Chapter Ten: Traveling Merchant
The next morning we went to the tailor, and that Otaku girl was waiting
for us at the door, a wide smile on her face. “It took me all night, but I finished! I think you’re going to like it.” She’d stayed up all night, but she was still chipper—practically
bouncing off the walls. She ran back behind the counter and returned with Filo’s new clothes in hand.
It was basically a white one-piece dress, but there was a large blue ribbon in the center. It was fringed here and there with blue ribbon for contrast. You could tell with one glance that it was well-made, and made full advantage of the materials.
It had a “simple is best” esthetic, the sort of clothing that chooses its
wearer. “Master! Am I supposed to wear this?” “Yeah.” “Yay!” She threw off the cape and stood there completely naked. “Stop that.” “But…” Raphtalia stopped her, and led her into the back of the shop. “Okay, so try transforming into your monster form.” I could hear the tailor’s voice echoing in the back room.
“Why?”
“If you don’t the ribbon will dig into you.”
“Oh no!”
That was an odd threat to make.
“Okay!”
I heard a loud thump as she transformed, and then…
“Yup… I knew it would look good.”
She sounded rather self-satisfied.
“Okay, let’s get going!”
“Yay!”
All the girls came out from the back room together, and I got my first look at Filo.
She was already a cute girl, so with the clothes she really did look like an angel.
She was in a white one-piece dress, with her white wings, and a large blue ribbon on her chest as an accent.
She was like a little 2D child angel heroine!
“Master!”
“Huh?”
“How do I look?”
“It suits you well.”
This Otaku girl really knew what she was doing. Who else could have come up with a design that worked so well with Filo’s appearance and specs.
“Ehehe.”
Filo looked a little embarrassed, but she played with the fringe on the skirt and spun in a little circle.
We left the tailor shop, and decided to head back to Riyute. To do so, we had to get Filo to pull our carriage. When Filo transformed into a Filolial, the clothes would disappear, but the ribbon would remain as a collar around her neck.
The clothes were expensive, but there had clearly been a lot of thought put into them.
“Oh, Shield Hero!”
We were leaving Castle Town when we happened to come across the witch from the magic shop.
“Are you on your way to Riyute?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m on my way there also. Could I trouble you for a ride?”
She was smiling.
We were going there anyway, and she had gone out of her way to help us, so it didn’t seem right to turn her down.
“I can’t guarantee a smooth ride, but you’re welcome to come with us.”
“I did ride in it two days ago.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right.”
Raphtalia had learned to fight her motion sickness by watching the horizon.
“Thank you, Hero.”
The witch climbed up into the carriage.
“All right, Filo! Let’s go, but take it slow.”
“Okay!”
All the pedestrians stopped to stare at Filo as we passed. They probably weren’t used to seeing talking monsters. We proceeded down the street slowly, to the tapping of Filo’s feet.
It felt like the last few days had been so busy. I mean, it always felt like the days were busy, but these last days had felt even more so. And to think, it was all Filo’s fault.
As for the witch… Well, I wanted to learn magic, but if I had asked right then, I couldn’t be sure how she would respond.
And I felt guilty for not studying as much as I should have.
The witch had given us those books, so I wanted to repay her kindness by studying from them. Yes, I’d have to devote more time to it.
I didn’t know all the ins and outs of this world like the other heroes did. So I had to be learning new things all the time. Even still, I needed to give special priority to learning the writing system, and to understanding the recipes I’d gotten. If I didn’t, it would be a waste.
“Huh… it’s so light.”
Filo was yawning as she walked, and now she started to mutter to herself.
There were three people in the carriage, and she was complaining that it
was too light?
This was good. I already had an idea what I wanted to try… and I’d need Filo to do it.
When we arrived at Riyute, the witch gave me 25 pieces of silver.
“What’s this for?”
“For the ride.”
“Oh… Thanks.”
Maybe we could make money off this too?
Riyute was still invested in rebuilding. I checked in at the inn, and the innkeeper gave us a friendly greeting.
“Okay, let’s get started on Raphtalia’s motion sickness training. Also known as: lumber transport duty.”
We’d agreed to help carry lumber in exchange for meat.
“Huh?!”
Raphtalia looked upset. Then again, she was going to have to fight motion sickness all day.
“We’re going to be carried around by Filo from now on, so you better get used to it.”
“Pfft. Fine.”
“Okay!”
“Filo, you’re going to do the pulling.”
“Okay!”
Apparently Filolials really did enjoy pulling carriages. Her eyes were shining she was so excited.
“Um… did you have some kind of plan?”
“Yes, I was thinking of becoming a traveling merchant. The local governor suggested it to me.”
“A traveling merchant?”
“Yeah. We don’t have all that many products, but I would focus on medicine and transport. We could cover a good range.”
“Hm…”
Raphtalia didn’t seem very interested. To be fair, it wasn’t like I had confidence that we would succeed. But we were about to start traveling anyway, so it seemed like a natural idea.
“Which means, if we started transporting things, that Filo will need to run at pretty much full speed. I can’t have you getting sick on me all the time.”
“I understand that, but…”
“Oh c’mon. I know a good, smooth place that should be pretty easy to start with. You can get used to it there.”
“You know a place like that?”
“Sure.”
And so, at the start of the day’s work, I put Raphtalia somewhere she wouldn’t get sick… on Filo’s back.
“Master, you can ride there anytime you want… but why do I have to give her a ride?”
Filo grumbled to herself as Raphtalia climbed up on her back.
“I feel the same way. This is so embarrassing.”
When Filo was in her Filolial Queen form, she was like a giant owl, which made sitting on her back look a little ridiculous.
“You comfy?”
“Yup, feels good!”
Maybe because this was her “real form,” Filo seemed perfectly content.
“Okay then, let’s go!”
“Yay! I’ll help you so much! I’ll be just as useful as Raphtalia!”
“It’s not a competition!”
“But I won’t lose!”
Filo, with Raphtalia on her back, started to pull the carriage.
With the weight of the carriage and us passengers, it must have been pretty heavy, but not heavy enough for Filo, apparently. What did they have to fight about? I spent the time on the road with my book open, studying the writing system and trying to translate the intermediate recipe book.
…Tap, tap.
……Tap, tap.
The rhythmic sound of Filo’s footsteps was excellent music for absorbing myself in the erudite and obtuse world of foreign character sets and language. But then I heard them…
“Why? Why in that form?”
“Huh? Because I want my master to be pleased!”
………Tap, tap.
“He’ll just be mad. You better stop.”
“But Master… Master likes people like you, doesn’t he?”
Huh? I looked up to see Filo transformed back in to a human, with Raphtalia still on her back. Raphtalia looked very uncomfortable, and she was talking to Filo, trying to get her to change back.
Some adventurers passed us on the street, and they pointed in our direction and started whispering among themselves.
“Stop acting like that! People are going to start gossiping!”
I could hear the rumors now. I bought a slave and put her on the back of another little girl, and forced them to pull my luggage carriage down the street. That wouldn’t reflect well on me at all.
“Really? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t pull the carriage as a human.”
“Fiiine.”
She gave a disappointed nod and turned back into a monster. It must have been boring for her or something.
Raphtalia wasn’t sick yet, so that was good. It was time to pick up the pace a little.
“Okay, Filo! Let’s speed up.”
“Yay!”
Raphtalia let out a yelp then hunkered down and grabbed tight to Raphtalia’s feathers.
That should get us where we were going faster.
We spent the next few hours working on Raphtalia’s motion sickness prevention practice.
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