Translator: P411
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 176 – An Appointment
We passed through the desert smoothly and proceeded through the forest. I missed the days when I could walk leisurely alone to test my strength. But when I turned around on the horse, I saw Vidello-san looking straight forward. He’s so cool. I love you!
As we left the desert city early, we arrived at the junction where the road split to lead to either Sei or Sette before lunchtime. We decided to take a short break at the resting spot for travellers and had an early lunch there.
“I heard that to travel between the two cities, travellers have to go via this road or via Otto. Isn’t there any direct route?”
There were several stumps here that someone had cut to a perfect height for sitting, so I sat down on one and threw a quick question at Vidello-san while handing him the lunchbox. He happily took the lunchbox and answered me.
“There were projects to build such a road in the past, but the forest in between the two cities is filled with monsters, so they decided a long safe road was better than a short dangerous one, and the projects were abandoned after that.”
“There’re a lot of monsters?”
“Yeah, there are many more compared to what we usually encounter on the highway. It’s to the point that we can’t take a short break like we do now.”
Whoa, that meant the encounter rate was significantly high. But it might be a good spot for leveling. Then again, I didn’t want to step foot in a place swarming with monsters.
“Well, it’s a good place to test one’s strength. But sometimes corrupted monsters appear, so no one wants to venture into that place.”
“Corrupted monsters…?”
There’s some connection between magic particles and corrupted monsters. Something like: after being exposed to those elements, the monsters mutated. As for the story behind the birth of monsters around the vicinity of Sei, I couldn’t help but feel that those nobles’ greed was what caused those magic particles to accumulate in one place. In fact, there might be several reasons behind this phenomenon. There was also a possibility of magic particles springing out from the depths of the forest.
I nodded at Vidello-san’s words about not recommending me to go there and stood up. We’re almost at Sei, so do your best, Mr. Horse.
I stroked the nose of the dark brown horse and got on him. The horse this time around had a sturdier physique than the first one as it seemed the focus was more on stamina than speed to cross the desert. This somehow reminded me of Blossom-san, who emitted a strong sense of strength and stability.
It would take three days by carriage, two days by horse and a week on foot, but Blossom-san had already arranged this journey in consideration for us.
It was also thanks to his efforts that we were able to journey together. I really appreciated it. It must have been tough for Vidello-san to ride the horse while holding me all this time. I’ll make sure to learn to ride a horse by myself.
We continued our journey along the road between the forest and the plains, and we arrived at Sei while the sun was still high in the sky.
After dropping the horse off at the gate, Vidello-san greeted the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper raised the front part of his helmet to reveal his face as he greeted Vidello-san with a smile.
“I’ve been notified beforehand. I’m glad you’ve made it this far safely. We’ll take care of the horse here. You’re going through the gate, aren’t you? Take care of yourself when you go. Some of them might still have resentment towards you.”
“Ah, thank you.”
They fist-bumped, and we proceeded onward. That kind of exchange is kinda cool. I would definitely tell Crash about this so we could do the same, too.
We went to the nobleman’s gate and showed the gatekeeper there the prime minister’s handprint-like card to make an appointment at the royal palace. According to Vidello-san, the guard station here had a communication magic device that could connect with the royal palace. We were made to wait for a while inside the guard station, and while waiting for the prime minister to contact us, I started to feel small and nervous.
The atmosphere was so different here. I wondered if Vidello-san also suffered from a stomachache while he was staying here.
Sometimes, people who remembered Vidello-san approached him, but they weren’t as friendly as the gatekeepers outside and their attitude was one of questioning what he was doing here.
I tightly squeezed the hem of his clothes, and he turned to me immediately, asking, “Are you alright?” The gazes towards us were rarely friendly, and even though the structure of the station was not that much different from the others, the atmosphere was completely different. The conversation between them was mostly about the handover or sharing of information, and there was almost no casual conversation. In such a situation, Vidello-san’s expression didn’t change, and he was smiling as usual, so it was very reassuring. I love you!
After a while, the gatekeeper who let us through here came out from the back.
“Mac-dono, please take this. Make sure to open this only at a secluded place. Show this envelope to the gatekeeper, and he’ll let you through, so don’t lose it.”
