Chapter of Unknown Promise: Departure from Lafria

“I. Am. Bored!”

I declared in a loud voice, throwing up my arms in the air and letting myself fall back.

“I am seriously bored!”

“You’re not the only one, Yumi, but you shouldn’t shout like that.”

“But it’s frustrating, Sis!”

It had been three days since our departure from the capital Larfas of Lafria Kingdom. Three days with so little to do it was frustrating. Even though our break time had ended now, we were, in a way, still on a forced break. Outside of our regular duties like cooking, there was nothing we had to do.

“Then, what do you want to do about it?”

“I don’t know, that’s why it’s so frustrating. Haaa… If only Ria was here, we could do some work at least...”

“She’s busy with her own research.”

“I know that…”

But without her, we weren’t allowed to do our own experiments. Sure, that was pretty much our own fault it had ended up like that. And right now, I deeply regretted my stupidity from back then.

“I wish we could already be at the fort…”

“We’re not even halfway, Yumi. Not even remotely.”

“Ugh… I thought Lafria was a lot smaller than the empire?”

“It is. But you can’t travel to the border in just three days nonetheless.”

“It wasn’t that far from Arkesta to Larfas.”

Admittedly, that also took longer than three days. But there had been many other things on our minds at the time, so it hadn’t been as boring as it was right now.

“Because we crossed the Hollow. If we had to take the regular route it would have taken even longer than the trip from Larfas to Auria.”

“Huh… How do you know that?”

“Miss Fenna told me about their regular travel route yesterday. The mercenaries used to take the long route before the fort and the bridge had been established.”

“Huh… Where else did they travel?”

“From Aldreigh the Akkian Empire to Lafria and Krohmea, then to Aldreigh. After Aldreigh, they’d travel a few countries to the east of Aldreigh before returning.”

That was quite a long route.

“Miss Fenna also said that route would take them around three years on average.”

“Years?!”

“Yes, years.”

“Holy…”

Correction, it was an incredibly long route.

“Three years… That’s crazy.”

“Don’t forget they can’t really travel during winter, either. That’s why it takes so long.”

“Oh, that’s true.”

Still, I could barely imagine needing that long. In my old world, travelling had become so fast that spending years just seemed so… unbelievable. Not that I wasn’t believing it, of course.

“Travelling is surprisingly cumbersome.”

On the plus side, we had plenty of time for ourselves during the trip. And since it was only us in the wagon, our privacy was secured as well. A very welcome boon. Nonetheless, while we… had spent a lot of time fooling around, we couldn’t exactly do it all the time. Or rather, at some point, the mood for it was just gone. As a compromise, we spent most of our time cuddling like we were doing right now.

Being able to spend time like this is also nice…

But it was still a little boring. The downside of being by ourselves. In the other wagon with everyone else, there was always something keeping you busy. Mostly those three… Children had too much energy.

“Haaa... Sis, what do we do?”

“Well… There’s something we could do, I guess?”

“Nn?”

“Do you remember how we talked about language before?”

“... Did we?”

That had to be quite a while ago then.

“We did.”

“Mm… But what does that have to do with our current predicament?”

“... I don’t think boredom is enough of a problem to call a predicament. But whatever. I was thinking of teaching you the Aldreighan language.”

“The Aldreighan language?”

“Yes.”

Now that she mentioned it, they had a different language… Lafria and the Akkian Empire shared a language, so I forgot about that.

“I think it will be useful for you if you know at least a little about it.”

“Nn… I guess it would be good.”

But learning a language was easier said than done. Which was probably why Karen was suggesting it now already. Considering we’d be travelling for a while longer, it was a good use of our time.

However, I can’t say I’m all that thrilled about it… Then again, it’s better than doing nothing and it will definitely come in handy.

Especially considering how we were travelling all over the place. But…

“Hey, Sis… If Aldreigh has its own language… then what about the other countries?”

“The other countries? You mean, whether they also have their own languages?”

“Nn. And the elves also have their own language.”

“That’s… not something I know anything about. Sorry.”

“Nn, that’s fine. But if other countries also have different languages… And, if we actually do travel to the Beyond… What language do they speak there?”

