The caravan began to move once Nim climbed aboard. A few minutes later, Nim heard other caravans nearby.
Taking a look, he saw six more caravans.
Additionally, in the middle of them all was a larger caravan.
The driver of another caravan, upon seeing his companion return, asked, "Did you find the person the lord ordered?"
"Yes, he's inside," the middle-aged driver pointed behind him.
"Good, we need to hurry, the lord doesn't want any more delays." After saying that, he snapped the reins and the horses picked up speed.
The middle-aged driver did the same and matched the pace of the other caravans.
Nim, who had heard the whole conversation, said nothing.
During the journey, Nim noticed there were also people guarding the caravans, likely bodyguards hired by the merchant.
Uncle Smith had explained a lot about the world's common sense—sometimes the most dangerous thing wasn't the monsters, but the people.
It was normal for a caravan to hire bodyguards, especially when making a long journey; otherwise, they could be attacked by monsters or bandits, the latter being the most dangerous.
There were many stories about caravans being ambushed, whose members were then brutally killed.
Even though Nim trusted his abilities, he would not let his guard down during the journey.
During the trip, Nim only received one food ration per day, a bowl of soup. But along with his own rations, he didn't go hungry.
On the night of the fifth day, Nim was trying to sleep when he felt something, and the next moment, he opened his eyes.
Just a moment ago, he had a strange premonition.
During his training, Nim had felt that feeling before; he usually felt it when a monster was nearby.
That strange danger perception of Nim's was something that had surprised Uncle Smith.
Nim held his sword and watched his surroundings vigilantly, although the night made it hard to see, he could still rely on his perception.
After observing for a moment, he fixed his gaze on a tree a few meters away. That tree seemed normal, but his intuition said otherwise.
.....
In the temporary camp the caravans had made, four bodyguards were patrolling the area.
The perimeter wasn't very large, so they hadn't strayed far from the caravans.
"Hey, it's almost time to change shifts," one bodyguard spoke to his companion.
"Yeah, I hope those bastards didn't fall asleep too deeply," the other guard replied.
"Don't even say it, I just want to go back and take a nap." The first guard who had spoken quickened his pace and left his companion behind.
"This guy…" The second guard shook his head while watching his companion disappear.
"Seriously, if those guys don't want to wake up, I'll beat them."
Halfway there, the bodyguard who had gone ahead was thinking about how to deal with his teammates.
In the middle of his thoughts, a shadow leapt from behind a tree and, in an instant, stabbed the bodyguard in the throat.
Feeling the sudden and deadly attack, he tried to scream, but the words got stuck in his throat.
Feeling the massive blood loss, the bodyguard grew dizzy with despair as he collapsed to the ground.
The shadow, seeing its victim was near death, quickly grabbed the guard's belongings before alerting the camp.
Searching the dying body, it managed to pull out a pouch, which contained copper and silver coins.
After obtaining the pouch, the shadow turned, trying to escape.
But as it took a step, it felt chills on its back. It quickly turned and saw a sword swiftly approaching its neck.
The shadow instinctively raised its dagger.
Swoosh
The dagger was sent flying and the sword sliced the shadow's neck.
A head flew off, followed by a fountain of blood.
Upon seeing the decapitated body, Nim didn't feel much. Although it was the first time he had killed a person, it didn't seem very different from killing a monster.
Looking closely at the corpse, he realized it was a man in completely black clothing.
In the darkness of night, he would've been very hard to see—if not for his instincts, Nim wouldn't have noticed him either.
...
The second bodyguard who had stayed behind finally reached the spot, only to find his companion dead from a neck wound and another decapitated body.
Shocked by the scene, he raised an alarm to the entire caravan camp.
Hearing the alarm, everyone who was sleeping woke up quickly, and the two other bodyguards from another area ran back to the camp.
The other now-awake bodyguards approached the main caravan vigilantly.
"What's going on, why all the commotion?!" a voice came from the large caravan. The next moment, the doors opened and a fat man with an annoyed look came out.
"Sir, someone sounded the alarm—it could be an attack," a bodyguard addressed the fat man.
"An attack?" Upon hearing that, the man went back into his caravan.
"Investigate quickly, we still have two days until we reach the capital." After that, the fat man fell silent.
After receiving the order, the other bodyguards began to move and investigate who had raised the alarm.
At that moment, they saw one of their comrades running from afar. It was the guard who had found the bodies.
After getting close enough, he recounted what he had witnessed.
Upon hearing his story, he and a group headed to the scene of the murder.
Upon arriving and seeing the two corpses, the bodyguards began asking questions.
"I don't know, when I got there no one was around, just the bodies," the witness bodyguard said helplessly.
His companion had gone ahead, and then he found him dead, along with another body.
The deaths of both must have been sudden—by the time he arrived, everything was over.
"It must've been a lone assassin; that guy was just unlucky," said another bodyguard. But if the assassin killed his companion, who killed the assassin?
Faced with that question, the rest of the bodyguards were a bit shaken.
"All right, we'll all take turns keeping watch through the night until we have to leave," said a guard who seemed more experienced.
Everyone agreed—with the danger of being killed by another assassin, or something worse, sleeping was secondary.
Dawn arrived, and all the caravans moved on from that place. Thanks to that, the bodyguards were able to relax their nerves.
Although they were tired from not sleeping, it was better than being killed.
...
Nim was in his caravan, cleaning the blood still left on his sword. The previous night, he had quickly snuck away after killing the assassin.
He had learned from Uncle Smith that it was better not to draw attention to oneself to avoid future problems.
With those teachings, Nim could be safer when facing the harsh environment of the world.
Two more days passed, and nothing like that night happened again.
On the seventh day, Nim began to glimpse the great city on the horizon.
That city was the largest city in the Sinfrienld Kingdom: the Capital.