Chapter 48: Heading East

“...So, what’s our destination?”

“The enemy super-dreadnought!”

“...”

“...”

Crickets...

“We’re going east. Most of the people who have met me in person probably aren’t alive anymore, but I have a lot of old connections in the countries around here... If I’m gonna leave the past in the past and start a new life with you, I want to build a foundation someplace far away, instead of putting it in countries on this peninsula. That way, it’ll be completely uncharted territory for both of us, and we can start over from scratch. I’m sure most people haven’t heard about me there, or they’ve only heard false rumors that have been warped over time, so I should be able to lay low.

“Let’s find some decent place to put down roots for a while. If we don’t like where we end up, we can always move again. We have plenty of time, after all.”

Exchange of information took a very long time in this world, and its details tended to change drastically in the process. Rumors would completely lose their original content very quickly, so no one actually believed anything that came from a far-away land. They might discuss those rumors for fun, but they still assumed them to be untrue. So, considering the magnitude of the events of the past, those rumors were surely known throughout the continent already. But it was highly unlikely anyone remembered any accurate information that was over seventy years old.

“That’s true. Kyoko didn’t seem like she had much longer, either...”

Huh?

“How is Kyoko...?”

“Oh, the last time I saw her was about two years ago. Neither of us was in any shape to be going out after that... I was hooked up to IVs and oxygen tubes. Kyoko didn’t need any, but she still couldn’t be out and about by herself.”

“Just how old were you two?!”

They probably had a bunch of kids, too. Damn them...

We had a meeting inside the carriage —I mean, the Panzer — about what our plans were going to be, moving forward.

We made our way out of the peninsula and through the center of the continent, toward the coast on the other side. I had to be by the sea as a Japanese person, after all... I mean, you were relatively close to the sea no matter where you lived in Japan, and you could get fresh seafood any time you wanted, but only dried seafood was available inland here. This was pretty rough for a Japanese person. So, I preferred to live by the seaside.

We could go fishing or dig for clams, or even go out for a swim. Besides, there was no reason to live far away from the sea when we could go anywhere we wanted.

And so, we made our way through the Kingdom of Brancott and toward Drisard. I had caused some trouble immediately after entering Drisard last time, so we had to quickly change directions southward to the Kingdom of Jusral, which was close to the border. We didn’t need to worry about that this time, so we planned on continuing to the east.

I had only stayed in the region briefly, outside of the kidnapping incident, so I doubted anyone would recognize me in Drisard, or even in the entire Kingdom of Brancott. Case in point: after being rescued out of the Item Box, I went by completely undetected on my way to the Kingdom of Balmore. Even though my name and appearance had been recorded for religious purposes, peoples’ memories and information greatly degraded over time. Not to mention, there weren’t any photos or even portraits drawn with me as a model. Pictures drawn from memory, usually after getting a glimpse of me from a distance, couldn’t have been very accurate.

So, while we didn’t experience any issues as we kept moving east, we still decided to sit side-by-side in the coach box, without doing anything funny, until we got through Balmore and Brancott just in case.

Once we pass through both, I could put up a notice saying, “Testing automated driving features,” or “This carriage is currently propelled by nuclear power.”

Then I realized that travelers who saw a carriage moving forward without a driver would either assume the horses were walking on their own, after the driver had a seizure and fell out, or they had started walking forward while the driver was gone. Either way, they might try to take it for themselves.

It was no good...

But I didn’t feel like sitting in the coach box the entire time, and two kids sitting in the front would have been a bad-guy magnet, too...

The two humans and two horses racked our brains to come up with a plan...

“Yeah, this should work!”

“They’re definitely a normal driver and a guard.”

Yes, we decided to put stuffed dummies in the coach box! One looked like a driver, and the other looked like a guard. This would also make it seem as if there were more guards inside.

The perfect plan!

We made it through the Kingdom of Brancott without issues, and our driverless carriage problem was resolved by putting our dummies, Shunsuke and Oscar, in the coach box.

We wouldn’t be by the sea for a while, but I had seafood stocked up in my Item Box, so that wasn’t an issue. ...It was from seventy-three years ago, but it wasn’t as if it would age or rot. But it still felt weird knowing that, so I decided to donate it to an orphanage somewhere on the way and restock. They would appreciate the seafood less the closer they were to the shore, so I had to donate it on the way, with the intention of running out around the time I got to the coastal area.

And so, after we hurriedly moved through Balmore and Brancott without stopping or resting, we went at a leisurely pace, camping out once for every three nights or so that we stayed at an inn. It wasn’t as if I particularly loved to camp, and I had absolutely nothing to do when we did. Camping wasn’t completely safe, for one thing, and I wanted to have access to a proper meal and bath. Camping out because the next town was too far was fine, but there was no reason to do so all the time.

Plus, going from point A to point B with no stops along the way felt too dry. It was pointless if we couldn’t stop somewhere for a few days along the way to enjoy the trip. Fortunately, we both had plenty of time, and we couldn’t have Hang and Scary pulling the carriage every day. We had to let them rest up here and there.

