Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Arrival at the Central Lodging
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We arrived in the central district.
We'd probably traveled by carriage for about four hours and managed to arrive around 3 PM.
"Yaaawn..."
"Did you sleep well, Young Lady?"
"Yeah... I slept well... Since I just stayed still and slept the whole time..."
Even though we'd ridden in the carriage for three or four hours, I wasn't feeling tired at all.
A few friends who got out of the carriage with me looked exhausted, but I was fine.
"You need to unpack at the lodging, so hurry up and come out."
"Uuugh... Yeah, I guess so..."
I responded to Ella, stretched, and got up from my seat.
The place we'd arrived at was the lodging provided by the imperial family, and it was on a scale befitting something offered by them.
It was too grand to simply call it a lodging.
It was about the same size as the Rose family mansion I'd visited before, though the exterior and interior were completely different, of course.
"Hmm..."
We'd entered the building for now and were slowly making our way while carrying our luggage, but it was definitely a luxurious place.
Like a top-class hotel where staying even one night would undoubtedly cost a fortune.
It was clearly not somewhere just anyone could stay.
"Our group's room is 304."
"Better a moderate floor than unnecessarily high up."
"Because it's a hassle to climb?"
"Yes."
Of course, higher floors could lead to various inconveniences, but even aside from that, I preferred lower floors.
Just like Ella said, because climbing was a pain.
I wasn't at Karen's level of loving to stay put at home or in my room, but still, I personally disliked it.
Some things just couldn't be helped.
"Lize, isn't that heavy? You're carrying two bags."
"It's fine, Young Lady. There's not much luggage in the bag you used."
"I could carry it myself, so do you have to?"
"I've come along as your maid, so if I don't help you, Madam will surely scold me."
"Hmm... Yeah, I suppose you're right."
I was sending Rozalin quite a few letters, but Lize was also sending and receiving them.
Since Lize had come to the academy following me, and I could mix lies into my letters, there were instructions for her to write letters too... something like that.
Lize was my maid, but she couldn't just ignore the matriarch of the house, Rozalin.
"Can't be helped then. Shall we hurry up, unpack?"
"You're the only one lagging behind at the very back anyway."
"Ah."
In any case, I went up to our room with my friends.
Not just us, but various academy students were carrying luggage and heading up, so the hotel lobby and hallways were quite noisy and bustling.
"The room is super clean too."
"Yeah...!"
"It really feels like something the imperial family provided. Honestly, I didn't expect them to give us a place this nice."
"It must be expensive... right?"
"Of course it is."
We entered the room and slowly looked around while chatting like that.
The quality and size of the room was better than the B-grade dormitory room I was currently using, by far.
There were five of us in the group, but honestly, even if there were five times that many people, it would still be spacious enough.
"Until dinner tonight is free time, and in the evening, all academy students gather in the hall for dinner..."
I started checking the schedule to confirm what we'd do from now on and when.
The basic schedule for today was pretty simple.
Aside from all the students and teachers gathering in the hotel's restaurant for dinner, there was basically nothing.
We could stroll around nearby until then or just rest in the lodging room.
I'd thought we'd move to the next place right after arriving, so I was quite surprised by how leisurely the schedule actually was.
"Camellia."
"Yes, Lady Ivana? What's up?"
"What are you planning to do from now on? It's still a long time until dinner."
"Hmm... Yeah. What should we do? Honestly, I didn't expect us to arrive this early either."
We had ridden the carriage for four hours, but arriving earlier than expected was true.
If we hadn't stopped for a meal in the middle... we might have arrived even sooner?
"Lady Ivana, if you were thinking of resting here, that sounds good, or we could go out."
"Hmm..."
"Or should we ask the others?"
"Yeah, let's do that. Deciding just between us two might cause complaints all around."
True enough.
I called everyone who had been looking around the room into the living room, and we decided to discuss what to do.
Well, it would be either going out or staying in, right?
"I want to go out. It's been a long time since I've been to the central district."
"I agree with Lady Grace. We're in the central district for once. We should enjoy it properly this time."
Grace and Ella were in favor.
It really would be a waste to just sit around when we'd come all the way here to the central district.
Playing around in the central district was definitely different from a regular city.
"Uh, um... I want to stay at the lodging..."
"Are you that tired?"
"That's part of it, but... I looked out the window earlier, and there are so many people..."
As expected.
I'd predicted from the start that Karen would want to rest.
If Karen had said she didn't want to rest here and wanted to go out and do something... I'd have fainted for real.
It would have been like the time Grace treated me like her own older sister.
"Hmm... It is true that a lot of people are out and about right now. I saw academy students all leaving the lodging earlier too?"
I'd looked out the window a bit ago too, so I agreed with Karen.
It was to the point where you could say the streets outside were packed with academy students.
"Hmm... What about you, Lady Ivana?"
"I think going out would be good, but there are too many people around the lodging right now to head out immediately. How about in about 30 minutes?"
"Karen sis, what about going out in 30 minutes? The students around the lodging should thin out by then."
After hearing Ivana, I asked Karen once more.
She probably didn't dislike the idea of going out and having fun itself.
Karen usually found going out quite bothersome, but she didn't hate going out altogether.
She'd always liked wandering around just the two of us before.
"If the crowds outside thin out a bit... that'd be okay..."
"Then shall we head out in 30 minutes? Honestly, right now the hallways, first-floor lobby, and outside are all packed with academy students?"
After hearing Karen's response, I posed that question to everyone, and they all agreed.
Well, honestly, everyone was probably a little worn out from the carriage ride.
Resting for 30 minutes... drinking some water, sitting and relaxing would definitely be nice.
I'd just slept the whole time, though?
*
"It's true that the buildings here are taller overall than in the south. Right?"
"Yeah. In the south, shops like that would just be on the first floor."
In all sorts of ways, the city interior had many three- or four-story buildings—a real contrast to the south where I'd spent the past few years, starting from the cityscape.
The buildings were tall, the main streets relatively narrow, and there were lots of alleys.
It felt totally different from the south just walking around gave that sense of being on a trip.
"Still, it's all academy students everywhere you look."
"Well, all the academy students are here."
"You don't see this many milling around even on campus."
Really.
The street in front of the lodging was completely filled with academy students.
If you struck up a conversation with any girls your age around here right now, they'd definitely be academy students.
"There's the Solchemia Cathedral nearby. Shall we at least check that out?"
"A church?"
"Yeah, there are plenty of places to wander even if not the cathedral, but if no one has somewhere specific in mind, how about there?"
"Hmm..."
"The Solchemia Cathedral is super famous."
Just as Ivana said.
The Solchemia Cathedral boasted an enormous scale and recognition, on par with the imperial palace as a symbol of the central district.
There were religions in the empire like the Moon God Church and Sun God Church, but it wasn't dedicated solely to any one—it was a place where imperial citizens could worship freely regardless.
A place anyone could use freely, no matter their religion.
"Everyone seems okay with it."
"But we're all here... we don't really follow any religion, is it okay to just go?"
"Uh..."
Ella asked with a slightly curious look upon hearing about going to the cathedral.
True, none of us here were particularly religious.
We weren't the type to devoutly pray before meals or anything.
But it didn't matter much.
"It should be fine. I heard from Mother before that it's okay even for tourists."
Rozalin herself had said that once.
It was just one thing that stuck with me from a casual conversation with her.
Just one fragment of the many stories she'd told me and the talks we'd had—nothing more.
Honestly, I hadn't expected to visit the cathedral first with so many friends like this, instead of with Rozalin.
As a result, it seemed like after graduating from the academy... I'd have a reason to come to the central district with Rozalin.