CH 28

After an 8 day long trip, we finally arrived at our destination from Ruveria without any problems, and the three girl escorts who came out of the carriage and stretched out.

When their leader Shion eased her hand down the other two complained for a bit, then they went away to buy the necessary supplies for their next trip.

『Kukuku, still that little girl called Felicy was quite interesting, she was observing you in a strange way all this time, well if she did learn something from that then it would certainly help her improve』[TL: A Pov of the Three Foreshadow]

It seems like Doppel-chan was observing the adventurer trio, but I wonder what they did, and Felice was the nervous Magician Girl from the group. It made me wonder as to what she was observing.

「Well, I think they also understood that guarding a carriage isn’t really a profitable job」

Before I knew it Doppel-chan was already starting a normal conversation and mom doesn’t notice it, I also responded in a voice that only she could hear.

「Is that so? 」

「Well, It really depends on people, but first is that the reward won’t be that great, the quest time is longer than usual, and if you fail, the effects would be tremendous, and that would greatly affect an adventurer’s record. And more than anything else, most of the time you will have to wait and be idle until the return trip comes, and there are times when you want to return but the one being escorted is not scheduled to return anymore or go in a round trip. That’s why most Adventurer’s choose to subjugate monsters even if they are alone」

「So that’s how it is」

In mother’s past experience stories, she said that there was a time she was going solo and was attacked by a swarm of insects and have been bitten all over by the swarm.

I did only hear about it when she was talking to Griffit-san in the capital. It seems like she was enjoying going solo for a while and was not really fond of escort requests.

When I saw off those three people, and I was thinking that they might also be in the same way as mom was.

Well, the first adventurers that I’ve met were Zanbara-san and Hannou-san which could be said to be respectable adventurers, so I thought that maybe those girls might have been the same way too.

When we were preparing for camp, they did handle well the monsters that appeared out of nowhere and tried invading our camp, and they were properly able to manage it.

「Now that we’ve arrived, is there a place where Toto wants to visit first?」

「Nn, fine already」

I have already secured a present for Rikka-chan from the Royal Capita, so I would really like to bring it to her as soon as possible.

「I see, then I guess we will just have to take our time to rest at the Inn today 」

「Nn~」

And then on the next day, we ride on a again on a different carriage. Carriages to Furuka Village usually take about a month to travel back and forth and will take some time before they return.

At times where one really needs to go, they could only use normal wagons which you could say as a standard Taxi equivalent in terms of vehicles. The price for borrowing one is expensive, and you have to make sure that it will be all intact when returned.

Nd two days later, we finally arrived back home! Honesty speaking, the things that happened in the capital were so out of place that if it was me from my previous life, it won’t be something that I could actually endure.

「We’re homeー」

「We have arrived home just now」

「Ah, you finally returned, so did you have fun in the capital? 」

「was really fun! 」

After saying that, I handed a souvenir for dad. It was the same one as what I gave to Mom, the Healing Soft Box. It’s to relieve Dad from the heavy labor when doing farm work.

「Ah, Thank you for this Toto」

「Nn~」

It seems like he was quite pleased, so it was good.

Anyway, I want to see Rikka-chan soon since the time we arrived.

「Want to go see Rikka-chan, want to give souvenir」

「Ah right, you may go now」

I walk with quick steps then arrived in front of Rikka-chan’s house, and then I knocked on their door.

Now that I think about it, it’s almost a month now that I haven’t seen her, it felt like a really long time have passed.

「Rikka-chan, You thereー? 」

「Ha~i」

I could hear footsteps coming towards the door from inside the house, and when the door was opened, Rikka-chan greeted me with a big smile, and after seeing that she was healthy, I felt relieved since I wasn’t able to see her smile for quite some time until now.

Her hair was also a little shorter than when I left which was probably trimmed. After all, Rikka-chan looks best when her hair is not too long like in her current hairstyle. Most of the people who know her were already familiar to her appearance like this.

「Toto-chan, what’s wrong? Is there anything you need of me today? 」

Rikka-chan who asked me while tilting, and when I look at her I felt as if something was different or wrong. Hmm, I wonder what is it, the face, ah no, the eyes? It feels like the tint of blue was different compared to before…… it’s as if it has darkened a bit, something like that? That’s why I felt something different about the color.

