Pathfinder

Chapter Four

Letting Garam get off his back, Trigger quickly fled before the two men could spot his presence.

Garam tried to suppress her nausea while listening to Trigger's rapid words. When she was about to come to herself, Trigger had already turned his back and distanced himself, and all she could do then was watch him disappear with a puzzled expression. Belatedly, Garam raised her voice and shouted, “Thank you!”

She thought Trigger, with his keen ears, would hear her. As Garam had expected, Trigger easily heard her words.

‘What an interesting young lady,’ he thought.

Although Garam found it strange that Trigger didn't seem too surprised when she told him she came from a different dimension, Trigger was even more surprised because Garam didn't seem to be afraid of him at all. A faint smile appeared at the corner of Trigger's mouth.

"Goodbye, Garam."

Trigger's farewell went unheard by Garam, who remained engrossed in watching him disappear completely. What an impressive tiger he was.

Sitting on a rock, Garam finally noticed that the path in front of her was a well-trodden one, created by people passing by. The poor grass must have been trampled upon and turned into a path without ever getting a chance to stand tall.

As Trigger had said, Garam waited for a while, and a carriage suddenly appeared at the end of the path. Garam sat on a rock, waiting for the carriage to approach as she prepared her words. First, she would say that she had lightly injured her ankle, but it had already healed. And then she would ask where they were heading. After that, regardless of what their response would be, she would say that they were traveling in the same direction as she was and ask for a ride. She had to ensure that she was the one to inquire about their destination. If not, the situation could become quite complicated with their questions.

The carriage, pulled by two horses, slowly approached Garam. It was more like a cart hitched to the horses than a proper carriage. The two men sitting in the driver's seat exchanged words and then stopped the cart when they spotted Garam. As the cart came to a stop, Garam boldly approached. Even before exchanging greetings, she asked directly.

"Where are you headed?"

The man who was about to greet her lowered his hand, looking puzzled. He was a man in his mid-forties with light brown hair. He had a somewhat plump belly and a friendly face. The man sitting next to him appeared to be in his mid-twenties, and it was hard to determine his age due to his striking handsomeness. Perhaps he wasn't as old as he appeared to be.

Anyway, Garam waited anxiously for their response. What was more important than their ages was where they were headed. She hoped they wouldn't ask her about where she was headed as well, as it would complicate things.

Fortunately for Garam, neither of the two men asked any further questions.

"We are headed to Verok. What about you, miss?"

Garam's question about their destination, even before exchanging greetings with them, was rather rude. However, the man responded casually, wearing a friendly smile.

"Oh, same here! I'm going to Verok too! I sprained my ankle, you see. Can you give me a lift?"

"Haha, you seem quite hasty. Our wagon is fully loaded, so you might have to squeeze in behind that barrel of wine. Is that okay with you?"

Garam was not in a position to reject their offer, so she nodded eagerly. Also, she didn't forget to express her gratitude.

"Yes, of course it is! Thank you very much!"

"Well then, hop on in the back. We're in a hurry."

The wagon was somewhat high, but Garam managed to climb aboard with some effort. The man noticed that Garam had boarded and started driving again. As the wagon started moving, Garam finally felt a sense of relief. She had successfully overcome one hurdle. All she had to do then was reach the city, gather information, and make her way back home.

"By the way, what's your name, lady? I'm Jerome, and the silent guy here is Mordred. Quite a unique name, right?"

Jerome, introducing to her the person next to him as well, grinned broadly.

Garam hesitated for a moment about whether to reveal her real name, but she decided to tell the truth, thinking that revealing that she was Asian would lull any suspicions.

"My name is Garam."

Upon hearing Garam's words, Mordred, the man sitting silently next to Jerome, finally turned his gaze towards her for the first time. It was a strange feeling as if she already knew him. It was a sense of familiarity that couldn't be traced back to anything specific. Despite his rugged appearance, the feeling was quite genuine. Even though she had just met him, Garam felt a sense of trust in him that made her feel like she could follow him without hesitation. This unfamiliar emotion left Garam in a state of confusion.

