'No, that might not be the best idea,' I thought, snapping myself back to reality.
While I can provide Challes with such injuries that will make him unable to attack us and also self-harm myself, then when those adventures will come to see what happened I'll state that a monster or a wild animal ambushed us.
But there's a catch, this might be an open area that is highly adaptable for monsters but the chances of even one of them appearing are slim to none. As are in open fields indeed but this is a major trading and traveling route which connects multiple cities to the capital.
And, of course, the kingdom had made sure to clear any monsters or animals in this area because they can harm the travelers which will not be good and the kingdom will see a backlash both in reputation and money—since some traders come here from other kingdoms also.