「Ah, umm, eye, what happened? 」

「Eyes? Is there something strange about it, I didn’t notice anything strange about it though? 」

「Is that so」

Hmm, well I guess its fine, what was more important is that she is healthy now.

「Souvenirs, bought some」

「Really, I’m happy! Will you tell me about things that happened in the capital? Come in, come in」

「Nn, excuse for intruding」

When I entered the house, Barbara-san greeted me who was in the living room, so I greeted back. Now that I thought about it, I only bought souvenirs for Rikka-chan and forgot to bring some for Barbara-san.

I wonder if mom bought anything for her though, and I don’t recall her buying anything of that sort, but well it should be fine.

And now were in her room, and it was way different from the on before I left. It was completely clean and properly arranged, and the reading table was also properly used but was really clean.

…… and another difference is that, the number of books has increased.

「by the way, Books, have lots more than before」

「What do you think, most of the books I have at the moment are from father’s work. But I would also like to read books from other sources every once in a while」

「Eh? 」

What, most of the books here are from your father’s job? I did know that most of the books here were handwritten, also that most of it came from her father, but to think that most it were actually written by her father, it makes me think that her father might be some kind of novelist or researcher.

「What contents written on them? 」

「Hmmm, how do I explain this, well let’s just say they were all research data, like details about useful plants, ecology and harvestable materials from demons, or something about things that are useful for alchemy」

「Alchemy? 」

「Oh, do you know about alchemy? 」

「Un, mix things up, turn it into something different as result」

「Well, it’s not really wrong to say it like that…… that’s about it for now I guess, we could study about it at a later I you would like to」

「book seems difficult to understand, you read that? 」

「It’s not really that difficult, you just have to remember the main points, maybe. Also, since I don’t have any tools to use in this house, I can’t really test anything that was written 」

「Heeee~……」

No wonder why I never saw Rikka-chan’s father around here. It’s because he is working as an alchemist or a teacher somewhere else, another is probably there’s no school or laboratory around here, and that’s the cause why he is working away from here.

But well, thinking about what Rikka-chan is like, won’t she be writing her own original works soon.

Though I have never seen Rikka-chan’s father, he still sends them letters and even sends books for her, and with her way of thinking being this good, Rikka-chan would definitely embark on her own research soon.

「never mind all that, now let’s return to the topic about the capital」

「Ah, right, umm, souvenir」

What I presented Rikka-chan was a stylish lamp about 30cm in height, it looks like a simple trapezoid when viewed from the front, but its handle has simple decorations. I was thinking that something like this would be great if placed in Rikk-chan’s desk.

Though simple, it was actually an enchanted type. The effects of the magic implanted on it are that when the light is turned on, your eyes will be less tired if you are using it for reading.

Because I know that she likes to read books, I bought this to ease the burden when she reads continuously. The light it generates is also different from fire, but I don’t understand how it really worked. I don’t really need to think about it as long as it works.

「Wow, that’s really cool」

「Un, thought about Rikk-chan when found it」

I was thinking about the simple decorations first and then told Rikka-chan about how I found it, then after I finish explaining, she immediately gave me a hug and she seems to be very happy about it.

「Waaiー, Thank you! 」

「Waffu」

When she was sick, she wasn’t really this lively, but now Rikka-chan is so full of energy.

It’s good that the one to receive this is me, but if it was someone else then they would have been knocked down. That was really dangerous and I am still holding the lamp.

「Hai hai, calm down please」

It seems like she finally calmed down after pointing it out to her. After that I placed the lamp on the table, and then when I slowly turned back I found Doppel-chan behind her.

Though I want to say something to her, I was again attacked by a hug from Rikka-chan, and as for Doppel-chan, she sat elegantly on a nearby chair. Though saying she sat down, it was more she looks like she was sitting down, and added to that is her giggling about our current situation.

『You don’t have to worry about me mistress, just think of me as if I’m air or something』

But you are there, and I’m bothered by itー!

Well, knowing that she was also watching《at That Time》 made me remember that really embarrassing things that happened. I was so focused on what I had to do at that time, and the only thing I thought about was if I really need to do that to help Rikka-chan……

「and so, what did you do in the capital? 」

「Ah, Un, about that――」

As expected, a child born in a village would definitely be interested on what happens in the city, and so I told her about our journey and things that happened after we arrived at the capital.