ocean-life Chapter 17 – Barkan Territory (5)
Chapter 17 – Barkan Territory (5)
Chapter 17 – Barkan Territory (5)
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 17 – Barkan Territory (5)
The next day.
It was the second day in Civilization.
Ketal woke up with energy.
“Shall we give it a try today?”
A pleasant mercenary job.
Just thinking about it made his heart race.
But there was something to do before that.
This was Barkan Territory.
It was quite a large territory.
Ketal hadn’t had a proper look around the territory yet.
So, before heading to the guild hall, he planned to take a tour of the territory.
It was a kind of sightseeing.
Ketal left the inn and walked through the territory.
Just walking itself was the goal, so there was no destination in his steps.Yoour favorite stories at novelhall.com
The residents who saw him hurriedly hid their children and walked in the opposite direction, but he didn’t pay any mind.
Perhaps they suddenly got busy.
He thought as he walked, and then a food cart caught his eye.
Delicious skewers were being grilled there.
“Oh.”
His appetite and curiosity pulled him towards the food cart.
The owner of the food cart turned pale.
“How much?”
“T-Two gold coins...”
Two gold coins.
It was quite expensive.
The meat was heavily seasoned with spices.
“Just one, please.”
Ketal handed over one gold coin.
The owner of the food cart recoiled as if he thought it would disintegrate if touched.
Ketal smiled satisfactorily as he ate the meat.
“It’s delicious.”
The spices were unusual.
It was a taste he had never experienced before, strangely refreshing and slightly sweet.
Ketal looked around the territory as he ate the skewer.
He also bought a notebook.
Fantasy was very different from what he knew.
The elves were savage, and the dungeons were special.
He needed to organize that information.
He planned to organize the facts he learned in the notebook from now on.
Satisfied, Ketal left the shop and glanced up at the roof.
‘By the way, who’s that gentleman?’
Since yesterday, he had felt someone watching him.
He hadn’t paid much attention, thinking it was the lord’s surveillance, but it was annoying to feel the gaze from the roof continuously.
Well, he didn’t care much.
What mattered to him now was enjoying himself.
He walked leisurely.
He absorbed the scenery and sounds of the territory with his eyes and ears.
It was enjoyable in itself.
As Ketal walked, a building caught his eye.
‘...A library?’
The outer wall of the building clearly said “library”.
A place where books were piled up.
He became very interested. Ketal entered the library.
“Welcome...”
The woman who seemed to be a librarian glanced up from her book and looked at Ketal.
After a moment of silence, she let out a startled scream.
“Eek!”
“Hmm.”
There were quite a few people who were frightened by him.
Ketal tried to calm them down as usual in a calm tone.
“I’m a mercenary.”
Ketal showed his mercenary badge.
“May I read books? I have no intention to harm. Don’t worry, I won’t damage the books either.”
“Y-Yes...”
The librarian nodded hesitantly, her voice trembling.
Satisfied that his persuasion worked, Ketal walked towards the bookshelves with a content expression.
‘There are so many.’
Interesting titles caught Ketal’s eye.
He skimmed through each one.
It was the movement of someone who clearly read and understood the titles.
Cain, who was watching from outside the library, frowned.
Although he couldn’t see from his point of view, with the sensory perception of a swordsman, he could know everything Ketal was doing inside the library.
So Cain couldn’t help but doubt his own senses.
As he joyfully scanned through each letter, Ketal realized something.
“What’s this?”
Ketal tilted his head curiously.
“Are there more places like the White Snow Plains?”
The book described something called the “Forbidden Lands.”
Places that didn’t allow human access, filled with strange and distorted things.
The silent forest where everything quiets down.
The abyss where everything in the world disappears.
The underwater sea where the fairies live and breathe.
Places where nothing exists.
Deep holes.
And the White Snow Plains.
There were also numerous other Forbidden Lands listed.
Places unknown to humans.
That too was a staple of fantasy, but Ketal looked grim.
“Places like the White Snow Plains.”
He had suffered greatly in the White Snow Plains alone.
If it weren’t for his desire for fantasy, he would have died a long time ago.
He didn’t plan to visit other Forbidden Lands, even if they were at the same level as the White Snow Plains.
But with that thought, another one naturally came to mind.
‘How big is this world?’
Just the White Snow Plains alone were enormous.
It had taken a very long time for him to confirm everything about the White Snow Plains.
And there were not just one but many such places.
Moreover, they were divided into the human world and the territories of other races.
‘It’s bigger than Earth.’
That much was certain.
But he couldn’t know how big exactly.
This world had not yet measured the circumference of the world.
“Anyway, that’s enough for now.”
Since the library itself wasn’t large, there wasn’t more information than that.
Satisfied enough, Ketal stood up from his seat.
“I’ve checked enough. Thank you.”
“Yes, yes!”
The librarian stood up to bid farewell.
She felt relieved only when she realized that Ketal was leaving.
But her relief turned into worry at his following words.
“I’ll come often if I can. Count on it.”
“Yes...”
* * *
And Ketal arrived at the guild hall.
The guild hall was quiet as it was yesterday.
Ketal leisurely walked towards Rosa.
She greeted Ketal with a tense face.
“Oh, you came.”
“Yeah. What’s the request for today?”
“Here it is.”
Rosa handed him the request form.
Ketal accepted it with a smile.
Rosa relaxed a bit.
After quietly conversing for a while, she realized that despite his appearance as a barbarian, he was actually quite sensible.
There was instinctual fear, but there was no need to be overly frightened.
After briefly looking at the request form, Ketal raised his finger.
“Let’s go with this one today.”
“It’s for herb supply. Understood. The samples are here.”
Ketal checked the samples and went outside.
Just like yesterday, he gathered herbs and returned.
He completed the request and received a new one.
They were all trivial tasks that anyone could do.
Watching him like that, Cain was bursting with frustration.
‘Why does he do such things?’
Ketal was strong.
Even just a glimpse of his strength would gain him instant recognition.
There was no reason for him to do such trivial tasks.
That’s why Cain couldn’t stand the frustration.
It felt like seeing precious gems being casually handled in children’s play.
But Ketal himself seemed to enjoy such tasks immensely.
‘...He’s really peculiar.’
He was strange in many ways.
Cain couldn’t grasp anything about this person.
After some thought, Cain made a decision.
‘I should meet him.’
He was a peculiar being in many ways.
Just observing him wouldn’t yield much useful information.
Swordmaster Cain decided to meet Barbarian Ketal face to face.
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]