The Journey (3)
Priest Daniel had secured a carriage. It was a carriage that had cost a full one hundred eighty gold—a considerable sum.
“So this is what one hundred eighty gold gets you….”
Considering the price included the horses, it was a solid purchase.
“Ohhh….”
Young Master seemed deeply impressed as he looked over the horses.
“They’re in excellent condition.”
“Yes. Once I mentioned the Church’s name, they brought out some fine ones.”
The Church… Who in the kingdom would dare make an enemy of the Metis Church, the highest authority around? Of course they would bring out their best stock just to stay in good graces.
The horses were good animals, and the carriage itself was a standard cargo design of decent size. Width-wise, three people could sit side by side with room to spare; length-wise, even tall Priest Daniel or Young Master could lie down without their legs sticking out. The height was generous too, and the canvas flaps hanging at the sides looked sturdy.
“But the roof is canvas as well.”
If it rained or snowed, the fabric would get wet and turn uncomfortable.
“There were carriages with wooden roofs, but those add too much weight.”
Ah—right. Couldn’t have the carriage too heavy.
“So I chose waterproof canvas.”
Waterproof canvas… I knew the stuff well enough. It resisted water, but it wasn’t perfect.
“Looks good.”
Sister Mary inspected the interior and nodded.
I looked inside myself. The flat floor was cleanly finished. Definitely nice…!
With a carriage like this, loading cargo would be easy and riding comfortable.
“I like it.”
“We’ll load the luggage tomorrow. Today we can finish the final packing.”
Young Master was right. Our stay in the capital had stretched on, and our belongings had only grown… We needed to sort things out.
“Then I’ll take the horses to the stable.”
Young Master’s mansion was large and grand by commoner standards like ours, but for a noble residence it was rather ordinary—on the small side, with no stables on the grounds.
“Yes, please do.”
Priest Daniel led the horses and carriage off to a nearby stable. For a fee, they would care for both horses and carriage; it was a place popular with nobles and merchants whose mansions lacked their own facilities.
We had checked the carriage… We headed back into the mansion.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
“Should we delay our departure a bit after all?”
“No. Cold can be handled by wearing more clothes.”
Of course, that wouldn’t solve everything.
I went to my room and first checked my luggage. Magical tools and alchemy supplies were already in the kitchen, so my bags should have lightened… but—
“They grew.”
Clothes had multiplied tremendously. Underwear too, and now sanitary pads… Not a huge amount, but definitely more. Especially the clothes….
“Hmm.”
Lots of expensive, high-quality clothes I had bought with hard-earned money. And most of them skirts!
“Will they all fit in the bags?”
We had the carriage now, so maybe it didn’t matter?
Still, there was no need to take everything… After some thought, I picked out a few of my old men’s clothes.
“They’re old anyway.”
Clothes that no longer suited me. Since becoming a woman my body had shrunk, so the lengths didn’t fit either…. Before, I had worn them out of thrift and lack of options, but there was no need now.
“No reason to keep them.”
I decided to discard the ill-fitting, outdated men’s clothes. After sorting, space opened up in the bags.
“Sleeping bag’s… fine.”
I checked everything one by one while packing, but winter clothes seemed short.
Should I buy some winter wear?
“Rough packing done.”
When I finished and left the room, Young Master was somehow lingering nearby.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah, are you finished?”
“Yes, the bag packing is done.”
“W-would you care for a cup of tea?”
Tea all of a sudden?
Well, a warm cup wouldn’t be bad.
“Sure.”
Young Master led me to what seemed like his study.
“Please wait a moment.”
I had seen the place when looking around the rooms before, but this was my first time actually entering. While waiting for him I examined the surroundings. Hmm—it looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned; dust was visible, and some items seemed simply left neglected. We had done a big clean when we first arrived at the mansion, hadn’t we?
“Just need to boil the water.”
Young Master returned with teacups and a kettle, lit the portable stove, and set water to boil.
“Why the sudden invitation for tea?”
“C-can’t it just be because?”
“It’s not that it can’t. I was thinking of going to buy winter clothes, actually.”
We chatted about trivial things—whether there were places I wanted to visit on the way back, how we had plenty of time so a detour was fine, which territories were popular tourist spots, and so on.
“Don’t we need to hurry back?”
The foreign tribes? That hostile nation might attack, right?
“They won’t move in winter either.”
According to Young Master, the earliest they would act would be late spring….
“The sowing season for barley and wheat is the best time for raiding.”
That Lindel Kingdom? They were a nomadic people, right? With many cavalry, the chance of attack was high in late spring, before summer, when cavalry moved easily.
