Chapter 47: New Departure

It had dragged on for a pretty long time, but it was finally time for us to be on our way! Emile asked to see my real face one last time, so I changed my hair and eye colors back to normal and took off the clear tape on my eyes.

Over seventy years had passed since my disappearance, so it was unlikely that anyone would recognize my face other than people who had been close to me. ...Honestly, it was unlikely that those people would be alive at all, let alone remember me.

There may have been pictures of me still around, but it wasn’t as if they were portraits drawn by professionals. They were based on memory, which was prone to being idealized or deformed. Just like the too-beautiful version of my face engraved in the currency here...

Besides, everyone other than those close to me thought I was just an ordinary human that had been liked by Celes, so no one expected me to look exactly the same as back then. They probably thought I had ascended to the heavens at the time anyway...

So, there was no need to wear a disguise anymore.

I originally disguised myself in case those close to me were still alive, but they could recognize me anyway, so there was no point. ...Also, the pieces of tape on the sides of my eyes were pulling at my face and it was really annoying.

After talking with Emile to his heart’s content, it was time to go for real. We left the apothecary, and as we passed by the Head Temple...

There!

Yup, I knew they wouldn’t have gotten rid of the secret container I had made and put under the floorboards. That’s why I figured the non-expiring special potions were still hidden in the same spot.

So, okay, I added some extra potions there for them. Their bodies were probably reaching their limits soon. I wanted them to drink the potions and avoid suffering through calculi or things like that. ...I could even make potions that would make them younger. What if I gave some to Emile and the others? ...No, that wasn’t it.

That was something I wasn’t supposed to do. It wouldn’t have been good for me...or for them. Besides, if those in power wouldn’t just sit idly by if they found out about this. They would come after Emile and the others in full force.

...Immortality would only bring disaster.

Emile would be telling the others about me after dinner, so I still had time to get out of the city. I had visited the shop first thing in the morning, so I was in no rush.

And so, I passed through the central plaza and went by the Temple of the Goddess and toward the suburbs. I headed east from there. To the west were some mountain ranges, the Aligot Empire, and the sea. To the north was the sea. To the south was the Kingdom of Aseed...and the sea.

Yup, east was my only choice here. I mean, now that the Aligot Empire was a maritime power, a voyage by sea using one of their ships wasn’t out of the question. But it sounded like a hassle, and traveling to some distant country didn’t sound all too charming to me.

And a part of me wanted to go back along routes I had taken in the past to see how they looked now. Slow and steady was the key here... I had time, after all. More than enough time. Reiko and I both.

“Take it easy!” as they say...

A journey with the two of us... We could travel light, since I had my Item Box, and we didn’t really need water with my ability to make potions. We could walk, but our pace was about seventy percent of a normal traveler’s. That sounded tiring, too...

Even if I could heal myself with potions, it wasn’t as if I enjoyed getting blisters on my feet. But if we decided to ride on stagecoaches, we would only be able to travel during their operating hours, and our topics of conversation weren’t really appropriate in front of others.

It would be bad if we talked about taboo stuff in the language of this world, but speaking in a foreign language was even worse. It would draw suspicion, and speaking in a language that only we understood would make it look like we were discussing secrets. Anyway, it wasn’t good manners.

Besides, we wouldn’t be able to cook with food in my Item Box or use the shower room with a tank filled with rinsing potion attached if we traveled with others. A long journey under those conditions would be a bit difficult for someone who was used to modern comforts.

So...

As I contemplated this while we walked, Reiko suddenly stopped in her tracks, and I stopped too.

...

......

.........

“Kaoru, don’t tell me...”

Don’t say it.

“Is this...” she went on.

Don’t say it...

Yes, it was the giant Celes statue near the entrance of the Temple of the Goddess that we had seen long ago. Next to it was a statue of a valiant female knight. It went without saying that it was a statue of the great hero who saved the kingdom—no, the entire continent.

And on the other side of it was a statue of a girl with scary-looking eyes.

“A statue of...” Reiko continued.

“Don’t say iiiiiit!!!”

Judging by the composition of the statues, it seemed Fran was venerated above me. I guess that was to be expected. It was between a commoner girl who was kind of liked by the Goddess and who died pointlessly, and the savior and guardian of the entire continent, the great hero who happened to be a high-ranking aristocrat and wife of the king’s brother. Of course they would treat her differently.

I mean, I was glad Celes’s and Fran’s statues drew attention away from mine, so I had no intention of complaining.

...We pressed forward without saying anything.

After walking for some time...

“Oh, this place...” I said.

“What is it?”

“Oh, it’s just that this is the horse stable where I left Ed...my horse partner and brother-in-arms...along with his wife and child. It’s been so long since, but it hasn’t changed a bit...”

Although over seventy years had passed, it felt like just a few days ago to me. The memory was still fresh in my mind. It was incredible to think it looked pretty much the same after all this time...oh, but the main building looked like it had been rebuilt. And...wait, I thought that was a horse, but maybe it was a statue of some sort?

“Mind if I stop by here for a bit?”

“We have time, so why not?”

With Reiko’s agreement, I moved closer to what seemed to be a bronze statue...

“...Ed? And his family...?”

Indeed, there stood a life-sized statue of Ed and his wife and child. Francette and Roland’s horses weren’t there, likely because those two were unrelated to these stables. It could be said that Ed’s family was from these stables, so they seemed to be using that fact for marketing purposes...

Horses looked pretty much alike, and Ed had been a white horse with no distinct features on his body. Seeing him in the flesh was one thing, but it was hard to tell him apart from other horses just from a picture or statue.

But that didn’t matter. It was Ed. I knew it was a statue of Ed. There was no mistake.

...Because...it’s Ed...

I stood there feeling sentimental, then a white horse that looked a bit like Ed came closer.

Then...

“Can it be... Goddess Kaoru...?”

“Huh? You know me?”

I was surprised. How did a horse I had just met for the first time know me?

“You are?” I asked.

“Ah! You can understand me! Ah! Ah! Ahhh! I knew it! You must be the Goddess Lady Kaoru, benefactor of the first Silver horse, Ed Silver!”

The horse was so emotional that his body trembled with excitement. It seemed he was Ed’s descendant. I had no idea horses had the intellect or culture to pass down stories about me over generations...

“I am ‘Hanging Eyes,’ also known as Hang, he who was appointed the twelfth-generation Ed Silver. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ed Silver is a title...? And that name sounds like a jab at me, somehow...”

“Oh, goodness, no! ‘Hanging Eyes’ is not just my given name, but a prestigious ancestral inheritance, given by the first generation Ed Silver to his son to remind him of you, Lady Kaoru!”

Ah... Ed probably just had trouble coming up with other words to describe me. Horses didn’t exactly have the greatest vocabularies, after all...

...Damn it!

Well, assuming they had a foal at around six years old, twelve generations of horses would be seventy-two years. The math checked out...

“Hey, what are you doing, Hang?”

Ah, another horse was approaching...

“Ohh! Lady Kaoru, this one here is another who has inherited one of the prestigious names passed down from our ancestors: ‘Scary Eyes.’ He and I will carry on the Eyes Clan together!”

“I figured he’d have a name like that!” I shouted.

Damn it!

“Within the Silver breed, there’s also ‘Flat Chest’ and ‘No Chest’ of the distinguished Chest Clan, along with those of the Breast Clan...”

“Shaddap!!!”

Damn that Ed! He definitely assumed I left him behind and did this to spite me! At least only the horses called each other by those names...

“Lady Kaoru is here?! Then does that mean the glory days of the Silver breed will return once again? And the time has come during our age of the Eyes Clan... The golden age... I can see it now... Ahh! Ahh! Ahhh!”

What was all this now...?

“Actually, I just happened to stop by because this place made me feel nostalgic. I’m glad to see Ed’s descendants flourishing. Though, I feel like they might have flourished a bit too much...”

I’ve heard that, back on Earth, the paternal lines of all thoroughbred horses in modern times could be traced back to three horses. It seemed that Ed had become the ancestor of every one of these so-called Silver horses.

... I’m so jealous...

Damn it!!!

“Well, I’ll be going. Farewell, everyone!”

As I turned to leave...

“Wait! Please wait!”

“No! Don’t let her escape! Seize her! Seize her, boys!”

Two of the horses suddenly shouted out, then all of the grazing horses came rushing toward me at once.

...This is freaking me out here!

The next moment, we found ourselves surrounded.

“I will accompany you!”

Huh?

“In his last words, the first Ed Silver once told me that if the Goddess Lady Kaoru ever descended again...”

What...? Ed left his last words to his descendants to support me in his stead...? He really did care...

“He said I’ll be set for life if I followed you, so I should never let you go!” the horse finished.

Yeah, I figured as much...

“So, please allow me to accompany you!”

“And me too, of course! As the horse who inherited the name of Scary Eyes, I’m a member of this ranch’s Eyes Clan, just like Hanging Eyes! I ain’t letting you leave me behind! There are two of you, anyway, so you’ve got no reason to refuse!”

Uhh...

“If you aren’t willing to take us...”

“Then what?” I asked.

“Then we’ll kill ourselves right nooow!” they yelled together.

Ah... Well, it wasn’t as if I didn’t understand how they felt. I had shown up, just like in the stories passed down by the First (Ed), so ancestral shame would haunt them forever if I just ignored them and left.

I glanced over at Reiko...

And she nodded. She had the ability to understand any language and conversation like me, so she had been following along the entire time.

“I’m prepared for that, of course. I’ve gone to riding clubs, ridden on horses without saddles, and I even participated in a few rough stock events.”

Ah... I had to admit, long journeys on foot were pretty rough, too... If we were gonna get horses anyway, I’d rather go with Ed’s descendants rather than some horses I didn’t know. But weren’t these the two best horses at the ranch? They would probably cost me an arm and a leg...

Oh well. In my past life...no, last time...well, that didn’t feel quite right either. In the first season...I had saved up a boatload of gold coins in my Item Box, so I wasn’t too concerned about the price.

All right!

“You two don’t have any qualms about pulling a carriage, do you?” I asked.

“Ah, you speak of the Goddess’s legendary Chariot that can only be pulled by divine horses! What an honor this is!” Hang said.

“Yes! Yes, I’ll pull it! I’ll pull it even if you tell me not to! Let’s gooo!!!” Scary agreed.

So it was decided...

“I’m gonna go negotiate, then, so you stay here.”

“We’ll accompany you!”

We would be speaking in human language, so it wasn’t as if they’d be able to understand us... But I didn’t mind.

“So, I’d like for you to sell me these two horses...”

“What do you mean, ‘so’?! And these are my two best horses!”

Yes, I would have had a hard time getting to the negotiation part if he didn’t know which horses I was talking about, so I let the two of them follow me to the administrative building. And when I opened the door and stepped inside, the horses followed. The entrance was pretty small for a horse, but they forced their way in anyway... It was no wonder the manager came running out to see what was going on...

And so, here we were.

“No, no, no! I can’t agree to that, even if you weren’t just a kid yanking my chain. These two have the most of their ancestor’s blood, making them extremely valuable. I need them to impreg...make a bunch of babies for me, so the answer is no, no matter how much you offer!”

He seemed to reconsider using such graphic words to a child and corrected himself mid-sentence. Not to mention, he took the time to explain why he couldn’t sell me the horses instead of assuming I was a kid wasting his time and scolding me. He seemed to be a nice person. ...But that didn’t change the fact that he was pretty much helpless here.

“He says he’s not selling you guys...” I said in horse language.

Wham! Wham!!!

“Ahhh!” Hang and Scary slammed their front hooves down upon the table, making the middle-aged manager fall backward from his chair.

“You can speak to horses...? D-Don’t tell me you’re Countess Raphael... No, I’ve heard she has scary-looking eyes, but I heard she’s very old, and known as a monster...”

...Wait, I figured she’d be old, but “scary-looking eyes”?

Come to think of it, she did have an evil look on her face sometimes... That’s it!

“Oh, are you familiar with my great grandmother?”

“Ah...?!”

Yes, it’s working!

“Lady Kaoru, you should recite the three vows of the Silver breed to him! I’ve heard stories of a promise between Ed Silver the First, the manager at the time, and a noblewoman with a glare in her eye and bad attitude. If we’ve heard of it, he must know about it too!” Scary chimed in with some advice.

I had to give it a shot!

“The three vows of the Silver breed!”

“What...?” The manager looked flabbergasted. “I-It can’t be... That’s just from folktales...”

“Breeehehe! Breeehehehe! (Hooray! Hooraaay!)”

We rode Hang and Scary out of the ranch to the sound of boisterous cheers. The send-off was, of course, given by a crowd of horses. The people from the administrative building saw us off too, but they were either staring blankly or hanging their heads in silence.

...Um, sorry about that.

“I think we should be good now...” I said.

“What do you mean?” Reiko asked.

“Well, we’re pretty far from the city now, so I was thinking of bringing out the carriage...”

