(EP-282.1) King #1

282 – Bandit King #1

As I sat in the carriage, lost in thought, someone suddenly poked me in the side.

“Theo, what are you thinking about?”

It was Narmi. It seemed that Narmi and Mirna had indeed switched places. I shrugged my shoulders casually.

“Nothing much. I was just wondering if we’d reach Big River before evening. I heard it should appear if we follow this river.”

“I see! I thought you were thinking about that Tefer from earlier. The missing archmage girl, I mean.”

The missing archmage girl.

It was certainly an intriguing story, but I figured that the White Mage Tower would already be handling the situation, so there was no need for me to intervene.

They mentioned that the White Mage Tower was in Big River, where we’re headed. Once in the city, it would be enough to simply check in and hear a report about the situation.

“But do you really think that Tefer was taken down by bandits? A Rank 5 Archmage would be practically invincible to bandits, right?”

At Narmi’s curious question, I glanced out at the river stretching alongside us, deep in thought.

Rank 5 mages were few in number, with less than 20 in the world.

Naturally, the individual strength of each of them would be strong enough to be counted in the double digits if limited to mages.

In contrast, bandits were a joke compared to mages.

They were weak, vile people, which was why they resorted to banditry.

Normally, even if a large group of bandits gathered, it would be difficult for them to stand a chance against a genius archmage of the 5th rank…

As I was deep in thought, Stella added a comment.

“Fighting isn’t something you can quantify with numbers or calculations. Especially when it comes to survival, there are countless variables. With those variables, even an archmage can lose to bandits.”

“And what kind of variables are those?”

Narmi’s bold question seemed to catch Stella off guard for a moment. She crossed her arms with her eyes closed, and after a brief pause, responded lightly.

“The most classic variable would be having someone to protect. Or perhaps the bandits, being the cowards they are, took a hostage. The mages of the White Mage Tower are kind-hearted, after all.”

A hostage, huh.

That certainly made sense.

“By the way, this is Narmi-yang, right? You’re quite different from your sister, Mirna-yang. I wonder if you take after your mother, Alana, rather than Aleister seonbae?”

“You know my mom? And calling my dad ‘seonbae’? Isn’t the Professor older?”

Narmi’s innocent question made Stella chuckle lightly as she responded.

“The way elves and short-lived humans calculate age is different. I suppose if I were to compare myself to an average short-lived human, I’d be around 23 years old now.”

Was that so?

It reminded me of how people often said, “A 15 year old dog is 80 in human years.”

Maybe elves calculated their age similarly.

Narmi giggled at this.

“Then, if I calculate my age the elven way, I’d be about 120 years old! Theo, I’m 120 years old!”

Lady Narmi was always so bright.

What about me?

Considering my original age was about 25 years, if I calculate that in elven years, I’d be over 150 years old.

“Then, since I’m currently 25 years old, that makes me older than Professor Stella in elf years. Please use honorifics to me as a sign of respect from now on.”

“What? Th-there’s no such rule!”

“Uh-huh, who dares to speak like that to their elders?”

“Whaaat?”

Stella was flustered.

And so, we spent our time in the carriage chatting away. It was nice to sit quietly and enjoy the scenery, but traveling was more fun when you could chat like this and make time fly by.

Thanks to that, we managed to arrive at Big River just before the sun set. The hippogriff pulling the carriage was incredibly fast.

“It took us nine hours, but if we go by elf time, it’s like we arrived in less than an hour, right?”

At my question, Stella’s pointed ears twitched slightly through her hair.

“Alright, alright. I admit I was wrong, so please stop. That whole elf-age thing is just an elf joke, nothing more.”

“I was joking too.”

Hihi.

Teasing elves felt quite entertaining. It was fun.

Maybe the nymph genes deep within me instinctively found amusement in bothering and teasing elves.

Anyway, when we passed through the gates of Big River, a rather large city in the north, we were met by a group of guards who blocked our carriage.

“Are you Sir Theo Gospel, Lady Draco, and your companion, Stella Von Bellhawk?”

Just as anyone would feel a bit uneasy if the police suddenly pulled them over even if they’d done nothing wrong, it was natural to feel a bit nervous when guards started checking your identity.

“I am Theo Gospel. What’s the matter?”

My calm yet confident response prompted the guard captain to bow his head respectfully after checking our identification.

“We’ve been expecting you. An escort will arrive shortly, so please wait a moment.”

We disembarked from the carriage and sat in the guards’ office. Although I didn’t know what was going on, at least it didn’t seem like they intended us any harm.

* * *

After waiting for about five minutes, a man with a splendid white beard entered the guardroom.

Dressed in a well-tailored suit with a stylish monocle and leaning on a curved cane, he looked every bit the distinguished old gentleman.

When he bowed to us, Stella, who had been sitting in her chair looking bored, suddenly widened her eyes.

“Aren’t you Dolches?”

“For the Fairy Princess to remember this body, it is an immense honor.”

‘Dolches?’

As I racked my brain, trying to recall where I’d heard that name before, Narmi leaned in to whisper to me.

Edited by: faker