Hi there! My name is Kirara and as you might have guessed, I absolutely adore everything that sparkles. My love for reading webnovels and light...

The next day, I woke up with the sunrise.

After a quick breakfast and cleaning up from the night’s stay, I went on moving early in the morning.

“…Hm?”

About an hour into my walk, I encountered upon a scene where a carriage is being attacked by monsters.

The attackers are goblins, if I’m not mistaken—I’ve seen them in a monster encyclopedia before. Let’s see, there are… eight of them in total.

Two adventurer-like individuals were currently fighting to protect the carriage from the goblin assault. One of them was lightly armored, while the other cladded in heavier armor. From a distance, it seemed like they were really struggling.

At that moment, a goblin’s short sword pierced the armored adventurer’s leg.

I have to help!

However, I can’t seem to take a step forward.

So far, the only monster I’ve defeated is a slime, which is quite different from a human. I hesitated, wondering if I could really fight against humanoid goblins.

Nevertheless, the goblins continued to attack the carriage.

“Damn it, there’s no point in thinking about it. I have to help those people before it’s too late!”

To pull myself together, I shouted, activating wind magic to create a blade of wind. I aimed it at a goblin trying to infiltrate the cargo area.

The wind blade cut the goblin’s torso in half, and the two halves tumbled out of the carriage.

I nearly vomited at the sight, but there’s no time to stand still. I then eliminated the remaining seven goblins in the same manner, using wind blades.

“It’s so different from fighting slimes… But if I want to be an adventurer, I have to get used to it.”

After managing to calm myself down, I approached the carriage. A man descended from the carriage. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be a merchant.

“Oh, so you’re the one who defeated the goblin! Thank you so much!”

The male merchant tearfully expressed his gratitude.

“No, I just happened to be passing by. More importantly, is anyone injured, and is there any damage to the carriage?”

“No significant damage to the carriage, but one of the adventurers got injured…”

He must be talking about the person who was stabbed in the leg earlier.

I was told that he was being treated inside the carriage, so I asked the merchant for permission to enter. Inside, there were two young male adventurers. Upon noticing me, they both expressed their gratitude and introduced themselves. The lightly armored adventurer was called Nick, and the one with heavy equipment was named Glore.

I introduced myself and asked the injured Glore about his leg, “Is your injury alright?”

“Uhm, I thought it was fine since it’s just a shallow wound, but it seems like the blade was coated with poison…”

Glore showed me the injury on his leg. The skin around the wound was discolored to a dark black.

“Please stay still for a moment,” I said as I held my hands over Glore’s leg.

What I was trying to do now was to detoxify him with holy attribute magic. I remembered being taught that holy attributes magic has healing effects.

I was worried if I could use the magic well since it was my first time, but it seemed to work. After about five minutes, the wound closed up and the skin returned to its original color.

“Wow, Lark… You can use such powerful magic at such a young age…” Glore muttered in admiration.

“That’s amazing, Lark! You can do anything, from fighting to healing!” Nick also praised me excitedly.

I felt embarrassed and replied to Nick, “Nick-san, I can’t really do everything. Anyway, you should wash your leg. Glore-san, I just treated it, but could you please stick your leg out of the carriage?”

“Ah, sure, no problem.”

Glore followed my instruction and put his leg outside the carriage. Then, I combined water and fire attribute magic by using “synthesis magic” to create hot water, which I used to wash the blood off Glore’s leg. After confirming that it was clean, I lent him a towel from my “Useful Box” to dry his leg.

“Just to be safe, you should rest for a while.”

After leaving those words, I exited the carriage and approached the merchant. “I’ve treated Glore’s injury. I think he should be fine if he rests for a day.”

“Thank you so much! For everything… Ah, that’s right. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Raval from the Dolsley Trading Company.”

“My name is Lark… The Dursley Trading Company?”

The Dursley Trading Company is a major trading company based in the royal capital. It’s also the company owned by the father of Roeck, a classmate of mine from the academy.

“Ah, by any chance, Raval-sasn, is this carriage going to the royal capital of Recommetys?”

“Yes, we are on our way back to the royal capital. We’ve just finished purchasing goods from a distant place.”

“Um… if it’s alright with you, could you give me a ride as well? Actually, I was on my way back to the royal capital too.”

“Is that so? In that case, let’s go together. I have no reason to refuse, especially since you’ve helped me, Lark-sama. Besides, having someone as strong as you with us will make the journey safer.”

And so, I got a ride on Raval’s carriage.

◇

A full day had passed since I got a ride on Raval’s carriage. According to him, we would be arriving at the checkpoint of the Kingdom of Recommetys soon. I was really glad to be on the carriage, as it would have taken me several more days on foot.

During the journey to the royal capital, I took charge of everyone’s meals. The only food available on the carriage was dried meat and bread, which was honestly not very satisfying. So, I told everyone that I had learned the “Cooking” skill and had a large amount of ingredients stored in my “Useful Box,” and offered to be in charge of the meals. My cooking was well-received by Raval and the others, boosting my confidence in my skills.

