To get to Bogenberg, they had to head steadily southwest.
Keldric didn’t have a compass or anything of the sort, but as Ludovico had told him, all he had to do was walk alongside the Ronauen River that stretched from the southwestern mountain range to the North Sea.
Traveling with a compass and map wasn’t a luxury, it was simply unnecessary.
At this time, people relied mostly on rough explanations: passing through a certain village, skirting a specific landmark, or following a certain road was usually enough to reach their destination.
There were also ways to guess directions using the sun and the stars, but even half of the uneducated farmers couldn’t make use of those methods.
It was far more practical to recognize and follow rivers or mountain ranges that stretched in specific directions.
“The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If the sun is up, you can guess the direction with just a wooden stick.”
“At night, you use the North Star?”
“Yes. The North Star is always positioned in the north.”
At least Alyssa knew how to use the sun and stars to determine directions.
Thanks to that, Keldric was able to follow the path that Sir Hermann and Ludovico had described without straying too far.
“Have you ever been to Bogenberg?”
“I visited just once when I was young. It’s less cold there compared to this place.”
“It doesn’t feel particularly cold now either.”
“…Most northerners are strong against the cold.”
In addition, because Alyssa had visited Bogenberg a long time ago, she was able to provide plenty of information.
“Bogenberg is a fertile territory. To the south, there are vast plains, so they have an abundance of food. To the north, there are rugged ridges, which make the leather supply plentiful.”
“If it’s by the Ronauen River, is salmon famous there?”
“There is salmon, but trout and bass are caught more often.”
Keldric and Alyssa rode their horses for a full two days like that.
Along the way, they encountered several merchants heading toward Belam, but there was no reason to join them since their destination was in the opposite direction.
The merchants, for their part, nervously avoided them, fearing the notoriously brutal wandering knights who were often no better than bandits.
Because of that, Alyssa felt a considerable sense of security traveling with Keldric.
‘This is much better.’
Until now, she had been stuck with rough, smelly mercenaries or crammed onto merchant wagons to hitch a ride.
The uneducated mercenaries often made crude and vulgar comments, and the merchants approached her with an awkward eagerness, hoping to get some sort of benefit from a mage. Dealing with them one by one has always been exhausting.
On top of that, she no longer had to walk to the point of blistering her feet.
She didn’t have to endure the jostling of wagons, which was far rougher than riding a horse.
As someone from a fallen noble family who was accustomed to horseback riding, Alyssa found traveling alone on horseback far more comfortable.
Most of all, she appreciated not having to deal with smelly mercenaries.
As she twisted a strand of golden hair that fell over her shoulder with her fingers, Alyssa glanced sideways at Keldric, who was riding ahead.
Mercenaries always reeked of sweat and grime, and wandering knights, who lived lives not much different from mercenaries, were no exception.
Keldric was also technically a wandering knight, but he was slightly different.
Every night after finishing his meal, he would clean his teeth with salt and wipe his body with water melted from snow and mixed with herbs.
Although he didn’t boil a lot of water because of the cost, it was enough to remove any stench.
Thanks to a certain issue that left her with an unusually sensitive nose, Alyssa found traveling far more pleasant than before.
For the first time, it actually felt like a proper journey.
“Oh. A signpost.”
As they rode for quite some time, a fork in the road appeared before them. Keldric and Alyssa, still on horseback, carefully studied the signpost.
The winding road to the left led to a place called Maurtal.
The direction Keldric and Alyssa needed to go was to the right, towards a place called Salzfluss.
“Salzfluss… What a straightforward name. Salt (Salz) and river (Fluss), huh?”
“Yes. It’s well known for its rock salt mining.”
Producing salt, particularly extracting rock salt, is a labor-intensive task that cannot be done alone. Naturally, it becomes a significant communal effort where the entire village has to work together.
Salzfluss had long been a supplier of salt to Belam and the surrounding regions.
Keldric had vaguely heard of the name as well. Joseph typically procured salt from Belam and sold it in the village of Carlton.
