Farewell, Usk
This would be a busy day. We had to make up for all the time we lost trying to find armor.
We stuffed ourselves with breakfast in the morning and gathered our scattered things and thrust them into the hollow bag. This included my inner clothes and Daniela"s underwear. We"d have to wash them in a river sometime later. Once that was done, I crouched low on the ground and made sure there was nothing left on the floor. When I was sure, the only thing left to do was to settle the bill.
"Daniela, let"s go."
"Wwait a moment. I must use the bathroom…"
"Uh…"
Daniela frantically dashed away under my exasperated stare. I made sure the windows were all closed and locked as I waited. Everything was fine. I had the key as well.
After a final check, we both left the room. It was a short stay, but very pleasurable.
Several guests were relaxing in the lobby after having eaten their breakfast. We pa.s.sed them and reached the counter, where Karamus was waiting for us with a smile.
"So this is the day that you two are leaving."
"Yes, we had a great time here. Thank you."
"No, it is my job, after all."
She chuckled while raising an elegant hand to her mouth. But she was actually a s.a.d.i.s.t at heart.
"Oh, is something the matter?"
"No?"
I put the key on the counter with a cool expression. Yeah, nothing at all.
"Well, we"ll be off now. You will let us stay if we come again?"
"Yes, of course. And I hope you two have a wonderful journey."
"Thank you."
Miss Karamus bowed deeply and I nodded before we existed the Babbling Brook. The sound of that brook had been comforting to the ears until the end. We would likely choose this place again if we ever found ourselves here. It was comfortable and the owner was pretty. The room was also clean, which was always a plus.
Once we were on the streets, we headed for the guardhouse near the docks. After all, Bacon was the first person who helped us, so I thought I might as well drop by. Two weeks of Usk had helped me learn all of the roads, and so we arrived quite quickly.
I said Bacon"s name at the counter and they told me where he was. Apparently, he was leading an inspection of goods and personnel on a newly arrived merchant ship. I couldn"t say I didn"t find this a little troublesome, but at least the docks were close by.
"Oh…what grand ship…"
Daniela looked up at it with surprise. Even I was shocked. The river itself was very wide, but I was still surprised that a vessel of this size could pa.s.s here without the hull hitting the bottom of the river. The thing looked to be about fifty meters long. I wasn"t an expert on boats, but that seemed like it was on the larger end.
It was larger than any of the others boats here, anyway.
"Ah, if it isn"t Asagi and Daniela. What are you two doing here?"
Bacon said as he approached us. For a second, I wasn"t quite sure either, but then I remembered.
"Hey, Bacon."
"It"s Yacon."
"We"re going to be leaving town today. So I thought I"d say goodbye."
"It"s Y…oh, so you"ll be leaving then? I"ll sure miss you two."
Liar. We only saw him those first two days.
"Well, you be careful out there."
"Yeah. But we"ll be back. As for Miss Karamus, she"s not interested. I would give up if I were you."
"What? How can…are you serious? But she always smiles so sweetly that I…"
Unfortunately, that was just a disguise. A mask of deceit.
"But there may be a way."
"Whwhat? Tell me!"
I threw an arm around Bacon"s shoulder and brought my head close to his and whispered.
"Well, she"s a real s.a.d.i.s.t. So she might oblige you if you asked to be punished."
"You… If you"re lying to me, I"ll come after you and have you thrown in prison!"
Ah, he didn"t believe me then?
Well, it was really up to him. I was just showing him the way.
"That"s just how it is. Do what you want with it. Now, see ya."
"Uh. I"m not sure how I feel about all of this. But I wish you well on your travels. And uh, thanks for everything you did in Nicora."
"Don"t mention it. We were just pa.s.sing through."
I waved goodbye, and we walked away from the docks. We would go to the craftsmen street next. To the White Lily. And then it was straight for the east gate.
"…Still, there"s nothing less appealing than someone who comes directly to you, asking to be punished."
"Indeed. It is one thing to casually solicit someone and then slide into a submissive role part way through, like you. That can be quite endearing. But I would not like someone to come at me like that so strongly."
"Wait, I, I don"t do that. Do I?"
"Haha. Ahahaha."
"Why are you laughing! Hey, stop right there!"
She had just unleashed a severe blow to my reputation, and now she was laughing and running away. This was quite a problem. I had to deny it immediately and recover from this. However, Daniela quickly stopped and began to walk normally as if nothing had happened. Ultimately, I was not able to fix things before we reached the White Lily.
"h.e.l.lo?"
I entered the store and called out to them, but they seemed to be in that back. I wondered if they ever got robbed…
"Well, I guess I better go…"
"No, Asagi, wait. I will go and see."
"Eh? It"s fine. You went last time."
"No, I must go. You know, it will be better as we are all women."
"You think? Well, I guess you"re right. I"ll wait here then."
"Yes, you sit still. Very still."
"No, I don"t know if I can."
Daniela seemed to be rushing a little as she moved towards the back of the store. I took a seat on the usual chair and waited.
After a few minutes, very loud footsteps could be heard as they came running. There really was no reason to rush. Look, the exertion was causing their cheeks to flush.
Turia pulled out a chair and sat down first.
"Oh, so…sorry to keep you waiting…hhh…"
"Are you alright?"
"Oh, oh…yes… I am fine…there is no problem at all…mm…"
She looked very out of breath. I was a little worried. Miss Segura also looked a little anxious. Daniela picked something off of the floor as she followed after them. It looked like a handkerchief.
"Hahhh…so, what brings you here today?"
Miss Segura had finally caught her breath.
"Yes. We"ll be leaving town today. And so we came to say goodbye. Since you two really helped us and everything."
"I…see… No, it was just our job. In fact, I was quite happy to be able to use such expensive materials for a change."
"Yes, you can handle dragon materials. For some reason, none of the other craftsmen here could help us when it came to armor. Are they really that different?"
This was the main reason we had lost so much time. If it had not been an issue, Daniela would have likely had something very great by now.
"Yes. The materials are handled quite differently with clothes. With armor, the materials are treated similar to metal, and they must use fire."
"I see. You definitely wouldn"t use fire with clothes."
"Exactly. But none of the furnaces in this town are hot enough to deal with dragon materials."
I see. That explained it. So I guess that meant that Nick had a furnace that was capable of it. The Paw Armor Shop was actually quite special?
"In any case, it is quite out of the question to have the work done here. You will have to go to the capital."
"I see. Thanks. We happen to be headed for the capital, so it works out for us."
Though, I would have been incredibly annoyed if it happened that we couldn"t get it done there either.
"Hehe. I suppose we will see a much stronger and lovelier Daniela in dragon gear the next time you visit?"
"Indeed. I expect to be dressed quite well the next time we meet."
"I am very much looking forward to it."
Daniela shook hands with both women and bid them goodbye. She smoothly slid the handkerchief into Miss Segura"s hand when she did so. That was very kind of her. Miss Segura hurriedly stuffed it into her pocket.
Yes, there was something pleasant about seeing all these girls get along so nicely! And in a store called the White Lilly… Hmm? I felt like I might be missing something.
"Well, we should go now. Asagi."
"Hm? Oh, yeah. See you later then."
"I will give you some pretty clothes when you come again."
"And I will give you a good discount!"
"Oh, so you meant "sell.""
We chuckled at that. There was something fun about this place.
"Goodbye then."
"Thank you for everything."
"Yes. Take care of your clothes."
"Be safe!"
And then we parted ways. There was some hand waving as we made our way to the east gate, but we did not stop again until we reached it.
Our goal was the imperial capital. It was just a little longer now.
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