Chapter 14
After that, Sera excitedly helped them select clothes to wear for their city excursion .
As they would be disguised as boys, they chose dark pants, cream-colored shirts, and a tunic that went over it . The hemline was much shorter than the types that women wore . And then came the wigs . The most common hair color on this continent was a dark blonde color . The bangs were on the long side to cover their eyes as much as possible . As long as they did not wear makeup, they could pa.s.s for very girly-looking 12 year-olds . Or in other words, younger versions of the Prince .
“Oh, this one looks good . ”
Maki says .
“Yes, this one looks quite similar to the suit that you were wearing . Though, it did look like something that a man would wear . Is it a recent fashion in your country?”
“I don’t know about recent . It’s just, uh, a type of uniform for working woman I guess . Some people wear pants and some people have skirts that cut off at the knees . ”
“It’s not only at work though . You can just wear whatever you want . Many women wore pants there . ”
“Oh, my . Well, that is…”
Apparently, she felt that women should only wear long skirts .
“With this tunic, you could gather it together from the waist to the hemline, so it’s more comfortable . Also, I think it would look cute if you wore harem pants underneath that . ”
“What are harem pants?”
“It’s very loose around the legs and tight around the ankles . Like the sleeves of a one-piece dress . ”
“Sleeves of a one piece . Sleeves . I see . I see . I will have a prototype made immediately!”
Haha . She was fast . Chiharu liked being fashionable and would have fun experimenting .
However, their magic gems were growing again .
“Do you have any ribbons that wouldn’t draw too much attention?”
“Indeed . You could use a wide ribbon that is the same color as your hair to wrap around it…like this…”
“Ah, that’s good . It doesn’t stick out too much . ”
In front of the mirror now stood two boys . While their hair looked a little scruffy, they seemed like they came from good families .
“No one will know that you are Saintesses now!”
Sera said proudly .
And from the next day on, they spent the mornings studying under Aeris, Grudo, and Zynis as they learned about the other three lands . A private tutor was also hired to give them lessons on the human territory’s geography and history . And their afternoons were spent going out into the city .
Aeris, Grudo, and Zynis went with them the first time that the prince took them out . It was quite the sight, as they were also surrounded by guards . And in spite of how surprised they felt, the people treated Maki and Chiharu politely as if they were children of n.o.bility . It was possible that the people saw through their disguise, but no one was rude enough to say anything about it .
Of all the human lands, it was Arthur’s kingdom alone that was connected to the other three territories . Bird people flew over the city, and there were elves and dwarves on the streets as well . Some of them even had their own stores, and so things were peaceful, with no resistance against anyone who was different .
Eventually, their daily ‘sneaks’ into the city were public knowledge, and while the guards continued to accompany them, they only needed one chaperone . And since they all wanted to accompany Maki and Chiharu, there was great compet.i.tion to fill this role . Those that were defeated were forcefully dragged back to the castle and made to work . In fact, the prince and three amba.s.sadors had many responsibilities, including dealing with guests from each country, and they could be afforded little time to rest .
It was hard to describe just how much Maki and Chiharu enjoyed these outings .
What was most surprising for them, was the huge cases that everyone carried . Some people had wheels on theirs and pulled them like shopping carts . And they did it with just one hand .
“Look, that woman is carrying that huge thing as if its nothing!”
Grudo explained to the two shocked women .
“Don’t you remember your lessons? You studied about these floating stones that come out of monsters . ”
“Oh, ah, those things that make stuff float?”
“You said that it was like a levistone, remember?”
“I did hear something about them being used in airships . ”
Grudo continued .
“It’s rare to find stones that are big enough to lift airships, but the smaller ones from smaller monsters can be used to make your luggage lighter . ”
“But wouldn’t they start floating up in the air then?”
“Heh, look at this . ”
Grudo showed them the bag he was carrying .
“Oh, there is a dial on it . ”
“Try holding the bag with one hand and turn the dial with the other . ”
“Uh, okay, oh, woahhh!”
As she turned the dial, the bag became lighter and lighter .
“You can adjust the effects of the floating stone with the dial . It means that heavy things and lighter things can be made to have the same weight . ”
“So that cart over there . ”
“Yes . There is a floating stone installed in the base . ”
And the trains were the ultimate example of this stone’s use . There were five connected cars that were about a third of the length of the train cars in j.a.pan . And they were being pulled by a horse . A horse .
