Chapter Seventeen: An adventure's Life

“I thought you might be hungry, so I brought you some food!!”
My happy moments continued that day. Her smile, her small mouth and lips as she shouted, her cute dress, and even her voice—I was enjoying everything about her to the fullest.
After offering me the basket, she walked about fifty meters away, turned, and gave me an “okay” sign.
I hurried down the hill to the basket. Inside, neatly folded on top of everything else, was a full adventurer’s set of gear.
A green vest armor, green boots, green leather pants, and a shirt. All of it looked rather expensive.
Poking out of the basket were three oversized loaves of bread, each nearly thirty centimeters long. When I lifted the gear, I discovered the food waiting beneath. The first thing that caught my eye was a whole roast duck, finely wrapped in a plastic container. Next to it sat a steaming red soup with round bean-like objects floating inside. There were crabs, potatoes, and something that looked like sliced flatbread—almost like pizza. At the very bottom were some of the fruits I’d eaten yesterday.
How did she even carry all of this? No—what I should be asking is: “Are they all mine!!??”
“Yes… Yes.” She nodded wholeheartedly.
I didn’t know what to say. “What about the gear!?” I asked again.
“I saw you had a sword. Your clothes are messy because they don’t have any magic, so I bought you proper ones!”
“But… aren’t they expensive!!??” No matter what she said, I couldn’t believe she’d go this far for me.
“The items you gave me yesterday were worth a fortune!! I divided the money into two and bought these with half of it! Since you can’t go into town, I’ll bring you food whenever I go shopping!!”
Once again, I stood dumbfounded before this extremely kind and generous girl. To think there could be someone like her in this world…
My eyes blurred with tears, and I couldn’t stop them from falling.
“Why are you crying again!? Don’t you like the gear!?” Seeing my pathetic sobs, she almost stepped closer to console me—but her body trembled the instant she entered my fifty-meter radius.
“I’m just… so happy right now!!”
I sat down beside the large basket since I couldn’t carry it properly. From there, I began to eat after washing my hands with water from a jar tucked inside.
The girl spread a cloth on the ground and sat at a distance, watching me as I slowly ate. This time, happiness made me relaxed.
After eating nearly half the roast duck and plenty of the other food, I suddenly realized something important. I didn’t know her name.
“What’s your name—ehe-ehe!!” My mouth full of bread, I tried to speak but choked.
“Pu-fufu!” I could hear her laughter even from that distance.
“Leila! My name is Leila! Just call me Leila for now!”
“Leila… Thank you!! For yesterday! For today! For the gear! For being here! For smiling at me! For everything! Thank you!!” My voice cracked as tears threatened to come again.
She was stunned. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open, she muttered, “D-don’t say that… it’s embarrassing.”I finally knew her name. We talked for a long while after I finished eating.
She told me she had sold the items I gave her to a shop-owning friend in town. When she repeated my claim of finding them in a cave outside the barrier, he laughed until he collapsed on his knees.
Since the items were expensive, he gave her half the payment immediately. If people in town had seen her carrying them, they would have rushed out to the places I’d mentioned, so she was careful to conceal the basket with magic.
The clothes she wore today were also bought with her share of the money. She mentioned work briefly but quickly cut herself off.
She explained that this “capital” was only one in name—the true capital was a couple hours’ ride away. Towns like this one existed at each of the four gates to the capital, meant to support lower-level individuals. Lower-level people weren’t forbidden from entering the true capital, but finding work there was nearly impossible.
She also told me what happened after I was attacked.
After the hero tried to end my life and I lost consciousness, Milta had desperately tried to save me, repeating “Heal! Heal! Heal!” until my wounds closed. But the other heroes stopped her, and the one with chains dragged my half-dead body to the underground cave where I woke up.
Unlike me, Milta was prioritized because of her magic. She met the emperor himself, and when he asked her to participate in the upcoming adventure with the heroes, she defied him.
“I’ll go… but only if you promise to release him!” she’d demanded.
The emperor had no choice but to agree, though with conditions: I would not be allowed to leave the capital, and I would remain under strict surveillance. Milta accepted, and was rewarded with a chamber in the palace itself. People spoke in awe of how she had defied the emperor and walked away with luxuries.
So it was thanks to Milta that I was even alive. Still, I remembered the guards’ words—they were watching me even now.