Both of us knew how to ride horses, but spending days or even weeks on horseback would be tough. That was why I wanted to take the journey in a carriage. We wouldn’t need to worry about rain, and we could sleep in the carriage when we were camping out. Though, that said, I wouldn’t make Hang and Scary walk in the rain, of course. I’d have them take shelter under a tree or something.

“Oh, the Chariot thing...”

“No, a different one. That was...”

Yes, the Chariot was for Ed only. I had no intention of using it with another horse.

“That was designed to be drawn by one horse, and it was for me and Layette to ride when she was still little, so it’s too small for us. Plus, my companions rode horses, too, so it wasn’t like they needed to use it. I’m thinking of using one that’s big enough for us to lounge and sleep in this time... And it needs to be inconspicuous enough that we can ride it into the city...”

Yeah, the Chariot stood out too much because I had made it so cool-looking.

“Do you have any requests for the carriage?” I asked.

“No, not in particular. Make it however you’d like, Kaoru. Oh, but make sure it’s comfortable to sit in.”

Maybe Reiko had had a bad experience with one before, because she frowned and rubbed her butt as she said so. Carriages back on Earth weren’t perfect, after all...

And so...

“Brehe! (Come out!) Brehehehehe! (Carriage of the Goddess!)” I chanted my incantation in horse language just for Hang and Scary. They should be able to recognize the carriage that serves as a vehicle of the Goddess, after all.

I was worried that they would be disappointed by its plain appearance, since I needed it to not stand out this time. I had a feeling they had big expectations about what it would look like.

Then...

Thud!

There appeared a brand-new carriage! There was a small barrel containing a potion in the interior, of course. ...I mean, the carriage wouldn’t have been a “potion container” otherwise.

And although it looked like your average small carriage at first glance... Most of it was built with light and durable carbon nanotubes. Titanium had been used for some parts as well. Although titanium had many advantages, it was difficult and expensive to refine and process, so it was hard to use for large-scale construction. But since I could make objects appear in their completed form, that wasn’t an issue for me.

Maybe if I really wanted to, I could have made a super special carriage, courtesy of Celes, with materials that didn’t even exist on Earth. But I didn’t really need to go that far. It was already made so it couldn’t be pierced by arrows or spears, after all...

It had a coach box, which I could sit in and pretend to be the coachman when entering cities. Of course, it would actually be operated by giving verbal commands. I would be lonely sitting out there alone, so the coach box had room for two to sit side-by-side.

The cabin could be accessed directly from the coach box, and had two forward-facing seats and a rear-facing three-seat sofa with a table between them. The forward-facing seats came with headrests, and were designed to provide support for the entire body. We didn’t want to strain our backs, after all.

You could even recline all the way back and go to sleep in comfort. This way, we could sleep while camping and while traveling. Though, one of us would obviously need to be awake for safety reasons.

I had to meet Hang and Scary’s expectations, so I could even make a bunch of blades jut out with a pull of a lever. Without mechanisms like this, it would just be a normal carriage with high-quality materials. Well, the springs and the entire construction were rather unique, but I meant in terms of simple appearance. The blades probably weren’t very practical; they really were just gimmicks to satisfy Hang and Scary.

Since this two-horse carriage was made to be much lighter than a normal carriage, it wouldn’t be too much strain on the two of them. Though, they didn’t seem to have the same reluctance Ed had about being a “carriage horse,” so there probably wouldn’t be any issues, anyway.

Wait... what if Ed started that whole rumor about only divine horses being able to pull the Goddess’s carriage just to make them more eager to use it? Or maybe I was overthinking it? But Ed was considerate, and he had a strong sense of duty...

Dang, I’m getting sentimental again...

Ed would have wanted me to laugh rather than get all sappy remembering him. That’s just the kind of horse he was. We were together for four and half years... Four and half years for a horse was like eighteen years for a human. Ed was six when I first met him, so he was about twenty-four in human years. Spending all our time together from twenty-four to forty-two would feel like an entire lifetime.

As for Hang and Scary’s reaction...

“Ahhh, so this is the Goddess’s carriage...”

“We’re finally going to be divine horses, pulling the Goddess’s carriage...”

They were getting all teary-eyed... But I didn’t want to lie to them, so I decided to tell them the truth.

“That’s not the same carriage that was drawn by Ed. That one was for Ed only... So I made this one specifically for the two of you. See how it’s designed to be drawn by two horses?”

I was afraid they’d be disappointed to find out it wasn’t the same one that had been used by their ancestor...