This might actually turn out to be quite a problem, wouldn’t it?

“I’m sure Mr Captain already considered that…”

“Nn…”

That still left the question of other languages that were out there… But for now, if Karen was going to teach me about the Aldreighan language, that’d keep me likely busy for a good amount of time already.

“Anyway, I guess that means you’re fine with me teaching you?”

“Nn, sure.”

Thinking about it, Aldreighan was actually her mother tongue, wasn’t it?

“Then, let’s start.”

“Woah?!”

My viewpoint suddenly rose as Karen lifted me from behind. She walked over to the desk and sat down, placing me in her lap once more.

“Let’s see… How about we start with something simple first…”

And so, Karen had begun teaching me about the Aldreighan language.

---

“So, Karen is now teaching you?”

“Nn. She is.”

A few hours later, our little caravan finally took a break near a small village. It was still just barely noon but the waroxen needed a break and it was a good time for lunch. The Elder joined us for it, so the three of us now sat on the ground, using our wagon as a backrest while eating.

“Learning a new language is a pretty good idea, maybe I should join you two. Knowing another language is always convenient, especially while travelling. But I didn’t know she could speak another language.”

The Elder looked towards Karen, surprise in her eyes.

“I did live in Aldreigh at first, after all.”

“Mm… Aldreigh is the nation next to this one, is it not?”

“Nn. You didn’t know?”

“I have heard names of countries in passing but where they lay and what culture they have, I do not. We had little contact with the outside world. There is also the issue that countries do not exist forever. Even this kingdom of Lafria is scarce a few centuries old, I believe.”

“Most people would say that’s pretty old…”

In the eyes of the Elder, it still seemed quite young… I knew she was old but this made me even more curious how old exactly.

“That might be so. But the point is, that time changes the world in many ways. And secluded as we were, the world could have very well turned into a completely different one without our notice.”

“You still speak the Akkian language, though.”

“It is not like we had no contact at all. How do you think we allowed them to construct a road through our beloved forest?”

“That’s… true.”

So she learned the language out of necessity to converse with the people coming to them?

“Fairykin are also quite blessed learners. It is of little trouble for us to learn a new language. Compared to most humanoids, at the very least.”

“... That makes me a little jealous. Please teach me how you do that.”

“Mm…”

Much to my surprise, the Elder didn’t outright deny my half-joking request, instead quietly staring at me.

“... Miss Elder?”

Even Karen was now worried, seeing how she just silently stared at me. After a good while, she finally opened her mouth again.

“Apologies, I was thinking about something.”

“About how to teach me to learn faster?”

“In a way… I was wondering… You are closer to us fairykin in nature than you are to humanoids, are you not?”

“I don’t know?”

I didn’t even know much about the differences between humanoids and fairykin outside of the latter being born from nature.

“Mm… I think you are. Like us, you are closely attuned to mana… However, judging from the way you spoke, you are learning as fast as before you became a Cursed?”

“I think so? We only studied for less than a day, after all. And I didn’t really notice anything odd either with other things.”

All that wasn’t exactly a good indicator.

“Hmm… I guess we will find out in due time.”

“Nn.”

In the end, there wasn’t really a shortcut to learning a language. Only diligent studying and actually using the language. Although, the latter was accompanied by some embarrassment coming from my odd pronunciation. Not that I realised it myself. I had no idea why, but Karen was nearly keeling over at some point from laughter. And she had only taught me some very simple phrases so far, mostly greetings.

“Speaking of which, the elves also have their own language, right? Is it a language all elves speak?”

“Unfortunately, it is not. However, I believe most fairykin on this part of the continent should speak this language.”

“So, it’s the language of the fairykin and not just the elves?”

“That is right. Most fairykin are capable of speaking this language. Some humanoids used to speak it as well, long ago.”

A language used by the fairykin and the humanoids… That had probably made things a lot easier in terms of communication. A little unfortunate that it didn’t stay like that.

“I wonder why they stopped using it.”

“Who?”

“The humanoids.”

“Ahh… The humanoids I spoke of were low in numbers, even at that time. They were mostly refugees, seeking solace in our homes for they lost their own. It’s not that they stopped using it but there was simply no necessity to learn it anymore, once the Spirit War found its end.”