"Oh? Already falling in love with this gentleman, young lady?"

A blush crept onto Garam's face as she realized that she had been staring at Mordred absentmindedly, but he only responded with a subtle smile. Seeing her blush and lower her head, Jerome began to comfort her in his unique relaxed tone.

"Hey, I mean, there’s nothing weird with you liking him. I think he's good-looking too, even as a man. No need to be shy about that. Even he thinks he’s handsome, so he sometimes acts arrogant, you know. We've been traveling together for almost two days now, and besides our initial greeting, I've heard him speak no more than ten times. Still, he smiled at you, didn't he? He's much kinder to you than to me. You must feel lucky."

After finishing his speech, Jerome told them that he needed to take a brief bathroom break and pulled the wagon to a stop. Garam's fingers tensed as she suddenly found herself alone with Mordred. Mordred waited patiently until Jerome had gone out of sight behind a tree. Then he turned his head slightly and looked at Garam. A subtle smile appeared on his face again.

"I didn't expect to meet a pathfinder in such a place. Nice to meet you."

Garam was taken aback by his sudden remark and stared at him, wondering why he had said that. In response to Garam's look of not understanding what he had said, Mordred raised his eyebrows. After briefly staring at Garam's hand, which she deliberately covered, he asked again.

"Aren't you from another dimension?"

Garam froze in place.

"A-another dimension? What are you talking about? I-I don't understand, sir."

Due to excessive tension, Garam stammered considerably while responding to his question. Mordred looked at Garam with an amused expression, and then suddenly remembered something. After recalling it, he realized that Garam's look matched his own experience.

"Could this be your first dimensional jump?"

"Y-yes, but how did you know?"

After saying that, Garam made a look of realization. She thought she might be called a witch and killed, but Mordred reassured her by shaking his hand, indicating not to worry.

"Don't worry too much. I'm a pathfinder too."

"A pathfinder?"

"I've also traveled between dimensions."

Garam's mouth fell open in disbelief. It had to be a dream.

‘How could such a thing happen?’

While Garam tried to find evidence that this was a dream, he looked at her with a thoughtful expression. This pure, unspoiled pathfinder reminded him of his past. Lost in his memories for a moment, Mordred saw Jerome adjusting his pants and walking toward them. Then, Mordred got off the carriage, moved to the wagon, and sat down. Due to his large size, he found it difficult to sit in the wagon filled with wine barrels, so he decided to perch on top of one of them.

"Um, excuse me. Why are you sitting here?"

"You must be perplexed about all this, right? If I don't sit here, it'll be hard for us to have a private conversation because I'm not that good at casting spells yet. I'm going to cast a barrier soon. Once cast, our conversation will only be heard by those inside the barrier. That kind gentleman there won't be able to hear us. After all, you don't want anyone else to hear what we're talking about, do you?"

"S-spells? Are you a wizard?"

It was Jerome who then replied to Garam's question, not Mordred.

"That's right. Both of you seem to have become quite close. This young man is an excellent wizard. I'm taking him to Verok, and in return, he's agreed to protect me. All you have to do is just sit there and wait, though. A beautiful lady makes everyone happy, don't you think?"

Jerome finished speaking and winked at Garam.

Mordred waited until Jerome started driving and then quickly cast the barrier when he was sure Jerome's attention was turned completely away from them. An invisible, discreet curtain covered the two of them. Under this curtain, Garam felt an uncomfortable sensation as if she had put on something awkward over her body. She tried to stretch, but Mordred stopped her.

"Be careful. This is not a tightly sealed barrier. It can be easily broken."

"I'm sorry."

When Garam withdrew her hand and sat down, Mordred finally nodded in relief.

"Now, go ahead and ask me about anything."

Mordred looked like he would tell her anything she wanted to know, but Garam couldn't ask her questions quickly. It wasn't because she didn't have any questions. It was because she had too many. Nevertheless, Mordred patiently waited with a reassuring look, indicating that he understood all her concerns.

"Can I go back?"

"Yes."