“Thanks to the floating stone, a horse can pull five cars without issue . If anything, it is necessary to make sure that it is not too light, to maintain a balance . ”
Grudo had helped in developing them, and so told them of the many troubles that they had faced .
“It was also very difficult to dig the tunnels under the sea . While we dwarves are masters of digging underground, all would be lost if the caves crumbled even once . We based our work on old traditions of digging under the sea that have been pa.s.sed on from ancient times . And it took us nearly 100 years of digging and reinforcing to complete the tunnels . ”
“It was also very difficult to dig the tunnels under the sea . While we dwarves are masters of digging underground, all would be lost if the caves crumbled even once . We based our work on old traditions of digging under the sea that have been pa.s.sed on from ancient times . And it took us nearly 100 years of digging and reinforcing to complete the tunnels . ”
But now they could reach the dwarven lands in just 4 hours .
“That being said, we will stop at the halfway point to visit the mermaid island . So it will be driving for two hours, an hour break on the island, and then another two hours to reach our destination . Usually, the train will come twice a day, in the morning and evening . ”
The mermaid island sounded interesting, but then the train arrived in front of them and the pa.s.sengers came out . The first car carried people that looked very rich . From the second car on, the people seemed more normal .
“Maki, Chihaaru, are you interested?”
“Yes . ” “Yes . ”
“It takes quite a lot of money to be able to travel . And so just being able to ride the train would put you in the wealthier cla.s.s . Thought, the wealthy will often charter a private train . ”
They looked towards the first car . It appeared to be separated into private compartments . From the second car on, they were normal seats that faced each other .
“However, there are small-time merchants who need to travel, and people who visit relatives in far-off lands . Some people try to make a name for themselves in other countries . Many adventurers come from the human territories to farm magic stones in the dungeons . There are cheaper but cramped seats available for such people . Those seats are in the second and sometimes third cars . The rest is for luggage . Since the announcement about the Saintesses’ arrival, many people are coming from all over, and so we have increased the number of runs . ”
From the second and third car came happy families, brawny men and a group of children . Their clothes were dirty .
“Who are those children?”
“They must have come to live with relatives . Either that or they are being sent to an orphanage . Likely, they are children of adventurers who have met some misfortune . ”
So this was not exactly a kingdom of dreams . There was a large gap between the rich and the poor . Maki and Chiharu watched quietly from afar as the children held each others’ hands tightly and moved along .
After that, Sera excitedly helped them select clothes to wear for their city excursion
.
As they would be disguised as boys, they chose dark pants, cream-colored shirts, and a tunic that went over it . The hemline was much shorter than the types that women wore . And then came the wigs . The most common hair color on this continent was a dark blonde color . The bangs were on the long side to cover their eyes as much as possible . As long as they did not wear makeup, they could pa.s.s for very girly-looking 12 year-olds . Or in other words, younger versions of the Prince
.
“Oh, this one looks good . ”.
.
Maki says
.
“Yes, this one looks quite similar to the suit that you were wearing . Though, it did look like something that a man would wear . Is it a recent fashion in your country?”.
“I don’t know about recent . It’s just, uh, a type of uniform for working woman I guess . Some people wear pants and some people have skirts that cut off at the knees . ”.
“It’s not only at work though . You can just wear whatever you want . Many women wore pants there . ”.
“Oh, my . Well, that is…”.
.
Apparently, she felt that women should only wear long skirts
.
“With this tunic, you could gather it together from the waist to the hemline, so it’s more comfortable . Also, I think it would look cute if you wore harem pants underneath that . ”.
“What are harem pants?”.
“It’s very loose around the legs and tight around the ankles . Like the sleeves of a one-piece dress . ”.
“Sleeves of a one piece . Sleeves . I see . I see . I will have a prototype made immediately!”.
.
Haha . She was fast . Chiharu liked being fashionable and would have fun experimenting
.
However, their magic gems were growing again
.
“Do you have any ribbons that wouldn’t draw too much attention?”.
“Indeed . You could use a wide ribbon that is the same color as your hair to wrap around it…like this…”.
“Ah, that’s good . It doesn’t stick out too much . ”.
.
In front of the mirror now stood two boys . While their hair looked a little scruffy, they seemed like they came from good families
.
“No one will know that you are Saintesses now!”.
.
Sera said proudly
.
And from the next day on, they spent the mornings studying under Aeris, Grudo, and Zynis as they learned about the other three lands . A private tutor was also hired to give them lessons on the human territory’s geography and history . And their afternoons were spent going out into the city
.