“What?! You made a brand-new carriage just for us? So this is our very own carriage... When we pass on someday, it will be preserved in the realm of gods for all eternity, and our deeds will live on forever...”

“Ahh! Ahh! Ahhh!”

They seemed to be happy about it, so I guess it was fine.

“Okay, then, let’s go. Boarding!” I shouted like I was a sentai hero jumping into a giant robot and climbed into the carriage with Reiko.

Since we would be riding straight down the wide city streets, I decided we could just stay in the cabin. Any travelers we passed by may be surprised by the lack of a coachman at the front, but that wasn’t too big of a deal. We could say the horses were well-trained, or we were using thin ropes to steer them from inside the cabin, or that we were in the middle of trying out a new carriage for military use. Anyone who questioned us would be assumed to be a spy, so I doubted they would bother us too much.

We each sat in one of the two front-facing seats... It looked like a gaming chair—which made sense, since that’s what I was picturing when I made it...

“Move out!”

“...”

“...”

“......”

“We’re not moving.” Reiko said.

“Doesn’t look like it...” I agreed. Why...?

“Lady Kaoru, how are we supposed to draw the carriage?” Hang asked from outside.

Ah... I forgot to hitch the horses to the carriage...

“...So, the fittings will come off if you just do this.”

“...”

After hitching Hang and Scary to the carriage, I explained how they could remove the harness from the carriage on their own. It was designed so it could be disconnected this way, since it was easier for them to do with hooves compared to taking the harness off of their body. We might run into bandits or monsters, or the carriage could fall off a cliff during our travels. If they could disconnect their harness from the carriage in those cases, it would increase their odds of survival. That was why I added this feature, but...

The two horses seemed to be upset about something. Why?

“Y-You’d better not be thinking we might abandon the passengers and run away!” Hang yelled.

Huh?

“Even if it wasn’t the Goddess riding in the carriage, we would never leave our passengers and try to run away, so you’d better not be thinking that!” Scary added.

Ah... Did I hurt their pride as professionals? Even Hang, who was relatively polite for a horse, was visibly displeased and spoke with rougher words. Come to think of it, Ed also got seriously upset whenever I said something that hurt his pride. Ed and his entire family put a lot of weight on pride and dignity.

Oh no, I screwed up...

“N-No, it’s nothing like that! If we ever get attacked by bandits or monsters, you could disconnect your harnesses from the carriage and move next to the cabin so we can hop on and escape on your backs! I think it’s a lot more convenient when you have the freedom to separate yourselves from the carriage when you deem it necessary. That’s just how much I trust you two!”

“...Y-Yeah?”

“Hm, in that case, I suppose I could accept the idea...”

...Too easy.

Though, the real reason for having that function was so the horses could escape on their own in case the carriage flipped over, fell off a cliff, if we got surrounded and needed to use the carriage as a shield, or if Reiko and I needed to abandon the carriage and flee. I wasn’t gonna let Ed’s descendants die so easily.

And so, we were finally off. I was talking to Reiko in the cabin for some time, but we figured we should get to know the carriage first and headed out into the coach box. I was going to pretend to be driving as the coachman, so I had to get some practice in, too.

“Ah, Lady Kaoru. You know how to drive a carriage?”

“Lady Kaoru, there’s no need to do that. We’ll still walk, you know...” Hang and Scary said, but something felt off...

Oh, that’s right... Ed...

“Hey, would you guys mind not calling me ‘Lady Kaoru’?”

“What? Then should we call you Goddess?”

“No, just Kaoru, or Mi...”

“Mi?”

...Ed used to call me Missy. But it didn’t feel right telling them to call me that...

“No, it’s nothing. Call me what you want...”

“Very well, Lady Kaoru.”

“You got it, Missy!”

“What...?” Hang called me Lady Kaoru just like before. As for Scary...

Hang had spoken pretty formally since we first met, while Scary was blunter with his words. Just like Ed...

“Wha! Such insolence!” Hang scolded Scary, appalled, but...

“No, that’s fine. It gets a bit stuffy when you’re too formal all the time.”

“Gotcha!”

“...”

Hang looked rather conflicted, but it wasn’t as if they both needed to address me the same way. They could each call me what they wanted.

And so, it was time to head east for now...

“Off we go!”

“...So, what about the name?” Reiko asked.

“Huh? Name?”

I was confused by her sudden question.

