101.
The carriage raced along the level road without obstruction.
Beyond the window, buildings and people gradually grew scarce, and lush greenery filled the view instead.
For a short while, I watched the yellow sunlight filtering between the leaves.
Then, growing bored, I flung open the window and stuck my head out.
As I held down my hair with one hand while the wind tousled it, Prien’s horse soon came up alongside the carriage.
He leaned his upper body slightly down and peered inside.
“Is something the matter?”
“It’s already lunchtime. Aren’t you hungry? Do you want some of this?”
I asked, lifting the pouch of snacks Julie had packed for me.
His eyes curved as he smiled, and he bent his head a little closer.
“Then please give me just one.”
“All right.”
As I took a dried apricot from the pouch, our eyes met squarely.
Before my puzzlement could fade, his mouth opened.
Beyond the carriage window, which trembled slightly as it ran, the man with his hair swaying in the wind had lowered his head toward me and was holding his mouth open.
Thin shafts of sunlight slipping through the greenery shimmered and flowed over his face as though embroidering it.
As if bewitched, I lifted my hand and placed the dried apricot into his mouth.
The moment I did, Prien closed his mouth as though he had been waiting, and his eyes gently curved in a smile as if savoring the sweetness spreading over the tip of his tongue.
“Thank you.”
His horse drew slightly away from the carriage.
Perhaps because he was on horseback, unlike usual, his breathing was a little uneven, and his slightly flushed face shone so prettily beneath the natural light.
I wiped the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand, wondering if I had drooled.
Then I poked Jaka, who was leaning against my shoulder and half-dozing, in the side with my elbow.
“Did you see that just now?”
“……See what?”
“Didn’t it look like there was a halo shining behind Sir Ijanar?”
“…….”
Perhaps not wanting to answer, Jaka shifted and buried his face completely against my shoulder.
Since being carried along in the carriage was getting boring, I poked him in the side once more so he could no longer pretend to sleep.
“Don’t you feel inspired when you look at him? Like a desire to leave behind an immortal masterpiece?”
“No.”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“I’m not drawing that.”
I let out a breathy laugh, then spoke in a serious tone.
“Jaka, you shouldn’t call a person ‘that.’”
“…….”
“Then what if I ask you?”
“No.”
“Really? Truly?”
“If you kiss me.”
“…….”
“Then I’ll draw him for you.”
“…….”
Having successfully sealed my mouth, Jaka even folded his arms this time and closed his eyes in earnest, trying to sleep.
I stared down at Jaka, of whom I could only see the crown of his head from my angle.
“……Do you want to kiss me?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t?”
Jaka snapped his head up as if dumbfounded.
And as though I had been waiting, I popped a dried apricot into Jaka’s mouth.
Jaka’s brows twitched in a frown at the sudden ambush.
“It’s sweet, right? And tart.”
“…….”
Jaka stared at me as I grinned, then lowered his gaze.
Like a mother beast protecting her young from outsiders, Jaka had been stuck to my side the entire time, but I felt his taut nerves loosen a little.
The other two were riding outside, and he was the one pressed right beside me, so what was there to be so anxious and wary about?
Feeling Jaka’s body heat, which I had become almost used to by now after he had clung to me so much, I tilted my head with a small thud.
“……Give me another.”
I obediently opened the pouch, took out a dried apricot, and brought it to his mouth.
Since I was giving it to him while sitting beside him, I couldn’t see his face and ended up poking the corner of his mouth; Jaka turned his head and bit the dried apricot away.
Smiling, I brushed off what had gotten on the corner of Jaka’s mouth.
Even in that moment, the carriage continued to run steadily, and before long, we were right before the hub city leading to the north.
Even then, I never imagined that our awkward party of four, with nothing in common at all, would end up facing a troublesome situation.
* * *
“Oooh.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off the corn skewered on the stand, slowly turning.
It had been generously sprinkled with cheese and sauce, sizzling as it dripped down, and it smelled incredibly good too.
Floren, the hub city leading to the north.
Unlike the capital, the atmosphere here was quite relaxed, and there were many outsiders, merchants chief among them, so everywhere was noisy and bustling.
Since we had arrived a little after lunchtime, we had unpacked our luggage at the lodging and come out toward the shopping district to get something to eat.
“Street food is unsanitary, so let’s find a decent restaurant and go in.”
Noticing that I looked ready to untie my coin purse at any moment, Jaka quickly spoke first.
“But I want this.”
“If you still want it after we finish eating at the restaurant, then buy as much as you like.”
“That would be best.”
