Step!
Step!
Syla followed the dirt road, heading towards the town of Direwell, with each step she took, she went further from her hometown of Demiria, leaving behind everything.
As she continued with her journey, Syla noticed a horse carriage in the distance getting closer to her, the carriage itself was a closed carriage with roof that usually used to transport items or ingredients, many also used it as a transportation method for people who are willing to pay.
Syla saw the driver of the carriage, he was a middle-aged man, wearing a hat and dark clothes, probably similar in age with Raywen.
"He looks like a merchant." Syla said while the carriage was getting closer.
'Ever since Demiria established a relationship with Direwell, many merchants began to come to the village, they introduced us to many things we didn't know before, one of them is magic artifacts– It's basically an object or weapon imbued with magical powers that allows it to either enhance, conjure a spell, or curse its wearer‐ I'll need to be careful when dealing with one, because if what i heard about the cursed artifacts was true, then it'd be dangerous.' Syla thought.
The carriage soon passes by Syla, the man that was driving it briefly glanced at her, he raised his hat to show respect before putting them back on.
"Good morning." He politely said.
"Good morning." Syla responded with a smile and she waved back at the driver.
The carriage went on to move further and further away from her, Syla doesn't want to think about it too much, so she forgot about the interaction and kept walking down the dirt road.
As the sun was rising along with the temperature, Syla started to feel the heat seeping through her skin, since the road doesn't have any shade that she could use to cover herself from the sun, Syla decides to walk on the further side of the road, moving at the edge between the woods and the road, the trees around her protected her from the heat.
"Let's see.. It should be— Around 11AM now? I think so." Syla mumbled to herself. "Hmm, should i try asking for a ride on one of the carriages?"
She stopped for a while, looking at both side of the road incase there's any carriage nearby, but there was nothing, the road was empty like a desert. Syla couldn't find any movement from anywhere, that is until she heard a rustling noise from her left.
'Hm?' Syla was startled by the sound, because it was coming from the woods, she began to get cautious and raised her hand, she gripped her sword's hilt tight before moving to closer to the noise.
Rustle!
Rustle!
Syla entered the woods, slowly but surely the rustling noise was becoming louder, when she found a bush infront of her, Syla hid behind it and peeked at the creature that was making the rustling sound that was on the other side of the bush.
"That's.. A rogue goblin?" She whispered.
Infront of her, there was a humanoid creature that seems to be searching for food, its skin was painted dark green with its body wrinkly and curved like an old person, similar to its description that was in the book, a rogue goblin is a monster that hunts mostly in forest area or any place that is rich with animals and vegetations. Syla stared at the creature for a while, observing its behavior before she made a move, because from what she had read, a rogue goblin usually have some sort of a pack, but this one in particular seems to be all alone.
'If it were searching for its friends, it would be moving from place to place, but that thing hasn't left this area, instead it's more like it was looking for food rather than its friends– Did everyone in his pack died? Or did he got abandoned by them? Either way, this should be easy.' Syla was planning in her head, after confirming that there was nothing else in the area, Syla pulled her sword out and revealed herself to the goblin.
"Keurk!?" The rogue goblin immediately noticed Syla from the sound she made, it turned its head back before making a growling sound.
"You're my first enemy, let me give my thanks to you." Syla said with a smirk.
"Keurk!!" The goblin didn't spare any time to observe or analyze its opponent, instead it just blindly charge itself towards Syla, its sharp claws were ready to rip her aparts.
As the rogue goblin lunged itself, locking its eyes to Syla, she formed her stance and saw the weak points of the goblin.
Slash!
While the goblin was still in the air, Syla swung her sword once, the whole attack happened in less than a second, and yet within that time, the rogue goblin's head was cut off from its neck, Syla moved to the side and let the goblin's fall to the ground, its head rolled further than its body, leaving a trail of blood behind.
"Phew, my first battle, completed." She said as she swung the sword once more to clean the blood stain.
After the rogue goblin was dead, Syla felf a sense of thrill in her chest, she had just killed her first monster, and it gave her confidence to her combat ability, her training wasn't just for naught, and this instantaneous battle proved it.
'It wouldn't hurt to find another one right? I want to try fighting a pack of them this time— Ah, what are you thinking, get a grip! I need to save this sword's durability until i can get a new one.' Syla almost got lost in her own head, she snapped away from her intrusive thoughts and went back to the edge of the woods and followed the dirt road once again.
The atmosphere surrounding her turned back to how it was before, the quiet noise of the wind and birds chirping made everything feels tranquil, even after fighting a monster, Syla still hadn't heard any carriages yet, she initially thought that there should be one that's going to be passing by her, but that time never came. Until suddenly, Syla's ears perked up, the sound of a wooden wheel rotating and traversing through the dirt road entered her canal, causing her to smile and looking back and forth to see where the sound was coming from.
"There! finally!" Syla said as she saw a carriage moving at her direction, it seems to have left Demiria and is heading to Direwell, coincidentally the same as Syla's destination.
She stood on her spot, waiting for the carriage to catch up to her, she took a glance at the driver and noticed that it was a man in his 30's, he wore a straw hat and casual brown shirt, his face was rough, with a few scars on his cheek. At first glance, the driver might be a tough guy, but Syla wasn't bothered by it, she instead focused at the carriage that was being pulled by the horse, it was an open carriage, meaning that there's no roof above it, similar to a pick up truck.
Not only that, but that carriage seems to be ridden by another person, two of them to be exact, however Syla couldn't really see the person that was riding the carriage since they were being covered by the driver's body.
When the carriage arrived, the driver saw Syla looking at him while standing still, he knew that she had something to say, so he stopped his horse.
"Hello, sir." Syla greeted the man.
It was at this moment that Syla finally saw the othe two passengers on the carriage, one of them was a young man wearing leather armor and is carrying a sword just like her, aside from the armor, he also wore an iron pauldron on his shoulder. No matter how she sees it, Syla immediately assumed that the man in armor was an adventurer.
The other passenger was a woman, she also seems young, most likely in her 20's, she didn't wear any armor like the guy beside her, but she has a large bag behind her that could store a lot of things. Other than the large backpack she carried on her back, she also has a pickaxe in her hand.
"Hello young lady, is there anything i can do?" The driver said, his politeness almost matched with the merchant from before.
"May i ask where you're planning to go? If it's not a problem, i'd like to tag along with you, of course! I'll pay with coins.." Syla asked, her eyes moved to the armored guy in the carriage and the pickaxe woman, they were staring at her.
"Aahh.. Of course, it'll be no problem, these people also said the same thing back then." The driver said as he pointed his thumb to the armored guy and the pickaxe girl in the back. "We're going to Direwell, is that also your destination?"
"Yes! T- then.. Is it okay if i get on the carriage?" Syla had to confirm it for the last time, just to make sure.
"Yeah, just get on!" The driver said with a smile.
"Thank you sir!" Syla then gratefully accepted the offer, she pulled a silver coin from her satchel and gave it to the driver.
At first, she expected him to deny the payment, that's why she had prepared a reply for it incase if it happened, but the driver unexpectedly accepted the coin without any problem, it made Syla a bit confused.
'Huh, well i guess that's understandable, who wouldn't want free money?, thankfully dad gave me 5 golds worth of coins yesterday.' Syla said to herself.
In the end, she walked up to the carriage and sat down beside the piles of wheats and carrots, face to face with the armored guy as the driver ordered his horses to move forward.