The Caravan of Minegarde

Pine was a merchant from Minegarde City.

Unlike the pot-bellied and jewel-bedecked image most people held, Pine was not tall, with thick knuckles, sturdy muscles, and dark skin, looking more like a fisherman than a merchant.

In truth, only the heads of massive merchant guilds-those who merely needed to flap their lips and watch piles of golden coins fly automatically into their pockets-earned that pot belly which served as a "badge of successful people."

For a traveling merchant like Pine, who led a dozen or so cargo wagons and ran trade routes for his affiliated guild, living conditions were certainly much better than those of ordinary farmers and small peddlers, but with him spending the entire year leading his caravan back and forth between cities and towns to trade goods everywhere, there was simply no way he would grow much excess fat.

Instead, he had grown plenty of muscle on his legs.

Such traveling merchant life, which wore out two pairs of shoes a month and endured wind and sun, was admittedly grueling, yet he still persevered.

In this world riddled with monsters and dragons, caravan merchants were an extremely perilous profession, and instances of being attacked in the wilds and having caravans brutally slaughtered by monsters were even commonplace.

Some large caravans transporting precious goods would hire hunters to accompany and protect them, but the commissions for hiring hunters for whole-journey escorts were prohibitively expensive, making it difficult for ordinary caravan merchants to afford.

Pine was considered fortunate among caravan merchants, because the route assigned to him by his affiliated guild fell into the category of higher security.

This trade route started from Minegarde City, departed fully loaded with goods, passed through the coastal city Melchita City, traded part of the goods before turning southeast, and headed to Metabetat City in the Alcrist Region to sell them.

A single trip was nearly a thousand kilometers, and the round trip took close to three months, but the profits were genuinely good.

Throughout the entire route, the most dangerous part was the stretch from Minegarde City to Melchita City, as the trade road passed right past the West Schrade Hills where monsters frequented.

The closest point between the two was less than ten kilometers.

One could say that Pine and his caravan were likewise gambling their lives to make money.

He was not a miser, nor did he possess the morbid desire for accumulating wealth that many merchants had, yet he also had his own goals.

Pine was nearing forty years of age and was still unmarried; few parents were willing to marry their beloved precious daughters to a fellow who was away from home year-round and could at any moment turn his wife into a widow.

Yet he had an elder brother a few years older than him, who had cared for and cherished him dearly since childhood, and the bond between the brothers was exceptionally deep.

However, a certain accident more than a decade ago took the lives of both his eldest brother and sister-in-law, leaving behind only an orphaned toddler barely two or three years old with no one to care for her.

Pine naturally adopted this niece and poured all his familial affection and care into her as if she were his own child.

After all, she was Pine's sole remaining family in this world.

The girl was named Hayata, which meant "fragrant orchid" in the northern dialect.

Pine lived frugally, allowing himself only to wear the most ordinary cotton-linen traveling clothes costing three or four hundred zzeny, yet when he saw a pretty little dress priced at two or three thousand in a store window, he would buy it without a moment's hesitation.

Speaking of his life goal, it was to save up enough money before Hayata reached adulthood, buy a small two-story building with a front garden in the most prosperous city in the center of the continent, Dondurma, and then find her a good man to marry off to.

Afterward, he would be willing to close his eyes right then and there; of course, it would be even more wonderful if he could hold a great-nephew or niece before closing his eyes.

Pine, who was lowering his head and pondering something, was suddenly startled awake by a shout.

"Uncle~ how much longer until we get there!"

A lively little head poked out from the top of a cargo pile on a large wagon pulled by an Aptonoth.

The young girl's pupils were a light green like new sprouts, and her soft brown long hair dangled along her cheeks, swaying back and forth with the jolting of the wagon, much like the girl's lively personality.

Pine raised his head, and the gaze he cast toward his niece was filled with doting fondness, while his tone carried a trace of helplessness: "You must be feeling bored. I told you long ago that running with a caravan is very tedious, but you insisted on coming along."

"This is only the fourth day of departure, and we haven't even reached one-fifth of the one-way trip yet."

Hayata panted and pouted, obviously quite dissatisfied with this answer, then flipped her body and jumped down from the high cargo pile, grabbing onto the ropes binding the cargo with both hands to slow her descent before nimbly and agilely leaping to the ground.

The corners of Pine's eyes twitched fiercely.

Wasn't this child Hayata a bit too lively, active, and agile compared to ordinary fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girls?

Normally, he had to be out running trade for at least nine months each year, while Hayata stayed behind at home in Minegarde City, left in the care of a nanny.

He had once thought Hayata would surely grow into a gentle and virtuous lady, but now it seemed she perhaps lacked some discipline?

Well, he didn't have the heart to discipline her anyway; if she wanted to be lively, let her be lively.

Thinking of this, Pine couldn't help letting out a heavy sigh.

He was still too doting on Hayata; as long as the latter acted spoiled and squeezed out at most two drops of tears, he couldn't help agreeing to any request she made.

A month ago, on Hayata's fourteenth birthday, he had promised to grant her any single wish, but who could have known that the wish this child put forward was actually to follow him on a trade run?

"Slow down, be careful not to fall!"

"Got it~!"

After cautioning his niece, who had started darting back and forth among the convoy of wagons, Pine sighed once more.

He must have lost his mind; how could he, how could he dare bring Hayata out to this peril-fraught wilderness?

A companion from the caravan patted his shoulder, laughing and saying he was simply worrying too much; although this place was very close to the West Schrade Hills, hadn't nothing happened for more than a decade?

"Haha, how is your courage still smaller than little Hayata's? Those monsters all have their own territories, and the trade road area is not within their territory, so nothing will happen."

Another companion also laughed heartily, unsure whether he was teasing or comforting him.

Pine smiled bitterly, his inner anxiety remaining unabated.

For his niece's safety, he had originally intended to hire a monster hunter at his own expense to escort the caravan through this relatively dangerous stretch of road.

Yet the hunting ban had not yet passed, and the Hunter Gathering Hall in Minegarde City was as quiet as a library, with even the receptionists having gone home on holiday, making it impossible to hire even a single hunter.

The staff on duty suggested he wait a bit longer and come hire hunter escorts after hunting was unfrozen.

However, the caravan's schedule was not something he could change at will, and in the end he simply had to set off as scheduled.

Right now, all he could do was pray that this trade route, which had been run for over a decade without incident, would continue to remain safe.

The unease in his heart drove Pine; he hurried over to the lead wagon to greet the driver, and the old wagoner of the lead wagon nimbly retrieved a map from his baggage.

Pine carefully compared the surrounding terrain, calculated in conjunction with the caravan's travel speed and time, and ultimately determined the caravan's location.

"Moving at this speed, the caravan will be far away from this hilly terrain before the sun sets, and we'll enter the safe section by then. Let's hope everything goes smoothly."

The old wagoner, who also appeared somewhat worried, nodded and continuously whipped the Aptonoth pulling the wagon with leather reins, urging them to hurry forward.

Regrettably, the residual snow on the road made it difficult for the heavy wagons to pick up speed, and the lengthy caravan was as clumsy as an elderly mammoth.

Proceeding forward in a leisurely manner.