“Oh…”

But it would have been quite nice if they just all spoke a common tongue…

“Well, there might still be some out there who speak it among the humanoids. There are always curious people around, after all. As long as they can find a teacher among the fairykin, that is.”

“Would that be hard?”

“I believe I told you before, but most fairykin are not fond of humanoids and their civilization. They’re secluded and do not welcome any interlopers, be they friendly or not.  So much even, that they do not shy away from force if it is to keep them away.”

In other words, they’d attack us like the Elder and the elves did before… Probably shouldn’t say that out loud, though.

“The only option I believe one would have would be to ask a dark elf to teach them.”

“The dark elves, huh…”

That reminded me, wasn’t Wormaz’ mother also a dark elf?

“They’re the only fairykin I know of that are fond of the humanoids. But finding one would be a challenge as tall as convincing other fairykin…”

“In the end, it wouldn’t be easy either way.”

“That is correct.”

Good thing we didn’t really need to learn it anyway.

“Miss Elder. If we asked you to, would you teach us the fairykin language?” asked Karen.

“... Ha. I might indeed. But wherefore would you like to learn it?”

“No, I was just curious if you would.”

“Hmm… If you truly would like to learn it, I wouldn’t be disinclined to. Albeit, it might be easier for you to ask one of my fellow sisters. Their memory of learning your language is fresh, after all.”

A quiet chuckle escaped the Elder.

“Ah, finally I found you. Here you all are.”

At that moment, a familiar voice came from next to the wagon.

“Oh, Lily. Is something the matter?”

“Just wanted to tell you that we’re going to continue soon. Also, the captain wanted something so he called for you.”

“All right, we’re coming.”

“Got it.”

“Mm.”

After a short nod towards us, Lily disappeared behind the wagon again. We could hear her voice for a few more seconds, accompanied by a second voice, likely Rina’s.

“Let’s not keep Mr Captain waiting.”

“Nn.”

“Very well, I’ll also go back. I have to care for the estee— I mean, Emily.”

“You’ve been getting along with her quite well, haven’t you?”

“Mm. It is a pleasure to be able to teach her all about our customs. Especially with how diligent she is.”

Emily and diligent? Really? Somehow, I had trouble imagining that little bundle of energy sitting still and studying. It reminded me of how she fell asleep rather quickly when Korwen read a book to them.

But it seems the Elder is having no problems teaching her… Guess you can’t judge a book by its cover.

We quickly finished the remainder of our food so that we could go and look for Korwen. The Elder also left to look for Emily.

“Now, where is he…”

“Mm… Ah, Yumi, over there.”

“Nn? Ah, found him.”

Thankfully, it didn’t take us long to find him. Not like there were many places he could be in the first place.

“Captain. You called for us?”

“Ah, you’re here. I did, I did.”

He motioned for us to sit down opposite of him, on a small wooden bench they had brought out.

“So, how is it, travelling in your own little wagon? Doing well?”

“It’s nice having a space for ourselves but…”

“There’s not much to do?”

“... Nn.”

Korwen grinned at my slightly hesitant reply.

“I thought as much. So, I got something to do for you.”

“Oh?”

Korwen turned around, picking up something that was behind him and handing it to me.

“Here you go.”

“...”

“Hey now, didn’t you want something to do? You could stand to look a little happier.”

“Captain, work is not exactly something people are always happy about.”

I sighed, staring at the bundle of documents in my hands.

“Now, now, don’t be like that. Thanks to you, the piled-up documents have been nearly entirely dealt with already. These are mostly related to the acquisition of Fort Auria.”

“Nn… These are… suggestions?”

“More like requests. The moment the men heard of this, everyone started requesting one thing after another. It’s a mess.”

“Ahaha…”

Guess they were simply just as thrilled about it as Korwen was.

“Some of the requests are pretty reasonable, like a large-sized cold storage for food. But most of them aren’t really important. Or stuff we just can’t really approve of.”

“Huh…”

I skimmed through the stack of paper, scanning some of the requests.