As for the items I had given Leila yesterday, the stones turned out to be high-quality dwarven tools used to enhance weapons. Only two of them were low-quality, fit only for light. The leaves were rarer still, linked to the mythical fairy kingdom said to exist above the skies. Those herbs were proof of its existence, which made them absurdly expensive.
The stones and herbs together had been valued at around one hundred gold coins. Since the shop owner lacked the money, Leila had accepted the gear instead. It had once belonged to a hero slain by a demon lord years ago—a priceless relic all the adventurers in town dreamed of owning. The owner had parted with it for forty-five gold, plus five coins in cash, and promised to pay the rest once the items sold.
“I was really happy when you gave me those things,” she admitted, hugging her knees. “Because I really needed the money.”
She looked so sad and lonely.
When I asked if there was something she wanted to buy, she only said, “I’ll tell you about it some other time.”
The mood shifted after that. A while later she stood, gathered her cloth, and forced a smile.
“I have to go now! I’ll try to be early tomorrow, so please wait for me, okay?” With a wink, she waved goodbye and left.So she needed money for something important… I didn’t know what, but I didn’t want to see her sad again.
If herbs and stones were worth so much, then I’d pluck every leaf and chip every rock I could find for her.
With that resolve, I picked up the basket with the remaining food and headed home.
By the time I reached the mountain, it was already dark. I stared up at my cave, hoping to see light spilling out.
“I wish they wouldn’t just disappear like the rabbits do when they feel like it.”
Climbing one-handed up the ladder with the basket clutched in the other, I finally reached the entrance. Desperately, I searched the walls.
“Thank God!” The stones were still there, exactly where I had left them.
Relieved, I plucked out ten and put them in the basket. Better safe than sorry. Tomorrow, I would wake up early and search for herbs outside the barrier. Leila would be happy with what I brought her.
“I can’t wait!!”
But first, I needed to finish the duck before it spoiled. After eating and drinking a little water, I collapsed into bed.
That night, my dreams were mostly of Leila. Sometimes Milta appeared, but it was Leila who filled them—Leila and I going on adventures together, facing obstacles in dungeons, something important happening afterward… but I couldn’t remember what.
I woke late the next morning, the sun already high.
“Have the monsters in that forest begun their activities now?” I wondered nervously. The last time, I had nearly been skewered by that horned beast.
After rinsing my mouth and face with what little water I had left, I carried the basket outside. I set aside the bread and fruit in the cave, bringing the soup and potatoes to warm at my second home on the rock above.
I gathered twigs and tried to start a fire using two stones.
“Kyas! Kyas!” I smacked them together, but nothing happened.
Then it hit me—the ones Milta gave me were different. Could it be that only low-quality stones sparked fire? These higher-grade ones were useless for that. I almost threw them away in frustration, but then remembered…
They were for Leila.
So I ate the food cold, savoring every bite.
After leaving the stones in the basket, I donned my sword and new armor and set out.
Passing through the barrier felt like plunging into water. I prayed the spiral-horned beast wouldn’t appear.
I went deeper and deeper but found no herbs, only broken trees and destruction left behind by monsters. My aura seemed to keep them away—except for one.
An oversized scorpion, the size of a goat, with a black body and a white crystalline stinger.
“Are you a monkey or what!!?” I shouted as it leapt from a tree.
My sword clashed against its stinger with a metallic ring. Its venomous crystal tail was so hard it deflected my blade. Then it spat a sticky web that blinded me.
I tore at it desperately until I could see again—only to find the scorpion at my feet, its stinger hammering into me like a pistol. “…Huh?” For a moment, I didn’t understand. Then I realized—my armor. The stinger wasn’t piercing me.
“Haha… get away from me!!” I swung my sword and knocked it back.
Its body was as hard as its tail, but with a feint, I finally struck true, stabbing through its head.
“Zgayaaa!!” it screeched as black blood gushed.
When it fell, the crystal tail detached on its own. I pocketed it.
Still no herbs. How deep was this forest?
Finally, after half an hour, I found them—lush herbs covering a fifty-meter radius, sparkling green and sweet-smelling.
Relieved, I gathered them, stuffing leaves into my shirt until I looked nine months pregnant.
That’s when I heard it.
“Ksshhhshhh!!”
A heavy, ragged breathing.
I froze. My armor was strong, but…
Turning around, I locked eyes with the monster behind me.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen.