Chapter 64: Rabbit-less moon

During the night, Carol and I took turns to act as a lookout.

Since Haru has to work as the coachman tomorrow as well, I had her sleep first.

Of course, I didn’t forget to use 「Clean」 in exchange for a bath.

Since Carol took the first shift as a lookout, Haru and I were resting on the carriage’s cargo bed wrapped in a blanket.

Of course, I kept doing that on hold today.

After all, I can’t possibly tire Haru out and above all else, the location was completely visible from the outside.

Since the carriage had sufficient space, I could sleep separated from Haru and didn’t have to suffer the feeling of nervousness for the whole night like during the night the day before yesterday.

I asked Carol to wake me up when the moon passes above the tree to the south.

Carol probably thinks that she must take the longer lookout shift because she is a slave but I also did not want to let a girl act as the lookout alone.

We ended up with our current roster after coming to an agreement.

Incidentally, I told her that I would act as the sole lookout from now on if she broke her promise.

“Ichino-sama, it’s time to switch.”

I was woken up by Carol.

Looks like it is time to substitute her.

The moon is certainly directly above the tree.

While rubbing my sleepy eyes, I sat on a rock close to the campfire.

When I gave a huge yawn, Carol sat opposite me.

“Ichino-sama, is it alright if we talk?”

“We can but it might be tough for you tomorrow you know?”

“It won’t be tough. Carol is the daughter of Peddlers okay? Carol is accustomed to something to this extent.”

Even if she’s the daughter of Peddlers, the parents would likely make the child sleep at night.

But, well, Carol can sleep inside the carriage anytime either way so it doesn’t matter.

“Ichino-sama, the stars are pretty right?”

“Yeah, really pretty.”

I wonder if there’s anywhere in Japan where you can see this much of the starlit sky?

I ended up thinking maybe if it is around the area of the uninhabited islands to the south.

“Carol thought that Carol would not be able to see the starlit sky ever again.”

” … I see, that’s true.”

After Carol became a Temptress, she could no longer go out at night due to her unique skill.

Since she would release pheromones that would attract monsters.

“Grace-sama often did it but normally, one would not allocate a private room to a slave. Even so, the nights were still lonely after all. Because of that, the day before yesterday, when Carol could sleep on the same bed as master, Carol was extremely happy.” (TL: I’m pretty sure the author meant Quince-sama)

“I see.”

“Last night too, even though that happened, Carol is still happy.”

“Un, please forget that.”

Rather, I also really want to forget about it soon.

In addition to forgetting, I’d like to not commit the same mistake.

And then,

“Today too, to be able to speak with Ichino-sama like this, Carol is extremely happy.”

” … Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“I see — alright.”

I patted Carol’s head.

I ruffled her purple hair.

Seriously, what a cute child.

As I ruffled her hair and pat her head, she leaned on my shoulder.

The purple hair was illuminated by the light from the campfire.

“Carol, are you sure you still don’t want to sleep?”

“A little longer — is it okay if I stay like this a little longer?”

“Yeah …… ”

The stars shined beautifully.

To top it off, a beautiful full moon was also shining.

No matter how hard I looked at the craters of the moon, there wasn’t the pattern of a rabbit.

※※※

Next morning.

The truth was that the 2 of us both slept — there wasn’t such a punch line, exactly 20 minutes later Carol fell asleep and there also wasn’t the punch line where we forgot to store the mana grass into my magic bag as they became dry just before dawn.

If anything, the fruits that I found yesterday were apparently not suitable for consumption when I showed them to Carol so we simply had our breakfast with the food inside my item bag.

Since we’ve crossed the mountain, maybe it’s fine to say that there was no mountain, no punch line, and no dawn.

Forgive me if I’m wrong about the 801 deployments. (TL: Don’t ask me … the author’s trying to be witty.)

Nevertheless, I used half of the recovered MP to perform Alchemy.

Hence, today’s job would be to think of a name for the horse that I’ve been postponing until now.

Hn, a white horse. Since I’m ignorant to horse racing, I only know of Oguri Cap but that was a stallion.

As expected, I have to decide on an original name.

White — Snow … Snowman.

What about Yukinobu.

Wait, it isn’t a name that fits this fantasy world.

“Snow … horse … horsesnow, wait, it feels like there’s no need for horse.”

If that’s the case, let’s try thinking from Haru’s name.

Since it was tamed by Haru either way.

Their colours are both white so the season that connects to that colour would be winter.

“Alright, Fuyun then. It’s also easy to remember.” (TL: Winter is pronounced as Fuyu)

I peeped into the carriage’s coachman seat and inquired about the white horse’s condition.

The white horse glared at me and snorted — that was how it felt to me.

No, it’s not a misunderstanding. It definitely made a fool out of me.

… This guy, shall I make you into horse sashimi?

“I think it’s a good name. What do you think? Fuyun.”

When Haru asked the horse, it neighed in high spirits.

Yup, I’ll definitely eat that horse someday.

※※※

After safely deciding on the horse’s name, we advanced further to the south.

When it became around evening, we spotted a town.

We could also see the river beyond the town. It was a huge river.

“It’s the border post town. Will we be entering Dakyat today? Or will we do so in the morning? The procedure to cross the border would take about 30 minutes.”

“Let’s enter if we can enter today. I’d like to have some information on Dakyat and it would be more convenient if we crossed the border.”

“As expected of master. To have such foresight.”

Haru praised me but isn’t it something that anybody would be able to think of?

“Ichino-sama, please take out the goods from your items bag.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

This time, we were entering the town as Peddlers.

Apparently, the town entry tax would be discounted.

Even though it’s also alright to pay a larger amount, we would have to pay for the country entry tax later as well. It never hurts to save.

“Come to think of it, if I change Haru and Carol’s jobs into Commoner, would half of the experience points be given to me and the remaining half distributed among the 3 of us when I pay the tax, similar to when I defeat monsters? Since we’re in a party.”

“No, only the person who pays the tax will gain the experience points.”

I see. So it won’t work that well.

Very well, let’s enter Dakyat.

I extracted more than half of the wooden boxes where the iron ores had been converted into pure iron as well as the peppers from my item bag as we went to enter the border town in order to enter the country that we have not seen before.

Author’s note:

I ended up accidentally leaving it as a draft. Sorry for being 55 minutes late.

It was a convenient time for conversations so Jofreli’s side story will be out tomorrow … or rather it would be shifted to today’s upload.

It was quite a hard trip where I considerably lacked sleep.