Return to Labyrinth City
Satou here. Optimization and efficiency are important to any working adult in the business world, but when your boss is big on cutting costs, it can be suffocating. If you ask me, a good work-life balance is the real key to good productivity…
“It’s been a long time since we traveled by carriage like this.”
We had just left the royal capital, divided into four horse-drawn carriages.
“Master, I’ve been wondering why we left through the south gate. I thought we were heading straight to Labyrinth City?”
I guess I didn’t explain this to the others yet.
“We’re going by carriage to a town to the south called Mimani; then we’ll go downstream by boat to the city at the branching part of the river.”
“Traveling downstream, huh? Sounds like fun.”
I was curious to try this method myself after hearing about it at Mrs. Litton’s salon party. We’d mostly traveled by air or teleportation between Labyrinth City and the royal capital thus far.
As we discussed this, our carriages arrived at the lakeside town of Mimani.
We sent the borrowed carriages back toward the capital, and I had Arisa store the golem horses and armored carriage from the ministry in a subdimension created by her Space Magic spell Garage while Karina and company weren’t looking.
“Lake.”
“It’s a wellness resort, sir!”
“Cyna told uuus.”
The town of Mimani was close to the royal capital and served as a resort destination for nobles and other wealthy clientele.
When Pochi and Tama came here on their preschool field trip, Marquis Kelten’s daughter Cyna told them about the resort.
“Wow. You can tell from how nice the town is that it’s a resort.”
“Yes, Arisa. The tiny flowers hanging on the verandas are very cute, I report.”
“The breeze from the waterfront is so nice and cool.”
Arisa, Nana, and Lulu seemed very taken with the town.
“Huit likes the spinny-spin!”
“That is a windmill, I report.”
“I wish to see it up close, I declare.”
Several of Nana’s sisters, led by the youngest, Huit, took off in the direction of the windmill at the center of town.
“Ah! Stop right there, all of you!”
The eldest sister, Adin, hurried off to stop them.
Seems like the sensible member of the group always gets the short end of the stick.
Watching the sisters sprint away, I used the Space Magic spell Telephone to let Adin know there was nothing to worry about.
“Look at all those little boats docked around the edge of the lake.”
“Fishing boooats?”
“They catch lots of fish, sir!”
Tama and Pochi proudly responded to Liza’s observation.
“They must serve delicious seafood in this town, I say.”
“Can’t wait for dinner, huh, Lady Karina?”
Karina and her guardian maid Erina looked eager.
“That’s really all you two have to say about this beautiful scenery…?”
The newbie maid shook her head wryly at the conversation between her master and the senior maid.
I think having a healthy appetite is a good thing, though.
“I’m surprised they served trout, not sakura salmon.”
“Mister Trout was tasty, too, sir!”
“Oui, ouiii?”
“It was delicious, of course,” Arisa reassured the indignant Pochi and Tama.
The restaurant, which I’d been told at the salon was the best in town, lived up to its reputation.
“The grilled fish was delicious, of course, but I especially enjoyed the rich, buttery meunière.”
“Yes, that was exquisite.”
Liza nodded in agreement with Lulu.
“Tria wants to know how to make meunière!”
“Let’s make it together when we get to Labyrinth City.”
“Yes, Lulu. Tria is looking forward to it!”
The third sister, Tria, seemed thrilled about her promise with Lulu.
“Grilled mushroom, yummy.”
“Yes, Mia. The dessert was delicious, too, I report.”
“That grilled apple was on par with Lulu’s or Satou’s cooking, I must say.”
“Mm, agreed.”
“Huit can eat sweets forever, I declare!”
The other sisters all nodded in agreement with the youngest of their number.
The extravagant cuisine here owed much of its deliciousness to fresh ingredients and local specialties like Ohmi butter and Lalagi sugar.
Since everyone seemed to like it so much, I decided to stock up on Lake Mimani’s jasper trout and Ohmi butter before we left town.
“We spent so much time at the market that I thought we weren’t going to make it.”
“Yeah, we did cut it close.”
Still, even if we hadn’t made it in time, we could’ve just stayed in Mimani for a night.
