208 – Journey to the North -1-

5 hours ago.

After a long carriage ride, I stretched my sore waist and looked up at the northern sky.

“Ugh…! It’s so dirty.”

I guess it’s because the north is at the end of the empire, but it took a long time by carriage. It must have been about a week. It was this much because the roads were in good condition, otherwise it would have taken fifteen more days.

I rode in an expensive carriage so the aftereffects were relatively less, but my body was still tired. We had been camping in the carriage for a week.

Surprisingly, the young lady didn’t throw a fit. Since the young lady spent her days on a fluffy bed, she must have been even more tired.

-Sleeping on the streets…! Like a beggar!

-You are a beggar, my lady. I am the wealthy one.

-Wow…!

Every time we had a campfire outside and slept on the streets, the young lady hummed a song in excitement as she looked forward to our northern journey.

I couldn’t understand why she was so interested in seeing the north. I had only ever read about its harsh environment and the hardships the characters endured in novels, but seeing the young lady smile like that made me dismiss my doubts.

The young lady must have a plan.

I firmly believed that she didn’t suggest going to the north on a whim, so I entrusted this trip solely to her.

I looked at the young lady after getting off the carriage and unloading the luggage.

“Hmm.”

We had a long journey ahead of us, so we had a lot of luggage to unload, but the young lady, who wasn’t doing anything, was sitting blankly on the Fairy 1 carriage.

“Whoa…! It’s snowing!”

The young lady exhaled a white breath from her mouth and rubbed her cold hands together. She didn’t seem to have any intention of helping.

I sighed and said to her,

“Didn’t you see it just a while ago?”

“That was tasteless snow. This is mature snow.”

The young lady, who had a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, sat in her wheelchair with a bright smile.

‘What will become of us?’

I bowed my head to the departing carriage and greeted it. I was grateful for its company on our long journey, even though it was a bit pricey.

“Thank you for your service. Please use this to cover your expenses on your way back.”

“Oh my, you don’t have to give me this… I’ve received too much already.”

“No, it’s nothing. You suffered because of us, so I’m sorry we can’t give you more.”

I handed the coachman a small tip, and he scratched his head, looking at me with a delighted expression.

“But are you really not going to reconsider? The atmosphere in the north isn’t good right now, and the monsters are in heat… It’s going to be too dangerous.”

I shook my head with a small smile at the coachman’s concern.

“It’ll be fine.”

“I can at least take your luggage to your lodgings.”

“Ah…”

I gave the coachman an awkward smile and replied that I hadn’t thought about lodgings.

The coachman looked at us with a blank expression, and we had to repeat that we would be fine about ten more times before he let us go.

“Then I wish you a pleasant journey. Please visit us again sometime…!”

“Thank you. The young lady should say goodbye too.”

“Take care.”

-Swish.

Now, where should we go?

The young lady and I stood there blankly, our luggage piled up beside us, in the middle of the northern city.

It was all well and good to start a journey, but we hadn’t made any detailed plans. Money could solve most problems, but even so, we hadn’t even secured lodgings or done anything else basic, so we just stood there blankly, gazing at the snowy mountains before us.

“Wow, it’s beautiful…”

“Yes, it is.”

The young lady turned her head and spoke to me.

“Riccardo, where are we going now?”

“Wherever you want to go.”

“…”

“Isn’t there anywhere you had in mind?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Why would there be?”

The young lady replied confidently.

She told me that there was no such thing as a plan in her mind, and that instead of thinking about such trivial matters, I should be looking at the snowy mountains in front of us.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to come to the North?”

“Mhm.”

“Isn’t there anything you want to see or eat?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Where’s my romantic bikini?”

“It ran away.”

“…”

The young lady said to me with a smile in her eyes.

“I don’t know! It’s a secret!”

As expected, is it a butler’s job to make plans? I sighed, blaming my past self for trusting the young lady. After all, with enough money, nothing is impossible.

Although I didn’t know if the young lady would like the plan I came up with in my dull butler’s mind, I smiled slightly and quickly racked my brain.

‘For the time being…’

I grab a nearby villager to ask about accommodation. I ask if there are any inns nearby where we can stay.

“Excuse me, I wanted to ask for directions. We’re tourists on a trip, and we’re looking for an inn nearby where we can stay for about ten days.”

“Pardon?”

“Yes.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

The villager from the north, wearing a thick fur hat, looked at the young lady and me as if we were strange.

Tilting his head as if to make sure he heard us correctly, the villager’s eyes widened as he looked at the suitcases piled up next to us.

“You’re here for a trip?”

“Yes.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“During the Frost Wolf Mating Season?”

“The young lady will have a good time sightseeing.”

“Mating…!”

The villager from the north looked at the young lady and me as if we were crazy. Then, shaking his head, he spoke in a calm voice.

“You’ll die if you do that.”

“It’s okay. Our lifelines are longer than you think.”

“Haha… Well, if that’s what you want to do, that’s fine, but what are you going to do? There’s nowhere to stay at the moment.

“What?”

“There are none.”

“…”

“All the decent inns are closed. There was a hotel on the outskirts, but it collapsed in an avalanche.”

With a hardened expression at the news that the last accommodation I had in mind had collapsed, I looked at the lady making a snowman with an undisturbed face and said,

“Miss, there’s nowhere for us to stay.”

“…Why?”

“They’re on strike. They say they make more money resting than spending on maintenance.”

