玉蒲团之云雨山庄

"Hm... Because of the city of Arkansas, I couldn\'t stop expecting the sound of bells to know the time..." Lyan let out a sigh as he put down the mug filled with hot milk on the table.

He\'s not inside a pub, nor an inn. He\'s not even inside a building.

Lyan is currently sitting on a chair with a table prepared before him in the middle of the wilderness, not so far from the main highway going all the way to the north. With his wagon and horse parked nearby, he\'s enjoying the night as he takes the spot where he could gaze at the sky while savoring the taste of the hot milk. Because of that, he could no longer hear the bells that show the time in Arkansas.

"18 hours of travel, I could already feel the difference in temperature here..." Lyan rubs his hands when a cold wind passed him.

The difference in temperature between the city of Arkansas and the north could already be felt, and he couldn\'t help but wonder whether the further north would be even much colder.

(But it\'s fine. Cold is great. Rather than hot places, cold is the best, isn\'t it~ You could enjoy your hot drinks, drink book, and laze around in a better mood, after all, ~) (Lyan)

Thinking about how he would spend his time and enjoy his money from being a mercenary for just several weeks made a grin imprinted on his face.

(Stop that grin, it\'s disgusting) (Griselda)

"Shut it. Can\'t you just let me enjoy this my second life calmly?) (Lyan)

(Your expression looks like a person\'s with no future) (Hestia)

"Well, I hope I have a future where I don\'t have to think much about the future, though," (Lyan)

(And you call yourself a man?) (Hestia)

"There are only several things that you need to be a man, dear Hestia the great spirit. At the very least, I have the very most important thing. And it\'s a great key for me and the \'power\' the gods bestowed me in this world," (Lyan)

Of course, it\'s \'that\'.

(Pervert bastard...) (Griselda)

As if getting exhausted in Lyan, Griselda\'s voice got smaller and further away as she went to look for other fun things to do inside the grimoire\'s space, more precisely, inside Lyan\'s apartment room.

"But sure... Being a Mythril-ranked mercenary and a famous guy sure has some quirks. I got the wagon and the horse really quick~ Well, not really glad about the horse, though," (Lyan)

At the time he bought the wagon he used to be a bait to trap Jean and his lackeys, Lyan bought another wagon that will be used for his real journey. Because of his Mythril-ranked mercenary tag and his fame, he got it for quite cheap.

(Well, he almost gave me for free in exchange for me putting his merchant name on the wagon, though...) (Lyan)

"More importantly..." Lyan shifted his gaze and a huge black figure is looking at him condescendingly.

"What are you looking at, you aggressive horse?" (Lyan)

Yes. When Lyan went to confirm his leave from the city, he found out that the guild had officially made the decision of gifting him the black horse as a form of a gift. But in Lyan\'s eyes, it\'s more like them getting \'rid\' of him in a some kind of useful way rather than gifting it to him.

Lyan had some complaints about it, but he must admit that the black horse is not just quick, he\'s strong and smart as well. He believe that the horse could even understand his words as well.

"If only that you don\'t get angry easily and keep on complaining with a face that looks like you\'re saying the wagon is too heavy... You would become a perfect horse," (Lyan)

The black horse let out a snort as if responding to Lyan\'s mockery.

(As expected, he understands me, isn\'t he?) (Lyan)

As Lyan has a glaring match with the black horse, a voice sounded inside his head.

(Fufufu! What a strange but powerful horse! Isn\'t it, big bro!?) (Azelia)

"Azelia, huh?" (Lyan)

It\'s the first time Azelia strikes a conversation with him aside then when the others are with her. Her voice usually only appears when the others are rowdy, so hearing her made Lyan flinch for a moment.

"You\'re right. He\'s a strange but tough one, isn\'t he?" (Lyan)

(You\'re right! But that kind of people, you see. They usually came from a very rough and unfriendly environment, making them hard to believe and open up to someone! So you must try your best to act friendly to him so that you can become friends!) (Azelia)

"Friendly..." Lyan stared at the black horse.

\'What are you looking at me for, fool? Where\'s my food? Don\'t you at least understand that you need to provide me that since I have sacrificed lots of sweat for you here?\' or what Lyan somehow imaginatively heard as he saw the horse snorted and stared at him with an annoyed look.

"Whoa... His thoughts are entering my head without any need of magic. No, there\'s no way I could get friendly with this guy. Not even in my grave," (Lyan)

(Hehehe! But despite that, you threw the apple at it! As expected, the big bro is kind!!) (Azelia)

"I am not. It\'s just that I\'m thinking that he might suddenly go troublesome and give me more trouble if I didn\'t give him his food. It will be a great problem if he suddenly refuses to walk and pull the wagon when we continue our journey, after all," (Lyan)

(Yes, yes! Big bro does like to hide it! But it\'s fine!) (Azelia)

"I\'m not even hiding anything..." Lyan took his mug and finished down the hot milk before sending it together with the chair and the table back to the grimoire\'s space.

The chair and the table are the things that Lyan bought beforehand especially for his journey, thinking that he could store things inside his grimoire\'s space anyway, so he should make use of that ability to the fullest and don\'t need to mind about storage and luggage on his journey.

"I guess it\'s time to continue. Hey, we\'re continuing our journey, horse. Quickly finish your food," (Lyan)

Under the starry skies, Lyan with the black horse and a wagon continues his journey towards the north. Looking at the route behind him, the image of the city of Arkansas, the House of Roses, and the girls he had grown to love appeared inside his head.

"It\'s been just a while, but it felt like I have been inside this world for a very long time already. It feels somehow complicated, I guess..." Lyan uttered with a complicated smile.

For the incubus Lyan that had been wandering a very long time in the demon world until he finally succeeded in accomplishing his lifetime quest which is slaying the evil dragon god, alone had been a given thing. So having a place to return to and people he was comfortable together with felt kind of new to him.

"As expected, if I have stayed even a day longer, I will never get out of that place. I\'m glad I decided to leave the city as soon as possible," (Lyan)

An attachment could be a blessing, but it could be a curse as well. And for Lyan that is aiming for his life filled with freedom in this world, having chains called attachment bounding him from enjoying his freedom to go around the world and find new things is something similar to the greatest curse.

"It\'s not like I don\'t care about the girls, but I\'ve decided to stay true to myself in this world. I want to explore this world and have a blast! I feel bad, but this is how I am!" Lyan uttered to the empty road as the wagon suddenly started to walk on itself with having him coaching it.

(That horse... I know it\'s a good thing that it knows what to do without having me to order and control him manually. But it\'s just his way of saying \'Shut up, be quiet and just sleep\' or something, right?) (Lyan)

While Lyan slowly went his way from inside the wagon to the coachman\'s seat, inside his mind, the great spirits that had grown bored from looking at the empty roads and trees started to play another game they found inside the Grimoire\'s space.

(Guh! The fire woman got first again! You must be cheating!!) (Griselda)

(Fufufu! It\'s called the merchant\'s luck. You must possess considerable luck to be a great merchant, after all) (Hestia)

(You must be cheating! There is no way that someone could win so much!) (Griselda)

The commotion continues because of the game of snakes and ladders just like Lyan\'s journey to the north.

(Now, what will I meet in the north, after all? Will it be another adventure, I wonder? I can\'t wait...) (Lyan)

___________________________________________________________________________

<-1 Gold coin (Wagon, Table, Chair, and other purchases)>

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,298,721,000 Elnes / 3298 gold 72 big silver 1 silver

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 1), Magma Bear (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army