Although the boats technically carried only eight passengers, we were able to fit into two, since the youngest kids were so small.
Nana and her sisters were on the second boat, while the rest of us squeezed into the first.
“Mister Captain, do you fight with that pole, sir?”
“Nah, monsters hardly ever show up in this river. This pole’s for pushing the boat along or changing its direction, like a rudder.”
“Très bieeen?”
Our captain answered Pochi’s questions cheerfully.
In the boat behind us, a younger captain was turning bright red as he answered even more curious questions from Huit and the other sisters.
“I could get used to these relaxing riverboat rides.”
“Mm, elegant.”
Traveling downstream was a good choice. The breeze felt great, too.
“Ah! I see fish, sir!”
“Let’s catch ’eeem?”
“You’re liable to fall in if you lean over the side like that, little missies.”
“We’re fiiine?”
“Exactly, sir! We won’t fall in, sir.”
“You mustn’t stress the captain like that, you two.”
Liza dragged Pochi and Tama back to their seats.
Incidentally, Karina tried to lean over the side, too, but I quickly signaled her maids to stop her. That could only have ended badly.
“We’ll be entering the rapids soon, so grab on to the handrails or the safety ropes, please. You’ll want to hold your little ones tight there, too. There’s waterproof cloth under the benches if you’re worried about getting wet.”
Judging by the captain’s warnings, this riverboat ride was about to get a lot less elegant.
“Mm, hold.”
“Mia, no fair hogging him!”
“Halfsies.”
Uh, I’m pretty sure sitting on either side of me would be safer than both of you squeezing onto my lap…
When Tama tried to join in on the turf war taking place on my legs, Liza held her firmly until she gave up. Her pouty face with her ears pressed down was adorable, though.
“Here come the rapids!”
The captain smoothly guided the boat through the churning white water.
“Eeeeeek!”
Each time the ship veered to one side or the other with a splash of the paddle, the girls shrieked, and delighted screams rang out whenever water splashed over the sides.
I thought about using Wind Magic or Practical Magic to block the splashes, then decided that this was part of the fun of this downstream ride. We could always use magic to dry our clothes off afterward.
“Aaaah, that was fun!”
To my surprise, that exclamation came from Lulu, not Arisa.
Her eyes were sparkling, her cheeks flushed. I bet she’d love a roller coaster or drop tower ride in a modern-day amusement park.
“Again! Pochi wants to ride the rapids again, sir!”
“Tama, toooo, one more tiiiime?”
“I’d love to do that again sometime, too.”
“You’re a tough cookie, newbie.”
“Once was enough for me, thanks. My head is spinning.”
Tama, Pochi, and the newbie seemed to have enjoyed the rapids as much as Lulu.
While Karina looked like she’d had fun, too, she’d gripped the handrail so tightly that she snapped it and nearly went overboard in surprise.
Surprisingly, Erina and Arisa had apparently had their fill.
“There weren’t any monsters on the riverbank, but I did see a fair amount of goats and grizzly bears. There were plenty of fish in the shade, too. It might be fun to travel alongside the river sometime.”
Liza had used her exceptionally sharp vision to observe the local prey animals. I should’ve expected no less.
I had fun, too; it might be nice to invite Hikaru and some other friends from the royal capital on a ride sometime.
About a half hour after the rapids, we reached the wharf, where we split into stagecoaches and headed for the crossroads city, Kelton.
There, we stayed in a nobles’ inn for the night. The next morning, we rode golem horses made with Earth Magic and disguised as regular horses all the way to Labyrinth City. The golem horses were incredibly fast, since they never get tired.
“We’re heeere?”
“It feels like ages since we last saw this place.”
When we arrived at Labyrinth City, we entered through the nobles’ gate in the east.
“You can smell the meat skewers from here, sir!”
“I need to greet the viceroy. The rest of you are free to go wherever you like.”
As Pochi sniffed the air eagerly, I grinned and gave everyone free rein until dinner.
Of course, it would be rude to go greet the viceroy in my dust- and dirt-covered travel clothes. I planned to head to the mansion and get cleaned up before the visit.
“Ah! It’s the young master!”
“Welcome back, young master!”