Aeris, Grudo, and Zynis went with them the first time that the prince took them out . It was quite the sight, as they were also surrounded by guards . And in spite of how surprised they felt, the people treated Maki and Chiharu politely as if they were children of n.o.bility . It was possible that the people saw through their disguise, but no one was rude enough to say anything about it
.
Of all the human lands, it was Arthur’s kingdom alone that was connected to the other three territories . Bird people flew over the city, and there were elves and dwarves on the streets as well . Some of them even had their own stores, and so things were peaceful, with no resistance against anyone who was different
.
Eventually, their daily ‘sneaks’ into the city were public knowledge, and while the guards continued to accompany them, they only needed one chaperone . And since they all wanted to accompany Maki and Chiharu, there was great compet.i.tion to fill this role . Those that were defeated were forcefully dragged back to the castle and made to work . In fact, the prince and three amba.s.sadors had many responsibilities, including dealing with guests from each country, and they could be afforded little time to rest
.
It was hard to describe just how much Maki and Chiharu enjoyed these outings
.
What was most surprising for them, was the huge cases that everyone carried . Some people had wheels on theirs and pulled them like shopping carts . And they did it with just one hand
.
“Look, that woman is carrying that huge thing as if its nothing!”.
.
Grudo explained to the two shocked women
.
“Don’t you remember your lessons? You studied about these floating stones that come out of monsters . ”.
“Oh, ah, those things that make stuff float?”.
“You said that it was like a levistone, remember?”.
“I did hear something about them being used in airships . ”.
Grudo continued
.
“It’s rare to find stones that are big enough to lift airships, but the smaller ones from smaller monsters can be used to make your luggage lighter . ”.
“But wouldn’t they start floating up in the air then?”.
“Heh, look at this . ”.
.
Grudo showed them the bag he was carrying
.
“Oh, there is a dial on it . ”.
“Try holding the bag with one hand and turn the dial with the other . ”.
“Uh, okay, oh, woahhh!”.
.
As she turned the dial, the bag became lighter and lighter
.
“You can adjust the effects of the floating stone with the dial . It means that heavy things and lighter things can be made to have the same weight . ”.
“So that cart over there . ”.
“Yes . There is a floating stone installed in the base . ”.
.
And the trains were the ultimate example of this stone’s use . There were five connected cars that were about a third of the length of the train cars in j.a.pan . And they were being pulled by a horse . A horse
.
“Thanks to the floating stone, a horse can pull five cars without issue . If anything, it is necessary to make sure that it is not too light, to maintain a balance . ”.
.
Grudo had helped in developing them, and so told them of the many troubles that they had faced
.
“It was also very difficult to dig the tunnels under the sea . While we dwarves are masters of digging underground, all would be lost if the caves crumbled even once . We based our work on old traditions of digging under the sea that have been pa.s.sed on from ancient times . And it took us nearly 100 years of digging and reinforcing to complete the tunnels . ”.
.
But now they could reach the dwarven lands in just 4 hours
.
“That being said, we will stop at the halfway point to visit the mermaid island . So it will be driving for two hours, an hour break on the island, and then another two hours to reach our destination . Usually, the train will come twice a day, in the morning and evening . ”.
.
The mermaid island sounded interesting, but then the train arrived in front of them and the pa.s.sengers came out . The first car carried people that looked very rich . From the second car on, the people seemed more normal
.
“Maki, Chihaaru, are you interested?”. “Yes . ” “Yes . ”.
“It takes quite a lot of money to be able to travel . And so just being able to ride the train would put you in the wealthier cla.s.s . Thought, the wealthy will often charter a private train . ”.
.
They looked towards the first car . It appeared to be separated into private compartments . From the second car on, they were normal seats that faced each other
.
“However, there are small-time merchants who need to travel, and people who visit relatives in far-off lands . Some people try to make a name for themselves in other countries . Many adventurers come from the human territories to farm magic stones in the dungeons . There are cheaper but cramped seats available for such people . Those seats are in the second and sometimes third cars . The rest is for luggage . Since the announcement about the Saintesses’ arrival, many people are coming from all over, and so we have increased the number of runs . ”.
.
From the second and third car came happy families, brawny men and a group of children . Their clothes were dirty
.
“Who are those children?”.
“They must have come to live with relatives . Either that or they are being sent to an orphanage . Likely, they are children of adventurers who have met some misfortune . ”.
.
So this was not exactly a kingdom of dreams . There was a large gap between the rich and the poor . Maki and Chiharu watched quietly from afar as the children held each others’ hands tightly and moved along