TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 208
5 hours ago.
After a long time riding the carriage, I stretched my stiff back and looked up at the northern sky.
“Agh…! It’s filthily far.”
Because it’s the North, located at the edge of the Empire, I had been riding the carriage for a long time. It must have taken about a week. Thanks to the well-paved roads, it only took this long; otherwise, it would have taken fifteen more days.
Even though I rode an expensive carriage, which made the travel weariness relatively less severe, my body was still exhausted. After all, we camped outdoors in the carriage for a week.
What surprised me was that the Young Lady didn’t complain. Considering she usually spent her days on a soft bed, she must have felt even more fatigued.
-Camping outdoors…! It’s like being a beggar!
-Young Lady, you are a beggar. I, however, am rich.
-Oh…!
Every time we lit a bonfire and camped outdoors, the excited Young Lady hummed songs, looking forward to the northern travel.
I couldn’t understand what she expected to see in the North. From what I’d read in novels, all I knew were the poor conditions and the hardships of the protagonists, but seeing the smiling Young Lady erased my doubts.
After all, the Young Lady must have a plan.
Believing firmly that she didn’t decide to go to the North thoughtlessly, I put my faith entirely in her for this trip.
After getting off the carriage, I unloaded the luggage and looked at the Young Lady.
“Hmmph.”
There was a lot of luggage to unload since we had planned for a long trip, but the Young Lady, doing nothing, was idly sitting on Fairy Unit 1.
“Phew…! It’s snow, snow…!”
With white breath escaping her lips, she rubbed her cold hands together, showing no intention of helping.
I sighed and spoke to the Young Lady.
“Didn’t you see it just recently?”
“That was tasteless snow. This is matured snow.”
With a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, the Young Lady sat in her wheelchair, smiling brightly.
‘Well, it’ll work out somehow.’
I bowed my head in farewell to the departing carriage. Although it had been quite expensive, I was grateful for the long journey it had accompanied us on.
“Thank you for your hard work. Please use this for your return trip as a security fee.”
“Oh dear, you didn’t have to give me this… It’s too much.”
“Not at all. You went through trouble because of us, so I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more.”
When I added a small tip and gave it to the Coachman, the Coachman, delighted to the point of bursting, scratched his head and looked at me.
“By the way, are you really not thinking of going back? The atmosphere in the North isn’t good right now, and it’s the mating season for demonic beasts… It could be very dangerous.”
At the Coachman’s concern, I smiled faintly and shook my head.
“It’s fine.”
“At least let me take your luggage to your lodging.”
“Ah…”
I answered the Coachman with an awkward smile, admitting that I hadn’t thought about lodging.
The Coachman, with a dumbfounded expression, stared at us. Only after I reassured him about ten more times that it was okay did he finally leave.
“Well then, I hope you have a pleasant trip. Please come back next time!”
“Thank you. Young Lady, you should say goodbye too.”
“Bye.”
-Whoosh.
Now, where should we go?
The Young Lady and I stood blankly in the middle of the northern city, with our piled-up luggage beside us, staring absentmindedly.
Starting the journey was fine, but since we hadn’t made any detailed plans, here we were. Money could solve anything, but we hadn’t even done the basics, like securing lodging, so we just stood there, gazing at the snowy mountain ahead.
“Wow, it’s beautiful…”
“It really is.”
The Young Lady turned her head to look at me and spoke.
“Ricardo, where should we go now?”
“Well…”
“…”
“Don’t you have a place in mind?”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t.”
The Young Lady said confidently.
She told me that there was no such thing as a plan in her head and that instead of thinking about trivial things like that, I should just enjoy the snowy mountain in front of me.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to come to the North?”
“Yup.”
“Is there anything you want to see or eat?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Where did my romantic bikini go?”
“It ran away.”
“…”
With an eye smile, the Young Lady said to me.
“I don’t know! It’s a secret!”
As expected, planning was the Butler’s job, wasn’t it? Blaming my past self for trusting the Young Lady, I sighed. With money, nothing was impossible.
Although I wasn’t sure if the plan devised by my dull Butler’s head would please the Young Lady, I smiled faintly and quickly started brainstorming.
‘First of all…’
To deal with the luggage, I approached a nearby resident and asked. I inquired if there was an inn around here where we could stay for about ten days.
“Excuse me, may I ask for directions? We’re tourists traveling here, and I was wondering if there’s an inn nearby where we could stay for about ten days.”
“What?”
“Yes.”
“What?!”
“Yes.”
The northern resident, wearing a thick fur hat, looked at the Young Lady and me as if we were strange people.
After scratching his ear, as if to confirm he’d heard correctly, the resident tilted his head and widened his eyes when he saw the carry-on bags piled next to us.
“You came here for travel?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“During Frost Wolf’s mating season?”
“Young Lady, it seems like we’ll get to see something interesting.”
“Mating…!”
The northern resident looked at the Young Lady and me with eyes that seemed to say he’d never seen such crazy bastards before. Then, shaking one’s head, he spoke in a calm voice.
“You’ll die that way.”
“It’s fine. Our lifespans are longer than you’d think.”
“Haha… If that’s what you prefer, that’s good, but what should I say? There’s nowhere to stay right now.”
“What?”
“There’s nowhere.”
“…”
“All the decent inns are closed. There was a hotel on the outskirts, but it collapsed due to an avalanche.”
Hearing the news that the lodging I had kept as a last resort had collapsed, I frowned. Then, looking at the Young Lady, who was leisurely building a snowman with a carefree expression, I spoke.