While the salt supplied to Belam often came across the sea route from the northwest, the rock salt from Salzfluss also made up a significant portion.
Moreover, Salzfluss’s rock salt was even sold as far as Bogenberg, making Salzfluss salt quite well-known.
“Once we stop by Salzfluss, we can head towards Tierdorf. After that, there are just a couple of small villages left.”
“Doesn’t seem like we have far to go.”
“Yes. At this pace, we’ll arrive in three or four more days.”
They were expecting a six-day journey to Bogenberg. Having ridden for two full days already, another three or four days would ensure things went according to plan.
How long had it been since they turned their horses right at the fork?
By the time the sun hung low on the snowy horizon, a village came into view, nestled along the winding Ronauen River.
Keldric gazed steadily at the village surrounded by a sturdy wooden palisade.
From afar, he could almost smell the salty air drifting toward them.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
Salzfluss is a village that sustains itself solely through the mining and selling of rock salt.
Because the soil is salty, agriculture cannot develop.
As a result, markets to buy and sell salt were regularly held, and traveling merchants who were burdened by the trek to coastal towns gathered here in droves.
This, in other words, meant that Salzfluss was quite a large village.
Keldric and Alyssa slowly guided their horses along the main road of Salzfluss.
The road was well-maintained for a village, as it seemed the highway extending from Belam had not yet deteriorated too much. That road stretched all the way into the village.
Fences made from intricately woven branches surrounded each house, and some wooden homes were patched here and there with limestone plaster.
‘They’re living better than I expected.’
Thanks to this, Keldric enjoyed the unfamiliar scenery.
The houses appeared sturdy, but more than that, the air was heavy with the characteristic musty, salty smell of rock salt. Coincidentally, today was also market day for selling salt.
Salzfluss wasn’t as large as Yalta, which they had passed through earlier, but it was more practical and prosperous.
The villagers’ faces were livelier, and with no shortage of salt, those who bought and sold it lived relatively comfortably.
When people can afford a decent living, they begin to address their shortcomings. And once those desires are satisfied with room to spare, they naturally start looking around at the world around them.
The people of Salzfluss were no different.
Even in the midst of their busy salt trading, they smiled and greeted Keldric as he passed with his horse.
“Honorable knight! Would you like some salt?”
“Thank you.”
“Sir knight! Try this as well!”
Thanks to this, Keldric ended up receiving a few handfuls of free salt.
Another knight might have been offended, but since Keldric graciously accepted, the people around him laughed and handed him other things as well.
Keldric, accepting everything with a small bow, muttered to himself.
“What a nice place.”
“Indeed. The people look so cheerful.”
For travelers, salt was precious.
Buying it was no small expense, yet going without it was unthinkable, as salt was essential for survival and long journeys.
So, as handfuls of salt were tucked into his pouch for free, Keldric couldn’t help but smile as well.
Children could be seen occasionally playing with strangely shaped pieces of rock salt.
From the villagers’ perspective, it was still money, but they had enough leeway to overlook kids playing with it.
“Excuse me.”
Keldric stopped a passing villager and handed him two silver obols.
The man’s face immediately brightened at the unexpected money.
“Oh, yes! Sir knight, you called for me?”
“Is there a decent inn around here? One that wouldn’t be lacking for someone like me?”
“Is this your first time in our village? Then you should try The Bell of Enya. It’s as good as heaven for someone like me, so I’m sure you’ll find it more than satisfactory.”
Keldric turned his head in the direction the villager pointed, and indeed.
In the heart of the village, a brightly lit inn caught his eye, and the noise of lively conversation spilled out endlessly.
“I see. Thank you.”
“No problem. Rest well!”
Keldric accepted the man’s generous farewell with a soft smile.
Strangers and strange lands. When they smiled, that was when the true joy of travel revealed itself.
“Can you take care of my horse? And my companion’s as well.”
“Of course, sir. I’ll take great care of them.”
Reaching the inn, Keldric dismounted from Boreas and handed a few silver coins to the stablehand, entrusting Alyssa’s horse as well.
Alyssa followed behind him, looking slightly embarrassed.