“I mean, you’ve always named everything since we were young, whether it was a snowboard or a rock you kicked on the way home. You’re going to name this carriage too, aren’t you? Just ‘carriage’ wouldn’t be fit for our precious vehicle here.”

“Urgh...”

It was true that I always gave names to things I grew attached to. I called Ed’s carriage Chariot, and there was no need to rename it because there were no actual chariots around here. But our ride this time looked like a normal carriage in appearance, so I had been thinking that I needed to give it a proper name.

Hmm...

All right!

“I’ll call it Merkava!”

“The name of a foreign tank?”

“No, they named it after the same reference. It actually means ‘Chariot of God.’”

I didn’t want a name that was too long, and I didn’t want people to hear me calling it “Something of the Goddess.” It’d be too embarrassing...

After continuing on for some time, the sun began to set.

“Is it okay if we camp out today? We’re still some distance away from the next post town. The transaction at the ranch took up a whole lotta time...”

“Yeah. Using a tent is fine, too, but I want to see how comfortable it is sleeping in here. It’s better to make use of new equipment like this while we can,” Reiko responded, pretty much as expected.

And so, we went off of the street and into a thicket where we couldn’t be spotted. We didn’t want to be caught illegally camping out in the open, especially not somewhere we could be seen from the street. If you’re gonna camp, you have to do it somewhere where you can’t be seen.

We decided to sleep in the carriage without using the tent, as per Reiko’s suggestion. Since we had some time, we decided to cook some dinner instead of pulling finished dishes out from the Item Box.

I brought out chairs and a table, a cooking table, a simple furnace, a water tank, cookware, and some ingredients, then got straight to making dinner.

I removed the harnesses from Hang and Scary and gave them some mixed feed with some carrots, corn, apples, sugar cubes, and potions.

“Ahh... This is the famous and legendary...”

“Yes, we’re finally here, where the great Ed was once... To stand in the same position as our patriarch... So fortunate, so glorious!”

Ah, they’re tearing up...

I thought horses rarely shed tears. I think Ed once told me that, didn’t he...? Anyway, I was glad they seemed to be happy.

As I prepared to make some post-meal coffee after having dinner with Reiko, I opened the Item Box and...

Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet! Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet! Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet!

“Huh?”

“What is it?” Reiko asked.

“The kids... Well, they’re all old now, but... This is the ringtone for when the Eyes of the Goddess call me...”

I had a bad feeling about this. I was usually right about this sort of thing... Though, this wasn’t just a “feeling.” I was already sure of it. But I couldn’t just ignore it...

And so, I reluctantly pulled the sound resonance crystal out of the Item Box.

The “potion container” crystal came in a pair, and I had given the other one to the Eyes of the Goddess when I first left the Kingdom of Balmore as a means of reaching out to me.

“This is Kaoru...” I cautiously spoke into the sound resonance crystal, then...

“Why would you do thiiiiiis?!”

My ears rang at the sudden burst of volume coming from the crystal.

“Why did you leave after just seeing Emile?! What in the world are you thinking?!”

Ah, that voice... Francette...

Emile must have invited Francette to dinner so he would get the scolding over with at once... He’d probably made the announcement after everyone had finished eating.

“Um... Is Emile...”

“Belle and Layette are beating him up behind me as we speak!”

I figured as much... They weren’t young anymore, so they shouldn’t get too reckless...

“Kaoru, I think I know what you’re thinking, and you should tell them directly...” Reiko said.

It seemed Reiko and I still shared the ability to read each other’s minds. From her point of view, Emile was just some old man she had met one time. Of course she’d be sympathetic, knowing he was getting mistreated. Reiko didn’t know Francette, Belle, and Layette, after all...

“Please come back already!” Francette demanded. This didn’t seem like the proper attitude to show to a goddess. She must have been preeetty mad...

But...

“...Sorry.”

It was silent for some time.

“I’m sorry for being unreasonable...” she said.

“Huh? This isn’t Francette? Are you an imposter or something?” I asked.

“Who are you calling an imposter?! I’m not a young woman anymore. I’ve changed since we last met!”

“Ah, sorry. It feels like just a few days ago to me...”

The Francette I knew had a pretty low threshold for flipping out.

More silence followed...

Time felt really long in situations like these!

“Thank you for everything. You’ve given me such a h-happy li...life...” Francette was unable to speak coherently as she began to sob.

Oh no.

I’m not good at dealing with these things...

I just...