As we proceeded down the mazelike paths of Labyrinth City, townspeople and fellow explorers spotted us here and there and waved excitedly.
“Welcome home, sir.”
Since I’d sent the newbie ahead to let them know we’d arrived, the head maid, Miss Miteruna, and the gaggle of younger maids of our mansion were all ready to greet us.
“Pochi’s going to say hello to Effie and Rye, sir.”
“Tama will say hi to Runny and Saur?”
Pochi and Tama set off to the stables to see our horses and runosaurs.
“Mister Viscount!”
“Welcome hooome!”
The kids from the orphanage came running over, presumably tipped off by the ones who spotted us when we first arrived, practically tripping over themselves to welcome us back.
“Young masterrr!”
This time, we were waylaid by the Pendra kids, graduates of the explorers’ school. The ones I didn’t recognize must have been current students. Behind them were some of their teachers: Mr. Kajiro, Ayaume, and Iruna and Jena of the Lovely Wings.
“Sir Satou!”
“Knight—no, Viscount Pendragon. Congratulations on your promotion.”
“Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. We must celebrate thy promotion to viscount.”
Princess Meetia of the Nolork Kingdom and Baronet Dyukeli’s daughter Mary-Ann also came to greet us. Behind them was the viceroy’s third son, Gerits; Baron Tokey’s son, Luram; and the other boys.
“Thank you very much. Congratulations on formally coming of age, too, young ladies.”
The two girls smiled, looked slightly shy.
Soon, some of our neighbors and contracted farmers swarmed over to greet us, too. By the time we were caught up, the sun had set.
Greeting the viceroy would have to wait until the next day.
I had Miss Miteruna send a letter to him since it would be rude to show up without an appointment.
While I was hurrying through some work in my study, I heard the kids outside having a barbecue.
“Arisaaa! I learned all my letters!”
“Arisa, I learned my arithmetic, too!”
The older kids from the orphanage were telling Arisa about their accomplishments in the time we’d been away.
“Heh-heh, I even learned how to do chants!”
Now that’s impressive.
This was a different girl, not the boy who’d been using Everyday Magic to flip girls’ skirts when we left Labyrinth City.
Since they were working so hard, maybe I should send the kids with especially good grades to study at the academy in the royal capital.
“Maybe having some kids around would make Hikaru less lonely, too?”
Mumbling to myself, I wrote down some ideas on a random memo pad.
“Masterrrr! Hurry, hurryyyy! We’re running out of meat!”
“Coming,” I called back to Arisa, and left the study.
I sent out a messenger to invite Zena and the rest of the Seiryuu County folks to the barbecue, but I was told they were away on a mission to the labyrinth. That was too bad. I’d have to invite them over another day.
Later, the guildmaster and some of our other drinking buddies showed up with bottles in hand, while General Erthal snuck in incognito, accompanied by the fox officer and his commander. The guildmaster eventually cut a little too loose and started doing party tricks with Fire Magic, forcing her secretary, Miss Ushana, and counselor Cebelkea to stop her; meanwhile, the fox officer misspoke and got bonked on the head repeatedly by his captain. Overall, it was a very lively evening indeed.
“Sir Pendragon, congratulations on your promotion.”
I was visiting the viceroy’s palace, where I was reunited with the former Count Poputema, formerly known as the green-clad noble.
Unlike when he’d been controlled by a demon’s Spirit Magic, he looked like an ordinary noble, and no longer said “indeed” or wore strange green makeup.
“Your recovery is cause for celebration, too, Your Excellency.”
“Indeed, this, too, is thanks to the viceroy and his wife for purchasing the elixir, and in fact to you yourself for acquiring it from the floormaster.”
The last time we met, he’d lost the lower half of his body in the incident with the demonic Ludaman and was being kept alive by a magic contraption in the viceroy’s mansion. Now, thanks to the elixir the viceroy’s wife won in the auction, his health had nearly recovered.
“Why don’t you two have a seat, hmm?”
At the prompting of the smiling viceroy’s wife, Marchioness Ashinen, we sat down in the comfortable sofas of her parlor.
“Perhaps the topic of today’s tea party ought to be your miraculous promotion from honorary knight to viscount, Sir Pendragon?”
