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Chapter 67: Former knight and merchant’s journey

“… Tto”

My body bounces from a big shake from the carriage. It was enough to wake me up from my sleep.
Although the highway is well maintained, it is made mainly of compressed by soil magic. If a horse carriage passes many times, it becomes distortion, and eventually it will start to have holes.

“Sorry, Felnote-san. Are you okay?”
“Well, I’m fine,”

I swing my arm and repond to Zeno who is driving the carriage. There is nothing serious, as my buttocks are numb and my chest bounces. I only need to adjust the position lightly, to calm the chest that got sluggish.

By the way, we are current talking with republican language. I remembered everyday conversation to some extent, and now I can use it fairly well.
It is quite different from the language of the kingdom, and there are places where language is a bit confusing, but I am used to it. If I keep use it, I will get better. 
When I remember, the confusing phrase from before come beautiful words, so it was mean “wind flow” in the republican language.

“How long will we arrive to Sakura-nomiya?”
“Well, I think we will arrive by nightfall.”

Zeno is a Merchant. He have worked in several towns before we came here, so it takes a long time to come so far.

… Well, it will be faster than Arge.

That girl is lazy and want to an easy. Even if she aim for the capital city, she will take a lot of time to sleep.
Unless she is picked up and carried by someone, she will not be ahead of me. No doubt.

“Arge, are you sure she come to Sakura-nomiya?”
“maybe”

It is quite uncertain to say here. But, perhaps Arge will aim for the capital.
Her aim is to have a three meal, sleeping and to be feeded, and it seems she don’t know anything about the world. Because her power is serious deal, it will be extra bad. Someone may take advantage her.
She has such a funny goal, but there are also unexpectedly cool parts.
If she moves, she will choose place with high possibility that there are people who will provide her. In other words, in order to raise the possibilities, she will go to many capital cities.

I have not thought how to find her, but I have asked around a lot. Zeno also told other peddlers to look for her.
She is a beautiful girl, with beautiful face and silver hair, pointed ears. A beautiful girl of absurdity. Once you have met, you can not forget her. And it will be easy to find her if she is walking in town.

It is no use trying to think about her when she was not found. So much time to reach this far. Yes, I can find her.
I will absolutely catch her. And let me tell you a true way to live.

“… Ah”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just now, cherry blossom petals are falling …”
“Sakura-nomiya is already close, and we are planting trees in villages and towns around here. so it’s no wonder why you see it here.”

A small petal that fits in the palm of my hand.
When I was wondering whether or not to touch it, the carriage shook tremendously. Apparently it seems to have gotten into a hole again.

“Ah”

By the time I realize, fragments of flowers are already flying in the sky.
Winds scoop petals, carriage movements leave it behind. I watched the petals that could not be seen beyond the meadow.

“The road maintenance is surprisingly bad, isn’t it?”
“Since there are a lot of carriages go back and forth, this place still far from capital. Even if we want to maintenance, it will be impossible to do immediately, maintenance itself is pretty much done by the commercial guild. We don’t have many earth magician to cover this far”

It’s true just like Zeno said. 
I have passed many other peddlers and merchants as we travel. Certainly with that many carriages, the road will also get damaged. And we are still far from capital, we can’t expect they maintain to even here. I said something foolish.

“I’m sorry, Zeno”
“No, I’m the one must say sorry, that we can’t go through a very pleasant road”
“It’s not Zeno’s fault.”

He only glance at me when we are talking. The basics of drive a carriage are he must look forward and manipulate the horses.
I can see it on his back. Even from here, I can see the sign of his bitter smile.
I haven’t been sleeping together (with Arge) for more than ten days already. (Withdraw symptoms ?) Unless she isn’t interested in me anymore or she doesn’t know how to meet me. That much subtlety will make me realize.

… I don’t care, though.

Even though I say we should have a dinner, she doesn’t have anything and just sleeping.
When I change clothes, she is still sometimes feel sorry for seeing it. So if you show your concern too, it’s confusing, so I’m trying not to say anything.

In the carriage that shakes strongly occasionally, I try to sit down but don’t relax. I must prepare myself for the next vibrations, to protect my butt. And also to move as soon as there is something happen.
Because the capital is near, I see that there are no thieves and demon raids, but I’m worried about meeting a big enemy. One moment distract during battle, it could be fatal.

As I prayed that there would be no trouble in our way, I was shaken by a carriage.
Sakura-nomiya is almost here.

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