Published at 20th of November 2020 09:25:08 PM
Chapter 16: 16
My hand and foot were finally healed! I clenched my left hand to test it out . Ah, it’s been so long . I’ve often heard that you’ll be able to appreciate things more once you’ve lost them . I understand that feeling now . I was really blessed to have gained my lost limbs back . I’m going to cherish my body more from now on .
We’re finally leaving for Gotania city in the kingdom of Berta today . Although we’ve only stayed here for a brief period, I did feel a bit crestfallen at the thought of leaving this base .
I moved my gaze towards Alan who was busy preparing our breakfast .
I have never felt as free in my entire life compared to these last few days . It’s not like I have been forced to do things against my will, but as a member of royalty, I had to act in a manner befitting that of a princess .
Be it my bearing, way of walking, the form of language I used to speak to our subjects and even my thoughts — all had to be done in ways appropriate for a royal princess .
As an example, I had to speak to people even older than my father in a way that denotes our stations as a royal and her subjects .
My tutor, Viscount Teris, impressed upon me the importance of the usage of proper speech forms .
He once told me a story about a subject who was executed for the crime of disrespect due to him forgetting his place and talking in a rude manner towards royalty before the noble court .
There were also accounts of nobles starting to use informal speech against royalty predating their acts of rebellion in the history of the kingdom as well as those of other nations .
The use of proper forms of speech when talking between a ruler and their subjects would denote their respective positions and serve as a reminder of how each should act . I was taught that this will also protect the interests of our subjects .
Thus, I had been practicing what I have been taught ever since, but I somehow did not feel too comfortable talking in such a haughty sounding way of speech .
I wouldn’t have minded much if I was really that excellent of an individual, but I know in my heart that I wasn’t .
Furthermore, almost all the people coming and going to the royal palace were talented people . Talking to such people like you were far above them was far too stressful, and the conversations I had with my family became more and more reserved as well .
But it’s different with Alan . He speaks really naturally and forgoes any stiff formalities . I ended up going along with his way speech before I knew it . I honestly couldn’t get enough of this newfound sense of freedom .
A few days ago, Alan asked me why I was being chased after . In order to give the reason, I would have to tell him all about myself and my circumstances .
Alan is also a noble . I would probably have to address him in the tone I used as royalty once I told him of my background… Well, former royalty to be exact . I would like to immerse myself in this sense of freedom for a little bit longer .
In truth, I would also really like to ask Alan about the country he’s from and what position he holds there . But I have to tell him about myself first, so I couldn’t do so until now .
For the sake of our safety during our journey, I would have to speak of my circumstances soon .
***
Alright then, we’ve had our meal, so it’s about time to depart . The luggage we’re taking with us is still a lot, but since there’s magic, there’s no need to bring water anymore, so the weight of the bags has been reduced a bit .
The three pet bottles I brought with me to store drinking water were emptied out and folded to a fraction of their size . Yep, these pet bottles are the collapsible type which is handy for ease of storage .
They’re made out of a shape memory material that allows them to return to their original shape once you put in some liquid .
The company which pioneered this technology and patented it became the number one pet bottle manufacturer in the entire empire .
I put some dried salmon fillets in the opened up space after collapsing the pet bottles . I tried making them a few days back and they turned out quite tasty . They’re more suitable as snacks rather than something to have during meals and are a perfect accompaniment when drinking alcohol . But because they needed a large amount of salt, I only ended up making two .
Ah, now that I think about it, I actually kinda want to drink some good alcohol right now . Will I be able to drink some once we arrive in the city?
We walked back towards the riverside in order to trace it back to the main road . I think it took us about three hours of walking last time . I left keeping watch for potential threats to Nanom and proceeded to ask Cleria about a bunch of stuff to make good use of the time .
I was woefully lacking in vocabulary before, so I couldn’t ask even basic questions . For example, what is the name of this world? But that type of question would invite undue suspicion, so I had to refrain from posing anything of the sort .
Even though I refrained from asking questions like that as much as possible, Cleria has been telling me about them of her own accord for the past few days . I’m thinking she may have misunderstood that I’m suffering from a sort of memory loss or that I’ve come from a different continent .
She’s even told me a lot of basic stuff I wasn’t familiar with but should be considered as common sense for any local . She doesn’t hold anything back even though some questions sound a bit silly .
That’s a good thing . Guess I’ll ask her without reserve then .
Cleria hasn’t asked me where I’m from or what my occupation is even once . Of course, I wouldn’t be able to answer me honestly if she did ask, but as I’m curious about her background, she may be curious about mine as well .
She probably doesn’t ask about them because she’ll have to talk about herself as well .
Perhaps she has reservations due to the reason why she’s being pursued . Well, I’ll just wait until she’s ready to talk about it and leave it at that .
For now, I got to learn that we were heading towards the city of Gotania in a country called Berta Kingdom . Come to think of it, I’ve already heard of the city’s name from her earlier, but it’s my first time hearing about the name of the country .
It seems she’s going there to visit a relative . I see . So I guess she’s going there for some business and will visit her relative along the way .
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Incidentally, the area we’re traveling on right now is not the territory of any country . If it had places with fertile lands, it might have already been claimed by pioneers . But since the area is fairly mountainous and did not seem to possess any area suitable for growing produce, it’s been ignored up until now .
The common language used in the Berta Kingdom is the same as what we’re using right now . As far as Cleria’s knowledge goes, there’s no neighboring country unfamiliar with the language we’re speaking .
I see . So that’s why Cleria thinks I’m not from this continent .