As the carriage continued to move, we finally arrived at the checkpoint.

Speaking of which, I left the country without going through the checkpoint, so, is it really alright? At worst, I might be arrested for illegal entry…

…However, as it turned out, the Kingdom of Recommetys and the Kingdom of Leblanc were friendly nations, so the border checkpoint only required a simple inspection of the carriage before letting us through. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that nothing serious happened.

While Raval was handling the procedures, I got off the carriage so as not to be in the way and sat near the checkpoint with Glore and the others, who had also gotten off the carriage, to chat.

“By the way, Lark, you mentioned you were returning to the royal capital of Recommetys… Do you live there?”

Glore asked, to which I nodded in response. “Yes, that’s right. I came to the Kingdom of Leblanc recently because of a minor issue.”

“I see. But it’s impressive that you came all the way here by yourself, even though you’re just a child… And the fact that you were planning to return on foot is quite amazing in a way. You really are an incredible person.”

“Uh, are you praising me? Or are you teasing me?”

“A bit of both,” Glore laughed as he answered.

Nick also smiled and said, “Lark, your magic and cooking skills are amazing, but you can be a bit clueless when it comes to taking action.”

I don’t think that’s true…

As the conversation came to a pause, it seemed like the procedures at the checkpoint had finished, so we were about to get back into the carriage.

At that moment, one of the soldiers at the checkpoint stopped me alone.

“Ah, please wait a moment.”

“Wh-what’s the matter?”

I tensed up, thinking that my illegal entry was the problem, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Um, are you by any chance Lark Voltoris?”

“Ah, yes, that’s me.”

As I nodded, the soldier broke into a wide smile.

“I’m glad you’re safe!”

…What’s going on? Why would someone at a checkpoint know about me?

As I wondered, the soldier explained the situation.

Apparently, as soon as I disappeared, Father went back to the royal capital and submitted a request to the guild and King Ars of Recommetys to search for me. Immediately, papers with my portrait and characteristics were sent via carrier pigeon to each checkpoint. This soldier recognized me upon seeing my face.

So it really had caused a commotion… Father tends to worry a bit much…

Well, anyone would make a fuss if someone suddenly vanished. I should properly explain the circumstances to him.

“I understand the situation. Thank you.”

“No problem. I’m really glad I got to see you. I’ll pray for your safe arrival to the royal capital.”

I bid farewell to the soldier and finally got back into the carriage.

After the carriage started moving, Glore spoke up, “Is Lark quite famous in the royal capital?”

“My face is just a little well-known. It’s mostly due to my Father’s influence.”

“Hmm? Now that you mention it, that soldier called you ‘Voltoris’ earlier… I feel like I’ve heard that family name somewhere before…”

“My father used to be an adventurer, and now he works at the reception desk at the royal capital’s guild. Maybe you heard his name then? His name is Guldo Voltoris.”

“Wait, you’re Guldo-san’s son?!”

Glore, Nick, and Raval simultaneously exclaimed in surprise with astonished expressions.

I was a bit taken aback, but I explained the situation.

“Y-yes. We’re not related by blood, though. He picked me up when I was an abandoned child two years ago, and we became father and son.”

“I see… I didn’t know because I haven’t been to any places where I could gather information recently…” Glore muttered, dumbfounded.

“If you say it was two years ago, that’s exactly when I was away from Recommetys. At that time, Lark was a topic of conversation, but by the time I returned, things had settled down, and I must have missed hearing about it. I didn’t know until now…”

Raval was analyzing the reasons he didn’t know about it.

“Wow, Lark. If Guldo-dono is your stepfather, it’s more than just having a lot of connections, isn’t it?”

Nick’s eyes were sparkling.

After that, I was asked to tell the story of how I became Father’s son, so I slowly recounted the tale.

We were shaken in the carriage for several hours.

As the sun began to set, we decided to stop the carriage for the night. The capital and the checkpoint seemed to be quite far apart. While the three of them prepared for camping, I decided to cook dinner.

I took out cooking utensils and dishes from the “Useful Box” and created a cooking table using earth magic. By the way, the earth is solidified with magical power, so there is no risk of it getting dirty with the cooking utensils. Fire and water can be prepared with magic, so I was able to cook just like when I was at home.

Still, it was a good thing I learned all kinds of magic with “Daily Life Magic” first. Also, I often use “Synthesis Magic,” so I am grateful to Ars for teaching me.

By the time I finished making the salad and the main dish of steak, Glore and the others, who had gone out to gather firewood, returned. I placed the food on a table created by earth magic and we all sat on chairs made of earth and ate together.

After we finished eating, I washed the dishes with water magic, dried them with wind magic, and put away the tools. Finally, I set up a trap for monsters with earth magic, and my work was done. Everyone else seemed to be awake for a little longer, but I thought I’d go to bed first.

Today, too, I didn’t forget to pray to Samady and the others before falling asleep