“There’s not much I can say, since it was all decided without my involvement…”
Still, I told her everything I knew, after that disclaimer.
“Oh, my. So you were originally meant to be promoted to baron?”
“That’s quite impressive. I suppose His Majesty must have decided that a baronet or baron would be insufficient honors and chose on his own to make you a viscount instead. As far as I know, such a thing has never been done before in all recorded history.”
“I’ve certainly never heard of such a thing.”
If these two well-informed nobles didn’t know of any precedent, this must be an extremely rare case, all right.
They asked me what I had done in front of the king; I told them all I could think of was sparring and training with the Shiga Eight Swordsmen alongside my companions at the Holy Knights’ barracks, helping fend off the monsters that invaded during the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony, and so on.
I left out anything Kuro and Nanashi had done behind the scenes, since those weren’t technically “Satou’s” accomplishments.
“I see. In that case, I suppose it’s natural that the king would have such high hopes for your future after witnessing such things.”
“Why not put your name in the ring for the Shiga Eight candidates? I’d imagine that you and Lady Kishreshigarza would be more than qualified, no?”
I brushed off the viceroy’s wife’s half-joking suggestion with a smile.
A position like being a protector of the Shiga Kingdom would only hinder my dream of traveling around the world.
I’ll leave that kind of thing to people with more patriotism and ambition.
“Besides, the prime minister has appointed me Vice-Minister of Tourism. I’d like to focus on those duties for the time being.”
The viceroy’s wife and Poputema exchanged glances that seemed to say “Ah yes, that.”
“Perhaps that is a better role for you, Sir Pendragon.”
“Given that you have mended the notorious rift between our Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen, I am sure you’ll be perfectly up to the task.”
“That reminds me, Ema wrote to me in a letter that you also managed to befriend the famously fickle and hard-to-please Prince Smartith of Blybrogha Kingdom. However did you manage a feat like that?”
As entertainingly as I could manage, I related the tale of the treasure of Blybrogha Kingdom that Shadow Thief Sharururuun stole.
The story was mostly well-received, although I noticed they looked askance when I mentioned how much I enjoyed the cuisine of the leprechaun kingdom. I guess it’s a little strange for most people.
“Since you’ve been appointed Vice-Minister of Tourism and all, will you be leaving us for the royal capital again?”
“No, not for the moment. Once I get my new companions all set up for training here, we’ll be traveling around to various nations for a while.”
“Traveling, eh…? Well, if you go to the western part of the continent, be sure to gather up enough information beforehand so that you won’t get caught up in any conflict. The area of Parion Province is especially prone to ongoing strife. They use the authority of Goddess Parion to arbitrate conflicts between their neighbors, but the other nations do not think very highly of their actions. Be extra careful if you choose to visit there.”
I made a note in my memo tab about former Count Poputema’s warning.
Since our current destination was the collection of small nations in the north of Shiga Kingdom, it would probably be a while before we went sightseeing in Parion Province; still, better safe than sorry.
“Will Lady Karina be joining you on your journey?”
“No, she intends to stay in Labyrinth City and continue training.”
While we were on the subject, I asked the viceroy’s wife to look after Miss Karina and Nana’s sisters after we left, to which she readily agreed.
Next, I told her I wanted to invest the same amount of money she’d spent on the elixir into the betterment of Labyrinth City, only for her to scold me for being so distant.
She must have mistaken it as an offer of thanks for her looking after my friends because of the order of the conversation.
Fortunately, she accepted my investment once I cleared up the misunderstanding.
The money I invested would be used for things like expanding the experimental farms and giving loans to up-and-coming artisans and young businesspeople. I was starting to feel like a venture capitalist.
After my morning visit with the viceroy’s wife, I took Nana’s sisters to the west guild.
“We wish to register, I report!”
The youngest sister, Huit, marched up confidently to the counter.
“Are those new members of the young master’s crew?”
“Damn, what a bunch of babes.”
“Are you morons blind or what? They all look exactly like the Shield Princess!”
“That many Shield Princesses? Are they gonna take on a floormaster all by themselves or what?!”
The explorers in the hall all whispered about the sisters.
