In the Land of Leadale - Volume 6 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

The next day, Cayna’s group left Helshper with Elineh’s caravan. She was a paying customer this time, but with her trusted partner Opus along for the ride, the elf was no average traveler.

She immediately cast magic over the caravan as if the word discretion had been wiped from her vocabulary. Even so, it did make the trip home much quicker and safer. Nonetheless, Opus earnestly wished she’d see the log in her own eyes before complaining about the speck in someone else’s.

“Hey, Cayna. Isn’t this a bit much?”

“You think?”

Cayna positioned herself on the carriage rooftop with Luka in her lap. She had considered bringing out her own earlier transportation but had a feeling a covered wagon run by golem horses would stand out like a sore thumb. Cayna didn’t want to get Elineh mixed up in any wagon debacles, so she quickly nixed the idea.

Cayna shot Opus an odd look as he stood there questioning her from behind. Incidentally, the roof of the box carriage was the only place they could ride since Elineh’s caravan didn’t have any set aside for guests.

The scenery whizzed by them.

In short, they were traveling at a speed realistically impossible for the entire caravan to maintain at once.

That said, Elineh and the mercenary guards were undoubtedly more bewildered than anyone else. The procession was made up of two box carriages and five covered wagons, and leading the way was a speedy creature that left a trail of dust in its wake. It was a little over seven meters long and looked like a four-legged rock chimera at first glance. This large reptilian monster was known as a Rock Lizard.

Needless to say, Opus had summoned it on Cayna’s request. The Rock Lizard was level 350 and a standard carriage puller (?) back in the game. The summon’s current mission was to lead the caravan home, and it was unlikely any monster they encountered could survive the Rock Lizard’s charge.

Cayna had cast Boost and Movement Up on the wagons and carriages. Although the horses appeared to be walking, their strides equaled about two steps at full gallop. In the end, this shaved three days off a trip that would have normally taken several more. The caravan arrived in the village on the seventh day.

“I feel like we passed three horses dragging a bagworm moth.”

“Is that so? I saw nothing.”

“…Well, I probably just imagined it.”

Alas, the two scrupulously wiped their memories of whatever they had encountered.

The maids and butler welcomed Cayna, Opus, Luka, and Kuu back. Elineh accompanied them to the house as well, so Cayna took this opportunity to buy some of the wheat he’d brought with him. It was already dark, so she planned to move everything to the storehouse the next day.

Regardless, the village’s main road was dotted with Light Spirits. The sun had long since set, but every path was well illuminated despite the lack of streetlights. Cayna’s update had granted her new abilities, so she had placed the Light Spirits all throughout the village. They were nearly invisible during the day but were an excellent nighttime aide for passersby.

“How might one describe it? Only this village holds surprises not found in Felskeilo’s capital…”

“Bright streets, baths whenever you want, unbeatable defense. It’s like a fortress…”

Cayna joined Elineh and Arbiter for dinner at Marelle’s inn, and the men couldn’t contain their admiration. Her talent for effortlessly turning a village into an impregnable stronghold was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Understandably exhausted, Luka ate dinner at home and went straight to bed. Opus had no particular reason to go out, so he was minding the house.

Cayna headed over to the inn to gather information.

“So I heard there’s going to be a tourney in Felskeilo in about a month…?”

“Yep, you heard right. You gonna join in, miss?”

“If Lady Cayna entered, her victory would be certain. Spectators may place official bets, so there is quite a profit to be made.”

Arbiter and Elineh smirked with the knowledge of her true potential, but Cayna had already decided she’d do no such thing.

“Sorry, but I’m no bully,” she said, slamming the door on their dreams.

Cayna had only asked about the tourney because she hoped to somehow broadcast it to the sleepy little village like the Olympics.

One item, the Pair of Eyes, could more or less accomplish this. The magic tool captured footage through one eye and showed it to the owner with the other. It was originally meant for use between two individuals, but there were other support items that could display the footage on a projection screen for multiple spectators.

However, such support items were bought rather than created. None of the game’s shops were in this world, of course, and Cayna didn’t have such a luxury item on hand.

She knew where she might find one though: her old guild base.

To pass the time, members sometimes used to carry around a Pair of Eyes and comedically report their day. Cayna also vividly recalled how their guild sub-leader Ebelope would spark pandemonium whenever she’d suddenly broadcasted adult footage and forced all minors out of their home base.

Cayna approached Opus with the idea as soon as she got home but encountered a setback.

“The Cream Cheese base?”

“Most of the stuff from the game ended up on this side, too, right? It should be on the northwestern edge of Helshper…”

“It’s not.”

“…What?”

Silence followed.

Cayna didn’t understand Opus’s objection. He looked up at a forty-five-degree angle and stared at nothing. His tone was flat, and he wore the expression of an old man about to talk about his past. Opus was a figure of ambiguous gender and age.

“It…happened the day before Leadale ended service. Meshmout was the one who complained we should go out with a bang, but the rest of the guild was also to blame since they followed along. As one last big hurrah…”

“…Wait, don’t tell me…”

“The Limit Breakers combined their magic and blew away the guild! Yes, those were some amazing fireworks…”

“Are you all moronnnnnnnnns?!”

There was no point in crying over spilled milk. All too late, Cayna realized with painful clarity that the members of her guild were indeed the type of people who would do such a thing at the drop of a hat. She was impressed to hear everyone pooled their magic, but they were also a bunch of people firing one huge combo spell at the same target. Once the initial caster’s power level set the bar for the rest of the team, each successive member’s spell doubled the attack’s might.

As the guild’s strongest magic user, Cayna would have normally set the standard. However, since she was already gone by then, Opus took her place as the most powerful member. Combustion magic second only to Cayna’s was multiplied two to the sixteenth power, creating a spectacular arch of fire that obliterated the guild with a level of panache.

In that final month, the game’s building demolition was updated from Version 1.03, and multiple other guilds were destroyed in equally stupid ways. It was no wonder they were nowhere to be seen. Cayna bemoaned the fact that no one had realized their potential usefulness in the future, but who would have ever thought the game world would one day impact a different dimension?

Cayna lifelessly flopped onto the table.

“Hmm.” Opus crossed his arms and nodded. “Now that you mention it, we did remove unnecessary items from the guild beforehand. That collection might have what you’re looking for. There’s no detailed list since we just lumped everything together, but we made room in a warehouse and tossed the items in there.”

“Seriously?!”

Wham! Reenergized, Cayna jumped up from the table and leaned toward Opus across from her.

“C’mon, let’s go! There’s no time to waste!” she urged. However, Opus looked at her tiredly and pointed out the window.

As one might have guessed, the beautiful moon was shining palely in the midnight sky.

“Let’s call it a day. We’ll go tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah… Fair enough…”

In her excitement, Cayna had lost track of time.