“How long are you going to hoard it? Let me talk to her!”

...Hm? Who was that? The voice sounded unfamiliar...

“Big Sis Kaoru!!!”

I-It’s Layette!

I only knew her voice and speech patterns from when she was a little child, so of course I didn’t recognize her...

I spoke with Francette, Layette, and each of the Eyes of the Goddess. They had matured by now and so much time had passed, so there weren’t any tragic scenes or anything like that to speak of. Now that they were older, it seemed they were already past the grieving stage.

Even if we had met up again, it wasn’t as if I could take care of them now that they were seniors. Their grandchildren could handle that.

I’ll bet they made a bunch of descendants already! Tch!

All we could do now was reminisce about the past and be happy for each other’s well-being. We talked, talked, and talked some more... Then I placed the now-silent sound resonance crystal back into the Item Box.

I wordlessly lay on the grass with my back turned toward Reiko, then I heard her settling down on the ground a short distance away. She probably had her back to me, too. We had agreed to sleep in the carriage tonight, but it seemed she was okay with sleeping out on the grass with me like this. I didn’t want to sleep inside the carriage, because she would be able to hear me sobbing.

...That’s my Reiko.

Reiko Kuon, one of my only two best friends. And now, she was just Reiko... My friend.

“I’m baaack!” I woke up energetically the next morning.

Reiko gave me a look, but I didn’t care. She already knew how brash I could be, and how quickly I could recover from feeling down.

Animals were early risers, so Hang and Scary were already up. So, I decided to get them some breakfast and water. I felt like it wouldn’t be healthy to depart right after waking up, so better to eat first. I could have brought some pre-cooked food out of my Item Box, but I went ahead and started boiling some water. It would have been too easy to pull some already-boiling water out, after all. Though, I was using a portable gas cartridge stove instead of building a furnace out of rocks or collecting firewood, so it was easy enough already.

I had made various types of potion container stoves that used alcohol, oil, or gasoline as fuel, along with wood stoves, but I felt like using the gas cartridge stove. It was the quickest and easiest to use, after all.

...One might wonder why I had prepared so many different types of camping stoves. I just like camping goods, okay?! I had never gone camping before, but I still bought several books about that stuff! So what? ...The water and pot came from the Item Box, too. I didn’t feel like making “a pot with water in it” every time, and I would end up with more and more pots if I did that...

Even though there was no limit to the Item Box’s capacity, I didn’t want it to be stuffed with a bunch of cheap pots.

I quickly made breakfast, and as we ate together...

“Sorry for spending so much time talking to my old friends yesterday...”

I had to apologize to Reiko. I knew she didn’t mind such things, but that was exactly why I had to. I didn’t want to take advantage of the fact that it wouldn’t be an issue if I didn’t apologize.

“No, it’s okay. You were saying goodbye to the people you care about. I can be with you from here on, so of course you were supposed to prioritize your time with them yesterday.”

That was exactly what I had expected Reiko to say. After all, we only had a little bit of time to talk when I died and asked the Earth God to let me say goodbye in her dream. She knew the importance of time spent saying farewell to loved ones. But there was a huge difference between putting your thoughts into words and not saying anything at all. We were such close friends that we understood each other without saying these things, but that was all the more reason to say them.

Oh, that’s right...

“Hey, Reiko, can you use the magic powers you got to make food, camping tools, guns, and tanks?” I had to ask.

Her magic probably wasn’t the actual “magic” that most people thought of. I had a suspicion that, just like with my powers, there was some being below Celes that was subcontracted or sub-subcontracted by Celes to handle it, or maybe a highly advanced robot or AI that was controlling some scientific element to make things happen...

The only time I had seen Reiko’s magic was that time she created water to put out my fire.

Burn, baby, burn... Wait, shaddap!

“Of course not! What kind of magic is that? It can’t do anything so ludicrous that it exceeds the realm of ‘normal magic.’ I may be able to use any magic, but it’s limited to fire magic, water magic, wind magic, and earth magic. I can’t travel through space or create things, or bring the dead back to life or anything crazy like that...”

“Ah, thought so... Guess even Celes isn’t that...you know. Though, magic that could bend space would be asking to create distortions, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised...”

I did refrain from explicitly speaking ill of Celes. I didn’t want a wooden pail to be dropped on my head again. It REALLY hurts, you know...

In any case, it was just as I expected. If there were no limits to what she could do with magic, she could create literally anything, bring things from Earth here, and travel to and from Earth by saying it was all “creation magic,” “alternate world network super magic,” or “dimensional transportation magic.”