“I could’ve paid for my own horse…”
“Sometimes, I like doing things like this.”
It was a virtue for knights to show kindness to their subordinates.
Most knights were unaware of the proper balance and indulged in excessive luxury and waste, but Keldric preferred showing goodwill through small acts.
A lavish feast might bring joy for a moment, but continuous kindness was worth ten times as much.
Besides, Keldric was in a good mood.
Perhaps he had been charmed by the bustling, lively atmosphere of the village.
“Let’s head inside.”
“Yes.”
As Keldric and Alyssa entered the inn, sure enough—
The Bell of Enya was the cleanest and most pleasant inn Keldric had visited so far.
Even Alyssa, who followed him in, widened her eyes in amazement as she looked around the inn.
“Clean, indeed. The man recommended a good place.”
“Y-yes, he did. How is this place so… spotless?”
Even the usual dust found in the corners of inns was nowhere to be seen. There wasn’t even a whiff of the rancid smell from the haphazard stews that travelers typically threw together.
From the start, this inn didn’t seem like the kind of place to serve food that could hardly be called edible.
‘It better not be ridiculously expensive.’
Struck by the unexpected level of cleanliness, Keldric suddenly grew concerned that the inn might be outrageously overpriced. Sure, the inn was clean and comfortable, but he wasn’t in a position to pay a fortune for just a single night’s stay.
A knight being driven out by the price would certainly be humiliating, but even so, everyone had their limit.
At most, he was willing to pay five Grasen silver coins per person. Keldric wasn’t planning on going any higher than that.
“I’d like to get two rooms. How much would that be?”
“If meals are included, it’ll be eight Grasen silver coins, sir knight.”
Eight silver coins—split evenly, that was four per person.
It was quite a reasonable price.
Keldric nodded in satisfaction and reached for his money when the innkeeper hesitated, glancing around cautiously before whispering,
“Sir knight, if I were to lower it to six coins, would that be agreeable?”
“…Is there some sort of issue?”
Keldric sensed something suspicious from the innkeeper. He had the uneasy, troubled expression of someone facing an awkward dilemma.
“It’s just that… if it’s not too much trouble, I would humbly ask if you could perhaps have a word with another knight staying here…”
“Another knight?”
“Yes, sir. He’s on his way to Bogenberg.”
Bogenberg.
That was Keldric’s destination as well. Which meant that knight was also heading to the tournament.
Keldric’s curiosity was piqued. So far, the only knights he’d met were Sir Werner and Sir Hermann, and the wider his network of connections, the better.
“I’ll meet him. Where is he?”
“He should be on the second floor. Allow me to escort you.”
“Very well. Alyssa, go up to the room first.”
After sending Alyssa ahead, Keldric followed the innkeeper up the stairs. The faint sound of boisterous chatter and the strong scent of alcohol already teased his senses.
Stopping in front of a door, the innkeeper nervously swallowed. He took a deep breath, then knocked politely.
“Sir knight, there is someone here who wishes to meet you.”
No response came. Keldric thought he heard a faint, shrill giggle.
‘Did I mishear that?’
No, he hadn’t. The innkeeper, growing unsure after receiving no reply, glanced helplessly at Keldric, who urged him forward.
“Open the door.”
“B-but…”
“I’ll explain everything. Just open it already.”
Reluctantly, the innkeeper obeyed and opened the door.
The first thing Keldric encountered was the overwhelming smell of alcohol and the sound of women laughing merrily.
“Hahaha! And so I… oh?”
There, surrounded by three or four women, sat a man, roaring with laughter. He had a slightly greasy look about him…..the kind of face and smile one might picture when slicing butter with a knife.
The man turned to Keldric, raising his glass with a wide grin.
“Oh! Look at that…..a noble knight graces us with his presence!”
Alcohol, money, and women.
Aside from their land, those were the three things knights loved most.
The man before him was someone who embodied those three pleasures….someone who was, in a way, as knightly as one could get.
‘And this guy’s going to be in the tournament, too?’
Keldric already felt a headache coming on.