So...

“All right, let’s spend a few days in the next city!”

“Agreed!”

Reiko was on board, so it was decided. There was no reason to rush, so I elected to enjoy the rest of the journey at my leisure. I decided to leave the carriage, Hang, and Scary at the horse stables while we stayed in cities. The barns at most inns were too small, and while they did care for horses there, their services were just adequate. Horses preferred to be under the care of specialists. That’s what Ed told me, anyway. I mean, all they could do at inns was provide feed and water.

On the other hand, horse care professionals would wash, dry, brush, and check the horse’s legs and overall health for anything out of the ordinary. They even changed out the straw regularly... When leaving horses at stables over a long time, the stablemaster will often confirm which day the carriage will be needed and give them some exercise at pasture during open days. Though, that would obviously cost extra...

I was only planning on leaving the horses for a few days this time, and I wouldn’t need the carriage during the stay, so I left the horses’ care until the departure day in the hands of the staff at the stables. I could have stuffed the horses and carriage in my Item Box, but I would’ve felt bad for Hang and Scary, so I scrapped that idea. The two wouldn’t have been able to rest if I did that, anyway.

Sure, I could have put just the carriage in the Item Box, but it would have been unnatural if Reiko and I rode around bareback, and it wasn’t too expensive to store carriages, anyway. I was pretty rich, after all.

I found a secluded area and switched carriages from Panzer to the Penelope, put the two dummies back in the Item Box, then Reiko and I sat out in the coach box. We now looked like two daughters of a wealthy merchant family out on a leisurely jaunt.

I had already gone into cities like this many times. The only thing different this time was that I would have to stop by the stables to leave the horses and carriage instead of going straight to an inn. Tonight, we were staying at a somewhat fancy inn with a proper bath. It was just us two girls, so we had to prioritize our safety.

I was ready to enjoy my first restful stay since escaping from the Item Box!

“I will see you in three days, then. I’ll contact you if I need to extend the duration...”

“Very well. Please enjoy your stay.”

I finished handing over Hang and Scary, along with the carriage, and paid an additional fee to upgrade their care and meals. It wasn’t like horses could take a bath like us, so meals were the only thing they had to look forward to. I wasn’t gonna skimp out on something like that.

That reminded me, I had to stop by a store to stock up on their food... Even I didn’t have several months’ worth of horse feed stocked up at all times. My reserve was starting to run low. So, I decided to buy a little more than usual this time.

I would need funds for the inn and other expenses, so our next stop was...

“What...?”

I went to exchange some of my old coins for the current... the Kaorun gold coins, but the attendant reacted with surprise.

“So many...”

Banks and money-changers shouldn’t act so surprised at seeing a little bit of gold! It was a pretty unprofessional reaction...

After exchanging a decent amount of coins, we headed out to secure our inn. I actually wanted to exchange a lot more, but we would draw attention if we used too much money at once, and it was all the more suspicious coming from a young girl like me. We left quickly, before anyone started making arrangements to trail us.

There was no need for me to exchange all my money at once. I just needed enough to hold me over for now, and I could take care of the rest later. The priority, for now, was to secure our inn for the night.

We were in a decent-sized city, so there were several inns to choose from, but I wanted to choose one that was relatively high-end. Regardless of how old we were on the inside, we did look like two frail little girls, after all. We definitely didn’t need any weirdos messing with us.

Money is earned to be saved, but also to be used when necessary. When else would we use it if not to enjoy our journey comfortably? That’s why I wasn’t stingy when it came to paying for lodging and food, even though I was strict with budgeting for usual living expenses.

“Do you have any rooms for two available?”

“Why, yes, we do. How long would you like to stay?”

“Three nights, for now. I’ll let you know beforehand if we need to extend our stay.”

The receptionist treated us with respect despite us looking like two kids, as expected of a somewhat high-end inn. We were wearing pretty nice clothes, so that may have helped. Unfortunately, it looked like they didn’t have a bath after all. Only very high-end inns had baths readily available.

I let Reiko handle the talking at the inn. I knew more about how inns worked in this world, but you know...

In this world, I looked like I was about twelve or thirteen, or even eleven. But Reiko could pass for a fourteen or fifteen-year-old. That’s why the staff at the inn looked at Reiko whenever we talked, so she just naturally ended up taking care of the proceedings. This was the case whenever we went shopping, too. We were about the same in height, so what was up with that...? Was it because I had a young-looking face?

...No, I know. Don’t say it!

Did the people of this world judge women’s ages by the size of their breasts? Damn it!

We received our key and made our way to our room upstairs.

“Should I cast some cleaning magic?” Reiko asked.

“Please!”

