Chapter 34
For lunch, they did not use fire, but instead, ate premade food in the main square of the village they stopped by . The party arrived in Lapondo in the evening and set up camp around the mayor’s mansion .
Maki and Chiharu had work to do now . As Maki was a little taller, she was made to run around and do errands, while Chiharu peeled vegetables nonstop . Aside from ordering her to peel vegetables, no one paid her any attention . The vegetables were then dumped into the soup pot and it began to bubble with a delicious smell .
When the sun set and the soup was ready, several large grills were prepared in the garden and a fire was made . The head cook stood in front of the grills and started to cook the meat . Soldiers and Adventurers lined up by these grills while holding their soup and bread . When the meat was ready, the cook would give each man a few large slices of meat . It wasn’t until after everyone had finished having their second helpings that the cooks were allowed to eat .
“Don’t worry, I saved some meat for you two . ”
A small pot of soup had been set aside for them and a single grill was used to cook their meat . By the time they were able to eat, Maki and Chiharu were starving after working so hard for the first time in a while .
The meat sizzled while the cook seasoned it simply with a little salt and pepper . They sat down on the ground and stabbed the meat with a fork and brought it to their mouths . What part of meat they would get was mostly up to luck, but on this day, Maki and Chiharu were very lucky . It was red, dense meat that had been grown in the mountains . With one bite, it was a tug of war with your fork . When they chewed it off and ground it between their teeth, the meat’s juices flowed into their mouths . It was delicious .
“Here, eat as much as you can before it’s all gone . ”
Paulo added more meat to their plates .
“Here, you want a drink too?”
“It might be a waste to give it to children . ”
“I’ll have some!”
“I’ll have some!”
A young person had come them with some ale . It was Jean . He was carrying ale in a barrel .
“Well, you know, ale is like a water substitute . ”
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No, it wasn’t . Still, Maki and Chiharu had finished soaking up all their meat juices with their bread, and so they were very prepared to end their meal with a drink with the others .
“It’s so good . ”
“Yes . ”
They felt very satisfied .
“Now, one last bit of work to do!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
They had to work with some of the soldiers whose turn it was and wash the dishes before going to bed . They slept in inns when they could, but when there weren’t enough rooms, they slept in tents . Instead of pitching a huge tent, everyone had small, single-person tents that they slept in . As Maki and Chiharu were learning how to set their tents up, the bird people came .
“Hey, you’re not going to fly then?”
“Sauro . It’s too late . ”
“But the night sky is so beautiful . You can see the lights in the town . ”
It was the job of the cooks to go shopping early in the morning . And then they would continue to travel . There really was no time to go around flying .
“Do you ever get in trouble for flying around here?”
“No one gets angry at us . ”
“Well, people might get angry if it is us . ”
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The other cooks were now looking at the bird people with interest .
“Paulo . ”
“Oh, uh . What is it?”
“I want to borrow these children for a bit . ”
“What? Why?”
“I’m going to take them to the sky . ”
“Uh, but…”
“It is fine . I know them, and they are used to it . ”
“Kenneth, Ryan . Is that true?”
“Yes, it is . ”
“I see . ”
Paulo was surprised that the bird people knew his name, but he was even more surprised that they wanted to fly with the children . Oh, well . Perhaps they were just really bored .
“Do not stay out too late . You have an early morning . ”
“Very well . Ryan, can you run?”
“You better pick me up properly, okay?”
“Of course . ”
The two of them began to run in the open field . First, it was Maki . And then Chiharu . Sauro and Saikania picked them up and rose into the air . Their white wings glimmered from the light of the fires below for a moment, then they disappeared into the night sky .
“That was impressive . ”
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“Those two are clearly used to doing that . ”
“It’s very unusual to be friends with the bird people, unless you’re royalty . Isn’t it, Jean?”
“Yes . There is definitely something strange about them . ”
“It’s just until Gromble . We don’t know anything . ”
“Understood . ”
If she was wearing pants, Chiharu could run and jump up just fine . The camp bonfires grew rapidly smaller . Not being able to see the ground like you could during the day actually made it less scary, she realized . Once they had gone high enough, Sauro and Saikania flew more slowly . They could now see the town of Lapondo underneath them . The main street of the town was lined with lampposts . Soldiers were moving by the bonfires around the mayor’s house, lanterns separated the town districts and a soft glow came from the windows of the houses . When she looked to the mountains, she could see faint light coming from the small villages that dotted the area . And when she looked up, the sky was slightly brighter than the rest, making the outline of the horizon very clear . And above that was a large moon and a sky full of stars .
The sun world and the shadow world . The sun, moon and stars of this world . The laws of physics were completely different here compared to earth . There would be no end to it if she kept thinking about it .
“You will be able to see the sea if we fly even higher . ”
“No, I’m fine . Thank you . ”
While it was early summer, the night wind was cold . Flying during the night had been much funner than she had expected, but she was ready to go home .
After being let down by the bird people, Maki and Chiharu dove into their tents .
“So that’s not Norfe?”
“Chouze wouldn’t be able to fly like that . ”
The three princes had been watching them for a short distance away . They had come to watch when they heard that the bird people were flying with children .
“Kaider, Nyran . By Norfe and Chouze, do you mean those Inlanders?”
“Uh, no . Not that Norfe and Chouze . It’s the names of these two children that we’ve been traveling with until recently . They said that they were going to Gromble, but we separated in the city . ”
“And those two were often surrounded by birds . They said that it was normal for children to play with birds in Midland . It’s not like that at all in the south, so I was rather impressed with Arthur’s country . ”
“Hmmm . ”
Edwy looked serious .
“Well, the birdfolk do like children and will sometimes play with them . However…”
Edwy hesitated and Kaider and Nyran looked at him suspiciously .
“There are no children other than me who are close enough to the birdfolk to be carried . ”
“But Norfe said…”
“Norfe . Norfe, eh? And Chouze? I see . ”
Edwy smiled sarcastically .
“Edwy, what are you saying?”
“Those two . Do they know how much we have been worrying about them?”
“Edwy?”
“Sorry, I’m going back now . ”
This was all because they had listened to the bird people .
Plan C . It was about to fail .