the next day.
But as he watched the novice's departing back, Skar thought of how he had first met Grand Duke Iltan.
Back when he had been merely an unknown new recruit in the Flaming Fist, he had been fortunate enough to catch the grand duke's discerning eye. The grand duke had taken him on and promoted him to captain of the guards. As for what happened afterward, when he was sent away for practical training, that was another story.
After being "enlightened" by his captain, Zhang Yuan finally came back to his senses. He returned to his room and began arranging the next day's itinerary.
At the thought of spending at least a month on the road, Zhang Yuan could only smile bitterly. Even with buses and trains in his previous life, not to mention inns along the way, a journey that long would have been grueling, let alone in this world.
While packing his luggage, Zhang Yuan also brought along some local specialties from his hometown, just in case. As for dry rations and the like, those would be distributed uniformly, so he didn't need to prepare his own.
After pretending to think it over for a while, he chose the unchanging Mage Armor and Grease as the spells he would memorize for the next day, then sank into a deep sleep.
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