When the attendant offered their explorers badges on a plate, Huit tilted her head.
“Why not a wooden badge? I inquire.”
“Satou vouched for you gals’ strength at last night’s banquet. So I don’t mind starting you out with bronze badges. The garnet badges you’ll have to earn with regular delivery of cores like anyone else.”
The guildmaster personally gave Huit her bronze badge.
She must have gone out of her way to get them ready after I told her at the barbecue that I was planning to register the sisters as explorers.
“Thank you for your kind consideration, Guildmaster.”
“Huh, this one speaks normally. Well, make sure nobody gets hurt, all right?”
The guildmaster smiled at Adin, the eldest.
Since the homunculi sisters were raring to go into the labyrinth right away, I put Nana and Mia in charge of guiding them. The beastfolk girls had already gone in with Miss Karina and company that morning.
Once we all went into the labyrinth, Arisa and I went off on our own.
“Should we start in area eleven as usual?”
“No, that area’s been crowded lately. Let’s go somewhere less populated, like area nine.”
We were discussing where to set up a teleport mirror. I figured it would allow Nana’s sisters to easily get into the deeper parts of the labyrinth.
“Wow, not a soul in sight! This place sure is unpopular.”
“That’s why I chose it.”
We used Arisa’s Space Magic to take a shortcut straight to the border between area four and area nine. From there, I carried Arisa and traveled via “Skyrunning.”
“Maybe around here?”
“Let’s go a little farther in.”
On my map, I saw a perfect little spot in an upcoming dead-end passage. I could tell it would be perfect for discreetly setting up a teleport mirror.
We got there in no time with my “Skyrunning.”
Then I used the Earth Magic spell Create Stone Object to create a little stairwell invisible from the main path.
“I don’t know how you find these places.”
“You should be able to do the same with your Space Magic, you know.”
“Whaaat? I wouldn’t investigate such a complicated area unless I absolutely had to.”
I took out the teleport mirror as I chatted with Arisa.
“Whoa, it’s huge!”
Arisa exclaimed in surprise at the size of the mirror.
Unlike the more advanced ones I used to connect our royal capital manor to our secret base, this teleport mirror was much larger, and could only connect to specifically set locations. In exchange, it cost less mana to operate, and the large size discouraged thieves from stealing it, handily offsetting the disadvantages.
I made a set of three of these mirrors to connect three different areas of the labyrinth.
In front of the teleport mirror, I used Create Stone Object to make a stone pillar with written instructions for using it. At Arisa’s suggestion, I made the text sort of riddle-like to give the whole thing a very mysterious air.
“How are we going to get to the next teleport point?”
“We can just use Return. It’s a spot I’ve used for hunting before.”
I’d chosen each teleport destination in places with lots of monsters that weren’t too dangerous. They were populated by monsters with levels in the tens, twenties, and thirties, respectively.
We briskly moved from place to place, and Arisa helped me set up more teleport mirrors that would connect to the first one. The mirrors were operated by inserting a core in the slot I’d attached to each one.
“Will anyone else have access to these besides Karina and Nana’s sisters?”
“Yeah, I plan to tell Miss Zena and the Pendra kids about it, too.”
“Even the soldiers from Seiryuu County?”
“Of course. I’m hoping to open it up to any interested explorers in the long run.”
For now, I planned to limit usage to people who carried a particular item.
As long as I registered holders of the item to the list of permissions to operate the teleport mirrors, it could be anything from a blue ribbon to a dancing frog doll.
“You don’t think this third spot will get oversaturated right away?”
“No, it’ll be fine. You can reach a neighboring area easily from here.”
There was a dangerous zone nearby where areamasters sometimes passed through. However, they were all exceptionally large, so it should be easy enough to avoid them as long as people weren’t being completely loud and stupid.
While I told Arisa all this, I went around setting up hunting ground facilities in each teleport destination like the one I made for Zena’s team.
That was enough work for one day. I decided to tell the sisters and Karina about it tomorrow.
The next day, Nana and the beastfolk girls took Nana’s sisters into the labyrinth right away, heading in to explore the areas I’d just set up with the teleport mirrors. Karina and company joined them, too.
