Arrival in Valdeck
Ten days had passed since we set out for the capital. After spending so much time with him, I had grown used to his presence; seeing him no longer made my body tremble or filled me with fear. If overcoming it had been this easy, why had I been avoiding him all this time?
“It looks like we’ll have to travel a bit longer today.”
“Is that so?”
He checked today’s schedule. By now we had come to take his advice for granted.
“If you look at the map, our destination for today is here—Valdeck Territory.”
He unfolded a map more detailed than the one we carried and began explaining.
“I see.”
We still had a long way to go, but it seemed we could roughly make it there.
“The territory ruled by Count Valdeck is a major transportation hub, so it’s quite prosperous.”
It was a key junction linking other territories. Beyond this land the mountains blocked the way, and with only one road leading to the capital, all goods from outside gathered here, he explained.
“You should be able to find decent lodgings for a reasonable price.”
Because of that, the lord managed the lodging industry quite strictly, he said.
“I see.”
It would have been nice to arrive before sunset, but at this pace it looked difficult. If we entered after dark, finding an inn would be hard… and if it grew too late, we might not even be able to pass through the castle gates at all.
“Then we’d better hurry.”
This was no time to conserve our strength. We had camped out last night and still felt filthy, so the timing was perfect.
“Yes, it’ll be nice to sleep comfortably for the first time in a while.”
Apparently he still could not get used to the cheap inns that commoners used. For his sake, I used Holy Magic.
“Commoner’s Blessing, Wind of Comfort.”
Holy Power flowed from my body and enveloped the three of us, lightening our steps. The fatigue that had built up eased a little, and with our bodies feeling lighter, we should be able to move faster, right?
“Holy Magic, I see.”
“We need to hurry.”
By now he knew that my sister and I were not weak. So he did not refuse and picked up the pace, moving quickly. Along the way we saw merchant carriages and noble carriages, but we paid them no mind and passed right by.
Thanks to casting Holy Magic several times as we went, we arrived at our destination territory before the sun set and were able to enter. Having a young noble with us meant we might have been able to pass even if the gates were closed, but that would have been a hassle….
“Wow….”
Was it because it was a transportation hub? The city was large and splendid, and brilliant lights shone from the buildings. We had stopped by a few other territories on the way, but this was by far the most bustling.
The city ruled by the young master’s family had seemed enormously prosperous to us, but compared to the real thing it was closer to a rural backwater.
“Today, don’t worry about money and let’s go to a good inn.”
“Sh-should we?”
He offered to cover the entire cost of the inn and meals… what was I supposed to do about that….
“No.”
My sister shook her head.
“We’ll pay our own way.”
Even if things had grown more comfortable, she still believed borrowing money was out of the question. Was it because she had been raised as the next village chief? The inn the young master knew well stood in the middle tier of the territory. It was not particularly large, but its exterior was ornate.
“This is the place. Our family always stops here when we go to the royal capital.”
He said it casually, but apparently there were more expensive and finer inns; this one simply offered decent quality at a reasonable price. When we stepped inside, a staff member greeted us with a smile even after seeing our clothes and bedraggled appearance.
Was this what it meant to be a professional?
The cost for one night was a full ten gold… enough for an ordinary commoner family of four to live on for a month.
“I-it’s expensive….”
We were not even renting a double room—we were taking single rooms—and my hands were shaking.
“Th-then, as I thought, I should….”
“No! We have money too.”
My sister seemed flustered by the price as well, but she took money from her wallet. After paying and receiving the keys, we went to our assigned rooms. As expected of an expensive inn, the facilities were on a completely different level.
“Wow….”
Yes, this was just like a noble’s mansion. The only noble mansion I knew was the Nam family’s, but it was furnished to a similar standard and was spotless.
“Then I’ll call you when it’s time for dinner.”
“Yes, please rest well.”
Once inside the room, I first set down my bag.
“Ugh, my shoulders hurt.”
Even with Holy Power and Holy Magic, the pain was unavoidable….
“Bathroom.”
My sister was opening the other door in the room.
“What? A bathroom?”
Following her words, I went over and sure enough, there was a bathroom. Having a bathroom in an inn was not strange. When I stayed in Meyer Territory there had been a shared bath. But having one attached to a private room was surprising.
“Worth the money.”
The bathroom was not very large, but it had drainage facilities and a magic tool that produced hot water.
“Wash and laundry.”
“We should.”
We needed to wash the clothes that had gotten dirty while camping and take a shower. Hah… honestly it had been stifling, but being able to wash meant that when you spend money, you should spend it properly.
“How many days has it been since we last washed?”
“Five days.”
Had it already been that long…. Back then the inn had a shared shower room that we paid to use. If it had just been the two of us, we could have roughly stripped and used magic to clean ourselves, but with the young master around we could not do that.
I had a sense of shame too, and he was a man. My body right now was unmistakably a woman’s, so I could not carelessly show it to a man.
And my sister’s body went without saying!
“You wash first.”
“Are you sure?”
She must have been feeling grimy too?
“Yeah.”
I gathered the laundry and went into the bathroom, closing the door. After shutting it, I first put my hand on the magic tool. When I gently infused Holy Power, the tool took the power, glowed, and poured out water.
“Hah….”
It felt a bit too warm for summer, but mm! Nice.
I roughly washed my body with water and did the laundry as well. It would have been nice to have soap, but unfortunately it was too expensive. A bar about the size of two fingers cost over five gold, and scented soap over ten gold. Only wealthy merchants or nobles could freely use such soap.
