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Today, it was decided that we would be heading to the imperial capital. I brought potions, so I’m going to deliver them to the imperial capital’s merchants. The members going were Sakuya-chan, Obaa-san, the merchant group, the adventurer group, and I, the few of us. Our familiar escorts were Queen and the wolf cubs, as well as Miu. Last time, Miu was not able to come, so this time, she and her whole family came to the harbor city. Incidentally, Miu’s other family members, the bunnies, got along well with the turtles and were playing with them at the beach. Miu’s husband stayed behind as their guardian.
Considering the future, it would be better to go by wolf cart instead of a horse carriage to recognize the way, but for the first time in a while, I wanted to ride in the horse carriage, so I asked the Steppe Horses to take us there this time.
「N~y~o, I want to go~too~!」
We were about to leave for the imperial capital, but our departure was delayed.
Because my younger sister was crying, wanting to go with us.
「Like I said, there are scary people in the imperial capital, so it’s dangerous, you know?」
「I’ll buy you a souvenir…ok?」
There was a lot of discrimination towards beastmenin the imperial capital, so I didn’t want to take her with us, but she didn’t want to be separated from Sakuya-chan and I and she wanted to see the beastmen district’s children, so it couldn’t be helped.
「Look, pipsqueak, Shuu and the others are going for work, so bear with it.」
「They’ll come back quickly, so why don’t you wait with us?」
Both Cruz-kun and Ilya-chan took turns to persuade my younger sister, as did Pii-chan, and then we were finally able to depart from the harbor city.
The merchant group and the adventurer group consisted of half the children from the harbor city and half of those who had just come. They were handing over the work, so to speak, but they had already gone to the imperial capital many times, so the journey went smoothly.
There was a line at the gate of the imperial capital, but if you gave a bribe…tip to the gatekeeper, you would be able to pass through the gate after a simple inspection. Though I said that, it was the dried fish that we brought, but I couldn’t hide my surprise when the merchant group shrewdly did it as well, and at the same time, I was worried about their future for doing something like this even though they had been raised by Director-sensei.
「Welcome.」
「It’s been a while.」
「How have you been?」
Walking into the beastmen district, many of the people called out to us. Not only the merchant group and the adventurer group who came here many times, there were also people who remembered me and called out to the children.
First, we had to find an inn, but there were a lot of people, so we split up this time as well. This time, Obaa-san was here, so we stayed at an inn that was a little pricey, and the merchant group went to the beastmen district’s inn.
「Welcome, are you staying the night?」
Entering the building, there was a receptionist oba-chan.
「Yes, are there any vacant rooms?」
Obaa-san was the one who responded. As expected, I couldn’t do that.
「Are you fine with one room?」
Obaa-san and Sakuya-chan, to put it rudely, were strangers, so I was slightly resistant to sleeping in the same room, but it was wasteful to get two rooms, so we booked one. It seems that the first floor was the dining hall and we could eat breakfast and dinner there. If this was an inn oriented towards adventurers, then it wouldn’t be a dining hall, but a bar.
The inn’s room was simple, with three beds, a table, and chairs. It was tidy, but it felt slightly narrow, so perhaps it was because this was the city? Sleeping next to Sakuya-chan might be a problem, so we decided to sleep with Obaa-san in the middle, forming the kanji for river.
TN: 川の字 (kanji for the word river) is typically used when three people sleep side by side, one person for each of the three strokes, therefore forming 川.
After briefly talking about tomorrow’s itinerary, it was time for dinner. When we went to the dining hall, half of the seats were occupied, but the three of us were able to find a place to sit.
「U~n, as expected, Char-chan’s food is more delicious.」
「It tastes weird…?」
The meal that came was simple, consisting of roasted meat, soup, and bread. The sea was not far away, so the saltiness was there, but I usually ate food that was seasoned with spices, so I felt a little unsatisfied.
The next day, the breakfast was bread and soup that had been simmered until it was thick. Yesterday, Sakuya-chan wanted to chat until late at night, but she fell asleep early due to nervousness and fatigue, so she was a little dejected today.
Today, we were going shopping and it would be great if she was energetic though….