“Because feed for the horses is easy to find then, and there’s more to plunder?”
“Yes. Of course, if food stores are so low they can’t last the winter, they sometimes force a move.”
But the likelihood of that was low, apparently.
“Sounds complicated.”
“Just think of it as us having some leeway.”
“Where do you recommend, Young Master?”
Better to trust Young Master’s knowledge than a country bumpkin like me—if he chose, we wouldn’t go wrong.
“Broadly speaking, two places.”
Young Master smiled and pulled out a map while I sipped my tea with a soft slurp and watched. One was about six days north of the capital….
“There’s a hot spring.”
A hot spring, huh….
More than just warm water, there had to be something special.
“A hot spring?”
“Yes. Mana is infused in the springs there. Soaking in them is said to feel wonderful and be excellent for the skin.”
Water with mana flowing through it…. My curiosity was piqued. Looking at the location, the route would veer a little, but not by much.
“They say winter hot springs in particular are worth special mention.”
He had heard about it too, apparently….
“Sounds good.”
“Then our first destination is set for Therme, where the hot springs are. Next is this place.”
Midway to Meyer Territory, near Valdeck Territory.
“This city has the kingdom’s largest mines.”
It would require a slight detour north of Valdeck Territory on the return route.
“Not only can you get high-quality ore cheaply there, but rare minerals as well. Of course, it’ll cost money. How about researching alchemy there?”
I had already found two mineral combination methods—another one?
“Hmm….”
“There are many skilled craftsmen too, so it’s a chance to have things made.”
“But isn’t there the leak issue?”
I pointed out how we hadn’t used the combined ores in the capital for that very reason.
“True enough. But there are many craftsmen there. If you demand a secrecy oath and ask if they’d like to work with special minerals, plenty will sign a contract on the spot.”
Oh… Use oaths to prevent leaks while employing excellent blacksmiths?
“How did you even think of that?”
“I learned it through friends.”
Young Master said proudly that he hadn’t just been killing time at banquets and tea parties. That childish pride made him look cute.
“I thought you just drank and played with women, but that wasn’t it?”
“I-I never did any such thing! Social circles are for gathering information in the first place.”
I burst out laughing at his vehement reaction.
“Ahaha, just kidding. More importantly—gathering info in social circles?”
“Yes. People share all sorts of stories, after all. When close friends talk, private matters come up a lot. Rumors circulate too.”
Most noble rumors originated from the social scene, or so they said.
“I see.”
I had imagined social circles as glittering parties, but it might be quite different….
As we talked, we finished the tea before I knew it.
“Since the tea’s gone, how about going out together?”
“Huh?”
“You mentioned thinking of clothes, didn’t you?”
Well… that was true.
“But isn’t it too late today?”
There was still time before sunset, but if we went shopping for clothes now, it would be dark by the time we returned.
“Tomorrow will be busy with tomorrow’s tasks, so better go today.”
Was that so?
“Then I should tell everyone.”
Older Sister and Sister Mary probably didn’t have proper winter clothes either. While we were at it, let’s buy good clothes in the capital to take home!
“J-Julian?!”
I heard Young Master calling me, but ignored it and dashed out of the study.
“Older Sister! Mary! Let’s go buy clothes!”
Especially calling for Older Sister and Sister Mary at the top of my lungs meant I didn’t catch what he was saying behind me. Hearing my shout, Sister Mary and Older Sister came out of their rooms….
“Go buy clothes?”
“Yes. We don’t have proper winter clothes, do we?”
Older Sister had a coat, but nothing with lining for real warmth.
“True….”
“It’s winter, and we’ll be traveling over a month—we need to dress warmly!”
Of course, we didn’t strictly need winter clothes. If we had loose garments we could layer two, or use a big coat, robe, or cloak.
“No harm in buying them.”
“Going now?”
“Yeah.”
With things as they were, I urged everyone to come along, even rounding up Priest Daniel who was resting after leaving the carriage and sorting luggage, and we all went clothes shopping.
Young Master looked somehow dissatisfied, but….
Once we actually arrived at the clothing store, he cheerfully picked out clothes, saying this one was pretty or that one looked good.
I hesitated… then bought the ones Young Master picked out for me, since they looked nice. In exchange—though it felt odd to put it that way—I chose clothes for him.
I wanted to buy plenty of sets, but funds were tight so I gave up.
“Ugh, I like the clothes, but they’re still expensive….”
Ten gold a set was pricey after all….
I’d have to wear them for a long, long time.