“A beer cellar… sounds reasonable… A pier? Are we even that close to the water that we’d need one? And wouldn’t there be one already if so? This is… They want a troupe? Like a musical one? Dancing one?”

Well, it was entertainment. And entertainment was quite well-sought after. But...

“So… What am I supposed to do with these? Sieve through them and sort out the unreasonable ones?”

“Pretty much, exactly that. There are plenty of ridiculous requests where you will see at a glance that they are not doable. Mostly the ones from the young men whose entire reason dropped into their pants.”

“What a nice way to phrase it.”

Though I certainly could see it. Men had their needs and the young men doubly so. Well, as long as they kept it out of my sight, I didn’t really care.

“Got it. I’ll go through them.”

It wasn’t like the stack was humongous or anything. I’d likely be done by the time dinner came.

“Good, good. That’s one thing less I have to deal with. Now, onto the next thing.”

“Nn?”

I was expecting him to continue with some documents or the like but instead, he turned to Karen.

“Karen, do you hate Aldreigh?”

“Huh? Hate?”

“Yes.”

“Not really?”

“Mm…”

Karen tilted her head, rather confused at the question.

“Well, that’s good.”

“Uhm… Why the question?”

“Because Auria is rather close to the Aldreighan border. We’ll inevitably have to deal with the Aldreighans. Yumi will accompany me wherever possible and that means, you will likely come along as well. If you held some grudge towards Aldreigh, it would be troublesome.”

Karen let out a small “Ahh.” in understanding, then made a conflicted expression.

“The people in Aldreigh don’t really have anything to do with what happened. That’s… only something related to that family.”

“Mh… Then, do you hate that family?”

“I.. don’t. Although, I can’t say I like them very much.”

“Well, that’s reasonable, I guess. Then, what if the people we had to talk with would be that family?”

“That’s…”

Karen froze, unable to respond. It took her several seconds until she managed to catch herself and reply to Korwen.

“I don’t know…”

“Mm… Well, it’s a difficult topic. It was just a hypothetical question anyway, so it’s fine not to think about it too deeply.”

“I understand…”

“It’s not like we have anything to do with them anyway.”

“Is that so?”

Korwen nodded in response to her question.

“That reminds me, you probably don’t even know all that much about them, do you?”

“It… was a long time ago when we left. We were still small.”

“Yet you still managed to reach Arkesta. It still baffles me.”

“Ahaha…”

It was really quite the feat, that much was true.

“Now then, with that out of the way, it’s about time we got a move on.”

So, the break was over now… Back to the wagon then...

“Ah, captain.”

“What is it?”

“How long are we even going to need until Auria?”

“Mh? Did nobody tell you?”

“No.”

I didn’t really think much about it either, to be honest. It was only now, when I was faced with the excruciating boredom of sitting around and doing nothing, that I was wondering about it.

“About a week and a half until Auria. Assuming nothing interrupts, of course.”

“A week and a half, huh…”

“Already feeling bored again?”

“...”

Just a little…

“If you got nothing to do, why not help out Ria? She’d probably appreciate your help.”

“Nn… Is she still working on that big crystal?”

“Yes, thankfully.”

“... Why thankfully?”

“As long as she works on that, she can’t blow up anything.”

And if she managed to blow up that thing, none of us would come out alive anyway, right?

“But helping Ria… Nn… We actually wanted to ask her for help as well...”

“That will probably have to wait until she finishes her work, though.”

And until then, we couldn’t even do the work we were supposed to do…

“... As long as you promise me not to do anything stupid and consult with Ria, I’ll allow you to do stuff on your own.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yes, really. As long as you can promise me that.”

“I promise!”

Finally, we had something to do again!

“So quick… Whatever, just don’t blow anything up or get yourself killed. Anything that relates to your previous little incident is off-limits until Ria can supervise you, are we clear on that?”

“Crystal clear.”

“Good.”

“But… are you sure? You wanted us to figure out the issue about Space magic as quick as possible, didn’t you?”

It was a little weird for him to backpedal on that.

“Haa… I guess that really was how it came off, huh?”

“Nn? What?”

“Just a bit of self-reflection, nothing important.”

“Okay?”

