"Mr. Gustav… he has white hair, is around the age of the elves, and always wears the same long black coat with a large collar.
Underneath, he wears a white shirt and a black vest.
His hair, beard, and eyebrows have turned white, and his eyebrows curve sharply.
His eyes are light blue."
"Anna—she has red hair.
She usually wears a black, flowing dress.
She looks like a very sweet and beautiful girl."
"Suna—her hair and eyes are light blue.
She often wears a maid's uniform.
And her eyebrows are usually furrowed."
"Hm, I see.
So you've gained at least some experience from our journey."
"Experience doesn't come in good or bad."
"Have you grown wiser?"
"I'm learning from you."
"That won't save you from the hard training ahead."
"I wasn't expecting it to."
"I just remembered—I still have something I need to do," he said, standing up and walking into the burned house.
"I'll sit in your place while you're gone."
As soon as the master stood up and left, Gustav came from the other side to take his place.
"Attu."
"Yes, Mr. Gustav."
"Here, take your sword. Thank you for lending it for use," he said, holding my sword with both hands.
[Why is he holding the sword wrapped like this in cloth? Anyway, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I have my new sword.]
"You don't need to say thank you."
"There's just one problem."
"What problem?"
[Did something happen?!]
"I broke your sword."
When he said those words to me, an echo formed in my mind.
"I broke your" sword"—those words repeated again and again.
[What did he say?! Did he just now…]
What Gustav said hit me very hard. I didn't want to believe his words and opened the cloth and picked up my sword. When I lifted the sword, the hilt and a part slightly above it remained in my hand, while the rest of the sword was left in the cloth in his hand. When I saw that, my heart was torn apart.
Then, without realizing it, I started to cry.
"My sword, my fifty gold coin sword."
At the most painful moment when my heart was broken, Suna came to me and saw me lying on the ground and asked Gustav:
"What happened? Mr. Gustav, did something happen to him?"
"I broke the sword Attu had just gotten."
"That's all? Why are you so upset? You can just have another one made."
"Another one, you say? How am I supposed to make another one? Do you know how much this sword costs?"
"How much is it?" she asked, thinking it was probably cheap.
"Fifty gold coins."
Upon hearing this price, Suna said:
"Repeat that again. How much did you say?" she asked again in disbelief.
"I told you, fifty gold coins."
"Whaaaaaat?!" Suna screamed in surprise.
"Yeah, well, it's fine. Life is still ahead, if I work hard enough, I might be able to buy it."
"What's going on?"
"Don't pay attention."
The master finished his business and came out of the house.
"Is everyone ready? Then it's time to set out."
"How long will we travel?"
"It will take one month to reach the Elven forest."
"That long?"
"The journey is long, but the place we're going to justifies the hardship."
"I hope so."
The master came to me and whispered in my ear:
"Will it be worth the journey if you meet elf girls?" he asked.
Hearing this, my face turned a little red.
"Come on…" I said, embarrassed.
"There's another route too. We could get there in one week through it."
"So we can get there faster."
"It's just that it might be dangerous."
"Why?"
"Because we'd need to go to the teleportation portal in the nearby city, and then exit from the portal in one of the cities near the Elven forest."
"There are still teleportation portals in this world?"
"Are you from the village, Attu?" Suna laughed.
"Yes, I grew up in a village. That's why I don't know much about this world."
"Yeah, a villager," she kept laughing.
Anna stepped in:
"Suna, it's not right to mock someone for living in a village or a city," she scolded Suna.
"Alright, sorry Attu. It's just that your words sounded funny to me. Don't be upset!" she said, placing her hand on my shoulder and apologizing.
"It's okay. I'm not upset."
"Are you listening to me?" he asked the kids.
"Yes, master, we're listening to you."
"The problem is, if we go to the city, there may be people who follow us. If we don't use the portal, we'll have to travel through forests and mountains for one month."
"In that case, I think it's better to use the portal."
"Why?"
"If we go through the forest, it'll take more time, and since it's winter now, moving through the forest, especially in the mountains, will be hard. Because in winter, wild animals and the cold air will make it difficult for us to travel."
"You thought well. Right now, the forest and mountains are even more dangerous than the city for us."
"In that case, let's go to the portal."
"Yes, we'll go to the city, and from there to the portal. We just need to be careful there."
"Master, where is the closest city that has a teleportation portal?"
"Vorkalis, a merchant city located among the mountains. That's where we'll go."
"How will we get there?"
"Attu, do you know how to ride a horse?"
"No, I've never ridden a horse."
"In that case, we need to travel with one of the merchants heading toward Vorkalis."
"Why don't we just take the duke's carriage?" I asked.
"That's possible too, but we'd attract too much attention. We need to stay out of sight as much as possible. If we get on a merchant's carriage along the road, it won't raise as much suspicion."
"Okay, now I understand."
"The reason I asked if you've ridden a horse is because I thought of taking Alaris's horses instead of the carriage. But that's also a bad idea. Alaris's horses aren't ordinary—they're thoroughbreds, so people would recognize them too quickly. I think the best option is to travel with one of the merchants heading to Vorkalis. Now we need to leave quickly, or we'll miss the next passing merchant caravan."
"Then, is everyone ready?"
Suna and Anna both replied, "Yes."
"Let's go," they said and set off.
Gustav stayed behind at the house.
"I wish you a safe journey.