MPAWD 66

Chapter 66

Shan was a wandering mercenary, not part of any mercenary group, so he probably didn’t even know about the village of Urt, where Anna was.

“Urt village, you mean?”

“Yes! I need to go there this time, but I’m not very familiar with the place.”

At Lucy’s question, he brought out a map and pointed to a specific spot with his finger.

“This is Urt. From here, you take a boat to this point, then travel about 30 minutes overland.”

He began explaining as he pointed to the port and the village on the map.

“Then, how long will it take from here to the port?”

“Just a few hours on horseback.”

Lucy was already fed up with horses. However, to reach Urt village as quickly as possible, riding seemed faster than taking a carriage.

After thinking for a moment, she asked Shan again.

“Then can we leave today?”

“Leave right now?”

She didn’t know when Dino might come looking for her, and she couldn’t afford to take a long break from the caravan business.

Fortunately, Shan simply nodded without a word. After all, Lucy was his employer, and if she had no problem, accompanying her was naturally his duty.

Lucy quickly packed some light luggage and set off for Urt with Shan.

The journey to Urt village, where Anna was, went very smoothly.

However, as they drew closer, Lucy’s feelings of anxiety and excitement began to fight within her.

‘What if Anna isn’t in Urt village? Dino said he wasn’t sure, so maybe she isn’t really there.’

Lucy shook her head violently to dispel the anxiety.

‘No, I’ll definitely meet Anna here! Anna, just wait a little—I’m coming!’

After riding to the port, taking a boat, and then traveling about 30 minutes by carriage from the dock, Urt village came into view.

“That’s Urt village from over there.”

Shan pointed to an arched stone bridge in the distance. Seeing the village ahead seemed to calm some of her unease.

Lucy got off the carriage at the village entrance. Slowly looking around, she realized the village was bigger than she had expected.

For a village of this size, she worried whether Anna could have established herself properly even if she had opened a general store.

Once inside the village, Lucy repeatedly stopped passersby to ask if a new general store had appeared in the past year or so.

Everyone shook their heads, claiming they didn’t know.

The only somewhat hopeful advice was to try the town’s main street.

“What if I still can’t find Anna…”

Lucy looked at Shan with a worried expression after questioning so many people.

“If it’s fate, you’ll definitely meet again.”

It was a comforting statement, yet she felt a renewed anxiety as she stomped her feet and looked at Shan.

‘He’s so frustrating!’

Since a contract renewal was imminent, she couldn’t directly say anything to Shan. She could only pout silently and smile awkwardly to herself.

‘Speaking of which, I need to talk about renewing the contract soon, but I haven’t prepared the rest of the fee yet. I have to take care of that as soon as I get back!’

Before even meeting Anna, Lucy already had to think about paying Shan. She hesitated, wondering whether to confess that the payment was insufficient.

With his strict principles, she couldn’t predict how he would react. He was always far beyond her expectations.

“You don’t look happy.”

Shan spoke as they walked along the street with gloomy expressions.

“Just… a lot on my mind.”

She decided to focus on finding Anna first.

Soon, Lucy arrived at the center of the village, her mouth agape as she looked around.

The streets were lined with stores and buildings that could rival a moderately sized city.

When she first decided to search for Anna, she had imagined a small rural village. She thought that just by asking for Anna or the store, she would easily find her.

But this place was almost like a small city.

Moreover, there were many stores similar to general stores. Some sold miscellaneous goods along with food, while others appeared to be general stores but primarily sold clothing.

After wandering for a while, they finally found a recently established general store.

Lucy’s mouth opened wide again as they reached the store—it was far larger than the surrounding shops.

She knew Anna wouldn’t run such a large store, but she couldn’t help hoping.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy entered the store.

“Welcome.”

It was a young woman’s voice.

Trying to calm her pounding heart, Lucy approached the woman arranging the products.

“Excuse me…”

The woman finally turned to face them.

“Ah…”

Of course, it wasn’t Anna.

“Excuse me… is this your store?”

“No, the owner is out for a while.”

Lucy felt disappointed that it wasn’t Anna, but hearing it wasn’t the owner gave her a glimmer of hope.

“Is the owner a woman?”

Again, Lucy’s expectation was wrong.

“No, our owner is a man.”

“Then do you know a young lady named Anna who runs a general store around here?”

Dino hadn’t known for certain, so there was no guarantee Anna even ran a store. Perhaps she couldn’t open a shop for some reason, or maybe she was using a different name.

Lucy considered all possibilities and felt that asking might be futile.

“Do you know her? A woman with brown hair and a sharp tongue? There is a woman named Anna running a general store behind our shop.”

The woman looked Lucy up and down with a disinterested expression and pointed behind her.

‘Sharp tongue?’

That couldn’t be. It didn’t suit Anna at all.

Lucy figured this must be another woman with the same name.

Still, since there was a store run by someone named Anna, they hurried to the place the woman indicated.

[Anna’s General Store]

There really was a store there.

It was small and shabby.

Lucy hoped that Anna was happy and doing well here.

She hadn’t expected a large store, but she hadn’t imagined it would look so poor, making her hesitate to enter.

Her mind wrestled between hoping this Anna was the one she knew and fearing she wasn’t. The thought that another Anna might exist elsewhere only added to the confusion.

“Are you not going in?”

Shan opened the door abruptly, looking at Lucy while she hesitated.

“Yes, yes, let’s go!”

Inside, the store looked even shabbier than from the outside.

“Is anyone here?”

There was no sign of life inside despite the customer’s arrival.

Shan strode toward what seemed to be the counter and thumped on a table.

Behind him, someone appeared to be lying over the counter.

“Ah, welcome…”

The woman groggily lifted her head, tidying her messy hair.

“Ah… Anna!”

It was her.