The form of currency is also the same: small and large copper, silver and gold coins, as well as the most valuable white gold coins . Ten small coppers are one large copper coin, ten large coppers are one silver coin and so on . The value rises from copper, silver, gold and white gold respectively .
I wonder what type of alloy is used in white gold coins . It seems they call their currency here the guinea .
By the way, we now currently have five large copper coins, five silver coins, and five gold coins . That’s a total of 55,500 guineas .
When I asked her how much a piece of bread would cost, she answered with ‘I have no idea’ . Has she really never bought bread before? It either means she had no money to buy them or just didn’t have the opportunity to . It’s probably the latter .
Well, now that I’d had a good look at her, Cleria really seems to fit the image of a highborn lady . The clothes she was wearing seemed expensive and her sword was intricately crafted . I wonder why I’ve never noticed until now . Well, maybe it’s because of her miserable appearance when I first saw her made such an impression on me so the image of her being a pitiful girl stuck to me .
Until now, I thought Cleria was just the youngest member of a mercenary outfit but is that really the case . She may be a noble lady and those companions of hers might have been her escort . But why would a noble lady wear something like armor?
Nah, this is an underdeveloped planet; arming oneself while traveling may be common sense here . I can’t just keep seeing things based on my standards .
While I was thinking about those things, we’ve finally managed to get a glimpse of the main road . We have to maintain our vigilance from here on out . But since we have scanning magic at our disposal, things were a little better on the security front .
[Currently, the only reactions detected are that of animals such as juvenile Big Boars, but there are no other signatures present within a range of 700 meters . ]
Currently, the maximum scanning range caps at 700 meters since the atmospheric magicle interference becomes unmanageable at greater distances and the accuracy drops considerably .
But if we set the scanning target to larger objects, it would be possible to increase the range a bit .
The road has many blind bends, so having a scanning range of 700 meters should give enough time for us to get away or hide once we detect danger .
We’ve now managed to reach the main road . I and Cleria started walking on it without encountering any particular trouble .
“I’ve been curious about it since before but, what exactly is that?” Cleria pointed at my pulse rifle and asked me .
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“Oh, this? It’s basically a kind of weapon…”
I can’t exactly explain how it works though . But Cleria’s eyes gleamed with sparks of curiosity after hearing my answer .
“What kind of weapon is it? Just how do you use it?”
“Uh, if you hold it like this and aim it at an enemy, something like a magic arrow would be released . ”
I performed a mock aiming pose .
“Wow! So it’s a magic tool!”
Magic tool, you say!? That’s another unfamiliar term .
“Can I touch it?”
I took the rifle off my shoulder and handed it over to Cleria . Of course, since the rifle is registered under me, no one else would be able to fire it even if they pull the trigger .
Cleria imitated my form and posed with the rifle .
“Can I try firing it!?”
“Uh, sorry but the number of shots this thing has is limited . It’s kind of like a trump card of mine, so I don’t want to waste shots if possible . ”
Hm . Come to think of it, how many shots does this rifle have left anyway?
[If you fire under normal energy output settings, the maximum number of shots is 4,990 . ]
Well, that number seems to be sufficient, but it certainly won’t last for a lifetime . If I fired 500 shots on average per year, it’ll just last me ten years tops . I have to use it sparingly .
“So this is your trump card Alan…? I can’t use it then . ”
Cleria handed back the rifle to me .
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I immediately asked about those so-called magic tools I heard from earlier .
It seems magic tools are equipment that can activate magic on their own and have lots of types with various functions . There are tools used for watering plants, lighting a fire and even producing light .
In order for them to function, they would need a power source . That power source is magic stones . So it seems magic stones are akin to batteries in this world . That’s why they’re so in-demand .
However, although it also depends on the type, most magic tools are very expensive . There are also kinds classified as “artifacts” which cannot be reproduced using current techniques and are basically priceless . Man, I’d sure like to get a look at some in the future .
Whoah, looks like it’s already noon . Time for lunch! Perhaps the reason why Cleria seemed restless since a while ago is because she’s hungry .
Today’s lunch is stir-fried veggies with plenty of Blackbird meat and salt-grilled salmon . I made these along with our breakfast earlier in the day . I packed them inside the makeshift cups I made out of the damaged pet bottle in place of a lunch box . Un, delicious!
Speaking of foodstuffs, I put whatever edible stuff we found along the way inside my ingredient bag . I’ll use them to make dinner . We have a lot of Blackbird meat left after all . It’ll probably be fine if I cook it well .
I wanted to find out if Cleria’s appetite was back to normal and tried to test her earlier when we had breakfast . I made the usual large amount and she gobbled them all up easily . She probably won’t be satisfied with just plain vegetable stir fry without any meat huh . Can’t be helped . I’ll try to hunt some animals down along the way then .
We started walking again after finishing our lunch . There’s still a lot of things I want to ask .
A road sign appeared the moment I thought it was time for us to find a place to stay for the night . It was already four in the afternoon the last time I checked . The road sign was a wooden pole and board with characters written on them . I had Cleria take a look .
“It says ‘two kilometers to Talas Village’”
Ooh, a village! I definitely want to go there .
“Did you know there was a village here Cleria . ”
“I didn’t . But we did sometimes stay in villages when I was traveling with my companions . ”
She’d probably left all of the work to her companions huh . Anyway, this is a good thing . I actually thought we’d have to walk all the way to our destination earlier .
“Should we make a stop-over?”
“Alright . I’m fine with it . ”
Yeah! I’ll finally get in contact with other people aside from Cleria! I’m looking forward to it .