If she asked one of the paladins, she could get them to relieve her pain with a lower-tier healing spell, but she was a grown woman. Such a request was too embarrassing. And since her discomfort was so minor that it didn’t affect her ability to ride, it was even harder to bring up.
…I can just rub some herbs on it later like always. I owe it to my dad for that one. When he talked to me about what to do if you got a sore butt, I was annoyed, but… Hmm, did I ever apologize for that…? Sigh…
She bit back the tears threatening to form in the corners of her eyes.
“Oh, Commander. We can see the pavement up ahead. We’ll be in Nation of Darkness territory soon.”
It was a strange sight to see that partway down the highway the road was suddenly paved.
“Right. So should we just go straight there? Or will we camp somewhere on the way?”
Neia looked up at the sky.
“If we don’t run into any issues, we can reach our destination before sundown. But we’ll have to move pretty fast. What should we do?”
“Let me talk to Gustav quick.” Remedios pulled her reins and slowed down to talk to her second-in-command.
So this is Nation of Darkness territory…? Where are the soldiers? There’s not even a fort. The Re-Estize side had one…
Normally, there would at least be a guardhouse on the border, but this country didn’t have one. She had heard that the Nation of Darkness only had one city, so she thought maybe all the troops were concentrated there.
Neia looked down at the paved road.
The path ahead wound between gently sloping hills. Far off in the distance, she could see a forest that had lost its leaves for winter.
She remembered camping with her father in the blustery time of year. Nature was the same wherever one went. She had the feeling this scenery was no different than what winter looked like in the Sacred Kingdom.
…What was it he said? That it was a pain to live in the human world?
Her father’s words remained like a tiny thorn in her heart.
He said it was for her mother that he went to live in the city. If he hadn’t had a family, he would have lived in a little village near the forest, surviving on the bounties of nature.
When she was little, Neia thought living with nature seemed harder, but during this trip it hit her what her father meant. Is it proof that I’ve grown up? At this age she would have been able to have different conversations with both her mother and father.
Those thoughts elicited another twinge from her heart. But the pain only lasted an instant. She was distracted by the scene that came into view beyond the road snaking eastward through the hills.
A fire?!
Neia squinted and took a more careful look.
The milky-white clouds weren’t smoke but fog. Still…
“Apologies for interrupting, but there appears to be fog up ahead!”
“What about it?”
When she called behind her, Remedios answered with her face guard up, looking dubious.
“Neia Baraja, what bothers you about it?”
“Ma’am, I just thought that since there aren’t any large lakes or the like in this area, it’s strange for so much fog to be around.”
The creamy fog, growing thicker as they spoke, was spreading more and more, nearly reaching their party.
Neia’s father had taught her a lot about natural phenomena, and according to that knowledge, too, this much fog appearing seemed unusual.
“Squire Baraja. It’s not a special environmental shift, is it?” Gustav, who was quicker to catch on than Remedios, asked.
A special environmental shift meant some sort of phenomenon that wouldn’t normally occur happening over a widespread area. For example, a region covered in rotten poisonous gas due to failed ritual magic, a desert where a huge storm occurred for a week once each year, or a place where rainbow rain fell during a specific season.
He was asking if this fog was one of those totally mysterious phenomena. But Neia hadn’t heard anything about it during her research. She had the feeling she’d get complaints if she admitted it outright like that, but she had no choice but to be honest.
“My apologies. I didn’t read or hear anything about this fog.”
“Do you mean you didn’t do enough research?”
Another question that was difficult to answer. Who was the one who would judge whether she did enough or not?
“Commander Custodio. I think the most important thing right now is what to do next.”
The horses had already stopped.
The fog was too thick; it wouldn’t be safe to continue on horseback. According to her research, there weren’t any sheer cliffs on the outskirts of E-Rantel, so even if something came up, they should have been able to handle it at a trot. But something about this sudden fog made her hesitate.
Neia sniffed.
It smelled only like water. Nothing stuck out to her in particular. But that made her wonder about it even more.
“Commander. Do you think it could be the work of some monster? My father once told me that some have the power to create fog and that they attack those who wander into it and get lost.”
“…Everyone, draw your weapons! It’s dangerous to stand still in the middle of the road, so move off to the side!”
That split-second decision was proof that Remedios functioned well in combat.
Neia and the paladins obeyed the order, walking their horses to the side of the road. Then they all formed a defensive circle. By that time, it seemed like the whole world was enshrouded in fog.
Even the person right next to her she could see only hazily. It was impossible to make out anything more than fifteen yards ahead. Anxiety swelled in her chest, and the swirling of the fog seemed almost like a parade of ghosts.
If she could hear better that would help, but she was surrounded by