Garam raised an eyebrow at Mordred’s overly casual response, looking at him incredulously.

"When?"

"Um, do you have a tattoo on your hand?"

"Yes, right here,"

Garam quickly extended her hand, but Mordred glanced at it only briefly, without examining it closely.

"You don't have to show it to me. It's something only you can see. After awakening, it might be visible to others for a short while, but generally, it's only visible to you."

That must be why Trigger had mentioned the glowing pattern on her hand. Garam momentarily recalled the events of the previous night and then asked another question.

"But earlier, you saw my hand. Didn't you see my tattoo then?"

"Oh, I didn't actually see it. I just felt it. So is there something like a tattoo or whatever that changes over time?"

"Yes, there is. It's divided into forty-eight sections, and now thirteen sections are full. Yesterday, there were only three sections full."

"When it's completely full, you can open the gate to go back."

"How? How do I get it all full? How do I go back?"

"One section will fill up every hour. When it's completely full, you can open the gate to return home. And when you open it, you can return here at any time from that side. That's how it works at the base camp. That tattoo is like a compass. You can use it to find your paths."

Garam felt relieved knowing that all she had to do was wait. She had been upset that she wasn't in a dream because everything felt too real, but knowing that she could return home, she felt relaxed.

‘What a strange experience this is,’ she thought.

Mordred watched her for a moment, observing her relief. Then, he asked again.

"Do you have any more questions?"

"You mentioned something about a pathfinder. What’s that?"

"Oh, right. It refers to people like you and me—those who gather paths while traveling across dimensions."

"Are there many people like that?"

At Garam's question, Mordred looked at her in disbelief.

"Uh, why would you ask that? When did you travel to this dimension?"

"Yesterday."

"Alright, then... Uh, wait a minute. Yesterday?"

"Yes."

Garam felt uneasy, wondering if something was wrong. Mordred clicked his tongue, realizing she was even clumsier than just a novice, almost as ignorant as a child. Finally, he spoke.

"Now I understand why you don't know about anything. So, your birthday was yesterday, wasn't it?"

"Actually, my birthday is today. I arrived here at midnight."

"I see. Let's start with your questions. I can't really say if there are many pathfinders. You're the second pathfinder I've seen. You know what pathfinders do, right? Considering the vast number of dimensions, the chances of two pathfinders being in the same dimension are close to zero."

"Well, I didn't understand that very well, but okay. By the way, what do you mean by the word ‘path’?"

"Oh, right. It's a kind of currency—the currency of pathfinders."

"Can you buy things with it?"

"As long as you have enough, you can buy anything—abilities, physical enhancements, other dimensions, and more."

"This is really hard to understand. It sounds amazing, but how do you find paths?"

"You see the needle-like thing on your tattoo? It points to the location of a path. If there's no path in that dimension, it'll just show a plain dot. But if there is a path, it points to that place. After you find a path, it might take some time to find the next one."

Garam nodded in understanding and summarized what she had heard so far. The purpose of the needle-like hand on the watch she saw yesterday turned out to be a directional guide. A path was a kind of treasure, and the tattoo was the compass to help find it.

"So, I can open a dimension once every two days, and if I follow the direction the tattoo needle points to, I can find paths and buy various things, right? But I'm not exactly sure what you mean about those ability and physical enhancement things.'"

"Yes, they're literally abilities and physical enhancements. Look at this spell..."

Mordred stretched out his hand, and a temperature that was almost impossible to endure manifested into a brilliant blue flame. Seeing a spell being cast with her own eyes for the first time, Garam couldn't help but gasp.

"I was just an ordinary person like you at first, unable to cast any spells. But after gathering paths and obtaining abilities, life became easier, even though the abilities I bought weren't particularly strong. You'd better have some abilities, too. You should focus on gaining abilities once you find some paths. Having abilities makes everything easier. If you try to buy other dimensions, you might end up regretting it very badly."

"Where do I buy everything?"

"You can do everything with the compass. You'll probably instinctively sense that you can buy something once you've gathered a certain amount of paths. You can buy anything with the compass, as long as you have enough paths."