"Come to think of it, is this the kind of stuff our adventurer party does every day?"
Zenith lifted the cat in his hands above his head. "Finding cats, delivering letters, cleaning up... By the way, if I remember correctly, you guys were originally looking for a warrior teammate, right?"
"Aha!" Claire patted his coin pouch. "Traveling and upgrading equipment costs money. Taking on small commissions to save up for travel expenses is just common sense, Zenith."
"But it's seriously boring. We might as well just go defeat the Demon King."
Jumping down from the tree, Zenith reached out to scratch the cat's chin, following behind Claire to return the feline to its owner.
It had been almost a week since he joined Claire's party, yet the group was still stuck in this small town called Inter, doing trivial chores every single day.
"A warrior who loves to complain," the warrior Mia chimed in mercilessly. "Your personality doesn't match your reliable appearance at all."
"Nonsense. You won't find anyone more reliable than me in this entire world. That's just pure prejudice."
Mia didn't mean any harm; she was simply the type who had a gentle heart but a venomous tongue.
Claire was a massive social butterfly with zero concept of personal space, leaving only the priest, Tolkien, looking somewhat normal.
However, the name Tolkien was incredibly immersion-breaking.
The famous creator of *The Lord of the Rings*, the absolute legend who forged Middle-earth... Zenith couldn't help but subconsciously associate this curly-haired priest with a certain wizard who fought with a one-handed sword.
After joining the party, Zenith had a serious chat with them. One crucial point was that he definitely wouldn't be staying in the team forever.
If he found a hero named Himmel or a mage named Frieren, he would choose to leave.
A so-called adventurer party was essentially a small group that traveled around doing odd jobs, somewhat similar to armed escorts.
In the setting of a fantasy world, roaming monsters often lurked in the wilderness. It was extremely dangerous for ordinary people to travel between towns, which necessitated hiring adventurers for assistance.
Of course, those capable of hiring adventurers were mostly merchants transporting goods. Many ordinary people would never leave their own towns and villages for their entire lives.
"But Mr. Zenith, we're quite lucky to have finally accepted a decent quest. Next, we'll be escorting a merchant caravan to the Ruffin region in the Northern Plateau."
After all this time, Zenith had also managed to get a clear picture of this world's geography. The entire continent was very simply divided into three parts: the Northern Lands, the Central Lands, and the Southern Lands.
They were currently located in the northern part of the Central Lands, but even so, heading to the Northern Plateau would be a very long journey.
It was time to set off. Naturally, the merchant caravan had hired more than one adventurer party. With nearly twenty carriages, there were dozens of regular guards alone, plus four additional adventurer parties.
"They're so rich! If I had that kind of financial backing, I probably wouldn't be an adventurer."
Gold, silver, and copper coins were pretty much the standard for fantasy worlds. For this absurdly long trip, the caravan was offering a reward of about ten gold coins.
The purchasing power of gold coins was quite solid; a single gold coin could basically cover an ordinary person's living expenses for a year. A ten-gold-coin reward was very substantial in this world.
"Are you really strapped for cash, Claire?"
The carriages moved forward slowly. While the regular guards had to follow on foot, the adventurers were allowed to ride in the carriages. After all, they were hired mercenaries and relatively much stronger.
"Of course. You guys are all young, but I'm already an old geezer. I have a family to feed."
The red-haired Claire was a mage who specialized in fire magic. According to this world's naming conventions, what he used was [Magic that Manipulates Fire for Attack].
What a plain and unpretentious naming convention.
"I see."
Zenith pulled out his handheld console and focused intently on playing *Pokémon FireRed*. Thank goodness the Fate world was set in 2004—the classic Game Boy Advance had already been released, and the national-treasure-level games *Pokémon FireRed* and *LeafGreen* were available on the GBA platform.
"If this journey goes smoothly and I find Frieren, how about I make sure you never have to worry about money for the rest of your life?"
"Hahaha, that would be fantastic!" Claire burst into loud laughter, leaning back against the carriage wall, laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.
Mia cast a slight sideways glance. "A warrior who loves to brag."
Zenith smiled faintly; he really liked the relaxed atmosphere within the party. "Speaking of which, I should give you guys a few extra gifts when we part ways... Oh ho, I caught an Articuno!"
"By the way, you've been fiddling with that thing in your hands ever since you got in the carriage. What is it?" Claire stopped laughing and leaned forward to look. Zenith simply flipped the screen around and handed it to him.
"This is called a game console. You can think of it as a special kind of magic item. In here, you play as a trainer, traveling all over the world to catch powerful spirits, and casually saving the world while you're at it."
"It's so exquisite. The pictures on it are actually moving! It's a shame I can't read the text, though."
Of course he couldn't read it—it was a Chinese localized version that Zenith had spent quite a bit of effort tracking down. "If there's a magic that lets you read all languages, I'll teach you guys how to play."
Even if they couldn't read the text, they could still understand the visuals. Battling, moving around... the tiny screen was soon crowded by four heads. Even Tolkien had leaned in to watch.
*Knock, knock—* The carriage window was tapped, and a guard's voice came from outside. "Everyone, we'll be making camp here to rest for the night. The caravan will provide your meals."
It was already nighttime. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Only then did everyone realize how much time had passed. Twisting his stiff neck, Claire pushed open the carriage door.
"I can't believe it's already this late. This little gadget is really something else. I think I'm falling in love with it."
Video games were an absolute lethal weapon against people from the Middle Ages. It reminded Zenith of when he was a kid, squatting next to a computer and watching the adults play games.
Even though he couldn't understand a thing, he could watch it all day long.
Sitting around the campfire, Mia and Claire were still arguing over whether Articuno or Suicune was the stronger Pokémon. Tolkien, however, stood firmly on Ho-Oh's side, because the sacred Ho-Oh reminded him of the Goddess he worshipped.
The campfire crackled and popped. Claire looked at the spacing-out Zenith and asked with a smile, "How does it feel to go on a long journey?"
"It's so ordinary. It just feels like I'm out on a sightseeing trip."
Zenith spoke the truth, and the others exchanged knowing smiles. "This is what a real adventure is like. It's nowhere near as interesting as the bards make it out to be. Though, of course, if it could always be like a sightseeing trip, I'd be very happy."
No one drank any alcohol. After all, this was an escort mission, and they still needed to maintain the necessary vigilance. Tolkien picked up the conversation, continuing,
"If there's a battle, people will get hurt, and some might even die. After all, this is still an era of chaos."
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