Of course, if you had a moderate amount of spare money you could buy some and use it when needed….
“We don’t have that kind of leeway right now.”
Once the clothes were washed, I wrung them out thoroughly and shook them hard to remove the moisture. I set the clothes aside properly and showered once more. This time I scrubbed my body vigorously with a towel to get rid of the dirt.
“Ugh, the grime.”
As expected after not washing for days, a lot of filth came off on the towel. After finishing washing my body, I washed the towel again.
Once the laundry was done, I changed into clean underwear and came out of the bathroom.
“All done washing?”
“Yeah, finished the laundry too.”
My sister had already strung a line in the room so we could hang laundry. I hung the clothes on that laundry line.
“You go wash too, Sister.”
“Okay.”
While my sister washed, I sat on the bed and let my body go limp.
“Ahh, this is nice….”
After using hard floors or straw beds, lying on a properly soft bed was moving. As I was rolling around on the fluffy bed, someone knocked on the room door.
“Who is it?”
Maybe the innkeeper? Without thinking, I got up and opened the door.
“Who is it?”
“Ah, are you ready by any cha——.”
It was the young master? Had he come to call us for dinner? It was indeed dinnertime.
“My sister is still washing, so wait a bit….”
The hand holding the door suddenly started moving. Wondering what was going on, I saw the young master trying to force the door shut. Why was he doing that?
“What’s wrong?”
“Th-th, cl-clothes….”
He stammered with a flustered expression. And leaving the word “clothes,” he shut the door. I stared blankly at the closed door.
“Clothes?”
Hearing that, I lowered my gaze and….
“Hyaaaaaaah!!”
I realized I was only in my underwear. Indeed, after washing I had come out wearing only underwear. And after that? I had not put on clothes and had just lain on the bed. Even so, why! Had I stupidly just gone out like that? Wait, did I just show my body to a man?
Even if I used to be a man, wasn’t this a dangerous action? What if the person at the door when I opened it had been a heretic or something? Had I shown my scrawny body to a man? What on earth had I done? I felt sorry for the young master too. Seeing such a scrawny body must have been startling.
Why hadn’t I been wearing clothes? I was usually careful, so why this?
How was I supposed to face the young master? Could we pretend it never happened? Wasn’t there magic to erase memories? Or Holy Magic to turn back time! But no such magic or Holy Magic existed.
In the end, I realized I could not reverse this situation.
“Yuli?!”
My sister in the bathroom heard my scream and came out, opening the door.
She had opened it so hurriedly that she was completely naked.
“S-Sister?! I-it’s nothing, so go back in!”
Even if I was a woman now, seeing my sister naked was a bit……. I covered my eyes with my hands as I spoke.
“Is there a problem?”
“Y-yeah, nothing happened, so go in.”
There was no way to check if she had gone back in. I desperately suppressed my wildly beating heart. And when the room grew quiet, I slightly opened my eyes and looked toward the bathroom.
“Ah, she went in.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, I quickly took clothes from my bag and put them on. Ugh… I’m not a pervert, going out in just underwear!
I was so stupid!
I wanted to hide in a mouse hole. But we still had to eat dinner. If I stubbornly refused to go out…….
“We have to eat dinner.”
My sister said firmly. In the end I was dragged by her hand and had no choice but to go downstairs.
“U-uh….”
When we went down to the first floor, the young master who had come down first called to us.
“H-here!”
He called us over. But his face was red and he was stammering. I could not look at him straight on.
Slightly turning my head to avoid his gaze, I moved to the seat and sat in the chair. He also could not look at me properly because of earlier.
We just kept sneaking glances at each other.
My sister looked at us and tilted her head.
“Th-this inn, if you rent a room for a day, one meal is free. So don’t worry about money and eat as you like.”
One night for ten gold with one free meal… quite a good service.
“I-I see.”
More than that, it was so awkward because of the young master that I was going crazy…….
“Did something happen?”
My sister took my hand and asked. Something had happened…. But I could not just tell her straight out.
“N-no?”
Maybe because I was trying to lie? My voice cracked for a moment. My sister looked at me with suspicious eyes.
“Th-there was nothing of the sort you’re worrying about.”
No, if you say that there, Sister will misunderstand! I wanted to shout.
Her suspicion grew, I could not explain properly, the atmosphere grew more awkward, and just as I felt like I was going to go crazy, the food came out.
What came out was a thick-colored soup, white bread, and a chunk of meat.
“W-wow! M-meat…!”
I said in a soulless voice and immediately picked up my utensils, trying to change the subject.
“L-let’s eat before it gets cold!”
The young master also grabbed his utensils and suggested we eat. My sister looked back and forth between the two of us, then soon began eating.
I thought I could finally breathe a sigh of relief and properly face the food.
The bread from the inn was not cheap, hard rye bread but soft bread. The soup was not some thin soup of unknown ingredients but a proper soup with a rich meat aroma and spice flavor.
The awkward atmosphere shattered in the face of delicious food. The moment I took a bite, the fact that we had been watching each other carefully vanished and we focused on the food. The meat on the small plate was small in quantity but quite delicious. If they had used old meat there would have been a gamey smell, but since there was none, maybe it was meat from today?
Mm! Delicious! The young master had been eating poorly for days, so he was devouring the food without a care.
Yeah, instead of fretting over that, I should just keep eating too.