CH 73

That day, the airship landed in a Midland border town. The river that was the border was quite narrow. If you looked upstream from the bridge closest to the sea, you could see a series of arched bridges along the river. There were seven in all.

Edwy, Grudo, and Van were going to take care of securing their inn. And so Maki and Chiharu had come to see the bridges with Kaider and Nyran. Aeris was doing maintenance on the airship.

“It would be nice if we could go down the river from the top.”

Chiharu said as she gazed at them.

“What is so interesting about bridges?”

Nyran asked.

“What? I think it’s interesting. Besides, you can see the different flowers that are growing on both sides. Imagine relaxing on a boat with the blue sky above you. Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Is it? I think it would be more amusing to swing a sword around.”

They both looked puzzled. Perhaps here, people didn’t think about having fun after work as much as other places.

Maki and Chiharu stood on the bridge closest to the sea and stared dazedly at the people and carriages that moved. There were no cars, and the carriages weren’t much faster than the people walking. Some were carrying very large bags. There weren’t as many people as in Tram, but as it was the border, there was a decent amount of traffic.

The people also looked the same as anywhere else.

“Now that I think of it, Norfe and Chouze didn’t look different, did they?”

Maki suddenly said.

“You mean as humans? Well, most people in Midland have blonde hair. Especially close to the royal family. As for Lowland, they have blonde and light brown hair. Highland people tend to have dirty blonde hair. But there is not a huge difference between countries.”

Nyran answered. As for Nyran, his hair was closer to a very light brown and was cut short. It was just like the small princess, Meiya.

“The land is only divided into three because it is so large. I’m pretty sure they are all equally rich.”

“Are you talking about inland?”

“Well, yes. Of course, I don’t really know much. As I was mainly in the dwarf lands.”

Nyran muttered.

“I see. You were raised in the dwarf castle since you were a child, right?”

“I wasn’t that young. I was 10-years old. I had lots of brothers in Lowland, so I wasn’t ever lonely. But I wasn’t lonely in the dwarf castle either. You know what it’s like in the dwarf castle, don’t you Maki?”

Maki suddenly remembered. All those brothers and relatives. They were very friendly.

“Yes. Yes. Not only was I not lonely, but I sometimes wanted to be left alone, I guess?”

“Yes. That’s why Kaider would always go off somewhere else.”

“That was until you turned 16. By then, you got taller than me and became skilled with a sword. I was surprised by how fast humans grew. Still, it was good for us in the end.”

Kaider joined in.

“We really don’t know much about humans in the dwarf lands. While we might grow slowly in 30 years, they grow in only 10. They are also faster in their lessons, including swordsmanship. And they become adults. I got to see all of that closeup. Now, no one in the castle will look down on humans.”

That was the strength of humans. They grew quickly and multiplied quickly.

“However, how are things between humans?”

Chiharu asked. She was thinking about the town of Tram.

“I don’t know since I’ve never been inland. But I felt like there was something special about Tram. It’s similar to other towns in that there are lots of people walking around. But in Tram, there were dwarves, elves, and beastkin. Even birdfolk flew in the sky. There were elf and dwarf merchants that sold goods as if it were the most normal thing.”

“But I think there are some people who don’t like it. Isn’t it true that there are no airships that go to the inlands?”

Maki continued. Kaider and Nyran weren’t sure how to respond.

They would often travel to the elf lands and beast lands in order to fight in the dungeons. They even went to the human lands sometimes. It was obvious to them that they would meet different people in each place, and those places would have their own customs.

They were surprised that the Maki and Chiharu’s minds would go there after seeing how nice Tram was. In the first place, the inland people didn’t like non-humans. And yes, they didn’t use airships.

“The inland royals should send their princes and princesses to one of the other territories while they are still young.”

Chiharu suddenly said.

“Yes. Not just inland. Every country should do that.”

“You two…”

Kaider and Nyran were surprised. But Maki and Chiharu couldn’t understand why.

“In our country, even common people go abroad to study. Sometimes it’s only two weeks. But it could be for years.”

“Even more people go just to travel.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. Even if you’re young, you can still save up money to go abroad.”

“Your world seems very rich indeed.”

Kaider said.

“Well, some places were, some places weren’t.”

Maki said.

“I think one day, it will become the job of Saintesses to take people with them and travel around the world. And not in disguise.”

“We can be like tour conductors, Maki-chan.”

“We can be a Saintess Traveling Agency. No, Saintess Tourists? No, that sounds weird.”

“And so we need to travel a lot in preparation!”

“Yes!”

Kaider and Nyran smiled at them.

“Uh, we should return to the inn soon.”

Kaider said. Nyran walked protectively behind the three of them as he thought to himself.

“A Saintess traveling agency… I never thought of anything besides killing monsters. But they are so quick to move to the next thing. Even crossing borders.”

Chiharu had been laughing about something when she turned around and looked at Nyran.

“Nyran! Hurry!”

She called. I’m not slow. I’m being cautious. He swallowed those words and quicked his pace just enough to catch up with them. In any case, there didn’t seem to be any reason to worry. Besides, he had rested on the ship, so he wouldn’t have much trouble guarding them at night.

The first day of the trip seemed like it would end peacefully. And so Nyran allowed himself to relax just a little.