If he said so…

“Anyway, realistically speaking, even if you manage to figure out everything perfectly until we arrive in Auria, there would be no use for it.”

“Why not?”

“Because first, we need to get the fort up and going. And we don’t have a lot of time for that.”

“Time?”

That was a problem?

“Yes, but… Ahh, come with me first.”

“Eh?”

Before I could ask what was going on, Korwen was already on the move. With hurried steps we followed after him, slightly confused.

“I’d love to talk with you in length but we really need to move on before those people lose their minds over us.”

“People?”

I followed Korwen’s gaze towards the nearby village. Several men had gathered near the entrance, watching us.

“What are they doing?”

“Being suspicious of us, that’s what. They don’t want us camping nearby.”

He let out a sigh, shaking his head in annoyance.

“That’s how most villages are. Suspicious of strangers and not very welcoming. We informed them we’d camp here for lunch but the longer we stay, the more likely it is for some of them to forget about that. The sooner we disappear the better.”

“...”

Even though we didn’t even do anything.

“Not like any of them would actually have the guts to, of course. But I still don’t want undue trouble. So…”

Korwen clapped his hands, drawing the attention of all the nearby mercenaries.

“Get your things together and put the waroxen into the harnesses. We’re leaving!”

Without delay and in the usual orderly fashion, the mercenaries followed his command, preparing to leave.

“Now then, you two can join me if you want to continue our discussion.”

“Nn… Sis?”

“Well…”

Sis and I exchanged a quick glance. Honestly, our discussion was mostly over anyway so… And I wanted to finish this stuff he gave me as well. Preferably while working from Karen’s lap.

“Ah, I get it already, I get it. Let’s just continue that some time then.”

“Nn… Sorry, captain.”

“Sorry, Mr Captain.”

“No need to apologise. You two should just enjoy your time together.”

“Nn, Thank you.”

We were really quite lucky to have such an understanding boss, didn’t we?

“In return, I expect those to be done by evening, you got that?”

“I will do my best.”

“Good. Then…”

He raised his hand and went over to his own wagon. Mrs Korwen was already standing in the door and welcoming him back in.

“So he said but he is also enjoying his time together with his wife, isn’t he?” I muttered to Karen.

“Probably.”

Seriously. The pot calling the kettle black.

“Let’s get back. Lily is probably already waiting for us.”

“Nn.”

Karen and I turned around towards our wagon, weaving our way through the mercenaries preparing to leave once more. Which, honestly, was just the tamers taking care of the waroxen and everyone else hurrying back inside.

“Lily. Rina.”

“Ah, finally you’re here. Did everything go well with the captain?”

“Nn. He gave me work.”

I held up the stack of papers to Lily, who eyed the topmost one for a moment.

“A beer cellar?”

“They’re requests from mercenaries.”

“Ohh… Wait, we could hand in requests?”

“... I think they just did it because they felt like it.”

“I see… I should request something as well then.”

Somehow, I had the feeling like her eyes lit up from sudden excitement.

“Mind me asking what you were thinking of?”

“A durable training area! And, and… Mh… What else could I request? Ah.”

Apparently, she thought of something. Something not quite proper, seeing how she instantly went red. Albeit with a smile on her lips.

“Just for your info, the captain will read those requests, so think carefully before you submit something. There are probably enough weird things already among them…”

“Ugh, you’re right… Well, I doubt something like that would get approved anyway. No choice but to save my money.”

If it was something she could buy with her own money, it’d definitely get ignored. Although, now I was curious what she had been thinking of.

“Haa… Well, I’ll think about whether I’m going to request something. You two should hop in so we can leave.”

“Nn. And thank you, Lily. For driving again.”

“No problem.”

That she wasn’t getting tired of it… We probably should learn sometime how to steer the waroxen so that lily didn’t have to.

“Rina. Come, we’re leaving.”

“Yes, yes! Big Sis, Lil’ Sis, later!”

“Nn, later!”

Rina jumped on top of the driver’s bench, followed by lily climbing up from the other side.

“We’ll be in your care again, Lily.”

“Sure thing.”

Time to get back inside. At least, this time I had something to do until evening.