There was no bath here, but we were fine because we had Reiko’s magic. Previously, I just used my powers to make a hot potion with cleaning and anti-bacterial properties inside a metal basin, so I would’ve been fine, anyway. Still, as a Japanese person, there were times when I just wanted to have a nice soak in a bathtub. I remember going on an impulsive journey to find hot springs and ending up getting involved in some trouble...

Anyway.

“Tomorrow and the day after, we go sightseeing. Then we leave on the third day. Sound good?” I asked.

“Okay!”

And three days later, we headed east again.

...What? Nothing happened till then! It wasn’t like there were any interesting buildings, amusement centers, or well-maintained tourist facilities in this world...

Yeah, I had already expected that. Sure, there were beautiful sights and lots of nature, but most of this world was filled with nature, and we weren’t gonna come across anything particularly interesting just because we had traveled a short distance away from civilization. If we went to the mountains or an unexplored region, maybe we’d have run into some waterfalls, lakes, or some other majestic sights, but we didn’t intend to go too far out of our way like that. We could do that sort of thing after things settled down and we had a lot of excess time on our hands.

And so, we ended up staying for two or three days to let Hang and Scary rest up, then continued eastward, without having high expectations for any sights we might come across on the way...

“It’s the sea...”

“It’s the sea all right.”

“S-So, this is...”

“The legendary sea...”

Well, maybe we were being a bit dramatic.

In any case, we arrived at our destination: the coast on the eastern side of the continent. I ended up skipping over the ride because nothing really happened along the way, but many days had passed since we left the Kingdom of Balmore. People had heard about the incident from seventy years ago way out here, but they were just tall tales and horribly inaccurate stories from a distant land, so it was unlikely that anyone even knew about the names or appearances of anyone involved. Not to mention, it was possible that most ordinary people hadn’t even heard of something from so many decades ago.

In other words, I didn’t have to worry about being recognized here.

“So, let’s go on as planned and...”

“Yeah, let’s set up our home base at a decent-sized port town!”

Yes, it was time to set up our home base. I wanted to live as a normal resident of this world, but I didn’t want to go out of my way to experience hardship or inconvenience. However, if my living situation was too far out of the ordinary, it could end up being a hindrance when other people took notice of me.

That’s why I decided to secure a house instead of living at an inn. I also wanted to buy it instead of renting, so I could do whatever I wanted with it. Renting a place left me open to people trying some funny business, like what happened with Layette’s Atelier. Sure, I could crush such annoyances easily, but I didn’t want to deal with that, or possibly have to leave this country, as a consequence...

I guess you could say my priority was in avoiding trouble rather than worrying about losing money. I wasn’t too concerned with money in the first place, anyway. I had plenty of gold coins, but I really just wanted to live a normal life, and I didn’t intend to just lie around doing nothing all day. Such a life would not only be boring, but it would negatively impact my efforts in finding a husband. Yup.

I mean, I could kill time lying around if I had the internet, but the internet, TV, books, and manga didn’t exist in this world... Of course I’d get bored pretty quickly.

I had exchanged a lot of coins on the way here. Whenever we went to a city with a money changer, I exchanged my coins right before departing to the next destination, instead of doing it as soon as I arrived. It turns out I was pretty wealthy from all the potion sales and new products I made in collaboration with the Abili Trade Company, and most of those funds had been stored in my Item Box as gold coins. The rest of my holdings consisted entirely of the house I had given to the kids of the Eyes of the Goddess.

After exchanging a bunch of money in each city, we had moved right on to the next one. Even if someone came after us, we were riding on the small and lightweight Penelope, drawn by two top-class Silver horses powered up with potions, so there was no way anyone on foot or in an ordinary carriage could catch up to us. If someone did manage to catch up to us on horseback, we would swap from the delicate Penelope into the bulky Panzer, and our dummies would be sitting in the coach box instead of two little girls.

Because of that, there were several times when some rough-looking gentlemen rode past us on horseback, but we didn’t get dragged into trouble even once. It goes without saying that we left the dummies out in the coach box and didn’t stop by any cities until we made sure the grumpy-looking men passed by us again on their way back to the city they had come from. We made sure to stay cautious about things like this.

I exchanged my old money for Kaorun gold coins up until we reached the Drisard region, but from there on, they were exchanged for the gold coins used in each respective country. That was understandable, and I didn’t really mind. I was going to exchange them again once we chose a place to settle, anyway. If I turned in a pile of ancient coins at the place I wanted to stay, people might assume I found a fortune in some cave or something and end up causing a commotion. That was why I converted them all into modern currency.

It was extra work on my part, and I’d lose a percentage of my holdings with the exchange fee, but that couldn’t be helped. That was a small price to pay for safety and avoiding trouble.

“How about we say this is our top candidate for now and see how things go for a while? We could stay at an inn in the meantime,” I suggested.

“Yeah. We arrived at this port town going down the main road, so I’m pretty sure this is a major city in this region. There’s no reason to pass through here and go out of our way to a different city now.”

It seemed Reiko was on the same page.

And so, the trial period to see if this would be our new home and city of new beginnings had begun!