Then, he handed me a single envelope. It looked simple, but it was made of very expensive-looking paper with a watermark and was sealed with wax. I put it in my bag, and after thanking the gatekeeper for conveying the message, we left the station.
We headed to the inn and got a room for two, and immediately entered the room. At times like this, I wished I had learnt the magic circle that Crash used or the magic circle at Emily-san’s place.
I’m certain it’s like… here would be ‘lock,’ ‘block language,’ ‘block presence,’ and the rest is…
I put the words I remembered into the magic circle.
MP decreased, so I wasn’t completely wrong, I suppose. At last, I put the word that I had a vague recollection of, and the moment I wrote it down, the magic circle disappeared, which indicated a failure.
“Next time, I’ll learn for sure…”
I was a little frustrated, so I stuck close to Vidello-san to relieve my frustration. I was all cured by a tight squeeze from those muscles. And this healing effect was only from Vidello-san!
Once I had calmed down, we both decided to open the sealed envelope. However, I didn’t know the proper method to open the wax seal, so my hand stopped just before I opened it.
“If I open it as it is, the wax will break, won’t it? Is it okay to break it?”
“Yeah, that’s okay. This is to check whether the third party has opened it or not, and also to prove that the person himself has written this letter. It’s normal to open it with a knife. Even if it breaks, the crest can still be recognized, so you just need to show it.”
“Okay. But this crest? Or this engraving looks quite grandiose…”
“It probably was stamped by the prime minister himself. Isn’t this the reason we had to wait to receive this envelope?”
Wow, this was becoming serious.
When I stared off into space, Vidello-san chuckled and murmured, “Normally, it’s considered an important occasion to be granted an audience with the prime minister.”
When I opened the envelope with a nervous heart, a beautiful letter with a watermark of the same pattern as the engraving appeared, and it said that there was time allocated for tomorrow morning. This meant I had successfully obtained an appointment.
Feeling relieved, we exchanged glances. I didn’t expect that the appointment would be this quick. Normally, it should be a few days’ wait or something. Last time, the person himself appeared suddenly, so the prime minister might be light on his feet. While having these thoughts, I put the envelope away in my inventory.
“Vidello-san, tomorrow, after I’m done with this meeting, I’d like to go to Monto-san’s place. Is that okay?”
I didn’t want to cause any more problems by walking outside today, so I asked him about the plan after completing the prime minister’s quest, and Vidello-san nodded, saying, “Let’s see.”
“I’ve been quite indebted to him before. He has helped me a great deal in the past.”
I wanted to show my appreciation somehow. As we were on the same page, I gave some thought as to what I could delight him with.
I took a quick glance at the recipes I got from Kyle-san. There were quite a lot of farm-related recipes that I had never made before, so I looked over them to see if I could make something with the ingredients I had on hand.
The next day, I showed the envelope to the gatekeeper at the nobleman’s gate, and we were allowed to pass through. The gate seen from the castle town was just as rugged as the other gates, but when I went through the gate and looked back, it had lost its rugged exterior, revealing an elaborate and elegantly decorated gate. Now, this really felt like an aristocratic town.
After a short walk from the gate, we saw a carriage with the same crest as yesterday’s engraving parked there. When my eyes met with the butler-like man standing motionless beside the carriage, he slowly bowed his head towards me.
“I’ve been waiting for you. I am an envoy of the Lord Mikhael D. Andrus. My lord has strictly entrusted me to bring you to the palace, so please enter.”
“Eh, there’s an escort for me?”
I thought I would have to go to the palace by myself.
The moment I approached to see if I could get on, I felt like something caught my attention. How should I describe it? It was kinda hard to explain it in words. Something was not right; my sixth senses were somehow hinting at something.
This looked suspicious. I quickly opened the status window. That person told me the prime minister’s name, didn’t he? But the name appearing on my friend list was different from what I heard just now.
When the prime minister told me his name before, there was no mention of his middle name. The same was true with the name on my friend list. But was he using his full name on an occasion like this?
While harbouring doubts, with each step closer, that sense of discomfort grew even more. When I quickly activated my [ Detection ] spell, I found this discomfort rising from the carriage before me.