“Young Lady, there’s nowhere to stay.”
“…Why?”
“They went on strike. Apparently, taking a break earns them more money than covering maintenance costs.”
“Smart.”
“Indeed.”
I sent the resident away and stood blankly in the windy street.
“Shall we at least go grab something to eat?”
“What about the luggage?”
“Most of it is empty bags. It’s just chocolates, a kitchen knife, a Butler suit, and fur clothes, so even if a thief takes it, it’s fine.”
“Then why did you bring it?”
“To take home as souvenirs.”
“…”
The Young Lady looked at me with an expression that said she couldn’t understand, then nodded her head.
“Alright.”
Thus, we ate at the restaurant and climbed the Northern Mountain Range to digest our meal.
It wasn’t for any grand reason.
It just seemed fun.
Since sledding seemed like the first thing to do upon arriving at a snow-covered mountain, the Young Lady and I emptied our minds and entrusted ourselves to the steep slope.
Because Fairy Unit 1 had Protection Magic, there was no need to worry about safety, so we naturally began to enjoy the amusement.
-Eeeek!!!
-Young Lady, don’t press the acceleration button. You’ll get buried at this rate.
-What? I can’t hear you well because of the wind noise! Hehe… Hiiiik!!!
And so, we kept sledding.
By luck, we happened to meet The Innkeeper.
*
James resented the world.
Because the person he thought was a crazy guest was standing right in front of him.
“Haa…”
Returning from his subjugation work, James found a traveler loaded with luggage standing in his inn.
-Are you open for business?
-Uh… well.
-Young Lady!
-Eeeek! Let’s go!
Since they entered quickly without giving him a chance to turn them away, James, who had been running the inn for ten years, was now facing a major crisis.
He wondered if it was right to take in these guests.
Having just witnessed them sledding like mad people, James couldn’t control his trembling shoulders.
-Hehe! That was fun! I want to ride again!
-Haha! If I had caught you even a second later, Young Lady, you might have fallen off the cliff!
-Eek! I’ll drive more carefully next time!
-It’s fine! I’m here, am I not?
James, who had received countless guests, encountered such guests for the first time.
James let out a deep sigh and looked at the guests in front of him.
The Man with Red Hair, tall and striking.
A woman with impaired legs.
‘Could it be…?’
The woman, seated in a chair with wheels, had bags piled high on her lap.
“Hiiiik… It’s heavy…!”
“I’m fine.”
“Eeeek…!”
Judging by appearances, they didn’t seem like ordinary people. In both mentality and social status, they seemed complex.
From their well-maintained hair, they didn’t appear to be commoners, but their actions gave off a barbaric vibe.
James couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling.
He instinctively felt that something would go terribly wrong if he accepted them as guests.
“Eeeek…!”
“Please endure just a little longer.”
“Ricardo, you already put it down!”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m not fine!”
James had a strong premonition that he wouldn’t be able to spend a quiet time.
As James was deep in thought, he heard the sound of someone tapping the table. The Man with Red Hair was looking at James with a slight smile.
-Knock, knock, knock.
“Proprietress, do you happen to have a room to stay for tonight?”
“What?”
“I heard that all the nearby lodgings are closed, and we barely managed to find this place. If you close too, we’ll be in trouble… I can pay double… no, triple.”
James looked at the man and woman.
“Sniff…!”
“Don’t wipe it on your clothes, Young Lady.”
“I don’t have a handkerchief.”
“You could have asked me for one.”
“Then give it to me now.”
While he felt pity seeing the Young Lady with impaired legs, her actions gave him the feeling that something bad would happen to the inn.
James, lost in deep thought, remained silent for about three minutes.
-Thud.
The Man placed a Heavy Gold Coin Pouch on the table and spoke.
“Do you have a room?”
The amount was too large to refuse.
*
The Girls’ Dormitory at the Academy.
Yuria, sitting at her desk as usual, was biting the nib of her pen, pondering what to write in a letter to send to her Father.
“…”
-Hello, Father!
This is my first letter since spring began.
I’m sorry I couldn’t send a letter recently because the Academy schedule has been so busy…. As a third-year student, there’s so much to learn.
·
“Haa…”
Yuria couldn’t continue writing the next part. She wanted to write something that would make her Father smile, but she couldn’t.
Academy studies were tough.
She had argued with Ruin.
And with the issue of heretics, she couldn’t decide what to write. Normally, she would have started by boasting about her high ranking in the tournament, but even that wasn’t possible due to the heretic issue. Yuria let out a deep sigh and fell into thought.
In that fleeting moment, a story crossed Yuria’s mind. Although it was a bit old, it was something her Father would know.
She had once written about a friend who helped her adapt to the Academy when she was struggling. Since she had also sent a letter about fighting with that friend, Yuria smiled softly and began to ink her letter paper.
-Oh, right, do you remember the friend I mentioned before?
The one who ate with me and helped me when I got lost at the Academy.
I wrote to you before about fighting with that friend, but this time, I was able to reconcile with them. Although things are still a bit awkward, I think if we take it slow, we can definitely become close like before… right?
Yuria smiled softly as she began to fill the letter with more words.
And in the final line, she carefully wrote a message of concern to her Father.
-I’ve been hearing news about an increase in demonic beasts in the North lately. Surely, you’re not doing anything dangerous… right?
-I miss you, Father.
-Your loving daughter.
*
At that moment.
“Do you have any intention of dating my daughter…?”
James was trying to entice the Red-Haired Man.