Farewell, Senka Village
While I was completely exhausted, I had been able to get a little sleep, and it was now time to prepare for our departure.
First, I washed the pot that I had filled with water in the kitchen. It was easy to clean, thanks to my forethought the previous night.
Next, we needed to clean this house that we had used. It was already clean thanks to our work yesterday, but we had sort of made a mess of it again last night, so there was some cleaning to do. Well, it was nothing a wet rag couldn't fix. Okay…I just needed to make sure that we didn't leave anything. Then we locked the door and it was over. Thank you.
"Come on Daniela, we're leaving."
"Aye, I know."
She stopped staring at the house and turned around to follow me. We were headed for the chief's house.
I knocked on the door like I did yesterday, and Merica came out to greet us. I didn't know if it was because she was expressionless or she had just woken up, but she looked up at us dumbly.
"Morning, Merica."
"…Morning, Asagi and Daniela."
"Is Rengel awake yet?"
"…Yes."
She opened the door and we went inside. Rengel was in the living room and drinking some tea. I greeted him and returned the key to the abandoned house.
"Thank you so much. We're very grateful."
"Ahh, it's nothing. I should be thanking you for cleaning the place for us. Thank you."
“Don’t mention it. Oh, by the way. Someone from the village gave us some soup yesterday…he said to leave the pot here, and he would come for it later. Is that alright?”
"Ah, yes, just leave it over there."
He pointed to the corner of the room, and so I placed the pot there. That really was some good soup.
"Please tell him that it was delicious."
"Hmm, very well. And so, are you two leaving now?"
"Yeah. We're not in a hurry, but we want to make the most of our time."
"That is a good thing. I pray that your journey will be safe. Hey, Merica, say goodbye to our visitors."
I looked towards her and saw that she was staring at us with dewy eyes.
"…Asagi…Daniela…stay safe…"
She sniffed and looked at the floor. Ahh, so she would miss us, it would seem.
We had only spent one day together cleaning a house. What a good child.
"Aye, you too, Merica. Stay healthy and grow strong."
Daniela said as knelt to give Merica a hug. I could only see her back, but since her voice trembled, she probably had the same expression that Merica had now.
Rengel watched this with a smile.
And so I hugged both Daniela and Merica and said farewell.
“Goodbye, Merica. You take good care of your grandpa, okay?”
"…Okay…"
She brushed away the tears in her eyes and nodded. I felt that she would keep this as an important memory in her heart. And it would be the same for us.
"…Asagi, I'll give you this."
"Hm? Oh, that's cute…"
It was a very small figurine in the shape of a cute animal. There was a string attached to its head that made a loop. I could use it as a strap for the hollow bag…
"Thank you. I'll treasure it forever."
"…She's called Gumi. Be nice to her, okay?"
"Ah, of course. Nice to meet you, Gumi."
I attached the strap to the bag and petted it. Merica watched this happily and petted it as well.
"Alright, we better get going. Thank you for everything."
"Aye, stay safe."
"Goodbye, Merica."
“Bye-bye, Merica.”
"…Goodbye, Asagi, Daniela."
We waved goodbye and left the chief's house. We started walking to the west. When I turned to look behind us, the two of them were standing in front of the house and waving. We waved back one more time before walking through the gate. After we had walked a little, I turned around again and saw that they were now watching us from the gate. Oh, this was going to make me cry. I mean, Daniela was already doing just that.
“Oh…sniff…they were such nice people…”
"Don't cry…it's contagious…"
I said with a snuffle. Ah, it was no use. I looked up to stop the tears and saw my vision warp.
Finally, we reached a downward slope, and Senka Village disappeared from our view. We continued to walk for a while as we sniffed. Little by little, the highlands plateaued, and we came down to flat terrain. The land here was shrouded in a thin mist. It reminded me of my first day in this world.