“That’s clever.”

“Yes.”

I looked around at the residents and stood blankly on the windy street.

“Let’s go get something to eat for now.”

“What about our luggage?”

“Most of it is empty bags. It’s just some chocolate, a kitchen knife, a butler’s uniform, and a fur coat, so it’s okay even if it gets stolen.”

“Then why did you bring it?”

“I’m going to take it as a souvenir.”

“…”

The lady nodded, looking at me as if she didn’t understand.

“Okay.”

So we ate at a restaurant and went up to the northern mountains to aid digestion.

It wasn’t for any great reason.

Because it looked fun.

I thought that sledding was the first thing you should do if you came to a snowy mountain, so my lady and I entrusted our bodies to the steep slope with carefree hearts.

Since the Fairy 1 sled had a protective spell on it, we didn’t have to worry about safety, so we naturally began to enjoy the game.

– Wheee!

– Milady, please don’t press the acceleration button. You’ll get buried if you do.

– What? I can’t hear you well because of the wind! Hehe… Wheeee!

And so we continued to sled.

Luckily, we happened to meet the old man who ran the inn.

*

James hated the world.

Because the person he thought was a crazy guest was right before his eyes.

“Haah…”

In the inn where James had returned to after finishing his subjugation work, there stood a traveler with a heavy load.

– Are you open for business?

– Uh… well.

– Milady!

– Wheee! Let’s go!

James, who had been unable to do anything because they had entered quickly without giving him a chance to turn them away, was now facing a great crisis for the first time in the ten years he had been running the inn.

He wondered whether it was right to accept this guest.

James, who had just intuitively seen her sledding like a madman a while ago, couldn’t control his trembling shoulders.

-Hoo-hee-hee! This is fun! Let’s do it again!

-Haha! If I had caught you a little later, you would have fallen off the cliff, miss!

-Eek! I’ll try to drive carefully next time!

-It’s alright! I’m here, aren’t I?

James had received numerous guests, but this was his first time meeting a guest like this.

James let out a deep sigh and looked at the guest before him.

A tall, red-haired man.

A woman with an inconvenient leg.

‘Can it be…?’

The woman sitting in a wheelchair had a bag full of things piled up on her lap.

“Whew… It’s heavy…!”

“I’m okay.”

“Eek…!”

Judging from her appearance, she didn’t seem to be an ordinary person. I mean, from her mind to her status, she was complex.

Looking at her well-groomed hair, she didn’t seem to be a commoner, but looking at her behavior, she felt like a savage.

James couldn’t shake off an ominous feeling.

He instinctively felt that something would go terribly wrong if he received them as guests.

“Eek…!”

“Just bear with it a little longer.”

“Ricardo already put me down!”

“I’m okay.”

“I’m not okay!”

James had a strong feeling that he wouldn’t be able to spend his day quietly.

While James was lost in thought, he heard a tapping sound on the table. A red-haired man was looking at James with a small smile.

-Knock, knock, knock.

“Boss, by any chance, do you have a room available tonight?”

“What?”

“I came because I heard there were no vacancies at the nearby inns, and if this place is closed too, I’ll be in trouble… I can pay double… no, triple the usual price.”

James looked at the man and woman.

“Ugh…!”

“Don’t wipe it on your clothes, miss.”

“I don’t have a handkerchief.”

“Why don’t you ask me for one?”

“Then give it to me now.”

It was pitiful to see the woman with an injured leg, but her behavior made James feel like the inn would be in trouble if he let her stay.

James was deep in thought for about three minutes before he finally spoke.

-Slam.

The man placed a heavy purse of gold coins on the table and said,

“Do you have a room?”

It was too large an amount to refuse.

*

At the academy’s female dormitory.

Yuriah, who was sitting at her desk writing a letter to her father, was biting the tip of her pen with her lips, contemplating what to write.

“…”

-Hello, Dad!

It’s the first letter I’m writing since spring began.

I’m sorry I haven’t been able to write because the academy schedule has been so hectic lately… There’s so much to learn now that I’m in my third year.

·

“Haah…”

Yuriah couldn’t bring herself to continue writing. She wanted to write something that would make her father laugh, but she couldn’t.

Studying at the academy is tough.

I had a fight with Ruin.

She couldn’t decide what to write about the pagan issue. She had originally wanted to start off by bragging about her high ranking in the ranking battles, but she couldn’t even do that because of the pagan issue. Yuriah sighed deeply and погрузилась в раздумья.

In that instant, a certain story crossed Yuriah’s mind. It was a bit old, but it was something her father would know about.

About a friend who had helped her adjust to the academy. But she had sent him a letter saying she had fought with that friend and wasn’t speaking to her, so Yuriah began writing on the letter paper with a small smile.

-Oh, right, do you remember that friend I told you about before?

The one I ate with and who helped me when I got lost at the academy?

I wrote to you before that I had fought with that friend, but this time we were able to make up. It’s still a bit awkward, but I’m sure that if we take it slowly, we’ll be able to be close friends like before…?

Yuriah began filling the page of the letter, smiling slightly.

And on the last line, she began to carefully write a letter to her father, full of worry.

– I hear there has been an increase in monsters in the north these days. I hope you aren’t doing anything dangerous…!

– I miss you. Dad.

– Your loving daughter.

*

At that moment.

“Don’t you have any intention of dating my daughter…?”

James was pressing the red-haired man.