Since maze frogs were the mainstay of the level ten area, we’d probably be having deep-fried frog for dinner that night.
Because Zena and friends were still exploring the labyrinth as well, I decided to go visit Hikaru in the royal capital to talk to her about the possibility of the kids studying abroad.
When I teleported to Mitsukuni Manor, Hikaru greeted me with a smile.
I had my hood pulled down over my eyes, since the maids were present, too.
“Ichiroooou!”
For some reason, she’d gone back to calling me “Ichirou” instead of “Satou.”
Once Hikaru sent the maids away, I removed my hood.
“What’s going on? It’s only been a few days—did you miss me that much already?”
“I wanted to bring you some food, plus I’ve got a little idea to discuss.”
“Mimani Lake jasper trout! Oh, this stuff is the best!” Hikaru exclaimed, then paused. “What’s the idea?”
“I told you we’re running an orphanage in Labyrinth City, right? I was hoping some of the kids there with good grades could study abroad at the royal academy. Do you think you’d be able to look after them, maybe even be a dorm mother?”
“Oh yes, absolutely! I’d love to be a dorm mother!”
She seemed very enthusiastic about the idea. If anything, I felt a little bad about leaving her here in the royal capital.
Since she tended to get lonely easily in spite of her seemingly carefree attitude, I bet she was looking forward to taking care of the kids.
“I was thinking of using part of my royal capital manor as the dorm. Maybe I should rent someplace closer to the academy instead, though?”
“Hmm, maybe? The Pendragon house is a little far.”
“I’ll send a letter to the Echigoya Company asking them to make arrangements, then.”
“Oh, I can do that much myself.”
Hikaru made a grabby-hands gesture, so I wrote a quick letter and gave it to her, along with money for the estimated budget.
“I know! I’ll have to get an apron with little chirping chicks on it, and a bamboo broom!”
That’d be a landlady, not a dorm mother.
Keeping my comment to myself, I instead gave her an apron and broom from Storage.
Hikaru has a tendency to make references to famous old manga at the most random times.
I think she said once that she picked it up from her aunt?
“Wow, did you come prepared or what?”
“Nana likes those aprons.”
Since Nana loves anything with baby birds on it, I had several such aprons in Storage.
I stuck around for a little afternoon tea with Hikaru. Then, since she still seemed reluctant to part, I accompanied her on a stroll around the royal capital. I wore a disguise mask, since just a hood wouldn’t be enough to hide my identity, though.
Still, if this was enough to alleviate her loneliness, I’d have to visit more often.
“Master, we will be back, I bravely declare.”
“Tria too! Tria will do her best.”
Huit, Tria, and the other sisters looked resolute.
On the third morning since our return from the royal capital, Nana’s sisters were departing for their labyrinth training adventure under Mr. Kajiro’s guidance.
Karina was supposed to join them, but she wound up staying behind because she got word that a package had arrived for her from Muno County at the viceroy’s residence.
On the upside, this meant that she was able to join us in recreating recipes from the book of legendary court cuisine that Zena gave me when she returned from the labyrinth that day.
Karina seemed especially delighted by the cuisine.
The dishes we made that day included dragon steak, behemoth and mandragora stew, and Phoenix salad, all of which were utterly delicious.
Of course, I also delivered those dishes to Nana’s siblings in the labyrinth, Hikaru, my beloved Miss Aaze of Bolenan Forest, and even Rei and Yuuneia on Paradise Island, all of whom gave them rave reviews.
“Master, the chef we requested to teach the cooking class accepted our offer. Could you look at the recipes for the class later?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Master, we were contacted about the possibility of offering the woodworking class at the orphanage to retired explorers as well, I report.”
“Fine by me, as long as the teachers are okay with it. Let me know if they need money or a bigger location.”
“Satou, music class.”
“It’s already in the works. I made a soundproof room in the same building as Lulu’s cooking class and put in orders for instruments and sheet music.”
“Young master, Sir Skopi of the Mud Scorpions has sent an inquiry about the job training institution planned for the factory town area.”
“I’ll write a reply right away. Keep the messenger on standby, please.”
I answered one rapid-fire request after another.
There were projects in the labyrinth itself, too, not just in the city.
