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Chapter 122: Traveling on Horseback
「Morning. Whatta group we have here. 」
「Can’t do anything about it, you know that. 」
Dean quipped.
We’re in a “You’re Santa, I’m Santa” situation with all the sacks we’re carrying. We won’t be stopping at the fortress city, so we have a lot of luggage for the journey aside from the laundry we have.
We won’t drop by the Guild either so that we won’t cross paths with Roza’s group. This trip isn’t a job from the Guild, and we’ll be filing the report at the place where we’ll leave the horses.
It’s not like the report was mandatory, but just in case we didn’t return within twice the itinerary period, they would be able to inform the other adventurers entering the tunnel that somebody was missing.
「Good morning, Jean. 」
「Morning. 」
Ash was wearing the coat I made her. Well, Butler too.
She looked like a woman dressed in guy’s clothes without that furrow between her brows. She didn’t have a chest, but she got that rounded figure from her hips to her butt. Is it because of Az? Az, are you doing your best? I know it’s rude, but I can’t help but check her out.
Everyone’s here, so we cheerfully made our way to the rental stables and took out the horses we requested.
「Take care of me, Ruta. 」
I also borrowed books about horses from the library. Ruta, your food is inside the bags, so please take care of those too, okay.
Horses are herbivores, and they normally munch on grass for 6 hours or so in the wild, apparently. Their stomachs are small, so they can’t eat a lot in one sitting.
I fed Ruta some sugar as he happily nuzzled my cheeks — horses love sweet stuff.
「Whoa, bribe! 」
Dean snickered, but who cares about him. Ruta, Tina and the twins’ view of me depends on you!
I magnificently climbed onto Ruta’s back and we’re off. We already have too many horses between the adults, so the kids were assigned to ride with Shiva, Chris and Retze. Dean and Dinosso are too heavy. They rode alone so that it wouldn’t be too much of a burden to the horses.
I was almost assigned to share a ride with Ash or Butler; thank goodness I evaded that. The only reason I’m also exempted was because I already told them I can’t ride like that. Besides, we already went on a long ride together before.
The others already went on subjugation trips with Dinosso too so the kids are already familiar with them.
「Whoaaa 」
「Hehe. 」
Vak, in particular, has become quite attached to Chris, and he is vigorously rubbing the latter’s cleft chin. What are you chuckling for Chris, it’s turning really red now, see?
I unwittingly checked how the chin spirit was faring — it’s competitively rubbing, too… Ugh, just how on earth do the others who can See like me keep their calm and ignore this, huh?
「Hey, I already hauled Vak off and warned him, you know? But then, he told me that Chris calms down for some reason if his chin was rubbed, so… 」
Dinosso averted his eyes sheepishly during that second half of his explanation.
Isn’t that because the spirit massages his chin every single day? Ah no, don’t worry, it’s not like I thought you’re being lax with child discipline, Dinosso.
「Jean, you’re so cool! Let me ride with you later, okay~ 」
「Oh goodness. 」
Tina shouted in Shiva’s arms, praising me.
「No way! Papa will never allow you to ride with any other guy aside from me! 」
Dinosso wedged his horse between Shiva and me.
「Papa’s a tyrant~! 」
「Tyrant~ 」
「Ty~rant~! 」
It’s the usual Dinoss dad and child bickering.
「Wolf King’s whole family let loose with Jean around… 」
「Eh? 」
Isn’t this normal?
I couldn’t help but question that.
「Mm, it seems they’re relaxed when they’re with him. Jean’s company does make one feel at ease. 」
Oh? Maybe 【Liberation】-san is doing its job?
I wonder if my ability might have influenced Ash’s words? Doubt started rearing its head.
「The things I worry about have increased, it seems. 」
Retze’s words put my doubts to rest.
「Vak’s also like that, right? 」
I don’t think it’s because of me.
We went on our way like this, heading straight to our destination at a snail pace while periodically stopping by rivers and ponds to let the horses drink.
After some time, we reached the area where weak monsters appeared, but they didn’t attack us, because Dinosso and Shiva’s spirits took turns to intimidate them.
「Small monkey-type monsters appear around here. Retze checked out how many there are in a troop, and that’s around 14 to 15 monkeys at most. It’d be dangerous if they’re more than 20, but we don’t have to worry about them attacking us with how many we are, and there’s no monkey that is as big as a horse around here. It’s just that we have to stick together, since they’re going to attack us the moment we scatter. 」
Heeding Dinosso’s warning, we moved as a group as we took a break by the riverbank. Well, guessing from the reaction of everyone else, his warning was probably meant for the kids and me.
I asked Ruta not to stray away from the other horses before going off to prepare tea by the riverside. The creek runs through a forest that didn’t have any major elevation differences, so it’s shallow and the water flows gently. Apparently, this little creek sometimes dries up during summer when there is little to no rain.
I feel so refreshed after washing my face and hands in the creek. Retze and Butler had already prepared the fire before I noticed. I can’t hold a candle to their speed of handling preparations.
「Jean! 」
「Hey, do you eat fruits? 」
I caught Tina when she pounced on me for a hug.
「I also eat them~ 」
「I also eat them~ 」
「Eat, eat~ 」
En and Vak answered, and Dinosso also chimed in, so I pried Tina away from me.
「Well then, everyone, have a taste… 」
「Ack! You brought that kind of pricey thing again! 」
Retze scolded me when I took the oranges out. Chill, they’re oranges from this world. They stupidly cost an arm and leg, but I know rich guys eat this, so it’s safe.
「Jean-sama. This isn’t limited to adventurers. Unless it’s served as part of entertaining the guests, folks don’t normally eat expensive things that cost more than their daily allowance during a job. 」
Butler taught me with a smile.
Sorry, I brought one for each of us, so please do eat it.