Chapter 70

For that reason, a long journey was decided.

Even when going to the seaside city of Leila, the distance was considerable, but the journey to the Elf Village was on a whole different level.

Not only did we pass through several large cities like Leila, but eventually, we even had to cross the border.

We couldn’t go directly; we had to pass through several other cities along the way.

Therefore, we didn’t leave immediately.

We had various preparations to make, and there were also things we had to wait for.

That was the escort mission for the merchant caravan.

The distance to the Elf Village was simply too far to walk.

Even when going to the seaside city of Leila within the Kingdom of Eustia, we traveled by carriage under the guise of an escort mission, and it was even more so for the Elf territory outside the Kingdom of Eustia.

Even if it meant waiting a few days until an escort request heading towards the World Tree came up.

And so, a few days later, we were able to join an escort mission for a merchant caravan heading to a city located about halfway to the World Tree, though not directly to it.

“If you’ve packed everything, let’s get going now.”

“Sniff… If we leave now, I wonder when we’ll be back… I’m really going to miss you.”

Wendy, who had come to see us off as we gathered in front of the Adventurer Guild after finishing all our preparations, spoke with a sad expression.

She didn’t seem this sad when we were leaving for Leila.

Now, there’s someone who’s sad because we’re going on a long expedition.

Without realizing it, I had become a resident of this city called Astram.

I looked at Wendy, feeling a renewed sense of emotion.

Was she really that sad to see us go?

“Sniff… French fries… Wild boar ribs… Smoked three-legged fowl… Sniff sniff…”

Ah. Maybe not.

She worked as a receptionist at the guild and occasionally did us favors, and each time, we would eat together as a way of thanking her.

I didn’t realize that she wasn’t sad about us leaving, but rather about not being able to eat the meals I cooked.

Though the direction was different, we set off for the merchant caravan’s location to begin our escort mission, receiving Wendy’s farewell.

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The merchant caravan we joined was quite large, and besides our group of four, there was another party of four participating as well.

The leader of the party was a tall, cheerful young man named Logwin, who unusually for an adventurer, wielded a large shield.

A red-haired female archer with freckles but an overall attractive face, Matilda.

A strict-looking young man from the Empire, a wandering mage named Jerry who had traveled many places.

A cat beastkin named Minya, dressed simply with two daggers, who had been smiling brightly ever since we met.

They were a classic adventurer party, consisting of two frontliners and two backliners, specializing in combat-related missions.

After brief introductions, our group of four and Logwin’s party set off together.

Once the caravan started moving and we boarded the wagons, we began chatting idly.

Logwin, who seemed sociable, smiled and spoke upon hearing that Mari was a half-elf.

“Oh! Marisia is a half-elf? Then she’s just like our party member Matilda. Matilda is also a half-elf.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell because her ears aren’t long at all.”

“Hey! Hey! Why did you say that!”

Hearing Logwin’s words, Mari looked at Matilda with a welcoming expression.

But Matilda blushed and shook Logwin’s shoulders, shouting.

“Why? You always brag about how your grandmother is a half-elf, so you’re half half half-elf.”

“Hey! You really!”

At that, Matilda’s face turned as red as it could get, and she tried to strangle Logwin, who skillfully dodged her hands despite the cramped space of the wagon.

“Hey, stay still.”

“Nyahaha. Just leave them. They’re always like this.”

Meanwhile, the mage Jerry frowned and glared at the two causing a ruckus, while Minya just smiled and watched.

It seemed like this wasn’t the first time, and they were used to it.

The party members seemed to get along well.

It’s a relief to have found good travel companions.

As I thought that, Minya, the cat beastkin who had been smiling like a fox, spoke to me.

“By the way, this is my first time seeing a Lizardman.”

At Minya’s words, Jerry looked surprised and said.

“Really? Even though you’re both beastkin?”

“Nyahaha. Even though we’re all called beastkin, each race is completely different.”

“I guess… Beastkin do tend to live among themselves.”

I said that and thought of the village I used to live in.

My hometown was hidden deep in the forest near the Verde Jungle, where Lizardmen lived together.

This tendency was common among beastkin.

While the number of beastkin as a whole is quite large, when divided into individual races, they make up only a small fraction of the world’s population.

For example, if you ask humans if they’ve ever met a beastkin, most would say yes, but if you ask if they’ve met a specific race of beastkin, that number would drop sharply.

Thus, beastkin, being a minority with few true kin, naturally formed their own societies in remote areas, pushed out by other human races.

“Nyahaha. Actually, it’s not just Lizardmen; this is my first time seeing a skin-type beastkin. Unlike option-type beastkin, skin-type beastkin rarely venture into human society.”

“Option-types do venture out more. Apart from their ears or tails, they’re not much different from humans.”

“That’s true. Nyahaha.”

Beastkin are broadly divided into three types: option, skin, and shift.

Option-types, like Minya in front of me, have the appearance of ordinary humans with only specific parts like ears or tails resembling animals.

These types of beastkin look almost no different from humans and have physical abilities close to humans, with almost no animal traits.

The second type, which I belong to, is the skin-type, who have the appearance of ordinary human skeletons covered in animal skin.

As such, they deviate more from the human form and possess the most animal traits physically.

They generally have greater strength than ordinary humans and, depending on their race, possess unique animal organs.

For example, my race, the Lizardmen, shed their skin periodically, and snake-type beastkin have pit organs that allow them to detect heat.

Although we divide them into option and skin types, there are beastkin races that fall ambiguously between the two, making clear distinctions difficult.

Lastly, the most alien type of beastkin is the shift-type, also known as shape-shifters or were-beasts.

As the name suggests, these beastkin usually look like ordinary humans but can shift between beastkin forms.

Sometimes they appear human, other times like option-types, and even skin-types.

Rumors say they can even fully transform into animal forms.

The most famous of these shift-types is, of course, the werewolf.

While their abilities seem like a combination of option and skin types, their numbers are far fewer than other beastkin, and reliable sightings are rare.

Some humans even speculate that these are just rumors of druids using animal transformation magic.

Of course, I’ve never seen one either.

Perhaps shift-type beastkin are already hiding in human society, disguised as ordinary humans?

But I’ve always thought, isn’t it strange that there are human races with real animal traits added to their human forms?

Isn’t that quite odd?

People in this world have always been like this, and with biology not being a developed field, they don’t think much of it, but no matter how I think about it, the beastkin race itself seems quite strange.

Even if they’re mammalian beastkin, it’s not so strange, but having clearly mammalian traits while also possessing reptilian or avian characteristics seems a bit odd.

It’s not like they’re chimeras.

While chatting about such things, we continued with the merchant caravan.

In a typical caravan, we’d have to prepare for monster attacks, but since we had just left the city and I had spread my mana to subtly warn other monsters, we wouldn’t be attacked during this trip.

The weather was clear, and it was a peaceful time.

It felt like it would be a peaceful journey.

As I enjoyed the warm breeze and thought about taking a nap, that’s when it happened.

“Attack! Adventurers, we’re under attack!”

What?