“Master, Huit wants a runosaur, I declare.”
“What for?”
“To travel within the labyrinth, I report. It would be convenient for scouting, I declare.”
I thought about Huit’s request.
Runosaurs might actually be a good fit for labyrinth use, since they can travel long distances and have strong night vision.
And there aren’t many places to use runosaurs within Labyrinth City, so they’ve only been running around in the fields and such.
“All right. You can try it out. If the runosaur doesn’t want to go in, though, that’s that. Okay?”
“Yes, Master. The runosaur did not seem to mind at all, I report.”
Apparently, she’d already tried it.
I gave permission as long as she made sure to be safe.
With all this going on, our weeklong stay in Labyrinth City went by in a flash.
Before we knew it, the time came for us to depart.
“Sir Satou, this is a safe-travel charm I acquired at Parion Temple.”
“Thank you, Miss Zena.”
Zena came to see us off and gave me a protective charm.
“We plan to be in Labyrinth City for a full year, but we may be sent back to Seiryuu City temporarily next month to give an interim report.”
“Got it. I’ll make sure I stop by the castle or the barracks if we’re near Seiryuu City, then.”
Currently, the plan was to go to Yowork Kingdom, then wander the small central nations for a while, and finally go investigate Hero Summoning circles in the Saga Empire. Still, depending on where Zena’s marker was, it might not be bad to stop by Seiryuu City, too.
We had a lot of friends there, anyway. I’m sure Pochi and Tama would love to see Yuni at the Gatefront Inn, Mia could visit Nadi and the boss at the general store, and Liza probably had old friends she’d like to see, too.
“Satou, take this.”
“Wait…” I looked at the object Karina handed me in surprise. “Isn’t this the demon-sealing bell?”
“Yes, Mr. Raka suggested I should lend it to you in case you run into demons on your journey.”
“You may have no need of it, Sir Satou, but you ought to have a means of dispelling demons if they possess innocent people.”
It certainly would be convenient to have a demon remover.
I’d already taken out all the demons near Labyrinth City, so they probably wouldn’t show up here for a while.
“Thank you very much, Lady Karina. And you, too, Raka.”
I bowed my head appreciatively and reached for the bell.
Suddenly, Karina grabbed my hand and pulled me in.
“Huh…?”
I felt something soft on my skin.
For just a moment, Karina had kissed my cheek.
“Guilty!”
“Hey! What was that all about?!”
The iron-wall duo pulled Karina away.
“I-it is simply a good-luck charm for the journey, I say.”
Miss Karina turned bright red as she made her excuse.
“Tama tooo?”
“Pochi wants one, too, sir.”
Tama and Pochi pressed toward their friend.
“Nice one, Lady Karina!”
“Aww, I didn’t think she’d go through with it.”
“Come on, Erina, don’t sulk. If you’re that jealous, why not give Sir Viscount a hug?”
I overheard Karina’s maids having a hushed argument.
“Go on, Zenacchi! Quit dawdling and kiss him on the other cheek!”
“Yeah! You gotta step up or you’ll fall behind!”
“Hang on a minute, you two…”
“…Right!”
Spurred on by her comrades Lilio and Lou, Zena steeled herself, ran over to me, and actually did plant a kiss on my other cheek.
For a moment, our eyes ended up meeting.
“…It’s a good-luck charm.”
Looking away, she repeated Karina’s excuse with a mumble.
She must have acted on the spur of the moment and gotten embarrassed after.
“All right, let’s get outta here before all the other girls try and join in!”
“Mm, hurry.”
Half-howling, Arisa gave the signal to Lulu in the coachman’s seat.
Mia did the same as she pulled me by the hand into our carriage.
“Have a safe trip, young master!”
“Be careful out there, sir!”
“May fortune favor you, Master!”
As we hurriedly set off, the crowd that had gathered to see us off all called after us cheerfully.
Zena and Karina called out my name just as loudly, waving with the best of them.
We waved back twice as hard so that they could see us even as the carriage trundled away.
Having a lively send-off like this is nice once in a while, too.
When we returned, I’d have to shower them with lots of stories from our travels, along with plenty of delicacies from all over the world.
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