That would have been too much, and I couldn’t imagine Celes agreeing. Something like that would basically make her super OP.

Though, being able to create water and fire meant she’d be fine out in the wild, and having powerful offensive magic at her disposal would let her fend off bandit attacks without worries. She had the same ability to understand languages and an Item Box like me, too...

What a cheater!!!

Though, really, I guess I shouldn’t be talking. I could probably do those things. I could create a tank-type container, or a firearm-type container... I wouldn’t know how to use them, though.

It wasn’t as if I knew how to drive a tank, or operate its weapons. Even if I could make an attack helicopter, I didn’t know how to make it fly, either...

Maybe Celes had learned her lesson with me and decided not to give out cheat powers that were too powerful... Though, the Item Box in itself was pretty ridiculous. It could really hurt the logistics industry, too...

Though, it’d be fine as long as we didn’t try to make a business out of it. Magic was only observed on a small scale in this world, so the magic Reiko could use was already a cheat power. And...

“Don’t you think you might be persecuted as a witch or a demon if you use your magic in this world?” I asked Reiko.

“Ah...”

She could use fire and water magic in a world where magic was pretty much nonexistent. Plus, they would mainly be used to cause destruction. Not to mention, the Goddess was real in this world. Therefore, even though they didn’t exist and no one had seen one before, people believed demons existed as a counterpart to the Goddess.

“...”

This was bad.

“...”

Real bad.

The reason I was able to get by relatively undisturbed, despite getting involved in so much trouble and revealing my superhuman powers, was because I was thought to be Celes’s errand girl. But what if it was the opposite, and they thought Reiko was an errand girl of Celes’s enemy, a demon? It would be time for a fun little witch-hunting party. The main dish? Barbecue...

“Never use magic where you can be seen until you secure a position where you’re absolutely safe to use it, or when you’re sure you can kill all witnesses! ...Except in emergencies, that is.”

Nod, nod!

I was glad to see Reiko understood the potential danger she was in. But now we were pretty much just two underage girls traveling via horse and carriage with no guards. We weren’t just a perfect target for thieves, but merchants, travelers, and even rural villagers might have some unscrupulous ideas if they came across us...

Even just the carriage and two horses would fetch a pretty penny. Considering we were just two young girls, we looked like airheaded heiresses from rich families, oblivious to the dangers of the world. We could have money and jewelry on us, and could be exchanged for ransom or sold to traffickers...

Uh oh, we were far too tempting as targets. Though, that would always be the case. No one would be able to tell that Reiko could easily fend off attackers until we actually got attacked. As such, we would always appear to be the perfect prey.

I should have known! Ahaha! ...Like hell!

This was bad. We had to do something. We had to make it harder for attackers to target us, and find a way for us to dispatch attackers that wouldn’t put us in a bad position.

“All right, let’s upgrade our armaments!”

That was our only choice. We needed a carriage that was threatening enough to discourage attackers, despite the fact that it was just two girls inside, but it couldn’t draw too much attention in the city. It was a tall order...

What should I do...?

As we talked in horse language so as not to exclude Hang and Scary from the conversation, Hang spoke to us from behind.

“Excuse me...but maybe instead of going out of our way to use one carriage that fits both requirements, can’t we switch between one for using in the city and one for the road?”

“Oh...”

I didn’t expect to be outwitted by a horse...

And so, we decided to use three separate carriages.

Panzer was an armored combat vehicle for the roads. The interior was basically the same as Merkava, but the exterior looked like a military armored carriage with spears and swords loaded onto it. It was a bluff to make it seem like soldiers would jump out and fight if something was to happen. I didn’t feel like moving the long spears and swords in and out every time, so we just strapped them down to the exterior...

Plus, there were gun ports facing every direction. Of course, we would shoot Reiko’s fire or water magic out of those instead of using actual guns. The ports weren’t necessary for magic attacks, but they were there so we could use excuses like having sprayed burning oil or firing water out of a pump. We would decline to explain further and claim it was a trade secret.

We would use Merkava when traveling through areas that weren’t too dangerous, or when riding with other carriages. That way, we wouldn’t stand out too much compared to the others...

And for riding in the city, we had Penelope, a slightly fancy small carriage that might have been used by a middle-class merchant family. Despite its name, it had four wheels instead of six.

Okay, all set! To the east we go!