Prien also gently tugged my hand, blocking the corn stall from my view, and smiled beautifully.
I tore my regretful gaze away and looked up at Prien walking beside me.
“Have you all seen things like that before?”
“Is this your first time seeing it, Baron?”
“Yes. It’s fascinating.”
Feeling Prien watching me quietly, I belatedly tried to hide my flushed expression.
Come to think of it, this was my first time leaving the capital.
I wasn’t particularly active to begin with, so even when I first entered society, the number of times I went out to the suburbs could be counted on one hand……
After all, raising birds was something I could do even while holed up in the training grounds.
So while I had picked up many things here and there, almost everything I was seeing and experiencing firsthand was new to me.
“Now that I think about it, was the fireworks you did with me last time also your first time?”
“Huh? That’s right. That day was my first time trying it.”
I had seen other people playing with them on the street a few times, so I knew how it was done.
As we crossed the shopping street while chatting like that, the duke, who had been walking slightly ahead, slipped into a restaurant visible to one side, then came back out almost immediately and said,
“There are seats here, so we may as well have lunch at this place.”
The way he did it looked very natural.
I had only ever seen him go around with aides in tow, so when he said only he would join this trip, I had honestly felt somewhat suspicious.
But he actually seemed more comfortable and free moving on his own.
Thanks to that, the other three of us only had to obediently follow him around.
When I glanced at their expressions, no one seemed dissatisfied.
And then……
When it came time for us to sit at a table for four.
In other words, when I took a seat by the window without thinking.
I was able to realize without difficulty where the true problem with this party lay.
And perhaps also that the realization had come far too late.
With movements faster than I had ever seen from him, Jaka seized the seat beside me and sat down.
Prien, watching him steadily, took the seat across from me with elegant, refined movements.
Lastly, the duke, who had returned after ordering a suitable variety of dishes, paused for a moment in front of the table.
‘They’re doing this over something as simple as where to sit for a meal……?’
While my pupils trembled, the duke silently sat down in the seat diagonally across from me.
A short while later, after scanning the dishes being placed on the table, I asked quietly.
“Uh…… anyone want a drink with the meal?”
“You’re going to drink from the very first day of the journey?”
Jaka poured water into my glass as if there was no chance of that happening.
“This is a crowded, bustling city. Besides, we still have a long way to go before reaching our destination, so it would be best to refrain from drinking for the time being.”
Next was Prien.
Refusing to give up, I looked at the duke.
When, unusually, our eyes met, the duke raised one eyebrow and stared straight through me.
It was as if he were saying, ‘After the disgraceful scene you made the last time you drank, you dare say you want to drink again in front of me?’
I lowered my eyes of my own accord.
‘This…… wait a minute. Don’t tell me I’m going to be forced into abstinence for the entire journey?’
For the second time, my pupils were trembling violently, but unfortunately, there was no one who would save me from this tragedy…….
‘The soup…… is delicious…….’
Only the warm, savory mushroom soup comforted my heart.
“Eat some of this too.”
“That’s right. You look tired, and at times like this, you need to make sure you eat well.”
As I chewed and swallowed the things the two of them placed on my plate, I glanced at the duke.
He was silently cutting and eating his meat.
And that was when it happened.
Suddenly, the restaurant door flew open, and a group of people entered.
At a glance, they were a middle-aged man who was clearly an influential figure in this area, along with local nobles and armored private soldiers.
‘Ah, right. When we showed our passage permits at the city gate, the soldiers’ reactions were rather unusual.’
Without hesitation, I set down my spoon.
The man pulled a handkerchief from the inner pocket of his jacket and hurriedly looked around, wiping the beads of sweat rolling down his flushed face.
Then his gaze moved toward our party and fixed there.
“Y-Your Grace, Duke! If you had informed us of your visit in advance, we would have taken responsibility for holding a welcoming ceremony. Yes, please don’t do this. Allow me to invite you to the castle……”
“I refuse.”
“Ah, well, please don’t say that. You see, I am Bei, the lord who governs this area, including Floren……”
The group that had barged into the restaurant was not the end of it.
Those who appeared, cutting off the man’s words, were dressed in pure white attire,
and naturally, they were priests.
“Sir Ijanar, it is an honor that you have visited Floren. May you be at peace under the protection of the Lord God.”
“If it is not too much trouble, would you go to our temple located in the eastern part of the city and offer a few words of wisdom to the priests and knights……”
What should have been a very quiet and peaceful journey for me alone
was being magnificently shattered by my companions, who were beyond all standards.